The Sunday morning for me started not from coffee, 30 minutes of TikTok, or a peaceful breakfast while watching YouTube, but from several pings and a heated discussion in general chat about the current state of PvP, PvE, and other activities on the server.
I spent my full day off working on Mysterria to address these community discussions and balance things out so you can read this article right now. Here is a breakdown of what has changed:
Mythical Creature Forms
The suggestion about MCFs was approved and successfully implemented.
TL;DR; Just using your Incomplete Mythical Creature Form as a Beyonder of Sequences 4-3 will induce 20% of temporary madness, and then also add 15% every 10 seconds. This turns it into a strategic tool of last resort, rather than an instant-wipe button with zero consequences. You will now want to think twice before using it to avoid risking mutation.
While this adjustment might take some getting used to for those who already have it unlocked at Sequence 4, I wanted to make the feature more rewarding overall by updating the MCFs as a concept. If you update your coi-client mod to the latest version v1.1.0, Mythical Creature Forms will look completely different for you:
They are still a work-in-progress (WIP), so they might look a bit goofy while walking since they don’t have animations yet, but they will be fully updated and enhanced in upcoming updates of the coi-client. Stay tuned!
Cosmos PvP Zones
Another major focus today is the PvP balance on the server. Currently, Green and Yellow zones aren’t seeing active PvP because the outcome is often decided before the fight even starts: a Sequence 4 player can walk in and quickly defeat lower-sequence players, while those targets can’t easily counter them. This turns lower-tier areas into a tough environment for newer players, making the rewards feel out of reach and disrupting the design of Incursion / Exclusion zones for a large part of the playerbase.
The goal of this update is to make all zone tiers fun and playable, so that a new or mid-level player can enter a Green or Yellow zone and have a real competitive fight. Red and Black zones are left completely untouched - they remain the high-stakes, raw-power experience they have always been.
What exactly has changed and how it works?
To resolve this, we are adopting a mechanic similar to Guild Wars 2. In GW2, when a high-level character enters a lower-level area, their stats are automatically scaled to match the content. They are still stronger - they have better skills, more experience, and optimized builds - but they can’t instantly defeat opponents with a single button press, giving newer players a fair chance.
From now on, we are applying that same philosophy here using HP pool normalization.
Every player’s damage output is calculated as a fraction of their own HP pool and then rescaled to the same fraction of their target’s HP pool. This means:
- A Sequence 4 player hitting someone with a spell that does 20% of their own HP in damage will deal 20% of their target’s HP in damage - not an overwhelming, un-scaleable amount.
- Conversely, a Sequence 9 player hitting back will have their damage scaled up in the same way, allowing them to actually threaten the stronger player.
Tactical skill still wins games. High-sequence players still have more abilities, more spirituality, and more experience with their kit. However, immediate one-shots and pure stat-wall victories are removed from lower-tier zones.
What about MCFs and madness spells?
Since we naturally have three types of Exclusion Zones, they will now feature different mechanics to better fit their intended gameplay. Here is the zone-by-zone breakdown:
Green Zones
The safest PvP environment, designed for players who want to experience combat without facing immediate high-sequence wipes.
- Damage scaling - Full HP normalization. Both players fight at an effectively equal power scale, regardless of sequence.
- Mythical Form - Blocked. A form that can heavily shift a battle on activation doesn’t fit into a zone meant to be accessible to everyone.
- Madness from abilities - Fully cancelled. Your sanity won’t be heavily drained by external abilities in a zone meant for relatively safe practice and combat.
Yellow Zones
A balanced middle ground. Stronger players maintain a meaningful advantage, but newer players aren’t left helpless.
- Damage scaling - 50% normalization. Damage is balanced halfway between raw values and fully normalized values. A Sequence 4 still hits harder, but within a manageable range.
- Mythical Form - Blocked. Similar to Green zones, a high-impact form isn’t active here to keep the risk limited.
- Madness from abilities - Not blocked, but reduced by 50%. External madness infliction still works, but it takes twice as long to impact a player.
Red Zones
Completely unchanged. Raw power, no scaling, and no restrictions. If you choose to challenge a stronger player in a Red zone, that is entirely your call. This remains the high-risk, high-reward environment where sequence differences matter completely.
Black Zones
Completely unchanged. The most dangerous content on the server. Sequence regression applies on death, with full stat differences and no protections of any kind. Only the most prepared players should step in here.
Common concerns
Here are answers to a few questions you might have right away:
“This makes high-sequence players useless in green zones.” Not at all. You still have access to a larger toolkit, more utility, more spirituality, and far more experience. You will still hold a major advantage in most fights - you just won’t end them in two casts.
“I worked hard to reach Sequence 4, I should be able to dominate everywhere.” Red and Black zones exist exactly for this purpose. Your power is fully expressed there, with high-tier rewards to match. Green and Yellow zones are meant to be a competitive space where the entire community can actively participate.
Dungeons changes
Right now, dungeons heavily dominate the server as the primary source for essential progression items like ingredients, recipes, and potions. This has made other activities, such as Incursions, feel a bit redundant. Rather than a flat nerf, which would be frustrating for PvE-focused players, we’ve structured a balance of adjustments to keep progression healthy and rewarding.
Loot sharding
From now on, most of the loot from Dungeons (excluding core ingredients) will drop as shards - a mechanic you might remember from the last Christmas event. Collect the required number of shards, and you can craft the full item:
The number of shards needed to complete an item depends on the Sequence of the original reward. For a Sequence 9 item, you only need 2 shards, while for a Sequence 2 item, it can go up to 7 shards (these numbers may be tweaked in the future).
Before the rotten tomatoes start flying, we are balancing this out by significantly increasing the quality of the actual rewards you get from dungeons - meaning you’ll see far less iron ingots, experience bottles, and filler junk in your loot chests. Dungeons remain a highly viable path for progression, but they will operate alongside other activities rather than completely overshadowing them. Note that rewards exchanged from Helping Cards are now also sharded.
Difficulty & classes changes
Based on community feedback, dungeons were a bit too easy and certain classes lacked a clear role. We are introducing the following balance updates to make dungeon runs more challenging and cooperative:
- All players will now have just one life per dungeon run.
- Final Bosses have been buffed to provide a genuine, engaging challenge.
- Consumables you get from barrels are getting nerfed as well
Classes are also receiving substantial adjustments to define their roles:
- Tank now deals 70% less damage and cannot cast magic spells, BUT has greatly increased vitality and features a Taunt trait - mobs will actively prioritize focusing on the Tank player.
- Warrior is now a true glass-cannon, dealing 80% more damage but taking increased damage from all sources and having reduced magic damage output.
- Archer receives a 220% damage boost to their arrows, combined with reduced melee damage to solidify their role as a dedicated ranged attacker.
- Mage receives a massive 220% attack buff to Beyonder Spells, but cannot deal any physical damage and has reduced defenses.
And finally any existing dungeons are also planned to receive another entry to them out of the Exclusion Zones, but a bit later.
Madness / Tiredness Bar
To help everyone keep track of their stats more easily, we have added a dedicated Madness Bar to the latest version of the coi-client. This should make managing your sanity levels during intense PvP or PvE situations much easier and less stressful.
Lastly, I want to remind everyone that Mysterria isn’t run by a massive studio. Outside of managing the server, the team has everyday responsibilities with work, studies, and personal life. While we can’t pump out massive updates at the scale of massive networks like Hypixel or Wynncraft, we put a lot of care into what we build. It’s completely natural to take a break when you feel caught up or bored - feel free to explore other games and check back in whenever a new update drops. We are doing our absolute best and truly appreciate your support!
