wackyracer
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yes friday brother!! (in all srsness wtf is this brother meme? lul)
Thank you all for waiting.
Here's a cool little teaser-ish update for you all to enjoy until the 16th!!
- wackyracer
Thank you all for waiting.
Here's a cool little teaser-ish update for you all to enjoy until the 16th!!
- wackyracer
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"What cool new stuff does Open Beta have going on?"
Well to start things off, the new party changes will be tested. The staff at RevivalStory believe that this will be the biggest change yet, possibly meta-shifting. Additionally, there are a handful of changes done regarding item, class, and general game mechanics re-balancing. I picked the ones we worked on the most and longest, and as a result, we are most proud of them compared to the other changes. These changes are also the only ones that are different from the original document we revealed of the Open Beta changes. They underwent multiple different changes and we finally agreed on the following.
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[ Threaten Skill Update ]
Threaten, an active skill found on the class Warrior -> Page, is now re-worked to have a more useful configuration of stat reduction and full elimination of the self-stun put on your character to cast the ability.
I'd like to start this update's explanation with the fact that the self-stun on Threaten is now removed. That's right, your character does not have to stop to cast this skill anymore. In fact, it doesn't interrupt you at all and you can cast other skills instead like Power Strike. This buff makes Threaten very fluid and easy to weave into your combos against mobs or even bosses. Yeah you read that correctly, it affects bosses now. The caveat is that only half the rate is applied to bosses. The following video will perfectly exemplify the new removal of the self-stun for casting the skill.
The stat modifications were changed to reduce the magic attack of the enemy instead of weapon attack. We buffed this value from 20% to 30% as well. We also added magic defense reduction alongside the weapon defense reduction just to allow for help on both ends. This makes Pages significantly more party-friendly too. Let's take a look at a picture of before and after to help us understand the changes in stat modifications.
BEFORE:
AFTER:
AFTER:
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[ Cash Shop Catalog Update ]
The "EVENT" section of the Cash Shop is re-purposed from having absolutely nothing to now being a section dedicated to 14-day expiration rentals that are all priced ideally at 500 Points. This section is geared towards the players who earn most of their Points through voting. Alternatively, this is also for the people who like to switch their style up frequently. Ultimately, this update allows either kind of player to achieve their desired Cash Shop gear in another way.
NOTE: The items available in this section will be on rotation.*
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The goal of this revamp is to find solutions to multiple issues with the vanilla MapleStory party system. Holy Symbol, buff muling, several gimmicks to level one’s character at an absurd rate are just a few of these issues we’re looking to fix. While fixing these, it’s also important for us to promote party play, which we believe was the intended way of playing the game. With the vanilla system in place, party play is very minimal and usually up to 3 people - add more and you’d get punished with less experience per individual player*!
*While party bonus EXP does scale up to 130% with a 6-man party, it results in an overall higher total EXP for the party, but each individual player gains less EXP.
Before we delve into party EXP distribution, something else needs to be addressed first.
*While party bonus EXP does scale up to 130% with a 6-man party, it results in an overall higher total EXP for the party, but each individual player gains less EXP.
Before we delve into party EXP distribution, something else needs to be addressed first.
Party System Conditions
Like most other servers so far have presented, buff mules become a norm over time. While we do not forbid multi-logging, we do consider buff muling and leeching a problem for the overall balance of the game. The solution for this is an internal one, with a set of conditions connected with the party system.
The following are the conditions to keep yourself in a party while retaining your party’s and your own buffs:
The following are the conditions to keep yourself in a party while retaining your party’s and your own buffs:
- 1) To receive party EXP from your party members you must stay active. If you stay idle for more than 45 seconds, then you will not count in your party and your EXP gain will be disabled. Deal at least 60% of a mob’s HP within 45 seconds to avoid this.
- 2) The player who casts a party buff must contribute by killing a mob within 45 seconds. Failing to do so makes the party buff expire for his party members instantly. If the player is a Cleric/Priest, he passes this condition by dealing 40% of a mob’s HP.
- 3) A player who receives a party buff has 45 seconds to hit a mob, otherwise the received party buff expires immediately. Once a mob is hit, the player has a 45 second window to hit a mob again, otherwise the buff expires. This 45 second timer resets every mob hit.
Note: Self-casted buffs do not expire - only buffs that go out to your party members.
Explanation
The reason for these timers is to effectively get rid of buff mules. By putting conditions on both the person casting a buff and the person receiving one, we can assure buff muling doesn’t happen for in-game advantages. Here is an example of how it would work in practice:
This one is to counter all sorts of leeching, duh. There is more to this one however. This ensures that our new party bonus EXP doesn’t get abused, which we will get to shortly!
Replace “Priest” and “Holy Symbol” with any job or skill.
An exception to this first check has been made for Clerics/Priests who might struggle in certain maps. For example, some maps like Forgotten Path of Time <3>, where you’ll find Death Teddies with an enormous amount of HP. These mobs can be difficult to kill fast enough for Clerics and Priests. That is why they can pass this condition by dealing 40% of a mob’s HP.
This condition is here to ensure buff mules don’t happen.
Another condition to ensure buff mules don’t happen. This one is an extra check, so the dedicated cheaters who might fire up multiple characters to benefit from our revamped party EXP bonus don’t get through the first two checks with bots as easily.
This one is to counter all sorts of leeching, duh. There is more to this one however. This ensures that our new party bonus EXP doesn’t get abused, which we will get to shortly!
Replace “Priest” and “Holy Symbol” with any job or skill.
An exception to this first check has been made for Clerics/Priests who might struggle in certain maps. For example, some maps like Forgotten Path of Time <3>, where you’ll find Death Teddies with an enormous amount of HP. These mobs can be difficult to kill fast enough for Clerics and Priests. That is why they can pass this condition by dealing 40% of a mob’s HP.
This condition is here to ensure buff mules don’t happen.
Another condition to ensure buff mules don’t happen. This one is an extra check, so the dedicated cheaters who might fire up multiple characters to benefit from our revamped party EXP bonus don’t get through the first two checks with bots as easily.
Party Bonus EXP
Vanilla party bonus EXP scales from 10% bonus EXP to 30% bonus EXP depending on the amount of players.
While this sounds good in theory, it’s very different in-game. Like mentioned earlier in the intro, with the vanilla bonus EXP, the EXP does indeed go up for the entirety of the party (the total amount of accumulated EXP). However for an individual player, this system is unfortunately punishing for being in a party greater than 3. This has been proven time and time again. This is mostly because of the EXP distribution within the party.
But our goal is to encourage even more party-play! This is why the party bonus EXP is being increased, as well as the EXP distribution being slightly tweaked.
But our goal is to encourage even more party-play! This is why the party bonus EXP is being increased, as well as the EXP distribution being slightly tweaked.
Our EXP gained from party:
2 players = 10% party bonus EXP
3 players = 20% party bonus EXP
4 players = 30% party bonus EXP
5 players = 40% party bonus EXP
6 players = 50% party bonus EXP
2 players = 10% party bonus EXP
3 players = 20% party bonus EXP
4 players = 30% party bonus EXP
5 players = 40% party bonus EXP
6 players = 50% party bonus EXP
Necessary precautions have been made to make sure this cannot be abused.
Read: Party conditions 1) and 3).
Read: Party conditions 1) and 3).
Explanation
With this improvement and our reworked EXP table in mind, we aim to slightly adjust the pace of leveling during early levels. By combining these two, we believe that leveling will be a little less of a chore in the beginning of the game (Lv. 1-21, 31-35, 51-80) while still keeping that sweaty grind for the hardcore players in the later stages of the game.
Party EXP Distribution
To put things simply and briefly, this is decided in order to ensure the bonus EXP buff is balanced out and does not make things too easy for the killer. It instead makes things more worth it for the entire party.
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There are other changes, and to list them all would be pretty long-winded. As if this post isn't already long-winded!! So to spare everyone's attention span, we'll be moving on. The changes listed above are the most important changes and the ones we want you all to focus on during Open Beta.
And now what we all want to know... What is the exact time on the 12-hour clock of which Open Beta will open up at?On October 16th, 8:00 AM Pacific Standard Time (PST) the game server for Open Beta will be online for everyone and anyone to play.
That concludes this update. Again, I appreciate everyone for being so patient with this server's development building up to the release. I'm confident that Open Beta won't be a disappointment and will exemplify a pristine MapleStory experience.
Thank you for tuning in to this update!!
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