Predict some Magician changes.

3. A half-decent party buff is not too much to ask for (for AMs).

There can be four groups for mages in maplestory.

Pure Attackers > Archmages

Hybrid Attack (Primary)/Support (Secondary) > Evans, Battle Mages

Hybrid Support (Primary)/Attack (Secondary) > Bishops

Pure Support > ?

Battle mages, evans, and bishops have the two hybrid support roles basically covered.

I would prefer the developers to just focus on bossing/attacking roles for archmages and players
wanting to invite them because of their damage capabilities.
(NLs, chaos DBs, ect)

They didn't do it during the first two revamps (big bang,chaos) but third time's the charm.

People who never played mages don't understand how much harder you have when you need to watch both your MP and your HP if you don't want to die.
Not even Heal can save us from seduce because it doesn't recover our MP, not to count bosses which have attacks that steal MP, DR that goes straight to our HP and finally the MP you use with skills. You gotta always be watching two numbers making sure that, at the same time, HP+MP > (Most Powerful Mob Attack) and that HP*5 > (Most Powerful Mob Attack).

It's way more trouble than just seeing if your HP is higher than the most powerful mob attack.
At least ultimates don't cost absurd ammounts of MP anymore, that was a pain to manage at bosses.

You don't use Ales/Elixirs/Power Elixirs?

There can be four groups for mages in maplestory.

Pure Attackers > Archmages

Hybrid Attack (Primary)/Support (Secondary) > Evans, Battle Mages

Hybrid Support (Primary)/Attack (Secondary) > Bishops

Pure Support > ?

Battle mages, evans, and bishops have the two hybrid support roles basically covered.

I would prefer the developers to just focus on bossing/attacking roles for archmages and players
wanting to invite them because of their damage capabilities.
(NLs, chaos DBs, ect)

They didn't do it during the first two revamps (big bang,chaos) but third time's the charm.

There's no such thing as a support class in MapleStory. The game just doesn't support the concept.

Been years since i gave up on my AM. I sincerely didn't look forward to spending millions to grind efficiently nor having lacking damage using skills, so i turned to the polar opposite of a 1 trick pony: a shadower.

I want motivation to come back. Every class has its' 'hook', Warriors have HP/Mob Control, Archers have rapidfire ranged attacks, Thieves have mobility, Pirates combine skills for effectiveness. (Not sure if sairs ever need to get off their ships) but mages just don't really shine in any area like that, FJ using thieves outclass their mobility, Warriors are better at survivability and archers are just as good with range.

i always thought it was weird how mages don't really have skills with charge up times aside from Big Bang. heck, even Brawlers have more of them.

Magic in many games have that kind of "cast time" but mages only have a skill with CD in MS... I got to thinking: What if Nexon brought back AM's focus on huge AoE attacks, but they involved chargetimes to prevent Pre-BB brokeness?

For example, some people dislike Ice and Fire demon, what if they were replaced with Ice Wraith and Will o Wisp: 5 seconds of charging, followed by a full screen attack of light damage that initiates DoT on everything in range? (whee, ghosties flying everywhere across the screen)

They could also use a bossing skill that works like that too, charge up for 7 seconds > 15 hits of %xxx damage on a single target. Replace the x's for whatever damage % you guys would find balanced cause i'm too lazy to do the math. Perhaps add a lock on style skill like a corsair to ensure these kinds of skills hit the boss even.

Playstyle wise, i just want something that sets them apart from other classes.

As for prediction: I DO believe mages might get a charge up skill: but i doubt it will live up to my expectations. I also expect them to get a new buff and hopefully a multiplier boost.

You don't use Ales/Elixirs/Power Elixirs?

I do, but it's damn annoying having to take care of both of them, unless I overpot a lot, HP always goes down faster than MP.

There can be four groups for mages in maplestory.

Pure Attackers > Archmages

Hybrid Attack (Primary)/Support (Secondary) > Evans, Battle Mages

Hybrid Support (Primary)/Attack (Secondary) > Bishops

Pure Support > ?

Battle mages, evans, and bishops have the two hybrid support roles basically covered.

I would prefer the developers to just focus on bossing/attacking roles for archmages and players
wanting to invite them because of their damage capabilities.
(NLs, chaos DBs, ect)

They didn't do it during the first two revamps (big bang,chaos) but third time's the charm.

It would be nice to be pure attackers if things like survivability wouldn't come into question at top-tier bosses. And if Evan DPM is damn-near the same as AM DPM, I don't see how evans can be a attack/support hybrid but AMs can only be a pure attacker. But when I ask for a half-decent party buff, I don't ask for much. For instance, a measly 2% increase in damage to all party members would do the trick and not be over-the-top at the same time.

@seanny: That sounds like a really cool idea, but it won't work because of the damage cap. Normal attacks that take a fraction of a second allready hit damage cap, so charging a few seconds should be hitting many times the dmg cap.

Also why don't ultimates hit harder? Right now paladin's ultimate is 10 times better than mages.

I think DoT should be a mage's footprint, and fp especially. I/L should be more specialised into raw damage.
Ice/fire demon were a really good idea and it's fun to use them during training, but they're WAAAY to weak. If they up their (initial) damage to match CL and paralyse, they'll be a valueble bossing skill.


Also I thought of a fun 4th job skill for bishops: "Renounce faith"! Or "Father I have sinned". Iono something evil xD
Level 1: 100s damage +20%, all attacks become neutral.
Max level: 400s damage +50%, all attacks become neutral.

I think DoT should be a mage's footprint, and fp especially. I/L should be more specialised into raw damage.
Ice/fire demon were a really good idea and it's fun to use them during training, but they're WAAAY to weak. If they up their (initial) damage to match CL and paralyse, they'll be a valueble bossing skill.

FD/ID had their base damage increased in chaos already, IIRC.

1. Remove Magic Guard entirely, give us the HP growth of archers. I've no idea if that'd be enough, but other than teleport mastery archmages are usually far away enough from the action. Maybe give us more defense to compensate.

I'd rather not get my crappy class even crappier, kthx.

2. Revamp the summons completely. No more silly disembodied golems with three frames of animation, give me something cool to look at, then make them invaluable assets to have around, instead of being things you sometimes bother to keep summoned – they need to do good damage, to be quick on the uptake, and not be so stupid. Another cool thing to do would be if they had one or two secondary, maybe passive effects that really made you want to max them right away – I don't know, something like leeching HP back to you from the damage they do, a matk bonus, something. Archmages need to have more skills that are actually worth maxing.

I'd love to see summons with actual AI, and fast attack speed. Also making them cast other skills would be sweet. How about making Bahamut autocast Magic Guard when dispelled? Yes plx. Ifrit could have a skill with 1 minute cooldown that triggers when there are more than 12 enemies on screen, which casts hell all over the screen, inducing DoT burn damage over everything. Just random ideas, they can get very creative with summons, instead of: *5 seconds* *herp, attack* *5 seconds* *derp, attack*, *5 seconds*...

3. Make an elemental strafe skill out of the composition arrows and make that the bossing skill, with some form of upgrade to be had from maxing a fourth job skill to reach its max potential. That obviously comes with an overhaul of the skill graphics.

I can see this working. But for it to bee good enough they'd have to make it a 4th job skill. What mages lack are multi-hit single target skills. Sure you can own Zakum arms with Paralyze and Explosion, but then you're crap against the body.

A starfe that fires 3 poison "bolts" and 3 fire "bolts" would be kickass.
Oh and please make it something more original than having the mage create an ethereal bow. We're not archers.

You don't use Ales/Elixirs/Power Elixirs?



There's no such thing as a support class in MapleStory. The game just doesn't support the concept.

Well "support" can be changed to "classes with party skills".

Also, why wouldn't the game support a class that...supports concept?

It would be nice to be pure attackers if things like survivability wouldn't come into question at top-tier bosses. And if Evan DPM is damn-near the same as AM DPM, I don't see how evans can be a attack/support hybrid but AMs can only be a pure attacker. But when I ask for a half-decent party buff, I don't ask for much. For instance, a measly 2% increase in damage to all party members would do the trick and not be over-the-top at the same time.

Battle mages already have the "increase party's damage %" aspect covered.

Evans have already been revamped so it would be easy for them to make archmages have more of an
advantage in terms of attacking power.

I can see this working. But for it to bee good enough they'd have to make it a 4th job skill. What mages lack are multi-hit single target skills. Sure you can own Zakum arms with Paralyze and Explosion, but then you're crap against the body.

Since it was fun using thunder spear at pap, I want to see them alter chain lightning to 'zeus' throwing a giant black/gold trident that hits ten times requiring 20 thunder spear with increased casting speed.

As for paralyze seeing as though it can be based from medusa (it was known as Medusa Eyes from translators in kms 4th job update), the altered animation has the 'three gorgon sisters' casting a gaze/multi-hit at the target six times with three stacking instances of DoT.

Not sure about angel ray though...

There will be a lot of disappoint if there isn't a patch tomorrow :\.

I'd love to see summons with actual AI, and fast attack speed. Also making them cast other skills would be sweet. How about making Bahamut autocast Magic Guard when dispelled? Yes plx. Ifrit could have a skill with 1 minute cooldown that triggers when there are more than 12 enemies on screen, which casts hell all over the screen, inducing DoT burn damage over everything. Just random ideas, they can get very creative with summons, instead of: *5 seconds* *herp, attack* *5 seconds* *derp, attack*, *5 seconds*...

Actually, I proposed an idea like that in one of my earlier posts.

I said something along the lines of having the summons using the spells of the corresponding elements. For instance, using Explosion where there are enough enemies nearby, and then using Fire Demon when an enemy isn't weak to fire yet or is fire resistant.

Something I also thought would make the summons more interesting is making it so they can cast the level 1 to 10 versions of each mage's ultimates, and that as the summon grows in level it'll have a shorter cooldown. The cooldown will be seperate from that of the real ultimate, obviously. The level of the ultimate used by the summon will be raised every 3 levels, so at level 30 it'll use a level 10 ultimate. Then between ultimate casts it'll use the other spells.



Edit: I just got a new idea for Bishops to make them a bit more interesting with support. How about giving them a new skill in third or fourth job that has the range of an ultimate, but rather than dealing damage it will grand the entire party a pseudo Divine Shield buff. Guards against 3 attacks and grants a 50% evasion chance for 30 seconds to all party members in range. The skill will have a 1 minute cooldown.

Well "support" can be changed to "classes with party skills".

Also, why wouldn't the game support a class that...supports concept?

Because simply having a party buff is about as interesting as pineapple all. The game doesn't support support classes because it has no necessary support roles needed. You can't tank and heals are just silly. Any other possible sort of support (crowd control, disables, "bard"ing) doesn't really apply to the environment.

Large constant party buffs specific to one class aren't "support," they just make a class artificially useful. They are bad design in general.

Make HS available to AMs. (so they are wanted in party)
Give new attacking skill((s) to Bishops (so they can be attackers like AMs)
A skill to turn mobs weak against their elements. (so they can be as strong as other classes)

Every class has its' 'hook', Warriors have HP/Mob ControlMages don't have low hp compared to other classes and I always considered them the best mobbers, Archers have rapidfire ranged attacks, Thieves have mobility, Pirates combine skills for effectiveness. (Not sure if sairs ever need to get off their ships) but mages just don't really shine in any area like that, FJ using thieves outclass their mobilityTele has way more control then FJ I much prefer it over FJ, Warriors are better at survivability and archers are just as good with range.Range doesnt matter when bosses kill everything on screen

i always thought it was weird how mages don't really have skills with charge up times aside from Big Bang. heck, even Brawlers have more of them.Charge skills suck in MS for many reasons

Make HS available to AMs. (so they are wanted in party)
Give new attacking skill((s) to Bishops (so they can be attackers like AMs)
A skill to turn mobs weak against their elements. (so they can be as strong as other classes)

So you wanna take 3 classes and turn them into 1 class.

Make HS available to AMs. (so they are wanted in party)
Give new attacking skill((s) to Bishops (so they can be attackers like AMs)
A skill to turn mobs weak against their elements. (so they can be as strong as other classes)

Giving one of the things that makes Bishops special to AMs and giving what makes AMs special to Bishops is not a good idea. Specially since the problem with mages is not internal balance but balance when compared to other classes. Making three different classes (well, the two AMs are already not that different) into 1 single class kills the purpose of having multiple classes.

Making all classes exactly equal is the best way to balance but having indistinguishable classes in an MMORPG is not good either. They need to be quite different and yet equally useful/wanted.

Make HS available to AMs. (so they are wanted in party)
Give new attacking skill((s) to Bishops (so they can be attackers like AMs)
A skill to turn mobs weak against their elements. (so they can be as strong as other classes)

not a real Australian....

So you wanna take 3 classes and turn them into 1 class.

Giving one of the things that makes Bishops special to AMs and giving what makes AMs special to Bishops is not a good idea. Specially since the problem with mages is not internal balance but balance when compared to other classes. Making three different classes (well, the two AMs are already not that different) into 1 single class kills the purpose of having multiple classes.

Making all classes exactly equal is the best way to balance but having indistinguishable classes in an MMORPG is not good either. They need to be quite different and yet equally useful/wanted.

All 3 warriors have rush skill, does it make it a single class?
Buff skills like SE, haste, etc are not unique to a single job so why can't HS. Remember CBs did not have Shadow Partner/Flash Jump.
All 3 mages have their own unique playing styles anyway.

not a real Australian....

Please explain

All 3 warriors have rush skill, does it make it a single class?
Buff skills like SE, haste, etc are not unique to a single job so why can't HS. Remember CBs did not have Shadow Partner/Flash Jump.
All 3 mages have their own unique playing styles anyway.

Mages have in common (some are thematic skills which I'm also considering here since it makes each job less creative):
2nd job: mp eater, mastery and teleport
3rd job: teleport mastery, some resistance
4th job: big bang, mana reflection, infinity, summons, ultimate and buff mastery (not counting the similar one-side mob skill which plays the role of 1v1).

And there's not more simply because Bishop is a little more unique compared to the other 2. Their playstyles for 4th job are way too similar with that many similar skills.
It's the only class that instead of diverging in 4th job, converges.

Compare that to warriors, each has a different mechanic to them and skills that work very differently.
BM/MM are quite different as well starting from 4th job.
Not even gonna say anything about the thieves or pirates.

Mages have in common (some are thematic skills which I'm also considering here since it makes each job less creative):
2nd job: mp eater, mastery and teleport
3rd job: teleport mastery, some resistance
4th job: big bang, mana reflection, infinity, summons, ultimate and buff mastery (not counting the similar one-side mob skill which plays the role of 1v1).

And there's not more simply because Bishop is a little more unique compared to the other 2. Their playstyles for 4th job are way too similar with that many similar skills.
It's the only class that instead of diverging in 4th job, converges.

Compare that to warriors, each has a different mechanic to them and skills that work very differently.
BM/MM are quite different as well starting from 4th job.
Not even gonna say anything about the thieves or pirates.

I can't deny the fact that there are so many 4th job skills in common between all 3 mages but giving 3rd job skill HS to AMs will at least make them wanted in a party. It is similar to giving FJ and shadow partner to CBs.

Nexon can think of something to all 3 mages "unique". I am sure AMs don't mind giving mana reflecction to Bishop

I can't deny the fact that there are so many 4th job skills in common between all 3 mages but giving 3rd job skill HS to AMs will at least make them wanted in a party. It is similar to giving FJ and shadow partner to CBs.

Nexon can think of something to all 3 mages "unique". I am sure AMs don't mind giving mana reflecction to Bishop

Getting another skill in common between the mages would put down even further the lack of difference between them not to mention make the population of bishops suffer with them having a much bigger competition to finding a party to train.

Bishops already have mana reflection.