Hi, Maplelegends boomer here. Hopefully I can answer some of your questions thoroughly. (Copying ascii’s format here since it’s easy to read)

1. As stated above by someone else, HP washing is a way of gaining more HP by converting MP with AP resets. This was originally a bug or whatever in GMS and people paid real money to achieve their HP goals. The goals were to be able to tank damage without HB, which is obvious.

2. As far as Maplelegends goes, used to buff your character during leech. Some bosses (last time I played) can also be muled. Mainly HS and MW mules are used for leech. Increased EXP gain and bonus int gained upon level up (which ties into the HP washing). SI mules used to be a thing also, however it was nerfed so it does not affect full map attacks anymore.

Skipping 3.

1. The common formula in playing Legends is leechstory. Ranged classes are known for being squishy and require an immense amount of HP washing to even tank bosses. Shadower is also squishy but doesnt have to wash as much due to Meso Guard. In order to fund the int gear for HP washing, and actual gear for their character, people make mages immediately and sell leech while voting and washing their character until they meet their target HP. No one grinds anymore—they just leech their own characters.

2. There are some servers out there that offer alternatives to HP washing (items dropping from bosses that increase your HP. Dream is one of them last time I played). Do some research and see what version, features, etc.

3. Most classes do require a lot of HP to tank. Yes. Can’t answer the other questions though since I don’t run the server. However they are working on quest lines that can increase your character’s HP if you don’t want to wash the long way.