General General Feedback and Longevity of the Server

Why is auf helmet not balanced? It requires ~150b?? To loot a perfect attack MoN requires (probability is 1/3 * 1/6*1/10 = 0.56%) 178 reloots on average. That is 35.6 vip runs. That would have cost 10.6b if vip runs are 300m and 3.5b if vip runs are 100m. Without nerfing MoN and leaving it at a base 10att would have made it too good for its price.

Also, auf hat does not replace the place of zhelm/scar/targa hats. These hats are still the best before you manage to get >60++ cgs. These require ~10b to finish with 60% ws or even less if you aren't ws-ing. This contrasts with MoN potentially replacing HTP if it didn't get a nerf.

Also, I find it rather amusing that thieves are calling out on the game being too easy but these are the characters with mad washing and godly avoid. I remember a couple of weeks ago and we were complaining about the monstrosity of the avoid nerf.

Otherwise, I mostly agree with the points on the thread. Many of the nerfs on the economy were intended to slow it down because of massive inflation caused by hacking. But it didn't address the main problem of rwter/hackers having a strong control over the game's economy.

EDIT: on further discussion, it seem that the point on auf hat that was being made by johnny and doo is that a gear having 87/87/87/87 stats is too obscene for a pre bb server. I think that is true, this hat does seem to break the power level of the game in that regard.

 

I think you are either underestimate hackers or overestimate what can be done by GM to hackers.

Do you really think reports can stop a hacker hacking in royals?
They can actually bypass the ban system, start a new character and start hacking again ( there is a video on youtube about how these hackers work, not going to advertise it so I wont post the link here), they spent zero effort to do this because everything is automated.

I stop reporting hackers when I actually realize this. Feel sad for Johnny, Gert and Josh when they are handling most of the reports while they can actually just sitting in fm and chilling with others.

We need autoban system but not Manual Autoban Replacement.

 

think about it, would you be more likely to listen to someone who has many mules saying they think mule meta sucks or someone with no mules who says mule meta sucks? i'd listen to the first but not the later.

 

stop no, slow yea
reports and community help is 1 best card we got against ToS breakers
autoban can just help abit
otherwise all you said same goes for that "autoban" that will somehow only go after hacker and stop them from ban evading

so whats the number of mules-clients to get validated for a opinion ?comeon...dosn't matter
am out of this thread lol
maybe am just ilegal player and i don't have enough clients to somehow fight against ToS breakers like legit players do

 

What can be done to fix this??

Royals needs big bang update!

• Auf Haven Set added to game in every equip slot up to 87 stats each.
• Paladin get total crash skill that cause other party members to crash right before skill books drop.
• Ginger ale price increased to 87k each for reaso
• Gm interns now enter an unpaid internship coding boot camp to code anti hack system.
• More chairs and NX are added.
• MapleRoyals 2.0 released separately and is a Maplestory 2 server.

Just kidding. Hope things work out well lol.

Edit: On a more serious note, I think there's not much that can be done besides maybe rebuffing some things that have been nerfed over the years. Idk what to do about Auf Helmet besides possibly manually refunding players and nerfing it. Maybe add more interesting boss mechanics or diversified high level content.

Probably requires more careful analysis I don't have the bandwidth for right now. I said this before but Gobies are still nerfed. Don't forget the little fish!

 

I suggest you read again what I wrote, Im not going to say that again
And also, why do you think autoban can just help abit but manual ban can help ALOT???

I appreciate what you did for slowing down 9 hackers progression. Thank You.

 

Thanks @Johnny for creating this thread. This might be just me, but when I'm read these feedback threads and see the same forum individuals provide constructive feedback time and time again, I can't help but sense the exhaustion you all must feel after each post.

Truly grateful for you + the dedicated players always providing feedback publicly for the community to rally around. Really hope this thread reaches our busy admins/staff before people like yourself get burnt out for the last time from having tried so hard.

@staff let us know if there's a more effective way for these points to be heard. feedback polls, nps survey, community lead voting on prioritization, ideas w/ upvotes, etc. There's an army of dedicated players here that really want to be of service and recognized.

 

There is no need to attack at the personal level, please. We are all here to improve the game experiences for everybody.
There is a lot of constructive feedback here and we are very appreciated. keep the discussion going and pls don't troll to farm likes here

"Attack the ideas, not the people" - Confucius

 

This is not only ignorant, but just flat out wrong.

There is a difference between proactive and reactive measures to reduce illegitimate players. The entire point of having an autoban system is to detect when scripts/illicit programs and actions are initiated in the game, rather than to capture them in action. Today, we are fully reliant on a reactive approach that puts the onus on players to find, capture evidence, and report hackers / botters out of their own free will, that is more time consuming for the legitimate player than it is for the hacker to spoof/set up a new account.

Neither autoban or the current methods will truly prevent a player from ban evading, but an autobanner will stop or at least drastically reduce the rampant hacking and botting today plaguing the server.

You are the person who comments across feedback threads stating your opinion on how broken and disruptive mules and multi-client, multimage farming is to the game. You have to admit that there is hypocrisy in you blasting the forum with these opinions, but still clearly using and adopting numerous mules? There is a whole other thread to discuss the impact and relevance of muling.

Multi-maging is an effort that players have adopted to keep up the inflation in the economy.... again driven by hackers/RWTers. Less of the inflation and consequent game aging you mention is driven by players with their muling compared to hackers. You can see an example of this from the skillbook prices @Jooon has shared, highlighting the disparity between player demand driven prices vs. hacker/RWT inflated pricing for CS/WS. A quick scan across FMs shows that price demand for everything in the market is dropping but CS/WS prices themselves continue to go up.

I don't want to dilute the importance of this thread as I think it summarizes all of the fundamental issues impacting our server. All of the players here typing up rhetoric posts are doing so because they want the server to thrive again, and I don't find your responses and nit picking against everyone else here a positive contribution to this conversation.

 

@MaiAh I would rather not devolve the thread into pointless insults when constructive feedback could be made so I would appreciate if you do not speak to me like that. I merely called out an observation I made since you seem to blame broken mule methods on the quick accumulation of wealth. No one here has said your opinions were invalid but complaints without proposed improvements are not helpful.

Moving on, what needs to be said has been mentioned above by players far more experienced than I am. Auto ban needs to be prioritised instead of consistent nerfs to legitimate sources of income. Holding multiple channels might be too much but credit has to be given where credit is due. It takes time and effort to multi client farm (HS, Orbis, Ulu) and sell leech. I could be incorrect here, but most players who complain about quad Ulu farm would not do the same especially after the macro changes so why punish players who make the effort to do so? There is no incentive to boss due to the decrease in player population which results in lower demand for SB and prices dropping (Thanks for 3 dry HT @EZFebreezy). Hardworking newcomers and veterans alike will just end up demotivated and jaded with how hard it is to HP wash or purchase better items for themselves. Prices are dropping while CS and WS remain as expensive as ever. How about buffing new maps for funded, high level mages to farm at instead because the current meta has no place for them (*Sad bishop noises*).

Players should not be the ones responsible for reporting botters and hackers. In addition, GM have other responsibilities outside of Royals and are unable to respond to reports immediately. Having auto ban implemented would be providing them more time to resolve player issues and work on new content instead. Manual labour has and will continue to burn people out because motivation can only take you so far once you realise hackers will always be there no matter how hard you work to earn mesos with real sources of income. I sincerely hope an adjustment will be made where staff members are delegated work accordingly based on the priorities and needs of the server.

 

This game is not nostalgic. Why? - HP washing

I started this game 1 year ago as a bandit hoping to go through the pre-120 lvls similarly as I have played back in pre-BB GMS (PQ's, Grinding, quests). I hit level 100 and read a guide around the forums about "HP WASHING" and how it's VERY important. If you know anything about HP washing, learning about it at level 100 means you're pretty much fucked. Luckily meso guard saved me and I was able to wash enough to experience all bossing content BUT even that was an EXPENSIVE band aid that didn't feel right to do. However, imagine if I was a different class specifically archer, NL or corsair? Honestly I've even met other players with classes that are "easy to wash" (DrK & Bucc) that were fucked learning that they had to HP wash to even play end-game content. I would be so discouraged to continue and honestly, that's the experience. I've told so many new players and new friends who didn't wash, you're going to have to restart. It feels TERRIBLE.

I wanted to try HP washing from the start, just to see how it was so I decided to make an archer fully washed. 8B-10B? 16k HP potential
Does this sound reasonable to ANY new player?
Do you remember having to spend this much on HP pre-BB GMS?

The worst part about making my archer? Having 300 Int with 100+ Int gear and having to fully leech to 135. I even tried a work around where I collected monster cards on low level mobs because that's all I could kill - I got to Amazing Collector but it just felt so WRONG. You cannot advertise NOSTOLGIC where if you play this game NORMALLY, you are destroying your end-game potential.

This needs to fixed
I see so many comments against buffing HP gains with arguments
>I spent 10b on my character so everyone else should do it
>Make a BS to make money and then play whatever you want
>Make a warrior
>HP washing is nostalgic (??)
>It's just the way Royals is
>There's lots of ways to get HP
Whether some of these arguments are valid or not, it still skews the nostalgic experience. Putting aside the nostalgia, we shouldn't be gating playing a class by meso while also taking away playing the game from them as well. It just doesn't make sense.

Honestly, I hope the view of HP washing is in favor for the new player not only for the GM's, but also the community. There have been great strides to making the experience more tolerable, a great example being Ellin PQ (HP on earrings and ring) and I hope this is how the game evolves. Tie in HP gains with PQ's so you can play this game normally. Keep the HP washing for the older players who want to skip the process because I understand their view as well. Take the perspective of the new player, they are the life of this game.

 

I have a lvl 200 warrior and a ton of mules/mages but not that much time to play anymore. I don't feel motivated to make any new char because of HP washing and Hero is pretty useless now lvl 200 so there's nothing for me to do anymore lol. If there was a way to play a character legitimately without HP washing I'd probably get motivated again and play more.

 

The Cycle of Doom
0. Hackers/RWTers/Botters exist.
1. Players doing whatever is meta.
2. Staff: NERF THAT.
3. Players find creative new meta.
4. Staff: NERF THAT TOO.
5. Players find even more extreme ways to do things.
6. Staff: WTF STOP.
7. Hackers/RWTers/Botters exist.

How I Feel About the Changes to Royals [2015 - Now]

Spoiler: Excuse My French Fries

- HP Washing: Sucked back then, but now it's straight up confusing AF.
- Wtf is Auf Haven?
- Nerf stopper/lep farm? Okay, w/e.
- Duo leech? Who the fuck started this shit?
- Why the fuck are there new equips? (Scar/Targa/belts make sense though)
- How is every skill book so damn cheap right now?
- New ability effects? Why?..
- Pots/Star changes. What the actual fuck man?
- Map/mob changes: So much fail it hurts.
- Completely revamped PQ restrictions/rewards? Wtf?
- Fuck these huge ass chairs.
- Fuck these annoying titles. Let me turn them off, PLEASE.
- Monster book. Nice.
- Wait, dojo works? Nice.
- FM > Lounge button. Wait, there's still no one there. (Seriously though, make this a 1 channel room.)
- Multi-clienting: Wtf limit this shit to 2 per PC.
- New maps/mobs/bosses: Okay, cool. I don't know where anything is though.
- New PQs: Interesting, sounds fun!
- Maple Island is actually legit. Good quizzes, NPCs, and more. A+
- Forums: Same old feedback/complaint threads. That's what I call nostalgic.
- Staff Changes: When did he/she quit? What, another drama thread?
- GM Feedback Blogs: YES. THIS SHOULD'VE BEEN A THING A LONG TIME AGO.

I used to play because of the nostalgia of v62/83. Now, it's an entirely different game. I don't know what's considered meta, what items are new to the game, and what all these new NPCs do or where anything new is.

Atm, there's only a few things that keep me here instead of switching to [server that must not be named]:
- It's nowhere near as grindy. I don't have time for that.
- Massive selection of permanent NX/RP. Oml, I am so thankful for this.
- Countless hours of effort into creating resources/content from past/existing player-base.
- Shoutbox / Forum Activity.
- I've been here for years.

 

I really like this idea about giving HP as a reward for doing PQs. As someone who does the magatia daily HP quest for the past few months, I do appreciate the buff recently on the drop rates, but it still feels like a struggle getting to my hp goal. I know with this new proposed reward system, people might finally do opq/lpq/etc which helps newer players get plugged in with higher level players. Maybe, this can be the start to slowly ween Royals off of a vote2win system? This will suck for newer players and people who are in the middle of washing their characters, but sometimes hard changes are necessary for a better future.

Also, I hear the term auto ban a lot. What exactly is an auto ban? I'm guessing it's a program that automatically detect hackers? Does this include rwters and vote abusters?

 

Timeline of what should be done next to fix all the above-mentioned issues.

1. AutoBan - we all know why

2. A Fuckton of more staff - "CopyPaste" how Legends operates and communicates with their player base. Even get their help and see if we can all be friends and sing kumbaya. Maybe even get old staff back to being staff if some kind of amends could happen. Not sure if that's possible, but I once know a guy I worked within the coast guard, he stole another dude's wife. Then, a year later they had to work together. They got over it and somehow became friends? lol weird as hell. But if they could do it, yall can get over a mushy game.

3. Meta Overhaul - HPwashing/Leech meta is the worst. I hate that I put myself through it for so many years. The server should move in a direction to completely dismantle the hpwash/leech meta and establish a culture of rewarding gameplay with HP/Items. This would include buffing PQs, Quest rewards, Higher level Exchange quests, etc, in terms of rewarding HP and meso generating options. This should improve overall gameplay from levels 1-120 and not constrict new players from only choosing BS to start out on the server to make Meso for hpwashing.

4. Player retention - Copy past everything @Johnny said in op. and like, what everyone keeps saying. we all pretty much agree. ESPECIALLY! FOR CHRIST'S SAKE. STOP NERFING LEGIT PLAYERS FARMING MESOS AND EVENTS.

5. How bossing currently works - Needs to be more engaging. I know there is a split in opinion on mules in the server but I genuinely feel when it comes to bossing mechanics, mules ruin the chore gameplay and how bossing is supposed to work. It feels as if mules just makes bossing feel like post-big-bang: Playing one character, but I have all the skills in the game. This is a pre-bb server. Soloing a boss was never intended, no matter how cool or rewarded you feel. I've done it for the bosses in Royals. I just felt sad for myself and didn't feel like I should be doing it. Teamplay>Solo Play.

I think that about covers it? I'm trying not to write an entire essay at 1am.
also! https://royals.ms/forum/threads/levels-1-120-balance.182083/#post-1074857
I made this a long time ago. I know they use it from GM straight up telling me they do. Ideas are welcomed.

 

I think the worst and most urgent problem that Royals is facing is hackers and RWTers, not legitimate players doing whatever is meta to collect mesos.

I tried pretty much all legit way of making mesos from selling petri/skele and trio duku leech, to all sorts of farming like stoppers, gold teeth, dex/int helm scrolls, etc. I started with selling leech, and then moved on to farming stuff because I didn't want to mess with finding buyers and getting my time bound to whatever leech I am selling.

And oh boy, I started seeing hackers around the map since then. A LOT.

I see hackers in the deep bottom of clock tower, farms in Shang hai, snake jungles in Thailand, dead mine and icy valleys of El Nath, the high grounds in Perion, even in Maple Island I see traces of vac hacks.

Then I see them selling all their loots from hacks for a cheap ass price: 10% earring int scrolls, 60% helm dex scrolls, gold tooth, etc. All these are the things I try with my 5 mages + looter NL to farm for, and they sell it for dirt cheap lowest prices owling every hour or two to keep the lowest price as possible with 10+ stacks of goods in their inventory. What do I get from my farming? NOTHING but wasting my nx on shop and my time.

I just made 3 reports on hackers like 10 minutes ago, and I do try to report hackers whenever I see them. However, I am no GM or all mighty goddess of Maple world, and I cannot oversee all hacking activities around here. There will be hackers around uncaught and it makes me feel like shit. They are out there raking easy meso and possibly RW currency as well, and I am here, going through all the nerfs that makes my farming harder and less profitable, trying to top up my fucking wa gears.

There should be something done with this before nerfing any other legit way of meso making. I am no economist, so I can't say anything about hackers inflating economy or other economy related stuff - I do understand the phenomenon, I can't think of possible solutions for those. What I do know is that hackers make legit players feel like shit, and continual nerfs on legitimate way of meso making makes me feel like I'm dumped in shithole by the GMs.

 

A lot of people are saying we should stop nerfing legitimate players. I guess this argument is fair to an extent because nerfs in the presence of hackers do more dmg to the non-hackers in a relative sense. It would have made more sense if the pre-nerf state was the proposed norm. However, some of the nerfs were really necessary. They weren't done to tackle the hackers but to slow down the progress of the server in general. This is probably like the 5th time I mention it in a feedback thread. Royals still has ~12x equip drop rate (even after the 20% drop rate nerf) while the general item drop rate is advertised as 2x. Whether hackers are making billions per hour or day, the income made by legit players was and still is absurdly high. Too high without a proper meso sink. For those who played 1x rate sever before, did you think royals' drop rate made any sense?

Royals had a horrible restart with the new source. Rates were messed up and certain maps were too op in comparison to others. This was due to the community complaining for infinite buffs on their favorite maps. In order to fix the main functions of the server, no priority was set to fix these issues and they were addressed only recently. Because so many new generation players already adapted to the broken, op features that were pushed down in the fix-priority list, introducing reversions provoked a feeling of relative deprivation. Just because royals was stuck with broken rates for years, does that mean we should maintain it to keep the latest generations pleased? Whenever a nerf or reversion is introduced, post-change experiencers will have a relatively harder time than pre-change but that's an inevitable factor in game balancing. It's unfortunate that many got to juice the benefits from the broken rates but if we ever cared about the longevity of the server, a change was mandatory.

Introducing the reversions after proper autoban would have been better but that's if autoban was released before 2020. For those who are still waiting for the miraculous autoban-arriving day, a lot of its functions were already added in a progressive manner. They are probably helping a lot with hacker cases but it's still not enough to combat all the smart ones. Due to the competitive nature of royals, the size of rwt/blackmarket is bigger than any other server and there are dedicated hackers who also develop their bots as royals progress on autoban. Other servers, including our neighbor server you all like to mention, don't have such dedicated hackers. I wish royals hire or even purchase ways to prevent hacking but there must be unseen complications behind the scene. With such circumstances in mind, forever postponing the reversions of broken features till proper autoban would have further accelerated the aging of the server along with market inflation, whether the hackers are present or not. Perhaps consider the reasoning behind the nerfs, not only in the perspective of a competitive individual player, but with the server's well-being in sight.

 

plz make gender change possible..., female hairs are like broom sticks, too spongy, or at least make some punk short hairs available for females, a gender change would not affect the server at all if its made with a level cap, say lv 100?, consider the idea plz gm's >.<