I am satisfied with the game or the direction it is headed. We still need more incentive for party play outside of bossing, but I feel that the content itself is good.
Nexon does seem to … (more)be somewhat attempting a shift back towards party play or social interaction within the game, so we need more time to see the fruits of that labor.
Guild revamp, among the way they've handled some events suggest to me that Nexon has finally seen that party play is in fact dead and are slowly trying to fix it.
One of the things I think we need most in this regard is a change to the way mesos are split whilst in a party.
EXP is objectively better given the right circumstances.
However Mesos are strangely split between the entire party and not boosted in any way.
On top of this, the split occurs even if the party member isn't on the same map.
I think this creates too many scenarios where other things make it hard to justify being in a party for the sometimes extra EXP.
Things such as droplets, nodestones and mesos over EXP, having to find someone to party with and coordinate where each person needs to be on the map, etc.
Solo story is possible, as it should be. A player shouldn't be locked out of the game simply because they can't find a party.
But there should be a more clear and obvious reward for players who take the time to find a party and grind that way instead.
Map wide party buffs and better map selection in the 200+ areas is something else I think we need.
Too many maps in the 200+ areas are easily designed for solo play, or have such poor design that even a party wouldn't want to mess with it.
Nexon seems to acknowledge this with recent chuchu map revamps in Korea. So this is another case of "Just wait and see" imo.
I think players need a better way to communicate with one another as well. Guild chat and Alliance chat are great and all, but they're not a big enough scale imo.
I think the fix for this is to give players either free or low cost megaphones (The channel specific versions), as these seem to barely get used regardless.
This would allow people to create sub-communities within the individual channels and more easily find people to help them boss, party or ask questions without the need to fork over money for a super megaphone.
As it should be obvious, this biggest issue I have with the game is the lack of party play outside of bossing.
I don't think we need too many more party quests or minigames to play with others. They'll just be ignored like all the others.
I think for real change to happen they need to work on fixing the content we already have to be more enticing to players.
As well as giving players better ways to communicate and find users similar to their own level/power/goals to play with.
All in all I trust the current development team with the future of MapleStory, even the future of GMS.
The only real problem I have with the game is the way GMS handles the community we still lack the transparency we need.
But we have a million other threads for that and I don't think that should be the focus for this one. (less)
Mawg, in Maplestory, only Magicians use Magic Attack. Paladin is a Warrior, and therefore uses Attack (sometimes called Weapon Attack or Attack Power).
ONLY mages use M ATT? And EVERY OTHER JOB uses straight ATT?
I never realized that. I has thought that some, like Phatom, etc, used magic.
Thanks, yet again, for the enlightenment
I don't know if Phantom uses the MATK stat, but phantom actually can do magic damage with the stolen skills.
I can't think of any other class other than mages that actually have magic damage though. (less)
Blaster is the way it is so that people that like those very technical games have a character to work with.
The DPS on blaster is insane, so the button mash is the trade off. It's not … (more)supposed to be a character for everyone. (less)
other job has an iframe, then yes, you're statement of saying "No character should be locked out of bossing simply because they have an EXP boost. If this was the case, Bishop requires a nerf." would make sense, but that isn't the case. Haven't played a bishop, so I don't know if they have iframes, but I'm going off the assumption they don't (I know that Heaven's Door is a revive, not an iframe), then my original logic of a job having either only iframe or exp/drop boost but not both still holds (yes, I'm sure there's jobs that have both, but I'm just saying Bishop because that's the specific job you pointed out), while the op's wish to have both does not.
Bishop does have iframes, Ethereal Form it's not an iframe unique to it, but it is there.
yes, I'm sure there's jobs that have both
There's beast tamer (lol) that has both an EXP/Drop Boost (Arby form) and a massive 30 second iframe skill.
I haven't really played either class extensively, so I can't speak for how well the two survive or DPS compared to each other.
A class doesn't NEED iframes to survive, playing a class that has the tools to survive without them well (Like NL I guess) is possible.
But sometimes BS can happen, which is where a long CD short duration iframe can come in handy, which is why I assume that mages get it. (Ethereal form)
Having a "get out of jail free card" is required for some of the BS the game throws at you. I would say that ALL CLASSES need at least one iframe skill.
If there was a common iframe skill in 5th job (similar to how there's a common bind) it would fix this problem.
Of course they have to be careful with something like that because then you're just giving out more iframes to iframe heavy classes. (less)
