Orange Mushroom's Blog

Hey guys, a third balancing patch has been added to the test server with further changes for many jobs! They also added the Battle Statistics system.

In addition, the fourth and fifth Developers’ Note has been released, talking about the new Mu Lung Dojo and renewed Korean Folk Town, and the new boss raid Urs!

Evan and Zero can now use their SP in batches, like other jobs.

There were some changes to items.

• Potential/Additional Options: ‘damage increase when attacking bosses’ has been renamed to ‘damage increase when attacking boss monsters’
• Ryude’s Sword: now has a 50% chance to give an extra line to an attack (instead of 100%)

The new Battle Statistics system has been added.

• The Battle Statistics system allows you to measure the damage you do and the mesos/experience you obtain in a certain period of time.
• You can access it through the Menu -> Battle Statistics button.
• You can minimize/maximize the size of the UI if you want through the menu.
• While in the maximized UI, in addition to the total damage you do, the system can also measure the damage per skill, number of times a skill was used, and number of hits.
• The Battle Statistics system can measure up to 60 minutes at a time. If you leave it on for more than 60 minutes, it will automatically stop measuring.

At the top of the UI it says from top to bottom, left to right: battle time, average mesos acquired (per second), total damage, average damage (per second), experience acquired, and average experience acquired (per second).

On the left side from top to bottom is: total damage, % of total damage inflicted by that skill, average damage (per second), number of times used, average damage (per usage), number of hits, maximum damage (per 1 hit), minimum damage (per 1 hit).

You can use the drop down at the top to sort the skills by any of the above categories.

Skill Changes

You can see the previous balancing patches here and here. Please note that the changes in this post are in addition to the previous changes. As a reminder, here are Nexon’s goals for this balancing update. This patch specifically added the last part about the damage text.

• Jobs with low combat efficiency had it increased while jobs with high combat efficiency had it decreased.
  • To the best of our ability, changes are being made without affecting each job’s characteristics and fun.
• Utility ability adjustments
  • Jobs with multiple utility based skills have had their effectiveness and cooldowns adjusted.
  • Draining skills will now be based off of your character’s maximum HP instead of the damage dealt to monsters.
  • Binding skill abilities and binding skill resistances have been changed to follow the same logic. (I believe this means there are no longer different ‘types’ of binds to disallow stacking)
  • Jobs with a low number of utility based skills have had their effectiveness increased.
• Combat pattern improvements
  • Some jobs’ combat patterns have been changed slightly.
  • Many cooldowns have been adjusted to create equality.
  • The performance differences between weapons for jobs which can use more than one have been mitigated.
• Inconvenience improvements
  • Buff skills’ casting delays have been decreased.
  • Jobs’ buff skills have had their durations normalized.
• Skill damage increases’ text explanations clarifications
  • Skills that increase damage, increase attack, or both have had their descriptions clarified. (note: this is probably only an issue in Korean because the words for damage/attack have been used in place of each other sometimes)
  • Skills that increase damage additively will now state ‘%p damage increase’, skills that increase damage multiplicatively will now state ‘% damage increase’, skills that increase your damage multiplicatively but are multiplied last will now state ‘% final damage increase’.
  • ‘Damage increase when attacking bosses’ has been renamed to ‘Damage increase when attacking boss monsters’.

All Jobs

Sometimes, even if you stop attacking in time to avoid Damage Reflect, your Final Attack type skills would activate, leading to unavoidable deaths so we have fixed that. In addition, we have increased the maximum damage of summons.

• Final Attack skills: these skills will no longer activate Damage Reflect
• Summon skills: maximum damage limit has been increased to 1 billion (1,000,000,00)

All Adventurers

The Decent skills available through equipment potential have been changed so that they can be debuffed like all other jobs and we fixed a Drain skill which we missed in previous patches.

• Decent skills: error where these skills could not be debuffed has been fixed
•  Icarut’s Vampire: HP healed has been changed from % of damage done to monsters to % of your maximum HP

Hero

Hero’s Combo Attack ability did not have much use in 2nd job and so we have added some functionality. And their hits per second are low so have increased Raging Blow’s hits while Enrage is active.

•  Combo Attack: in addition to existing effects, Combo Attack now gives 2 attack per Combo Count
•  Enrage: fixed an error where Enrage could be used without any Combo Count
•  Raging Blow: instead of Raging Blow’s damage being increased while Enrage is active, Raging Blow will now deal 215% damage 7 times while Enrage is active (last two hits will still be critical hits)

Paladin

Paladins do not use Sanctuary very often so we have updated it a bit, and their hits per second are low so we have increased Blast’s number of hits.

•  Sanctuary: cast delay has been decreased from 2760ms to 1380ms
•  Blast: damage has been decreased from 318% to 290%, number of hits has been increased from 7 to 8, buff duration has been increased from 60 seconds to 90 seconds

Dark Knight

We wanted to reduce the performance differences between the two weapons by letting Weapon Mastery increase attack speed while equipping a Spear but it was a large buff so Polearms became useless. We think Spears should still be buffed so we have decreased the attack speed boost but added a damage boost. We fixed some Drain skills which we missed in previous patches.

•  Lord of Darkness: HP healed has been changed from % of damage done to monsters to % of your maximum HP
•  Beholder’s Revenge: HP healed has been changed from 10% of damage done to monsters to 5% of your maximum HP
•  Weapon Mastery: attack speed boost while wearing a Spear has been decreased from 2 stages to 1 stage, you will now gain 5% damage while wearing a Spear (in addition to the attack speed boost)

All Adventurer Magicians

To mitigate the differences between Staves and Wands, you will now gain attack speed when using a Wand.

•  MP Increase: in addition to existing effects, your attack speed will be increased by 1 stage while wearing a Wand

Archmage (Fire/Poison)

In the previous test server updates, Archmage’s number of hits per second were decreased too much so we have reverted that change. But in order to reduce their damage, some of their damage boosts have been decreased.

•  Ignite: duration has been increased from 4 to 6 seconds
•  Paralyze: cast delay has been decreased from 870ms to 800ms
•  Infinity: final damage boost has been decreased from 10% to 8%
•  Paralyze – Reinforce: damage boost has been decreased from 20% to 10%

Archmage (Ice/Lightning)

After the last test server update, Archmage’s number of hits per second became low. To keep their damage similar but increase the number of hits, we increased Chain Lightning’s hits but decreased its damage boost.

•  Thunder Storm: storm’s speed has been increased
•  Chain Lightning: damage has been decreased from 300% to 255%, number of hits has been increased from 6 to 7, cast delay has been decreased from 840ms to 780ms, hit sound and hit effect have been changed
•  Chain Lightning – Reinforce: damage boost has been decreased from 20% to 10%
•  Teleport Mastery – Reinforce: damage boost has been decreased from 20% to 10%

Bishop

Big Bang’s effect was very annoying because it blocked users, so we have moved it behind the character. Also, when you use Vengeance of Angel, you lose the ability to Teleport while using Angel Ray so we have fixed that.

•  Big Bang: effect will now appear behind the character
•  Angel Ray: maximum HP healed has been increased from 15% to 20%
•  Vengeance of Angel: you can now use Teleport while using Angel Ray

Bowmaster

In order to make Arrow Platter more efficient, we have decreased its cooldown. And Hurricane – Reinforce’s damage boost will now apply to Arrow Platter’s turret. Armor Piercing’s skill description was very long and did not state the delay between activations, so we have improved it. In addition, because of this delay combined with its activation rate it was inefficient, so we have changed the skill a bit.

•  Arrow Platter: installed turret’s duration has been decreased from 15 seconds to 10 seconds, installed turret’s cooldown has been decreased from 30 seconds to 15 seconds
•  Armor Piercing: final damage boost based on enemy’s defense rate has been decreased from 400% to 100%, activation rate and stacking system have been removed, this skill now has a 100% activation rate but has a reactivation cooldown of 1 second (hard to explain but basically, it will let you ignore defense and deal extra damage based on the enemy’s defense rate on one attack then go on cooldown for 1 second)
•  Hurricane – Reinforce: damage boost has been increased from 20% to 25%, damage boost now applies to Arrow Platter and it’s installed turret

Night Lord

Night Lord’s cast effect for Quadruple Throw has been changed to match the sense that you are throwing so many stars.

•  Quadruple Throw: cast effect has been changed
•  Purge Area: error causing a cast delay has been fixed

Shadower

The change made to Shadower’s Veil of Shadow skill in the previous test server update made it a bit strong, so we have increased its cooldown.

•  Veil of Shadow: cooldown has been increased from 30 seconds to 65 seconds

Dual Blade

We have fixed a Drain skill which we missed in previous patches.

•  Vital Steal: HP healed has been changed from 10% of damage done to monsters to 20% of your maximum HP

Viper

The cooldown which we added to Viper’s Double Spiral if used during another skill was too long so have decreased it. Fist Enrage’s attack range was increased slightly and Counter Attack has been changed to activate from any type of attack to reduce inconvenience.

•  Double Spiral: cooldown when used during another skill has been decreased from 10 seconds to 4 seconds
•  Counter Attack: damage reduction has been decreased from 70% to 40%, Counter Attack will now activate on % HP attacks
•  Fist Enrage: attack range has been increased, attack range when fully charged has been greatly increased
•  Guard Crush: this skill now has a chance to activate per hit instead of per attack
•  Unity of Power: damage has been decreased from 800% to 650%

Captain

Captain’s Counter Attack will now activate from any type of attack, and Rapid Fire’s damage has been increased for better boss fighting.

•  Counter Attack: Counter Attack will now activate on % HP attacks
•  Rapid Fire – Reinforce: damage boost has been increased from 20% to 30%

Mikhail

Mikhail’s Royal Guard buff’s duration has been increased in order to reduce the penalty of failing to guard an attack. Shining Cross – Install’s duration has been increased to make it more effective. And some other changes have been made to reduce extremely high performance.

•  Royal Guard: duration of attack buff after successfully counter attacking has been increased, cooldown has been increased, cast sound and hit sound have been added
•  Advanced Royal Guard: attack buff after successfull counter attacking has been decreased
•  Soul Link: % of Mikhail’s Royal Guard attack buff and Soul Endure’s resistance to statuses and elements given to party members has been decreased
•  Soul Assault: number of monsters hit has been increased
•  Shining Cross: cast sound and hit sound have been added
•  Shining Cross – Enhance: damage has been decreased, duration has been increased, cast sound and hit sound have been added

Soul Master

Soul Master has very low resistance to statuses and elements, even compared to other melee warriors, so we have increased it.

•  Rising Sun: damage boost has been decreased from 35% to 30%
•  Will of Steel: resistance to statuses and elements boost has been increased from 20% to 30%
•  Master of the Sword: Falling Moon’s damage reduction has been decreased from 20% to 15% (damage in Falling Moon is increased from 80% to 85%), Rising Sun’s damage boost has been increased from 40% to 55%

Flame Wizard

To mitigate the differences between Staves and Wands, you will now gain attack speed when using a Wand.

•  Natural Talent: in addition to existing effects, your attack speed will be increased by 1 stage while wearing a Wand

Wind Breaker

Wind Breakers received extra damage when using Sky’s Song on one target but it was a bit too much so we have decreased it.

•  Sky’s Song: final damage boost when hitting reduced targets has been decreased from 15% to 13%

Night Walker

We fixed some inconveniences Night Walkers had with Shadow Servant.

•  Dark Sight: will no longer be cancelled by Shadow Servant or Shadow Illusion’s attacks
•  Shadow Servant: this skill will no longer disappear when affected by status conditions
•  Shadow Illusion: this skill will no longer disappear when affected by status conditions

Aran

Aran will no longer be able to be knocked back by enemy attacks when casting Final Blow and their damage reduction while casting Beyonder will now activate on % HP attacks.

•  Final Blow: you can no longer be knocked back by enemy attacks while casting this skill
•  Beyonder: damage reduction while casting this skill will now apply to % HP attacks

Evan

To mitigate the differences between Staves and Wands, you will now gain attack speed when using a Wand.

•  Spell Mastery: in addition to existing effects, your attack speed will be increased by 1 stage while wearing a Wand

Phantom

Phantom had unused SP in 2nd job so we have adjusted Luck Monopoly, and we have increased Ultimate Drive’s damage to make it more effective.

•  Luck Monopoly: LUK boost has been increased from 40 to 60, master level has been increased from 5 to 10
•  Ultimate Drive: damage has been increased from 130% to 140%
•  Final Judgement: Drain Card’s HP healed has been changed from 3% of damage done to monsters to 1% of your maximum HP

Demon Slayer

We fixed an error where using Demon Explosion continuously would cause the client to shut down and we have adjusted some of its drain skills.

•  Bloody Raven: cooldown has been increased from 5 seconds to 10 seconds
•  Demon Explosion: error where using this skill continuously would cause the client to shut down has been fixed
•  Vampiric Touch: maximum heal limit has been increased from 15% maximum HP to 25% maximum HP

Demon Avenger

After reducing Demon Avenger’s drain abilities, it became hard to keep their HP up. We have adjusted Release Overload and made Exceed skills increase your Overload count even if you switch Exceed skills. In addition, we have increased the damage of some Exceed skills.

•  Exceed: while using an Exceed skill, using another Exceed skill will now increase your Overload count
•  Release Overload: cast delay has been removed
•  Shield Chasing: Exceed: Moonlight Slash’s damage boost has been increased from 110% to 330%p
•  Armor Break: in addition to existing effects, Armor Break now increases Exceed: Demon Strike’s damage by 155%p
•  Thousand Sword: HP consumption has been decreased from 15% to 5%

Battle Mage

We have decreased Battle Mage’s Drain Aura’s HP healed when killing a monster.

•  Drain Aura: maximum HP healed on enemy kill has been decreased from 3% to 1%

Mechanic

In previous test server updates, we reduced Mechanic’s damage but it is still to high so we have adjusted it further. And to increase Titan’s effectiveness, we have adjusted its damage formula and damage reduction.

•  Rocket Booster: command has been removed
•  Overtuning: cooldown has been removed
•  Advanced Homing Missile: damage has been decreased from 440% to 395%
•  War Machine: Titan: damage formula has been changed to use the character’s damage instead of a summon’s, damage reduction while casting will now apply to % HP attacks
•  Massive Fire – Reinforce: damage boost has been decreased from 20% to 10%

Xenon

To make Xenon’s Purge Lob Masquerade more effective, we have reduced its delays and we have also fixed some inconveniences of Triangle Formation.

•  Triangle Formation: this skill will no longer activate Damage Reflect
•  Purge Lob Masquerade: Snipe: cast delay has been decreased from 930ms to 900ms
•  Purge Lob Masquerade: Laser: cast delay has been decreased from 1260ms to 1020ms
•  Purge Lob Masquerade: Bomb: number of hits has been increased from 4 to 5, number of monsters hit has been increased from 12 to 15, cast delay has been decreased from 1440ms to 1200ms

Zero

Zero’s Throwing Weapon’s damage will now use the character’s damage formula instead of a summon’s. We have also increased Alpha’s resistance to statuses and elements and fixed an error with many skills which would deal damage and activate Damage Reflect.

•  Reinforce Body: in addition to existing effects, Reinforce Body increases your resistance to statuses and elements by 10%
•  Solid Body: resistance to statuses and elements has been decreased from 50% to 40%
•  Shadow Strike : intermittent error where the afterattack would activate Damage Reflect has been fixed
•  Advanced Spin Cutter : intermittent error where the afterattack would activate Damage Reflect has been fixed
•  Advanced Rolling Curve: intermittent error where the afterattack would activate Damage Reflect has been fixed
•  Advanced Rolling Assaulter: intermittent error where the afterattack would activate Damage Reflect has been fixed
•  Wind Cutter: intermittent error where the afterattack would activate Damage Reflect has been fixed
•  Wind Strike: intermittent error where the afterattack would activate Damage Reflect has been fixed
•  Storm Break: intermittent error where the afterattack would activate Damage Reflect has been fixed
•  Advanced Storm Break: intermittent error where the afterattack would activate Damage Reflect has been fixed
•  Advanced Power Stomp: intermittent error where the shockwave would activate Damage Reflect has been fixed
•  Throwing Weapon: damage formula has been changed to use the character’s damage instead of a summon’s, intermittent error where the weapon would activate Damage Reflect has been fixed
•  Advanced Throwing Weapon: damage formula has been changed to use the character’s damage instead of a summon’s, intermittent error where the weapon would activate Damage Reflect has been fixed
•  Jumping Crash: intermittent error where the shockwave would activate Damage Reflect has been fixed
•  Earth Break: intermittent error where the shockwave would activate Damage Reflect has been fixed
•  Advanced Earth Break: intermittent error where the shockwave would activate Damage Reflect has been fixed

Hello, it’s SY.

Today marks the 4th day of our update introductions. We will be talking about the reorganization of some content to be more fun and the reopening of content which has previously been unavailable.

1. Enter the Dragon: Mu Lung Dojo

The existing Mu Lung Dojo is mainly used by high level users with high damage. However, for lower level users, it feels like it is too difficult of a goal to try and challenge them. This summer, starting from level 105, Mu Lung Dojo will be divided into 3 Leagues. Please enjoy aiming for number 1 in your League and progressing to a higher one.

—

Wonky: In the Reboot update, users will find that the existing Mu Lung Dojo has been changed to Enter the Dragon: Mu Lung Dojo. The current Mu Lung Dojo only allows some users to clear it and reach the top of the rankings but now, starting from level 105, users will be able to participate in the new competition.

Among several changes to Mu Lung Dojo, the biggest is that the current modes will be combined into one. In this mode, the rankings will be split into 3 groups based on character level. Depending on your ranking in the group, you can receive high quality equipment items. Based on your ranking, you’ll also receive points in the new Enter the Dragon: Mu Lung Dojo. These Mu Lung Dojo Points can be traded in for various items that will help you in regular game play, including the items which can be acquired from the current Mu Lung Dojo.

And in this single mode’s stages, the monsters’ difficulties have been changed significantly. Instead of being a simple speed race where you mindlessly hit monsters, the neemies have become more powerful in different ways, creating fun gameplay and more interesting competition. Through these change, all users will be able to challenge Enter the Dragon: Mu Lung Dojo and become stronger to enter the rankings.

2. Renewed Korean Folk Town

Currently in Maple, there are many theme dungeons and areas which are closed. In the past, we promised to reopen them after reorganizations but our speed was not fast enough for users’ needs. So this summer, for the users who were looking forward to them, we will be releasing a renewed Korean Folk Town. With a new story and battle patterns, you will able to enjoy a more interesting Korean Folk Town.

Wave: After a long time, Korean Folk Town will finally be reopened. Along with its unique country based fairy tales, we will not be changing it significantly but we will be making it a more serious area. By performing a smaller reorganization, it has become possible to focus our changes and create more high quality content.

The current Korean Folk Town has a variety of stories which some users may have already played and new ones that all users will enjoy. A lot of people already know the folk tales behind the area and one of the main points of this reorganization is to enrich the story and make it fresh.

Wave: 

We were not satifisfied with the excitement of the material itself, so we looked closely with the gameplay to create a better experience. One of the factors which cannot be overlooked is hunting. To make local hunting grounds interesting, a few things have been added such as being able to use kilns as hunting cools.

Maple World’s Korean Folk Town has a creative concept. Users have shown some interest in it, what is the most interesting thing in Korean Folk Town for you?

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Mu Lung Dojo and Korean Folk Town are existing content which many users have enjoyed, and we are looking forward to showing you guys their renewed look. We hope these changes will make these contents more popular and interesting for all users.

See you tomorrow for the final news.

Thank you.

Hello, it’s SY.

Finally today, after a long time of preparing, we will be introducing the large scale 18-person raid boss “Urs”.

—

1. Urs

SY: When you think of online RPGs, you also think of massive raids. However, it is true there are complicated steps which are made difficult due to the large gap between users. Urs will be using the 2D skeleton animation which we introduced on Tuesday, allowing all users to participate more actively in the fight against him. He will use power compensation and hot skills to make playing against the boss more fun and require true cooperation.

Im Chajang: Hello! I’m Im Chajang. Greetings after a long time~ I am happy to showcase Urs to all you users, we have been working on him for a while.

“Urs” is a giant boss monster, and also the first boss in MapleStory to use skeleton animation.

– click to see full size –

Im Chajang: By replacing our current sprite animation scheme, we were able to surpass our limits and implement something that was bigger and had more diverse behaviour.

In the case of traditional sprite images compared to the new skeleton animation for boss monsters, we were able to reduce the memory footprint of Urs to up to 1/100th of the original.

Another thing which has become possible by the usage of skleton animation is that we can add dozens of actions such as being eaten, thrown, or burned which allowed us to add a wide range of interactions between Urs and the characters fighting him.

Im Chajang: With 18 players all fighting together, the power compensation system has been added to make sure that dealing damage is not the only thing that matters. Unlike traditional bosses, users will need to work together to fight the boss and this will make it much more fun for everyone. Up until now, fighting monsters in Maple has never been this entertaining.

Speaking of large bosses, we are working very hard to develop a pleasant environment to fight the boss in which reducing lag is our highest priority.

18 people giant boss raid!
Please look forward to it!!!

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This is the core content which our development team is preparing for this summer. The Reboot update will begin on June 25 and continue until August, with about 5 parts. Some of the information which we have talked about may be changed slightly from now until release.

When developing a game, there are always surprises. Our developers hope to surpass all of your expectations. This update is very ambitious and we do not know if we can meet the expectations of all users but we will try our best.

We hope that we can continue to provide updates to Maple which users have been asking for.

2015 summer. The Reboot update will begin soon.
We really appreciate your support.

Thank you.