Nostalgia of Pre-BigBang Maplestory

[Malformed]

Hello fellow forum browsers! So while Maplestory was down, I was messing around with Bannedstory (A character scene image creator). I began to feel very nostalgic as I saw all of the old equipment that, 5 years ago, was godly and worth hundreds of millions (Which was a ton back then). I played from around 2008 up to the big bang update, which changed most everything. I came back to Maplestory about 9 months ago, and oh my god things were different. Getting to level 200 no longer required months of continuous grinding at Skelegons. Defeating Zakum didn't need a team of 4 full parties. And hitting 5 digits on an enemy was noobish.

If you remember Tiger before FangBlade, if you remember things like "dexless sins", grinding for days for one level at Windraiders, and getting leech from a Bishop at harps, you are part of a dying breed. A breed of Mapler who remembers the incredible communities, the dedication, the resourcefulness of the old Maplestory.

If anyone reading this has the time and motivation to reply, one thing I'd love is if you could tell me your favorite thing about Maplestory before the Big Bang.

I can start by saying my favorite thing about pre-BB Maplestory is a tie between between using my dexless assassin to beat the crap out of the other team in Monster Carnival PQ, and the community of Islanders (People stayed on the tutorial island and relied only on monster drops, which were scarce) who formed the guild, appropriately named, RogersApple. I remember those people fondly.

Thank you so much for your time.

[Curtiss]

Being able to take on monsters much higher than my level was always a pleasure of mine before Big Bang came along. It almost made up for the fact that I was trampled on for about 90% of the time as I formerly played a Bowmaster.

[Eyon]

I remember EVERYTHING!
I even have a playlist of music which I listened while grinding at certain levels.
Since I only and ever play my bowmaster I have fond memories of sniping newties, using advanced tactics to tackle them Wolfspiders (and survive!) and becoming 4th job not more then 3 months before BB hit EMS.

So many memories, so many good ones.

Though I'd like to add this:
I did like pre-bb and I like post-bb.
After all the upgrades an patches Maplestory has gone trough I still like the game as much as I did before.
And aldo you could argue that potential&shet broke the game...I still, still love it.

[Link]

Pre-Big Bang Vipers and Shadowers. Vipers really hit their peak around v75 GMS, or whatever version that last Adventurer revamp came with before Big Bang. Shadowers, however, really were at their peak just before Justice. Still, Shadowers were pretty awesome before Big Bang and one of the most interesting classes.

I also miss the simplicity of skills. Heroes, for example, only had to use Brandish, a skill that only hit twice. There was no need for final attack or anything. Paladins hit only once per attack, as well, and it was beautiful.

I remember the cap being 99,999 and that was considered hard to do (before all of the duping and crap that began happening in GMS), unless you were a Viper (Rapid Fist), Marksman (Pierce), or Hero (Panic).

I remember having to fight Papulatus in full parties. Trying to solo it back then was insane... especially if you could actually pull it off (pre-4th job, of course). Now... it just... Go in as an unfunded level 120 and two-shot kill it. >_>



I miss it a lot, but being spoiled on the way the mechanics for MapleStory work now, I probably would drive myself insane trying to play pre-Big Bang MapleStory if I went back in time to do so.

[Forte]

I remember grinding for hours at green mushrooms for panlids.

Honestly, the only thing better about pre-BB maplestory was my friends.

[iamflip]

I miss it a lot, but being spoiled on the way the mechanics for MapleStory work now, I probably would drive myself insane trying to play pre-Big Bang MapleStory if I went back in time to do so.

QFT.

Also, I remember fondly of the "hacker era". You know... all of those wraithes being vac hacked in every ing channel.

[Words]

The only thing I miss about preBB was cheaper nice equips.
Nostalgia is a silly feeling.
I feel like adding that the game has been pomegranate since forever, and the only great things about it were my "friends" which I could careless about now.

[Stereo]

I kinda miss when finding an above average item was a big deal, and scrolling a weapon +7 60% was godly.

White Scrolls were the beginning of the end of that, really... The Big Bang just made every other pre-BB equip obsolete.

[Xephia]

I remember when the worse hacks in Maple Story involved moving a monster from point A to point B. I miss being able to know how much damage I was dealing. I remember the days of Mildsoss, KitsuneLove, and of course, TehSpearman.

Aside from the obvious damage inflation, I really miss the old layout of the maps and monsters. Back in the day Victoria island monsters would vary and would be in different areas. Evil Eyes in Sleepywood, Curse Eyes in Ellinia forests, and Cold Eyes deeper in the Sleepywood Dungeon. Copper drakes in Perion, Drakes in Sleepywood Dungeon, and Fire Drakes deeper in Perion. Mushmom's map was also more hidden and difficult to find without exploring or the knowledge of another. The background descriptions for these monsters made sense, explaining why these monsters were the way they were.

Now all the maps are predictable. You see one monster? The next map will have a stronger version of that monster. If needed, the following map as the next strongest version of that monster. Evil Eyes in one map? The next map will contain Curse Eyes while the following map contains Cold Eyes. Most of these monster placings don't make any sense and are just there to make things simple and predictable without adding any creativity. Overall it feels pretty lazy and it really killed a lot of the fun exploration Maple Story once had.

The days of people accidentally taking that VIP Taxi after leaving entering Lith Harbor are no more.

[Niernen]

I remember having to fight Papulatus in full parties. Trying to solo it back then was insane... especially if you could actually pull it off (pre-4th job, of course). Now... it just... Go in as an unfunded level 120 and two-shot kill it. >_>

Ah, i remeber doing daly Pap runs. After Big Bang they died, but it was still fun to solo, and decent exp.... and then the aftershock hit with LHC....

[Arcana27961]

The only real good memory I have of pre-BB MapleStory was playing with a few of my friends from HS...but they all quit within a week due to the awful grind. I managed to level to 39 before quitting for an entire year. I came back sometime around the time Explorers were first updated and, while I managed to reach 3rd job fairly quickly, I nearly quit again due to boredom. However, I stuck with it because Big Bang was just around the corner.

[FrozNlite]

This. Summing it up with dray86's videos, including his much more widely-known Maple Kombat series (which I would have posted except the first vid is blocked in the U.S. now? Okay then).

Also Flenaris' LOLFP videos from like late 2006. Man that was inspiration right thur.

[Maping]

I remember having trouble getting to like, level 40. That's about it.

[Worthyness]

I kinda miss when finding an above average item was a big deal, and scrolling a weapon +7 60% was godly.

White Scrolls were the beginning of the end of that, really... The Big Bang just made every other pre-BB equip obsolete.

hehe my reverse knuckle is scrolled with those +7 60% :P Took literally all the funds I could muster to make that thing with the maker skill. +5 speed FTW! I also recently found a mule with all the graded crystals on them D: I made so many.

I do still miss my old-school buccaneer. I know he wasnt the strongest in the world and DPS was terrible, but I really liked doing skill chaining (before it was cool?). Sure we get that now in the form of the double rush, it just doesn't feel the same as Dragon dancing was. Kind of wish they kept the transforms as toggle-able, arbitrary beginner skills instead of a mount skill (especially because it's unfair to the female buccaneers who only get the male skill now :/). I guess this is why I liked Hayato so much. Button spam :D

[MariettaRC]

I was one of those "anti-leech" people, who leveled all on my own on my main, so any time I gained a level, it felt great. Now levels are just... well, levels. Achievement? What achievement? Anyone can do that!

I also miss being a part of the Archer community that wasn't mostly full of bandwagoners. Not that playing an archer for their skills is bad, mind you, but I'm sure most Archers know the era I'm talking about. But now, instead of Archers (and Pages) being a rare sight, it's explorers in general. I also miss the old skills, as weird as that probably sounds. Like, I love the new skills, sure. But I miss the old way of training... Power Knockback (Golem tennis!), choosing between FA and no FA (hey, I never thought going with the latter was bad!), being special enough to be known for our amazing accuracy. Also, the old Buccs. Never has my will to play a class dropped down so quickly since that update.

I wouldn't really reverse the way things are now, because I'm obviously in the minority for wanting the old days back, but... I do miss the old days. /old woman

[Mazz]

I remember when the worse hacks in Maple Story involved moving a monster from point A to point B. I miss being able to know how much damage I was dealing. I remember the days of Mildsoss, KitsuneLove, and of course, TehSpearman.

Aside from the obvious damage inflation, I really miss the old layout of the maps and monsters. Back in the day Victoria island monsters would vary and would be in different areas. Evil Eyes in Sleepywood, Curse Eyes in Ellinia forests, and Cold Eyes deeper in the Sleepywood Dungeon. Copper drakes in Perion, Drakes in Sleepywood Dungeon, and Fire Drakes deeper in Perion. Mushmom's map was also more hidden and difficult to find without exploring or the knowledge of another. The background descriptions for these monsters made sense, explaining why these monsters were the way they were.

Now all the maps are predictable. You see one monster? The next map will have a stronger version of that monster. If needed, the following map as the next strongest version of that monster. Evil Eyes in one map? The next map will contain Curse Eyes while the following map contains Cold Eyes. Most of these monster placings don't make any sense and are just there to make things simple and predictable without adding any creativity. Overall it feels pretty lazy and it really killed a lot of the fun exploration Maple Story once had.

The days of people accidentally taking that VIP Taxi after leaving entering Lith Harbor are no more.

Pretty much this... I miss the old layout of MapleStory so much.

I wish rather than killing Sleepywood off as a dungeon completely they had turned it into a high level area. Gradually walking from Henesys through the Dangeous Forest past the Golem dungeons and into Sleepywood was awesome, venturing into the Ant Tunnel and down past the Drakes, until the maps change from dark to light blue with all the ice, and then into a temple... that was such a cool design.

I think the thing I miss the most is monsters actually being a threat. Even on new characters that are low level it doesn't matter if you travel too far and die, because you'll only lose about 1 minute worth of training time. Back then you had to be careful because if you died you had wasted a lot of time, and that made it so much more fun.

[koplje]

I always thought Big Bang was the downfall of MapleStory but looking back I do realize a few things. Mechanics wise Big Bang was great. The EXP grind was unfavorable for many players and was usually one of the turn-offs for MapleStory and while I don't agree with accuracy changes it did sort of get it right. Then there's potential, which many believe was the downfall of MapleStory. While I agree it did turn the game into a cash cow I don't believe this is what actually killed MapleStory.

Have you ever noticed how popular MapleStory was? Over 5 years ago MapleStory's community was huge. There were many forums and websites related to MapleStory that were active, even good old MapleTip had a sizable userbase. This popularity can really be seen on Youtube videos. Look at any Maplestory video from 2006-2008 and I'm sure that it would have at least 1,000 to 10,000+ views.

Then there's dray86's videos which have upwards to 1,000,000+ views. I mean holy crap people actually cared about MapleStory around this time. When people reminisce about MapleStory they usually mention their friends they met. Around 2006 - 2008 people actually did interact in-game and with the community. Even me, who has troubles making friends in MapleStory nowadays had a sizable group of friends back then.

In this period of time people just don't want to socially interact with each other. They simply want to level their character, or their link mule or increase their damage through potential. This is why people believe Big Bang killed MapleStory. However I don't think that it's to blame.

Big Bang never forced these ideals onto you. Nowhere in the huge mechanics overhaul did it require you to fund your character with $600 worth of equipment to have fun. The main problem with MapleStory right now doesn't stem from Big Bang at all, the game is hella better mechanics wise (engine wise I still don't get why I have 30 fps average) and we have Big Bang to thank for that. No, the problem as I see it is the community. I really don't even see a sizeable community anymore. The number of MapleStory fansites has severely diminished. Many sites have either died out or are on their death beds (mapletip, sleepywood, etc.). The remaining sites see nowhere near the amount of activity as they once did.


So did Big Bang actually kill Maplestory? No, we all just simply grew up. MapleStory just isn't as popular as it once was and the player base is slowly diminishing. The remaining player base is older and have experienced either fully experienced MapleStory or just doesn't enjoy it anymore and just focuses on raising their damage. When you were young it was easier for you to make friends, and I believe the same can be said for MapleStory. In it's youth people were friendly and interacted with each other but as we, and the game, grow older we find it harder and harder to make friends.

Tl;dr: Maplestory's problems never stemmed from big bang, it's simply the remaining player base has grown too old and MapleStory's popularity is diminishing.

[ChronosXIII]

Hmm.

My favorite thing was the Demi hackers all up in the Stirge maps! And who could forgot the people that went, "leech meh pls or i report u".

I also remember Kerning PQ and all its glory. Oh yes, the classic, "Don't kill the slimes that spawn from King Slime's death or we'll get a crap reward." Yup, that is totally how RNG works. I do wish I kept the Bamboo Hats seeing how they're practically nonexistent nowadays.

[Onion Knight]

I liked the art style of Maple pre-BB. Fortunately, the art style hasn't changed since then and I can still enjoy it now.

[Nion]

I sort of get teary listening to this.