The Chronicles of Masteria Update

Hope this wasn't posted.

Ok, so while this isn't a direct update with pics, etc, I have a few minutes to talk a little. So, consider this an extended commentary on bosses.

Now, MapleStory has a wide, wide range of bosses. As a gamer myself, I always thought that several boss fights stood out:

1) 3rd Job Advancement Dark Side Fight
2) Papulatus
3) Black Crow
4) Horntail

And let me confess, I LOVE boss fights. Part of the reason why the Evil Dead map in the Phantom Forest spawns both Headless Horseman and Bigfoot is because it's there as a sort of personal challenge. No quests, or anything, just a basic challenge of "Can I do this?"

The last game I played had some rather interesting bosses, but I think the best boss fights are ones where you have to constantly adapt to only only the boss, but other factors. Mega Man 3 is my favorite out of the series, due to the challenge variety/stage layout of the bosses in Wily's Fortress. Shinobi 3, the stage prior to the last boss is one of pure platforming, where the stage itself is your enemy. Stuff like that stays with you years later.

So when seeing speculation about just what is behind the gate at the apex of Crimsonwood Mountain, I've read plenty of comments that say "Can you just give the Geist Balrog more attack/HP?" Sure, we could, but you guys deserve more. In fact, waaaay back when we first tested the Amorian Challenge, he was a lot stronger (close to a one-hit KO), but with all of his skills intact. Too hard. Even for an Onyx Apple. So we tweaked it a bit so it'd be a lot more fun, while still challenging. Because in the end, that's really what its about. Of course, since then, quite a few of you have leveled substantially, so we can show a great deal less mercy.

That said, enjoy the holiday events and Magatia, and get ready for 2009. We're gonna have some fun

Oh God, I hope a Megaman-esque boss shows up in 2009.

Nice find! YAY4MAGATIA! I've waited a long time for Magatia. Finally they give to us ;D

Happy Holidays everyone!



Been a long and exciting year...Leafre, Ariant, Crimsonwood Keep, 4th Job, Showa, Pirates...we're happy that the community has enjoyed the updates thus far and we've already started preparations for an unbelievable 2009.



We'd just like to take a moment and thank you all. MapleStory wouldn't be here without you, the players. We haven't always done the best job of letting you know all this, and this is something we're going to change over the coming months. We will elevate our efforts to improve the game in every way to reward your loyalty and ensure that MapleStory remains one of the most successful games in the world.



So, to celebrate all this, we've got a multitude of great Holiday Events! Lots of them. You'll see the posts soon enough, but we've got an all-new Holiday PQ (level-tiered), as well as Maplemas and Versalmas returning, as well as more Leveling Up events, and a new Christmas Event Monster just for the towns. Oh, and we can't forget about the Day of Darkness GM Summoning event...details coming soon!



All of those are exciting, to be sure, but it wouldn't be complete without a new land.



So, let's talk about alchemy. Alchemy, when used properly, has incredible benefits. When used for nefarious purposes, it becomes destructive.



The all-new town of Magatia, located in the Nihal Desert portion of Ossyria, revolves around alchemy, dark science and those who pursue such research. We are excited to finally open this region, and encourage you to discover the mysteries that lie within!



On a side note, for those interested in the future, NxProse suggests two things:

1) Those of you who are level-appropriate, finish your Masteria quests.

2) Pay close attention to the quest details within Magatia.



That said, party hard during the holidays, and Happy Mapling!

xxxxxx

Probably the four bosses in one map, as mentioned before.

Heh, glad you checked that. Not sure why it didn't occur to me (or anyone else I guess) to check the thread.

Gotta say, there's nothing quite as scary as Headless Horseman spawning when you're fighting Bigfoot (Or even worse, vice versa, because most HH hunters aren't necessarily well equipped to fight off bigfoot). Once at the very map mentioned, HH spawned as bigfoot had just been pinned, and we had to split our forces in half to survive. Pretty tough to do with Bigfoot's glitchy KB. It was quite an exciting battle. :p

I'm currently imagining what the original Geist fight was like... It's already pretty close to a OHKO for 7x-8x archers and thieves. I bet the first one was doing at least 3.8k (that deadly magic number which I so greatly despise) with the teleporting claw attack. Dangerous indeed. But such battles aren't entertaining, they're merely infuriating, and I'm glad Prose realizes that at least :p Nothing quite as frustrating as knowing, "If I could just take one damn hit, I could kill this thing with ease." Not saying any names though.
*Cough* CAPTAIN LATANICA *Cough*
I just hope his idea of less mercy isn't more damage

That being said, pretty clear here the allusion is being made to 4 humanoid, mobile bosses (the only immobile boss on that list is Horntail, which I imagine is there simply to signify epic-ness, and while pap isn't necessarily humanoid, the other two are) at once.

lol... capt latanica... he's hiding from me, you know. that's why he can't be summoned, he's scared =P

i'd be just fine with a bug fix patch, to be honest. new content is good, but if the old is still broken *GLARES AT BF* then...

Heck yes this is going to be an awesome Christmas break. Magatia, you better be ready for QUEST RAPING.

Oh, and they better freakin' make an awesome boss battle for CWK. I demand a fun and enjoyable challenge, with cool looking bosses and sweet attacks. And it sure as heck better be high-leveled (13x or 14x, at least).

You can do it Nexon! I BELIEVE.

I was expecting something like this, I wonder if he is all thats hidden in the keep, or if theres training maps and such in there too, is there a safe map in the keep to repot or do we have to go all the way back to NLC? Too many questions, I MUST KNOW NOW!

I can't wait for him to update it!

I hope they actually follow through with their promise of making it better for archmages and paladins. The elements of the first set of monsters were quite annoying.

Heck yes this is going to be an awesome Christmas break. Magatia, you better be ready for QUEST RAPING.

Oh, and they better freakin' make an awesome boss battle for CWK. I demand a fun and enjoyable challenge, with cool looking bosses and sweet attacks. And it sure as heck better be high-leveled (13x or 14x, at least).

You can do it Nexon! I BELIEVE.

I just hope it doesn't get monopolized for some guilds so that no one else will be able to have that "fun" <.<

I'm going to break this down abit for my own insight

1) 3rd Job Advancement Dark Side Fight
Moving, Human, Summons
2) Papulatus
Sleep,Stun,Dispell Avoid Dispell/stun at top part of map
3) Black Crow
Eh... Fask+8k damage.... Also mobs on map
4) Horntail
Alot of parts, and pre quests. Have to be strong to kill and has a good deal of strat to fighting

So I'm wondering if all the things I said above will be mixed togeather or somthing? Seems like NXprose understands what we DON'T like about bosses, so I think this should be good.

I just hope it doesn't get monopolized for some guilds so that no one else will be able to have that "fun" <.<

I'd do anything and everything possible to prevent that from happening. Nobody is monopolizing the Keep on my watch!

Notice how there are four boss fights he mentioned.

One major element from each one?

Horntail... not quite a boss within my personal knowledge, but like MaxHudson said, he's a bit about just meeting the needs to barely not die and having the ability to hit him, and hopefully kill him quickly.
That guy is intense; he needs strategy AND watching out carefuly coupled with almost immeadiate reactions to if he pulls off something dangerous in addition to a bit of endurance for how long you can maintain focus carefully without making a careless error that costs you your survival.

I personally don't want Nexon to pull of a Neo Tokyo-esque boss/Horntail of a boss that requires super high HP so I can participate; I want something that's feasible within my range I can actually survive a hit from.
If it really is going to adhere to a very Bigfoot/Crow esque boss, basically, a 1HKO "bam-you're-dead" boss" or does Horntail like damage, I hope there's a way to work around that using strategy O-O

But once again, glad to see Prose making a public return; I'm almost looking forward to the Q&A to look at [by that, I mean stalk and prowl around obsessively] over the Holiday break.

Yes, more Geist Balrog-esque bosses please. Zakum and Horntail are so pineappleing boring.

A boss as interesting as Geist Balrog, but one that had the HP of Zakum's third body and did 3k damage AND had good drops or exp would make my day.

Please let it be viable for archers. God you don't know how much i want to fight in an epic boss battle without severely lowering my damage >< and with SE i can actually be helpful too...

I still want it to be a guild alliance quest thing, even though i have no alliance anymore =(

That would be something new...

Yes, more Geist Balrog-esque bosses please. Zakum and Horntail are so pineappleing boring.

A boss as interesting as Geist Balrog, but one that had the HP of Zakum's third body and did 3k damage AND had good drops or exp would make my day.

The heck? Geist is one of the most boring bosses in the game. There's zero challenge in it whatsoever. It's like a teleporting area boss, at best. Most of the times it's over just as fast. THAT WAS FUN AND INTERESTING. OSNAPS. LOLTELEPORTBOSS.

Zak's a snorefest, but Horntail is actually the most fun boss in this game. It still takes 40-60 mins, and it requires focus. Have you even HT'd? Haha I chat on MSN, use the web and hardly pay attention while killing all other bosses that take longer than 5 mins. Zzzzz

The heck? Geist is one of the most boring bosses in the game. There's zero challenge in it whatsoever. It's like a teleporting area boss, at best. Most of the times it's over just as fast. THAT WAS FUN AND INTERESTING. OSNAPS. LOLTELEPORTBOSS.

Zak's a snorefest, but Horntail is actually the most fun boss in this game. It still takes 40-60 mins, and it requires focus. Have you even HT'd? Haha I chat on MSN, use the web and hardly pay attention while killing all other bosses that take longer than 5 mins. Zzzzz

ok, it may be boring for 16x, but if you're fighting it on equal terms (Let's say a party of 9x) then it's a far sight more interesting. Of course it's boring if you kill it in 30 seconds. Geist is moving around, teleporting, attacking, when you pin it, he does super def up to escape... you actually have to leave the ground to keep track of it. You can't really criticize it when you're way higher than it. That's like going into Ludi PQ in tespia and going "LOLZ WHY EVERYONE HATE ON ALISHAR HE SO EASY".