This may seem like a radical change. Unlike my Spirit Weapon/Upgrading post, almost all the details of this are from me and not others I interviewed. However I have known many people to quit Mabinogi because of the issue of racial imbalance and I consider it a more pressing issue than Spirit Weapons.
[SIZE="4"]Racial Consolidation[/SIZE]
- Content-wise, not story-wise, there is no longer races.
- There is now two body types. Standard and Large.
- Standard body type is that of a Human/Elf. Large is that of a giant.
- Customization options that were previously Elf-only can now be used by Standard Body Type characters who were previously Human and vice versa.
- Customization options that previously could only be used by Humans/Elves now have Large Body Type Counterparts, as well as previously Giant-only options available to Standard Body Types. (If you want to be a giant with elf ears, I don't really care but you can like this.)
- All clothing should ideally be compatible with both body types. If there are any Giant-only clothing right now with no Human or Elf counterparts, Standard Body Type counterparts should be made and vice versa.
- Age up AP is reduced to 1 at all ages.
- Age is no longer a requirement for quests (raids, belvast dailies) or ideal types.
- Equipment are no longer age locked or race/body type locked.
- Age up stats are no longer a thing. A newly created 17 year old will have the same stat as a newly created 10 year old.
- Level up stats, excluding talent exclusive level up stat bonuses, are now standardized to no longer be different with race or age.
- Giants get .75 will per level up at age 11-16 except they get 1.00 will at lvl 15. Humans only get 1.00 HP when leveling at age 10 and 11. Now it's going to be the same across the board, regardless of age or race/bodytype.
- New Skill: Agility Mastery
- Trained similar to a book skill.
- This skill increases base running speed. And at higher ranks, allows you to run with certain archery skills and allows you to use some archery skills on the back of mounts.
- Skill is capped at rank 6.
- Existing Elves before this update will automatically have this skill at rank 6.
- Existing Giants before this update will automatically have this skill at rank A.
- Existing Humans before this update will automatically have this skill at rank F.
- New characters regardless of body type will automatically have this skill at rank F, like how they start with Combat Mastery.
- New Skill: Weight Endurance
- Trained similar to a book skill, only doesn't use books.
- At r1, you can use Charge without a shield, equip a shield with a Two Handed Sword, Dual Wield Swords and Blunt Weapons, etc.
- Existing Giants before this update will automatically have this skill at rank 1.
- Existing Humans before this update will automatically have this skill at some rank, F<x<1, idc which.
- Existing Elves before this update will automatically have this skill at rank F.
- Since races no longer exist, both body types may now use both Bows and Lances, and use their respective skillsets.
- All skills with racial differences are buffed to the best version for all body types.
- Lightning Bolt for example uses 5 MP for Giants, 4 for Elves, and 3.5 for Humans, and costs 122 AP for Humans/Giants and 152 for Elves. Same int around the board. Now, the charge time is 3.5 for all body types, and previous elves get refunded the 30 extra AP they spent.
- Previously racial exclusive skills such as Final Hit, Stomp, Mirage Missile, are now available to all body types.
- Everyone now gets Paladin at G2 instead of Savage Beast/Falcon.
- Stats of Falcon and Savage Beast merged.
- Savage Beast has 800 HP, 12 min damage, and 18 max damage. Falcon has 500 HP, 15 min damage, 30 max damage. New stats for both are not 800 HP, 15 min damage, 30 max damage, etc.
- Falcon/Savage Beast quest chain readded and blended, everyone gets Beast (hey, right now ingame its called Beast tab whether you're an Elf or Giant) from doing this chain.
- Paladin/Dark Knight models added to Large Body Type.
- Both body types may become a Paladin after G2, a Dark Knight after G3S4, or a Beast after the Beast quest. When you unlock a new transformation you are asked if you wish to keep the current transformation or switch to the one you just got.
- All three transformations have Control Over Darkness, Elven Magic Missile, and Giant Full Swing now. Just rename them all so their names aren't weird. It's not like we have an excess of transformation skills.
- You can pay NX to switch Body Types and/or Transformation types during rebirth (similar to switching sex).
- Balance talent exp somehow, I'm not going to go over that shit.
- Support cards need to be removed already. This started out as an old event and outstayed its welcome.
- Any account that has fewer than 6 characters/character cards will get the amount of character cards they lack. (New accounts start with 6 character cards right now if you didn't know.)
- Elf Vs Giant PvP is replaced with Red Vs Blue PvP. You can switch between Red/Blue once every ingame day.
- Hide is obtained by some quest now. You decide how to balance the quest.
- Everyone can use Quivers from the start.
As I said, people have quit over races. Feel free to disagree but to me, mabi has always been a game about many possibilities, and being able to take on so many things but specialize in one, and always come back and specialize in other things given enough effort and time. G5 (or Pioneers of Iria for NA, or Uncharted Lands for EU) changed that by adding Elves/Races. Don't get me wrong, I love the way Elves look and their backstory, but I consider it a bad decision. In fact, in Korea in G13 they release Destinies. Not the Destiny system we knew, that Destiny system had restrictions, and the korean player base was in outrage. So DevCAT responded by releasing a different form of Destinies, which is what NA got in G13. If you ask me, Races were much more restrictive than Destinies were. If Races came out in G13 instead of G5, I'm sure there would be outrage. The purpose of races in other games are to have an excuse of making more than one character (MapleStory). That doesn't really work out well in a game like Mabinogi where the idea is to potentially become a jack of all trades and spend years developing just one character.
Bring in the support and hate, please.