2013-05-20, 07:44 AM
I realize, I love to ramble, so I've used spoilers to separate my post in to my memories and feelings on Pre-BB and Post-BB maple (because this is a huge post).
In summary, if you don't care to read the walls of text behind the spoilers:
- Maple was fun for me because of all the people, both friends and strangers.
- Back then, PQs encouraged partying with strangers, at least.
- I also really enjoyed exploration.
- I'm not sure if it was really because of Big Bang, but, I had a more solo-oriented mindset afterwards, probably because of how easy things became.
- Ended up spending a ton of money to get stronger and boss after Big Bang. (I spent drastically less as my enjoyment of the game decreased, though)
- Now Maple is kind of boring, and I don't really play so much as I leave it on like some kind of chat client.
I don't think Pre-BigBang was really all that much better, I feel like it's more or less kinda the same, at least for me, but I was much less invested in the game before Empress came out, and I had a huge active guild which made the game more fun for me personally. And, it's not just the game that changed, I did too.
Pre-BB
My fondest memories of the game mostly involve doing things in groups, whether they be friends or perfect strangers. When I first started playing Maple, I loved killing slimes in that map right outside of Ellinia, the bottom portal; there were always so many people there. There were always people in HHG1 (often times there'd be people at the platform at the very top as well), in Hen by the taxi, in Ludi crowded around the clock tower.
When I started doing PQs, I stayed up the whole night, doing KPQ, then later LPQ. Some of it was frustrating, and I'm pretty sure just grinding was better than doing PQs, but, it was rewarding in its own way. I did those rush OPQs, and when we got it, Ludi Maze. Ludi Maze was super repetitive, I guess all the PQs were, but somehow, it didn't bore me at all. (Actually, I can see why it wasn't boring, doing it rewarded me with EXP and prizes every few minutes, instant gratification and all)
I leveled pretty slowly, I was guildless until 46 on my cleric, then I happened to stumble upon some old friends and joined their guild. From then on, the game become more social. I started talking to guild members, hanging out with them in game, stalking them. I remember visiting guild members at FoG, at Gobys, and when Leafre came out, even though I was but a lowly priest, I made my way through the Dragon Forest to sit there and watch my newly advanced 4th job friends train at Newts. Exploration was everything to me, I didn't really care for training at all.
It was with my guild that I started doing Zak, and from them I got my very first Zak helm. Bossing was kind of a rush, it was difficult to stay alive at first, but it got easier and easier. It took like an hour, around the time the pros were doing it in 10 minutes. I set time aside for our Zak runs every week, it was the high point of each week on Maple. I got a taste for bossing.
Things slowly got more and more complex though, guild alliances, I got to bishop, skeles, new classes, leeching, arguments over leeching, it's all kind of blurry to me. I remember when pirates came out, I was dead set on getting to 4th job so I could ride around on a little boat, it's funny though, of all the jobs I've made, I never got a Corsair before the pirate revamp.
We got Temple of Time, I spent all day with some guildies doing the quests, and by the end of the day, I had a screenshot of the three of us in the Broken Corridor. They also gave me all the Pieces of Time we had collectively gathered, which were only 14. After that Maker came out. I loved Maker, I used those pieces of time to make me some Reverse Mage shoes and sold them for the cost of 15 pieces of time, which was, like 105m I think. I made two Reverse staves when PoTs were 15m each as well, cost a small fortune, at least to me. And I scrolled them with 60% scrolls! And I was happy about that! Then Cygs came out. I made a Thunder Breaker, I'm pretty sure that was one of the first classes I trained with the intention of leveling really fast. I remember spending all night hunting for and leeching off of Bigfoot with my two friends, and I had a chance to get in the Hall of Fame, but I just stopped training. I had much better luck training Aran, but at 112, AT&T cut off my internet for a month (mistakenly, and the month of free internet following did nothing to subdue my anger).
At this point, I've gotten tired of my bishop. It was 172, I had almost endless hours of Skeles under my belt (some of those hours on 2x, 4x, 8x, back when family stacked with event 2x, and it was a 2x EXP party buff, running to the FM to get a new one every half an hour), bossing regularly, but just as a healer, dispeller, resser, HSer. Oh, and Guild PQ! Guild PQ was so fun, but it was a small guild and can you believe I ended up as the main attacker? Went through the crack in the pillar to the upper area, stood as close as I could, probably hugging the Iron Maiden, and spammed Gen until Ergoth was dead.
Dual Blades came out, I fell in love with the class, still love it today. It was so fluid and the idea of dual wielding daggers was more than just cool to me. And we had Thorns as a party buff, which as I recall was much better than SE for Warriors, possibly mages. I got it to 4th job a bit before before Big Bang.
One of my favorite things to do was CWKPQ. Did it since the day it came out. The bosses were kinda scary. I was still mainly playing my bishop at this time, I guess. No heal during Margana, dispell Redner, and when Rellik tried to pull his Snipe, holy shield to prevent the poison. It was awesome.
When I started doing PQs, I stayed up the whole night, doing KPQ, then later LPQ. Some of it was frustrating, and I'm pretty sure just grinding was better than doing PQs, but, it was rewarding in its own way. I did those rush OPQs, and when we got it, Ludi Maze. Ludi Maze was super repetitive, I guess all the PQs were, but somehow, it didn't bore me at all. (Actually, I can see why it wasn't boring, doing it rewarded me with EXP and prizes every few minutes, instant gratification and all)
I leveled pretty slowly, I was guildless until 46 on my cleric, then I happened to stumble upon some old friends and joined their guild. From then on, the game become more social. I started talking to guild members, hanging out with them in game, stalking them. I remember visiting guild members at FoG, at Gobys, and when Leafre came out, even though I was but a lowly priest, I made my way through the Dragon Forest to sit there and watch my newly advanced 4th job friends train at Newts. Exploration was everything to me, I didn't really care for training at all.
It was with my guild that I started doing Zak, and from them I got my very first Zak helm. Bossing was kind of a rush, it was difficult to stay alive at first, but it got easier and easier. It took like an hour, around the time the pros were doing it in 10 minutes. I set time aside for our Zak runs every week, it was the high point of each week on Maple. I got a taste for bossing.
Things slowly got more and more complex though, guild alliances, I got to bishop, skeles, new classes, leeching, arguments over leeching, it's all kind of blurry to me. I remember when pirates came out, I was dead set on getting to 4th job so I could ride around on a little boat, it's funny though, of all the jobs I've made, I never got a Corsair before the pirate revamp.
We got Temple of Time, I spent all day with some guildies doing the quests, and by the end of the day, I had a screenshot of the three of us in the Broken Corridor. They also gave me all the Pieces of Time we had collectively gathered, which were only 14. After that Maker came out. I loved Maker, I used those pieces of time to make me some Reverse Mage shoes and sold them for the cost of 15 pieces of time, which was, like 105m I think. I made two Reverse staves when PoTs were 15m each as well, cost a small fortune, at least to me. And I scrolled them with 60% scrolls! And I was happy about that! Then Cygs came out. I made a Thunder Breaker, I'm pretty sure that was one of the first classes I trained with the intention of leveling really fast. I remember spending all night hunting for and leeching off of Bigfoot with my two friends, and I had a chance to get in the Hall of Fame, but I just stopped training. I had much better luck training Aran, but at 112, AT&T cut off my internet for a month (mistakenly, and the month of free internet following did nothing to subdue my anger).
At this point, I've gotten tired of my bishop. It was 172, I had almost endless hours of Skeles under my belt (some of those hours on 2x, 4x, 8x, back when family stacked with event 2x, and it was a 2x EXP party buff, running to the FM to get a new one every half an hour), bossing regularly, but just as a healer, dispeller, resser, HSer. Oh, and Guild PQ! Guild PQ was so fun, but it was a small guild and can you believe I ended up as the main attacker? Went through the crack in the pillar to the upper area, stood as close as I could, probably hugging the Iron Maiden, and spammed Gen until Ergoth was dead.
Dual Blades came out, I fell in love with the class, still love it today. It was so fluid and the idea of dual wielding daggers was more than just cool to me. And we had Thorns as a party buff, which as I recall was much better than SE for Warriors, possibly mages. I got it to 4th job a bit before before Big Bang.
One of my favorite things to do was CWKPQ. Did it since the day it came out. The bosses were kinda scary. I was still mainly playing my bishop at this time, I guess. No heal during Margana, dispell Redner, and when Rellik tried to pull his Snipe, holy shield to prevent the poison. It was awesome.
Post-BB
Then, of course, Big Bang came along. Changed the game. Easier to level, bosses were much less of a threat. I didn't realize it at the time, but the game was going to get less fun for me. But, not as a result of Big Bang. You see, by this time, a lot of my friends had quit, most of them not because of Big Bang, or anything, just, they moved on, I didn't. I still keep in touch with some of them, and I made new friends too, but it's not the same as before.
It's not just the game that changed, but I did too. I'm not sure if it was Big Bang that promoted the solo mentality, but I bought into it. There were so many difficult bosses, and I wanted to take them all on, after being a Bishop, support, all this time, I wanted to be the one doing the heavy damage at bosses; to bring other people with me, rather than me be the tag-a-long (but I guess that really started when Empress came out). I leveled, cubed, did whatever in order to get stronger, to be able to do bosses, and honestly, most of the money I used was out of my own pocket, I just don't have the mentality or patience for merching or anything like that.
Where as before, it took legions of characters to kill Zak in an hour, I now have legions of characters that can wipe out Zak in a heartbeat (I exaggerate on both counts, but I guess, not by much). I only dreamed of doing things like HT and PB, and now I find myself watching full episodes of cartoons in boredom as I'm forced to wait for HT drops, as either high defense or avoidability makes staying alive a joke. When CWKPQ came back, we had this huge group to do it, and I had just gotten Demon Slayer to 200, everyone did what we usually do, focus on Margana, have someone rush the bottom bosses, then kill those one by one. That is not what happened, I was the rusher, and before they were able to kill Margana, I had wiped out all three of the bottom bosses, and I became "that Demon Slayer who owned CWK". It was amazing.
Remember the Reverse staff I mentioned? It was above average and I landed 5, 5! 60% Staff for Magic Att. scrolls on it. I was ecstatic. Now I wouldn't dream of using anything less than a perfectly scrolled, unique or legendary Empress weapon.
Before, I was leveling fast just to see how far I could get, now I could compete for high ranks, at least in the server. I got my Mercedes to 152 on day one, and I was shocked. I wasn't even trying. Demon Slayer took me 18 days to get to 200, and it was my first. Then I got my Bishop and Dual Blade to 200, completing some of my oldest characters at last. Following them came my Phantom. Kaiser took me only 3 days, ~36 hours total of training. Finished my Paladin. Got Hayato to 200 in 5 days. Where as before, I used to visit my friends while they were training, now I was that crazy ass training for hours, spamming the Guild with my level up notices. I greatly enjoyed the rush, and, as a matter of fact, I still do. It's basically the only time when I'm really actively on Maple anymore, because I don't do squat any other time.
And then there's Empress. How I loathe Empress. I guess it really started with Danny. We became friends on kMS, people had just started doing Empress for V2 equips, and he needed a bishop to Empress, so I went with him. I went regularly, eventually I ended up spending $5 a run on wheels, and we were not successful. I made some of my very best friends on those runs, though. He wanted to take her down, and that feeling rubbed off on me. We killed V2 once, made a lot. When Demon Slayer came out, we formed a 6 person party and we did V2 every day, effortlessly. It felt great, especially the ~3b splits I was getting every week. Three of my level 200 characters were made specifically to deal with Empress, my Paladin, my Demon Slayer, and my Phantom. For over a year, my one goal was to finally kill Empress and everything I did was focused on making that happen.
And it did, killed her on my Phantom with friends, numerous times, once with Danny, too. There's a video of one of our runs in Maple Cinema.
And that was that. Now all I do is leave Maple on to chat with people while I do other things, like homework, or watch shows. That's it, Maple's just MSN or Skype or AIM, or whatever, except I've put more money into it than a used car.
It's not just the game that changed, but I did too. I'm not sure if it was Big Bang that promoted the solo mentality, but I bought into it. There were so many difficult bosses, and I wanted to take them all on, after being a Bishop, support, all this time, I wanted to be the one doing the heavy damage at bosses; to bring other people with me, rather than me be the tag-a-long (but I guess that really started when Empress came out). I leveled, cubed, did whatever in order to get stronger, to be able to do bosses, and honestly, most of the money I used was out of my own pocket, I just don't have the mentality or patience for merching or anything like that.
Where as before, it took legions of characters to kill Zak in an hour, I now have legions of characters that can wipe out Zak in a heartbeat (I exaggerate on both counts, but I guess, not by much). I only dreamed of doing things like HT and PB, and now I find myself watching full episodes of cartoons in boredom as I'm forced to wait for HT drops, as either high defense or avoidability makes staying alive a joke. When CWKPQ came back, we had this huge group to do it, and I had just gotten Demon Slayer to 200, everyone did what we usually do, focus on Margana, have someone rush the bottom bosses, then kill those one by one. That is not what happened, I was the rusher, and before they were able to kill Margana, I had wiped out all three of the bottom bosses, and I became "that Demon Slayer who owned CWK". It was amazing.
Remember the Reverse staff I mentioned? It was above average and I landed 5, 5! 60% Staff for Magic Att. scrolls on it. I was ecstatic. Now I wouldn't dream of using anything less than a perfectly scrolled, unique or legendary Empress weapon.
Before, I was leveling fast just to see how far I could get, now I could compete for high ranks, at least in the server. I got my Mercedes to 152 on day one, and I was shocked. I wasn't even trying. Demon Slayer took me 18 days to get to 200, and it was my first. Then I got my Bishop and Dual Blade to 200, completing some of my oldest characters at last. Following them came my Phantom. Kaiser took me only 3 days, ~36 hours total of training. Finished my Paladin. Got Hayato to 200 in 5 days. Where as before, I used to visit my friends while they were training, now I was that crazy ass training for hours, spamming the Guild with my level up notices. I greatly enjoyed the rush, and, as a matter of fact, I still do. It's basically the only time when I'm really actively on Maple anymore, because I don't do squat any other time.
And then there's Empress. How I loathe Empress. I guess it really started with Danny. We became friends on kMS, people had just started doing Empress for V2 equips, and he needed a bishop to Empress, so I went with him. I went regularly, eventually I ended up spending $5 a run on wheels, and we were not successful. I made some of my very best friends on those runs, though. He wanted to take her down, and that feeling rubbed off on me. We killed V2 once, made a lot. When Demon Slayer came out, we formed a 6 person party and we did V2 every day, effortlessly. It felt great, especially the ~3b splits I was getting every week. Three of my level 200 characters were made specifically to deal with Empress, my Paladin, my Demon Slayer, and my Phantom. For over a year, my one goal was to finally kill Empress and everything I did was focused on making that happen.
And it did, killed her on my Phantom with friends, numerous times, once with Danny, too. There's a video of one of our runs in Maple Cinema.
And that was that. Now all I do is leave Maple on to chat with people while I do other things, like homework, or watch shows. That's it, Maple's just MSN or Skype or AIM, or whatever, except I've put more money into it than a used car.
In summary, if you don't care to read the walls of text behind the spoilers:
- Maple was fun for me because of all the people, both friends and strangers.
- Back then, PQs encouraged partying with strangers, at least.
- I also really enjoyed exploration.
- I'm not sure if it was really because of Big Bang, but, I had a more solo-oriented mindset afterwards, probably because of how easy things became.
- Ended up spending a ton of money to get stronger and boss after Big Bang. (I spent drastically less as my enjoyment of the game decreased, though)
- Now Maple is kind of boring, and I don't really play so much as I leave it on like some kind of chat client.
I don't think Pre-BigBang was really all that much better, I feel like it's more or less kinda the same, at least for me, but I was much less invested in the game before Empress came out, and I had a huge active guild which made the game more fun for me personally. And, it's not just the game that changed, I did too.