Roubaix, France - 8 April 2009 - Version 1.27 of the online game Maple Story, developed by ANKAMA, touched down on 7 April. This update features new special class spells, new alignment quests, new challenges and several other modifications to make the game more accessible and fun!

Not only is the ANKAMA team working on the Maple Story 2.0 graphic update, but they also keep on improving the game's gameplay. This new version of Maple Story includes:

The integration of special class spells

Each class (Cra, Feca, etc.) will have its own special spell. This 21st spell can be obtained with a Doploon token. Players can get that token by defeating a Dopple in their class temple. A Dopple is a powerful creature with the spells of one of the playable character classes at their disposal. Doploons can be exchanged for experience and items, and that's why they're so sought-after by players.

The  harmonization of characters' vitallty and Acceleration of the health points and enegry restoration process

Players now gain 5 additional Health Points per level as of level 1. This used to be restricted to high level characters. Besides, the restoration of Health Points and Energy is accelerated for all characters whether they're disconnected, sitting or moving.

Spotlighton pvp quests (player vs player)

PvP quests appeared with Maple Story version 1.26 and are aggression contracts against other characters. The experience gained with these quests has been increased by 50% in order to make PvP a real alternative to PvM for making characters evolve.

Among other new things, there are the Strokens. Each time players win a PvP fight, they get 2 Strokens, as well as experience and Mesos (in-game currency). These are tokens and are connected to one character. Payers can accumulate them before exchanging them for specific rewards to the NPC which gives the PvP quests in their city (Bonta or Brakmar). These rewards include Characteristic Scrolls – which are used to improve the characteristics of a character (Strength, Agility, Chance etc.) – or Spiritual Gems (soul stones which enable players to challenge a powerful dungeon monster in an arena).

If a player is designated as the target of another player and wins a fair fight, that player will then get half the reward (1 Stroken and half of the experience).

The revision of the Sacrier class spells

The revision of the Sacriers' spells has been carried out to balance their power compared to the other classes (by reducing it) but also to increase their effectiveness in solo play, mixed teams and PvP. The Punishments of the Sacrier are now limited in duration, and can be recast once their effects are over. As long as a Punishment lasts, all blows taken by the Sacrier give them bonuses (which depend on the level of the Punishment) – until the threshold is reached. Bonuses may vary according to who is hitting the Sacrier – a monster or an ally. Bonuses that Sacriers can gain in a turn will last 5 turns and can be accumulated.

The introduction of unhealable damage

In order to avoid endless PvP or PvM fights, healing power has been reduced. With each blow taken, only part of the Health Points lost will be restored. Therefore, the maximum number of Health Points of a character inexorably diminishes during each fight– regardless of the number of heals received. This new system emphasizes the tactical aspect of the game.

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Spotlight on class temple dopples

Players can challenge their class Dopple once a day. If they defeat the Dopple they get a Doploon. Doploons allow players to get their Special Spell, the weekly bunch of dungeon keys (which gives players access to all dungeons once a week), and a Guildalogem (a rare stone with which players can create their guild) or to forget a level of spell.

New quests and alignment rewards

War between Bonta and Brakmar continues! 10 new alignment quests (level 40 – 50) are now available! An additional Order quest has been added for each order. Both cities have three orders and joining one of them enables players to specialize as warriors, priests or spies. When specialized, players can access the second rank of their Order and receive alignment rewards (Attack, Resurrection, Liberation, itemouflage or iMMObile camouflage potions). These rewards are linked to PvP fights but cannot be used in combat.

New challenges

Challenges are missions given to players for each fight. If they complete their mission, they will receive experience bonuses and items at the end of the fight. 37 challenges (including 3 hidden ones) have been added to the game.

New method of calculating initiative

Initiative is the characteristic which determines in which order monsters and players play.

From now on, calculation for Initiative only takes into account Health Points and Initiative bonuses from equipment and consumable items.

A fairer calculation for tackling

Tackling is the action which enables players to keep their enemy in close combat. It is now calculated as follows: players with equal Agility have a 50% chance of tackling the other.

The greater the gap between the players' Agility, the easier tackling becomes for the player with the highest Agility.

All of these modifications have been made to revive the tactical aspect of the game and its fun for casual players.

More details about this update can be found here: http://www.Maple Story.com/en/mmorpg/21-st-spell-1

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