It's the spooky season, and nothing is more terrifying than waking up to another episode of exploit o'clock.
Mystic Frontier is a blessing and a curse. It perfectly encapsulates the worst aspects of Inkwell's design philosophy, where it's designed to be as frustrating and manipulative as possible. It's predatory in such a way that customers are fooled into thinking that spending money gives them an advantage, but in practice it's a zero sum game. However, his carelessness is an advantage: Mystic Frontier's highly exploitable, to the degree where it's the second most important weekly content (after ghetto muling) as they both substitute the Potential revamp and are arguably more effective at it.
This blogpost assumes you understand the basics of Mystic Frontier, and that you're familiar with ghetto muling. Right now, progress is gated by the quantity of characters. The more you have, the faster progression becomes. For ghetto muling you need 6th Job, but Mystic Frontier only requires 5th Job. The other thing you'll need is something the EMS market has plenty of: a sheer quantity of common familiar cards with blue Potential. They're cheap, abundant and an one-time purchase. It requires a few billion mesos, but you'll then have a weekly supply of Additional Potential cubes. At this point, the Potential revamp is worse since each roll costs a fortune, whereas Frontier only has the initial cost and once set up, becomes profitable in a few months. You might as well make the most out of it, while you still can...
Every day, you can open Mystic Frontier to roll for three random expeditions. You can do this on every character that has unlocked Mystic Frontier. Each week, you can only enter up to 15 expeditions, but this limit is shared across the same world. With enough attempts, you can brute-force fifteen 24 hour (Legendary) expeditions. For the presets, we have a nearly infinite supply of familiar cards. Expect to require between 500 and 1000 cards per character to build a preset that's good enough. Mystic Frontier's deliberately designed to fail rounds, but we offset by improving our odds. Now that you understand the idea behind this exploit, let's discuss how all of it works and what rewards to expect.
It took me longer to write this damn blogpost than to set-up and research this exploit.
The preset you ought to aim for when running this strategy is one that exclusively uses the following lines:
If all Familiars on your active lineup have the same type, Dice Total +2, Final Multiplier: 1.2x
If all Familiars on your active lineup have the same element, Dice Total +2, Final Multiplier: 1.2x
It doesn't matter which or how many you have; the lines are interchangeable. Always run three of the same monster.
It doesn't take long to create a preset from scratch. You can add up to one hundred familiar cards at a time and reveal their potential all at once. You skim through the results and lock the familiars you want to keep. You then extract all of the unwanted familiars and repeat this process until you have a preset. When starting from scratch, I'd recommend to start rolling for 24 hour expeditions first and then create presets for these characters, rather than creating presets for 60 characters before doing anything. You do not need more than one preset per character, but out of convenience it's worthwhile to build additional presets whenever a character finds more than one 24 hour expedition on the same day.
The Dice Total +2 lines are crucial for this strategy, as multipliers are additive and far more common from round ends. Dice Total also compensate for bad rolls and it's guaranteed to roll enough to win round 1 Green pouches on neutral difficulty (I'll discuss this later). Of course, it'd be better if we ran higher ranked potentials on each character, but that's not worth it. This strategy is the sweet spot for obtaining crucial resources while keeping the cost and time spent low.
The pouches we're after are Orange and Green. They are not guaranteed every expedition. Each week* has given me Additional Potential cubes, but not every week won Orange/Green pouches. Despite that you have 15 expeditions with 5 rounds each, it's still beholden to luck. At minimum I've always seen two Orange pouch rounds every week. At best, I've won two Orange pouches and three Greens for 33 Additional Potential cubes in the same week. You shouldn't be worried about losing a few Orange/Green pouches because there's so many of them and there's always next week.
*See images. Forgive the inconsistencies; I mainly kept track of cubes from Orange/Green pouches. I left out almost all Meisters. Hindsight is 20/20.
Blue pouches can yield a Meister cube, Purple can give you one Additional Potential cube. Orange can give you three or six, Green can give you ten. Each individual pouch has a chance to rank up. There's no limit to how often this can happen. I've seen Purple ranking up to Green and Orange ranking up to Diamond. It's worth picking up any pouch, but if you haven't scored any Orange/Green pouches before the fifth round, always prioritize reaching it to make sure you didn't miss any. You always need two rounds to replenish Action Points. Clear two whenever possible or else you'll risk having to skip rounds. Always save rerolls for Orange/Green/Pitched Box and CoR*; settle for rolls of at least 3 each.
*You can bank the CoR voucher and equips from Pitched Box, but you cannot bank the CoR totem or Pitched Box itself, or any Familiar Ring (Box).
Before we wrap up, I'll mention the ways how Mystic Frontier forces rounds to fail. Every round has a chance to add a yellow/purple border and/or to change the space from blue to purple, increasing the required roll to succeed. It stacks. Round ends add extra dice multipliers, but some will reduce your Dice Total or become a clock (worthless). These are all the more reason to opt for mules, seeing as a single character rarely finds an Orange/Green pouch every month, let alone Legendary expeditions every week, or find anything useful on a regular basis. Suffice to say, I'll assume you're familiar enough with how shit Mystic Frontier is as a system and thus can understand the appeal of this dumb exploit.
But what about the rates on Pitched Box? Familiar Rings? Chains of Resentment? I don't care, really. I'm mainly doing this for the Additional Potential cubes, as everything else is already covered by ghetto muling. Now leave me alone.
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.
