The third patch of the You & I update, The SEED, has been released! Along with The Seed, a new type of dungeon which requires not just high damage to clear, many skill changes accompanied this patch (buffs to all the Heroes, Knights of Cygnus, Nova, and some other classes).

There were also some more teasers for MapleStory 2 released, check the end of the post for those!

800 years ago, when Maple World was on the verge of being destroyed by the Black Mage, the Transcendent of Life, Alicia created a tower under the sea in order to save as many lives as she could.

However, now the guardian of the tower has lost control. Maple Warriors! Help Alicia regain control of the undersea tower The Seed!

The Seed is available for anyone level 100 or higher. You can enter it through the Dimensional Mirror.

You can only clear a maximum of 200 floors per day. This includes if you don’t make it to the end, so for example, if you stop at the 10th floor two times, it will count as 20 floors.

In order to keep out intruders, the tower had a special enchantment put on it. Without the power of the Hazy Stones, you will not be able to enter The Seed.

If you wish to leave early, you can use Alicia’s Soul Connector which you will be given after you enter.

You will have a base of 5 minutes, and using Hazy Stones will extend that timer. The Carved Hazy Stones give less time than the regular Hazy Stones.

In order to unlock more Hazy Stone slots, you’ll have to pay certain amounts of Seed Points to Alicia’s Spirit.

If you end up running out of Hazy Stones while inside, the flying monkey Finley will appear to remove you forcefully from the tower haha.

After finishing a floor, you will receive some Seed Points and experience. You will also gain additional Seed Points and experience after you return to The Seed lobby, as well as an Alicia’s Ring Box.

Glinda, the Good Witch, has a shop in The Seed. Here you can spend your Seed Points on a variety of things.

• Alicia’s Damage Skin (300,000 points) [Floor 30 or more]
• Base Damage Skin (50,000 points) [Floor 5 or more]
• Snow Removal Action Book (210,000 points) [Floor 25 or more]
• High Five! Manhwa Chair (150,000 points) [Floor 20 or more]
• Carved Cracked Hazy Stone (30 points)
• Carved Basic Hazy Stone (90 points)
• Carved Intermediate Hazy Stone (150 points)
• Carved Advanced Hazy Stone (300 points)
• Carved Premium Hazy Stone (600 points)
• Cracked Hazy Stone (60 point)
• Basic Hazy Stone (180 points)
• Intermediate Hazy Stone (300 points)
• Advanced Hazy Stone (600 points)
• Premium Hazy Stone (1200 points)
• Reindeer Milk (100 points)
• Sunset Dew (160 points)
• All Cure Potion (160 points)

Take advantage of the resting spots on the 5th, 15th, 25th, 35th, and 45th floors. If you need to take a break, wait here, your time will not decrease. You can even log off and when you return, you’ll be in the same room.

The Seed has a total of 50 floors. In the lobby, you can buy items from Glinda or talk to Alicia’s Spirit to enter the tower or check the current rankings.

Almost every floor of the tower has a different type of challenge. For example, the 1st floor requires you to defeat monsters, the 9th floor is a jump quest, and the 39th floor even has a quiz.

Because The Seed was built so long ago, the areas and monsters are those from hundreds of years ago.

And of course, there’s a multitude of bosses. Alicia actually said she designed the tower based on her favourite fairy tale, the Wizard of Oz. If you didn’t already notice that, well there you go haha.

The 10th floor features the Giant Spider, 20th is the Tin Woodman, 30th is the Cowardly Lion, the 40th is the Scarecrow, and the last and 50th floor features Dorothy (she also summons Toto haha).

Each of the bosses has special traits that you can use to make the fight against them easier, very similar to Root Abyss (which was based on Alice in Wonderland if you didn’t know). For example, the Cowardly Lion has a limited supply of potions that give him courage and make him stronger for a certain period of time. The Scarecrow has 800% defense but if you lure him into fire, he becomes weakened.

Let’s move on to the rewards! Before I mentioned Alicia’s Ring Box, you’ll get one of them based on the floor you finished at, and the higher you were the better rank box you’ll get. These Boxes have a chance to give you special skill rings! 

All the rings are level 110, give 4 all stats and 4 attack and magic attack, with no slots and they are tradeable until equipped. You can wear multiples of these rings. The skills will appear in your Beginner skill book.

There’s also a Hidden Ring Box, which has a 100% chance of giving you a ring (although it will not be the highest rank). You can get it from rank 5 or higher Alicia’s Ring Boxes or by collecting 10 Box Pieces from any bosses on floor 30 or higher.

Now you might be asking, skill rings? Yes, there are 31 kinds of rings, each with a special skill that you will gain while wearing the ring! It’s really cool actually. Also, each type of ring has 4 skill levels, I’m not too sure how it determines which you have. I’d assume its random and tied to the ring. My information will list all 4 levels’ stats, separated by /.

Active Skill Rings (25)

•  Restraint Ring: Gain 25%/50%/75%/100% of your attack and magic attack for 4/6/8/10 seconds. However, while this buff is active, you cannot move. There is a cooldown of 300 seconds.
•  Ultimatum Ring: Your attack range becomes 2,000,000 for 4/6/8/10 seconds. There is a cooldown of 300 seconds.
•  Limit Ring: Gain 4%/6%/8%/10% boss damage. However, your MP will be reduced to 500. There is a cooldown of 300 seconds.
•  Health Cut Ring: Gain 4%/6%/8%/10% boss damage. However, your HP will be decreased by 70%. There is a cooldown of 300 seconds.
•  Mana Cut Ring: Gain 4%/6%/8%/10% defense ignore. However, your MP will be decreased by 70%. There is a cooldown of 300 seconds.
•  Durability Ring: Gain 100% of your max HP for 12/18/24/30 seconds. There is a cooldown of 300 seconds.
•  Max Cri Ring: Gain 25%/50%/75%/100% of your current maximum critical damage for 4/6/8/10 seconds. There is a cooldown of 300 seconds.
•  Cri Defense Ring: Gain 25%/50%/75%/100% of your critical rate as defense ignore for 4/6/8/10 seconds. There is a cooldown of 300 seconds.
•  Cri Shift Ring: Gain 9%/9%/10%/10% of your main stat for each 9%/9%/10%/10% critical chance you have for 4/6/8/10 seconds. However, your critical chance will be reduced by that same amount. There is a cooldown of 300 seconds.
•  Stance Shift Ring: Gain 9%/9%/10%/10% of your main stat for each 9%/9%/10%/10% Stance you have for 4/6/8/10 seconds. However, your Stance will be reduced by that same amount. There is a cooldown of 300 seconds.
•  Ring of Sum: Gain a certain amount of your main stat, equal to the total sum of all of your stats, for 4/6/8/10 seconds. There is a cooldown of 300 seconds.
•  Level Buff – S Ring: Gain STR equal to 90% of your level for 4/6/8/10 seconds. There is a cooldown of 300 seconds.
•  Level Buff – D Ring: Gain DEX equal to 90% of your level for 4/6/8/10 seconds. There is a cooldown of 300 seconds.
•  Level Buff – I Ring: Gain INT equal to 90% of your level for 4/6/8/10 seconds. There is a cooldown of 300 seconds.
•  Level Buff – L Ring: Gain LUK equal to 90% of your level for 4/6/8/10 seconds. There is a cooldown of 300 seconds.
•  Weapon Buff – S Ring: Gain STR equal to 100%/200%/300%/400% of your main weapon’s attack or magic attack (whichever is higher) for 4/6/8/10 seconds. There is a cooldown of 300 seconds.
•  Weapon Buff – D Ring: Gain DEX equal to 100%/200%/300%/400% of your main weapon’s attack or magic attack (whichever is higher) for 4/6/8/10 seconds. There is a cooldown of 300 seconds.
•  Weapon Buff – I Ring: Gain INT equal to 100%/200%/300%/400% of your main weapon’s attack or magic attack (whichever is higher) for 4/6/8/10 seconds. There is a cooldown of 300 seconds.
•  Weapon Buff – L Ring: Gain LUK equal to 100%/200%/300%/400% of your main weapon’s attack or magic attack (whichever is higher) for 4/6/8/10 seconds. There is a cooldown of 300 seconds.
•  Swift Ring: Gain 2 attacking speed stages for 4/6/8/10 seconds. There is a cooldown of 300 seconds.
•  Overpass Ring: Gain the ability to ignore Damage Reflect or Damage Ignore for 4/6/8/10 seconds. There is a cooldown of 300 seconds.
•  Shield Swap Ring: Gain 20%/30%/40%/50% defense ignore for 4/6/8/10 seconds. However, your defense and magic defense will be reduced by 50%. There is a cooldown of 300 seconds.
•  Reflective Ring: Reflect 600% of the damage you take to monsters for 4/6/8/10 seconds. There is a cooldown of 300 seconds.
•  Burden Lift Ring: Cleanse away any status at an 85%/90%/95%/100% chance. There is a cooldown of 300 seconds.
•  Risk Taker Ring: Gain 20%/30%/40%/50% attack and magic attack for 12/18/24/30 seconds. However, if you take damage, the buff will disappear. There is a cooldown of 300 seconds.

Passive Skill Rings (6)

•  Crisis – H Ring: When your HP falls below 5%/10%/15%/20%, gain 4%/6%/8%/10% defense and avoid for 4/6/8/10 seconds. There is a cooldown of 180 seconds.
•  Crisis – M Ring: When your MP falls below 5%/10%/15%/20%, gain 4%/6%/8%/10% defense and avoid for 4/6/8/10 seconds. There is a cooldown of 180 seconds.
•  Crisis – HM Ring: When your HP and MP fall below 5%/10%/15%/20%, gain 5% attack and magic attack for 4/6/8/10 seconds. There is a cooldown of 180 seconds.
•  Recover Stance Ring: When you recover from a status, gain 10%/20%/30%/40% Stance for 4/6/8/10 seconds. There is a cooldown of 180 seconds.
•  Recover Defense Ring: When you recover from a status, gain 10%/20%/30%/40% resistance to statuses and elements for 4/6/8/10 seconds. There is a cooldown of 180 seconds.
•  Tower Enhance Ring: When leaving The Seed after a time out, gain 25%/50%/75%/100% extra Seed Points.

There are also new advanced level 150 equipment from The Seed! The first few come from rank 1 or 2 Alicia’s Ring Boxes.

•  Ocean Glow Earrings: 7 all stats, 5 attack and magic attack, 750 HP and MP, 7 slots. Tradeable until equipped, can be traded with the Platinum Karma Scissors.
•  Light Seeker (bow): 210 attack, 50 DEX, 20 STR, 1 slot. Tradeable until equipped, can be traded with the Platinum Karma Scissors.
•  Lud’s Sword (2h sword): 165 attack, 45 STR, 35 DEX, 6 slots. Tradeable until equipped, can be traded with the Platinum Karma Scissors.

The Aquarius Crown is dropped by the 40th floor boss (Scarecrow) while the two staves are dropped by the 50th floor boss (Dorothy).

•  Aquarius Crown: 1 all stats and 1 attack and magic attack, 22 slots. Tradeable until equipped, can be traded with the Platinum Karma Scissors.
•  Alicia’s Brilliance (untradeable): 500 magic attack, 200 all stats, 1 slot. Untradeable.
•  Corrupted Alicia’s Staff (staff): 300 magic attack, 50 INT, 50 LUK, 0 slots. Tradeable until equipped, can be traded with the Platinum Karma Scissors.

There are also many medals you can gain by progressing through the 50 floors of The Seed.

•  The Seed Newbie (50 HP and MP) – reach the 5th floor resting spot
•  Web Penetrator (100 HP and MP) – defeat the 10th floor Master Monster
•  The Seed Beginner (150 HP and MP) – reach the 15th floor resting spot
•  Iron Melter (200 HP and MP) – defeat the 20th floor Master Monster
•  The Seed Traveller (300 HP and MP) – reach the 25th floor resting spot
•  Lion Chaser (300 HP and MP, 50 defense and magic defense) – defeat the 30th floor Master Monster
•  The Seed Expert (300 HP and MP, 100 defense and magic defense) – reach the 35th floor resting spot
•  Hay Burner (1 all stats, 300 HP and MP, 100 defense and magic defense) – defeat the 40th floor Master Monster
•  The Seed Master (2 all stats, 300 HP and MP, 100 defense and magic defense) – reach the 45th floor resting spot
•  Dorothy Challenger (10 all stats, 300 HP and MP, 10 attack and magic attack, 100 defense and magic defense) – defeat the 50th floor Master Monster

   

The creation of Aran, Battle Mage, Wild Hunter, and Mechanic has been closed. These jobs will return in a future patch. Incoming Aran/Resistance reorganization I guess.

Now let’s go on to the skill changes!

Skill Changes

Adventurer Magicians

•  Teleport: this skill can now be used while in the air

Cannon Shooter

•  Reinforce Cannon: attack boost has been increased from 30 to 40
•  Monkey Furious: damage boost on monsters afflicted with the debuff has been increased from 20% to 25%

Dual Blade

•  Dummy Effect: Shadow Evasion will now activate whenever the Dummy is attacked instead of only when it is destroyed
•  Final Cut: delay after attacking has been decreased

Aran

•  Combat Step: can now be used while in the air, can now be activated with the Jump key
•  Combo Ability: attack boost per 10 Combo Count has been increased from 3 to 5
•  Advanced Combo Ability: attack boost per 10 Combo Count has been increased from 5 to 7
•  Cleaving Attack: damage boost on boss monsters has been increased from 20% to 30%
•  Might: attack boost has been increased from 25 to 50, duration has been increased from 120 seconds to 200 seconds
•  Blessing Maha: attack boost will now stack with other buffs and items
•  Final Toss: Combo Count required has been decreased from 20 to 15
•  Final Blow: damage has been increased from 355% to 380% (hotkey), damage has been increased from 460% to 490% (Combo usage) number of hits has been increased from 3 to 4, Combo Count required has been decreased from 30 to 15
•  Beyonder: damage has been increased from 420% to 640%, number of hits for the first attack has been increased from 2 to 4, defense ignored has been increased from 20% to 30%
•  Combo Tempest: after using this skill, you will receive a debuff for 15 seconds that doubles the Combo Count required to use this skill (stacking up to 9 times)

Evan

•  Ghost Lettering: debuff duration has been increased from 15 seconds to 30 seconds
•  Illusion: in addition to existing effects Illusion now deals 30% extra damage to bosses

Mercedes

•  Unicorn Spike: damage boost on debuffed monsters has been increased from 15% to 30%, chance to activate has been increased from 95% to 100%
•  Rolling Moonsault: damage has been increased from 180% to 300%
•  Ishtar’s Ring: damage has been increased from 155% to 200%
•  Legendary Spear: defense reduction debuff has been increased from 20% to 30%
•  Lightning Edge: debuff duration has been increased from 10 seconds to 15 seconds

Phantom

•  Moonlight: attack boost has been increased from 30 to 40
•  Noire Carte: damage has been increased from 220% to 270%
•  Cane Expert: attack boost has been increased from 30 to 40
•  Twilight: in addition to existing effects, Twilight now inflicts a debuff on monsters that decreases their defenses by 20% for 15 seconds

Luminous

• The amount that each skill affects the Light/Dark balance has been increased
•  Absolute Kill: number of hits has been increased from 7 to 8 (however, in Equilibrium, max number of hits is still 15)

Wind Breaker

•  Trifling Whim III: damage has been increased from 255% to 280%, damage of enhanced arrow has been increased from 330% to 360%
•  Song of Heaven: damage has been increased from 260% to 370%

Striker

•  Ascend: damage has been increased from 175% to 225%
•  Thunder: damage has been increased 150% to 170%
•  Tornado: damage boost per Lightning buff has been increased from 3% to 4%
•  Annihilate: damage has been increased from 250% to 350%
•  Thunderbolt: damage has been increased from 280% to 320%

Soul Master

•  Master of the Sword: damage reduction when using Falling Moon has been decreased from 40% to 20% (i.e. you will be doing 80% damage instead of 60% damage)
•  Two Handed Sword Expert: attack boost has been increased from 30 to 50
•  Dance of Moon: damage has been increased from 360% to 460%
•  Speeding Sunset: damage has been increased from 360% to 460%

Mechanic

•  Mechanic Dash: this skill can now be used while in Missile Tank or Hovering Mode
•  Metal Armor: Heavy Machine Gun: damage has been increased from 120% to 240%
•  Over Tuning: cooldown has been removed
•  Metal Armor: Missile Tank: damage has been increased from 120% to 240%
•  Missile Tank: Heavy Machine Gun: damage has been increased from 130% to 250%
•  Laser Blast: number of hits has been increased from 4 to 5

Demon Slayer

•  Demon Impact: damage has been increased from 405% to 420%, delay has been decreased from 1200 ms to 990 ms, in addition to existing effects Demon Impact now slows enemies hit by 30% for 3 seconds

Demon Avenger

• Demon Avenger’s attack formula has been adjusted
•  Advanced Desperado Mastery: attack boost has been increased from 30 to 50
•  Shield Chasing: in addition to existing effects, Shield Chasing now passively boosts Exceed: Moonlight Slash’s damage by 30%
•  Maple Warrior: in addition to existing effects, Maple Warrior now passively increases your HP by 15%

Xenon

•  Fuzzy Lob Masquerade: Snipe: damage has been increased from 432% to 450%

Kaiser

•  Attack Mode 1st Enhancement: attack boost has been increased from 5 to 10, boss damage has been increased from 2% to 5%
•  Attack Mode 2nd Enhancement: attack boost has been increased from 10 to 15, boss damage has been increased from 2% to 5%
•  Attack Mode 3rd Enhancement: attack boost has been increased from 10 to 15, boss damage has been increased from 3% to 5%
•  Final Figuration: damage boost has been increased from 15% to 20% (4th job mode has been increased from 30% to 50%)
  • Morph Gauge required for Final Figuration 2 and 3 has been decreased
•  Gigaslasher: damage has been increased from 220% to 330%, Final Figuration mode’s damage has been increased from 220% to 280%
•  Final Trans: damage boost has been increased from 30% to 50%

Angelic Burster

•  Affinity I: recharge rate boost has been increased from 20% to 30%
•  Affinity III: trigger conditions have been decreased from 3 failed Recharges to 2 failed Recharges
•  NEW! Trinity – Reinforce: Trinity’s damage is increased by 20%.
•  NEW! Trinity – Recharge Up: Trinity’s Recharge rate is increased by 20%.
•  NEW! Trinity – Bonus Attack: Trinity’s damage is reduced to 950% but its number of hits is increased by 1.
•  REMOVED! Soul Resonance – Reinforce
•  REMOVED! Soul Resonance – Cooltime Reduce
•  REMOVED! Soul Resonance – Persist

Zero character creation has returned! Summer 2013 only… sure Nexon. However, you now need a level 100 character before you can create one.

In addition, Zero can now leave the Mirror World and begin gaining experience/mesos/items in Maple World after completing Chapter 2 of the story line.

Cross Hunter has been updated to match the new levels of areas around Maple World! It now begins at level 90 and has appropriate quests for each level range. Chapter 2’s rewards now give 100 Scroll Traces instead of a Cross Hunter scroll. Zero characters can now participate in Cross Hunter!

Gold Beach has a world map now!

One more change which I really hate is that they reduced the invincibility time after being hit by attacks (again!). Seriously? They already reduced it once, and it was sort of bad, now it’s going to be terrible training without using tons of potions…

The 2nd World Leap event has begun and will run until January 19. If you’re not familiar, this event allows you to transfer up to 3 characters per world to any other world, for free!

Speaking of which, on the 28th, 7 worlds (Judis/Khadia/Dar/Ryuho, Mardia, Yellonde/Kastia, Arcania, Broa, Aether, and Ultimate) will be merged into one world called Elysium.

Season 2 of the Minigame Station has been opened and will run until February 12!

 

It’s the same as before, except Mesoranger has been removed and replaced with Maple Marvel (Monopoly) and Maple Yut Game. I loved playing these minigames, and along with One Card (Uno), I swear I’ll play more minigames than actual MapleStory!

Oh, and they increased the rewards from the Bingo for Everyone!! event. Now you get 20 Chestnut Coins if you’re 1st, 10 if you’re 2~5, 6 if you’re 6~10, and 2 if you’re 11~30. Also, everyone gets 3 Spin the Wheel tickets instead of just 1.

The Undersea Tower <The Seed> Break your Limits! event has begun and will end on February 5. On this day, the number one Mapler on each world’s ranking for The Seed will receive 5 million Maple Points!

The Mileage Shop has been updated! There are 16 new items including the Junior Horse pet and Idol Star Cola Pop Candy.

13 items’ buying limits have been reset, including Red Cubes, Epi’s Boxes, and Platinum Karma Scissors.

15 items have been removed, including the Little STar pet, Elizabeth Fan, and the Snake New Era.

Haha, the last one actually made me laugh. I guess King Slime will be in MapleStory 2!