On the Issue of Power Creep and How It Relates to Nexon

[Sarah]

He really doesn't seem to understand what power creep is.

[Kunagisa]

No, this is precisely the point of the video in the OP. There are ways to expand the content in the game without obsoleting old systems and pressuring players to buy the latest and greatest new items to stay on the treadmill. Nexon has done an absolutely horrible job with this in every aspect of the game. They push power creep when they don't even need to. New classes could be fun and interesting without being absurdly overpowered. New bosses could be challenging without doing insane amounts of damage. But it's easier just to do the same thing they already did and just crank up the numbers a bit each time, so that's what they do.

Pretty much this. In essence TwoCents is saying Nexon is doing a great job at handing power creep by doing an almost textbook definition of power creep. There doesn't need to be more powerup items to make the game fun. Content can be added without making old content useless.

Releases a ton of classes that do everything the old classes do, but better, and then let players buff them ridiculously despite knowing that they're neglecting old content. Big Bang was a chance for them to start making changes, from scratch, and bring balance back into the game. They've failed on it, hard, and don't seem to care. Remember when classes were actually unique? Mages were known as the fast levelers that mobbed like crazy and had the best AoE in the game but fell on single target? Priests were needed on boss runs for their support? DK's provided defense for the glass cannons (sins back then), building friends was actually encouraged by the game because it was too hard to have fun on your own? It needed tweaking to get everyone up there, and that's forgivable because as game makers they'll learn from the playerbase about mistakes they never realized in the original creation of the game, and they really could have stuck to this formula rather than just saying "screw it, let's just make them more powerful."

The game has evolved into one where you can solo, and think of friends later for when you need connections to higher leveled gear. I'm not saying the old Maplestory was the best, but it didn't powercreep nearly as much until Nexon understood how much profit they could make by making higher damage buyable. TwoCents talks about how he plays the game for the friends, for the quests, for the community; however this game has done everything possible to discourage exploration and quests and gatherings, and it's all Nexon's fault for letting powercreep get out of control. If powercreep never took such control over the game as it did, he wouldn't need to talk about such things as if they're something none of us could understand, because there very much was a time in Maplestory's life where a vast majority of the players did everything he finds rare for most players these days.