Well not really a rant (clickbait), but hear me out.
Now of course the way Mabinogi is being updated is not ideal as the generation system was basically thrown out the window because of how slow that's going, but that's not the issue I'm gonna complain about, nor am I gonna complain about the need for a total overhaul of the games internal engine, or the community.
What I'm gonna complain about is how almost all new cosmetic content is locked to events, or a limited offer. Gachapons aside. An example being: this spring time event gives us access to lots of adorable new homestead props, but they're limited to the event. While it's fine that "the big prize" can happily be a limited thing as incentive to participate, the sheer quantity of stuff you can get on the side would have made for an amazing content addition. I don't really want to make this a big wall cuz no one's gonna read more than a paragraph so I'll make it into a bullet point.
[*] Our Last "Generation" update was g20: Gate of Sanctuary (April 14th 2016), which added the story line, the beltane knights, and some weapons. (We did have a Dungeon Revamp and Phantasm added in August, and Music Q in December)
[*] Simon's store has literally not been updated since g4-7 came out in NA. He has never had a single item of clothing added to his store since then. In fact, no clothing NPC has had new clothes added to their store since Elves and Giants were released in 2009 as far as my brief fact check shows. I don't think Edern has ever had a store update either.
[*] Most NPC's have had very minor changes to their stores, such as the introduction of reforge tools, and new instruments. Ingredient/Food stores did get a major overhaul.
[*] Being how easy it is to obtain gold, even for new players, there should have been a readjustment to NPC prices a long time ago.
[*] Since their release in April 2011, Homesteads have had one solid update in March 2013, which added 4 Levels, a size expansion, new cosmetic additions, and Pon Compatability. Homestead's have just had one more update, April 2017, which instead of a standard "a few more levels and one more expansion" we have a paywall expansion (which is still nice I guess), and no new cosmetics.
[*] ALL new Homestead cosmetics have been locked behind limited events since March 2013.
[*] There has not been a single new permanent addition to the Pet section of the Cash shop, since the Warp Imp, added in August 2012. Guardian Spider and Laghodessa are older existing pets that used to be Limited, but have silently been added as permanent additions to the cash shop in November 2016. (I'm actually tempted to buy a Laggy...)
[*] There have been more previously Permanent Pets taken out of the cash shop and turned into Limited Time Sales, than there have been pets added to the game in the last 5 years.
[*] There have been no Sewing Patterns added to NPC Stores, since possibly the introduction of Iria. There are multiple items of clothing released in events and Gachapon that were to have sewing patterns (Marlin Robe, Connous Leather Armor, etc.) that have never been implemented.
[*] On the Contrary, Blacksmithing has had recent updates with the addition of Celtic weapons added into Gilmore's Store. Not that it matters since I'm 90% sure you can get the new weapons in Gachapon anyway...
[*] Festia was an amazing attempt at contradicting the point of this entire post, as those event exclusive minigames we loved are now permanent additions to Mabinogi! Granted you can't play them unlimitedly...
[*] Theres been a bizarre trend of locking all new events to one character, instead of just typical Attendance events. Additionally events are very strict on how much time you have to get the top prize, while also locking you to a limited amount of progress each day, which makes the events stressful and less fun to participate in, since it's very easy to let the best prize slip away and you may never see it again, since it's probably untradable anyway.
[*] We have plenty of skills in Mabinogi and more skills are being added even now, however there are STILL unfinished skills that have yet to be fully uncapped since the dawn of the game. (Here's looking at you, First Aid and Rest)
Now why would I whiiiiine about something so silly? Well, I think personally it's horrible design that is a massive part of this game's snowballing downfall. Sure Devcat/Nexon don't care so long as they milk what they can out of this game's dying breath, and don't get me wrong I LOVE Mabinogi, but it IS getting too old for how poorly it's maintained. Unless Duncan's Skill Reset is the latest thing, there's been no major gold sink implemented since 2012-ish besides gradually more insane repair costs. Inflation is running rampant due to a lack of content for us to spill our gold down NPC drains on top of how easy it is to grind up 1million gold in less than an hour if you know the right methods.
There are multitudes of difficulties this game faces but in my opinion this is one that shouldn't have been left as neglected as it has been. The soul of the game has basically been abandoned as Devcat/Nexon churn out events and Gachapon as a form of Life Support, unsurprisingly making the state of the game worse.
The current Director seems to be trying his best as I've heard he's repairing some outdated functionalities and adding systems to make Free to Play Players have a little less power difference than reforge snorting addicts, but all that's doing is putting a new carpet over the torn up, well loved, lumpy rag that just needed some proper attention.
I know this isn't gonna be fixed, but I felt like I needed to rant on the forum because hey maybe people will agree or share their insight and opinions and maybe if the stars align and I sacrifice my firstborn to the Weird Cat, it could make its way higher up. (They're probably already aware of these issues though and just don't care)
TL:DR Besides what comes out in Events and Gachapon there hasn't really been any content added to the game since 2012, not including revamps, story updates, and filler features such as Renown and Potential, and it's making the game feel more and more dated as time passes besides it's multitude of other problems. Inflation.
Thoughts?
Comments
I agree, an overall update to the stock of NPC shops, Clothing or Smithing, would be a welcomed change. What I feel would be a better change on this front, would be an overhaul/update to the textures and normal maps of the Gen 1-7 items that look like they were leftover resources for a project on the original Play Station. I feel that is not asking too much, to have the older weapons, armor and clothing, match the look and feel of the newer content we get with every new event.
The one point I will argue that you bring up as a negative, is the locking of events to a single character on an account.
This change came about when Generation 13, Hamlet and the Cultural Exchange Event that came with it, were added to the game. During this event, all you had to do was go and talk to one of three NPCs and they would give you a random Japanese, Chinese or Korean themed weapon or outfit. You could do this with every character on an account and There was no real delay in this. People spammed this and abused this to the point the markets for those items had crashed, and the events had to be ended early due to this exploitation. Katanas and Wakizashis back then, dropped in price, ten-fold, some were even as cheap as 50k a unit. Before then, the only way to get these weapons, was to get the manuals to smith them, from the Blacksmithing Gachapon.
So Yes, while it seems unfair, I can understand and respect the locking of events to a single character on an account, as a means of preventing market flooding by Players with 10-50 characters on their accounts.
The content creation tools are still there and well understood (compare the detail in new outfits to the old outfits from beta days), but it seems the knowledge of how to actually integrate new things into the game has been lost, so they just throw everything new into gatchas and events.
It's not too far out to say that alot of these events are just to buy time for real patches since they seem to take relatively less investment to make.
For what it's worth though, you're not wrong. For instance I haven't gotten to do the samhain quest content since it was a limited time event (why?). I can't really speak much about inflation because I'm both lazy and dirt poor, but they have a lot of directions to go for gold sinks at least.
Mabi's an ancient (relatively speaking) game and you can feel it even outside of the visuals, but to end on a hopeful note remember that runescape got a new engine and graphical update and it's even older than mabi. (don't get your hopes up though, rip mabinogi 2)
@Felice I most definitely understand it's a method to prevent abuse in easy events, but events that cant really be abused by alts are getting the same treatment, and although its unfortunate that Alt Abuse ruins things for everyone, its a sad time when I have to choose between having something on my Main, or giving the rewards to the alt on another server who could use a single aspect of the event. A multi character event that was just "talk to an npc for reward" should have definitely been locked to one character, though. I agree with you there. Also Yea, old models are hilariously outdated compared to new stuff. They are from early 2003!
@Shaeli Thanks for the really insightful addition! I didn't know there was actually a massive issue with the games old code and the new workers. Thats really sad
@ShouK You bet, and now I'm gonna pointlessly reply to you too.
@Graward Yea, I already Mentioned that I'm aware of Memento, and a lot of things being worked on in KR. None of the things I mentioned are being worked on currently at least to the public knowledge besides whats coming with Memento and a lot of Event/Gacha content. Mabi's been a game I've played since its early days and Mabi2 kicking the bucket is probably why story content is being paced out. I still believe Mabinogi was meant to end in this Chapter and transition into Mabi2.
@Lionkage What animations? Lmao.
Edit: Whoops I forgot @BlissfulKill ! I can see that worry and I agree with you, but some areas should have a small rework, nothing major.
Idk if you've played through G1 recently, but during the supposed cut scenes. The execution and the way the characters interact with each other really leaves a bad taste in the mouth of new players trying out the game. Could just be me and a select few's personal opinions though. But, if what @Shaeli said is true it seems like getting our old previous content updated won't be a reality anytime soon or at all.
I am not sure of that complaint. I could complain about Legend Of Zelda: Ocarina of Time's graphical appearance, and how they are animated, but it just makes me look like a stupid idiot.
It depends on the animated movement era for video games, something I am not too familiar with. In terms of graphics, this is probably one of the reasons why the game survived. It used a certain graphical style that would not be criticized for being outdated.
Anticlimatic is something I agree with those generations.
I do hope to see the game improve though, it'll be a sad day to see this game that I've literally played for years die.
The locking to one character on the account thing helps in places where it is increasingly difficult to create more than one login for online games. In NA versions of Nexon games, it is just a gimmick.
Limiting items that are purely aesthetic is the right way to do things, and I think Nexon is going the correct route with that. It establishes your veteranship and dedication to the game when you have an old item that has become unique because of time, while at the same time it is not limiting the ability of a new player to compete for damage. If they were giving away items with incredible attack rates still from events, then that could be a major disadvantage.
Speaking of event items, when was the last time you saw a glowing ice sword. I think the last time I saw someone with one of those was 2011.
This thread is a bunch of nostalgia with all the complaints that have just built over the years. Lots of old items that would be nice to see return, or have ways of completing.
That being said, I don't see Mabi dying off too soon. I do see a trickle of new players coming in again as we see yet another generation move out. Summer should be interesting.
Agreed on all points. Recently, while commercing, I was wondering if anyone even uses Taill farms anymore. Can't be bothered to stop to check the signs though. =T
A major disadvantage from a lack of event items, eh.... *looks over at the SAO Nth Floor enchants*
It's not even just that. While agree with Blissfulkill's point that it's meaningless to judge a dated game by its graphics (dated game has dated graphics; people die when they are killed), nobody here has an issue with Mabi's overall graphical style (except for the occasional arm popping out of its socket). The real problem is that old stuff looks like garbage compared to newer stuff in the game. You could add a glow or shimmer effect to everything from before g13 or 14 and say it's equipment from another dimension and it would fit perfectly. I can see the flavor text now: A suit of armor from another dimension. It looks like it can never materialize fully in this world.
Honestly, they should really do that. Just make new versions of all the old clothes/armors with updated models, change existing old items into '___ from another dimension', as described above, and make it irreparable. Maybe make it so all damage is reduced to 1 while wearing it, so it's cool. 'While wearing this armor, enemies from this world cannot damage you properly'.
Anyway, it's an interesting point that the old gens look kinda bland and boring compared to the new ones. While I doubt anyone would disagree with you, those of us who've been playing this game for a while would almost unanimously agree that the old gens are better than the new ones (except maybe g19 and 20) in every other way.
Taillteann farming has been VIP service only due to bot abuse a few years ago. No one farms because it's simply been taken away from a good 80% of the playerbase.
While I do support nexon taking anti-bot measures since it was BAD (you couldnt get a farm because all farms were taken by bots) I think a better fix would have been to limit it to players over a cumulative level threshold.
And @AlmostNotsuper again, that armor thing you described sounds atrocious, sorry. Far too poorly balanced and more work than it would be worth.
I for one love my signature outfit even though its dated, and although I'd enjoy a model update I wouldn't want it redesigned entirely or made into some super broken ghost armor.
I also very much enjoy the story for g19 and g20, the only plot I didn't really enjoy was Saga2 because instead of "The Aces" it was "The Adventures of Treasure Hunter and Merlin!"
We do need updates on the older items, with that I do agree. However, stuff takes time to create and update. =T
I tried getting a friend into this game as he loves grindy games where there is no end to leveling.
But he looked at the newbie options, and what was available to him without paying, and was like screw this uninstall.
He said he isn't playing a game that looks like the devs don't give a damn about it.
It is their loss as he is the type of player that will drop $500 on gachas without a second thought, but only if the dev doesn't look like some greedy ass wallet predator like nexon is. It is funny though as they redid a lot of the old hairstyles for the G1 NPC's when they updated them awhile back, but REFUSE To let players use the updated meshes.
I can answer that, the weapon could only be used til a certain date, then it couldn't be equipped. I still had the mats to craft one and decided to make the sword last year. You can still make the sword,if you still have the mats, but can't equip it.
Synth bases still think Fleta items is the best thing ever, and don't recognize the newer content at all, and the last place to get obscure sewing patterns was Production gachapon years and years ago. For the game, to adopt old event and gacha clothing as Patterns and the part of Synthesis and the world really would be, how to say? in character, but it's probably hopeless. Would it be even possible to repackage all of this marketably, as an attractive update?
How dare you want them to put something not in a gacha!
Do agree though currently outside stats crafting skills are pretty much 100% worthless, and the VERY few things worth it to make are almost impossible to make due to the insanely low drop rates on materials for them, and insanely high amount you need to make them(with low chance to make them too).
I remember back when on Mari we had 1 R1 black smith, and his skills were in extreme demand so he was able to make quite a bit of gold due to the hard work he put into getting BS to R1.