MabiPro: The Authentic Old-School Mabinogi Experience

You have to realize, this is the same society that considers skinning a cow to be savage, according to the game's lore.

Hello everyone, and good morning/afternoon/evening/night. Before we begin, there are a few things I wish to get out of the way.

Firstly, if you're looking for a TL;DR, I will include that at the end if you don't feel like reading through the thoughts of someone who reached past level 1000 on the official Mabi server and had been a part of its community since Generation 15.

Second, let's go over a few questions or statements you may be inclined to ask or bring up as a counter-argument, accordingly:

NO, I am...
✘ ... NOT asking for major changes in the current combat system. I am fully aware of the aim of Mabi Pro is to be a safe haven for those not a fan of the Genesis update and the changes it made to its combat system, and that the GMs are likely going to be maintaining that fact as closely as possible.
✘ ... NOT demanding modernization of this server to be up to date with Mabi Official. Once again, I respect the ultimate goal of Mabi Pro. Generation 13 is seen as the perfect middle-ground in terms of recapturing Mabinogi's golden age, and I've been working on a list of suggestions and changes that try to meet this community half-way.
✘ ... NOT spoiled by the features present in Mabi Official. If anything, it's obvious that Nexon is trying too hard to keep a slowly dying MMO alive, from the game's release on Steam and creation of Alexina, to the flood of special events that "coincidentally" involve either money-grabbing or a free pet at the cost of your own attendance and spare time, to the Adventure Seals that, while originally meant to be an incentive for activity, came out as a chore to accomplish in the end, all due to its rather ludicrously priced benefits. All of this, in an infuriating use of the carrot and the stick; the carrot being the goodies involved, and the stick being the obstacles that intentionally impede quality of life for the sake of making the player spend money on the game.
✘ ... NOT going to give Mabi Pro flak for the game's incomplete Japanese to English translations. That's a problem that isn't anyone's fault, and if any of the translation team is reading this: you're doing God's work, and I wish you luck on the work ahead of all of you.
✘ ... NOT going to base my critique on issues or missing features that are very obviously being worked on or will be worked on in the near future. Simple as that.

YES...
✔ ... I AM aware that the server's files are based on a leak. I'm also aware that the rumors of G17 leaked files are just that. But that can't stop us from attempting to recreate specific features in Mabi Official with what we have at hand, can it?
✔ ... I AM aware that the community likes the game as is, and in fact play it because of its old-school combat. However, for people like me who have essentially been red-pilled or had a self-administered epiphany on Nexon being a bad company that made their best game worse as time went on, they're going to eventually find this community and join it because of the idea of custom content, freemium items, a community with pubbies that are actually helpful and active, and other things that Nexon either fails to offer or intentionally disbars its community from them.
✔ ... I AM a fan of the pre-genesis combat system, even as it is right now. I just feel that there certain things about it that could be made better.
✔ ... I AM going to get on with it.

With that out of the way, here are a few points that I think could improve the game for the better, while hopefully maintaining the integrity of the vision of Mabi Pro.

1. Homesteads & Dressing Rooms - Even when starting off with a bag containing a whopping 150 cells, and the ability to get one or even two more with some gold, the more fashionable players that may join or already have joined will be faced with the problem of extra clothing and armor sets, and not to mention being unable to change their hair or facial features without waiting for rebirth. The Dressing Room is honestly one of the best features to come out of the official server since it enabled the ability to change from combat gear and into a cosplay outfit. If the current list of hairstyles, faces, eyes, and mouths were to be imported into Mabi Pro, we'd be one step closer to dressing up like our favorite canon characters. This is allegedly being worked on as we speak.


_{Dante and Virgil, c. 2015}


Homesteads were also an interesting feature. Players could not only create their own small slices of heaven, but if you didn't feel like going to certain locations in order to gather mana herbs or to conduct alchemy or smithing, you could invest resources in order to bring those tasks to your homestead, and with enough time and effort, you'll be able to make your life easier if you want to make some more health potions for yourself, or if you wanted to save some gold smelting ores at your place.

2. GET DOSE FUKKEN SKILLS TO RANK 1! - When you're first starting off, you do need to plan carefully on what skills you have to spend AP on, even when you're earning double what you normally do when you earn AP. Otherwise, you'll end up getting ass-blasted during the main questline, a shadow mission, or even a dungeon. But what about after that? As it stands, skills such as charge, handicraft, first aid, musical knowledge, and certain alchemy skills are capped at level 6, and Sharp Mind of all things is capped at rank A. I don't think I need to explain why this is priority.

3. Character Creation Is Primitive and Bare-Bones - Going back to my Dressing Rooms suggestion, it wouldn't hurt to import the hairstyles already present in the official game. To clarify, this applies to the selection of eyes and mouths specifically, and also the GUI. There's already a large roster of hairstyles as it is.

4. Wait, These Things Aren't Post-Genesis!? - Being able to buy knuckles and becoming a fighter would be pretty nice. Rather than get the Talent system in here, why not use the Destiny system? Bring the trading NPCs in so we can earn ducats. Get rid of the HP consumption with Windmill, even if it means ditching the invincibility frames it offers. Make Moon Gates behave like Iria's Mana Tunnels for fuck sakes!

5. Inventory Tabs - A small gripe. Why can't we have a 'Me' tab to store all our quest and player-unique items? They're just going to get in the way if we decide to take a break from the main quest or certain side-quests and then pursue a life skill.

And TL;DR: There's no harm in incorporating features from newer generations of Mabinogi Official that don't suck, right? In fact, are all the combat changes really from Genesis and beyond?

Where's the Romeo & Juliet hairstyles, then?


Yeah, okay, most of those points were rather optimistic. But--and you're free to call me a baby here if you must--is it really that hard to remove the HP cost from windmill?

Definitely. While we're at it, I think the blacksmith players might enjoy it if we bumped the ore stack limit from 10. It's at 50 now in official, but I'm sure a middle-ground can be achieved.

I know.


Ah, yes. I would love to go back to the money-grabbing grind that's been the topic of arguments amongst peers I've attempted to introduce the game to. /s

Besides, I'm already used to Mabi Pro now. Now that I got my thoughts out and onto a forum post, I'm able to focus on enjoying the game itself.



Sorry for doubting you, then. I was just curious.


Oh, that's alright! I wish there was some way I could help you guys out, but I don't have any of the relevant skills. Unless you guys are somehow looking for a writer and/or hobbyist "graphics designer."

Is it? I didn't see it in the CC.

A friend of mine introduced me to this hip new MMO called Mabinogi when Belvast and Imp trading were first made a thing c. 2013. But then I went on hiatus, came back to the game when ANOTHER friend brought me back into the game three whole years later. My life's never been the same ever since.

>That Gun Slinger stun-locking

Holy fuck!

Well. That REALLY rustles my jimmies if that's the case. It'd certainly explain how you're importing items from Live.

This is certainly an ambitious idea. But I'm not sure how it'd fit in the game.

See, that's the thing. You're not going to be able to persuade people to switch to a newer generation, especially not overnight. There's various concerns, and while the combat change is one of them, the implications that follow are their biggest concern, mainly a "power creep" that may not even exist. Even if it did, the Mabi.Pro team seem to have enough resources to try and curb that by giving monsters an expanded list of fighting skills to maintain the game's balance.