Hi guys! Today's something I have been working on the past three years, but only have talked about in my previous blogpost for the first time. It's the Soul Collection for the Mu Gong soul!
Ever since I got my Mu Gong soul in 2014 for my Ribgol, I left my daily Mu Lung Dojo runs because it took me two months before I could get my first Mu Gong Soul, which was the +7 LUK one. Doing more daily Mu Lung Dojo's to RNG a STR one would just be crazy. A few months later, someone gave me a Mu Gong soul with +5 All Stats to replace the LUK one, and ultimately, I found a +7 STR one myself, which is the one I'm currently using.
Mu Lung Dojo has been revamped a lot of times since its initial release. Unfortunately, only for about a year, you could obtain Mu Gong shards from Mu Gong himself. When they introduced the forced difficulties that were assigned to your level, Mu Gong stopped dropping his shards - literally making Mu Gong the hardest soul to obtain in the game because the only places you could get them was an event that only runs for two weeks each year (the Murgoth event), a NX related item that has been retired since last year (Effie Boxes) and the soon-to-be-released Soul Extractor.
Don't get your hopes up for the Soul Extractor though, as it requires a Meister Alchemist, a permanent non-Magnificent soul to extract (Effie Box/Golden Apples-only, which requires NX) and extracting it will give a random shard type (10 pieces of this type). And by "random shard type", it could be any of the souls that you can log in the Soul Collector.
Anyway, back to the Soul Collector system. At first when it was released with the FLY update in 2013, only a handful of soul types could be logged. Knowing how MapleStory does its updates, I've started to collect as many different Mu Gong souls as I could get my hands on in anticipation if Nexon would ever introduce the Soul Collection for Mu Gong. Which they did, in 2016. By then, I managed to collect a STR, DEX, LUK and MP Mu Gong soul that other players obtained through Effie Boxes. Usually, normal souls expire within a month. And they are also untradeable. So I was lucky to get such a proper head start with permanent tradeable Mu Gong souls, that could also apply to the Soul Collector system...
Mu Gong only comes in seven different prefixes, with INT, HP and All Stats being the only three ones missing in my collection at that time. Ironically, despite Mu Gong only having seven different prefixes (while most of the popular ones have nine), it is by far the most difficult Soul Collection to complete. It is the only soul type (with a Soul Collection) that cannot be obtained through any normal means (Spirit of Rock is currently in a similar situation but was already fixed in KMS recently). Most players will never even get one Mu Gong soul in their life. Yes, I'm aware of the Nene, Tutu, Elunite Elemental and Murgoth souls, but they don't have a Soul Collection.
However, around 2016 when the collection for this soul was introduced, getting Mu Gong shards was only possible through the Murgoth event, as Effie Boxes retired after the migration, and the Soul Extractor was yet to be known. One might say "do the Murgoth event for those Mu Gong souls, right?" - while that's definitely true and currently the only way, it's easier said than done.
Obtaining 10 Mu Gong shards in 14 days with the 1-VS-1 mode of the Murgoth event is possible. On average, one shard a day. Sometimes zero. Did I tell you that you can only find Mu Gong shards in the losing vault? That means you have to lose the event in order to get Mu Gong shards. Yeah, not kidding. Mu Gong shards is also among the most difficult shards to find in the Murgoth event, tied with others such as Ephenia (another buff-oriented soul).
But even if you manage to obtain 10 Mu Gong shards, you still have a 1/7 chance to find something you don't have yet. And even if you had god-tier luck to get all seven Mu Gong souls in just seven attempts, you'll need seven years to finish the Soul Collection.
The only way to get sufficient Mu Gong shards is the Party mode... And even with a 2x Drop event, 2x Drop coupon and Holy Symbol from a Bishop, you're not guaranteed to find one Mu Gong shard each run. It's close to - but it's not that you'll always have a 2x Drop event around on every day. So even if you would get about six to eight souls in 14 days, that still isn't such of a large sample size to have a proper chance at getting all seven within three years. I hope you can understand the fairly difficult situation here.
Fortunately, I was lucky this year with getting my INT Mu Gong soul! Five down, two to go - but let's face it, the only way I got this far with my Mu Gong collection is because I came prepared. With only having the HP and All Stats one left, I think we can safely assume I'll have a good shot at finishing the collection eventually - but with only like six to eight attempts in a single Murgoth event, getting both is a tough situation. But, who knows right? Like with the INT soul, you never know until you try! Plus, it's the only way to get to a complete collection. RNG is part of the thing, y'know. Just start somewhere and keep going until you succeed.
Either way, the only thing right now regarding this Mu Gong soul collection, is to wait for another year until the Murgoth event comes back in 2018. Even if I would magically get my hands on either the HP or All Stats Mu Gong soul tomorrow (as this year's Murgoth event ends tomorrow), I would still be one short for completing the collection. I will definitely give the Soul Extractor a try when it hits EMS, but don't expect too much from it.
What about the Mu Gong soul by itself? Mu Gong soul is among the best souls in the game. It throws away the passive stats that higher tier souls give for an amazing buff: 30% attack/magic attack for 10 seconds. It has a cooldown of 150 seconds, which is affected by cooldown reducers (including Inner Ability's skip chance) and with a 250 Soul consumption, you can hold four at a time without recharging the soul meter. With attack scrolling and % Attack being the must for many players (regardless if you play Pre-BB or nowadays), you can imagine how much just 30% will give straight off the bat. Spoilers: a lot.
In the right hands and current 5th Job being oriented into bursting damage, it is definitely one worth to consider at all times. Why gain such a minor Magnificent soul boost and never bother using its soul skill? Doesn't most of the summons kill steal your own targets because of damage priority? Ironically, Mu Gong souls from Effie Boxes (IF you could even find one, that is) are infamous for going for insane prices. The majority of Maple's community doesn't care about anything that doesn't give a Magnificent prefix, and are also not open for learning otherwise. Mu Gong soul has been quite forgotten by many players, partially due to the difficulty of obtaining it, but the people who remember it and knows what the skill gives are always willing to pay a smack of mesos for it (about as much as a Magnificent Lucid soul goes for, according to a recent Effie Box Mu Gong soul that appeared in Auction House yesterday).
Anyway, getting at least one Mu Gong soul can be done if you really, really put some effort into it. But is it all worth to go through all of this to get Mu Gong Level 1 to Level 2? Level 2 is a much different story by itself on many different ways. Just look at the following improvements between Level 1 and Level 2:
It only increases the duration for 10 seconds to 20 seconds. The skill of Mu Gong is considered an "aura", which is a rare type of skill that is not affected by buff duration and other buff-related mechanics. There aren't many aura skills in the game - only a handful, and certain bosses like Crimson Queen also uses aura's which means Phantom cannot cancel those with Vol D'Ame. Nowadays Mu Gong's duration is shown in the top right corner together with all summon skills for convenience sake - but aura's used to never appear there and was only shown near your character. Or well, in case of Mu Gong, behind you.
That aside, 10 seconds extra duration is a lot. It also stacks with other skills such as Terms & Conditions, that makes bursting with these two skills hit like a truck. Especially on a class like Hero with lots of final damage and crazy multipliers.
So, is Level 2 worth it as an upgrade? I think it's safe to assume it is. However, the path to Level 2 Mu Gong is just way too much. Perhaps not worth the effort. That is something I think we all can agree on. Obviously, since I've been playing on my Hero for ten years daily and because I won't quit any time soon, my chances for Level 2 are good, despite the fact that the last two Mu Gong's will require a lot of effort.
Nexon should just add Mu Gong shards to the Dojo shop. Plenty of Dojo revamps happened in the past few years, but the fact that Mu Gong shards are "End of Life" now is a glaring issue. Having a new, reliable source for these would make things a lot easier. Not just for myself, but for other people who are interested in running Mu Gong on their characters as well. I mean, I've seen plenty of people who want to run Mu Gong and who could afford expensive loot - but having a lot of mesos to spend means little for things only you can get your hands on yourself (as Mu Gong shards and the non-Effie Box souls are untradeable and you have to find and loot them yourself).
Anyway, this year's Murgoth event has been pretty excellent and valuable to me. I now know what to do in preparation for next year - at least I have months worth of time to prepare myself. Will I get Level 2 somewhere next year? We'll never know for sure until the next Murgoth event is here!
That's it for today - I'll see you guys again next post!
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