Levels 1-120 Balance.

Hi, been playing for several years now and I have noticed something that I would like to help resolve with several suggestions. This is a combination/consolidation of many balance threads along with my ideas added. With ~12, 120+ characters, I have been through these levels quite often. And yet, it's so different every time. But the changes which occur seem to not balance anything, but just change the current meta to something else. Here's a list of my suggestions to hopefully bring balance to these levels and not touch them anymore. Along with helping in a lot of possible solutions in many other feedback threads.

Some changes requested have already been done! https://royals.ms/forum/threads/update-70-29-01-2021.183891/

• Ludibrium PQ:
  • Changed the PQ completion requirement to obtain Broken Glasses from 35 to 20.
  • Changed the Broken Glasses’ stats from a static 1/1/1/1 to 2/2/2/2 (with possible variation of +/- 1). Previously obtained Broken Glasses have had their stats increased by 1.
• Orbis PQ:
  • Changed the Feather of Goddess requirement to obtain Goddess Wristband from 40 to 20
• Reduced the amount of EXP granted by iTCG crafting

20-30

1. Kerning PQ gators exp too op. It's not worth doing the whole PQ, it's much faster grinding stage one and can easily get 21-30 in half an hour with a mage or group of low levels. Nerf that gator exp, then BUFF the bonus stage mushy exp and make the bonus 5mins. nobody did the bonus in og maple cuz them pesky channel stealers, but we don't have that problem. so I think the bonus stage should be buffed exp/mesos. so like, new players could afford pots. Maybe even make them drop bamboo hats or dexless low-level crap?

2. Ariant PQ is so FUN! but, empty. So nothing to really change here, but I think we can use Ariant PQ for something awesome. Monthly AriantPQ tournament! On the forums, a thread can be made with sign-ups for teams of 3 players. level cap set to 24 so nobody is too op and makes the pq not fun. I did some testing on it a while back, if you're too strong and hit~800 (80% of scorpion hp to catch it), it does something weird and lags or delays you catching the scorpion, so the most efficient way to catch them is hitting them twice with ~400 hitpoints then trying to catch it. If you hit it too hard, you only kill them so that's useless unless your intent is to only bomb/steal marbles. kinda toxic strat but maybe good? doesn't really work since it's easy to avoid bombers with teleports. THEN, the rewards for the winners of the tournament can be GM untradeable items. maybe 1st, 2nd, 3rd place prizes? I think this could add a fun PvP aspect to the server, people in discord communicating, straight up league of legends on MapleRoyals type shit. it would be so fun and engage the community more in APQ.


30-50

1. Ludi PQ is dead. Make it lvl 30+. I suggest a buff to 35 pq completion and the bonus stage rewards. Upon the completion of the 20 quests, you receive Broken Glasses (+1 All, 20hp/mp 3 slots), which I feel deserve to be +2 all stat, which got buffed to have up to +2 (+/- 1) all stat. That's still meh, I think every glasses should have +2 all stat minimum, chance if it being 3 is nice though. This gives actual reason to wear it and use it for new players, and old players to CS it, possibly bridging a gap in new/old players. Along with that, there should be a huge EXP bonus upon the 20 quest completion, this gives them the incentive to complete it at lower levels and feel rewarded. The Bonus Stage should have viable/profitable scrolls with increased drop rate and increase Red/Yellow Ciders drop rate (34wa/35ma for 5mins) since there's really no merching options for new players to be done till 50+. *FYI Yellow/Red ciders used to be on the market back when LMPQ was the meta 50-70, these dropping in LPQ bonus gives just a nice touch to actually doing the Bonus stage for all player levels. Yes, these glasses might make CWKpq Spec Goggles a little less valuable, but not for all classes. And honestly, Specs are kinda overpriced anyway. Mages/Thiefs can get the Glasses while other classes use Goggles.

2. NLC iTCG EXP nerf. It's too easy to lvl 30-40 instantly by doing some iTCG exchanges. Nerf that to oblivion, please. Like, nobody knows this or they keep it secret, but I honestly feel guilty doing it. It's exploitive for funded players IMO.

3. CPQ1 is op, and it makes people more toxic than Chernobyl. I think this would work better as lvl 35/40+ entry. The Rombot EXP lowered, but I don't recommend too much nerf due to the previous nerfs of CPQ2/LMPQ resulting in just the murder of it. It's easy for war/bucc to 30-50 in 2-3hours. If this is touched, it should be very minor. Maybe if the exp from mobs inside is nerfed, then the win exp buffed, so people actually compete to win. If the mobs are ass exp, the win exp is what people want. But that might just make people make "CPQ loss mules or S>CPQ loss" and just farm wins for leech or just kills it like cpq2. CPQ is just fucking toxic and the server was great without it in general, but it's here now, so good luck trying to balance it. It was intended for PvP, but we exploit it for overpowered PVE.

Lvls 50-70

1. Bring Back LMPQ. Adjust the EXP to be a middle ground between what it was previously and what it is now. This could be the "$" PQ for unfunded players that are not washing. The mobs inside dropped Yellow/Red ciders and pots. Increase the PE/Elixirs and yellow/red ciders drop rates for players to resell/keep, as well as the PQ completion rewards. It currently has no level cap so I suggest a daily limit of 15-25 runs per day, putting a cap on the runs can stop people from instant 50-70 and gaining too many Ciders. It's a technical PQ that would be annoying AF to solo, Restricting the completion time to ~5mins avoids someone soloing to farm pots (tested with 200 shad) and parties of 3-5 can easily complete in 2-3.5mins. This can be similar to how APQ gets the attention of the entire server bringing everyone together for good pots.

2. CPQ2 was straight up killt. Buff the exp of Vikings to around 3-4k but increase mob level 60/65+ req to gain exp from them while in party. I used to sell CPQ2 leech with an I/L, it was extremely op. But let's say if you're not 60+, killing them yourself, or +/- 5lvls of everyone in the party, you ain't leeching jack shit, which gives incentive to LMPQ or OPQ till 60+. same story with cpq1 really, meant for pvp but we abused it, then when it got nerfed its just obsolete now. i think if the reward for necklace was better and win exp adjusted. ppl might do it? cp1/2 is so hard to balance. The necklace of chaos is trash since it gives 3+all, I would add +1wa/ma then you can marble it to 90hp., 30hp per marble.

3. OPQ rewards. Along with LPQ, OPQ is kinda dead still. The EXP buff was nice, leave it as is. Since this pq has no Lvl cap, let's repeat what I said for LPQ. Buff the reward for completing 40 pqs now 20, and bonus stage drops, bridging that old/new player gap and making it more enjoyable to complete. Buff the Goddess Wristband (1wa 1ma 5slots) to 3wa,3ma, +50-100hp, 5-10 accuracy. Buffing the GW to +3wa/ma is a good balance between a crap wg and SCG for new players, and not too op for old players to farm due to its difficulty of obtainment. This would be the best option for 50-60 if players can't really damage Vikings in CPQ yet, or can't LMPQ anymore if there's a daily limit. *an interesting idea* also make the glove only scrollable by specific scrolls dropped in the PQ bonus? yea this is just a green mitten with a 30% passed, but the added hp can help, and maybe if there are special scrolls it can more hp/wa/ma potential?

50-70 has been 100% the most unstable leveling meta throughout the life of this server. Hopefully, with these 3 solutions implemented, it will balance it.


70-100

PPQ could use a little spice. Only to the EXP gained from completing the side quests within the PPQ from the PQ entrance dude. 70-75 PPQ is great. 75-85 is pretty repetitive and annoying, so involving buffed exp rewards from completing all of the involved quests and weird side rooms with the pq gives the incentive to do it and a little refresh on the PQ, rather than the brainless killing of pirate crap for hours on end. The current EXP from completing those quests/enraged pirates isn't worth the time to do it. Pirate hat is shit and I think everyone is just ok with that since zhelm/scar/targa is the norm. Might be cool if the pirate hat final evolution form had a DUMB amount of hp for people without the hp for higher-level content, or mages can get it to be able to HT and what not.

R&J PQ is fine but uh, yea same shit again. Buff the bonus, (scrolls, pet hp scrolls, pots, mesos), same as before (LPQ, OPQ) just makes it actually worth doing it. THE EYE OF HORUS is HORRENDOUS. Let's buff that bad boy to +5-10 all stats and 1wa/1ma? something at least better than SpeigofChaos and not as good as MoN/HTP.

100-120
https://royals.ms/forum/threads/content-release-ellin-forest.183890/
great work on ellin forest. no so much leech meta anymore <3

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

I'm making these suggestions for several reasons.
1. I hate seeing new players in the game having to buy leech as their only option to level up
2. Bridging the gap of new/old player gear. Giving New players better gear options that are grindable is fun and engaging, as well as providing equity. Also giving them more HP options so washing isn't 100% a must.
3. Player retention. New players engage in activities with old players, get good gear, and feel motivated to play as any character they like. Not just Bishop until they can S>leech then make a character.

SO MUCH HAS ALREADY BEEN DONE. The MILES of work GMs have done for us these years is so awesome! I know this is also a lot of recommendations and work to implement, but I think it will help. Lets discuss ideas/add to/delete/whatever. thanks for reading. And now, we can also discuss the changes that have been done! should they do more? did they do to much? etc.

 

I agree, I miss the old lmpq and cpq2
Also add some pq for lvl 120+ so you don't have to leech until 135 if you aren't a mage

 

For level 100-120 some people have been grinding himes, although the majority do as you say just buy leech at ulu/petri/skele/duku.


Don't think there's another viable farming spot.

 

Just adding my personal opinion, for a player that’s been around for a few years on and off now, I will not be making a new character until something is changed in lvling from 50-85

 

I left out grinding for all levels as they have fixed grinding exp with party exp bonus. Which grinding is extremely underrated and no one uses it as an option due to difficulty in finding others or laziness. So many buffed maps, mobs reworked, work done to grind. I wish people did it more. I certainly do even at 150+, Neotokyo, ToT, are solid grinding spots even in bossing levels.

 

The thing is Himes IS somewhat popular (the only one I hear of at least) for only a few classes (priests, obviously for their HS and holy dmg) and for Chief bandits / DKs for their aoe.

Other classes don't really like going there due to not having the aoe, and it would honestly just be easier to do APQ for money then just go buy leech.


ToT from what I gather USED to be an actual leech selling spot, until they fixed telerocking there so now youll need to bring an actual bishop (which will take exp).

It still is viable for farming but again, most people now a days want to have holy symbol, as the game it self is grindy as is and people got used to the "fast exp" expectation of a private server.

Nobody ACTUALLY wants to grind, more so on a private server.

 

I disagree that no one wants to. Some do, or they need to be taught how. I grinded for years prior to paladin buff and when I teach new players in my alliance to bfhunt, vikings, skeles/petris, tot grind, etc., I log on a week later to them 20-30 levels higher thanking me. Meta isn't always meta because it's the best option. In royals, A LOT of things are completely underrated/overrated and misunderstood. I think grinding is fine, its just unknown potential. But reviving these dead PQs could help the new/old player base a good bit.

 

I agree with these changes especially to buffing the rewards for LPQ, OPQ and RnJ. These pq’s should be more rewarding in terms of equipment in comparison to CPQ which should be more exp. Maybe they can even give a random reward of HP increase pot! This will bring not only lower level characters to pq more but also higher levels. Interaction between new and veteran players IMO is very important for a healthy game. To be honest, the state of CPQ kind of sucks (leeching) but this all really stems from the effect of HP washing requirement.

Also, for a nostalgic server, what happened to LMPQ? I remember this being a great exp and Meso back in the day. Please bring this back!

@Koltek I disagree, I actually enjoy grinding. The issue is again, how do you grind when you have 100-200+ int for most non-warrior classes. I remember back in the day some great grinding spots were Straw Target Dummies, Forest of Golem, Windraiders, Typhons, Squids, etc. All of these are great grinding areas even for range classes but all are killed when you need to HP wash.

 

Unpopular opinion

I do not agree that we should just solely focus on just buffing experience and rewards are given by Ludibrium Party Quest (LPQ) is the way to fix this. Like you, I have been playing from level 1 to 120 numerous times and experience a few welcome buffs done by the server to increase the viability of these PQs, such as increasing the experience awarded by Ludibrium Maze Party Quest. I feel just by buff experience and rewards, this might lead to a runaway seesaw effect, LPQ becomes popular, Monster Carnival (MC) becomes dead, leading to more calls for buffs and so on.

I feel more adjustments is needed and the accessibility and easiness of MC make a very difficult problem to solve. 10/10 times I would prefer doing MC because I do not need a lot of characters to start it up (4 vs 6), shorter duration (10 mins vs 25 mins run) and less tiring to guide inexperience players (Kill the monsters as fast as possible vs 133-221-333-123-111). One old school server has just decided to never implement Monster Carnival in the first place because it is so easy and its existence bulldozes away the rest of the party quests.



I did think of some potential solutions if we continue to want to players try all the PQs at this level range if that's the end goal. Some are quite straightforward, and some are trying to make the PQs more appealing more than just experience rewards.

• Adjust level requirements



Probably one of the most straightforward to address this.

• Set run limits
Similar to daily boss limits, we could consider set daily limits to bosses. GMS previously set a limit of 10 runs per PQ a day.

• Rotation of Party Quests
Monster Carnival is open to all on Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday etc. Might be difficult to code, and cause confusion and frustration especially to newer players. Might crush the newly form CPQ community.

• Doing PQs gives you extra HP
There will be limits of course.

I will acknowledge the ideas I have provided will not be popular to certain groups or not comprehensive enough, do feel free to critique them or build on them.

Edit: Context

 

Just an idea
Implementing a system like:
Make LPQ buffed during Mondays/tuesdays/sunday
CPQ1 buffed during Wednesday/Thursday/Friday/Saturdays
(Days could vary)

Same concept goes to LMPQ, OPQ, CPQ2, etc

 

Some of the suggestions given in this thread makes my eyes bleed. While it's a given one would prefer to have each PQ be played, making it harder for people to actually play and level up just to suit one's idealistic but warped wants seems silly. If you're trying to balance the PQs and leveling, try to consult players and understand their experiences, what they preferred, what they hated, and what they would like to see and make suggestions that can possibly accommodate the majority of players. When you base your suggestions primarily on only your experience, you're going to have tunnel vision.

 

For ludiPQ exp I meant only add an EXP reward to the 35pq Completion once you get glasses, the overall exp per run is fine as is. But I agree with a lot of what you state there! Especially those Level Requirments for the PQs. honestly, making those changes to CPQ would be a bit "extreme" but I would like it. In GMS I cpq'd to actually win and beat another team, not trade wins. Like ariantPQ, it's actually fun to PvP! not just use it as a leech spot. I value those ideas and inputs, it should fix current issues. I still stand by buffing bonus stages in all PQs though, they're just so trash.

And since now I'm reminded of Ariant PQ, maybe a server ran Ariant PQ tournaments with GM prizes???
that's would be so sick.

 

A few follow up questions because your comment was a bit vague and just negative, it left me a bit confused.

1. Whats are the suggestions that make your eyes bleed? (To better understand what you would suggest, and what makes other opinions have such an effect on you)
2. What is making it harder for people to actually play and who's "idealistic & warped wants" do you speak of? (not sure if you're just attacking someone there)
3. Are you assuming that people, or I, am making suggestions that do not involve others' input? And if so who?
I can't defend others but I have talked to SO MANY PEOPLE about their leveling experience and form my opinions by a discussion with my peers.

 

Unpopular opinion:
Drop the exp rates of lvl 1 to 30 to 1x.
This part of the game just comes and goes too god damn fast in royals. And considering that i find the climb to lvl 30 one of the most nostalgic experiences in gms, makes it even more annoying that i can hit lvl 30 in a handful of hours in royals.
The bigger offender is also orbis exchange which lets people skip the 1st job entirely for a pretty cheap price.
Doing only half of the available quests in that lvl range will bring you to 30, doing only a handful of kpqs will rush you to lvl 30, henesys pq is useless because its so easy to hit lvl 21.
From all the lvl ranges, lvl 1-30 was the most balanced at 1x rate. It wasn't terribly grindy, had a lot of content, and it didn't last for long enough to be boring (looking at you, 3rd job...)

 

I agree with the orbis exchange part, both that and iTCG exchange should be nerfed to the ground.

 

I also agree, but I wonder if it would affect the new player S> zombie tooth market negatively, or maybe boost it since u need more teeth? who knows.
I once timed how long I got to 1-50, it was 4 in-game hours as a warrior. 1-40 (teeth,KPQ leech, iTCG) then 40-50 in a few cpq's. I could have done it way faster but it was very casual, and that includes the time of buying teeth and other crap. I started my timer from the inception of the idea of seeing how fast I could do it.
reducing exp gain for 1-30 just makes it more nostalgic and makes sense, more people KPQ/AriantPQ/BunnyPQ. I just wanna see more PQ's being used overall in all of this. OG maple, PQ'ing was the majority of the gameplay, grinding was really only the option if you couldn't get in a PQ during peak hours.

 

Washers will still prefer to rely on orbis xchange even if it was a third of the exp it gives today, cause leeching in these levels is terrible but the payment rate would remain the same as low lvl leeching. So yea, if you ask me, players who heavily wash might end up just buying more tooths, or if they aren't full of meso, they'll join pqs with some of their base int.
But players that perfer to actually play the early game abit (now that washing became a bit more optional) will get to play in 1st job and actually experience it, this would give the early lvls more time to shine!

 

Updating since they actually did some of the changes requested.

https://royals.ms/forum/threads/update-70-29-01-2021.183891/

 

i know i "quit" but I'm gonna add some stuff to the post cuz if it gets done I'm 100% coming back to play to pretty much restart royals and play like a newbie

 

I see some great feedback and suggestions! More is better! Please share your inputs here! We are indeed looking forward to improving the overall PQ experience