Today is day 6941, the 30th of September - which means I've been playing EMS daily for 19 years now!
Starting this year, EMS is now longer under the management of Nexon US than it was under Nexon Europe. Last year I've talked at length about the state of EMS and hoped that things would be better. Unfortunately, we're in a race to the bottom and next week's going to add another dumpster fire to the long list of Go West flops. It will burn... very brightly. To be honest, it's not even worthy of attention and it's funnier to just give future readers no context about any of this.
That said, we make do with what we have. For all of the abysmal exclusive content we got instead of major updates and events, as we'll discuss in next month's blogpost: there's still some good to be found. Not good for Nexon that is, as explained in my acquisition of a Breath of Divinity, all of their thoughtless choices have resulted in several baffling oversights that drastically changes the way we progress our characters. For a while I felt kinda stuck with the lack of the Additional Potential revamp, but with Mystic Frontier and the Star Force changes I now have a clear path forward.
It's this ample supply of busywork and tinkering that keeps me coming back every day. Having been able to achieve a Breath of Divinity has been rejuvenating for my motivation, since that challenge also solved other problems including the need for large quantities of cubes and mesos to buy resources. Potential and 6th Job are now solved over time, and that allows me to save up mesos to work towards six Union Champions. While I certainly can try to increase my Star Force to 22, the game doesn't provide me enough incentives to choose that over building more powerful mules.
The plan moving forward is to copy my entire build on Rayque and to run the same on my Union Champions. I'm not too concerned about whether if that's possible. I have already achieved this once, and each subsequent character will progress faster with how the game is designed. I'm in no rush to achieve this ASAP; it defeats the point of having fun. But make no mistake: I would absolutely not recommend to return to the game any time soon. Now is not a good time.
Cheers everyone, I'll see you guys again when we'll discuss how stupid Mystic Frontier really is. Now leave me alone.
Ding! I figured that with today's level up I'd write a separate blogpost for this, since it otherwise would've had to be part of another or be November's blogpost. At that point I might already be (close to) Level 295, because the time between Levels 293 and 294 was only forty-four days. Either way, events end tonight so the next update is around the corner.
To my surprise, I got really lucky with the Sunday discounts on Star Force, so I only have my cape left to upgrade. For now I'd like to save up just to have mesos on hand whenever I want to purchase something from the Auction House.
I'm expecting to want Sol Erda Fragments in bulk with Blitz Shield VI releasing soon, as I've been leveling skills on my Wild Hunter. It has its Ascent at Level 29 already, but with Extreme Lotus taking 24 minutes and costing boss potions, I'd like to focus on Blitz Shield VI to shorten these runs and cut the need for finite resources. While Blitz Shield VI and Rage Explosion are the cheapest within their respective skill groups, they both cost 4000 fragments each and there's less than four months between them. They'll probably start releasing a new 6th Job skill each season after Nexon has done most of the class balancing that's scheduled for later this month. We'll see how that goes. Now leave me alone.
It's time to catch up on recent progress. The expected goal of the year (Level 293) was achieved earlier thanks to the tremendous event support. Level 294 is likely to happen before the end of the year. Last season's Hyper Burning got my Erel to Level 260 and in a few days I should have Kinesis done as well. My Union is at 9900, so I'm guaranteed to achieve the 10k milestone within the next two Hyper Burnings. If only we didn't skip so many of them, but at least we got another Burning Max so my Marksman's 270. Rayque's now my first SSS-Rank Union Champion! 100b well spent.
Now, in terms of low hanging fruits, my main is almost at that sweet spot. The relevant 6th Job skills are maxed out so we're waiting for Blitz Shield VI to arrive. Tallahart Symbol's done, so we're waiting for the next one at Level 295. I only have two items that need an additional Star Force each to reach 18, which might take a while with the Mechaberry tax from this event. My Breath of Divinity is already done with its Potential for now, as I've managed to roll a triple %-STR in the same month that I got it. I'm not going to use many Additional Potential cubes on my main anymore as it's more interesting to use those on my Wild Hunter. With only three items left to roll triple %-STR on, I'm preparing to dedicate all resources on Wild Hunter soon. It rushes Easy Lucid and working on it has been a great exercise in learning what works best in the early game environment with the mesos earned from bossing, which is now five billion every week.
In the laboratory I've been researching the ins and outs of Mystic Frontier and finding stupid ways to exploit it beyond its intended purposes. Obviously there's some silly oversights since "Team GMS" are idiots, but the sample size on my research is still on the lower end. I'm expecting to share my results in the October blogpost, seeing as September is always reserved for my EMS anniversary. Last year I wrote something fancy but I don't have much to add on what I've already said in other blogposts since. Besides, I'm not expecting to be healthy enough to write anything substantial for the foreseeable future sans the year summary. I'm not looking forward to it because I've nothing to celebrate anymore.
On a more positive note, the leg design of Ouroboros is able to carry over eight kilograms! I haven't recorded any of it as I'm working on improving the frame, so the ankle joint slots deep enough inside the lower leg frame. Either way, it's going to work but I'm taking extra time to iron out some concerns regarding the many EV3 this'll require. They are not the easiest to hide so I'm trying to see if it's possible to hide them between the linkages. I also need to run tests to see how many motors can be stacked on each port as it'll decide if I have to add more EV3, or scale down the amount of motors. For that reason I'm working with modular builds because my energy is limited and the decline in mental health have both been major hindrances. Anyway, seeing as I'm sticking with EV3 I figured it's worth understanding its quirks and limitations (beyond its retail capabilities) early, as that avoids the dead ends that have plagued both Hailfire Droid and Constructor many times. I trust the design process as it has served me well to this point. We now know that buggy motors with linear actuators works, but it helps to know how many EV3 and motors I'll need, as this'll decide the sizes and weight for every project moving forward, y'know? I hope to be able to write something for Ouroboros in November.
That's it for today. Now leave me alone, as I have a second dispute against the UWV. Thanks for nothing, Jojanneke.
Doing things out of spite is one hell of a motivator. As someone who's been playing EMS daily for almost 19 years, I've grown tired of outsiders siphoning our players and expecting us to pay for their greed. You have no idea how harmful the GMS Reboot mentality has been for the longevity of EMS until you've been on the receiving end of it.
Time is finite; the vast majority can only play on one server. But the notion of choosing a server ceases to exist when your server is forced to compete against five (soon seven) much larger servers in a winner-takes-all format, with the worst options ran like a cult. They can't be bargained with, they can't be reasoned with. By the time it was possible to have pushback, it was already too late. Reboot runs on mental gymnastics and that is why Go West has been able to take the piss and get away with it. Look no further than recent events. However, Nexon US are cowards and they fear the backlash because the tangible effects of the loud are real, so their decisions always boil down to safe. They opted out on contested updates but failed to comprehend what this does to the balance between the two server types. That leads us to today. I'll teach you how stupidly easy you all made it to acquire a Breath of Divinity as a free-to-play.
At the time of writing, the price for Breath of Divinity (BoD) is about one hundred billion mesos. Believe me that it isn't a lot in today's economy. I'd also like to point out that I've deliberately chosen not to grind as Frenzy service is hard to find and Chains of Resentment (90 days) is priced in the same bracket as BoD! As an engineer, the whole point of this experiment is to prove a reproducible method that is accessible to enough players with minimal effort required, which further helps to develop this "open-source" strategy as more experience gets accumulated, shared and challenged.
One hundred billion mesos to buy a BoD wasn't necessarily the goal, but rather the benchmark in which the plan could be tested and verified. Rather than figuring out a method to achieve one hundred billion quickly once (i.e. crashing the markets, which require years of preparation), I wanted something more substantial in where I was able to consistently achieve a constant rate of mesos without inference or dependency on others. This way, I'd not only tackle the price tag but also have futureproofed a more reliable means to afford (better) items and upgrades (Star Force) moving forward.
Here's some fun trivia. In context, one hundred billion mesos on our server could also buy you one of the following:
400.000 Maple Points.
30.000 Sol Erda Fragments.
Two Petite Luna pets ("vac pets"), which can be extended indefinitely for free via Reward Point shop.
Whisper of the Source (Limbo ring) with twenty billion mesos left.
Two sets of complete Eternal equipment with eight Pitched Boss accessories each (no hearts and badges).
Four complete sets of Eternal equipment, or twenty-five sets of Eternal Hat/Top/Bottom/Shoulder.
One complete set of ten Pitched Boss accessories (including heart and badge), or four sets of eight.
One-hundred-and-twenty-five complete sets of Superior Gollux accessories.
Two hundred completed sets of Arcane Umbra equipment.
Two Firestarter Rings.
Granted, not everything will be in stock at any given time but it's interesting to see how much spending power I now have in such a short amount of time. Being able to buy two Pitched Boss accessories or four Kaling Eternals weekly is tantalizing. Yes, the equipment will be clean but in practice this hardly matters as you'll see in two paragraphs.
So my method of choice for achieving one hundred billion mesos within five months is boss muling, of course. But not the traditional method of doing several high-end bosses. Quite frankly, like with grinding hours for mesos with Frenzy, that just takes too long and requires way too much effort. It is way easier, faster and cheaper to one-shot nine newbie weekly bosses a dozen times than it is to clear Tenebris bosses six times. With all of the latest changes to the overall gameplay, skills are reset when entering weekly bosses, so you throw everything on a single Skill Sequence and press Origin skill to immediately delete the boss. This way we keep it short, bite-sized with minimal effort and commitment. It's not that we do not want to achieve several Tenebris boss mules, it's that this is our way to afford it without having to spend an eye-watering amount of time or any real money. One-shots are perfect for an "AFK" playstyle, but once you aim for anything past Akechi, their separate boss phases requires substantial upgrades and skill unlocks (i.e. Ascents).
With 180 boss crystals a week and frequent Hyper Burning events, it doesn't take long to get started. One-shot mules (or "ghetto mules" as I call them) shouldn't require more than a few dozen million mesos to clear the first nine bosses, and if it requires more mesos, it just means the return on investment is a few weeks later. Either way, it is guaranteed profit and you'll quickly learn that you have access to so many cheap and accessible items to build them. The cost for each subsequent mule lowers as you become more self-sufficient in resources and unlock better stats on the account. This snowballs into billions every week and this allows you to buy powerful resources from Auction House, so you can one-shot stronger bosses. What's more important is that each boss has a chance to drop cubes. At 180, I end up with almost 30 legendary and 100 unique cubes every week. This solves the cubing problems on regular server, as at this point it's easy to afford Mystic Frontier for Additional Potential cubes, which then become common. With 30 legendary cubes, it gets me a triple % every month, or at least one rank up to Legendary. This makes replacing gear a lot faster and with our exclusive changes to Star Force you no longer need spare BoDs until you go past 22 enhancements.
Now, here's some practical advice. It's likely that eventually we'll see a backport of the updates from Korea MapleStory that we've skipped up to this point. Specifically, the reduction of boss crystals each week to 90, and the introduction of dynamic pricing. When that happens is anyone's guess, but ideally you'd want to be prepared for this change. You can still benefit a lot from the current status quo until then, and if anything: strike the iron while it's still hot.
Now, let's talk about Breath of Divinity. They won't fear it until they understand it. One hundred billion is a lot of money, but this buys you unmatched power. It's common to hear others burning several hundred billion mesos in Star Force, and while it does provide a ridiculous amount of stats, it'll never warp the game as much as purchasing a BoD would. This is not only a critique towards players who choose Reboot, but also a pet peeve towards progression on regular server. BoD provides a skill that's so disgusting it is self-defeating not to own one. You gain an additional HP bar and every (separate) attack fully restores it. Paired with Len's link skill, I went from Easy Kaling to Extreme Lotus overnight. There will be a blogpost taking a closer look at the inner workings, but yes: it's really stupid. And you can get one too. Remember: you can bank this item every month. That's how I'm going to achieve my six SSS-rank Union Champions.
Now, I've saved my best tricks for last. I wasn't the only one that was able to buy a Breath of Divinity this month. You see, what most people forget is that I'm part of a like-minded group where we openly share, discuss and challenge our understanding of this game. I've waited with this blogpost until a friend of mine, who's far less invested and lazier, got a BoD of his own. I've also had "ghetto muling" methodology be tested in the early and mid-game environments, which also helped several folks who were struggling to proceed with their accounts. That's how I measure the success of this experiment. And remember folks: I am fully, bona fide trade-restricted Bronze 0 so none of y'all have an excuse. I've been telling for years on my blog: you can still use the Auction House while restricted. I won't tolerate any misleading information: get yourself a goddamn guild storage already and start using it! That's it for today. Now leave me alone.
It's the Summer of 2026, and once again real life events will decide whether the status quo is prolonged, or if there is a way out of this mess. The difference with previous years however, is that moving forward I'll be more overt as surface level understanding about my personal life is now public knowledge. To go through everything that's going to happen this Summer is way out of scope for today's blogpost, but if anything of interest happens, I'll be sure to write about it.
Time to catch up. At the end of May, I've reached Level 292! This Summer update comes with plenty improvements to level progression, including the long-awaited Mechaberry Farm. It costs one billion per entry; two entrees a week. It's a steep price, but each run gives a staggering 2%. I can afford it thanks to the "ghetto muling", and this event lasts until September, so it adds up. This does mean that I'll be cutting my weekly income by half, so the process of saving up for the grand goal will be slower for a few months. I'm currently past eighty billion mesos and if I were to skip Mechaberry, I would achieve my goal in about four weeks, but I don't think it's worth sacrificing 16% EXP to have the item earlier as there's also no guarantee that anything listed on Auction House (right now) will be available for purchase next month.
The FallenAngel guild has reached Level 29, which was overdue. When it comes to contribution, it's almost entirely a solo guild, so leveling takes years. My Bishop caught up and reached Level 260, alongside previous season's Hyper Burn: Mo Xuan. Currently, I'm working on Erel as the next boss mule, and Burning Beyond is used on my third Union Champion: Marksman. Union Artifacts reached Level 55. Now, as for the latest progress on my equipment and skills...
My Tallahart symbol is almost done, with one level to go. I've been brute-forcing three lines of main Potential on all of my equipment via the Meister Cubes obtained from "ghetto muling". We may not have the Potential revamp yet, but a small investment in Mystic Frontier has proven to be very lucrative. It's easy to get a ridiculous amount of (Additional) Potential cubes. The yield is more than any event or Reward Points can offer. It's been a tremendous help and it's also all-year round! This system sucks, but we have to make do with what we have. Speaking of which: Star Force. Once I have fulfilled the grand goal, I planned to raise all Star Force to 18 and then increase the yield from boss mules. That's still the plan, but this update also brings the opportunity to go even further with 22. Not needing spares is great for the availability and pricing for the most important equips, as we'll discuss once I reveal what I've been working towards.
Our latest 6th Job skill, Sol Hecate, is now available. It's already Level 22. Got all the fragments I need, just gotta be patient with Sol Erda. Waiting is not a big deal, I'll have it Level 30 in no time. I'm now gathering the fragments for our Winter update (Blitz Shield VI) and next year's Rage Explosion. I should probably bank some of the surplus frags and use those on my Union Champions, seeing how easy it has become to obtain them. I'm also considering to write more about progress on Union Champions, as I believe that there's a lot of interesting things to discuss regarding the ease of progression on Luna right now thanks to the years of neglect on Inkwell's end causing massive unintended exploits.
Ohey, this is a pleasant surprise. MapleStory plushies! Ya know me, I like to collect video game plushies and artbooks. In 2018, I've gotten my hands on one of the official MapleStory artbooks (and I wish they continue to make new ones), but I've never went out of my way to get the old plushies. Fortunately, the game has become massive in Korea and it warrants a lot of new merchandise. With the convenience of Ebay, it's easy to get your hands on them. I'm very happy with this series of plushies, where they share a common design language and size. I have plenty of massive plushies in my room already, so having these smaller ones is just what I was looking for. There's still a few I'd like to add to the collection and I'll keep an eye on future releases. Personally, I don't think it's worth to spend real money on free-to-play games, but remember this: digital gacha-game slop is only temporary - their physical merch however, are forever.
Now if you don't mind, I'm going to leave it here. There's plenty of other things to talk about, like how I have started on the Inti Creates backlog, or the proof of concept builds for Ouroboros as I continue to prepare the parts list and budget for the end of the year, but this blogpost is long enough already. That'll be for another time. Now leave me alone.
