Maplestorys stat and equip system! discussion! how would you change it?

Horntail is too easy anyway, it should be a challenge like pink bean. Except I don't think HP should be the primary obstacle in a game, attack cumbersome or failed aoe tanking should be the major factors except it doesn't quite apply to maple. But things like random dispel and seduce are good, it requires players to interact and keep their focus up. I'm an advocate for 'skilled' playing, not just being a 'high dps' player.

I stick with my recommendation for the Def formula that I've said again and again in these threads:

Make the level of the equipment play a factor in the def formula. Rather than giving a general boost to def accross the board, make a certain ratio to the level of the equipment used as a multiplier. That is to say, make it so a 90 def, level 120 hat has comparable, if not better, damage reduction than a level 50 hat with 150 def. The change would not affect all those who are statless and striving for power, but would aid those who took a traditional build in terms of potion savings and potentially survival. Ultimately, this would give people a reason to think before deciding to go statless.

While I think this would work for W.Def, I don't think it would work for M.Def since characters get it from a primary stat. There would have to be a separate modification for that.

If HP washing if gone, then it would be 10x harder to defeat Horntail, let alone Pink Bean.

That's precisely what a defense revamp would be for. HP washing is a stupid practice and shouldn't have been "necessary" in the first place.

LET me make this clearer. we all know we need a def revamp. Im not saying post whats wrong, im saying post how it could be better.

Example

would this be broken? Remove the whole damage to level reduction.

then

new def formula =

damage taken = damage - Total defense * players level.

That wouldn't work from a mathematical standpoint (it's not too difficult to get 200 defense, and at level 100 that would be -20000 damage), but I think it's too much to expect for people to come up with defense systems that work reasonably mathematically.

One that would be quite good and simple though would be to subtract defense from physical attack in some form. Say something has 1000 physical attack, or about 8500 damage. Currently, 999 defense subtracts approximately 300 damage, which is nothing. But if DEF/4 was subtracted from physical attack, it would become 751 attack or ~4800 damage, which is more substantial.

Also, STR should add defense since INT adds magic defense and DEX/LUK affect acc/avoid.

I stick with my recommendation for the Def formula that I've said again and again in these threads:

Make the level of the equipment play a factor in the def formula. Rather than giving a general boost to def accross the board, make a certain ratio to the level of the equipment used as a multiplier. That is to say, make it so a 90 def, level 120 hat has comparable, if not better, damage reduction than a level 50 hat with 150 def. The change would not affect all those who are statless and striving for power, but would aid those who took a traditional build in terms of potion savings and potentially survival. Ultimately, this would give people a reason to think before deciding to go statless.

While I think this would work for W.Def, I don't think it would work for M.Def since characters get it from a primary stat. There would have to be a separate modification for that.

Why not just make it so that higher hats intrinsically have more defense in the first place? They can't really change existing equips but they could easily make a level 130 hat with 150 defense.

If we were to go back, attack gears should not have been released (just weapons should have attack). Make higher level equips stat bonuses higher so it's worth using them. And if weapon is the only source to attack, all the better to scale higher tier with more attack so people are more willing to upgrade. I dislike seeing everyone using work gloves, bathrobe and pretty much the same things. There should be a market for different equipment at various levels. Maybe a constitution stat that gives more hp and defense, but of course, all of these are already too late. Maple has too many upgrade slots, make them lower, and vicious hammers are just plain ridiculous. A forging upgrade system should be incorporated alongside with scrolling, gives more variety or maybe give scrolls scaled bonuses instead of constant. A game isn't much fun to look forward to if all you gear are all set at level 50 and you'll be using them till level 200. (Hey, this used to apply to dexless sins)

In terms of stat, not that it is a viable change, but Maple should be more like RagnarokOnline. Each stat is useful for MANY purposes and most classes would end up having a bit of each stat for their benefits. Also the stats scale up in cost: getting from 98 to 99 of a stat is more costly than going from 20 to 21, this makes more spread out build have a balanced effect from each stat and makes planning stat builds something important and variable.

Why not just make it so that higher hats intrinsically have more defense in the first place? They can't really change existing equips but they could easily make a level 130 hat with 150 defense.

They can, and have. The Valkyrie Skirt got a 30 def upgrade at some point (50 to 80 average or so). Of course, it doesn't affect existing equips, but any found or made after that point have the higher def.

Why not just make it so that higher hats intrinsically have more defense in the first place? They can't really change existing equips but they could easily make a level 130 hat with 150 defense.

First off I wasn't exclusively referencing hats, they were just an example.

They can, and have. The Valkyrie Skirt got a 30 def upgrade at some point (50 to 80 average or so). Of course, it doesn't affect existing equips, but any found or made after that point have the higher def.

Which sadly would be the whole purpose of my suggestion. If it doesn't affect things already in existence, what help will it be? That's all we need right now; another kick in the shin to all the older players (from the perspective relative to the time of the change) in an attempt at balance.

Not that I plan to stick around MS too much longer, but let's face it. They've gotten too far into fixing imbalances with other band-aid imbalances and so on and so forth that if they tried to do anything with the game as is, it would never succeed in keeping everyone happy or balanced. You can hope that MS2 fixes the problems, but I'm not planing on giving that the luxury of my HDD space.

why are we talking about changing the defense formula? why not change defense effectiveness based on the equipment level itself rather than just the amount there?

Addition of a Mastery level for 4th job skills (120+ jobs for dual bladers and Evans). Basically you go through some series of quests after getting a skill to it's max level and you're above 160. After you finish the quests your skill increases to level 31, or you get a certain % power boost across the board for all your skills (something like the Blessing skill).

I would like a maple story without "hp wash" been absolutely neccesary JUST for a couple of bosses.
Dmg and all other stuff are ok.

Remove HP washing
the mainobstacle in a boss shouldnt be HP. And you SHOULD NOT HAVE TO SPEND MONEY TO BOSS.


reverse items are garunteed to give 1 SP to a designated skill every level.

wearing a full set (hat, shoes, overall/topbottom, and weapon), should give an extra bonus of +70/+70 stats, and 10 Watk.

Reverse weapons should have raised base attack

Testing idea... Is this broken? Remove all current damage reductions. new damage reduction is as follows. Damage taken is lowered by [def equip gives * wquip's level] for each equip the user is wearing

Remove HP washing
the mainobstacle in a boss shouldnt be HP. And you SHOULD NOT HAVE TO SPEND MONEY TO BOSS.


reverse items are garunteed to give 1 SP to a designated skill every level.

wearing a full set (hat, shoes, overall/topbottom, and weapon), should give an extra bonus of +70/+70 stats, and 10 Watk.

Reverse weapons should have raised base attack

Testing idea... Is this broken? Remove all current damage reductions. new damage reduction is as follows. Damage taken is lowered by [def equip gives * wquip's level] for each equip the user is wearing

With that theory, a zhelm would reduce damage by 7500.

I would like a maple story without "hp wash" been absolutely neccesary JUST for a couple of bosses.
Dmg and all other stuff are ok.

Well...

Well...

 Spoiler

Yup, you need it for HP washing.


No more recolours. I want weapons/ gear that allow me to get free SP/ AP. I want it to have a chance to stun the monster. I want it to be based on other factors, not just w.att. I want a hat that looks scary and when you come close to mob, the mob has a chance to get ''scared'', so his m.att can't be used anymore. I want my overall to block (not avoid!!) attacks at a certain rate.
Getting the idea?

I would make overalls and hats give attack too!!
That's all... JK

The secondary stat system isn't broken, if not for all those items with +x int, dex, str & luk. Take those out of the game (and statless items too) and you have a good stat system.
But everyone walks around with them, which makes you want to buy NX clothes, which is what nexon wants...

So what I would change:
Zak/scar/tar ----> replace with 100% +5 dex, str, luk, int, acc OR avoid/(m)def (lol) scrolls
PACS ----> cape for weapon att scroll (nerfed maybe, like only 10% exist which do +3)
MoN ---> remove dex,str,int,luk stats
htp ---> same stats as MoN ^^^
htp egg ---> 100% +10 dex, str, luk OR int scroll

& for formula change magic formula of course to linear.

Yup, you need it for HP washing.

If you haven't noticed, you can also use it without having to HP wash.

then you loose tons of damage.

I have some more ideas

remove bathrobes/sauna robes. make it easier to mass maker avg equips.

REMOVE HP WASHING, AND GET RID OF THE STUPID RAISE HP BUTTON! Instead, make diefense worth something

Remove HP washing
the mainobstacle in a boss shouldnt be HP. And you SHOULD NOT HAVE TO SPEND MONEY TO BOSS.


reverse items are garunteed to give 1 SP to a designated skill every level.

wearing a full set (hat, shoes, overall/topbottom, and weapon), should give an extra bonus of +70/+70 stats, and 10 Watk.

Reverse weapons should have raised base attack

Testing idea... Is this broken? Remove all current damage reductions. new damage reduction is as follows. Damage taken is lowered by [def equip gives * wquip's level / 10] for each equip the user is wearing

then you loose tons of damage.

Not really. You'll just be a couple of levels behind, which can be easily made up. You can get an additional 200 hp by just sacrificing 10 AP points.

then you loose tons of damage.

What's wrong with having to choose? Damage shouldn't be everything in this game, however, Nexon has spoiled their players to focus purely on damage.

Remember that the best offense is a good defense.

What's wrong with having to choose? Damage shouldn't be everything in this game, however, Nexon has spoiled their players to focus purely on damage.

Remember that the best offense is a good defense.

The new classes seem to be able to add sp into HP and MP, because jobs like aran and dual blade are allready too strong, and they dont really need extra damage, thats why a build for dual blade adding +1sp to hp in each lv and +5 every 10 lvs seems to be really good

Evans can do it too, but they dont really need extra mp/hp