Suggestions for Ironman mode
Posted by iNight
KuroMS Accepted discussion with 8 posts about Suggestions for Ironman mode.
Hello, so I have been playing ironman on this server for sometime now and would like to make a few suggestions on what I think would better improve the overall ironman experience. 1) Remove the ability to party for ironman (with exception of group ironman) In my opinion, the core appeal of Ironman is that everything is entirely self-earned — gear progression, leveling, boss clears, and overall account progression. I understand there was an announcement back on 22 March 2026 that ironman were reworked to be 100% self-sufficient, which included no partying. Perhaps this only applies to hardcore ironman and not regular ironman? I got demoted from hardcore to regular ironman after a death in game and realized that I could party as a regular ironman(tested this on a second account by partying with a new character), which to me, significantly minimizes the 'appeal' of playing an ironman. While I continued grinding without partying, playing an ironman felt slightly pointless if I have to fund my own gears but could still enjoy (?) the benefit of getting carried at boss runs/ getting party exp when grinding/ enjoying party buffs. Hence, I propose to completely remove partying for both Hardcore (if this is already implemented then ignore this) and regular ironman. 2) Improve Ironman medal Currently ironman (Hardcore & Regular) medal seems very lackluster, as we can get medals with better stats from Agent E in FM (with some RNG in rolling good medals, but doable). I can't speak for all ironman, but I stopped equipping my ironman medal once I got a decent medal from Agent E. As a result, other players often cannot tell whether someone is an Ironman unless they are actively wearing the medal. Improving the Ironman medals would encourage ironman players to keep them equipped, which would also help create a stronger “Ironman presence” within the server. 3) Reduce HP for bosses when solo-ing as an ironman (if suggestion 1 is implemented) Ideally, reduce boss HP by 1/6 (as if partying with 6 players). The goal is not to make bossing easier, but to reduce the excessive amount of time required for daily solo boss runs. Currently, it takes me (solo-ing) approximately 6 minutes to clear Papulatus, 15 minutes for Zakum and 20 minutes for Scar/Targa. I haven't cleared Horntail yet (but had spent over an hour to clear first 2 maps and main body down to 65%). To do these boss runs daily, I would have to spend hours on bossing. For other ironman players who may have limited playing time a day, they should not have to choose how to make the most of their game time (choosing between bossing & grinding). 4) Allow ironman to teleport directly to boss maps/ entrances Currently, if an ironman wishes to solo a boss, they are not able to utilize the expedition feature in the widget (unable to start a run unless there at least 2 party members). This means ironman will need to use tele rock to travel to the bossing entrance/ nearest location. If ironman are allowed to use the widget to start a solo expedition (or perhaps enable Sasuke NPC to tele directly into the boss entrance), this will save mesos on tele rocks & time spent of walking (for example, walking from dead mine to Zakum entrance). I hope these suggestions can be considered, as I believe they would better embody the “self-found” ironman identity and improve the overall Ironman experience. Even with all of these changes, I do not think Ironman players would surpass regular players in progression, gear, levels, or boss clears. The mode would still remain challenging — just more consistent with its intended identity. Would love to hear your thoughts (and from the community) and this.
Replies
Reply by Kuro
Hi, thank you for the suggestions, For number 1 I agree and I will update it, honestly I thought it was already the case. 2. The medal is there is mostly as a cosmetic it is not there to serve to give any stats really 3. This is a hard one as you mentioned in one Ironman suppose to be challenging giving them bosses with less HP seems to defeat that purpose, what about more time instead? 4. Agreed, this is an oversight, should have been done a long time ago
Reply by iNight
Hey Kuro, thanks the replying. For suggestion 2 (medal): I understand your intent that ironman medal was made mainly for cosmetic purposes. However, as there are currently multiple medals available from Agent E which have higher stats than ironman medal, more likely ironman players would choose to equip the better-stat medals. While ironman players could still choose to forgo better medal stats and equip the ironman medal instead (for cosmetics), I feel that it's a shame for ironman players having to choose between the two. I am not suggesting for ironman medal stats to be buffed to be better than BiS medals from Agent E, but to be on par with it. If ironman medal is on par with the other better medal options (for example say Mu lung dojo vanquisher medal), I would definitely choose the equip the ironman medal knowing I get the ironman medal cosmetic benefit while not losing out on stats compared to using other medals. As for suggestion 3 (Boss HP): I don't think having more time on bosses would be a good solution as my main intent for bringing this up is to allow ironman players to not spend too much time on bosses so they can also farm/grind. For myself, most days I can afford to play more than 2 hours of maple. But on some days when I don't have that much time, I have to choose whether to grind/ boss when I play (due to the time required to do boss runs). If other ironman players are in similar circumstances as mine (or have less time), they will likely experience this issue as well. I think if bosses' HP are reduced to 1/6, ironman players would still have a harder time to clear said boss compared to a full 6-man party due to not receiving the benefit of party buffs and ironman character itself needs to have decent gear to clear the boss. Even if the bosses HP are reduced to say 50%, the ironman character is technically still required to fulfill a 3-man DPS to clear a boss. If we take an overall view on an entire ironman's progression excluding the bossing aspect (no trading, no partying, lower grinding speed & gear progression) into consideration, ironman mode is already comparatively challenging than non-ironman counterparts. If you are not in favor of reducing boss HP to the extent of 1/6, would you still be open to reducing the HP to some extent?
Reply by Kuro
For the medal, I have an idea. I will just turn them into quest medals this way you can still show off your ironman medal and grab another one to be used, for the bosses I would love to hear more ideas.
Reply by iNight
Combining quest medal with ironman medal sounds great! For bosses, the only thing I can think off is either some form of HP reduction or maybe giving some boss damage % (not a ridiculous amount) to ironman? Maybe this can be incorporated into ironman medal as well? To reemphasise, this suggestion is strictly to help cut down the time required for ironman to clear bosses so they can still spend their time on grinding/leveling, while not outshining the boss clearing speed of a full party.
Reply by Kuro
What if we allow less HP for the boss but also reward less EXP based on the HP chosen? You could pick the HP the boss will have up to 1/6 but also get the 1/6 of the EXP reward.
Reply by iNight
Gosh, the boss exp reward did not cross my mind when I suggested it. But yes, reducing the boss exp proportionate to hp reduction (if implemented) sounds fair to me.
Reply by Kuro
Sounds good, planned for next along with the quest medal