Game is so broken with all of that mules around. Instead of playing a party gameplay its all became solo/duo with many other clients other which include other buff in each one. New players, and midgame players also having an issue to find a party to join with for bossing, and even pqs which suppose to be the basic. I couldn't find a party for HT and CWKPQ for months because people want me to bring mules with me, for example. And no, guild is not a solution. But for Archer class to join cwkpq they must get a main since it is harder stage and can't be completed with a mule. I'd like to suggest few options to tnd this disgusting phenomenon: 1. Disable multiclients in general, if people missing buffs then they should start recruit active players and let other people take a part of run. 2. Disable entering bosses and pqs maps with more than 1 client open, and if people bypass it with laptops, increase the punishment. 3. Change the bosses mechanics to make it harder to survive as mules, CD on potions for example. 4. Disable Auto HP-MP pets in bosses maps so people won't be able to survive with mules in it, and will be "forced" to pay attention to their game. 5. Disable Auto HP-MP pets when a client isn't the main screen, means it will work only in 1 client so it won't work on the mules clients. 6. Increase the rewards exp of PQ's to attract more of the players and increase the population of the pq. Thank you for your time, hope it will change anything.
Mules actually help players to join parties for bossing. There was a time where it used to be range check and NL accepted only parties which is far worse for the new and midgame players. Spend several days, create a crash mule and you’d be extremely popular for HT. I strongly disagree with this suggestion. One of the reason that i shared above where range check is far more problematic compared to mules check. Additionally the server has been mule meta story oriented for 3-4 years, lots of players have invested time, rp, and even custom computer setup to be efficient with their mules. The last thing players probably want is a change that is punishing to their effort.
I know many new players who have 0 mules and have no issues getting into parties. If anything, mules are very much needed because certain times of the day, you can never find a full party!!
I remember back when I started, before muling was the meta, we would often spend hours spamming smegas to find a SE to join our boss run and we would ultimately give up. We spend more time waiting to find people to fill up all the required buffs for every single boss run then actually playing. Muling allows parties to succeed and is necessary for this game which has a relatively small playerbase from people all around the world with different timezones. Maybe you should try to make some mules and you'd find that it's actually not difficult to arrange or join a party if you have the necessary mules. If you can't beat em, join em.
Yea, i agree with this sentiment. Often, I couldnt find players at certain times of the day. Even if enough players were found, the time taken would mean doing 1 run instead of 2. (cos there are other things to do besides maple XD) I think those who are working full time jobs and/or multiple part-time jobs would also appreciate the consistency of having a ready/semi-ready party cos time is tight. Just my thoughts!
I don't think we need to have this conversation for the 100th time. I feel your pain and yearning for the days where people are single client and enjoying the game 'as intended', but times have changed. Forcing single client play through rule enforcement would make most of the player base rule breakers and ultimately kill the server (and also, it wouldn't be feasible.) I do like ideas such as disabling auto pet potion in boss runs and such, but that should be reserved for future content, and shouldn't be a change to all existing bossing just to kill muling. It should be introduced as a new way to add difficulty, in my opinion. I'd much rather see 'anti-muling' as a consequence of game difficulty and in exchange properly reward players. That is, there is a difference between the feeling of 'muling is not allowed' in comparison to 'this content is almost impossible to mule'. Further I disagree with the mentality that mules are a requirement. Sure, there are some groups of players that will require it, but it is not hard to find a group, gather your own group, or create a friend circle in which people don't care. Not sure what you mean by 'guild is not a solution'. I've been in several guilds, and if people enjoy having you around, they won't care. Find the right guild, and they will raise you up with them. One of your examples, CWK, was made to have a 5 person requirement instead of the previous 10 person (2 of each class branch.) In a quad, which is a reasonable size, this requires only one person to mule (usually a bishop.) For HT, make a party of 6 with a Bishop main... once tail is dead, seduce is not much of a threat. Speaking of, knowledge of boss mechanics will get you very far too, not just range or mules. A large part of mulers' success is their understanding of mechanics, like timers, skill animations and so on. No one will care if you can lead a party smoothly and efficiently. Finally, I find that range check is just weird these days. The base line for range is pretty low, especially if you are a class that has high utility like Paladin, Buccaneer, Shadower, and Archer. Also, there are more ways to improve your character with time (via untradeables) than ever before, so consider grinding those out.
tbh mules make the game a tad more engaging or else I would be trying to stay awake in boss runs on most my characters aside from bossing on my Corsair if I even cared to dismounting
grow strong, lvl up, learn MM mechanics, and youll have better chances Joining CWKPQ and specially LHC, where MMs are actually pretty good(way over bms)
The only instance I agree that mm excel is in LHC, other than that most ppl take se mules instead of mm in ht/cwk(mainly bm). Ive seen ppl refusing mm and waiting on bm instead or taking se mule+ attacker. as for neo tokyo bosses I don't know since I don't do em except seeing R>BM main
Will be denying this proposition for now mainly due to suggestions (1) and (2). While we agree that muling is not ideal by any means, our current stance is that we want to encourage non-muling environments rather than flat out make muling impossible. By this, I mean making content that's more rewarding and engaging to have an active participant over a mule. At this point, it wouldn't be healthy to force players into a meta that could be either unrewarding or unfun. Suggestions (3) - (6) may have some merit in future content, but there's several things that need to be balanced as we keep that in mind. Going off of what Nut said, finding the right people (guild and/or friends) is always the way to combat any meta. There's always going to be a meta that ousts other players, whether it be range, level, bossing experience, etc. It's in most players' best interest in any game to find a community where they can fit in and progress at their own pace.
