2011-12-07, 06:27 AM
Lets see. From what I've observed of the year with Big Bang...
Training got a lot easier. Easy to the point that level 120 is now considered "a joke". This meant that even a casual player could now reach level 70 and beyond without the need for any 2x cards. BB introduced party play zones, when LHC was released the was much rejoicing as training at late 4th job became even easier along with having a new never-before-seen-in-GMS viable way of training. The continual stabs in the dark when it comes to class balancing has left some classes completely screwed, some classes unaffected in their purpose some better, an example of a class that has benefitted is the Archmage class which they failed to revamp properly twice (initial BB, Chaos). Ascension actually made them somewhat resemble an attack class, a far cry from the pre-BB leech mule without HS. The new damage formulae were a godsend to magicians who had been systematically raped by every other class damage-wise due to their bizarre non-standard quadratic damage formula since the release of 3rd job, and more recently at the time hindered by the static Magic cap of 1999 post-potential.
Problems arose with BB too. As everything got easier the value of in-game achievements went down. This can be said to be natural for MMOs, but in Maple's case the "standard" hadn't really changed for years until the potential system came along and after BB Nexon seemed intent on making everything as easy as possible to satisfy their laziest and most whiny clientele. With Legends 2nd job is basically handed to you and you get the massive arrows that say HEY GO THIS WAY YOU RETARD showing up for quests well up into the early 2x levels. Maps were also compressed, their paths linearised and ALL UNMARKED HIDDEN STREETS WERE REMOVED only to be replaced with "hidden streets" that have a massive yellow ring around the entrance that says HI I'M HIDDEN RIGHT HERE when you go near it. Only unmarked portals these days are quest related. This single-handedly stabbed the exploration aspect of Maplestory to death. Nexon's amazing foresight to keep LHC because "the community wanted it" whilst copypasting the nerfed Stronghold also returned us to the dark days of Skeles when you trained in 1 map for most of your 3-digit level maple life.
There's probably more but it evades me. I'm on the fence for what BB brought to gMS really. It brought a lot of what maplers at large had been asking for for years, but at the same time spoiled them beyond belief. In gMS this has been aided by the unbelievably quick acceptance of hacked items/bots/3rd party programs/buying and selling mesos being "perfectly normal" when they aren't and should all be rightfully scorned whenever possible.
Training got a lot easier. Easy to the point that level 120 is now considered "a joke". This meant that even a casual player could now reach level 70 and beyond without the need for any 2x cards. BB introduced party play zones, when LHC was released the was much rejoicing as training at late 4th job became even easier along with having a new never-before-seen-in-GMS viable way of training. The continual stabs in the dark when it comes to class balancing has left some classes completely screwed, some classes unaffected in their purpose some better, an example of a class that has benefitted is the Archmage class which they failed to revamp properly twice (initial BB, Chaos). Ascension actually made them somewhat resemble an attack class, a far cry from the pre-BB leech mule without HS. The new damage formulae were a godsend to magicians who had been systematically raped by every other class damage-wise due to their bizarre non-standard quadratic damage formula since the release of 3rd job, and more recently at the time hindered by the static Magic cap of 1999 post-potential.
Problems arose with BB too. As everything got easier the value of in-game achievements went down. This can be said to be natural for MMOs, but in Maple's case the "standard" hadn't really changed for years until the potential system came along and after BB Nexon seemed intent on making everything as easy as possible to satisfy their laziest and most whiny clientele. With Legends 2nd job is basically handed to you and you get the massive arrows that say HEY GO THIS WAY YOU RETARD showing up for quests well up into the early 2x levels. Maps were also compressed, their paths linearised and ALL UNMARKED HIDDEN STREETS WERE REMOVED only to be replaced with "hidden streets" that have a massive yellow ring around the entrance that says HI I'M HIDDEN RIGHT HERE when you go near it. Only unmarked portals these days are quest related. This single-handedly stabbed the exploration aspect of Maplestory to death. Nexon's amazing foresight to keep LHC because "the community wanted it" whilst copypasting the nerfed Stronghold also returned us to the dark days of Skeles when you trained in 1 map for most of your 3-digit level maple life.
There's probably more but it evades me. I'm on the fence for what BB brought to gMS really. It brought a lot of what maplers at large had been asking for for years, but at the same time spoiled them beyond belief. In gMS this has been aided by the unbelievably quick acceptance of hacked items/bots/3rd party programs/buying and selling mesos being "perfectly normal" when they aren't and should all be rightfully scorned whenever possible.