I've always wondered about this, regarding the elements

In Maple Story, these are considered as elements:

-Lightning
-Fire
-Poison
-Ice
-Holy

So here's my question. If there is Holy, why is there 'not' Darkness? Also, where's Wind, Earth, Water (even though it is similar to Ice), etc?

I irk at the fact that there's no Darkness-elemental skills or spells, maybe there will be some in the future for a new mage class? Because most of the MMOs I've played, or even RPGs, has Darkness as an element.

Note, just because it's called 'Darkness', doesn't mean it's referring to 'evil'-magic. You can use 'Holy' magic, theoretically, and still be an evil person (Tales of Symphonia, Remiel for an example, who is an angel that uses Holy-elemental spells, but he's working for the bad-guys. Also, Legend of Dragoon, Rose for an example. She uses Darkness spells/skills, and she's a hero).

I'd like to see Darkness-elemental spells in the future on MS, perhaps with a slight twist to it. Perhaps a spell that is similar to Gen, but with a slight % that it will automatically OHKO the targets (excluding bosses).

I got this idea from Phantasy Star Online, when using that one Darkness-skill, the monster has a % chance of being OHKO'ed instantly. But it had a very small %-chance. (Opposing skill of 'Grantz', I forgot the name)

B> Darkness-elemental spells, as well as Darkness-weak monsters.

Wouldn't those only be used by the "bad" guys though? Since the main villain of MapleStory is the "Dark Magician" anyone using "his" magic would theoretically be on the wrong side of the plot.

Course I've already stated my strong desire for more elemental attributes.

It's also worth noting that holy/unholy are just two sides of the same coin - What one ideology considers sacrosanct is blasphemy to another. The Holy Gospel of a Satanist being Unholy to a Christian, and vice versa, although I think you're thinking more of a shadow magic / necromancy type thing.

Darkness element is coming in the form of the Night Walker of Cygnus. That's probably the closest we're going to get to it either way. Not that there's an actual "element" involved in it though

As for the others, I believe one of the causes of lightning is friction caused by wind. Ice is basically just frozen water. Various poisonous elements, such as arsenic, can be found free in nature, e.g. from the earth.
So, Lightning = Wind, Ice = Water and Poison = Earth

I can't really find many examples of monsters that would actually be weak to Darkness. If you really wanted to include instant death as a side effect, then I suppose it would be justified. But for the most part, given MapleStory's current elements system, this will prove to be more frustrating than useful.

omg i r fail rpg b/c i dun use classical greek 4 elements. bawwww.

I love when people ask about the darkness element. Shammos uses dark magic, he's chained up. When Grendel tried to use dark magic, he created the zombie lupins. Faust was created as a result of dark magic. Dark magic, at least in MS, creates evil things.

Could the Corsair skill Hypnotize be considered a Dark element skill?
The bullet is black, the hit of it is a dark smiley face, and the effect is a bat hanging over the monster's head. Then the monsters start attacking each other in a beastly fashion. Looks darkish to me... I think...
It's also a sadistic form of entertainment for me at Newts.
That's the darkest skill I can think of.

Panic.
"Description: Attack one monster with dark power. You can use this skill only when you equip the sword and your combo should be charged up. "

I remeber seeing a guide with said that panic does contribute dark power which made it weaker if you use it on something like a dark yeti.
Honestly though, I don't think it really does xD.

The "dark power" was supposed to do something, but it never did, AFAIK.

I love when people ask about the darkness element. Shammos uses dark magic, he's chained up. When Grendel tried to use dark magic, he created the zombie lupins. Faust was created as a result of dark magic. Dark magic, at least in MS, creates evil things.

This will hopefully be clearer when Monster Book is out, I recall Hobi from Leafre befalling a similar fate to Shammos. That's basically it though, there's a reason, however flimsy you may consider it, as to why there is no dark element in maple, and that's because it leads to inevitable corruption into a goblin type thing. It works for Nightwalkers because they're only drawing on the power of the sprite.

That being said, depending on how they work the Black Magician disciple group (If it does get made) then you might see it. At this point in the game I don't see new elements being introduced, especially dark.

They made Dark elemental sounds like it's Dark-Magic in the storyline, but that doesn't mean it has to be. They can alter it very easily, just by changing a few simple words in-game. At this point in time, it seems like Dark-elemental is quite limited. Also, if Dark-elemental spells is so restricted (as everyone is making it sound), here is a good point, why does the Cygnus Thief have dark-elemental skills? . . . .

Also, if Dark-elemental spells is so restricted (as everyone is making it sound), here is a good point, why does the Cygnus Thief have dark-elemental skills? . . . .

It works for Nightwalkers because they're only drawing on the power of the sprite.

Question was answered before you posted.

Edit -Rawr, ray beat me to it >_

My fault for not seeing that. But that definitely makes Dark-elemental skills limited. =/ I guess it's a 'start' at this point, but I'd love to see more in the future.

if you think all RPG must be the same, why on maple, paladin doesnt heal his party and have any party skill? doesnt mean because 1 RPG have x numbers of elements, all RPG must have the same ammount of elements. if you look, in all others RPG, at least 90% of them, paladin is the warrior support class, here in maple, paladin does not have any party skill.

if you think all RPG must be the same, why on maple, paladin doesnt heal his party and have any party skill? doesnt mean because 1 RPG have x numbers of elements, all RPG must have the same ammount of elements. if you look, in all others RPG, at least 90% of them, paladin is the warrior support class, here in maple, paladin does not have any party skill.

You're not getting the point, I'm not talking about party-buffs, I'm talking about new elements. You're going off-topic. Not all RPGs are the same, yes, but some of them have similar aspects. I'm not talking about 'classes', does any other games have Night Lords listed as a class? No. Does any other class has a class named 'Chief Bandit'? No.

Does most MMOs features most than 4-5 elements? Yes. Your point?

MS doesn't even come close to using traditional elements. There's no opposing elements (other than Fire/Ice) or any kind of balance to them, they're just there. I wouldn't really expect traditional elements to show up, nor do they fit within the context of the game.

Edit: I believe GunZ: the Duel uses the same elements, minus Holy, as MS. Elements in that game have intrinsic effects attached to them, which is pretty cool.

Separate rant:
I'm more concerned about the lack of interesting effects from the elements. Right now, the Holy, Fire, and Lightning elements only differ in which monsters they affect. Ice freezes to compensate for its lower damage output. Most poison skills cause %HP based poison DoT. I think more Lightning skills should have intrinsic chaining damage the way Strikers do, and more Fire skills should be strengthened and given initial hit-based DoT.

There's also the matter of poor implementation of the elemental attacks. Elemental attacks are generally weaker than normal attacks, presumably to compensate for the OMG50%BONUS. If 50% is overpowered, then maybe they shouldn't make the elemental bonus 50% in the first place >_> And apparently no one thought about what happens when you make attacks that are already weaker than normal attacks do half damage against bosses.

I feel, that an Earth/Wind class should be just that, Earth/Wind Mage, rather than being called Druid. A clerical/dark magic user would be sort of dumb in this game. I'm not saying the idea is dumb, cause obviously it would work, but it'd make the other mages useless. I mean, why play a cleric, when you can play a druid and have heal, and good attack skills. Why play as F/P or I/L mages when you can have those great attack skills, along with the benefits of Heal and HS.

To even this out, there should be 2 more mage routes. Earth/Wind works fine as one of them, Water/Wood works fine as another. One can argue Water is Ice, and Wood is Earth, but there are many games, and believes, and such that would say other wise. As for how the weaknesses would play out in the way the F/P and I/L classes do, it can be Earth is weak to Wood, and vice versa, and Water and Wind, are just there. Like Poison doesn't affect Lightning, they are just there.

Now you can easily give them demons, and a summon at 4th job. This would greatly simplify things imo. Yeah, it'd be more of the same, but eh. I know it would be weird have 2 more classes that have Ultimates in the end, but the E/W Arch Mage could have Gaia, which would care less if an enemy can fly, and the Water/Wood would have something along the lines of Geyser/Hurricane/Monsoon, something water based. I would go more for Hurricane or Monsoon, cause it fits the Water/Wind thing a lot better, where as Geyser could be seen as Water/Fire, since water and heat are both aspects that cause such phenomena.

They could have moves like;
Earth/Wind:
Spike(Earth based) - Launches a spike made from the Earth itself, shatters upon contact, attacking the enemy behind it multiple times. (It's new, not something really done, the first spike would grant one big number, the 4 spikes behind it do smaller, but varying numbers. Working like l7 with shadow partner would, each spike has it's own calculation, and can only hit that one monster even if it dies from the damage of 1 spike)

Tornado(Wind Based) - Surround yourself with the power of Wind. A barrier that tosses your enemies, keeping them a safe distance away, while causing minor damage. No limit to how many enemies it can hit, vertical range is exactly equal to that of the character hight. Minor damage, meaning it's hardly worth it to try to use it on a boss to cause constant damage, while being unable to throw it away.

Water/Wood:
Roots(Wood Based) - Summon roots to rise up from underground to wrap around your enemies, holding them in place while cause constant damage.

Well, you get the idea, I'm kind of tired and not thinking well enough to keep coming up with skills. On top of this, I wouldn't mind seeing a Void(Time/Space) Mage, and a Neutral/Amp Mage(Shouldn't someone continue non-elemental magic training?). Why not, right?

Aside from that, isn't the Cygnus version of Assassins, more Poison than Dark? I know they are supposed to be dark, but eh. Also, Dark/Black magic, tends to be elemental magics in most rpgs, and from what I'm getting of the story, that's what MapleStory's Dark Magic is as well, so I'd say we pretty much have them. If you're looking for Necromancy type skills, I really do think those are evil skills, but those skills have been used for good before, just as holy has been used for evil.

I can see no positive at all to maple getting more elements, only more of a screw you to paladins. Mages can get away with training on neutral monsters, paladins really can't, elemental weakness is pretty much required to deal any sort of significant damage, and unless someone decides to give a new charge of every element and 20 free skill points to max it every time one comes out to all paladins, (which yes, is stupid) this idea should go back to where it came from.

Panic.
"Description: Attack one monster with dark power. You can use this skill only when you equip the sword and your combo should be charged up. "

I remeber seeing a guide with said that panic does contribute dark power which made it weaker if you use it on something like a dark yeti.
Honestly though, I don't think it really does xD.

it was supposed to cast darkness, much like a MM's blind.

then again, panic likely ohko's whatever it hits, so it never had much of a point in the first place.