Maybe having a timer of 1-2 minutes that cuts off a player's share of party exp would move more people to actually play the game or participate in PQs. Just an idea.
And punish everyone who hasn't made a washed character yet? I understand that there's this belief, mostly among lower level players, that no one actually plays the game, since when they originally played maple, the lower lever content was the majority of content that anyone ever did. But this server, largely due to the rates and player retention, revolves around high level content starting at 135+.
Personally I'm not a big fan of leech, but as it is a one of the pillars of MapleRoyals this idea would destroy it, therefore destroy the server. Even if solutions were given to fix the HP washing problem, people (Including myself) are just so used to leeching up characters instead of actually playing them.
I'd rather just kick out a player who isn't participating at all in a party than have leeching become a ton more inconvenient. If they aren't participating, make it clear what your expectations are for each party member, and if they don't fulfill that, just kick them out. Correct me if I'm wrong, you seem like a pretty new player. I know some parties bring in their mains (usually high level mages/bishops) and their mules to level them in PQs, I'd just confirm that the players who seem inactive in the party, aren't using their mains in that same party, before kicking them out.
PQ's are too often dead now because people would rather leech. Dead PQs was the reason I left gms. So while people may leave if afk leeching is over, more people might come around to enjoy active PQs. I'm lvl 73 and the only PQs available to me that ever has other people available are lpq and sometimes kpq. But these are for lower level players. Obviuosly I'm not talking about the kind of leeching that takes skill, when you have to dodge high level enemies in order to not die. But the kind where you hang on a ladder and just accumulate points is basically cheating in my book. But yes I'm a new player which is why I say its just an idea. I know its a more complicated issue. But maybe this thread can be a discussion on it.
Theres another reason the the pqs are largely unpopulated after lpq. They all start having level limits again. I would love to do opq, but none of my characters can participate.
It doesn't prevent me from reaching my goals. But it does definitely undermine our achievements as non-leechers. Like is your lvl 126 buccanear really an achievement on a server full of high level players who got there by buying leech with their ap-reset money? It would be like if the server allowed hackers to play with us. Sure you don't have to participate in hacking, but even if you reach max level you'll be overshadowed by thousands of other maxed players who got there in a day. I realize that isn't a perfect comparison, but you get my point, right? We don't know for sure that leeching is what keeps the server alive. I'd say that, much like cheating, it takes the challenge and fun out of the game, which causes people to drop out. Removing the upper level limit for the other PQs might help marginally, but in my experience higher level players only drop in for 1 or 2 rounds before leaving. I don't think it's the main cause of activity at places like KPQ and LPQ. I don't think the server staff would be completely close-minded to experimentation in this area. I'd like to suggest that they make minor adjustments to see how the player-base reacts. Here's an idea: 1-2 minute afk timer, but once it runs out, you get only 70-80% exp from party. Then from there they can see how players react, whether the impact is positive or negative, and adjust accordingly.
People have been asking for buffs to party quest exp for ages, which would hopefully increase number of participants (it's been marginally buffed once before though, just not enough apparently). Leeching doesn't affect new players anyways, because only veteran players can afford to leech through those early levels. So removing it won't suddenly increase people who party quest. Removing level cap would also help, but it would inherently contradict the "nostalgia factor" of the party quests. But I do think Staff would be open to experimentation, considering how unpopular this idea is and how Staff love making unprecedented changes based on unpopular ideas.
I agree with @iEatEmoKids I think a PQ exp buff or having some sort of incentive implemented for PQs would help increase the number of participants. Instead of making afk players receive less exp or affecting the leechers' exp, it'd probably be better to buff PQs themselves. More incentive!
This is not a new discussion. Similar feedback threads have been made before: https://royals.ms/forum/threads/anti-leeching-measures.116780/ https://royals.ms/forum/threads/an-incentive-for-party-training-style.113274/ Regarding how important leeching is for Royals right now, I would suggest you read @Shiyui 's post in one of the thread above. It explains why the economy would be heavily disrupted, and why it would be much harder for new players to obtain startup funding, if leeching is disabled: https://royals.ms/forum/threads/anti-leeching-measures.116780/#post-657409 You mentioned that "(leeching) takes the challenge and fun out of the game", but it is only your personal definition of "challenge" and "fun". Other people may have different opinions: Some players manually leveled their first character to 135 (which is quite an accomplishment), but for their 2nd character, they would prefer leeching. Your suggestion would force them to go through that struggle again, which is meaningless because they have done it before. Some players enjoy bossing, and the social aspect of it (see this post). For them, leveling to 135 is just a meaningless obstacle before the real "challenge" and "fun" begins. Your suggestion would dramatically lengthen that obstacle and make the game much more unpleasant for them. Other players may have started with a couple of friends, and just want to keep the pace with their friends (in terms of levels), so they can do similar things together. However, their grinding time may be limited due to real-life responsibilities. In this case, leeching is a very convenient solution for them, but your suggestion would eliminate that solution. It is reasonable that you feel "overshadowed" because buying leech is a much easier way to gain levels. However, the solution should not be asking for a change that would affect so many players with different play styles from you, that would have drastic unpredictable influence to the economy, and that is unfair in nature (by making it impossible for new players to level up quickly and HP wash like older players). In my opinion, the solution would be for you to find an innate sense of accomplishment that doesn't rely on comparisons against other players. It could simply be "I accomplished A", instead of "I accomplished A, and look at all those people who didn't". I started rather late in this server, and all of my accomplishments (meso, damage, level, quests, bossing, chairs, etc.) have been done by many players before. Some of them achieved those goals much easier than I did, by getting lucky with gach or scrolling. But that doesn't prevent me from getting a sense of accomplishment. I am only comparing against myself, and as long as there is consistent improvement, I am happy Another solution would be buffing PQ exp instead of nerfing leech. When LMPQ exp was 50% more, it was very alive. However, for reasons that I cannot comprehend, the administration decided to nerf it, and now it is much less active. Not to mention higher level PQs that don't have much exp to begin with. I agree those PQs desperately need EXP or reward buffs.
I really believe that KPQ, LPQ, and LMPQ all have good exp rates. Maybe an increase for OPQ and PPQ would help revive those areas. I doubt the staff would be happy spending all this time engineering these PQs to function properly only for them to be ignored. So I agree it would be nice.
Fair enough. I can't argue any of that. All I will say is that a little experimentation probably wouldn't do much harm. Thanks for the info.
I am against leeching that gives exp much faster than any PQ or regular part can give. I would prefer a nerf to leechers getting leeched. Because leeching speeds up the process in which characters level up and most people who are getting leeched are just sitting around. Every idea here is all opinions to what will make the game better and as much as people want to say "Worry about yourself. What other players do does not affect you," The truth is that what other players do, whether they come into contact with one another or not still affect each others gameplay. It's up to the owners job to put a limitation and shape the meta of their server, because people in the end will do whatever it takes to reach the top and since certain methods are so strong, less social content is available for players who want to take an alternative path that used to be the norm. They even tried to remove telecasting which makes leeching even faster. -People who manually leveled to 135 will still level their 2nd character faster than they did before as long as they put the time in as they did their first regardless if leech is nerfed or gone. -I enjoy most aspects of the game level 1 and up. What felt different when I made my new character recently is all the places I used to train at are now desolate, too slow or full of mages. My end game feels better, but everything below that feels meh. I can't speak for the OP on those other parts.
Completely agree. I understand now thanks to this thread that leeching is necessary for people HP washing and that its not as cheap as I thought. What I'm wondering now though is if we all can agree that the fastest way to gain exp should be something other than leeching. Like PQs, regular quests, or bosses.
I don't think this will ever, ever be supported by the majority population of the server. Too many people just want to experience the 'premium' content of the game, like Horntail, Zakum, Bigfoot, Krexel, and so on. The easiest way to do this is to leech your character through the lower levels and then enjoy only the parts of the game you want to. I personally agree with some, that leeching is a bit detrimental to the nostalgia of old school Maplestory and my years of playing it over a decade ago, but to each their own. My advice is to just play the game how you want to, make friend with those who share the same game ideals, and have fun!
This 1000% Maplestory is what you make of it, you should play how you want to play. Want to boss? Work hard and join Fryslan or one of the other bossing guilds. Like to play the game normally but bossing hardcore isn't your style? Join a casual guild with a good number of high levels for PUG runs and no stress. Do like having your hand put into a vice grip? Try Ironman (Love you guys <3). Want to be a real casual and not worry about washing or the stress of min/maxing? Join a guild like Unwashed (shameless self plug). There is no wrong way to play it. Unless you play a Buccaneer. Amiiright @Dre ? (Joking, buccs are chill)
