About The New EXP Rates and Bosses Post Unleashed

[Patt]

How do you guys feel about the latest changes to experience and bossing?

Note: I'm going to try really hard not to rant, but prepare for a wall of text.

In case you're unaware of the latest changes, here's a run down:

EXP:

• EXP now has a "Bonus" line for EXP buffs and cards and no longer stack with base EXP.
• Misc. EXP bonuses (like Mercedes Elven Blessing and Guild Experience Buff) are on their own line but now only multiply off the base EXP line.
• Because of the two above points, party experience (and party play bonus experience) doesn't multiply in a way that makes it beneficial, unless you're severely under powered and training with an overpowered player (the overpowered player would suffer a lot)
• Because of the point above, the only beneficial way of getting HS is to have an HS mule; solo play is the best experience in most cases.
• 2x cards do not work anymore for players above 201.
• The HP:EXP ratio for Mixed Golems in Twilight Perion was altered for worse

BOSSES:

• Bosses like Empress and Chaos Root Abyss have a once a week clear limit.

I'm pretty annoyed and confused as to why these changes are necessary to "preserve the integrity of the level cap" and I have no idea what Nexon was thinking with the boss limitations; the only thing that remotely makes sense is so the market doesn't get saturated too quickly with high level gear.

I'll try to put this into perspective.

At level 210, I need 24 billion experience points to level. That's roughly going from 200-201 12 times over. At 220 I'll need 84 billion, or equivalently going from 200-201 42 times. Now, I don't mind the fact that the EXP curve becomes steep at later levels, hell I am all for harder leveling, but the way Nexon went about it is so awful.

At 210, with a 1.5x buff (from the anniversary event, unobtainable at the moment) and a non leeching HS mule, my solo experience in one hour was roughly 2.4%, or 574,000,000 experience. At 210. 10 levels into the new level cap. At 249 where I need 650 billion experience to level, I'll be getting 0.088% an hour, 1132 hours of grinding will level me, granted I have 1.5x coupons and HS constantly. That's over 47 straight days of training.

With a 600k range.

I know 600k isn't godly by any standards, but it's way way way above average when you consider all the players who are 200+. I imagine someone like @Mazz would be getting higher rates, but do you think your experience gain should be dictated by how strong you are to such an awful degree? Bossing sure, that's fine, strength is a necessity there, but at least before (read: pre big bang/EXPlosion rates) training and leveling took perseverance, not a big wallet.

And party play. What. It's pointless, it was a great system that could have worked wonders, but they messed it up so bad that it's actually worse to party in almost every scenario than to solo. I'm not sure what they were thinking with this one. In my eyes, a large map (much bigger than deep Ludibrium clocktower) with reasonable HP and a decent party play system and nice spawn would be the solution in my eyes, enough mobs to keep all players occupied, and a party play system to discourage leeching and to encourage activity and team play.

And speaking about team play, what about the recent changes to bosses? Bosses like Empress and CRA can only be cleared once a week. Why? It leaves us with nothing to do for the rest of the week. We don't even have the split drops or increased drop rates like KMS does, so we're still getting the same amount of stuff as we were before the limit was put in place.

I'd go do other bosses like Arkarium or HM Hilla, but every time I die in those battles, I lose exp (Arkarium can use his crazy 1hit ko move like 10 times a run, that's 10% or 4 hours of training gone down the drain). There is literally NOTHING to do.

So what do you guys think? What changes do you think are necessary to vitalize end game content in Maplestory again? Sorry if this sounded like kind of a rant, I tried to not go full out hate-mode on Nexon, but I do think their choices as of late have been really stupid.

TL;DR: Exp rates are stupid, soloing is stupid, limitations on bosses are stupid, everything is stupid.

[Tigeon]

. Even though I am 200, I view leveling past 200 fruitless for several reasons.

1) The ap cap in place limits most characters. The 999 cap shoves it in every class that is not a xenon [and possibly DA, not sure]. I do not see the point of leveling and only being able to get marginally stronger than I was after hours of grinding while a xenon benefits a lot more.

2) LVL 3 link skills are a joke. Seriously, level 210 for a level 3 link skill? How do you go from level 70>120> 210? A much more reasonable level would be 150 or even 180 because Level 3 links don't even get much better than their level 2 version.

3) Abundance of SP with no purpose. Seriously, I maxed everything out at level 180. Now I get 3 more sp that I can't do anything with. There aren't anymore hypers for me to add into since they stopped giving me points, and even then most of my good ones were done by 200 anyway.

With the exp being the way it is and the points I listed above, I honestly think leveling past 201 ain't worth it anymore.

As for bossing, I can see why they did it somewhat. They rather only very few people actually have the gear because, well, it is the best. There's nothing after that. What do you do after you upgraded your fafnir all the way? Kill more bosses and just farm equips to the point where you have mules just filled with money for no actual purpose? Limiting boss kills makes it a lot harder for people to max out their potential stats, since once you get to the end, you are done. And I say this as a person who doesn't own a single piece of fafnir [even though I wish I did]

[ShinkuDragon]

you forgot the exp reduction for being over a mob's level.

[Patt]

you forgot the exp reduction for being over a mob's level.

Oh yeah. Equally as annoying as the rest. At least we know they're scrapping that idea (or did in kMS at least)

[ShinkuDragon]

Oh yeah. Equally as annoying as the rest. At least we know they're scrapping that idea (or did in kMS at least)

either way, i find the 2x coupons the most stupid thing mainly because "we don't want players with NX gaining an unfair advantage over other players"

however, from where do tyrants come from?
or root abyss gear?
or those no-boom AEE's that people use to get their tyrants past 7 stars.
or the shield scrolls to protect said nobooms?

the only difference between all of the above and the 2x coupons, is that people who use NX to get the above items, can sell them to people who don't use NX, while for 2x coupons you'd have to buy NX, and i feel this is idiotic PRECISELY because of that. watch nexon not allow people to buy 2x anyways when buying NX with mesos is allowed legitly however.

[LiquidSwing]

hey i prefer solo'ing =(

(that does not mean I don't want others to party together to level, however. i dont like the changes either)

[LittlePrincess]

"preserve the integrity of the level cap"
I think this means they don't want tons of people sitting at 250 when 5th job is released. The time to enjoy training to 200 to 250 is when 5th job is released not now. But to keep people entertained who would otherwise quit from lack of interest they upped the level way before 5th job is even close to ready.

Personally I prefer an experience system where the next level is a little bit tougher/longer/or whatever than the last one, not one where the experience needed increases exponentially. It used to take 20-30 min to make lvl 10, now it takes 5 min if you watch all the videos. When I spent time on the character I really felt I was learning what I was supposed to do. Now with all the changes the new characters level up so fast I can't figure out how my skills work before they are outdated, and I don't know how to play a lot of my old characters (because I didn't have time to read the 5 updates to every class....) Personally that annoys me more than the experience system.

[777]

i cant even train past 200 since i dont deal enough damage and die/DC at the golems map.the reduced EXP from HoH is also a problem.
before the patch came i thought i would hit 210 for the lvl 3 skill. but when the patch came... Oh god i couldn't even train and still cant.PQs are pretty dead,bosses dont bring enough exp anyway.the only way average players can train don't exist.the golems are for the rich only,and those who dont spend money on NX will sit at 200 forever (or until nexon will be generous enough to give us an area we can train at)
oh also twisted aqua road is nice but the quest are too hard. i mean like really,300 ETCs from a mob who drops them 20% of the time? im sorry but i cant do that,im not that addicted.
again if i only had nx to buy an auto collecting pet it was all different but,i guess i dont have it.nexon should give us more party play areas (not the solo encouraging 20% bonus places,but the 50% party play) and remove the exp penalty at high leveled content (150+ like it used to be)this will be the only way everyone can train and enjoy

[Justin]

What pisses me off the absolute most is that they didn't even bother ACKNOWLEDGING the constant disconnections at warrior grounds. And they still occur every 3 or so minutes.

[Marksman Bryan]

The new method of stacking exp buffs is fine IMO. But un-nerf golems and bring back 2x cards, I was geting perfectly good EXP rates and they would have continued to 210 - after that is when I really saw "pre-bb" rates come back.

[Niernen]

TL;DR: Exp rates are stupid, soloing is stupid, limitations on bosses are stupid, everything is stupid.

You forgot:
Nexon is stupid.

[i123theDemon]

Noticed t his when i was starting HoH. Was like what the... the 2x card only multiply my white exp??
*kicks all leechers*

[scholtex999]

I'm very disappointed at the level 250 cap.

New contents are useless. Twisted Aqua Road is useless, Alien PQ is useless for experience, majority of future perion maps are useless and the only training area we are given is Ancient Stone Golems. I thought leveling extremely slow during pre big bang era is over but now they are trying to make us level much slower. I don't think anyone find it fun leveling to 250 right now because this game is so boring overall; they could've release 5th job and better level 200+ contents along with level 250 cap.

[Niernen]

Noticed t his when i was starting HoH. Was like what the... the 2x card only multiply my white exp??
*kicks all leechers*

I also soloed HoH (boring as hell). Only one i would ever party would be a hser, since kanna doesnt need to be in party. Its so much faster to solo (if your kinda funded). On another note, during the 2x, i used a 2x card and my last 1.5 buff, doing Krexel twice managed to get me a whole level at lv175.

[Declaimed]

I agree with their decision to keep the 2x cards out of the 201-250 range, and also agree with their reasoning. It'll be nice to have the "impossible to reach/very difficult" cap back, instead of having waves of level 200s like it means absolutely nothing. Yes, I know. People used to race to 200, now everyone wants to race to 250. But whats the point? I was never one to make 15+ different classes. Having additional content beyond 200 at a steady pace will be nice, instead of speeding through it and never stopping to enjoy anything. And this is especially true if there truly is a 5th job on the way. From what I understand, that was the entire point of raising the cap. People complained: "Everything is too easy, things used to be challenging, levels used to mean something, and now they don't". I see level 250 as the answer to those complaints. Why raise the level cap if you're going to make it as easy to reach as the old one?


I sincerely hope that they don't go back on the decision to take away the coupons and that they stop anyone who tries to circumvent it.

Now, as for the other changes to the system regarding exp gain? My comments in this post have nothing to do with that.

[Satellite]

- Fine with no nx 2x if it works and there's no loopholes like transfering them through explorer cash inv.
- Don't have a strong opinion about the different way multipliers work except anything that discourages partying is, in my mind, a bad change
- Exp reduction thing is stupid and nerfing golems made it even worse.
- boss limits look like another half-assed way to fight hacking which will further punish legit playerbase and not solve the hacking problem. It will also punish us who are not able to solo bosses by inflation in the price of gear from said bosses.

Overall I don't care much before 200+ becomes worth it (for Aran). Heck, I couldn't even properly train because I crash in every golem map constantly.

[The Anonymous]

Nexon calls this Unleashed/Unlimited when they're limiting things. Wow that is ironic.

Anyways, I really like the old system better because of the new level cap.

[Takebacker]

EXP:

• EXP now has a "Bonus" line for EXP buffs and cards and no longer stack with base EXP.
• Misc. EXP bonuses (like Mercedes Elven Blessing and Guild Experience Buff) are on their own line but now only multiply off the base EXP line.
• Because of the two above points, party experience (and party play bonus experience) doesn't multiply in a way that makes it beneficial, unless you're severely under powered and training with an overpowered player (the overpowered player would suffer a lot)
• Because of the point above, the only beneficial way of getting HS is to have an HS mule; solo play is the best experience in most cases.
• 2x cards do not work anymore for players above 201.
• The HP:EXP ratio for Mixed Golems in Twilight Perion was altered for worse

• It doesn't stack on to base exp but it isn't any different from when it did.
• They always worked this way...neither of those buffs ever worked on party play lines
• You're supposed to train with someone of your own power level. Why is this so hard for people to understand and implement?
• Too bad there aren't any HS mules capable of keeping up with anyone.
• 2x cards don't even exist for KMS. At least events still work.
• I think the ratio change was a buff so long as you don't clear the map in 10 seconds and yeah i'm sure everyone knows someone who can do that...

BOSSES:

• Bosses like Empress and Chaos Root Abyss have a once a week clear limit.

Makes runs more profitable. Lack of drop increase is pretty scummy though.

I know 600k isn't godly by any standards, but it's way way way above average when you consider all the players who are 200+. I imagine someone like @Mazz would be getting higher rates, but do you think your experience gain should be dictated by how strong you are to such an awful degree? Bossing sure, that's fine, strength is a necessity there, but at least before (read: pre big bang/EXPlosion rates) training and leveling took perseverance, not a big wallet.

Leveling doesn't take perseverance after 200? You seem to be contradicting yourself now.

Why should the unfunded be able to compete in a training ground on the same level as someone who isn't? You make it sound like 600k is some magic number where you aren't subject to difficulty, or that such a number should even exist at all. This argument of yours existed from day 1 of LHC release. It isn't unfair.

And party play. What. It's pointless, it was a great system that could have worked wonders, but they messed it up so bad that it's actually worse to party in almost every scenario than to solo. I'm not sure what they were thinking with this one. In my eyes, a large map (much bigger than deep Ludibrium clocktower) with reasonable HP and a decent party play system and nice spawn would be the solution in my eyes, enough mobs to keep all players occupied, and a party play system to discourage leeching and to encourage activity and team play.

Just because you don't know how to party doesn't mean party play is pointless.

What you just described is warrior's grounds.

[Patt]

• It doesn't stack on to base exp but it isn't any different from when it did.
• They always worked this way...neither of those buffs ever worked on party play lines
• You're supposed to train with someone of your own power level. Why is this so hard for people to understand and implement?
• Too bad there aren't any HS mules capable of keeping up with anyone.
• 2x cards don't even exist for KMS. At least events still work.
• I think the ratio change was a buff so long as you don't clear the map in 10 seconds and yeah i'm sure everyone knows someone who can do that...

First off, I'm not talking specifically about party play lines for the misc exp buffs. Before Unleashed, they were calculated from the traditional experience line. This included 2x exp cards, events, 1.5x buffs, HS, etc. Now it's only calculated off of BASE exp. This has nothing to do party the party play bonus.

Secondly, have you looked at party experience since Unleashed? The exp you get WITH party bonus and party play bonus (where applicable) is always less than half with two people in a party as opposed to solo. For example, if a mob gave 100k EXP solo, you would be getting less than 50k exp with a 2 man party after the party bonuses, that's what makes it worse; it has nothing to do with power levels unless you're partying with someone who is much stronger than you and can kill more mobs than you can to make up the difference; the stronger player will always suffer though.

Don't you think that's a problem then? HS mules shouldn't have to be the only go to option for HS.

Makes runs more profitable. Lack of drop increase is pretty scummy though.

Yeah, I guess, but this is a game, not a job; I'd like to be able to play more than once a week.

Leveling doesn't take perseverance after 200? You seem to be contradicting yourself now.

Why should the unfunded be able to compete in a training ground on the same level as someone who isn't? You make it sound like 600k is some magic number where you aren't subject to difficulty, or that such a number should even exist at all. This argument of yours existed from day 1 of LHC release. It isn't unfair.

How is this contradicting? Perseverance =/= being okay with a stupid EXP system that makes no sense. Like I said, I don't mind that the experience get's harder as you level up, but the way they implemented it is stupid. In my opinion bosses should be dependent on strength and training should be dependent on willpower. I'd rather train on a large map with mobs I can easily kill with any range than a small map with high HP mobs that are essentially bosses that favor the strong. My ideal training map would be a Ludi vikings style map that's 4x bigger with enough mobs to comfortably accommodate 6 players to discourage leeching.

Just because you don't know how to party doesn't mean party play is pointless.

What you just described is warrior's grounds.

I'm not sure if you're even reading what you're saying now, but maybe you should go try partying at warrior grounds and tell me how great it is.

[Justin]

Just because you don't know how to party doesn't mean party play is pointless.

What you just described is warrior's grounds.

have you partied at Warrior grounds? With actual funded people? It's trash. solo + HS mule that you move in and out of the party in an exped is far superior to partying.