Nexon's decline in traffic

[Eos]

I have to wonder if part of the reason they're doing more classes not more areas is hardware.

New classes take little to no additional overhead because a character is a character is a character...
But every new area is more space the server has to keep track of, more mobs to float in memory whether they're used or not, more props to keep track of.

Removing areas and simplifying things could be an effort to buy themselves growth room without having to worry about increasing minimum hardware requirements.

[Takebacker]

Removing areas and simplifying things could be an effort to buy themselves growth room without having to worry about increasing minimum hardware requirements.

Same could be said for areas that aren't activated but still run behind the scenes, right? Happyville, VPQ, sunday market, coke town, etc. Areas that the company doesn't plan to make available yet are still in the data for some unknown reason. They still run in the background we just can't get to it, consuming resources.

Really interesting thought though. If not for the sake of making more room for content they should at least be removing data from the .wz for the sake of a smaller client and for optimization and whatnot.

[Eos]

Same could be said for areas that aren't activated but still run behind the scenes, right? Happyville, VPQ, sunday market, coke town, etc. Areas that the company doesn't plan to make available yet are still in the data for some unknown reason. They still run in the background we just can't get to it, consuming resources.

Not all the areas in the data necessarily need to be emulated on the server. Selectively shutting them off is doable, even if they're in the data, so things like coke town and similar may not really be running in GMS, though ones like HappyVille that we actually use seasonally, or have used in the past probably are, cause we know people were abusing happyville.

[Chew]

cause we know people were abusing happyville.

I like how this sounds.

But really now, they need new content. Not just revamps of revamps over revamps.

[Combattente]

Removing areas and simplifying things could be an effort to buy themselves growth room without having to worry about increasing minimum hardware requirements.

Yeah, could be it.

In any case, that's not a good excuse to ruin such a beautiful area with thorough and well-thought maps and storyline (Masteria).

Victoria Island was better before, but I can understand the changes they've made to make it easier to new people. But I really don't get a lot of other changes.

If you have a game which has overall earned you over 1 billion dollars since it was first released, you think well before making any move. And if something could remove the worry about hardware requirements, but has good chances to ruin the overall game quality, you don't do it.

[QSCX]

There's no more adventure in MapleStory. Everything is so compressed and compact and fast-paced and cluttered. It was a good idea in the short run to do what they did with the game, but in the long run, they ended up losing players. I used to play for the content of new patches, but now I only play occasionally for events. There isn't much to do anymore.

I can't even bother traveling in the game because it's so slow compared to the rest of the game. MapleStory has become like a giant flash game--simple, fast, fun for a while, and forgettable.

[Combattente]

There's no more adventure in MapleStory. Everything is so compressed and compact and fast-paced and cluttered. It was a good idea in the short run to do what they did with the game, but in the long run, they ended up losing players. I used to play for the content of new patches, but now I only play occasionally for events. There isn't much to do anymore.

I can't even bother traveling in the game because it's so slow compared to the rest of the game. MapleStory has become like a giant flash game--simple, fast, fun for a while, and forgettable.

Can't agree with you more. In bold the best words to express how I feel about it now.

This is what happens to a game when you let a bunch of extremely greedy people manage it.

I wish a company who really cares of their customers bought the game.

[Combattente]

Whoops, double post. Delete please.

[Mark]

In any case, that's not a good excuse to ruin such a beautiful area with thorough and well-thought maps and storyline (Masteria).

Guffaw.

A lot of the maps in Masteria were poorly designed. Especially that one area with all the robots and electric elephants. I'm even willing to bet a lot of the mobs are still glitchy after all these years. Storyline is fine. I GUESS.

[xManuz]

Can't agree with you more. In bold the best words to express how I feel about it now.

This is what happens to a game when you let a bunch of extremely greedy people manage it.

I wish a company who really cares of their customers bought the game.

Yea, in my opinion... Maplestory has the best 2D MMORPG graphics. If Nexon released "interesting" content instead of making stupid classes and SO MANY "REVAMPS" because at the end... its never "balanced", then MS would be one of the most played MMORPG's, atleast 2D wise.

Personally, I really love the Maplestory graphics, they're cute and interesting, I don't know.. they have something that's "Magic". I've tried many other 2D/3D games and none caught my attention as much as Maplestory did, even though it sucks now lol.

I used to log in everyday and just so ADDICTED to the game like 2 years ago, but that "Magic" has been deing lately that I barely log in one time per week.

[John Boy]

Hey that's around when I quit! Obviously that's the problem, maplestory can't run without me!

Funny because that's around the same time I quit too :)

[Combattente]

A lot of the maps in Masteria were poorly designed. Especially that one area with all the robots and electric elephants. I'm even willing to bet a lot of the mobs are still glitchy after all these years. Storyline is fine. I GUESS.

Guess we have two different conceptions of "poorly designed". Those maps were definitely unique. Ever seen any others like them in the game? Don't think so.

They gave you that unique feeling which no other area in the game gave. When I said "well-thought" I meant stuff such as the "NLC" written with tiles (speaking of that map you're talking about) and many other details which were accurately chosen for the maps. Now they are plain boring and just give an overall horrible look of Masteria compared to what it was before. Definitely not what Prose originally wanted it to be.

[Mark]

(Excuse this picture. It just fits so DAMN well.)



The maps sucked and were a pain to maneuver around. Giant sprawling maps with random bumps and snags in the way does not equal good design.

[MrTouchnGo]

(Excuse this picture. It just fits so DAMN well.)

-snip-

The maps sucked and were a pain to maneuver around. Giant sprawling maps with random bumps and snags in the way does not equal good design.

Just because it's unique doesn't mean it automatically sucks either. The maps were maneuverable once you got used to them and they were a breath of fresh air compared to other areas.

[Seanny]

(Excuse this picture. It just fits so DAMN well.)

-snip-

The maps sucked and were a pain to maneuver around. Giant sprawling maps with random bumps and snags in the way does not equal good design.

Guess we have two different conceptions of "poorly designed". Those maps were definitely unique. Ever seen any others like them in the game? Don't think so.

They gave you that unique feeling which no other area in the game gave. When I said "well-thought" I meant stuff such as the "NLC" written with tiles (speaking of that map you're talking about) and many other details which were accurately chosen for the maps. Now they are plain boring and just give an overall horrible look of Masteria compared to what it was before. Definitely not what Prose originally wanted it to be.

Spoiler

I say they COULD make it all much better. We've seen so many good level designs in 2d indie games that combine both creativity and playable design, there's no excuse. Though honestly, the place i truly hated was phantom forest... the sense of exploration is one thing, but there's no excuse to make a completely land-markless forest that you have to count portals to navigate.

I have yet to truly explore it, but i will miss the quests... the story of NLC was the only area that ever actually caught my interest.

[Leaves]

I have to wonder if part of the reason they're doing more classes not more areas is hardware.

New classes take little to no additional overhead because a character is a character is a character...
But every new area is more space the server has to keep track of, more mobs to float in memory whether they're used or not, more props to keep track of.

Removing areas and simplifying things could be an effort to buy themselves growth room without having to worry about increasing minimum hardware requirements.

Strictly technically speaking, if Nexon really was concerned about hardware requirements and/or unnecessary resource usage, there is a ton more they can do without even taking ANYTHING that's "released" out of the game. Heck, I'd venture to say that the GMS client has at least ~500mb of useless data that could be removed without affecting anything in-game. Tons of copy+paste, etc. (that content can obviously be taken off the servers as well).

Not to mention that they should really consider redesigning their .WZ files. They could cut themselves a lot of problems just by condensing the info. For example, there are often times like 10 copies of the same monster with just some stats changed. Rather than having each version of that monster store its own identical animations, they really should just link to a main monster and only change the stats on it.

[Thorr]

Not to mention that they should really consider redesigning their .WZ files. They could cut themselves a lot of problems just by condensing the info. For example, there are often times like 10 copies of the same monster with just some stats changed. Rather than having each version of that monster store its own identical animations, they really should just link to a main monster and only change the stats on it.

I don't think this is true. The animations have an ID number, iirc. The monsters just point to the animation ID number.

[Leaves]

I don't think this is true. The animations have an ID number, iirc. The monsters just point to the animation ID number.

That would be ideal, but is in fact not the case. For example, take #9400504 and #5130107, both Coolie Zombies of different levels. Same goes for #100100 & #9400552, which are identical snails.

You might be thinking of maps - those are done a tad more efficiently by referencing the appropriate objects of which there is usually only one copy, though sometimes those are repeated as well.

[Eos]

Strictly technically speaking, if Nexon really was concerned about hardware requirements and/or unnecessary resource usage, there is a ton more they can do without even taking ANYTHING that's "released" out of the game. Heck, I'd venture to say that the GMS client has at least ~500mb of useless data that could be removed without affecting anything in-game. Tons of copy+paste, etc. (that content can obviously be taken off the servers as well).

Not to mention that they should really consider redesigning their .WZ files. They could cut themselves a lot of problems just by condensing the info. For example, there are often times like 10 copies of the same monster with just some stats changed. Rather than having each version of that monster store its own identical animations, they really should just link to a main monster and only change the stats on it.

Everything you've mentioned is client and doesn't have a 1:1 relation to how the server itself processes and deals with things.

That would be ideal, but is in fact not the case. For example, take #9400504 and #5130107, both Coolie Zombies of different levels. Same goes for #100100 & #9400552, which are identical snails.

You might be thinking of maps - those are done a tad more efficiently by referencing the appropriate objects of which there is usually only one copy, though sometimes those are repeated as well.

Mobs actually already have the ability to inherit everything from another id. That's the Link property, see mob VNUM 9305237 with a link of 8220005. Everything that isn't explicitly defined in 9305237 is inherited from 8220005, including animations. Per your example, 9800087 link 5130107, so it's really 5130107 and 9400504 that are reduntant, unless they duplicated the animations for all three for some reason.

The animations have an ID number, iirc. The monsters just point to the animation ID number.

Unfortunately not true. The WZ files are almost like jars, each mob is a directory of properties, each animation is a subdirectory of individual images. Excepting where the link is used each frame of each individual animation of each mob is laid out like a directory tree;

vnum
|-property
|-property
|-image
|--frame1
|---details
|--frame2
|---details
|--frame3
|---details
|--imageproperty
|image
|--frame1
|---details
|--frame2
|---details

[Leaves]

Everything you've mentioned is client and doesn't have a 1:1 relation to how the server itself processes and deals with things.

True, but there is some relation. Of course, the main purpose of all these space-saving initiatives would be to decrease the client size. But that's pretty important to incoming players, if you ask me. I'm sure there are a lot of 14-year-olds who would be wary of downloading a 2GB+ client just to "try out" a game.

Mobs actually already have the ability to inherit everything from another id. That's the Link property, see mob VNUM 9305237 with a link of 8220005. Everything that isn't explicitly defined in 9305237 is inherited from 8220005, including animations. Per your example, 9800087 link 5130107, so it's really 5130107 and 9400504 that are reduntant, unless they duplicated the animations for all three for some reason.

That indeed seems to be the case. So despite the fact that this link property exists, it would seem that it isn't always being used to its full advantage. Perhaps it also has to do with the fact that my particular examples refer to old monsters - maybe they didn't actually go through and update these links retroactively? I'm not sure. Have they been consistently using them on all the new stuff?