This is a thread meant to not only give my personal review and address issues with Evan, but to also include bugs, (new) ideas and essentially open up a discussion with the community! [QoL, skill change]
To preface, I have been a member of DreamMS since launch! I've played a bunch of classes personally, and my partner has played even more classes! Together, we have a decent idea as to how classes compare to one another, their growth at certain milestones, and how they perform overall. As well, we have the insight and feedback from other members of the community who are not only playing as an Evan themselves, but also their extensive knowledge on other jobs and parts of the server. Together, we have concluded that there are some issues with Evan that need to be addressed.
With Evan being the first bossing mage class introduced to GMS, they were given a main single target skill (Illusion) and a couple of mobbing skills (Flame Wheel, Blaze), with an area of effect (Dark Fog) to round it out. These attacking skills are nice in general because you can use them all in specific situations, such as using Illusion for single targets, Flame Wheel for horizontal pulling and cleaving, and Blaze for a stronger cleave akin to Chain Lightning. However, there are some notable issues with these skills.
- The dragon's clone attacks a monster 4 times.
- Generates a wheel of flames that attacks up to 6 monsters at once.
- Attacks one monster with a powerful flame. Monsters near the target take reduced damage.
- Gathers all the dark elements in the area to create a dark, chilly fog that attacks up to 15 enemies. Temporarily imbues all attacks with the dark element. CD: 7 seconds.
Evan also came out with some new buffs (self and party) that are unique and noteworthy. They have Soul Stone, Blessing of the Onyx, Magic Resistance, Magic Shield, and Recovery Aura. There are some things I jotted down for the majority of these buffs:
- Casts a buff that holds souls. A character whose soul is being held can be resurrected immediately if killed. This buff is randomly cast on 1 or 2 party members. CD: 10 minutes.
- Temporarily boost your defenses and magic attack. Grants a chance to resist knock-back effects. CD: 150 seconds.
- Creates a barrier around all party members that absorbs a fixed amount of damage for 50 seconds. CD: 120 seconds.
- Creates an aura around you for 30 seconds. This aura continuously recovers the MP of all party members affected by it. CD: 1 minute.
On top of all of these, there are some bugs that I and the community have noticed, and I decided it was a good idea to place them here at the end of the thread just to contain everything in one area. Alternate suggestions have also been put here from the community:
In conclusion, Evans are capable of cleaving decently well in specific situations, but their whole kit needs a rework. We have members of the community complaining about how weak it is, as well as making horrendous comments about the class as a whole. We should not be considered a worse version of Blaze Wizard, and we definitely should be keeping up with the big boys while providing some unique and decent buffs that could make us a class worth taking.
Thanks for reading! Feel free to let me know if I missed anything, and if you have any of your ideas to make this class better! In my opinion, MapleStory should be fun, and you should have fun playing the class. It currently isn’t that fun to play Evan, and I am not the only one to think so (https://discord.com/channels/920833230704361483/1019903759075266610/1188113381006262342).
Special thanks to @Dillz and @Usko for helping me create this thread!
To preface, I have been a member of DreamMS since launch! I've played a bunch of classes personally, and my partner has played even more classes! Together, we have a decent idea as to how classes compare to one another, their growth at certain milestones, and how they perform overall. As well, we have the insight and feedback from other members of the community who are not only playing as an Evan themselves, but also their extensive knowledge on other jobs and parts of the server. Together, we have concluded that there are some issues with Evan that need to be addressed.
With Evan being the first bossing mage class introduced to GMS, they were given a main single target skill (Illusion) and a couple of mobbing skills (Flame Wheel, Blaze), with an area of effect (Dark Fog) to round it out. These attacking skills are nice in general because you can use them all in specific situations, such as using Illusion for single targets, Flame Wheel for horizontal pulling and cleaving, and Blaze for a stronger cleave akin to Chain Lightning. However, there are some notable issues with these skills.
- The speed of the skill feels good! However, I think that since it's not meant to be this fast normally, it causes the skill to be extra loud. I find myself needing to mute the in-game sounds because of how loud it is (or at the very least, turn it down…).
- The damage from Illusion does not feel good. I understand the struggle that mages have leveling up because their damage increases based on levels, but I am finding myself using Illusion less and less. Prior to level 240, using Blaze as your single target skill is arguably better than using Illusion. Yet, even with the Illusion - Reinforce skillbook, the margin of damage between Blaze and Illusion on a single target is not even the difference of 200k damage per second, with Illusion being slightly stronger. This was performed in dojo, where all the variables were the same aside from the skill used. As the clear single target skill, it should be outpacing its cleaving skills when there is one target by a larger margin.
- With no mob being weak to the dark element, Evans can have a disadvantage at certain bosses and mobs compared to others who may have the opportunity to outpace them due to elemental weaknesses. Here I propose a couple of solutions to the Illusion problem:
- Increasing Illusion's base damage a lot as a whole could balance out others who may have an elemental advantage on certain mobs, making them do overall better damage.
- Increasing Illusion's base damage a little bit and add notable dark weaknesses to mobs and bosses that matter.
- Despite wands having the additional dark element, there isn't really a need to wear a wand if an Elemental Staff 5 Blaze single target does roughly the same amount of damage as Illusion (and even more prior to level 240!). There's no incentive to using wands because Illusion is so weak.
- The horizontal range for the skill is very nice! However, I feel as though the vertical range could be slightly increased so they can cleave a bit better at bosses like Horntail and Zakum. This is mentioned because while the skill can hit six targets at both bosses, it can be finicky and not hit all the parts at times due to its lack of vertical range. I am unsure if the vision was for Evans to be cleavers more than single targeters, but if they were meant to be cleavers, I think making them be able to cleave better will not only increase their damage, it'll be satisfying and help keep the Evans happy! Especially for early training.
- As a crit mage class, the more lines there are, the better their overall damage is as it gives more chance for crits to occur. I recommend at least two lines for this skill, even if it means lowering the basic attack for this skill by a little bit.
- Sometimes, when using this skill (and frankly, other skills like Earthquake, etc.) causes mobs to get hit and aggro'd, but they don't walk towards you; they just run in place. I've noticed this at Shaolin 5-6, and I've noticed it at HoH.
- While it's stronger than Flame Wheel, there is really no reason to use Blaze other than as a single target skill. This is because the range of how Blaze attaches to other mobs/pieces of bosses, and the range in order to use the skill itself. This is a noticeably closer Chain Lightning, and I believe the attachments themselves aren't like Chain Lightning either. I understand that they are different skills entirely, but if it is meant to behave similarly, and if this is meant to be a cleaving skill for an Evan to use, it should be a viable option. For example, in Horntail, it at most hits four parts when the skill should hit six at most, and Flame Wheel is capable of hitting six parts when you stand on the right.
- Possibility of removing the effect where the damage on the enemies it connects to lessens the damage.
- As a crit mage class, the more lines there are, the better their overall damage is as it gives more chance for crits to occur. I recommend at least two lines for this skill, even if it means lowering the basic attack by a little bit.
- I believe this skill was sped up to feel better, and it does! Thank you.
- The range on this skill is very different compared to the other mage AOEs. I don't know how possible it is, but I feel like the skill only hitting right next to you and right above you, with a shorter horizontal distance (and will never hit below where you're standing) is a bit limited if it's meant to feel similar to Impaling Rays, both with the big damage and the same cooldown. I tend to only use Dark Fog to add my dark element, and I don't use it to increase my DPS.
- Is it possible to increase where it hits?
- As a crit class, the more lines there are, the better their overall damage is as it gives more chance for crits to occur. With a cool down to this skill and the fact that enemies are damages before the animation is finished casting, it'd be pretty cool to not only increase Dark Fog to be used for more than just reapplying dark element, it'd also be aesthetically awesome! Like a second hit when the beams that look sort of like Genesis come down or something.
- Something really neat that I thought of, but unsure of its execution, is that once you obtain the dark element for yourself, the skills you use afterwards are also a similar color to Dark Fog's lightning beams. Doing this is not only crazy cool, it adds a visual indicator for the Evan that all of their skills are now covered in darkness.
- Here are some (scuffed) ideas of how that could potentially look! Love the dark fire haha. Ignore my recoloring mistakes please.
Evan also came out with some new buffs (self and party) that are unique and noteworthy. They have Soul Stone, Blessing of the Onyx, Magic Resistance, Magic Shield, and Recovery Aura. There are some things I jotted down for the majority of these buffs:
- The intended mechanic is to randomly pick yourself and one to two people in your party to obtain the Soul Stone buff, where within the duration, if any of you with the buff die, you can be resurrected without using a Wheel of Destiny. It resurrects you if you accept the Soul Stone, but it eliminates all of your buffs in doing so. Personally, since you can't pick who the Soul Stone goes to if you're around your party, I think it should resurrect you with buffs still in tact. Needing to rebuff and even re-echo is an annoying part of this skill to the point that, in most situations, it'd be the same as using a wheel. Since it should be somewhat on par to Resurrection, but not as good due to the fact it's random, buffs should stay intact. This is one of the only party buffs that are unique and notable to an Evan, and it could give the option to sometimes go on raids without needing a bishop (assuming you really need their Resurrection).
- Adding an option to either use the Soul Stone or a Wheel of Destiny could be a great addition to this skill, with the Soul Stone being the first window. This allows the user a choice between using a wheel or using the Soul Stone, and even gives a better indicator of when Soul Stone has been used by a party member. This is also helpful because Soul Stone might be used on somebody who died and doesn't want to give consent to use the Soul Stone (i.e, wanting to wheel over being resurrected to avoid being high up in the seduce rotation).
- Changing the visuals of the window itself could also be a good indicator of when somebody dies with the buff and they don't notice it, either adding the Soul Stone icon to the window, changing the color of the window to cream/orange to match the color of the buff, or anything really.
- I appreciate not only the lack of backswing when casting, but also the uptime and the stance addition! Thank you!
- While the uptime for this skill is more than its mage counterparts and their Infinity, I still think it's worth considering to increase the magic attack that it gives so that Evans can be less inclined to use Ssiws Cheese in raids in order to keep up.
- Seeing as though the backswing of this skill is much more noticeable compared to the other skills, I find myself only casting this if the main boss I'm attacking has cancel magic attack. I think absorbing 30% damage is a good skill, I just wish it was more realistic to cast it on downtime.
- Recovering a lot of mana is pretty cool, and I see its greatest strength being used during empress when they 1/1 the Bishops. However, other than that niche situation, I have the skill itself unbinded because I don't like how it increases my own mana above the threshold for Dragon Fury. Especially after obtaining Dragon Link, I think this skill is pretty much useless everywhere else. An idea to improve its usability is to make it so that it cannot increase (your own) mana above 90%, or if possible, to never increase above whatever level your Dragon Fury is.
On top of all of these, there are some bugs that I and the community have noticed, and I decided it was a good idea to place them here at the end of the thread just to contain everything in one area. Alternate suggestions have also been put here from the community:
- Dragon Link and Dragon Fury are not giving the correct magic attack bonus after unlocking the skill at level 225 (https://forum.dream.ms/threads/dragon-link-is-not-working.9048/). Although I have noticed that Dragon Link does not showcase in the character stat panel, it does increase the magic damage… it’s just unclear!
- 4th Evan growth (3) and 5th Evan growth (1) are missing skill points!
- @fx does not hide Dark Fog animation, and I think it should.
- Turning Mir’s opacity to 0 via the widget (https://forum.dream.ms/threads/let-dragon-opacity-0.9072/#post-38891).
- Onyx Shroud overrides Bowmaster’s Concentrate, and recasting Concentrate does not override Onyx Shroud, thus causing the player to manually right click Onyx Shroud to rid of it (https://discord.com/channels/920833230704361483/1187713687558049822/1187713687558049822).
- Resurrecting a dead person who has the Soul Stone effect/window does not resurrect them.
In conclusion, Evans are capable of cleaving decently well in specific situations, but their whole kit needs a rework. We have members of the community complaining about how weak it is, as well as making horrendous comments about the class as a whole. We should not be considered a worse version of Blaze Wizard, and we definitely should be keeping up with the big boys while providing some unique and decent buffs that could make us a class worth taking.
Thanks for reading! Feel free to let me know if I missed anything, and if you have any of your ideas to make this class better! In my opinion, MapleStory should be fun, and you should have fun playing the class. It currently isn’t that fun to play Evan, and I am not the only one to think so (https://discord.com/channels/920833230704361483/1019903759075266610/1188113381006262342).
Special thanks to @Dillz and @Usko for helping me create this thread!
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