Nexon Q & A Followup

All of them got duped to hell, were the tradeable protections scrolls even meant to be put in the game? I'd have to agree with the epic potential scrolls there was no need for that. Lucky day scrolls duped to hell as well

I would've greatly preferred a rollback to delete those items to making sure that a new player would never be able to compete with someone who happened to be on during that period.

Lol no they do not know what I want. I think a lot of players would like the Cash Trading System and some form of higher level content. From their perspective, they think that the occasional event item or some other bullsh'it makes up for the difference in power between nx-buyers and those whom don't spend much money on this game. Then they cater to the needs of those people who hit cap or have hacked gear by making more extremely op-bosses or by glitching the bosses so they cannot be killed. Then by the time people can actually profitably kill the bosses, they release events to make the drops next to worthless. Nexon really needs to take a step back, throw their business strategy into a fire, and re-evaluate things because although they are making money, this game needs a lot of work.

If Nexon knows what we want, they certainly don't care.

Whatever, I'm done with this hellhole cash grab and I'll see you all in MapleStory 2.

GM scrolls were never meant to be in the game and only existed due to glitches

Glitches? What about the Golden Temple event? Nexon said it was intentional, but the outcry of bitching and moaning made Nexon remove them.

>no plans to make a universal cash shop inventory
>no plans to return the guild pq
>no plans to let us trade cash shop items
>Nexon, regarding NX and fairness: "eh... you can get items through events ...", completely disregarding the basic things you cannot do in this game without spending money, like, oh, I don't know, participating in the game's free market, or selling boss spoils.

I'm glad I didn't look forward to that interview. I barely even play anymore, and I'm still disappointed.

They know what we want, It's just too expensive to make us happy.

Pretty much sums it up for me.

After all the time and effort [MENTION=1250]Savage[/MENTION] put into this I wonder what he thinks of the replies...

I didn't intend to speak about this (nor did I think there would be a topic dedicated to this on SP) but I guess at this point I might as well be honest with how things proceeded.

Before I say anything I want to say that going into this interview I was expecting the worst. I'm not naive so I fully expected Nexon to ignore, change, and dodge every single question I submitted. I had a 10 question limit (which actually ended up being 9 when I received the interview on Friday). Obviously, there are a lot more things that I wanted to ask, but I had to pick from what I thought was the best. I want it to go without saying, as I told Nexon, that I truly appreciate them taking the time to actually talk with us at Maple-News and that in no way shape or form do I think they are bad people, mean people, or that they don't care about the game at all. That being said, my objective is to present both sides of the story and to hopefully provoke an honest and accurate answer from whomever I am interviewing.

For those of you who are interested, here is how things roughly went.

 Spoiler

I e-mailed Nexon and was granted an interview. I was told to keep it to 10 questions. I asked Nexon's PR rep if there were any questions that were off-limits or that Nexon did not want to answer. I was not given any specific list or told otherwise to avoid certain topics. They were apparently caught off guard when I made the decision on a whim to allow the MapleStory community both here at Southperry and Maple News to contribute and then vote on the questions they wanted asked most. Their PR rep told me she noticed that we had made a post on Maple News asking for questions, but did not indicate that it was a problem. Again, it was a last minute decision I thought would be cool and quite frankly the questions I would have asked (save content questions) would have probably been the same and I did edit a few questions to provoke a certain angle to hopefully get an answer from Nexon in the most direct way possible.

After a week or two of users submitting questions and voting on them I compiled questions that received the most votes both on Southperry (8 questions) and Maple News (2 questions). I submitted the questions to Nexon and did not receive a response. Then e-mailed again and got one (they cited a 'sent to spam' issue). In that e-mail I was told as if it weren't a big deal that the questions would have to be edited and one would probably have to be taken out. A similar situation had occurred in 2009 when we interviewed Nexon's then-community-manager, Nx Neutral Daniel Chin, and when I received the interview back with the completed answers, none of the questions were what I submitted and they all clearly fit an agenda. Biting my tongue at the time I went through with it in hopes that it would foster a bit of good will with Nexon and ensure that I could get future interviews and ultimately ask tougher questions (at this time I was working closely with Lloyd Korn on private server stories so I didn't want to burn any bridges). I was promised that they would stay in touch and give Maple News some exclusives. That never happened. I'm not sure if Nx Neutral was fired or that they just didn't care.

I'm the first to admit that Maple News is not a huge website. It has a following and we've done really well in the MapleStory community while keeping our dignity and vision intact. Of course it's no Hidden Street, but hey, it's fun. My mother has been a journalist for 30 years and I've always been taught both in school assignments and elsewhere to present both sides of the story. I sent an e-mail back asking what was wrong with the questions I submitted and why they would be removed and was told that some of the questions weren't appropriate for a game Q&A and that they wanted to keep things game centric. I followed up with a lengthy e-mail basically explaining the moral obligation I felt to the MapleStory community and how this was in essence, unacceptable, and that the Maple Team (who are basically responsible for how the game functions and must have some knowledge as to how features they implement affect profits as well as the well being of the game) and that the questions at the end of the day, did tie in with the game. I received no response for several weeks.

Cut back to the last 2 or 3 weeks and I e-mailed again asking if the interview was still happening. I was told yes and that the Maple Team was busy with all the updates (a legitimate excuse). Then came the promise of swag and we finally received the interview last Friday.

I was surprised by the fact that for the most part, the questions remained fairly intact (save for question seven or eight I believe where we cited our May Approval Rating Poll in May where 57% of our readers disapproved with how Nexon was running MapleStory). Overall, although I know you are all disappointed, I think this was as honest as Nexon is going to get. Obviously as a company they would prefer to keep some things under wraps and at this point in time and business, very few companies are being transparent (save for new start ups). The climate will change and companies will have to adapt. I think Nexon is making a mistake by not being completely transparent and getting a leg up on the competition, but people stick with what they know until it's too late. Just look at the major record labels. Their whole INDUSTRY was changed by a bunch of kids with computers using Napster and Limewire. And they STILL haven't adapted.

They look at their numbers and they see their profits doubling and going up every quarter. Looking at a company based purely on numbers is a mistake and I suggest anyone who is interested how companies like Facebook and Twitter succeeded as well as small and emerging business to read 'The Thank You Economy' by Gary Vaynerchuck. In essence, the 'thank you economy' is about how hard a company works at making their customers feel like they matter. The corporate mantra today is to ignore problems where as Vaynerchuck suggests acknowledging them and offering to help and make up for any mistakes. Wouldn't you feel a bit better if you were hacked or wrongfully banned and Nexon just acknowledged it, apologized, and asked how they could help resolve the situation whether by compensation in the form of mesos, maple points, etc.? Instead, Nexon ignores 90% of their problems (not ironic that the question about customer service tickets was the one question removed) and in the end it hurts them more than helps. Sure, you're going to get the mindless, casual players, who still play the game and buy NX once in a while. But it's the hardcore players, the players who form online fan communities like Maple News and Southperry, that are the ones who continue to purchase NX religiously, get their friends to join, and ultimately promote the game to new players and ensure its survival. Nexon is ignoring their dedicated players and by doing so, alienating a large amount of them. I'm sure you would all agree that many of the users here on Southperry and Maple News are cynical when it comes to Nexon America and the game as a whole. We still play because we ultimately believe in the game and enjoy it, but things are less than great right now.

Ultimately talk is cheap. Although this interview is probably the most candid interview Nexon has done to date, you could tell that the answers were triple checked by their PR department and many of them are generic and formulaic. Am I disappointed? Of course. But, that's not to say it's not an improvement and the fact that Nexon at least made an effort is reassuring. It could have been a lot worse.

I think we are at a crossroads right now. Nexon can either decide to step up their game and join the ranks of new companies using cutting edge business models; or they can go the way of the rest of the dinosaurs and die off into extinction.

P.S. Through some mutual acquaintances and sources of those who work/are involved with Nexon while also being players, I can say that Nexon is completely and utterly clueless. They are completely disconnected with their players and have absolutely no idea how to run the game and how to fix things. They are essentially trying to make decisions for a game and community that they do not understand, which is obviously evident by their answers in this interview. Although I can't speak in much detail as I promised not to at this point, let's just say that as far as fixing duping and errors; Nexon is about as competent as a chicken with its head cut off.

[MENTION=1250]Savage[/MENTION]; at least they had the heart to reply or even actually allow an "q&a" session. That probably shows they're trying at a low % to try to connect with the community.

That being said, I believe we all understand that Nexon is now

. A free-to-play game should not have pay-to-win elements.

To be fair, as much as I dislike this there's no other way a free-to-play game with the size as MapleStory can sustain itself.
I have nothing against an advantage from users who actually pay for the game, but when the difference it's sooooooooo huuuuuuuuge and there's no way the non-cash users to get on with them, then there's something not working as it should be.

The Masteria answer disappointed me the most. They mean to say that they scrapped NxProse's masterpiece with thousands of threatening possibilities and decided on a whim that aliens would invade? And that there's more of this crap coming? I don't even.

The Masteria answer disappointed me the most. They mean to say that they scrapped NxProse's masterpiece with thousands of threatening possibilities and decided on a whim that aliens would invade? And that there's more of this crap coming? I don't even.

I've said it before and I'll say it again:

The original NLC/Crimsonwood was left unfinished right from the very beginning. Yes, it had the potential for expansion, but not without knowing how to expand it in the first place, therefore Aliens.

It's like if Shakespeare was in the middle of writing, went to get some some Burger King, but completely forgot about his work in the process. His cousin Ned happens to come across the work and decides to ''finish it''. Did it continue the way it should've because of this? No. Did it at least continue? Pretty much.

They initially created these areas with thoughts of expansion in mind, you can tell. Keep things vague, but within reason so in the future we can add on. However, they left Nexon and so the project was never truly finished. Even before the Alien ''revamp'' players started to notice a ''downgrade'' in the story of the area, because they were already unaware of how to go about continuing it.

TL;DR: Guy who created the content, originally, left. The developers now have no idea what to do, so they wing it the rest of the way.

My only want for Maplestory is for playing the game legitimately to be a more attractive option than cheating.

But considering the state of the game anytime any kind of positive glitch is discovered, I guess my need for this is pretty different from the average player.

What's your excuse for Lucky Day, Protection and Epic Potential then?

Lucky day/protection duped showed they are valuable enough to be duped in mass and it was better for the game if they became untradeable
Epic protect is the only one I agree with, but I'm guessing the above reason scared Nexon's profit margins

Not to mention Miracle Chaos, and all the event reward scrolls and potions that were made untradeable off the bat to avoid duping: clean slates, AEE, regular Chaos, even perfectly ordinary 60% Armor STR/DEX/LUK/INT... wtp?

Surprisingly the best scroll in the game shouldn't be able to be traded and gained in mass, but the untradeable potions is stupid but then again look at every quest reward and it isn't surprising

You mean those items that can't be traded in more than once and therefore you can only make a minimal profit with them?
Amazingly you are intended to scroll your own gear instead of selling them


Because I'm a devoted player who decided not waste money in a broken game, why shouldn't I compare to everyone else in the game? I like to take it as auto-constructive criticism. The big difference is that those "lolegits" can buy the duped gear with cash. So big difference.
If you compare yourself to players who spent years playing,merching,spending money on the game while you haven't. That is like forcing a sports league to put in your little timmy into a team, even though he is too young and everyone there is older and spent more time practicing. And then getting mad at the coach for not playing him


I think you didn't finish this sentence so I can't tell anything.


I tried, even with some friends. I know it's not impossible but for someone who's not that devoted to the game it's pretty hard, 90% of my friends quit in other servers because they couldn't sustain themselves so I came back with them to our server. Who buy gfas these days?
If you play in a new server, like you do in an old one you will have a bad time change your play style. And don't know just pointing out a braindead "merching" method that most people thing is the only way to make money


I would say 60%, Marvel Machine, Red Leaf High, every single box-related event (Hero's Box, Renegades Gem, etc etc), super items in Gachapon, the last Big Wig (not this one), and pretty much every useful event requires some cash.
Suprising all the GMS events are aimed towards gambling for a chance at a good item call Ch 7 news! Every KMS event helps out new players in one way

Yes there are ways to at least attempt to compete for a decent range but those ways requires you to play 16 hours per day and 80% of the times you'll end up failing. Does this count for viable ways to compete? Judging by MS community I would say no, but that's just me.
What do you think is decent? Why do you get to decide, just because the average player is expected to solo cht, that isn't decent, being able to solo pap for pots and other small bosses is decent especially if you haven't spent a dime on the game

^I'll just say this:
I have no problem with my gear self crafted and scrolled, no issues while switching servers and starting from scratch.
The thing is not everyone is as dedicated to the game as some of us are, they have no other choice to buy NX, this shouldn't be like this. Buying NX should enhace your gameplay not obligue you to buy it if you don't wanna spend a lot of time playing it.

What do you think is decent?

Thaat is a really good question right here, and every answer is just a perspective from a player. But I think every month, the "decent range" gets more and more narrower as Nexon keeps giving NX users more and more power and people just keep buying NX relentlessly. I mean you even need to buy some Cash to get a shop and sell your stuff... How can a complete new player, who've never touched maple in his life can step up in a game like this? Buying Cash...

And I have a question for anyone who actually read this:
What would happen to Maple if every single item in the cash shop would be tradeable?
Say, Cubes or "Spins". What would you feel to log in the game, read someone who's selling some NX go buy it and have no fear of being scammed, or even better see those items in the FM shops?

To be fair, as much as I dislike this there's no other way a free-to-play game with the size as MapleStory can sustain itself.
I have nothing against an advantage from users who actually pay for the game, but when the difference it's sooooooooo huuuuuuuuge and there's no way the non-cash users to get on with them, then there's something not working as it should be.

It's true, they did not have to even agree to do an interview (they loved using the word Q & A instead of interview. I assume to make it appear less important/professional) but it is also in their benefit considering how poor their reputation is among their players and MMORPGs in general. Still, I made it clear we were appreciative and would like to continue to converse with them in the future.

Honestly, I don't know what I want from Nexon at this point. I hardly log on to the game that often anymore, and there isn't much that can really change that.

I have no real desire to get to level 200; there's nothing there for me.
I don't want to waste money on Cash items at this point, I have school and other things to buy.
Events are largely lifeless and dull.

The only reason I really get on now is so I can talk to people- which I can largely do on Skype. I also get on to make any new class that comes along, or just to do some random quests, it's kinda therapeutic sometimes.

I think Nexon understands my want for a lack of hackers in the game, they've made it quite clear that they know it's an issue. But I don't really see things being done to make me actually want to play. The massive imbalance between players who cube/merch and those who don't is absurd, and events like the BigWigs thing just don't make me feel good about what I've put into this game.

I don't think honestly though, that they pay attention to my wants as a player if those wants aren't going to make them a profit. Jett, Nebulite, and similar recent things that "players want" all feel like cash grabs to me. Even removing hackers feel like it's more in the interest of their profit than any desire to actually keep the game balanced.

[COLOR="#0000FF"]Once I realized how bs cubes were I instantly realized that there's really no point in using nx for this game. You can't even merch properly without using nx. That's just stupid. They could at least allow you to buy the ones that aren't the shop keepers. It's either throw your wallet at the game, or have poor damage. Of course I prefer poor damage. I looked in the fm and just saw weapons for 999mil. So my goal in the game now is to just play the classes I like, and get scrolls and weapons through things like renegade coins.

I'd rather use my money for other things like riot points since playing LoL makes you want to buy it. The only thing I would get from this game would be cosmetic changes, and possibly a perm pet/perm water of life(yea I keep saying it, Ik it won't happen e.e). I don't see how gambling on cubes can be even remotely interesting, especially when you realize you're paying assloads for it and you don't even know if you'll end up with what you want.

If every item in the cs was tradeable, seeing how I think the market is right now, I think I would be window shopping at more 100mil items or something. Merch shops could be tradeable, but how much would they cost because the nx > meso value? Dunno how I'd get that money in the first place.
And yea, I started kinda new so I have no money, playing the game with quest/drops/event items. The cube thing isn't a problem to me cause I know it's the most stupid pineappleing thing ever so I don't even look at them. My problem is I have 6mil on my world all together (pretty good for one month imo c and everything in fm is billionssssssssssssssssssss[/COLOR]

^I'll just say this:
I have no problem with my gear self crafted and scrolled, no issues while switching servers and starting from scratch.
The thing is not everyone is as dedicated to the game as some of us are, they have no other choice to buy NX, this shouldn't be like this. Buying NX should enhace your gameplay not obligue you to buy it if you don't wanna spend a lot of time playing it.
But that exactly how any form of free game works, you can either grind for something for 16hrs or buy it for a price

Thaat is a really good question right here, and every answer is just a perspective from a player. But I think every month, the "decent range" gets more and more narrower as Nexon keeps giving NX users more and more power and people just keep buying NX relentlessly. I mean you even need to buy some Cash to get a shop and sell your stuff... How can a complete new player, who've never touched maple in his life can step up in a game like this? Buying Cash...

And I have a question for anyone who actually read this:
What would happen to Maple if every single item in the cash shop would be tradeable?
Say, Cubes or "Spins". What would you feel to log in the game, read someone who's selling some NX go buy it and have no fear of being scammed, or even better see those items in the FM shops?
GMS is getting closer to KMS's system of trading, but I've never had that fear because I do this little thing called socializing while I play so I know who scams or are legit

But the answer the OP question, I believe the players can't come to an agreed opinion on what they want. The majority of sperry agrees potential needs to be taken out of the game, because no matter how you balance a game if you balance it on a broken system you have a broken game. But the majority of other sites love the bigger numbers on their screens, so what does GMS give us for exclusive content? Events that let you buy power or classes that hit dmg cap easier.

P.S. Through some mutual acquaintances and sources of those who work/are involved with Nexon while also being players, I can say that Nexon is completely and utterly clueless. They are completely disconnected with their players and have absolutely no idea how to run the game and how to fix things. They are essentially trying to make decisions for a game and community that they do not understand, which is obviously evident by their answers in this interview. Although I can't speak in much detail as I promised not to at this point, let's just say that as far as fixing duping and errors; Nexon is about as competent as a chicken with its head cut off.

I think it is directly related to cultural differences. I may be wrong but the way I see it Nexon America is a so called "American" company but still run by Koreans with the Korean way of thinking. As long as Nexon America is tightly controlled from Korea with their own administrators things will continue the way they are. It does not bode well for the health of the game.