Pre-Big Bang Maplers, how do you feel about Maplestory now?

[Proxied]

I miss the life or death game of Anego and Royal Guard Type S.

Holy hell this this this this this this THIS
I totally forgot to mention it in my post in this thread
It is literally an obsessive fantasy of mine for wanting them to implement a high risk high reward global boss in this game that requires tracking efforts and all the wonderful everything that was anego

[Polantaris]

How do you feel about the community, difficulty, direction, etc?

Community:
I believe that the community for the game has become far worse than it ever was and can be for a game of this kind. Most people are obsessed with damage, doing whatever it takes to obtain that higher number. Most people have forgotten that MapleStory is a game, and take everything far too literally and far too seriously. I watch MapleStory forums, I've visited Basil more than enough times, and most of the time the attitude of the "elite" player is disgusting.

With some exceptions I find the community pretty bad. Granted, I don't play GMS, but I'm not blind.

Difficulty:
There isn't any. The game isn't hard, it's just time consuming. Whether that's in doing 20 billion damage to a boss so that you can kill it once, or in getting Level 200/250, it's all time consuming, but not difficult. There never has been any difficulty in MapleStory. That's not necessarily an issue, but when speaking plainly about the difficulty of the game I cannot deny that there isn't any.

The game is also pretty unfair, and improperly balanced to the content they've released. For example, instead of finding a way to deal with high HP vs low HP characters, they just created the 1/1 attack, which is borderline the dumbest concept that has ever existed.

Direction:
They are trying to fix their mistakes for the past three-ish years, and that's certainly a plus in itself, but the fact that they let the game get so out of hand in the first place is pretty inexcusable. It's like they were digging a hole for 3 years and then realized that soon the pressure and heat will kill them, and now they're trying to climb out of that hole, except they never gave themselves anything to get themselves out, no rope was ever thrown down, nor was a ladder built.

Is it possible to fix their mistakes? Yes. Do I think they will be able to? No.

I've said it in the past; they did some positive things in the past few years. Big Bang overall was not a negative change, but in fact the prior addition of potential that made Big Bang so negative in people's eyes. Big Bang brought many changes that were all needed, but it came with potential, which has overall ruined the game.

Comparing old MapleStory to new:
Overall, MapleStory has improved. Outside of the obvious P2W problems, MS is a vastly superior game than it used to be. In truth, if potential never existed in the first place everything that people complain about "new MS ruining" would probably still be around. Potential has made MS the solo-able game it is today. Everything that people miss - Partying, PQing, teaming up on bosses, etc., all of it is missing due to Potential. It makes you VASTLY stronger than you should be, with nearly no limits. If it had never existed, and then the game was built without it in mind, it would overall be a far better game than it is now.

[Spiral]

I've been playing since 2005 and I don't think that getting back to the 'old maple' is possible under any circumstances. It was one of those things where the planets align and people are at the right age and things just work out. To experience the old maple, you'd have to go back to 2005-2009, shrink back to whatever age you were then, eliminate social media and technological advances, and so on. Essentially, if you can make a time machine, then I guess you can go back to how maple was.

I think the way the game is now is fine. It's just a completely different game. I'm a level 154 Bishop and literally all I do now is login, get whatever hottime crap or attendance crap I can get, maybe DIPQ a few times and level, boss run if any friend's will take me like Abyss, and talk to guildmates until things get boring. At least for my level range, it's very limited in what you can do that is worth your time. Most of the time I just go afk after a while and then log off. It's fun when I can talk to guild mates and friends and sometimes we share a laugh, but you really have to keep playing frequently and grinding to keep up with your friends. The servers are also extremely inactive - I play in GAZED and it still has less users than Scania. It makes partying difficult, reinforcing the whole 'SoloStory' thing.

All in all, it's an OK game. I think the time has just come and past and we'll see how long it sticks around. Nexon seems to be coming to their senses, but it may be too little too late.

[Eshnolat]

I think it's a much better game in pretty much every aspect, except for the standards Potential and Cubes have created.

Old Maple had it's charm, but it was very slow. And very monotonous. I see the "higher" value given to 3rd job+ in ye olden times as artificial. There wasn't anything difficult about it, nothing that challenged any level of skill, nothing 'special'... it was just a matter of who poured more time in. There isn't anything particularly "challenging" about Maple now either, but I really don't think that's why anyone ever played it.

There is no longer vicious competition to get into PQs, and I think that's a very good thing.
People make the argument that the structure of the old game encouraged more social interaction... but that hasn't been my experience at all. I make conversation and friends now just as well as I ever had.

As is, the game has WAAAAY more creative content compared to what it used to have, it is all much more diverse, and it is all much more accessible. It's head and shoulders above Pre-BB Maple.

[cruddas]

I would appreciate the game more if nexon stopped forcing certain gameplay onto me, i thought it was MY story? Sure, you can suggest where great training for my levels are, new players may want that type of hand holding, but don't force me to move on from the low level maps, maybe i LIKE training there (can't do that, exp decrease deal you know?) or want to search for a very specific piece of armor with the right potential (can't do that either, gotta stop those hackers somehow right?) but as a legit player i am forced to be lead around like a pet on a leash and i don't enjoy that.

Also stop changing the class skills already, my bandit had it's own play style, but now it doesn't matter what class you pick, they all behave the same, single/mob rush attacks, or single/mob full screen attacks, with a few mobility skills sprinkled in, and make the skills SUPER flashy, why limit it to one class when ALL of them can have it right?

[Yellow]

I think if their players want it enough, they could pull another 'Big bang' update and change the way the game runs again.

I think instead of having insane damage, it should all be scaled down. Make the cap 1 million, and make it so potentials can add up to a certain % more damage (or so you can use potentials to hit the cap, rather than having to rely on maxing out scrolling and enhancing on your items). Remove link skills and give everyone the ability at 120 to choose a small passive to give to another job until they hit 120.

Come 5th job, It would be great if they could just revamp all of the jobs, all of the monsters/maps/pqs/bosses, so that different jobs can have their unique traits back, (e.g multi-hits, single target abilities, multi-target abilities, etc). They could balance it out by making multi-hitting jobs need more accuracy so they don't miss (in exchange for the extra hits, thus extra damage), single target hitting do more damage and perhaps have secondary effects (lower defence % per hit up to a small cap), etc etc etc.

I think it could be nice if they could finally merge Cannon Shooter and Dual Blades in with the Explorers, or at least do something similar with Magicians (Bishop?) and Warriors (Dark Knight?).

I don't think it's out of their reach, but there definitely has to have solid backing from their players.

[IllegallySane]

I think it could be nice if they could finally merge Cannon Shooter and Dual Blades in with the Explorers, or at least do something similar with Magicians (Bishop?) and Warriors (Dark Knight?).

They already did this patch. I can trade my pet from my Buccaneer to my Cannon Shooter and Dual Blade. It took them long enough, and I'm glad for it.

[Spiral]

Comparing old MapleStory to new:
Overall, MapleStory has improved. Outside of the obvious P2W problems, MS is a vastly superior game than it used to be. In truth, if potential never existed in the first place everything that people complain about "new MS ruining" would probably still be around. Potential has made MS the solo-able game it is today. Everything that people miss - Partying, PQing, teaming up on bosses, etc., all of it is missing due to Potential. It makes you VASTLY stronger than you should be, with nearly no limits. If it had never existed, and then the game was built without it in mind, it would overall be a far better game than it is now.

Here's the question I have for everyone:

Since removing the potential system is off the table now that players have invested hundreds (or thousands) of dollars to cube equipment, what can be done to modify the system? Obviously, Nexon is not willing to release cash shop cubes that guarantee a higher tier potential. That's pretty obvious by the new red/black cubes and the new meister (and whatever the other one is called) cubes available out of the CS. In my mind, this is just a band aid - smoke in mirrors to make players think that the potential system has hope. Woopdeedoo, we can now decide if we don't want to use the crappy potential we just got for $2. Great. Thank you SO much!

If potential was more of a guaranteed thing - or if the rates were at least higher than they are now - then I could see the potential system existing alongside scrolling. When the potential system was first implemented, I actually thought it was a secondary group of stats that we could ultimately use scrolls to upgrade or change. It's disappointing how potential was such a missed opportunity.

Like @Polantaris; and others, have said...things may be too far gone. Has anyone looked at the consecutive users on today? Horrible. The game should just be thrown back to 3-5 servers so that people can actually PQ before 8 PM when there's no one to PQ with.

[Luxeraph]

All I can think is make it easier(heck even enchanments seem easier) and make it weaker, add some caps if needed.

[Polantaris]

Here's the question I have for everyone:

Since removing the potential system is off the table now that players have invested hundreds (or thousands) of dollars to cube equipment, what can be done to modify the system? Obviously, Nexon is not willing to release cash shop cubes that guarantee a higher tier potential. That's pretty obvious by the new red/black cubes and the new meister (and whatever the other one is called) cubes available out of the CS. In my mind, this is just a band aid - smoke in mirrors to make players think that the potential system has hope. Woopdeedoo, we can now decide if we don't want to use the crappy potential we just got for $2. Great. Thank you SO much!

If potential was more of a guaranteed thing - or if the rates were at least higher than they are now - then I could see the potential system existing alongside scrolling. When the potential system was first implemented, I actually thought it was a secondary group of stats that we could ultimately use scrolls to upgrade or change. It's disappointing how potential was such a missed opportunity.

Like @Polantaris; and others, have said...things may be too far gone. Has anyone looked at the consecutive users on today? Horrible. The game should just be thrown back to 3-5 servers so that people can actually PQ before 8 PM when there's no one to PQ with.

At this point there's really not much they can do. If this were 6 months after Potential was added, or before 5+ types of cubes existed, or before Legendary tier was added, it would be a different story but they cashed in on it too much. Any changes they make for the better of the game will alienate the players that are funding the game in the first place. They would lose a lot of customers with no promise of gaining new ones.

This is why I am interested in MapleStory 2 far more than most people. The You&Me update has shown that Nexon finally realizes what they were doing wrong, and hopefully this realization will help them develop MapleStory 2 into a game that is not only more updated, and more enjoyable, but also more playable from a F2P standpoint. It has a lot of potential(no pun intended, hah) that MapleStory has lost and can really never get back.

[Dudewitbow]

Here's the question I have for everyone:

Since removing the potential system is off the table now that players have invested hundreds (or thousands) of dollars to cube equipment, what can be done to modify the system? Obviously, Nexon is not willing to release cash shop cubes that guarantee a higher tier potential. That's pretty obvious by the new red/black cubes and the new meister (and whatever the other one is called) cubes available out of the CS. In my mind, this is just a band aid - smoke in mirrors to make players think that the potential system has hope. Woopdeedoo, we can now decide if we don't want to use the crappy potential we just got for $2. Great. Thank you SO much!

If potential was more of a guaranteed thing - or if the rates were at least higher than they are now - then I could see the potential system existing alongside scrolling. When the potential system was first implemented, I actually thought it was a secondary group of stats that we could ultimately use scrolls to upgrade or change. It's disappointing how potential was such a missed opportunity.

Like @Polantaris; and others, have said...things may be too far gone. Has anyone looked at the consecutive users on today? Horrible. The game should just be thrown back to 3-5 servers so that people can actually PQ before 8 PM when there's no one to PQ with.

IMO, there should be 2 separate Cubing pools, the normal with the current possible outcomes and the cash ones with a smaller pool which removes some commonly unwanted lines. Make the non cash cubes moderately hard to obtain(sorta how the current system works minus event shop) so that there's incentives for buying the cash variant. people without cash are happy that they have access to cubes if they work for it(through the profession system) and people with cash have the incentive to spend due to both bypassing the requirements to make the normal cubes, as well as being guaranteed a better more succinct pool of potentials.



@topic: the game has much more content than before. the only thing that I wish nexon did was significantly increase the amount of EXP gained from party quests(enough that PQing can rival, preferably surpass conventional grinding methods). Party Questing back then built community and friendships(as well as enemies) and ever since the leveling system changed, as well as overpowered grinding spots, party questing fell off the map.I liked it when I had the option to say do LMPQ, OPQ etc for moderate exp gain with a party then now where its almost entirely grinding mobs because the PQ area is basically deserted. Nexon continually tries to revamp PQ's by doing duration changes, zone changes, lobby changes and such, even changing the prizepool, but the key thing they keep missing by a longshot is purely incentive.

going through time what were the incentives:
KPQ: old school leveling was slow, 2nd job was an accomplishment, KPQ gave moderately good exp, especially if rushed
LPQ: Incentive was mostly capes and EXP, back when capes were a moderate scarcity
LMPQ: Shortest PQ, less frustrating when missed. Decent EXP, pots sell at good rates back then to NPC. Was considered the money maker.
OPQ: really only was good during smuggle/glitch periods
Pirate PQ: a pq for fun really, gave a nifty hat that was similar to a Zhelm back then without looking terrible like one if you worked for it
Carnival PQ: Forced parties to compete(or share) exp. Fastest EXP gain during the time

at this point in time, making meso through conventional pot selling like LMPQ is basically gone(LMPQ is gone itself as well). EXP is only okay, prizes are revamped, but really in the end, they are worthless because of being character locked, and taking a bunch of time to get it. there is no incentive to get it because of the time and that it'd probably easily get replaced. Note some of the more popular PQ's over time:

APQ: Gave earrings, capes, gems and most importantly Onyx Apples
CWKPQ: Gave Staves, Khanjars, Swiss Cheese, Capes, Pendants

why were these pq's popular. it certainly wasn't the exp gain that made them popular but the incentive. TBH when CWKPQ was functional, it was pretty much the ONLY pq people were willing to go through because of the bonus incentive. the stuff aren't locked to your characters and making a profit was actually possible based on pure luck of the draw, as well as having a competitive pendant in a different aspect. It could not rival those pendants who had great potentials, but being a high base stat pendant made it a worthy adversary for best budget pendant which made it so sought after(similar to Zhelms).

to end this banter; PQ's could potentially be great, the problem is how nexon is approaching them. No one wants things like a chefs hat/suit set for a stat bonus. No one wants to go through a bunch of different pq's in order to get pq items(that are locked onto character) just for a minor set bonus. the only thing the players want is either:

A) A PQ that gives EXP, Dimension PQ is a good example of this for recent comparisons
B) A PQ that actually gives out good prizes. (APQ, CWKPQ, HBPQ(back when rex earrings were popular), Visitor PQ(original)) the new visitor pq was a step in the right direction with items that give moderately good stats and a pretty good set bonus. The problem was that Nexon made it too hard to even acquire any of the items, let alone that the level requirement for the PQ is extremely high. Because Bossing have tons more incentives, no one even bothers to PQ anymore. they need to make pqs with good tradables that can can potentially rival average scrolled/potential goods without totally dominating it.

the other method would be creating a party quest world where all worlds are merged on a single channel by default(similar to Evolution Lab) to enhance pq lobby growth, but it probably would be a pain to program.

heck, it'd be interesting if occasionally nexon did 2x/3x quest exp periods rather than normal exp periods if pqs actually gave good stuff/exp

[FangelXIII]

It really depends. On the one hand, I love some of the class changes, new classes, and new areas. Playing 3rd job Corsair is forever ingrained into my mind. Freeze, flamethrower, freeze, flamethrower, freeze, flamethrower, freeze, flamethrower...

On the other hand, the change in leveling (while good for being able to actually experience more of the game without the horrible grind) brought forth a huge change in the community. Since the hurdle at low levels made people try new classes, bum around in towns, make friendships. With that gone, there's nothing stopping you from just steamrolling the game and therefore interacting with no one. I miss that, lazing around with people while we were taking breaks from the insane grind. The lack of community also means that trust is a lot harder to find. It was an inevitable change, but it does bug me a little.

Potential is also a horrible system, especially with all the crap they included (which is now gone, to an extent). Why would I want 120+ HP on a level 100 item? That's pathetic. And the tiers mean if you want to good stuff, you either have to fuse and grind forever. Something impossible for empress equipment, because you're not going to be able to kill her without amazing gear. So end game bossing REQUIRES either insane luck, an overpowered class, or spending money.

[Remoir]

While im glad they made it much easier to level, in the end its still the same grinding experience you just get bored of it at a later level point.

Don't really understand why they pushed the damage aspect of the game so much that they had to release bosses you can only stand a chance against if you have amazingly upgraded stuff either. There are some people, like myself, that dont want to scroll everything they own and just want to play around for a couple of hours.

[Foxino]

What i love about the game is still here, the artwork, the music but.. ugh the amount of money required to fight higher tier bosses is beyond rediculous. *hue* the cubing changes in red tho, i approve so I don't know what to think yet.

Bosses like bigfoot, anego and royal guard made the game fun. things are either too easy or too hard* no inbetween.

*hard due to lack of damage not lack of skill.

[Typhoon]

It makes me proud to know that I spent 99% of my time on MS from 2009-2011 at Anego. So many memories, so much drama, so much fun.

[Technolink]

The thing about old maple was that it was so boring and difficult to level, you were willing to do almost anything else. This led to lots of people exploring, partying, and questing together. I would make friends either by sharing a map in the perpetual grind, or when I was off doing something else to avoid grinding.

When someone on my buddy list or guild asked for help with zakum pq, needed help gathering some random item for a fetch quest, or was hitting a major milestone (every 10 levels, or even every level for my close friends) I hardly hesitated to drop my grind and go spend some time with them. That was maple for me, grinding when no one was there, spending time with friends when they were around. The flip side of the slow leveling was that I could be busy for a few weeks, but when I came back my friends were only a few levels ahead of me. Then they would get busy and I would catch up eventually. We were all always around the same levels which helped us enjoy similar content. Because levels were so far apart, I had time to save up and shop for my next set of equipment, encouraging me to keep leveling so I could equip it.

Maplestory of past was boring, but people I met were also bored, so we all made the most of it together (which actually made the game really fun). A group of us would get together to take down mushmom in the hopes of finding ilbis. 90% of the time we were waiting and chatting, but that was fun. I worked with other people on the forums to write in depth guides, and we worked out the weapon defense formula (which took weeks). I spent some time in low level training areas giving out crossbows to encourage new players to pick the path of the sniper. A few of those people became some of my best friends. In the end though, I would hunker down on a map, alone or with a buddy or two, and just grind for a couple of hours. Making conversation with my friends, or trying to make new ones with the people passing through.

There is no doubt maple today has more interesting content, more unique content, and plainly just has more content, but now the people I meet are too busy gaining levels and improving their damage that they don't have time to enjoy it with others. The few new friends I have made I haven't been able to keep because I'll stop playing for a few weeks, and when I get back they will be 50+ levels above me. So instead of a game revolving around friends and doing random things to keep ourselves busy, Maplestory to me now means playing by myself. And even though there are enough quests, enough skill points, and enough mesos to go around, I just don't enjoy that as much.

In short, to me, old Maplestory was boring to level, but fun because the bore brought people together. New Maplestory is fun to level, but I'm having trouble justifying the leveling without friends to enjoy it with.

[Cerebella]

I do think the new content is interesting. But I feel like the pay to win aspect, potential system, more solo oriented and bosses that are ridiculously hard for the unfunded made me feel that current MS is a bit less fun than the older MS.