The Visitors

http://maplestory.nexon.net/News/News.as...ageIndex=1

There have been signs that the Black Mage is returning with massive monsters continuing to shake up Maple World by land and sea. It is small wonder then that not many have noticed the skies until now. Spaceships! Maple World is being invaded! Omega Sector is put on high alert. Nothing like this has ever been seen before and no one knows what’s going on but barricades are being set up for ground defense and an air strike team is being mobilized. Will you join in on the effort and investigate the truth behind the recent events?



"The Visitors" is a unique and exciting update that the Global MapleStory development team has spent months planning, designing, and testing! The Visitors includes many new systems such as the Evolving Suit and the new "stage system." The team also spent considerable time creating new weapons and characters like Dr. Bing, the Omega Sector Secret Service (OSSS) crew, and the actual Visitors.

The Global development team comments:

"The basic idea behind the Visitors update was to introduce some new concepts and systems to Maple World. While UFOs and extraterrestrials are interesting enough, the main focus of the update is the idea of time travel and the introduction of the stage system. Time travel creates whole new gameplay possibilities and gives the game a new fresh feel. Rather than trying to add a third dimension to a two-dimensional game, the Visitors update allows players to jump into the fourth dimension.

The Visitors is also our first update based around the idea of a story narrative that’s expressed over real time. We call this the stage system. Maplers, as in most MMORPGs, are used to stories that are ‘timeless.’ Zakum and other in-game bosses can be challenged multiple times and some storylines can be followed again and again. Time never actually moves forward. With this update, we wanted to try something new -- to create one story that would be shared by all and have a beginning and an end. You and your fellow Maplers will be supporting characters that will help the protagonist, Dr. Bing, save the world. Maple World will dynamically change in real time to flow with the story progression."


That means that the Visitors won’t wait for you, so don’t miss out on this historical MapleStory moment!

Yay, first announcement I'm not late on.

"The Visitors" is a unique and exciting update that the Global MapleStory development team has spent months planning, designing, and testing!

Do we know if this is really true based on Thailand Maple?

And someone dejected me saying this was an Omega Sector expansion in one thread, which is correct, this isn't an Omega expansion, but after that post I assumed that OSSS meant Omega Sector Secret Service. To save my neck I didn't comment on Omega any further, but I personally feel more proud than I should be for figuring out the acronym. .-.

Who cares? Adding something timeless to a game may be dry eventually, but something that expires in almost every way isn't better at all. Expiring things have been scorned by players for years and yet you want to create an event where everything expires yet introduces new concepts? Use these concepts to make a new masteria expansion, and then maybe people will actually care about it after it's released.

So, it IS an event afterall, or so it seems.

The worst part is... that their description of the event gets me extremly exited!

Im gonna love this

It definitely looks like I'll have something new to do at least.

Time travel>>>Q&A having hints dropped about Masteria and traveling to its past>>> Imma cry if there is nothing heard about Masteria soon.

Intriguing most intriguing. Though id like to see more about what is to be done.

I know its not Masteria related but I remembered that UFO in the Electrophant map.. 8D Meh, I'm not sure if this is interesting or not yet.

The Visitors is also our first update based around the idea of a story narrative that’s expressed over real time.

I also noticed this; note how it reads 'first'. This event isn't so bad, so I wouldn't mind some more if they're equivalent or more preferably BETTER. Let's just hope Tespia made a difference for this patch.

I also noticed this; note how it reads 'first'. This event isn't so bad, so I wouldn't mind some more if they're equivalent or more preferably BETTER. Let's just hope Tespia made a difference for this patch.

Im still curious about the dam 127 weapons, and how hard it is to get and/or make them permanent.

Im still curious about the dam 127 weapons, and how hard it is to get and/or make them permanent.

There isn't a timelimited tag on them in the data but people are saying they expire and cannot be extended with crystanol. >_>

New stuff is always cool; though I still wonder: did Nexon AM create this, stole it from ThaiMS, or did they work together?

There isn't a timelimited tag on them in the data but people are saying they expire and cannot be extended with crystanol. >_>

So, the weapons dont expire but the other equips do? Thats going to make me cry with tears of joy

Who cares? Adding something timeless to a game may be dry eventually, but something that expires in almost every way isn't better at all. Expiring things have been scorned by players for years and yet you want to create an event where everything expires yet introduces new concepts? Use these concepts to make a new masteria expansion, and then maybe people will actually care about it after it's released.

This is what i consider a "Trial by fire" test. There are a LOT of new techniques being used in this update - the kinds of things we've never seen before. NPC allies fighting with you, quest progression via real time, map backgrounds changing over time, moving platforms in JQs, etc. These are things that, if it goes well, will undoubtedly be used in future permanent expansions. However, right now, it's important to see if these things actually work in the real game - and what better way than via event? KMS does this literally all the time. Springs, for example, were first used in the moon event. Now they're a permanent fixture of Orbis. Low gravity maps were used in that moon event as well, now the dragon rider PQ. This is promising if only because there's a lot of innovation in this event, and if it succeeds, it means there's a potential for big things in the future and that's something maple desperately needs.

Quite right, they surely wouldnt have made so many items based on this without being able to acquire them in a method related to the Visitors...The style of the weapons and shields has me interested in them.

lol, i need those weapons! I will get them......

One things for sure, if those weapons are obtainable at a semi decent rate, you can say goodbye to a hella lot of the 50% scrolls in the market right now. I know for sure that I want to get a bow and a knuckle. Possibly a dagger as well. But two of those three alone will have 50%s used on them.

This is what i consider a "Trial by fire" test. There are a LOT of new techniques being used in this update - the kinds of things we've never seen before. NPC allies fighting with you, quest progression via real time, map backgrounds changing over time, moving platforms in JQs, etc. These are things that, if it goes well, will undoubtedly be used in future permanent expansions. However, right now, it's important to see if these things actually work in the real game - and what better way than via event? KMS does this literally all the time. Springs, for example, were first used in the moon event. Now they're a permanent fixture of Orbis. Low gravity maps were used in that moon event as well, now the dragon rider PQ. This is promising if only because there's a lot of innovation in this event, and if it succeeds, it means there's a potential for big things in the future and that's something maple desperately needs.

Except a lot of these things are already successful if you compare to other games. The "real time" thing will probably only be successful if they tie in what they said about time travel, so that when the event is over you can go back in time and do everything in the event again and again. That won't really be a successful idea if the weapons and such expire though. >_> What shouldn't have been done was build hype by milking the existing popularity of exclusive content, only to release this which has nothing to do with any of it. When planning the concepts for this, it should have been something tested with an expansion to something that already exists. If they released episode 2 with all of this new stuff, they could test their s'hit while expanding on something already "successful". Those players who actually thought something of this place have only been put down, without getting really excited for this because it all EXPIRES and therefore sucks complete ass.

Also, the "Ultimate visitor" boss sucks. It's too weak to be any fun against a party (33m HP is not that much even for one person after releasing potential), yet too strong to be solo'd for most classes because of it's extremely high damage and KB. The only redeeming factor of this boss is that it gives twice the exp BF does, and that's not really that great because we don't know how available this boss will be to kill. Of course, if the VIP weapons drop from him and they DON'T expire, i take back what i say.

One more thing. RELEASE THE W7 CLIENT ALREADY. I HAVEN'T ZAKKED IN MONTHS AND HAVE NEVER SURVIVED A HT AND IT'D BE NICE TO EXPERIENCE THE ONLY HIGH LEVEL BOSSES I CAN ACCESS.

New stuff is always cool; though I still wonder: did Nexon AM create this, stole it from ThaiMS, or did they work together?

Didn't Slip say about half of it was original material?