Remove archer's forced melee hits

Hey guys!

A while ago, GMS implemented a quality-of-life update for bowmen / crossbowmen that really made the classes more enjoyable. The update simply removed the forced melee hit when monsters are too close.
I think it would be a good balance change that would allow archers to train in more monster-crowded training spots (like MP3, Tree of Evil Eyes, etc) without it feeling overly tedious.
The forced melee hit is the reason why some players don't even bother making archers anymore.

Tell me what you think.
Thanks!

 

This is a terrible idea. Archers cannot attack up close to balance out their ability to attack from afar. If they could freely attack from up close and at a distance, it would remove their weakness and make them completely superior to melee classes. Magicians do not have this constraint, but it's balanced by the fact that their maximum attack range is significantly shorter than archers.

 

I think that narrowing down classes' specific strengths or weaknesses strictly by looking at their attack range is unfair.
Following that logic, mages should need to be nerfed in order to fit the roster better, as they can attack up-close and from afar with the same attacks. It also means that we don't take into account the advantages some other classes have over archers: notably buffs & defense / HP.
I understand the design decision behind the forced melee hit, but it's fundamentally too punishing considering the current state of the game. I think that's the reason GMS made that change a while ago (I'm really struggling to find the exact version haha) and it was a very welcome change from most of the playerbase.

I, for one, wouldn't mind seeing more bowmen / xbowmen.

 

Thief’s claw wacking also got removed btw. Personally I’d be against the removal of this because: 1. This was a huge part of how classes were back in this version 2. Would neglect the advantage warriors have.

Using mages is not a very good comparison because they never had wand/staff wacking, they have less range and they can’t boss efficiently.

(Tbh I do like this function/change that happen in GMS, but it just wouldn’t fit well in Royals.)

 

Absolutely. It's supposed to. As a crossbowman, I just find myself struggling to be able to make enough space to be able to attack even when using that skill. It's not 100% proc, so most enemies that have average speed can make up the distance by the time I proc'd Knock-back on every monster. I can usually land 1-2 Iron Arrows before I have to actually walk through the group of enemies and hit them from the other side. Power Knock-back just isn't as efficient as it should be.
Maybe the solution resides in buffing that specific skill? Make the enemies go further when knock-back'd or make it 100%?

 

Isn’t that inherently a part of BM gameplay? I play a BM and a NL, and I feel that a big part of learning to play those jobs is figuring out how to efficiently position yourself so that you have enough room to shoot or throw.

 

They already have hp washing I really don't think another weakness should be removed.

 

Agreed, that was always the fun part of playing a ranged character for me.

 

It kinda gets fixed in 3rd job with arrow rain and mortal blow
The class that should the melee removedis corsair probably, it just doesn't make sense to use a gun like this. For NL/Bowman it kinda makes sense, you couldn't shot someone in front of you

 

What I do know is that I feel at a disadvantage because of the wacking (assassins don't really have that problem thanks to Haste).
The issue really is for 2nd job, because iirc, 3rd job has skills that can let you mob efficiently even in melee range (Arrow Rain, Arrow Eruption). But getting to 3rd job is very long for me haha.

Maybe I'm a minority, but here's my player experience:
I'm someone who loved playing MapleStory back in the days (2006-2008ish, I don't even know) but lost interest in the recent changes brought to GMS (like everybody in this server, most likely). When I go back on a nostalgia server, I don't expect to hear things like "HP-washing" or seeing that 80% of the playerbase are mages because that's not how I remember MapleStory to be in the first place. Personally, I think there's nothing wrong with that. It's the "private-server" side of MS that I also grew to like! It only becomes an issue when I give some feedback about something that just feels wrong, and the answer I get is that we shouldn't change it for the sake of nostalgia.

Now that I have a job and less time to actually play & grind, I'd like my time spent to be fun and feel fair. I remember my favorite class from MS was Sniper (eruption & strafe mmmm) but I don't even feel like playing that class anymore because I need to grind at specific spots to be able to keep up with my friends leveling-up and I find myself underleveled because I'm not as efficient due to wacking.
I just don't want this to feel like a rant or a salty thread; but more like a reality-check.
If you're not ready to balance it out because of integrity or nostalgia, that's completely fine! I get it and I won't be mad haha. I'll just play another class.

But this is a feedback thread and here's my feedback: the forced melee hits for archers feel disadvantageous considering the poor tools offered to counter it.
I agree that removing weapon wacking might not be the solution, but I would like to see Power Knock-back being buffed to counter-act that feeling.

 

It's there for the sake of variety. Warriors gotta walk the extra distance to their target and ranged classes have to make room in order to attack. Removing it actually hurts both the nostalgia and balance in this game even more.

 

The problem resides more in the way monsters behave when attacked. They will run up to you until they're in the range of attack OR just run onto you. That makes it easy for warriors to lure and dish out consistent damage as opposed to ranged characters (I mean I play a fighter and xbowman, and I clearly see the difference). But I did agree earlier that the solution is not removing the weapon wack for multiple reasons.

So let's focus on the suggestion of buffing Power Knock-back to make it more reliable.

 

Pistol Whip!

 

Power knockback will fix this, and it's one of the trade-offs for being a ranged attacker.

 

... that's like asking warrior's slash blast to extend to the edge of the screen.

 

its like you want to play a range class but it has to be melee

 

Can we delete this thread, please? I agreed that removing weapon wacking is not a good idea and people don't seem to want the discuss the possibility of buffing Power Knock-back.