Hey guys! I think it would be nice for ranged jobs to be able to not be totally useless in certain situations (Certain PQs, maps with high density, bosses that spawn mobs). I don’t necessarily feel like removing it completely is a good solution. Maybe just a 10% chance to “not-whack” at lvl 30, increasing by 5% every 5 levels up to lvl 70 ; so 50% at lvl 70? Or 25% at lvl 30, 50% at 70, 75% at 120? Although I’m not quite sur how relevant this would be late game.
All classes have their strengths and weaknesses, and this is just one of the weaknesses of ranged. There are plenty of places that you can go that aren't too mobby. If you're having problems with summons in bosses, maybe bring a mage or warrior friend to help you?
I think whacking is fine, as its part of the playstyle. Though, it'd be nice if Avenger had that subtle lock-on like effect Lucky Seven/ TT have, where you can jump and have the hits connect.
remove, no. rework, ok. for some reason, the whacking range for NL is insanely high compared to archers and that doesn't even make sense
I don't really play NL but it doesn't make sense to me that avenger can whack. I guess I just am used to mobbing skills never whacking
I was thinking, a change like this would also be unfair on Sair and Bucc, who have slightly less damage than NL, but have ranged attacks that can be used point-blank. Sair would benefit from rapid fire also being able to be used point-blank, but this would undermine the importance of protecting your boat in places like Shao. Archers have better mobbing skills than NLs, but again you have to remember that Archers also have far lower single target damage than NLs (assuming both have SE). Every class has its pros and cons.
I main sair and one of the reasons I love it so much is because of the hardships it comes with and how I have to work around them. All classes come with their own hardships and are a part of their identity, that doesn't mean no balancing is ever needed, but there is a difference between hardships that prevent you from doing content at all and some mild inconveniences that you have skills for to work around them. I think the problem you are dealing with falls in this last category for sure.
I want to revive this by saying one thing: what classes that are lv200 can hit 1 using a skill? It's kinda frustrating tbh. Archers got a skill at lv70 that works pointblank, but NL throw punches everywhere. Isn't painful enough to train using single target skills till 80 (or more, if you level shadow partner max). I think the removal of whack is beneficial, and it can encourage to play these classes without needing to make a mule to leech and farm for them. EDIT: Not that anyone cares, but the classic MapleStory is coming, and the removal of whack just caught me. Maybe this could be true for other players.
Bit extreme to say people leech and farm people ranged classes can't attack point blank by default. These sort of adjustments is how GMS ended up with no secondary stats, no accuracy, every class was fast, had insane reach, did big numbers etc. It's that episode of the Fairly Odd Parents where everyone is grey.
The whacking mechanic forces us to play slightly differently from melees. That's a good thing, because it makes classes feel different from each other and more diverse. On the other hand, because we have this limitation we should have ways to work around it and/or benefits that make up for it. For nl, they have flash jump for mobility, they can push mobs, and extremely high damage on single target. I feel that is balanced. On the other hand, archers have no mobility, pushing abilities that don't work when you need it most, and mediocre dps. The dps issue is offset by having a strong party buff, but the other two things are an issue. I don't think that means we should remove whacking, but archers could benefit from some way to control mobs better. Our pushing abilities should fully work *at the very least.*
I've been saying it for years but archers need a mobility skill. I was thinking something like a reverse rush could be neat - move self backwards, push mobs forwards
