GMS v.253: Lotus Redux and BUGCAT CAPOO

GMS v.253 arrived on August 28, 2024 with the remade Lotus fight, a new Extreme reward tier and broad changes to guilds, Legion, crafting and character menus. BUGCAT CAPOO's dungeon adventure ran alongside Nexon's anniversary attendance and Chu Chu's temporary stat system. These are the changes and event conditions from that release, including its August and September revisions.

Lotus Redux and Extreme rewards

Level 190 characters could challenge Lotus through Black Heaven Inside: Core Entrance. Extreme difficulty added the level 200 Pitched Boss accessory Total Control, Annihilation Weapon Lotus Soul Shard and Annihilation Weapon Lotusroid. The android was permanent, account-transferable in Interactive worlds and untradable in Heroic worlds.

The Pitched Boss Set gained a tenth-piece bonus: All Stats +20, Max HP +500, Attack Power/Magic ATT +20 and Boss Damage +10%. Its new achievements recognized equipping Total Control and reaching the new set milestone.

Beefy Annihilation Weapon Lotus Soul, Swift Annihilation Weapon Lotus Soul, Clever Annihilation Weapon Lotus Soul, Fortuitous Annihilation Weapon Lotus Soul, Flashy Annihilation Weapon Lotus Soul, Potent Annihilation Weapon Lotus Soul, Radiant Annihilation Weapon Lotus Soul, Hearty Annihilation Weapon Lotus Soul and Magnificent Annihilation Weapon Lotus Soul arrived. Normal souls used Mechanical Arm Rush; Magnificent used Dark Energy. Existing Lotus soul and soul-skill effects changed too.

New Lotus achievements covered the remade encounter, solo and Extreme accomplishments, and acquiring Total Control. Completed Lotus Legion Artifact missions were reset. Defeating Extreme Lotus supplied 1,800 Artifact EXP through the boss mission, with another 3,600 for its first-clear special mission. The update temporarily muted the encounter's voiceovers.

• Total Control
• Dark Energy

Guild contribution and Flag Race scores

Weekly Mission Points contribution rose from five to ten. Flag Race kept its fastest 1,000-point thresholds but improved the lower reward bands. The new brackets below use the release's boundary labels.

For comparison, the former bands paid 1,000/800/650/550/450/400/350/300/250/200/100 points. Their time brackets were:

Noblesse skills, Culvert and guild resets

Culvert added absolute Ranking Point alternatives from the top-15% tier downward. The top places and top-5%/10% tiers retained their existing rewards.

Noblesse Guild Skills received a 60-minute cooldown at every skill level. Reusing one during its cooldown cost 30 million mesos. Resetting Noblesse SP used Guild Points and prevented guild members from using guild skills for one hour.

Banner of Plenty I–IV became Basic Guild Skills. A G Regular Support button replaced Deia's G Potion quest, supplying G Potion, Blessing of the Guild or Greater Blessing of the Guild according to the skill level. Older Banner of Plenty items remained valid. The button and Noblesse SP calculation reset Thursday at 00:00 UTC; Flag Race and Culvert entry restrictions covered Wednesday 23:50–Thursday 00:30 UTC.

The August 28 revision corrected the transition schedule: the initial reset happened after that maintenance, despite an earlier September 5 announcement. September 5 remained the following scheduled reset.

Legion Power, shopping and weekly missions

Legion Power stopped reading Star Force as its calculation input. Raid Members' levels and combat power became the inputs instead. Legion's Might Lv. 1, Legion's Might Lv. 2, Legion's Might Lv. 3, Legion's Expertise Lv. 1, Legion's Expertise Lv. 2, Legion's Expertise Lv. 3, Legion's Luck Lv. 1, Legion's Luck Lv. 2, Legion's Luck Lv. 3, Legion's Wealth Lv. 1, Legion's Wealth Lv. 2, Legion's Wealth Lv. 3 increased from ten to twenty purchases per week; Karma Black Rebirth Flame increased from twenty to forty per world per week. Legion Coin storage rose from 1,000 to 1,300 for Supreme Legion and from 700 to 900 for Legendary Legion.

The daily Whip the Whelps and Defeat the Golden Wyvern quests retired. Weekly Dragon Extermination replaced them: defeat 100 Dragon Whelps and twenty Golden Wyverns for 200 Legion Coins, resetting Monday at 00:00 UTC.

Ruler of the Legion required Legion level 10,000 and was once per world. It awarded a permanent account-transferable Dragon Lord Mount Coupon and King of Legion Chair; redeeming the coupon gave a permanent untradable Dragon Lord Mount. Most Profitable Legion Ranking was removed, and the Wyvern-related achievement conditions changed.

Familiar potential and profession changes

Mystical Familiar Cards reset a Familiar's Potential while preserving its rank. They supported Common, Rare, Epic, Unique and Legendary Familiars. From August 28 after maintenance through November 19 at 23:59 UTC, the Familiar shop offered one per month for 10,000 Familiar Points, untradable and lasting seven days. Familiar card borders also became clearer when hovered at every rank.

Weapon Tempering and Advanced Weapon Tempering lost their cooldowns. Mysterious Herb, Gold Flowers, Mysterious Legendary Herb, Mysterious Vein, Heartstone and Mysterious Legendary Vein stopped spawning on hunting maps. Ardentmill's Harvesting Farm herbs and ore gained a chance to supply crafting materials instead. Dusk Essence, Brilliant Dusk Essence and Confusion Fragment from Easy/Normal Arkarium received increased drop rates; no numeric rate was specified. Eureka! changed to require Primal Essence from Arkarium or Chaos Gloom. Recipe text no longer overflowed behind the Craft button.

• Dusk Essence
• Brilliant Dusk Essence
• Confusion Fragment
• Primal Essence

Boss tells and encounter repairs

Two shared fixes prevented attacks without casting animations in parties of two or more, and stopped an incapacitated boss defeat from incorrectly completing a Legion Artifact boss mission.

V Matrix, rings and shared skill fixes

Moving a Node in V Matrix no longer reset skill-use counters. Buff-removal maps preserved use counts or activation conditions for Shadow Assault, Lightning God Spear Strike, Liberation Orb, Phantom's Mark and Primal Grenade. Shadower's Steal-applied Mystic Potion Power stopped clearing existing buffs.

Ring Activation's description changed. Hotkeys displayed the special skills for Crisis H Ring, Crisis M Ring, Crisis HM Ring, Class Stance Ring, Clean Defense Ring, Tower Boost Ring and Continuous Ring; Continuous Ring also displayed its preparation time. Its intermittent activation failure and Firestarter Ring's skill icon were repaired.

Shared repairs covered Origin skills blocking actions after their animation, misplaced or persistent summons, expired Noblesse effects reapplying, Pet Auto-Potion's HP warning under Ethereal Form and Holy Brilliance activating after a successful block with Breath of Divinity.

Aran, Shade and Zero stopped changing facing direction after attacking under Confusion when no direction key was pressed. Demon Slayer's HEXA Demon Impact: Demon Chain debuff image changed.

• Ring Activation
• Ethereal Form
• Breath of Divinity

• Blood of the Divine
• Righteously Indignant
• Last Resort
• Desert Veil

Class skill corrections

• High Rise
• Plummet
• Purify
• Death Blossom

• Vortex Wings
• Relic Unbound
• Grave Proclamation
• True Nobility

Hunting maps, portals and NPCs

Carcion terrain improved in Calm Beach 1 and Calm Beach 2, Enfolding Forest 3, Among Tainted Trees 1, Breathtaking Cave 4 and Sunken Ruins 2, Sunken Ruins 3 and Sunken Ruins 4. Giant Coral Colony 2 gained more monster spawns. Completing all Elluel Convergence quests unlocked Lucid's Room. All Von Leon difficulties allowed departure through Lion King's Castle: Audience Room Corridor after victory.

Other map fixes covered Wyvern Gorge 6 platforms, Star-Swallowing Sea 2's wrong portal destination, Beachgrass Dunes 3 objects, Sahel 3's minimap visibility, Specter Mine Zone's background, Calm Beach 1 ropes and missing Undersea Tower floor 22 platforms. Gold Beach and Mirror World names were capitalized consistently; the Old Shinsoo International School infirmary art changed.

High Mountain repaired Unleash Authority lingering after Mitra transformation, Winged Javelin persisting in Tynos scenes and Wild Hunter's Jaguar UI disappearing after those scenes. Darknell's reward chest stopped displaying a damage skin on other characters.

Jimmy-Jack and Clara left selected towns. Elluel NPC appearances followed completed Aftermath progress. Kanto's Phantasma Coin/Arachno Coin exchanges gained confirmation and tradable Arcane Umbra equipment guidance. Illium Statue and Inner Guard EX graphics, Gallero's Heliseum daily replacement and Lotus's Floating Lotus appearance were repaired. Orchid and Gelimer received revised standing illustrations.

Quest progress and story revisions

Dragon Link Practice gained visible progress. Defeating Magnus added Cadena scenes to [Heliseum] The Final Battle. Xenon's story gained guidance for returning to Forgotten Laboratory. The daily Specter Death God's Sword Fragment quest became Personal - Specter's Sword Fragment.

Quest repairs restored Forest Child from The Name of the Healer, corrected Hero of Heroes title acquisition, allowed Beginners through the Resistance and Cygnus Knights Book of the Beginning stories, refreshed Shadowdealers' daily after a date change and recognized Easy Kaling's Legion Artifact special clear. Crafting Small Concentrated EXP Accumulation Potion and Small Wealth Acquisition Potion counted toward the relevant Novice/Expert handmade-potion achievements, and the wealth potion counted for High Quality Alchemy Item Crafter.

Text and scene repairs covered Alchetto's Dark World Tree dialogue, Secret Library's disconnect, the A Member of The Maple Alliance medal reward label, Kerning City's incorrect Hall of Thieves exploration requirement, Puppetree 1, Puppetree 2 and Puppetree 3 names in Back to Elf School 3, Hundreds and Thousands of Children 2 voice-over consistency, Hotel Arcus's “from now on”, Carcion effects, Fairy Tale Teatime's progress log, Ark/Illium tutorial map labels, a visible pet in [Sellas] Sinking Ships, Conspiracy Theory's missing video and Cross World Artifact mission completion.

Alliance quests moved to level 75, gained [Alliance] and Required labels, and dropped Story Quest prerequisites. Zero gained [Alliance] Invitation to Ereve, [Alliance] The Empress's Council and [Alliance] Determination. Black Heaven changed NPC art, Lotus's story encounter and Zero dialogue; Arcane River revised dialogue and scenes.

Orbis's added or changed chain comprised Where is Hella?, One Clue, Spiruna's Black Crystal, Cracked Black Crystal, Restoring the Crystal, The Advice of an Assistant, Acquiring Fairy Dust, Spiruna's Concern, Pixie Cloud Piece, Cloudy with a Chance of Doom, Uncovered Truth, The Legend of Papa Pixie, Hella is Finally Found, A Request from Moppie, Collecting Huckle's Research Materials and Huckle's Request. The old Orbis Balanced One achievement moved to Memory and a new one used its name; medal completion requirements changed.

Maple Chronicle: Book of the Beginning added Flora and Anima. Level 100 characters who had visited Grand Athenaeum, with Zero after Act 2, could view the relevant content after a character in the world completed Adele's, Illium's, Khali's, Ark's, Lara's or Hoyoung's Journal. The Day After revised lines for Explorers, Luminous, Evan, Mercedes, Phantom, Demon, Mihile, Kaiser, Kain, Adele and Lara, and revised scenes for Pathfinder, Resistance, Xenon, Cygnus, Angelic Buster, Ark, Illium, Zero and Kinesis.

Equipment, inventory and character menus

The August revisions made equipped Arcane/Sacred Symbols upgrade immediately when their coupons were used and expanded Damage Skin storage from 60 to 96. Zero's Genesis Weapon Growth defaulted to keeping existing Potential or Bonus Potential, with an extra confirmation before switching to Unique or Epic respectively. Growth was blocked while holding Traces of the Heavy Sword. Multiple rewarded Sol Erda stacked into one slot. Selected timed boss rewards expired at 23:59:59 UTC on their end date and stacked to 9,999 per slot.

Item repairs covered Forest Wizard Cape and Confusion Fragment text; pet-set notices only appearing when equipment effects changed; Papulatus Clock Chair, Swinging Ball Chair, Wish Kebab Chair, Von Bon's Von Chair and multiplayer chair motion; auto-potion effects; Happy Heart pet sound; floating cash-item effects after dismount, including Cold Winter Snow Buddy; Maple Crest while seated; Signal Hair; Nickyroid hair colour; Boss Clear Count Reset Ticket consumption before a clear; Golden Hammer guidance on Glory Guard Ring: Guardian, Glory Guard Ring: Master, Glory Guard Ring: Commander and Glory Guard Ring: Supreme; pet Item Pick-up after re-equipping; Magical Dress selected from Magician of the Forest Outfit Coupon showing Magical Robe's tooltip for a male character; male Colorblended Forest Fairy face; Heroic Time Master Petite Luna text; Blue Heart Transparent's trailing effect; Serenity Flare's toggle; duplicate pet names; Wandering Scholar Ghost fusion; Dream Debut Performance Chair cape effects; Pink Mel/Orange Leon equipping Chameleon's Rainbow; Planetarium Date Friendship Ring height; Potential Stamp use from Scroll Bag; Sickly Pallor Face position; Star Force Scroll line breaks; Toucan's Black Hat; fusion-anvil wording and Explorer Hair Coupon wrapping.

• Forest Wizard Cape
• Confusion Fragment
• Chameleon's Rainbow
• Nickyroid

• Papulatus Clock Chair
• Swinging Ball Chair
• Wish Kebab Chair
• Von Bon's Von Chair

Monster Collection, Symbol Express and Windows

High Mountain joined Monster Collection: Trace of Pestilence, Rite of Pestilence, Zeal of Pestilence, Judgment of Pestilence, Spawn of Pestilence, Trace of Blasphemy, Rite of Blasphemy, Zeal of Blasphemy, Judgment of Blasphemy, Rage of Blasphemy, Spawn of Blasphemy, Trace of Dread, Rite of Dread, Zeal of Dread, Judgment of Dread, Rage of Dread, Spawn of Dread, Viscid Abyss, Storming Gluttony, Storming Frenzy, Tynos, Aspect of Pestilence, Aspect of Blasphemy, Aspect of Dread, Tynos Fragment. Mitra's Cube Chair was permanent and account-transferable, restoring 50 HP and 50 MP every ten seconds.

Arcane River Express Pass became Symbol Express Pass and could finish Arcane River dailies, weekly content and Grandis dailies using Maple Points. Each added Grandis daily cost 900 Maple Points. Spiegelmann in Arcane River or Spiegelmann in a Grandis town provided access.

Players on operating systems older than Windows 10 received a login notice: support would end after October 9, 2024 maintenance.

CAPOO's Grand Dungeon Adventure

The collaboration ran August 28 after maintenance–October 1 at 23:59 UTC. Level 101 characters, with Zero after Chapter 2, entered through Adventure in CAPOO's World from CAPOO in Henesys, Nameless Town or Cernium Square, or the event notifier.

Every 100 defeated dungeon monsters triggered DOGDOG support, up to five activations. The area's support could add 100 kills with Magic, 3,500 with Great Magic or 50,000 with Ultimate Magic.

Leaving mid-mission reset its count. Claiming the reward was necessary before the following day's quest became available.

The mount/android coupons were account-transferable with seven-day lives. TURTLE BUS Mount, Lidium Heart and CAPOO's Cat Tower were permanent and untradable. TUTUroid was permanent, account-transferable in Interactive worlds and untradable in Heroic worlds. Chat emoticons were untradable and lasted seven days. The medal and effect coupons were untradable and lasted seven days; their results were permanent and untradable. CAPOO LOVER's stats lasted 14 days: All Stats +20, Attack Power/Magic ATT +10 and Max HP/MP +2,000.

Nexon's anniversary attendance

From August 28 after maintenance–October 8 at 23:59 UTC, eligible level 101/Zero Act 2 characters collected anniversary letters from monsters within ±20 levels. Pickups automatically became Celebration Points. The white N awarded two points, E three, X ten, O twenty and the coloured N one hundred, with a 365-point daily check-in target.

Monday–Saturday attendance supplied 365 EXP Vouchers and one daily reward. Sunday supplied 730 vouchers and two days of rewards. Thirty check-ins awarded the permanent, untradable 30 Years of Friendship Medal, whose +30% obtained EXP lasted thirty days.

Except where noted, the following coupons and growth rewards transferred within the account and lasted seven days. Redeemed cosmetic equipment was permanent and untradable.

Naoroid was account-transferable in Interactive worlds and untradable in Heroic worlds. The permanent KartRider mount coupons retained a seven-day redemption window. Extreme Growth Potions could give up to ten levels at 130–199, with fewer multi-level gains at higher levels; level 200+ received EXP, and Burning characters could not use them.

Chu Chu Special Slushy

Chu Chu ran August 28 after maintenance–September 17 at 23:59 UTC. Level 101/Zero Act 2 characters accepted Beat the Heat! Special Slushy! from Pimi in Henesys, Nameless Town or Cernium, or the notifier. One account-wide daily request required 1,000 monsters within ±20 levels.

Completions 1–18 gave twenty Chu Chu Points, three Chu Chu Special Boosters and 500 EXP Vouchers. Later completions still gave the boosters and vouchers. The daily rewards were account-transferable and expired at the event deadline. Cumulative milestones gave four 30-minute 3× EXP Coupons at three completions, thirty Special Medals of Honor at six, a 200/40 Symbol Selector at nine, 200 Nodestones at twelve, a Mystical Familiar Card at fifteen and a Chu Chu Special Gift Box containing Magnificent Growth Potion and Sol Erda at eighteen. These milestone rewards lasted seven days and transferred within the account.

Chu Chu Special Boosters also dropped from qualifying monsters, tradable in Interactive worlds and account-transferable in Heroic worlds. They summoned Flame monsters for 100 seconds, and those monsters counted for the daily request. The world could use ten boosters per day. They could not be used without appropriately levelled monsters, on special/story/Mirror World maps or where another booster was already active.

Characters in the world who completed the introductory quest shared the purchased Chu Chu Special Slush skill levels. Point spending could not be reset. Each stat track used level costs of 5/10/15/30/40/50 points. The August 29 correction extended the skill's effects for two weeks beyond the event.

Ripe Slurpy Fruit rerolled three additional stats, selected equally from the ten stat families. One fruit was consumed even when retaining the previous result. It dropped from qualifying monsters, applied Item Drop Rate at a specified but unquantified rate, and was world-transferable in Interactive worlds. Its stat effects also continued for two weeks after the event. The August 28 revision gave the following tier probabilities.

Toward the Black Heaven clear conditions

This Lotus event ran August 28 after maintenance–October 8 at 23:59 UTC, requiring level 190 and Zero Act 2. Bitterbot in Haven or the notifier started Bitterbot's Message. Normal, Hard and Extreme clears counted once per world weekly; Story Mode did not. The Lose Control Heaven Core after the boss also had to be defeated.

Ordinary coupons/emoticons were account-transferable with seven-day durations. Rings were permanent and untradable; Wing Master Damage Skin (Unit) was permanent and tradable. Berserked Cape Effect Coupon lasted fourteen days and transferred within the account, while its effect was permanent and untradable.

A party clear was eligible. A player who revived before Lotus died could qualify, but being incapacitated at the kill or leaving before it prevented the reward. The defeat counter advanced only when the reward was claimed. Records reset Thursday at 00:00 UTC; the first event week explicitly ran through September 4 at 23:59 UTC.

I Haven't Done Anything

From September 25 at 00:00–October 8 at 23:59 UTC, Cassandra's [I Haven't Done Anything] Mysterious EXP Pouch quest offered one Mysterious EXP Pouch per account to level 101/Zero Chapter 2 characters. It accumulated level-appropriate EXP every ten seconds, online or offline at the same rate, storing up to 24 hours. A full pouch stopped collecting until claimed.

The Peaceful Park quest led to Busy Honey Bee, whose transformation let the character collect Star Candies and accelerate the pouch. Fifty cumulative collection hours awarded a permanent account-transferable Dreamy Flower Chair. One hundred hours awarded I Really Haven't Done Anything Chair, the name clarified on September 29. Ten candies awarded a seven-day account-transferable Permanent Busy Honey Bee Mount Coupon; 200 awarded Golden Honey Pot Coupon. A hidden mission awarded Diamond Honey Pot Coupon. The pots and mount were permanent and untradable after redemption; pot coupons also lasted seven days and transferred within the account.

Rock Spirit's Golden Giveaway

The attendance event ran August 28 after maintenance–October 8 at 23:59 UTC for level 101/Zero Act 2. One account check-in per day required 1,000 monsters within ±20 levels, with the kill record shared within the world and reset at 00:00 UTC. Basic rewards arrived each seventh check-in. The 49,900-Maple-Point Legion and Hyper Passes added rewards on each week's second and fifth check-ins respectively. A 3,000-Maple-Point Golden Pass recovered one missing earlier day, up to the previous midnight's incomplete total.

The listed boxes, coupons and growth items were account-transferable with seven-day durations unless otherwise stated. The beauty box chose a Hair or Face Selector Coupon Voucher, then a seven-day untradable selector. Magic Card's male set comprised Magic Split, Magic Bow Tie and Magic Frilled Socks; its female set used Magic Split, Magic Card Ribbon and Magic Frilled Socks. These cosmetics and Thunder Beast Mount were permanent and untradable.

Mega Burning Boxes supplied a Mega Character Burninator, Mysterious Cryptic Chest with a 30-day Snail pet, Mega Burning Support Equipment Box with level 30 gear and a level 100 Legendary Cryptic Chest, and Hyper Teleport Rock. Support equipment and rock lasted seven days and were untradable. The strawberry passes required level 101–259 and Zero Act 2 and expired October 8 at 23:59 UTC; the tomato pass used the same expiry. VIP Boosters summoned Fame Monsters for 100 seconds, required level 101/Zero Act 2 and allowed ten uses per character daily.

Growth Potion Selectors offered eight 200–209 potions, four 200–219 potions, two 200–229 potions or one Typhoon Growth Potion. Extreme Growth Potions targeted 130–199 and could grant up to ten levels, then EXP at 200+. Magnificent Growth Potions gave a level at 200–249, then EXP; Transcendent Growth Potion gave a level at 200–269, then EXP. Burning characters could not use these growth potions.

Burning World Leap and Sunday bonuses

The September 11 revision set Burning World Leap's window to August 28 after maintenance–September 12 at 14:00 UTC. Up to five Burning World characters could move to Interactive worlds within their region, each at level 150 or above and Zero after Chapter 2. They did not need to retain a Burning effect.

The leap could create a slot when the destination had room below its maximum; at the character maximum, an existing character first needed deletion to create capacity. A character had to leave or disband its guild/alliance. Equipped items, ordinary inventory and mesos travelled with it. Cash Shop Inventory, Storage, Auction House and mail did not, so their items needed moving into ordinary inventory. Untransferred characters and all their remaining holdings were removed after the window.

Sunday bonuses required level 101/Zero Act 2. Spell Trace Fever became a permanent recurring Sunday event in Interactive worlds, running 00:00–23:59 UTC with improved equipment enhancement success rates.