Notice GM Blog: October 2020

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Hey everyone.

Checking in again for the second GM Blog in our new series!

Since the last blog, quite a bit has happened! Update 67 and the subsequent 67.1 launched, and with them, many new features, events, and changes were introduced. We hope that you've been enjoying these new events, which all made their first appearance in MapleRoyals!

In this GM Blog, we will touch on some of the hot topics of the recent patch, as well as some things yet to come, so stick around! But before we get there, we would like to take a brief moment to thank all of you who voiced your support and appreciation for the last GM Blog, your words of encouragement strengthen our belief that this is a step in the right direction!

Now, on to the juicy stuff!

First up is a word from our Head Source Code Developer, Karven. We've been keenly listening to you, the Community, and Karven has put together an explanation which might help shed some light on the issue of the Auto-Ban system, which is currently in development. Take it away, Karven!

On the Auto-Ban Development
: "The autobanner is something that has been, and is, worked on as a top priority - not only as of late, but for quite some time now. While we'd love to share all of the intricate details with you, obviously, this is counter-productive; the less we say in this regard, the better. What I can share however, is that the culmination of a lot of work in this field is getting very close to being ready to be put onto the live server. There are two key facts that I also believe will help give an idea as to where things are at with the Auto-Ban system:

• The detection logic that will ultimately decide if someone is playing the game illegitimately is running right now, on the live server. It's used to provide our GMs with a number of different warnings, and it's been running for some time now. We use the data it gathers from real users playing on the server to find issues within the detection logic, so that we can further improve upon that logic until it's at the point where it only detects cheaters.
  
  
• Over time, as bugs within the various bits of detection logic are discovered and fixed, the logic itself becomes increasingly accurate in detecting only illegitimate users. Eventually, it will become accurate enough that we feel comfortable having the system ban users based on the calculations made by that detection logic, instead of just warning our GMs. This is what we're working towards now - the systems are in place, we're just refining them so that when we 'flip the switch' to make it not only warn, but also ban, it does so for only users who are cheating. The last thing we would want is for legitimate users to be falsely banned, because the system incorrectly thought that they were cheating. It's no understatement to say that this is one of the very difficult parts of building the emulator - many different pieces of the system have to be emulated perfectly for the system to work at all, so aiming for perfection in this regard is unfortunately a necessity. While we've put together broader detection methods to help out in the meantime, those methods are nothing like these 'new' detection methods; in that the old methods are only accurate enough to comfortably warn GMs, whereas the new methods are accurate enough to ban users outright.

Overall, the plan is to release the Auto-Ban system in stages. There are some parts of it that we feel extra confident about, that just need a bit more polish and a few extra edge cases ironed out, before they should be ready to offload our GMs in matters of Ban Hammer-swinging. There are some other parts that aren't quite as ready yet; these are actively being worked on, and our hope is to have them at a similar level of parity sometime very soon."

With all of this being said, we must not let our guard down, and we, the Staff, will need your continued help and support! Continue to report any lawbreakers you encounter, and work together with us to keep MapleRoyals safe!

And now for something completely different...

Design of the New HP Quests
In the last patch, we introduced a brand new way of gaining HP for high level players, which subsequently became subject to a lot of debate and speculation. While we won't reveal precisely how they work here, we will share a bit of our design philosophy. We ask you to keep in mind that the quests are still a work in progress and are subject to change, and we value your feedback in this matter!

To get a complete picture, we must start with HP washing, the hottest topic since the server's inception. This mechanic, like it or hate it, is here to stay. It has shaped the characters and the game, since the very beginning, and it is not possible to remove without major consequences. To remove it now would mean creating a vast gap between new players and old, and punishing those who are in the middle of the "washing" process.
Furthermore, it has, since the start, been the only way of reaching certain levels of HP (but at a cost). Fundamentally, what we set out to accomplish was: break the wall of HP Washing being the only way of reaching those levels of HP. We deemed this necessary for multiple reasons, but primarily: No player should begin their journey, invest considerable time, and eventually learn, too late, that they must throw it all away and start over if they wish to reach certain goals, or participate in certain content. Let's take a moment to discuss this point.

HP Washing allows the player to develop and hone their character to levels of perfection. The price to pay for this luxury is time and money. But not only that, for it requires planning ahead and performing calculations, perhaps befitting of a task which attracts the most dedicated and ambitious of players. However, it inarguably interrupts gameplay to such an extent that it might no longer be recognisable as the way the game was played in the era that we are simulating in MapleRoyals. Concretely, this means that you can not play your character "as intended", whilst HP washing. We wanted to amend this, and to ensure that players never has to abandon their character, whether they set themselves up for HP washing or not.

The player is now able to reach any level of HP, if they just keep playing on their character and pursue these quests. It should be clear then, that the idea is to reward long-term investment, and not just those who are able to play many hours on a daily basis. As such, the quests are not meant to be overly lengthy, but should be able to be completed by most players.

As it stands, we are looking to reduce the time required to complete several of the quests, in accordance with our initial "30-minutes-to-complete" mindset. We will continue to fine-tune this in the patches ahead.

The level requirement was deemed appropriate, as no content for levels 150 or below requires more HP than can be acquired by the means already available, such as the Job Advancement MaxHP increases, various medals and items, the new Scrolls for Pet Equipment for HP, and the Water from the Spring of Youth questline.

Lifting the Level Cap on PQs
On to the Party Quests, starting with the removal of the maximum level restriction on some classics! We've decided to lift the restriction on Orbis Party Quest and Ludibrium Maze Party Quest. We concluded that these Party Quests rely less on the attack power of the Party, and more on teamwork and knowing how to clear the stages quickly. We decided to give this very same treatment to the new Romeo and Juliet Party Quests. In the upcoming patch you can expect us to lift the maximum level restriction on the quests associated with some of the Party Quests.

Toning Down Monster Carnival 2
As we're sure some of you noticed, Monster Carnival 2 has been tuned and toned down. It had become all too clear that the Party Quest was overperforming, and way out of line both with what we intended, and other Party Quests in its level range. It allowed players to progress through its level range within only a few hours; a rate which we do not otherwise associate with MapleRoyals, being the low-rate server it is. After the last patch, the Party Quest is now much more in line with its competition, and with its predecessor, Monster Carnival 1. We hope that you understand and can agree with this decision, from a balancing perspective.

The Staff Grows!
By now, you are surely aware that the Staff has recently grown! Specifically, four new GM Interns and two new Forum Moderators have joined the ranks, and will be receiving their training over the coming months! Please join us in welcoming @Chee, @Dave Deviluke, @June, @Peter, @Sen and @Soren! Additionally, @Manny makes a return, and @Evan switches gear from Forum Moderator to GM! Let's make them all feel welcome!

Moooore Cosmetics, and Upcoming Patch
"I've barely caught up with last patch's lot of cosmetics, and now you say there's more?!" That's right! Prepare for another barrage of goodies hitting the shops soon, together with one of our most beloved Seasonal festivities! We've been hard at work fitting in a bunch of exciting things for this next spooOOooky patch, which is slated to hit the Download Page in the very near future! You heard us right, this year has no October 38th! Good job to the few of you who got that reference.

Small Quality-of-Life Changes
We've got some small but not insignificant changes coming to the patient of you who have been asking... Marksmen, Dark Knights and Shield-wielding Warriors, look out for the next patch!

With that...
...we thank you for taking part and reading the second GM Blog! Look forward to many more to come, and in the meantime, keep hitting us with your feedback and ideas - who knows, they may just end up in a future blog or patch note!


That's all for now, folks. Happy Mapling!

- The MapleRoyals Staff

 

LOL....

 

Another patch that dosn't help heroes

 

"The player is now able to reach any level of HP, if they just keep playing on their character and pursue these quests."

I was wondering why mages are exempt from HP quests? While it may be unfair due to magic guard, I think mages should have options too, maybe with lower reward. Like 5/10 HP potions compared to 10/20 other classes have. In order to do some of the end game bosses with dispel, you would need to have higher HP. Right now, the only way for mages to gain HP is through washing and pet equips. Even with full hp gear/pet equips, you would still be a long shot away from being able to fight bosses effectively. I didn't have much int gear before getting to level 120 so my MP pool is also rather low. So even with magic guard on, I would be unable to survive some bosses. In order for me to HP wash and have a MP pool high enough to still use magic guard effectively, I would probably have to remake my mage.

 

As long as you have mesos, you can make 30k hp/30k mp on any mage character, regardless of the level.

The highest magic damage you can receive from an end game boss would be around 16.5k, from Toad. To survive this, you need more than 3300 HP which ... shouldn't be difficult to acquire at end game stage with adequate equips.

 

First of all, thanks again for keeping this blog thingy going! (and special thanks for the guest star, @Karven , that came in to give the playerbase some hope for this server's future)

Now, for some reactions:

While I do undersand that mindset (I had that mindset at the start when people told me that the quest lvl is too high), I still feel like this might not be the right way to look at it.
Unlike the water from the spring of youth, this questline is a very gradual, slow progress questline. That means, that if you have a certain goal, you'd want to start working on getting hp from it as soon as possible. Thing is, you'd need to first hit lvl 150, which is not very easy. It also means that instead of starting to do hard bosses in the first few levels you are allowed to join, you'd be time gated until you have enough hp.
Also, another thing to mention, I think low 4th jobs will benefit a lot from having a systematic questline to do that will naturally push them to grind, that will allow them to both progress in HP, and in exp.
I think that its worth to consider dropping the lvl of the quest down to 120, and replacing the golden monk drop with something else so that lvl 120s will be able to actually finish that quest.

I'll keep counting after 31 even if the update comes on time

Our cries have been answered! While I can't quite imagine what you guys will settle with on MMs and DKs (cause there were so many suggestions around them that i can't even count), I have a good hunch on what shield warriors are getting... 10 SLOT SHIELDS LETS GOOOOO

 

You were saying?

 

Can we make hero armor crash as good as drk power crash?

 

How about brandish % dmg? : pepeF:

 

@Haplopelma

 

Never give up on your dreams
shameless plug https://royals.ms/forum/threads/gellerhead-shield-buff.131870/page-4#post-1019284

 

Wew so nice!
Although we’ve been told on previous threads mages have “more than enough hp” to survive bosses, I think a questline as “Water from the Spring of Youth“ won’t hurt.
Mages are the most expensive class to wash and I believe a quest that may help boosting a decent amount of hp(500 hp as non warrior classes) can be fair.
Shadowers can do hp quests (all of them) for example! Can you say they are less tanky than mages?

pls give us an hp quest

 

It's so nice to hear from staff about what they're working on! Keep up the good progress on the auto ban! It'll be nice to see what you have planned in store for shield heroes too. What an exciting update!!!

As for the HP quest stuff, it would be really nice if mages can get something too. Perhaps we should have another make a quest contest so I get inspired to write dialogue for a quest I've been thinking of suggesting for a while now...

don't ban me plz

 

Really hope the autoban works, all the hackers every fucking where got me so tired of the game, even more how annoying is to report then, having to take pics and posting on forum.

 

I see, makes a lot easier lol, thanks.

 

I actually didn't know that either, makes reporting so much easier. I always thought a report wouldn't be accepted if the screenshot wasn't the entire window.