KMST Balance Patch

Also

tl;dr: Fire Arrow mob upgrade is utterly useless in today's MapleStory. Boost the last 99.97% of the game, not the first .03%.

On Nexon's magician rankings, a level 120 mage with 0 experience is rank 16368.

If we don't count characters under level 40 as 'players', to account for mules and other things (a generous threshold), a level 40 mage with 0 experience is rank 340009.

Therefore, if we speak in terms of number of characters in existence, 4th job is actually 4.8% of the game.

Cause Gunslingers are actually weak as f'uck in KMS.

What happens in GMS stays in GMS. This is KMS rebalancing.

No apples, attack capes, or anything to make them imbalanced.
NLs and Heroes, shi't even Bishops are more powerful than Gunslingers in KMS.
A high leveled bishop would hit over 100k to tons of Skelegons, whereas a high leveled gunslinger would hit 25k/25k/25k/25k to one skelegon.

Different versions doesn't mean different formulae. And why are you comparing fullscreen ultimates to single-target attacks? That's not very smart or fair. I don't think you know as much as you claim you do.

Not to mention this is rebalancing. Completely disregarding what they do 1v1, Gunslingers are SH'IT AWFUL at training from Lv70 to Lv140

I disagree entirely.

 Response to BombsAway

You do realise my husband is a 2.5 year old 150 F/P right? You've met him. We both struggled through the hellish times also. He maxed explosion first without any idea of how useful mist was, and I can tell you that having a better explosion would've made the trek to 120 a whole lot easier. Besides, the gap between mist and explosion shouldn't be so disgustingly wide. No skill should be completely useless. You should be able to choose whether you want to go explosion or mist and not suffer for making that choice. This helps bridge the gap a little.

It seems to me like you're just discrediting things that don't benefit you. That extra 3000 damage from amp would allow me to 1HKO skeles sometimes as a full-luk Arch Mage. How is that not useful? You just don't seem to be looking at it from the point of the aspiring adventurer.

Besides, you said it yourself. There aren't that many high level F/P's. Not even 4th job ones. That speaks volumes about how much they need to be changed.

You are completely right and I've bolded the sections I especially agree with, but in the end, people are always working towards something. What use is working towards 4th job because you want to try out all the cool 4th job skills and go fight awesome bosses if you can't because your 4th job skills are so subpar to other classes? So many high levels quit because there's nothing for them to do, and those who stick around, like us on this board, make that clearly evident. What use is there training a class past 160? 180? Yes, 2nd and 3rd jobs deserve updates like these, but if the end result isn't changed what's the use of fixing them in the first place.

Again, I agree these changes are great and, honestly, worthwhile, but it's like throwing a bucket of water on a burning building. It doesn't really change anything in the end. 6xing with 3x cards and family buffs can net a 5x F/P close to (this is an educated guess) 400%/hr Poison Bracing DTs with Fire Arrow that hits 4 mobs. That's fantastic training, but not made so by the skills used; rather, it's the changes to the game made over the years that really make the difference. Final example: take your husband with the Explosion difference. You make the comment that it bridges the gap "a little." But in the end, what does a 10 base attack increase and 10% Amp increase do for a skill that's already so slow as compared to Mist? It's bridging the gap by building 5% of the bridge necessary to cross the ravine. In other words, Mist is so phenomenally designed as compared to Explosion that this little change won't, in the end, make the world of difference that the skills need.

 Response to DustBunny

You know that is utter shit right? My aran never made less than 60% an hour on 2x, let alone my blaze wizard, dark knight or shadower before level 90..

That's also him using Fire Arrow on mobs back before a lot of the new training areas came out. A 2nd job F/P with 2x and Poison Brace can make 60-80%/hr during their 5x levels at DTs; throw in Fire Arrow that hits 4 mobs and you're looking at a huge increase. F/Ps training during 2nd job are not bad, plus 2nd job Arans are a ridiculously god-tier training class anyways.

 Response to Greg

Arguing over a Fire Mage's THIRD JOB changes? Really?

 hur

Why not just be thankful that they made things a little bit easier? Not that 3rd job F/P life was hard to begin with.

Nice trolling outside of the funhouse. I laughed and appreciated the nostalgia before reporting.

 Response to Bribery

I think FrozNlite's main point is that with the Fire Arrow change, the Explosion boost is redundant. +10 base attack isn't going to make it useful because it's so damn slow. If Fire Arrow does 120 damage to all 4 monsters (instead of an Iron Arrow effect), it's going to outdamage Explosion regardless of it hitting fewer monsters due to its speed advantage. Explosion needs a significant power or speed boost to make it useful. With Fire Arrow hitting mobs, Explosion becomes even more useless for Mist training since most F/Ps dual channel Peak, which is a perfect map for using Fire Arrow to finish off mobs.

This is partially the case, as the Fire Arrow increase does benefit 2nd job Mages well. However, the bottom line is that Lv. 1-120 is only, what, 20% of the game? I don't have that EXP table with percentages, but needless to say the majority of the time for any character is spent between levels 120-200, and boosting everything else while leaving that portion of the game as unbalanced as it is seems ludicrous. Yes, I know there are aspiring adventurers lower than Lv. 120 and plenty of people who would benefit from these changes, which is why I'm saying they are good, but the argument I'm making is that it's still not enough. There needs to be major upgrades at the 4th job level for any of this to really take effect, as people don't make LOLFPs so they can hit 4 monsters with Fire Arrow. People make them, and many other classes, so they can do awesome things with 4th job skills. I hope KMS realizes this and gives people something to play for.

 Response to Russt

Also

On Nexon's magician rankings, a level 120 mage with 0 experience is rank 16368.

If we don't count characters under level 40 as 'players', to account for mules and other things (a generous threshold), a level 40 mage with 0 experience is rank 340009.

Therefore, if we speak in terms of number of characters in existence, 4th job is actually 4.8% of the game.

I was referring to the EXP needed to go from 1-70 compared to the EXP needed to go from 1-200, in which case 1-70 is a meager .03% or something of the game. It's not my fault people don't level or *gasp* play Mages to 4th job.

lots of words

Chill out man -- there are more updates to come. I'm sure they'll mess with 4th job mages as they said they would. Just be patient.

K I wasn't aware of that. My bad.


But I heard from someone in Elinforest that, in KMS hardly, anyone plays a bucc anymore because of their endgame DPM :/. Same thing is happening here in GMS as well. Buccs seem to be quitting their chars for Arans.

Nobody on KMS plays pirates at all anymore.
Gun and Knuckle scrolls are well below 400-500k each on a highly populated server.
Buccaneers are too slow, and Captains are too "varied". They go from being decently powerful on a boat with cannonball/torpedo, to a piece of s'hit with rapid fire/triple fire when their boat breaks for 360 seconds.

I don't understand your reasoning. NLs get more from apples and attack capes than Sairs do. Also, Dusk's thread (from where everyone gets the "Corsairs are the best DPS" thing) is a comparison with 12 attack potions.

The KMS gunslinger "standard" isn't nearly as strong the GMS gunslinger "standard", is my point. You could make all the accusations you want that Gunslingers are too overpowered in gMS, but that's hardly the case in kMS.

Only very few play Gunslingers in KMS because they're a pain to train to the 4th job, and even then they're still playing 5th string to a bunch of other classes.

Buccaneers are too slow,

Therein lies my point. This really needs to be addressed with buccs.

The KMS gunslinger "standard" isn't nearly as strong the GMS gunslinger "standard", is my point. You could make all the accusations you want that Gunslingers are too overpowered in gMS, but that's hardly the case in kMS.

Only very few play Gunslingers in KMS because they're a pain to train to the 4th job, and even then they're still playing 5th string to a bunch of other classes.

And the NL standard is?

FrozNlite:

This patch is just a beginning.

If they haven't modified 4th job magicians yet when they said they will, that means it'll be done in the future; Fire Arrow won't be the only change for F/Ps. Stop acting like it is.

Different versions doesn't mean different formulae. And why are you comparing fullscreen ultimates to single-target attacks? That's not very smart or fair. I don't think you know as much as you claim you do.


I disagree entirely.

Well people seem to be arguing about pure damage, so I'm not really paying attention anything else.

If you'd like I could say a high leveled Night Lord will deal over 150k damage per skelegon with far more mobility and speed than a Gunslinger.

I disagree with your disagree. From Lv70 to 140-ish, a gunslinger will be sniping newties until the end of time.

And the NL standard is?

Does it matter? Just take it as if when JMS was regarded as "HermitStory".
Except KMS is NLsNBishopsNHeroesNAranStory

They go from being decently powerful on a boat with cannonball/torpedo, to a piece of s'hit with rapid fire/triple fire when their boat breaks for 360 seconds.

Woah woah back up. The cooldown on the boat is 90 seconds. I believe that was originally a kMS change, so it should be that way there too.

FrozNlite:

If they haven't modified 4th job magicians yet when they said they will, that means it'll be done in the future; Fire Arrow won't be the only change for F/Ps. Stop acting like it is.

You guys are right, and I'm sorry for overreacting. However, other classes did get amazing rebalancing upgrades while we got, comparatively, crap. Not to mention other class upgrades actually extremely benefit them in 4th job.

OmFg @ the new recoil

and lolrapid got stronger :f6:

Woah woah back up. The cooldown on the boat is 90 seconds. I believe that was originally a kMS change, so it should be that way there too.

loloops forgot.

but still, on maplestory, a LOT happens in 90 seconds.

However, other classes did get amazing rebalancing upgrades while we got, comparatively, crap. Not to mention other class upgrades actually extremely benefit them in 4th job.

And Paladins got nothing.

Therein lies my point. This really needs to be addressed with buccs.

I think the issue is that Nexon overestimated the characters.
They probably though, OH HEY LET'S GIVE THEM WIND BOOSTER, FIXES EVERYTHING LOL.

The one major flaw in MapleStory is that speed > everything.

I do not appreciate being called a troll, FrozNlite. :3

You guys are right, and I'm sorry for overreacting. However, other classes did get amazing rebalancing upgrades while we got, comparatively, crap. Not to mention other class upgrades actually extremely benefit them in 4th job.

You're not even going to see these changes for months. You haven't lost out on anything yet.

I do not appreciate being called a troll, FrozNlite. :3

Kitty some more, grog.

I do not appreciate being called a troll, FrozNlite. :3

Well played.