Is Maplestory "Cheaper" then before?

Oh look, the MTS argument again. You're probably failing to realize that as long as MapleStory is running and people are playing this game, your tradeable in-game items have real worth. If you have a weapon that can sell for 100k NX, then that weapon is worth $100. Yeah sure, it's against the ToS to actually perform that trade, but the entire reason the MTS can exist is that there are people are willing to pay $100 for that weapon, and people willing to sell it for $100. Now what happens when you actually sell that weapon by using the MTS? The buyer receives their item, Nexon pockets 7500 (iirc) NX, and you only receive 92.5k of that NX. Who actually wins here? Nexon, as usual.

"But wait," you say. "I still got my NX, and I didn't use any of my real life money! The person who bought the weapon was lazy, and I worked hard for that item. As long as you work hard, you can still play this game without spending your own money." Yeah, keep pretending people like you don't represent a pitifully small portion of the population and that whatever means of acquiring that in-game money that you are using is even close to being worth the amount of time and energy required to obtain it through legitimate means, in terms of real life currency. As a former hardcore player myself, I know people who were/are willing to farm hours a day to pay for their habit, and people who were/are willing to spend hours a day in the FM making money, competing for shop spots, pondering item investments. If you want to play "gold farm story", that's your choice. Nexon needs those super hardcore stingy players, anyway. They help create demand for the NX in the first place.

I never said anything that meant that what you said wasn't true. I also understand what you're saying about this group of people being very small, but I was merely looking at the bottom line, which is you don't have to spend a single penny on this game to be good as the next person.