sewil

+1, although I assume it's currently prohibited because it's hard to check that nothing else was changed in the wz file

+1, it just makes sense

Another solution to this would be to completely remove the MaxMP increase per level up based on your current INT, and instead have a progressive increase like with Warrior (This is also how it is in the later versions of MS). Warriors don't lose any MaxHP because they have less STR so you can't really "mess up" a build like you can with mages, you'll simply deal less dmg or have less accuracy than the funded variants, but in the end if you buy the same equips there'll be no difference. This also removes incentive to restart a mage character that wasn't "perfect" since you'll be able to catch up later on by buying better equips.

Add widescreen UI support like on RVSP, instead of it cutting off at half the screen. Also maybe add widescreen as an option in the system options instead of having to edit an .ini file

-1 PPQ is boring and uninspiring. I wouldn't even call it a PQ, there's no problem solving, you don't need a particular class's ability like teleport/haste/dark sight/hb, basically no teamwork needed, you just grind high exp monsters and get some drops. 55-100 should be harder than that.

+1

I disagree that they should be donor only, but increasing the NX price could be a viable solution to reduce spam and make them more unique. Another potential solution is to have a cooldown for smegas.

This suggestion would certainly work in making the mage equips more viable and more widely used, though I fear it would only help lukless builds since they can now get even more INT without much funding. The equips can also give some LUK for sure, but not enough to equip a high level weapon, and with the existence of maple weapons the benefit is just too great to not go lukless. I like this suggestion, it's simple and removes the MP imbalance between the two builds, while not adding or removing any m.att.

As per my suggestion my concern is simply that the equips are not good enough to contend with lukless since a naked lukless with a wooden wand can deal roughly the same amount of damage as a fully equipped luk mage. Add on to that the extra MP per level for lukless and it's clear that there is something flawed in the game design. I don't want to change any mechanics concerning INT or LUK and what effects they give, I simply want there to be somewhat of an incentive to take the "intended" or the "RP" route, and I think buffing the equips slightly is the most non-intrusive way to do that. The only thing LUK mages now have over lukless is as you said, the looks, but turning the equips into NX items takes away even that.

I am discussing game design, not the most viable mage build (which I already said is lukless). Wizet implemented mage equips requiring LUK for a reason, and that's why I feel like lukless is an exploit of flawed game design.

The biggest problem with mages that I see right now is the inherent uselessness of LUK in mages. Just raising 5 INT every level gives you more MP per lvl, more M.att than if you were to match the LUK to the equipments, and you level up faster because you can train earlier at training spots. This is especially apparent in I/L mages. Considering almost all mage equipments in the game require LUK it makes you think that the intended game design is that mages should have luk, but they didn't account for maple weapons early in the game. My proposed change is to basically buff the stats of the LUK-required equipments so that it roughly evens out the playing field. Lukless still gets more MP but they trade it for a bit less of M.att.