Suggestion Category: Gameplay / QoL / Items / Bossing / Progression
Introduction
I've put together several suggestions that I believe could improve Kanata's overall gameplay experience, particularly regarding progression, accessibility, and player freedom.
My main goal is to reduce unnecessary friction, introduce additional progression systems, and allow players to progress through the activities they enjoy, whether that's questing, grinding, bossing, collecting, or playing alternate characters.
I've separated everything into individual suggestions to make them easier to discuss.
1. Increase Initial Monster Spawn Density Across All Maps
Suggestion Category: Gameplay / QoL
Suggestion Description
Increase the minimum monster population across hunting maps.
The idea is to raise the spawn floor without increasing the maximum spawn ceiling, allowing maps to start near their maximum intended monster population but still gradually building up.
Reason for Suggestion
Entering a fresh map with low initial spawns makes questing and grinding unnecessarily slow, especially when moving between maps to complete kill or collection quests.
Players who remain on one map eventually benefit from its developed population, while players actively questing are repeatedly affected by low initial spawns.
Expected Benefits
- Faster and smoother quest completion.
- Less downtime waiting for spawns.
- Encourages exploration of less frequently used maps.
Potential Drawbacks
Higher initial populations could affect performance or overcrowd smaller maps. However, existing maximum spawn limits would remain unchanged.
2. Reduce Scroll Fragment Costs in @ss by 75%
Suggestion Category: Items / Gameplay / Progression
Suggestion Description
Reduce Scroll Fragment costs in @ss to approximately 25% of their current prices.
While the recent scrolling changes are welcome, the amount of grinding required to obtain enough fragments for equipment upgrades still feels excessive.
My proposed prices are:
| Scroll | Current | Suggested |
|---|---|---|
| Steady (70%) | 100 | 25 |
| Bold (40%) | 150 | 38 |
| Wild (30%) | 225 | 56 |
| Northstar White Scroll | 300 | 75 |
| Moonlit Clean Slate 20% | 150 | 38 |
Suggested costs are rounded to whole fragments.
Reason for Suggestion
Regular monsters currently have a 3% chance to drop a Scroll Fragment.
At that rate, obtaining a single Wild Scroll requires approximately 7,500 monster kills on average, assuming no additional fragment sources.
That's a substantial amount of grinding for a single scroll attempt, especially when considering failed scrolls and the number of equipment pieces requiring upgrades.
These costs also discourage players from scrolling transitional equipment, since investing fragments into gear that will eventually be replaced often feels wasteful.
Scrolling should remain an investment without becoming an excessive progression bottleneck.
Expected Benefits
- Makes scrolling significantly more accessible.
- Encourages upgrading transitional equipment.
- Reduces excessive farming requirements.
- Allows players to experiment with different equipment setups.
- Makes progression through equipment tiers smoother.
Potential Drawbacks
Cheaper scrolls could accelerate equipment progression. However, scrolling would still involve success rates and resource investment.
Recovery scrolls could be balanced separately if necessary.
3. Introduce Boss Navigation and Remove Mandatory Prequests
Suggestion Category: Bossing / QoL
Suggestion Description
Introduce a Boss Navigation / Teleport system, similar to modern MapleStory's boss navigation feature.
This could be accessed through @boss or an existing navigation menu, displaying:
- Available bosses and recommended levels.
- Difficulty options.
- Daily/weekly entry limits.
- Remaining entries.
- Teleportation to boss entrances.
Implementation could be as simple as a menu containing indexed destination map IDs for each boss entrance or lobby.
This would also solve the issue of Hyper Teleport Rocks being unable to access certain boss-related maps.
Additionally, remove mandatory boss prequests, allowing players to access encounters without completing lengthy prerequisite questlines.
Original quests could remain available as optional content.
Reason for Suggestion
Bossing is enjoyable, but reaching encounters can involve unnecessary travel, lengthy prequests, or multiple map transitions.
These requirements don't add meaningful difficulty to the boss itself.
New players may also struggle to identify which bosses are available or how to access them.
A centralized navigation system would solve these issues while making boss content easier to discover.
Expected Benefits
- Easier access to boss content.
- Less unnecessary traveling.
- Simpler organization of party runs.
- No mandatory prequests on multiple characters.
- Better overview of available encounters.
- Encourages more players to participate in bossing.
Potential Drawbacks
Removing prequests could reduce incentives to experience original questlines, but these could remain optional with their existing rewards.
Level requirements, entry limits, and party restrictions should remain intact.
The goal is to make bosses easier to access, not easier to defeat.
4. Introduce Alternative Equipment Acquisition Through Grinding, Bossing & PQs
Suggestion Category: Items / Gameplay / Progression
Suggestion Description
Expand the ways players can acquire equipment currently tied primarily to Quest Points and the @qp shop.
Questing should remain rewarding, but it shouldn't necessarily be the only practical way to obtain certain equipment.
I propose keeping the existing Quest Point system while introducing alternative acquisition methods.
A. Global Equipment Tokens
Introduce equipment tokens that drop from regular monsters.
These could be exchanged for selected equipment currently obtained through Quest Points.
Acquisition rates should be balanced around average grinding time, with stronger equipment requiring more tokens.
Level-appropriate drop restrictions could prevent farming trivial monsters.
B. Boss Equipment Rewards
Expand boss drop tables to include additional equipment or exchange materials.
Harder bosses could reward higher-tier equipment or larger material quantities.
C. Party Quest Equipment Rewards
Add equipment or exchange tokens to PQ rewards, giving players more reasons to participate in cooperative content.
Reason for Suggestion
Not everyone enjoys spending large amounts of time questing.
Some players prefer grinding, others enjoy bossing, and some prefer Party Quests.
All these activities require time and effort and should provide meaningful opportunities to progress.
Questing could remain one of the more efficient acquisition methods without being the exclusive option.
Expected Benefits
- More freedom in how players progress.
- Makes grinding rewarding beyond EXP and mesos.
- Encourages bossing and Party Quest participation.
- Reduces reliance on one progression currency.
- Provides additional long-term goals.
Potential Drawbacks
Alternative acquisition methods need balancing to keep Quest Points relevant.
Equipment could require comparable time investments across different activities, allowing questing to remain efficient without being mandatory.
The goal isn't necessarily to make progression easier, but to make it achievable through different activities.
5. Expand Equipment Tiers for Smoother Vertical Progression
Suggestion Category: Items / Gameplay / Progression
Suggestion Description
Introduce additional equipment tiers to create a smoother and more rewarding progression path.
Currently, players can spend considerable time using Pensalir before reaching Absolab, one of the highest available equipment tiers.
My suggested progression path would be:
Pensalir → Sweetwater → Absolab → Arcane Umbra → Eternal
These sets wouldn't need their original modern MapleStory stats or requirements. Instead, they could be adjusted specifically for Kanata's balance and progression pace.
Possible acquisition methods:
- Sweetwater: Midgame grinding, PQs, or custom content.
- Absolab: Existing late-game progression.
- Arcane Umbra: High-level bosses and difficult content.
- Eternal: Long-term endgame progression.
Reason for Suggestion
Continuously improving equipment is a major part of MapleStory's appeal.
Remaining on the same equipment tier for extended periods can make progression feel stagnant.
Additional sets would provide more frequent milestones and meaningful goals throughout the midgame, lategame, and endgame.
They would also complement alternative equipment acquisition through grinding, bossing, and PQs.
Expected Benefits
- More meaningful equipment upgrades.
- Less time stuck using Pensalir.
- Additional goals for high-level players.
- More incentives to participate in different content.
- Better opportunities for future equipment rewards.
Potential Drawbacks
New equipment tiers could introduce power creep if their original stats were imported directly.
Stats, set effects, and requirements should therefore be balanced specifically for Kanata, with reasonable increases between tiers.
New sets could also be introduced gradually alongside additional content.
The focus should be on creating more progression milestones rather than dramatically increasing character power overnight.
6. Introduce Horizontal Progression and Account-Wide Character Bonuses
Suggestion Category: Gameplay / Progression / QoL
Suggestion Description
Introduce a dedicated account-wide progression system that rewards players for participating in different content across their entire account.
Modern MapleStory has Legion and Link Skills, which encourage playing alternate characters and provide permanent bonuses beyond traditional equipment progression.
Kanata currently lacks a comparable system.
Rather than directly copying Legion, I suggest creating a custom system built around existing content.
Account-wide bonuses could be earned through:
- Defeating unique bosses.
- Completing Monster Book collections.
- Completing unique quests.
- Leveling alternate classes.
- Unlocking custom achievements.
These activities could grant small but meaningful permanent bonuses shared between all characters on an account.
The bonuses would accumulate over time, creating another layer of progression alongside leveling, scrolling, and equipment upgrades.
Proposed Progression Systems
A. Boss Completion Bonuses
Defeating a boss for the first time could grant a permanent account-wide bonus.
For example:
- Unique boss kills grant Boss Damage or Ignore Defense.
- Harder bosses could provide stronger bonuses.
- Each boss reward can only be earned once per account.
This would encourage players to defeat a wider variety of bosses instead of repeatedly farming only the most efficient encounters.
B. Monster Book Collection Bonuses
Expand Monster Book progression to reward completed card sets with permanent account-wide bonuses.
For example:
- Completing card sets grants STR, DEX, INT, LUK, Weapon Attack, or Magic Attack.
- Completing multiple sets gradually increases these bonuses.
- Completing entire regions or collection milestones could grant percentage-based stats.
- Larger milestones could eventually provide bonuses such as +50% All Stat.
The exact values and distribution would require balancing.
This would make collecting Monster Cards a meaningful progression activity and encourage players to revisit older maps and hunt different monsters.
C. Account-Wide Quest Completion Bonuses
Completing unique quests could contribute toward permanent account-wide stat bonuses.
Quest completion should be tracked once per account for this system, not once per character.
For example, completing a quest on one character counts toward account progression, but repeating it on another character doesn't provide additional progress.
Characters could still complete the quests normally for their individual rewards.
Example milestones:
| Unique Quests | Account Bonus |
|---|---|
| 10 | +20 All Stat, +5 W.Att/M.Att |
| 50 | +50 All Stat, +15 W.Att/M.Att |
| 100 | +100 All Stat, +20 W.Att/M.Att |
| 200 | +10% All Stat, +30 W.Att/M.Att |
These are illustrative cumulative milestone rewards, subject to balancing.
This would reward players for completing a wide variety of quests without encouraging repetition of the same easy quests across multiple characters.
D. Alternate Character / Class Progression
Introduce account-wide bonuses for leveling different classes, functioning as a simplified Legion-style system.
For example:
- Reaching level milestones on alternate characters contributes to account progression.
- Different classes or class branches provide unique bonuses.
- Higher account progression scores unlock additional passive stats.
To avoid repeatedly leveling the same class for bonuses, progression could be limited to unique classes or class branches.
Caps or diminishing returns could also prevent excessive stacking.
This would give players an additional reason to try different classes and invest time into alternate characters.
E. Custom Achievements
A custom achievement system could tie everything together.
Achievements could reward activities such as:
- Defeating unique bosses.
- Completing Monster Book collections.
- Finishing unique quests.
- Leveling multiple classes.
- Completing different PQs.
- Participating in challenging custom content.
Achievements could provide account progression points or direct stat bonuses.
A dedicated menu could display completed achievements, remaining objectives, and total accumulated account bonuses.
Reason for Suggestion
Currently, most progression revolves around leveling, equipment, scrolling, and other forms of vertical progression.
While these systems are important, Kanata could benefit from more long-term progression that extends beyond a single character.
Without account-wide progression, activities such as leveling alts, collecting Monster Cards, and completing older content can feel disconnected from improving your main character.
Horizontal progression would allow players to gradually strengthen their entire account through various activities.
A player who enjoys questing could progress through quest achievements, while someone who enjoys collecting or bossing could work toward different account bonuses.
Likewise, players who enjoy experimenting with classes would have additional incentives to create and level alts.
Expected Benefits
- Introduces long-term account-wide progression.
- Makes alternate characters more rewarding.
- Encourages experimenting with different classes.
- Adds meaningful rewards to Monster Book collecting.
- Makes quests, achievements, and older content more relevant.
- Encourages participation in a wider variety of bosses and PQs.
- Gives players progression goals beyond leveling and equipment.
Potential Drawbacks
Account-wide bonuses would need careful balancing to prevent excessive power creep.
Individual rewards should be meaningful without making the combined bonuses disproportionately strong.
Reasonable caps, diminishing returns, or milestone-based rewards could help control their impact.
One-time account tracking should also prevent repeating trivial content across characters to accumulate bonuses.
The intention is to reward players for experiencing more of the game while giving them additional ways to strengthen their entire account.
Overall Reasoning & Expected Benefits
The common theme across these suggestions is making progression smoother, more rewarding, and less restrictive.
I believe players should be able to make meaningful progress through different activities rather than following one specific route.
Questing should remain worthwhile without being mandatory for obtaining certain equipment.
Grinding should provide rewards beyond EXP and mesos.
Bossing should be accessible and contribute to progression.
Equipment should offer meaningful upgrades throughout the game.
And horizontal progression should reward players for exploring classes, collecting Monster Cards, completing achievements, and experiencing different content.
Ideally, these systems would complement one another.
For example, someone grinding monsters could simultaneously earn equipment tokens, Scroll Fragments, and Monster Book cards, all contributing toward different progression goals.
Likewise, someone questing could earn Quest Points while working toward permanent account-wide bonuses.
Different activities, different progression paths, but all contributing toward meaningful character development.
Final Thoughts
These suggestions aren't intended to remove the grind or make Kanata effortless.
Grinding and character progression are fundamental parts of MapleStory, but I believe there's a difference between rewarding progression and unnecessary friction.
Reducing excessive resource costs, improving initial spawns, making bosses accessible, and offering alternative equipment acquisition methods would improve existing gameplay.
Meanwhile, additional equipment tiers and horizontal account-wide progression could introduce new long-term goals and encourage players to experience more of the server.
I understand some of these changes would require significant development and balancing, but I believe they could be worthwhile additions to Kanata's long-term progression.
Ultimately, I'd like to see a server where players can consistently progress through the content they enjoy, while still having meaningful goals to work toward.
Thanks for reading.
