what's the point of playing in a private server if my 222 broads get chiseled down by some apprentice blacksmith
You don't take 222 broadswords to apprentice blacksmiths? 222 broadswords are really good weapons. What's the point of playing the private server that promotes itself under being "Authentic Old-School Mabinogi experience" you ask? Well it's certainly not to experience an easier version of the actual game. In the same way you don't play s4max and hope to play an easier version of s4 league, no you're going to experience what the game was.
what's the point of playing in a private server if my 222 broads get chiseled down by some apprentice blacksmith
Now imagine if Broadswords were priced at 40k a pop. That gets crazy expensive right? So you'd switch to like, a Gladius or a battle sword, right? Except those are also 40k a pop now.
Welcome to the mage class. Oh also, unequip your sword and lose your stamina. Don't forget that Stam pots are no longer sold in stores! And, you need a Gladius to use smash, a broad for windmill, and a battle for assault slash. Have nice day.
Pardon my salt lads, Epsilon has *triggered* me.
But yes. Repair system needs work. This is why I suggested the max dura repair option, because then we still have that element of chance that some players desperately cling to, while the players that color-match and minmax don't lose out on the large bags of gold they forked over to finally get their perfect set.
I'll state the same opinion again, durability does serve a purpose. It keeps weapons as a resource, something to make combat easier, but they aren't forever, which in turn keeps blacksmithing and other life skills purposeful to the same people. And you don't need a good weapon to do significant damage in a game where your stats come mainly from your character.
It also forces you to adapt, sometimes changing your playstyle because hey, you're lacking resources, so you can't necessarily fund your best shit right now, maybe put it in the bank and grab something else. This isn't wow where dungeons and quests turn into gear checks, this is a game where understanding the mechanics will take you much further. Playing smart and adapting instead of pressing rotations and moving out of the fire. This also reinforces the fact that weapons are resources, they don't take long to upgrade, you could potentially have an endgame weapon from the start, but if you can't afford to repair it or replace it, what are you doing?
Now you bring up the example of melee weapons being expensive and having other cheaper options, which magic doesn't
(Though, not sure why you picked gladius or battle swords, because those really aren't the cheap options. Something like fluted shorts or wooden blades make a lot more sense here, but I digress.)
There are other options to fix the magic user weapon costs by adding cheaper and weaker weapons which have weaker upgrade paths as well, or rely on artisans for decent damage, like maxing the upgrades to cc3 instead of 4, and so on. Make a weapon called the basic/flimsy wand of Fire, just reuse the basic fire wand model, neuter the upgrade options, lower the value to make it cheaper to upgrade and repair/use. While the other weapons, stay as they are, giving you the same level of choice as other skillsets have.
This would allow mages to be easier to get into for new players without as much of an understanding of the game, without really hurting the choice and decision making. I mean seriously, what reason do you have for using anything other than the best, when you have no chance of losing the best.
I mean, people have played old mabinogi to endgame relying on daggers, mages should have the same level of diversity. Daggers give you speed and cheaper cost, and while this theoretical flimsy wand can't really effect gameplay except mainly damage due to magic being so linear in it's mechanics, it can still cheaper and more reliable like fluteds and daggers are.