Item Balancing for events such as eggpq

Probably easier to balance by forcing all class/job to use the same weapon, such as a common claw, or 2H polearm/spear

 

This has had numerous discussions in the past already, down below I've found two statements made from 2021 and 2022. I don't really know if I can add anything else as both of these responses cover essentially everything that needs to be known about egg pq.

If you are a melee I'd suggest equipping a fast weapon like a fruit knife the amount of eggs you get will be pretty close to the amount that ranged can get. I've gotten more eggs sometimes on my mage with a fruit knife than my bm if that counts for anything. Doesn't happen often but it has happened a few times.

Response from 2021 in regards to the ranged weapons for melee classes: https://royals.ms/forum/threads/nerf-range-class-in-egg-pq.188880/

Response from 2022 that covers how egg pq chooses party members: https://royals.ms/forum/threads/egg-pq-feedback.203478/

The statement about Bucc's Energy Charge made last year has been fixed for this year's release so it's no longer relevant and doesn't work anymore within egg pq.

 

I understand but naturally some classes will have some slight advantages over other classes regardless, and realistically speaking I don't think it would be fair to force everyone to be strictly melee or strictly ranged just to accommodate everyone especially when the gain is relatively small IE: between 10-20 extra eggs.

If you are struggling against an opposing team member then you should move elsewhere else in the map because both parties are balanced in terms of party composition: they have the same number of ranged and melee for each opposing team-- and that factors in shadowers or buccs equipping a ranged weapon like a claw or gun too so people can't cheese it. I don't understand why you're saying the teams aren't balanced when it's been explained multiple times in different threads that they are. They are balanced and it's as balanced as they can be, unfortunately.
Your best bet is to use a fruit knife as a melee, or move to a different spot of the map if the opposing team is pressuring you with a ranged class. I've had to move to different spots as a melee trying to get the exp/drop coupon because a ranged pushed me out that's just how it goes. The map is massive there's enough space for 8 people to farm comfortably.

If it's really that much of a bother to you getting a lot of eggs then I'd recommend playing a ranged character dedicated to farming as many eggs as you can get. I've done all classes and personally it's not a huge issue because the difference varies between 10-20 overall, (it can vary because of rng sometimes a red egg drops 1-2 instead of 3, etc.) but ultimately if it is a deakbreaker for you then I'd recommend farming on a thief then.

 

I said it's as balanced as it can be without forcing players to be strictly melee or strictly ranged. I still don't understand why you're saying it's not balanced; if your party consists of 3 melee and 1 ranged the enemy party will also consist of 3 melee and 1 ranged, vice versa for 3 ranged and 1 melee, etc. The parties going into egg pq to face one another are balanced, the map is insanely large to compensate for that-- some spots are better for melee attackers, other spots are better for ranged attackers. If you are struggling then you need to move around and find a spot that's not occupied by someone else.

On my melee attackers I make anywhere between 55-67 eggs per egg pq, on my ranged I can get anywhere from 65-75 sometimes 78-80 if I'm uninterrupted and the Red Eggs drop 3 eggs consistently. Most ranged players run to the top of the pq map because that's where most of the eggs are, if you are melee I'd recommend steering clear of those spots and let the other ranged fight over it. Stay either down below or off to the left and right sides and you'll make anywhere from ~55-68 eggs per pq depending if people try to ks you.

10-20 eggs is surprisingly not a lot in the grand scheme of things especially considering the pq is every 2 hours instead of every 4 hours like most seasonal pqs/event bosses are. Also you're focusing on the 20 part of my 10-20 statement, when realistically I don't think I've ever made a 20 egg difference very often, maybe a couple of times every 10 or so pqs. I mostly float between 10-15 average distance as stated above in my examples I provided on my melee and ranged attackers. Obviously ranged attackers have some slight advantages, they always do in other video games, it would be broken if they made 25-30+ eggs more than melees but 10-20 is really not a whole lot considering the pq is every 2 hours. If your end goal is to farm as many eggs as you can then I'd make a ranged and join egg pq on that, if you want a casual run on a melee then you need to move when a ranged comes near you to another spot. If the number gap was higher and more consistent with a bigger gap between the eggs gained melee vs ranged then I would see the concern for wanting to fix it, and if the pq was every 4 hours it would make a bit more sense to tighten the gap but where it stands right now it is balanced as good as it can be without caving in and giving everyone a ranged or melee weapon. The whole experience of the pq is supposed to be a fun party event with some light ksing since ksing is against the rules on the Server.

TLDR:
I'd try moving to a different section of the map if you get sandwiched between enemy ranged players. You'd get more eggs elsewhere instead of getting ks'ed by them consistently.

 

Then call out to your teammates to help you. Ideally the ranged attackers should be fighting it out to make space for the melee attackers by keeping the enemy ranged players distracted or making space for the melees to farm in peace, but then again most people don’t go hard in egg pq.

I’ve been followed before on mules you just have to leave the area, or better luck next pq if they follow you and your teammates aren’t helping. It’s a team based game, if they don’t help you after you’ve tried running away then it’s just unfortunately how some team based games go.

Spoiler

If you really want them to leave you alone hit the mobs so that way they are 1 hit away from dying and bait the other team into wasting their time trying to kill them. They won’t be able to loot the eggs because you already damaged them enough times to get the loot credit. It pisses them off and they’ll leave you alone that’s what I do.

On my melees I’ve had to ask for help in party chat from our ranged and most of the time they would come to me to pressure whoever’s griefing me but it relies on communication if things devolve into toxicity. Yeah there’s some instances where your team ignores you and it’s unfortunate but like I said most people don’t go hard in egg pq they just stay in their lane and zone out for 5 min. Nobody would realistically chase you the entire 5 minutes I have yet to see it happen or hear about it happening in my guild, alliance, or buddy chat. Most of the time they will give up after a minute or so, so I’d just walk far away and find somewhere else far away from them.

Matt’s stated before publicly back in 2021 that we discussed giving everyone weapons but then it got too complicated (also factor in the possibility of equipped weapons disappearing during the changeover, people accidentally dropping their perfect weapons like they do during snowman boss, or APQ changing to a fruit knife for bonus, etc.)

Giving everyone weapons isn’t as easy as slapping them on and saying “alright here you go” because that’s what I thought too until the process was explained during the discussion and then we unanimously agreed it would be another difficult layer added to egg pq that wasn’t really necessary. I don’t even think the idea is feasible, or it’s something the Admins don’t want to do as it was already stated previously.

In the same vein it would also be a bit boring if everyone had the same weapon. Yeah you can harass melees as a ranged that was intended and some people do that, if it’s too much of an issue then I’d swap to a ranged. I only play my melees to get the exp/drop coupon but if I want eggs I’ll use a ranged.

I’d just treat egg pq as something that’s supposed to be casual and fun, especially given the fact that ksing is bannable and the whole idea of this event was to either ks or play as a team/solo to farm eggs. Whether we like it or not ksing was a big part of maplestory back in the day and this pq allows some players to blow some steam off and do it without any repercussions. I find most people tend to stick to their own spots and farm eggs and very rarely you’ll get that one asshole that chases you around. I’ve had it happen to me on my melees— it’s just a part of the pq.

Spoiler

If you really want to get into the ‘mentality’ of egg pq think of it like a cat and mouse game— a wolf vs sheep game, if you will.

Ranged are the hunters and melee are the prey, it was a nod to the wolf vs sheep maplestory event.

Also a quick side note: I didn’t move this over to the closed section, someone else did.