Q. For what purpose was the Mabinogi Renovation Project was made for?
As you know, considering the old age of Mabinogi, compared to the amount of new contents and systems and the frequency of the updates, it is true that the old contents which existed for a long time since the beginning were neglected. We would like to show how hard we are working for the players and show the reformat of the development team, but we have decided to look back at the older contents which were neglected and forgotten, and to give them some changes to catch up to the newer contents.
Q. What weaknesses did you look at when revamping Close Combat and how were you trying to renovate it?
First above, as the battle tactic that had existed since Mabinogi was born, it was the most basic and primary type of fighting skills that all players had to go through when starting the game for the first time. However because of this, the skill systems became outdated and old and were not fit to use compared to the newly released skill sets and some had many disappointing factors in them. And we had picked the most major parts that needed some changes and updates:
- Slow Combat system compared to other Talents
- Unbalanced damage dealings compared to other Talents
- Weak towards stuns and getting knocked down
- Useless skills within a specific combat field
- Specialty as a warrior falling low as time goes
- Weak towards Multi-Aggro
The points stated above are some major aspects that are experienced in Mabinogi, and we know that we cannot give a satisfying solution due to many difficulties. However we gave effort to fix the aspects that were available for changes, and the theme of the update is to let the players have more strategies and use melee tactics without much difficulty, and to be able to show oneself as a powerful warrior.
Q. The new promotion video showed a mage and an archer character. Are these foreshadowing future updates towards the corresponding talents?
Yes, the promotion video does show skill sets that are planned to go through renovations and revamps. It would be easy for you to understand that there are several other basic skill sets that have existed and that several care will be given to the talents and the old skills.
Regarding New Skills
Q. First above, on the Mabinogi promotional banner, it had the statement "Extremely powerful skill Bash". Why is it called like that?
The Mabinogi combat system normally consists of fast paced battles unlike boss battles. Although having many skills for quick paced combats, we have seen that Close Combat doesn't have a good way of fighting against powerful bosses. Easily speaking, you could say Bash is for fighting powerful bosses with powerful damages, while building up the bonuses from the skill against the boss monster.
Q. Bash Skill was described to cover Smash's weakness. We would like to know how that is so.
Smash is a 1-on-1 specific skill. However in Party plays or in Boss battles, it is too slow for use and doesn't work very well against monsters with advanced heavy stander. We initially thought about changing the weakness Smash skill had, but as Smash is a skill with a long history and is one of the most basic skill of all, we have decided that we should leave such aspects alone while covering its weakness in a different way to minimize its problem. However we thought that a skill was needed for situations where Smash is useless and ineffective, which made the skill Bash become developed. We hope it will help in difficult boss battles where Smash is ineffective to use.
Q. When the players actually use Bash though, it is very difficult to use. To bring out useful damage, we must hit a single enemy 5 times and if blocked by Heavy Stander, the enemy retaliates. In what area did you want the skill to be used in?
Monsters with Heavy Stander are difficult to face 1 on 1. Of course depending on the talent it isn't such the case sometimes, we see it is difficult considering the Close Combat talent's way of fighting. Bash isn't a skill for overpowered damage but to consistently attack a single enemy. Its current appearance does seem to be different from what we wished for, we would like watch how all players utilize the skill in the future.
Revamp of current skills
Q. In regards to the Giant-race's Stomp skill, its range and damage increased but its initiation method change. Some players are dissatisfied with this change in regards to the usage. We would like to know why the skill initiation method changed.
The Stomp skill is more of a support skill than an Attack skill. We had thought that support skills should activate instantly if it wants to fulfill its right purpose. With this change, there have been some positives towards its usage when compared to how it was difficult to use in the past. Of course this may have brought some discomfort to users who were used to using the skill in the old ways, and that there are users and players who have problems in regards to this change. Since all the dissatisfaction which are born from the update would mean the update did not fulfill the Development Team's goal, we hope to hear from all the players for their input in regards to the recent update so we may give it more changes.
Q. Although it is used for Close Combat, Scythe and Rapiers doesn't seem to have access to the Close Combat skills and doesn't gain any benefits from the new updates. In the case of Scythes, there is the issue of Scythe exclusive upgrades, and in Mainstream Rapiers were called the Elves' special weapon. Was it intended that these weapons don't receive the new benefits? Or are there plans regarding these weapons for their own updates?
The Close Combat Revamp update was for the weapons that existed primarily from the beginning. We thought how to handle Rapiers and Scythes, but we decided that instead of putting them in the same category as all the other weapons, we have decided they should have their own specialty, I can't give you a straight answer yet, but we do have plans for the weapons that were neglected in a separate update.
Q. Out of all the basic skills, Windmill wasn't part of any revamp. Was there a reason?
We did thought about if Windmill should also have some changes, but we thought that if Windmill went out of its current way of usage, then it would create some unexpected situations compared to other skills, and that it would go out of the current combat system's boundaries. We have decided that even right now it has a satisfactory status and usage.
Q. The Human exclusive skill Final Hit became very powerful from this update. Are there any plans for the Giants' Taunt or Windbreaker?
The Close Combat Revamp Update was to give changes towards the basic skills. We do think that Mabinogi should still have further developments with the cooperation of the players, and we do think there will be times when the excluded contents will have changes in the future.
Race exclusiveness and usefulness from the Update
Q. It seems players who use Elves and Giants are very disappointed with the recent update. In the case of Giants, two-handed blunts, two-handed Axes have become generalized throughout all of the race, the Elves cannot learn Dual Weapon Mastery, and the fact even with the Close Combat Update, Elf warriors' situation didn't change all that much. Some players think this update was for the humans, so we were wondering if you have any plans to give some changes towards the other races.
As the update was mostly focused on the Close Combat's basic aspects, it is understandable that other races were certainly neglected in certain ways. We hope the players understand that this update was in no way of focusing on a single race. We feel that changes and rebalancing towards all races will happen separately in the future.
Q. It seems that the exclusiveness of the races are becoming more thin due to weapons and skills becoming generic towards all races. Some players are thinking that in the future all races will have the same benefits where it will only be the looks that is the difference. Will you be making all races have more commonality in the future?
Elf, Giant, and Humans just being different from looks is not what the Development Team wishes for, and we do think the exclusiveness of all races should be sustained. however, within the Renovation project, we do think that all the gaps should be tightened as much as possible, and we do have plans to make changes towards them. We believe that changes towards each races' exclusiveness will be made in the future.
The New Weapons
Q. The players have a positive response regarding how the new weapons are available through blacksmithing skill, manuals being sold in the shops, and how its materials come from Shadow Missions and Uladh Dungeon rewards.
It was the will of the Development team that all of the activity in Erinn all pay off in a positive way for the players. We designed it that way so that players use the same old tactic but earn new satisfying rewards. We thank you for all of the interest and will give our best to give further satisfaction.
Q. The players are very pleased with the new weapons' design. Where did you get the motivation for the idea?
We just developed the weapons to have them look more fit towards the general Mabinogi world's theme. This is why we designed the weapons with the Celtic theme.
Q. The Celtic Royal Knight Sword is the only one who received fast attack speed and higher damage effect from the Equipment Combination Effects while the rest of the new weapons only got good upgrades and good stats. Is there any reason why the Celtic Royal Knight Sword was the only one who received more benefit?
The Celtic Royal Knight Sword was made to further develop the usefulness of Dual Wield.
Q. The Two-handed sword weapons which is one of the most beloved weapon of all warriors did not gain any benefits from this update. We were wondering what was the reason and if there are any plans to give some changes towards it.
If we think about the entire Renovation Project as a whole, we believe all of the contents in Mabinogi will be able to fit in. We do want to make all changes possible to the dissatisfactory contents and hope to show positive changes in the future as we go along. However we do have limits in how much we can give at a certain amount of time, where all inputs from the players are very important for us. You can think that two-handed swords are one of them.
Q. Discussions regarding Spirit Weapons still continue within the player base. Did you make any plans regarding them? Also we were wondering if the Renovation Project has a clear view or not in terms of effectiveness.
The Spirit Weapons are within our plans for the Renovation Project. However as the system is very difficult to handle, major updates will take a very long time as much as we wouldn't want that from happening. We also think a small update shouldn't suffice either because of that reason where it is still under development. We hope to show more positive contents for all players in the future as we go.
Ehh... So they're just taking their time, huh?
[SPOILER="My Thoughts"]
Q. What weaknesses did you look at when revamping Close Combat and how were you trying to renovate it?
First above, as the battle tactic that had existed since Mabinogi was born, it was the most basic and primary type of fighting skills that all players had to go through when starting the game for the first time. However because of this, the skill systems became outdated and old and were not fit to use compared to the newly released skill sets and some had many disappointing factors in them. And we had picked the most major parts that needed some changes and updates:
- Slow Combat system compared to other Talents
- Unbalanced damage dealings compared to other Talents
- Weak towards stuns and getting knocked down
- Useless skills within a specific combat field
- Specialty as a warrior falling low as time goes
- Weak towards Multi-Aggro
The points stated above are some major aspects that are experienced in Mabinogi, and we know that we cannot give a satisfying solution due to many difficulties. However we gave effort to fix the aspects that were available for changes, and the theme of the update is to let the players have more strategies and use melee tactics without much difficulty, and to be able to show oneself as a powerful warrior.
So they acknowledge the problems with Close Combat, but they do NOTHING to fix it?
We initially thought about changing the weakness Smash skill had, but as Smash is a skill with a long history and is one of the most basic skill of all, we have decided that we should leave such aspects alone while covering its weakness in a different way to minimize its problem.
Not seeing where Smash is "ineffective" *cough Lance cough*. They couldn't speed up its animation or get rid of its animation locks, no they just make a separate skill. And they didn't consider buffing it's splash damage? 20% means nothing when Shuriken Charge does some really high number.
Q. In regards to the Giant-race's Stomp skill, its range and damage increased but its initiation method change. Some players are dissatisfied with this change in regards to the usage. We would like to know why the skill initiation method changed.
??? Why the dissatisfaction with Stomp?
The Close Combat Revamp update was for the weapons that existed primarily from the beginning. We thought how to handle Rapiers and Scythes, but we decided that instead of putting them in the same category as all the other weapons, we have decided they should have their own specialty
Aren't Rapiers part of the Sword category...? Aren't they affected by Sword Mastery and stuff?[/SPOILER]