Soul Arrow

[Kradia]

Right now, Soul Arrow allows the Bowman class to grind infinitely. That in itself isn't really a problem.

The issue I see, is that the craftable arrows are obsolete in the game, because they require too much effort to be crafted for that very small boost of weapon attack. The obvious way to make craftable arrows viable would be to boost the weapon attack on them, but I have a different and a little more creative solution in mind, that doesn't require tweaking of multiple things.

I would like to suggest to make Soul Arrow work exactly like Shadow Stars, the fourth job Night Lord skill.

When Soul Arrow is used, consume 200 arrows from your prioritized set of arrows. The player can shoot an infinite amount of the consumed arrows within a short period of time (10-15 minutes).

If something like this were to be implemented, it is important to remove the purchaseable arrows (Red Arrow for Bow, Diamond Arrow in V59) around towns and make them craftable instead. This would also bring a lot to the market game and possibly make certain etc. items gain value. Further, it is important that the items required to craft the arrows are easily obtainable and/or that the crafted amount of arrows is really high to avoid it being tedious.

Finally, this works as a small buff for the Bowman class. They definitely need more love, but this would be the first step in the right direction.

Edited August 17, 2021 by Kradia

[McLovin]

Thanks for starting this thread Kradia!

I definitely would welcome a change like this. Not necessarily because it might help bowmen, but because one of my earliest memories of playing Maplestory is earning my first few mesos by crafting regular arrows and selling them just below npc value (I was a 10-year-old capitalist I guess). If arrows that give attack value were easily craftable and not useless for bowmen, it could be a fun way for new players to earn some cash.

The suggested change to Soul Arrow seems good. I always assumed the skill used the attack power of equipped arrows until I found out it doesn't, which is just bad Nexon design if you ask me. We may want to test the duration of the skill vs the amount of arrows consumed in Tespia to optimize it. 

As far as buffing bowmen goes, we are clearly a disadvantaged class. In comparison to hermits for example, we have less ability to make mesos, less survivability, and less damage. However, there's plenty of bowman players, so I don't think we need huge buffs. I do think this Soul Arrow change might be quite difficult to code, at least more difficult than the other suggested bowman changes, which I think should be prioritized if any changes are made: