Hello Maplers; hope everyone is having a good weekend.
Recently I was informed that the suggestion posts I've made elsewhere would likely be better served here on the forums.
So today I'm going to go over most of what I've written up over the passed few weeks. Though I'll be focusing on Masteria + other GMS exclusive content this time around. If anyone has suggestions for future write ups they'd like to see; please mention those below. And, constructive criticism is also appreciated. As I'm not entirely used to posting on the forums. Before we begin; I would like to suggest players to also look into PirateIzzy's "We Need To Talk About Masteria" post as well. I believe Izzy has insight, and more detailed points than I could hope to match.
With all of that out of the way; let's begin.
1: Phantom Forest
Topic 1a) Daily Quest Revisions + Repeatable Quest Addition
Currently as it stands in Phantom Forest; Players are given 6 daily quests at random through the "Phantom Forest's Most Wanted" daily quest; along with a final 7th quest to turn in once you've completed all of the daily quests given. 3 will involve slaying a number of a given mob in Phantom Forest, 2 will involve hunting a specific special Elite Monster, and 1 will involve slaying 1 of the special Elite Bosses in Phantom Forest.
Issues 1b)
There are a few issues I'd like to point out with this. First; it is a bit difficult for players to earn Raven Ninja coins. As these are only given out at a rate of 9 per day. With no way to earn extra in any way. Second; even with recent improvements to the spawn rates + frequency of special monsters. It still takes multiple hours to hunt the maximum 6 amount of Elite Bosses to maximize daily reward chests from them. Third; because both the Elite Monsters and Elite Bosses are randomized; it is entirely possible, and even likely that players may not find the Elite Monster they need to complete their daily quests. Leading to frustration, and the feeling of losing hours of their day for nothing all due to poor luck.
Suggestion 1c)
I've devised a handful of suggestions to combat these issues.
First; I propose that a revision to the Daily Quests is made. To expand on this; I suggest that repeatable quests be given to Taggrin. While the daily quests Joko gives out be adjusted. What do I mean by this? Allow me to explain.
Instead of Joko giving out the 2 specific Elite Monster + 1 specific Elite Boss quests; Joko could instead give out 2 "Kill 3 Elite Monsters", and 1 "Kill a Phantom Forest Elite Boss" quests instead. Thus eliminating the element of RNG from the equation that could prevent completion of daily quests.
Further; I would also like to suggest giving Taggrin 4 repeatable quests. Each of them would be separated from Joko, and progress would be reset weekly at reset on Sundays. The quests I would propose are as follows:
1: Kill a random monster in Phantom Forest X times for Raven Ninja coins
2; Kill a randomly selected Elite Monster for Shadowknight Coin x1
3: Kill a 1 Phantom Forest Elite Boss for Shadowknight Coins x3
4: Kill Phantom of Naricain, Large Phantom Tree, and Masters Killian and LeFay for Shadowknight Coins x15
These repeatable quests would allow players to continue spending time in Phantom Forest longer without the feeling of frustration they had before. While also allowing players to hunt for Raven Ninja coins more than they had been before, and shifting the RNG centered daily quests for Elite Monsters+Bosses to repeatable quests through Taggrin. I believe this would help players who feel the daily quests aren't very satisfying to attempt do them more often, and alleviate part of the problem.
Topic 2a) Shadowknight Coin Enhancement Cost Reduction
As many have complained about a number of times already. All Masteria Legacy equipment items require Shadowknight Coins every attempt at star forcing. While retaining the same chance to fail as normal Star Force; the Shadowknight Coin cost also increases by a value of 5 per level. Rapidly becoming a rather large time investment even just getting them to 12 stars. This has led to most players ignoring the items altogether.
Issue 2b)
The current situation of obtaining Shadowknight Coins along with the immense Enhancement Shadowknight Coin cost has created an unhealthy environment, and caused most players to ignore the content altogether.
Suggestion 2c)
While many would suggest outright removing the Shadowknight Coin Cost from the equation; I would instead suggest simply reducing the interval/cost value of 5 that exists currently. And, instead changing it to a value of 3. Thus making it so that it starts at 3 Shadowknight Coins to attempt enhancing a level 0 Star Force Masteria Legacy equip, and increasing by 3 from that point on instead of the 5 it does now. The reason for this is that Elite Bosses currently award 3 coins per Elite Boss slain. And, this would better align the costs in a way that a player could see each Elite Boss as knocking a way an exact amount of coins from their goal. Coupled with this; I also have another solution I'd like to talk about in my next topic.
Topic 3a) Fiona Masteria Legacy Enhancement Option Addition
Currently Fiona is an NPC in Dead Man's Gorge who will craft the Masteria Legacy equipment items for the player or other items I can't remember off the top of my head. Giving her 2 dialogue options.
Issue 3b)
As stated earlier; the current chance of failing Star Force enhancement on Masteria Legacy items is a primary reason why many do not bother with the set. The idea of grinding for months to get enough coins to attempt another star, and then either booming the equip or dropping a star can lead to a player losing a large amount of time spent on the game, and with nothing to really show for it. This issue is more burdensome as Shadowknight Coins are not as easy to acquire as standard meso.
Suggestion 3c)
I am not sure how easy this would be to accomplish, but I suggest giving Fiona a new dialogue option. "Masteria Legacy Enhancement"
This would function similarly to the event coupons that level up Event Rings. Where Fiona would take Shadowknight Coins from the player, and have a 100% success rate to Starforce the selected Masteria Legacy item. However, this process would cost 3x the normal amount of Shadowknight Coins it would be if the Player attempted to Starforce it on their own. I believe removing the chance of destruction would make this content even more appealing to players as their time would be seen as valuable, and they could always be progressing towards eventually finishing these equips; instead of the chance of no progress always looming.
Topic 4a) Masteria Legacy Set Effect Adjustment
Currently the Masteria Legacy Set Effect is in need of some adjustments. And, not just because of the original hiccup of Crit Damage being included in it.
Issue 4b)
As it stands at the moment; it is widely seen that Superior Gollux equipment is widely superior (pun not intended) to the Masteria Legacy equipment items. This is due to a glaring issue. The Superior Gollux Set Effect begins at 2 items, and goes up by 1 until it maxes out at a final level of 4-Set. Granting a number of buffs including 30% Boss Damage and Ignore Enemy Defense. Meanwhile; the Masteria Legacy Set Effect doesn't start until a player equips 4 items. While this ensures the Player has to choose either of the two given sets; it creates an issue where players just stick to the Superior Gollux equipment due to the ease of 30% Boss+IED while Masteria Legacy doesn't even even compare until 6 items are equipped. This leads to an issue where a player would need to use more item slots for an arguably similar Set Effect. In Regular Servers this isn't as much of an issue due to Scarlet Earrings triggering both, but this item does not exist in Reboot Servers.
Suggestion 4c
Looking at the original Set Effect of Masteria Legacy; it seems as though there was a trend of trying to stick to 50's for primary stats, and not outright over shadowing the 30% Boss / IED that Superior Gollux provides. I've kept this in mind while writing this up. Now with that being said; I believe the Masteria Legacy Set Effect should be adjusted to begin at 2 items, and finish at 6 items. As one would not be able to have Superior Gollux's Set Effect active if they used Full Masteria Legacy; I propose the following as an adjusted Set Effect for Masteria Legacy:
2 Set Effect
All Stat +10
HP/MP +1000
HP/MP +5%
Att/Matt +10
3 Set Effect
All Stat +15
HP/MP +1500
HP/MP +10%
Boss Damage +15%
IED +15%
Att/Matt +15
4 Set Effect:
All Stat +25
Boss Damage +15%
IED +15%
Att/Matt +25
5 Set Effect:
HP/MP +2500
HP/MP +10%
Crit Rate +5%
6 Set Effect:
HP/MP +15%
Boss Damage +20%
IED +15%
Crit Rate +5%
Att/MAtt +35
Topic 5a) Phantom Forest Treasure Chest Reboot Adjustments
Phantom Forest Treasure Chests are what Elite Bosses in Phantom Forest reward the player with upon defeat. This happens due to their nature of being different from standard Elite Bosses.
Issue 5b)
The issue that currently exists with these items is exclusive to Reboot World. In the reward table for these chests exists the following:
Also rewards one of the following at random:
Equipment: Lireni's Wish x 1
Use: Special Medal of Honor x 1 - 2
Use: Master Craftsman's Cube x 1
Use: Golden Hammer 50% x 1
Use: Meister's Cube x 1
Use: Powerful Rebirth Flame x 1
Use: Eternal Rebirth Flame x 1
Use: Innocence Scroll 50% x 1
Etc: Spell Trace x 50 - 100
Etc: Cubic Blade x 1
Etc: Cubic Chaos Blade x 1
Etc: Unrelenting Flame x 1
Etc: Forever Unrelenting Flame
The primary issue stems from the fact that 6 of the 13 items above do not exist in Reboot. And, as a result vanish into nothingness upon being rolled by a Reboot Player. Leading to around half of the chests opened rewarding nothing. These items are as follows: Golden Hammer 50%, Innocence Scroll 50%, Cubic Blace, Cubic Chaos Blade, Unrelenting Flame, Forever Unrelenting Flame.
https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/875751777738309693/875752036401049631/Screenshot_1834.png?width=936&height=527
The player will receive both a system message, and an on screen dialogue pop up suggesting that they received these items, but they in fact do not.
Suggestion 5c
I have two suggestions.
The first is to simply remove the items exclusive to Regular Servers form Reboot's drop table in Phantom Forest Treasure Chests.
However, taking into account that this might heavily skew the probabilities of items remaining. I would also suggest another solution.
Instead of removing the items; replace them with items that could help Reboot Players. Such as these:
Use: Karma/Untradeable 50% Epic Potential Scroll x1
Use: Untradeable Nodestone x1~3
Use: Untradeable Golden Potential Stamp x1
Etc: Raven Ninja Coins x3
Etc: Shadowknight Coins x3~5
As Regular Server Players may find this unfair; I would also suggest adding these potential rewards to Regular Servers as well.
However, even just removing the Regular Server Exclusive items from Reboot's drop table should be a reasonable fix; this was merely a suggestion.
Originally I wrote up a post regarding the revival of Haunted Mansion, and Crimsonwood Keep + CWK PQ as areas to add to the level 210, 230, and 250 ranges. But, it occurred to me that we seem to get major GMS exclusive updates on even years, and could likely see a follow up to the cliffhanger MONAD left us with next year. Alongside this post already getting quite long. For these reasons I've withheld it for now.
I want to thank all of you for reading this post, and hope to not only see some if not all of these changes made, but also to have a good discussion below.
-Rune
