Kradia

I suggested this back in nov 2020: +1 You could have Eurek the Alchemist turn your regular items into cosmetics for a fee, stripping away all stats and the stat requirements to wear the equipment. But to make sure things don't end up being dumb, keep the class requirement so warrior wear warrior gear, thieves wear thief gear etc. Eurek could charge 1M per item making it into a small meso sink. The fee could even be scaled up depending on what level the item is. You could even turn it into a crafting system. If I want a Dark Pilfer as a cosmetic, Eurek could ask for: x1 Dark Pilfer x20 Leather 2,000,000 Mesos But creating a crafting system around it is probably too much work so maybe Eurek just asking for a fee is best.

The issue with the vanilla maple party system has always been, that the bonus party exp doesn't make up for what you're sharing to the rest of the party, if you are the strongest/fastest to kill. This is also the reason partying basically hardcaps at 3 party members, almost in all scenarios. While the party bonus EXP goes up to 30% bonus exp in a 6-man party, there is simply never a situation in maple where every single party member kills the same amount of mobs. This is due to multiple issues which I'll simplify: 1) The difference in "mob clear speed" is varying from every class. Example: A level 150 DK probably clears faster than a 150 archer(or any class for that matter) at any point. 2) Maps are too small and spawn is too low. For the 30% bonus EXP to matter, every single player has to kill the same amount of mobs which is just not possible. 3) All classes require their own unique "set-up" for killing. CBs are the best example but they are an entire different issue. The solution I am proposing is, that every additional party member that is added to the party should give a substantial amount of bonus party EXP. As we already have an established meta with a ton of buff mules around, we don't want to take away or invalidate people's efforts. But what if.. Adding more party members to a party increases the bonus party EXP to a higher cap. Let's say X% for now. Adding a priest to the party increases the bonus party EXP cap to something like X+10% or X+20%. Every individual player added to the party should add a substantial amount of bonus party EXP. This way, priests will act as an enabling class that allows parties to go slightly beyond the bonus party EXP cap. This will reward both the active, playing priest, but also the players with HS mules. HS mules will still have a reason to exist, but players with HS mules will now be more inclined to replace their HS mule with an active priest for the kill EXP the priest would reward them. Here is a model for what it could look like. Please keep in mind that these numbers are just to demonstrate the concept: Regular party with no Holy Symbol 2-man: +10% 3-man: +20% 4-man: +30% 5-man: +40% 6-man: +50% ------------------ Party with Holy Symbol (Priest must exist in the party for the bonus to take effect) 2-man: +20% 3-man: +30% 4-man: +35% 5-man: +48% 6-man: +70% Again, these numbers are just to demonstrate the concept. Things like this have to be tested properly before being applied to the game. Look at this from the perspective of a player without any mules available. Then look at it from the perspective of a player with mules available. Both win. More importantly, party-play is now encouraged and high level maps (like Leafre) are now slightly easier.

I chose to write this because I am concerned about where we are headed past v52, the lack of clarification us players are given and finally, the constant lack of players. My intention with this topic is to hopefully encourage the staff for better communication, ask for a clearer roadmap for where we are headed in terms of game updates and to share my suggestions on how to attract more players to Phoenix. With my suggestions, I will share my vision for where Phoenix should be heading. Feel free to disagree. 1. Communication It's essential to have clear communication with a playerbase for the players to feel up-to-date, safe, but also cared for. For Phoenix, communication has always been lacking and especially lack of clarification on very important subjects that will make or break the server for players. "Are we eventually getting 4th job?" is one of those questions that has been memed into oblivion. For players like myself, the answer to this question is game defining. Other examples are, when things don't work as planned - which I will first praise you for, this rarely happens. But with the Leafre patch, we were required to download a second Phoenix.dll file. However, there were still players running the old one, which basically makes the game unplayable. These things need to be communicated better. Perhaps a reminder in #announcements on Discord or a news post just for this Phoenix.dll file would do wonders. An in-game notification or a Discord bot reminding players to update to the latest files, when such things happen could also be a solution to this. I know Arnah is just another memer, probably around our age and I appreciate how casual he is with the playerbase. But clarifying certain things would take the edge off of a lot of our concerns and/or issues and even new players joining Phoenix. This isn't a one man job and I don't know who else is staff, but if man power is an issue, perhaps there should be staff members for these things? 2. Phoenix Roadmap First of all, I realize that the about page is sort of a roadmap for Phoenix. But we need to know what the vision of Phoenix is. The about page states: "The goal of Phoenix is to provide a challenging 3rd job server with new content constantly releasing." I interpret this as the vision of Phoenix and I personally hope that this doesn't change. Again, with the lack of clarification regarding many of the questions we've asked, I have no idea what to expect anymore. I guess this section ties into first section a lot. 3. Playerbase growth and retention I have voiced some of these concerns and suggestions regarding this topic multiple times to Arnah directly. I'd like to share some of the things I have suggested. I will discuss several topics that indirectly affect the playerbase growth and player retention. - 3.1 Playerbase growth and retention: Catering to Casuals I firmly believe, if we ever want to see player numbers in the several hundreds, that changes should be made to cater to the casual players more. Advertising Phoenix as a vanilla 1x/1x/1x server is not a good thing for the server. It's really bad. Look at it from a casual player's perspective. There is no doubt in my mind, that those players instantly close down the window and look for other alternatives. Even though I personally love this kind of game, I can recognize and I realize that changes need to be made to attract more players. Also, I realize with patches, the game only gets easier. Unfortunately, there is a stigma around 1x/1x/1x rates and that will forever remain unchanged. "Vanilla MapleStory" simply just doesn't have enough appeal - especially as a private server. Part of catering to casual players could be carefully buffing content where casual players usually get stuck or lose drive to play. Things like KPQ, Levels 30-35, LPQ and OPQ. - 3.2 Playerbase growth and retention: Temporarily stop updating with vanilla Horntail (V52) and focus on finding solutions to underlying issues that plague the game Leeching Buff mules Powercreep Some of these have been taken too far, for far too long. Leeching should've never been a thing. Buff mules shouldn't have been a thing, but you don't want to take away the players' efforts leveling their characters. Buff mules singlehandedly discourage new people to play Phoenix. I have previously suggested multiple possible solutions for this, to not take away from the people buff muling and still encourage more party play. Powercreep is another thing slowly creeping into the game where previous content is almost entirely replaced with new content. These subjects deserve a forum thread of their own, so I guess I'll come back to this eventually. - 3.3 Playerbase growth and retention: Defining existing content, the state of Leafre & endgame content Once issues listed in 3.2 are dealt with, return to updating the game but time skip. There is no reason to add Nihal Desert and Magatia. "Alternate content" that Nexon released was never really alternate content, but "bloat" content that inevitably replaces old with new and makes the old content irrelevant. The best example of this is Mu Lung and Straw Target Dummies replacing everything from level 40-70. Or the most heartbreaking one for me personally, the Aqua patch almost making Ludibrium entirely useless. This is why, I'd personally love to see many alterations to the game. For the older content, for certain scrolls to be added, which could be exclusive to the mobs that are no longer being hunted. For the higher level content, it would be awesome with some custom stuff done for Leafre. I am speaking for all other classes, but my own. Hermits do just fine at Leafre already. Allowing other classes to grind there indirectly buffs hermits and that is enough. Because of the lack of NLC potions, lack of damage, etc., Leafre is simply unsustainable except for very few classes. Here is a personal anecdote. MapleEurope had Leafre with 3rd job only. The reason why it was working out just fine for us on EMS back in the day, is very obviously because we had NLC potions, not to mention Ciders from Showa. After observing how the Phoenix playerbase has been handling Leafre, I can tell that people already feel very discouraged to go there after getting their gear upgrades. I am not proposing to add NLC potions in regular fashion, but something has to be done to make Leafre a bit easier and sustainable. Here are a few ideas I have been discussing with players: Creating a custom Leafre exchange quest that rewards you with potions a lot (Untradeable NLC pots?) Reducing Mob HP and damage of deeper Leafre mobs (not EXP values because this would buff F/P) Additional scrolls that come with V56 Finally, when Leafre is in a better state and hopefully outscales Gobies, then would be the time to look towards more endgame content. A custom Temple of Time and Pink Bean that obviously should outscale Leafre. With this, you will have a fully defined and "complete" 3rd job server. - 3.4 Playerbase growth and retention: Conclusion That concludes my views on what could be done to keep players interested, as well as attract new players to play Phoenix. Attracting more players also deserves a thread on its own, because there is just so much that could be done. Because everything is sort of tied together and connected, it's hard to keep certain topics seperate. I did my best to stay on topic and focus on the main points, but there are so many angles at play. With that being said, feel free to discuss! Share your thoughts, opinions and disagree with me if you need to.

Gobies are level 85 which means the priest would have to be level 80 to be eligible for leech exp, just like you're saying. But if you deal any damage to a mob, and another person kills that mob, even though the mob is way higher level than you, you also gain some amount of exp. This is vanilla.

Welcome sir! You are allowed to play with JoyToKey but please keep the following rules in mind: Source: https://playphoenix.ca/rules If you and your friends are in need of potions to get going, don't hestitate to whisper me in-game 🙂

stop being cringe

WELCOME

no

Helm INT should be converted into Helm LUK to encourage mages to build towards LUK builds with the goal of making higher level wands/staves serve a purpose. For more regarding this read this. It's the same consistent logic and concept. + Earring DEX 10% (vanilla) + Earring LUK 10%/60% (vanilla) + Gloves for Magic Attack (INT bonuses could be stripped away, magic attack could be buffed to 10% +5 MATT and 60% +3 MATT) For reference, this is what vanilla GFMATT looks like: + Overall Armor for STR 10%/60% (vanilla) I agree with everything dugtrio suggested regarding where they should be available. Sounds very logical and fits the game design of pretty well. What I would like to add though, is that I see an opportunity to bring a little more life to the less popular mobs. If we get some of these scrolls added to the Leafre mobs droptable, they should be made lower drop chance than elsewhere. Leafre will be a popular place to grind meaning the drop chance should be significantly lower than elsewhere. Adding all these scrolls to leafre, but additionally, to mobs that are not meta, with even better drop chance could potentially be a pretty good solution of making those mobs viable and serve a purpose. Here is an example. I'm trying to communicate the logic and this example should not be taken as a literal suggestion. Say an earring LUK 60% was added to the following mobs: What I'm trying to say is that the Blood Harp will be more viable and accessible than the Dark Drake because of location, spawn rate, etc. I'm just going to throw out numbers here, but because the Blood Harp is more viable and accessible it should have a 1/50k chance (0.00002%) of dropping the scroll. Whereas the Dark Drake could have a 1/20k chance (0.00005%). Less accessible mobs = better drop chance Mobs with less spawn (taking into account all maps) = better drop chance Highly contested mobs = significantly lower drop chance Imagine if this fella was dropping overall armor for INT 10%: With a 1/10k drop chance (0.0001%) But this mob was also dropping it with a 1/50k drop chance (0.00002%): Where would you go? This is what I consider good game design. You sacrifice EXP for very specific, but significant drops. Or you just grind EXP, but have a low chance of finding the drop that you want.

I think this suggestion deserves another look. The fact that the Priests are gaining 1 exp per heal affects the game in many ways. This is currently what's happening: - Priests no longer go to Deep Ludi with a Warrior(or any other class for that matter) early (DT, MDT, you name it) - Priests are rewarded less EXP for being "pocket-priests" at gobies. This affects the lower level priests that go there especially - Priests don't usually deal damage at bosses like Pap/Zakum/Pianus while the rest of the classes do. Heal EXP was "compensation" for the EXP they miss out on. Like I mentioned before, a combination of #1 and #3 would be a really good solution.

Your opinion is incorrect mathematically speaking. Even if you might've found a loophole build for a very specific point in the game, that doesn't necessarily mean the rest of the items are just fine. Think of all the completely useless mage equipment that just exist to be NPC'd. My suggestion isn't going to fix all issues with mage gear and builds, but it will at least become a little more streamlined and very comparable with how other classes build. Higher level characters should be using higher level gear. Having mages scroll for LUK instead of INT encourages LUK builds, meaning they will be allowed to wear higher level staves and wands, which then results in making higher level staves and wands actually matter and have a value. If you were to add more INT scrolls, you're encouraging the opposite thing; leaving mages to use llama/nocturnal staves. Fixing the issue entirely (meaning every item serving a purpose for its level) is too late as a meta has already been established for lower level gear.

+1 +1 but indirectly. Buffing specific maps just causes a meta shift, which is bad. A buffed map becomes better than any other and it's hard to get right. Instead, adding the additional scrolls that we are missing could be added to a variety of mobs that usually wouldn't be hunted. This way mobs that are currently considered useless could suddenly serve a purpose. Eos Tower mobs Deep Ant Tunnel and Ice/Dark Drakes Red Drakes These are just a few examples of mobs that have become obsolete/don't really serve a purpose. To the rest of your suggestions: nomegalul this one deserves an omegalul

They should be in forms of 10s and 60s only. I don't think 100s should exist for this type of scroll. Arnah did mention somewhere, that adding additional scrolls would be dealt with this way, by converting them to 10s and 60s. I forgot to mention in the opening post that shield for DEX would indeed be a custom scroll. While it didn't ever exist, I think it would be a cool addition to the game because of what it offers to the game. The scroll would let warriors choose either STR of DEX on their shield depending on what they need at that current time, while bandits could alternate between STR, DEX and LUK. The more options you have with your equipment, the more you can think out of the box with this game. I feel that it's only a good thing to encourage alternating, but equally powerful itemization. For everybody reading, Arnah has mentioned to take such subjects to the forums for open discussions and he wants more people's opinions. So by any means, feel free to disagree if you do and share your own suggestion(s).

I think it would be ideal to reduce the amount of upgradeable slots on Maple Shield especially if the plan is to introduce shield stat scrolls at a later point. This would also align better with the design of the rest of the shields in-game. The issue is that the Maple Shield is only level 20 and overpowers every other shield solely because of the amount of slots it has. The Maple Shield is an anniversary item, but this doesn't justify the fact that it beats every other, even higher level shield. For the pre-existing ones that are clean and might still be around, you can't really change those as they are in the players' hands already. Hopefully with this change, in the future, we will see more warriors rocking high level warrior shields, possiblity scrolled with STR. As for what shield scrolls should be available in the future, check out my other suggestion thread where I explain what sould exist within the game and why.

Shield scrolls are a tricky subject, because they make or break a specific class or build within a class. I think the majority of the player base will agree that shield for weapon attack is too op and simply overpowers 2-handed weapons for warriors. Not only warriors, but they make Chief Bandits incredibly strong - and probably slightly too strong. But what scrolls should be added then? I suggest that only Shield for STR, Shield for DEX and Shield for LUK be added to Phoenix - avoiding Shield for INT for a very particular reason, which will be explained last. 1) Shield for STR is fair and a good compromise on the fact that shield for weapon attack doesn't exist. It gives warriors that extra boost they are missing for playing with one-handed weapons. But they also encourage bandits to build around STR for the cool STR-daggers. 2) As for shield for DEX, that would be a great alternative for Warriors as well. This way, they could choose to use a DEX shield to gain a bit more accuracy to hit mobs. More importantly, shield for DEX will fit Chief Bandits greatly as they will finally be able to scroll their wristguards. 3) Finally, shield for LUK should also exist as an alternative for Chief Bandits who chose to build LUK gear instead of DEX, similarly like thieves have the option to choose between a DEX or LUK cape. But more importantly, shield for LUK would encourage mages to build for low LUK builds. This way, we can hopefully encourage mages to go low LUK to use those higher level wands and staves instead of seeing every mage and their mother lukless. Why not shield for Magic Attack (or INT)? Shield for INT further encourages mages to assign all points into INT. They can use a level 8 wand and still be stronger than a mage wearing a level 80+ wand/staff. This is bad. 1 INT equals 1 magic attack, no matter wat what level. Lukless mages always have more magic attack than regular ones. Furthermore, 10 int equals +1 MP gain per level, which really adds up. If you compare a LUK mage to a lukless mage, even though the LUK mage has weapon/magic defenses, the lukless mage is more tanky, simply because he has more mana and because of how magic guard works. Conclusion By following this design you will encourage more variety in stat building for warriors, bandits and mages who can all wear shields. Shields as of now are basically useless as they only offer a few defensive stats, which pretty much mean nothing. Furthermore, specific equipment might gain value and no longer be "just another item to NPC". Things like one-handed weapons, specifically Red Katana. But also mage staves/wands might be a little more valuable. I highly recommend following this "design logic" to encourage mages into going LUK gear in the future, with the other scrolls that will hopefully some day be added to the game as well. Why? Because this would mean that mage items would eventually matter, as they currently don't matter at all, except in very specific instances. Lastly, it's worth mentioning that no, none of this is "too op". Shield for STR will open up more varied build paths, but total weapon attack simply outscales stats in the later stages of the game (read: level 120+), meaning 2-handed weapons will always prevail eventually. As for the other two, DEX and LUK will only add more items to work on, which is definitely what the current state of Phoenix lacks.

This would allow players to seat their mules at 94th (or other maps), stand in dark sight and steal other players items and meso. This is not necessary.

If you're going with this direction, I hope you will consider making the drops as high, or perhaps even higher then a Zak helm droprate. On top of that, please consider a higher amount of capes as well. Maybe 3 guaranteed capes and up to 3 additional capes with drop chances resembling of Zak helm drops? That's potentially 6 capes per run, which is enough for a full party.

As of the most recent patch(?), it seems the goby EXP is bugged. If 2 players party each other and both players deal damage to the same house, it reduces all the EXP of the gobies spawning from that specific house. This means if a priest and warrior are grinding close together, they are reducing each others and their party members' exp, because they both have dealt damage to the same house. If someone singlehandedly destroys a house, the EXP is just fine, even if multiple people kill the gobies that spawn from the house. It's really odd. I haven't checked, but maybe it's the same case with other "transforming" mobs. Mobs like yetis, maybe Papulatus too? It's worth looking into.

I have suggested two possible solutions to you privately, but I'll post them here so we can have more people's inputs. Suggestion 1: Change fame reward from 30 fame to 1. Since the quest is now repeatable, people could use this as a means to farm fame as well. It would require a total of 30 Papulatus kills to "gain back" those 30 fame that would be changed. Like you said yourself, the exp and meso isn't the issue. Suggestion 2: Have the quest give 30 fame the first time you complete it. Repeating it afterwards gives you either 1 or no fame. This one requires a custom quest, like you said you're not too interested in making. The second suggestion is the ideal solution, but suggestion 1 is feasable and requires very minimal effort. 🙂

I think a combination of suggestion 1 and 3 is the way to go. Make checks within the party EXP distribution. Try to cover all the possible bypasses and if someone succeeds bypassing the checks to abuse, temporarily ban that player for abusing. It's about time clerics and priests get their heal EXP back.

The potential +2 stat is already enough of a buff. You don't want to make all other, low level capes obsolete, but just give the Ludi cape enough power to make it worthwhile IMO. It would be cool to see implemented ASAP if that's a yes. So the high level player base can keep busy with something else than Zakum.

The Ludibrium cape is level 100 and requires quite a lot of effort to get. It's unfortunate how useless the cape is though, as it offers nothing of value. I'd like to propose changes that make the Ludibrium cape actually be useful. Currently, you only get one single Ludi cape. You have one chance of scrolling it and that's it. If you fuck up scrolling it, then you're shit outta luck. Not only that, but it requires you kill Papulatus which is a challenge in itself. My suggestion is to make the quest repeatable and give the Ludi cape a random 0-2 random single stat roll (STR, DEX, INT, or LUK), but keep it untradeable as it currently is. On top of that, make it a one-of-a-kind so players can't just stack these capes to mass scroll them. This would give Papulatus a bit more purpose, but most importantly you make a level 100 cape potentially stronger than the Icarus capes, which only makes sense. Higher level item = better stats. I personally see the Ludi cape as a boss item equivalent to a Zakum helm. It'd be cool to have all real bosses (not mini-bosses) matter in some ways.

+1

I agree with basically everything Dusteh said. Already using a second PC for all my mules. I have several old laptops available and I could use all my laptops for mules if I wanted to. I just see using 3rd party software as a much easier solution to this, than powering up and being surrounded with multiple laptops. It's not necessary to make things more annoying and tedious for people. That's why such 3rd party software should be acceptable. +1. SHA should know this firsthand. +1. The market is already limited and low in supply as is. This will only results in hurting the economy and market. +1. The playerbase is low as it is. Mules make the server seem a little more busy. Do you really wanna go back to Phoenix being a ghost town with barely 30-40 people online? Without a doubt in my mind, I would quit all together if this were to be implemented. I can only imagine there are others with the same mindset. Spending MONTHS and HUNDREDS of HOURS of your time making your mules, which by the way was a thing, just like GMS/EMS or any other official server.. only just for all that effort to be taken away so abruptly? No thanks. This is something that should've been dealt with pre-launch. Not during a server's peak. I was around during CBT sharing my very same views on the issues of buff mules. Everyone was saying it'd be absurd to make buff mules on 1x. Well, here we are 2 years in. Because it wasn't dealt with, first thing I made was a HS mule, then HB and finally rage. Now people are tagging along making their own. Finally, buff mules promote party-play. If nobody has a priest around, chances are, that most of the time, you wouldn't party up in a 2-3 man party because of the shitty party system. Personally, I find party-play fun. Idk about you If multiclienting gets banned there will barely be people to party so hf with that In addition: My mules took approx 4 months to make where it varied a lot how many hours I played. But let's just low-ball it here and say I spent 4 hours every day for the entirety of 4 months, meaning 120 days. That results in 20 FULL DAYS of play time just for my mules. That's just low-balling it. For the people who wanna take that effort away from me, fuck you all and fucking do it yourselves

No need for this IMO. Natural progression is better 🙂