AcornStory -- Monster Familiars

http://maplestory.nexon.net/News/News.as...ntNo=00DG9

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Welcome to AcornStory, our ongoing feature helping players get started in Maple World - everything from choosing a class to finding friends to understanding combat to tips for participating in a online community. MapleStory is easy to learn, but once you learn the basic game mechanics, where do you go and what do you do? Read on to find out!


Your New Combat Partners? Monster Familiars!



The first thing to understand about monster familiars is that they are not pets. In fact, there are significant differences between familiars and pets that go beyond the fact that only familiars can be used in combat, such as:

• Familiars cannot use pet equipment.
  
• Familiars are summoned using cards, which can either be purchased from the Cash Shop or collected from monsters in Maple World. Pets are available through the Cash Shop only, except for the lovely Snail pet entrusted to you by Mar the Fairy.
  
• Familiars cannot be summoned in the Free Market or Battle Square.
  
• A familiar will be the same level as you when summoned. Familiar skills cannot be upgraded.
  
• Familiars are rated based on how difficult they are to acquire. They come in Common, Uncommon, Rare, and Legend types.
  

<div class="hr"/>Card Counting



You can begin your card collecting career by either heading out into the wilderness or making a quick stop in the Cash Shop. The MapleStory Cash Shop can give you a head start with a Starter Pack, which includes four familiars - a Pig, a Cloud Fox, a Terrified Wild Boar and a Red Drake. Only one Starter Pack may be purchased per account.

Booster Packs are also available for purchase in the Cash Shop. Unlike the Starter Pack, the cards in the Booster Pack arent fixed. Instead you will receive three random familiars. The first card from a Booster Pack will always be Common, the second has an equal chance of being Common or Uncommon, and the last will be Uncommon or Rare. You can purchase as many Booster packs as you want.



Booster away!

Cards can also be obtained by hunting monsters. Occasionally you will see a card drop from the monster youve killed. Pick up the card and it will move to the Use section of your inventory. You can hover your cursor over the card to see information about the familiar.



Anatomy of a Card



1. Level: Your character must be this level or higher to summon the familiar.
2. Name: This is the generic name for the creature. When you add it to your Crusader Codex, you will have the opportunity to give it an individual name.
3. Friendship Time: When you acquire a familiar, you may only summon it for 30 days (real time). Registering a second card from the same monster increases its duration to 60 days and increases its max vitality, and registering three cards from the same monster increases its duration to a max of 90 days and increases its max vitality to its limit.
4. Attacks and Effects: This area details what type of special attacks the creature can make along with an effect that happens while the creature is summoned.
5. Attack Power and Range: The amount of damage the familiar can cause while attacking and how far away from you it will roam.
6. Vitality: How long the creature will be able to fight until exhausted.





As long as the card is in your inventory, you will be able to trade it with another player. To activate a card, double-click it and move it into the new Familiar tab in the Crusader Codex. Once registered in the Crusader Codex, the Friendship Timer will start ticking down.

<div class="hr"/>Summoning Familiars

Once youre ready to use your familiar, open your Crusader Codex and double-click on the monster youd like to summon. The monster will appear next you, ready to battle on your behalf. Only one familiar may be summoned at a time and it will stay with you as you do most activities in MapleStory.





A few important things to note about summoned familiars:

<ul>Familiars can only be summoned if they have full Vitality.
Familiars cannot be summoned in the Free Market or Battle Square. If you enter either area while a familiar is out, it will be dismissed.
Familiars will be dismissed when you ride a mount.

Familiars in Battle

Vitality The most important statistic your new friend has is its Vitality. Unlike you, familiars will never be attacked by monsters, and therefore do not have Hit Points or an HP measurement. Instead, every familiar begins with 300 points of Vitality. Vitality points are expended each time a familiar attacks or uses a skill. The more powerful the skill, the more Vitality expended. Once a familiar runs out of Vitality, it will disappear until it recovers its full Vitality and can be summoned again.





You can increase the amount of Vitality a familiar has available by registering a duplicate card in the Crusader Codex. The second identical card will increase Vitality to 600, the third 1,200 - the maximum Vitality available to any familiar.

Vitality Display Vitality is displayed as a pearl full of color that floats above its head. As the familiar uses it, the color will slowly drain out of the pearl. The first two pearls each represent 300 Vitality. The third represents 600 for a total of 1,200 Vitality.

Vitality Recovery Familiars recover their Vitality while dismissed. A familiar will recover one Vitality point every two seconds for each card they have registered in the Crusader Codex. A familiar with two cards registered for example, will recover two Vitality points every two seconds. The maximum rate of recovery is three Vitality Points every two seconds.


Familiar Abilities

[COLOR="#000000"]I haven't tried this in game yet, but this seems a bit too YuGiOh :f6:

 Spoiler

Familiars are summoned using cards, which can either be purchased from the Cash Shop or collected from monsters in Maple World.

I wasn't surprised

[/COLOR]

Seems like they are deadset on this horrible decision to give them a time limit.

So it takes 13ish minutes to fully recover a 3 card familiar? I wonder how long it takes for the spider/mutated pig to expend their full vitality.

I do wonder if we will get the Familiar related profession with the legend revamp.

I do wonder if we will get the Familiar related profession with the legend revamp.

What does that system do? Multiple out at once? I would say more time but we are the only ones with the time limit. :|

I do wonder if we will get the Familiar related profession with the legend revamp.

What does it even do?

I think i would prefer soul weapons tbh.

What does it even do?

I think i would prefer soul weapons tbh.

Surely we will get Soul Weapon at some point, there are too many easy opportunities to sell NX with that stuff. Doesn't enchanting a soul onto a weapon have a fail/break chance? Nobody with crazy GM scroll perfected 5000 star unique items is going to do that without using wards.

Familiars can only be summoned if they have full Vitality.
Familiars cannot be summoned in the Free Market or Battle Square. If you enter either area while a familiar is out, it will be dismissed.
Familiars will be dismissed when you ride a mount.

Full vitality? Or some?
If it really has to be full, that sucks.

Full vitality? Or some?
If it really has to be full, that sucks.

Get a familiar that refills others' vitality. That helps a lot.

Seems like they are deadset on this horrible decision to give them a time limit.

Maybe with enough complaining they'll change it...in a year or two.

So it takes 13ish minutes to fully recover a 3 card familiar? I wonder how long it takes for the spider/mutated pig to expend their full vitality.

I don't know the exact time, but I had my 3 card spider out for over 2 hours and it had almost depleted the second orb. Since the 3rd orb has twice the vitality of the others, that means I used up 3/4 of it. And IIRC, they said somewhere that it depletes twice as fast after it drops below 50%, and 3x as fast after it's below 33%? I'd probably guess it would last around 2.5 hours. No idea about the pig.

What does that system do? Multiple out at once? I would say more time but we are the only ones with the time limit. :|

All I remember is that it lets you have 3 out at once. Not sure if it helps with anything else. Isn't it called like "Beast Master" or something?

Get a familiar that refills others' vitality. That helps a lot.

Do you know of any that work for ANY familiar type? I remember seeing ones that are tied to a specific creature type (e.g., all SNAILS), but a universal one might actually be worth hunting. Granted, 13 min isn't terribly long to wait at max. Also, is it a passive recovery, or does it have to be summoned to make things recover faster?

There are a ton of them that regen for all types. The easiest to get is Green Mushroom.

All I remember is that it lets you have 3 out at once. Not sure if it helps with anything else. Isn't it called like "Beast Master" or something?

If you have 3 that increase drop rate, do they stack?

I'm not sure myself what the profession does, but it really helps a lot.

And Leviathan recovers my other familiars vitality like 3x faster than it is. It be good if you go hunt for his card.