Fixing Leafre

[Requiem]

Music https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=enk4vUjbjik&ab_channel=NogaErez

Hi there, disclaimer: these topics have probably already been talked and maybe discussed, thats cool. Also Im by no means any kind of high level here, I love doing research and balance ideas/suggestions with the purpose of making the game more fun/fair/whatever. Sorry for any english mistakes

 

I personally dont know anymore if Arnah wants to add 4th job or not, but the game has been trying to make the game as least custom as possible for the sake of nostalgia, but there's a few good, bad and meh changes compared to GMS. Good would be no HP washing, Meh would be no gachapon (it gives a lot to the economy, but would need to be considered how it would be done), and bad would be the GMS droprates, because a private server will never achieve as many players as real gms

There's a few others, but I'll talk mostly about this issues and others that not everyone has to agree with, since Im just trying to give ideas, also depends on what are the plans for 4th job in the near future.

 

This has been a server that offers, unlike others in the past years, not only 3rd job, but a server that has been alive enough to see the POSSIBLE release of 4th. Some people would only want 3rd job, some others want 4th. "But why would you want 4th when you can go servers like Legends?" Because of the previous points, making HP washing the most important one of them, classes like DK are not as OP thanks to Berserk with 30k HP, and hermits with 30k HP is an even more retarded concept. So this is a motivation on why people would want to play here instead of other 4th job servers (tho 1x is hardcore etc etc), and later we would have to talk about ultimates and how bishop/mage rule everything because no CD ultimate,  but this is a topic for another post related mostly about 4th.

So, now that we've talked about why 4th could be a posibility that wouldn't be that negative, lets talk about the 3rd job meta and how maplestory is structured now with Leafre content, because I'm pretty sure a lot of people want 3rd job.

Maplestory content has always made the previous content pretty outdated as soon as a new area appeared, better drops, better loot, better maps, all by a huge margin. That's not what is happening at this moment, players just cant farm as properly in that content as Aqua content, may it be because the class kit doesnt allow, or the cost is just too insanely high. This doesnt happen to the same extent to F/P because of how that class was designed, it was never nowhere as strong in real maple, not only maps being full of people, but players didnt actually know how OP it was, and even if it did, they couldnt abuse to the extent its possible in private server settings.

 

 

How can we fix Leafre content to be better for the rest of the classes without 4th?

SOLUTION 1: Flat % HP nerf to all Leafre mobs.

It doesnt change anything for F/P, or its even a nerf if the maps the F/P is grinding at is active. I really like this change because we dont have things like PAC / BWG / Others , making classes really weak to what they really were originally when Leafre was released in GMS, people had insane gear compared to private server standards.

SOLUTION 2: Change how the defense formula works. 

For those not aware, the defense formula isnt as simple as "Damage - Defense = DMG dealt" when you take a hit. It considers your class, your level and your defense. Warriors are more tanky with gear and HP, so they get dealt more damage thanks to this formula. Meanwhile Mages get dealt the least. I think we can already see the issue with this, but a lukless cleric with level 11 top and bottom might get dealt less damage than a warrior with lv 80 overall. This can also be fixed with a defense/attack value change in Leafre mobs, but the main issue would still be there. MELEE SUFFER TOO MUCH IN LEAFRE compared to other classes. 

disclaimer: Im not sure if Arnah can even change the formula if its in the client or how the fuck it works. In other server with older versions (MapleBeta / MapleGlobal (TOV) ) it worked the simple way as in "damage-defense = dmg dealt" and allowed, for example, a warrior to stack so much armor he got dealt 1 damage. That's not possible at some point of the versions.

Defense formula has been the same way since the start of the server.

edited: Somewhat Solution 0: Make everyone stronger, add scrolls

30% weapon scrolls would powercreep the weapons by a lot, also extra scrolls, it has been mentioned in other post by dugtrio https://forum.playphoenix.net/topic/514-adding-new-types-of-scrollsgear-to-the-game-on-leafre-patch/ but the lack of gearing is also unfun, gacha would add scrolls to the market, higher droprates, 2x drop events, etc.

MEDIOCRE SOLUTION 1: Give a BUFF that give stats in Leafre 

too custom?

MEDIOCRE SOLUTION 2: Higher DropRates - Lower Exp

Making Leafre content not about exp, but about drops, would make it desireable if you want gear (scrolls?)

 

EXTRA TOPIC ❤️ GOBI

Coma hits exactly 6 mobs. Avenger hits exactly 6 mobs. Etc. This is not a fix to leafre for sure, but gobi is perfect for small aoe skills, and leafre content with huge maps favors map wide skills from 4th job (or FP), but in a server that will always have 3rd job, gobi is just INSANE. Im sure they will ALWAYS be meta just because of the design synergizes really well with 3rd job skills

EXTRA TOPIC ❤️ GOBI

 

Aside from the gobi thing, which is really important because I want people to think about how the game design around everywhere affects what is meta, viable or not, even if its old content vs new, or why the new should and its not powercreeping enough.

I would love to talk about stuff like gachapon (as meso sink most likely), 4th job balance, or how the server approaches stuff/changes, and how we need more scrolls, but that's better in a different posts. Thanks for reading :^)

 

 

Edited February 23, 2021 by Requiem

[days]

I don't see an issue with Leafre balance to be honest. Most mobs in Leafre, besides Nest Golems and Skele's have comparable HP values to other mobs in the game which came before leafre, like Cold Sharks, Himes, etc. Also there are very sought after drops which can only be found in Leafre, which makes most maps in Leafre a viable spot to farm. It is also the ultimate endgame, as players will eventually reach a point where training at Skele's / Nest Golems will yield more EXP then gobies.

Edited February 23, 2021 by days

[dugtrio]

13 hours ago, days said:

as players will eventually reach a point where training at Skele's / Nest Golems will yield more EXP then gobies.

Unfortunately thats not the case for every class. Especially melee classes. Ive tested multiple times with different people . with different methods(bombing/not bombing or luring/single target) on tespia at lvl 180 with crazy gear. It was still worse than gobies. And the cost of grinding there makes it alone not worth unless its like close to double the xp of gobies or something which would be impossible to reach without 4th job anyways

Edit: leafre was clearly made with 4th job in mind . if arnah wants to keep this server as 3rd job . he has to tweak this new content for it to fit to the 3rd job environment

Edited February 24, 2021 by dugtrio

[Conorrhea]

11 minutes ago, dugtrio said:

leafre was clearly made with 4th job in mind . if arnah wants to keep this server as 3rd job . he has to tweak this new content for it to fit to the 3rd job environment

+1