2013-10-08, 03:03 AM
I think for me, part of it has to do with the comfort of familiarity. I'm not against learning a new game, but a lot of times, sticking to what I know is relaxing.
I started back around 2005, I think. Some other furries invited me to play it. We were all nooby together, though I think I took my grinding ability from console RPG's and applied it to this fun little online game and started getting ahead of everyone else. I was never the craziest leveler out there, and being a Sniper ended up detrimental to my leveling because I literally couldn't manage Grims and later, Himes training. I had too little health and that whole "too close to the target = bowsmack" issue. But I was pretty determined, and ended up going much further than your typical casual player.
But I have a really low pay2win tolerance. The Gachapon system ticked me off, because now people were now getting pink capes with weapon attack, which due to the low rates and fact that most people weren't gonna pay a buck apiece for a spin at the worthless item gallery, ended up worth something like 100m in a game where even 5m was crazy money. And this was even before Chaos Scrolls, so it literally was just 3 attack worth of cape. Still, I managed to keep going.
2x cards really killed me though. Before potential, the game was more about level than actual stats, especially when the +5 stat you got from leveling was meaningful since you could only get so much out of equips. And my motivation for playing a lot was climbing up the bowman ranks. I mean, I clearly couldn't keep up with Dragon Knights and Priests, but I was on equal footing with most other bowmen, for the most part. But then other bowmen started shooting up the ranks with their 2x EXP cards, while at the same time making 5x more grinding profit on 2x drop cards (because pot costs back then were expensive! If you looted 100K but used up 75K in potions, you made +25K. If you used 2x drop and looted 200K, suddenly you made +125K profit). Without any NX for myself, I got massively left behind.
It wasn't long after that private servers started appearing in the public eye. I absolutely LOVED OdinMS because you literally could not pay to get ahead. And with a fair shot at the rankings, I was the top leveled Priest and second in overall magician rankings when the server shut down. And that was no simple task...I spent many hours telecasting Shining Ray to get there.
I've been a big fan of low rate private servers ever since. Though I am no longer highly competitive and driven to be in the upper rankings, I love the fairness factor and the fact that somebody, somewhere, is risking a lot and sacrificing time and money to keep the game version of Maple Story alive. Because what Nexon puts out isn't so much a game anymore, but rather just a business plan with the title of Maple Story. And let's face it, I'm not the only one tired of "Maple Story, the profit margin". But I still enjoy "Maple Story, the game", which I know isn't legal, but at least it still exists.
So if you ask why I still play, it's because I'm much more satisfied with my alternative methods of playing, which don't involve Nexon quite so much.
I started back around 2005, I think. Some other furries invited me to play it. We were all nooby together, though I think I took my grinding ability from console RPG's and applied it to this fun little online game and started getting ahead of everyone else. I was never the craziest leveler out there, and being a Sniper ended up detrimental to my leveling because I literally couldn't manage Grims and later, Himes training. I had too little health and that whole "too close to the target = bowsmack" issue. But I was pretty determined, and ended up going much further than your typical casual player.
But I have a really low pay2win tolerance. The Gachapon system ticked me off, because now people were now getting pink capes with weapon attack, which due to the low rates and fact that most people weren't gonna pay a buck apiece for a spin at the worthless item gallery, ended up worth something like 100m in a game where even 5m was crazy money. And this was even before Chaos Scrolls, so it literally was just 3 attack worth of cape. Still, I managed to keep going.
2x cards really killed me though. Before potential, the game was more about level than actual stats, especially when the +5 stat you got from leveling was meaningful since you could only get so much out of equips. And my motivation for playing a lot was climbing up the bowman ranks. I mean, I clearly couldn't keep up with Dragon Knights and Priests, but I was on equal footing with most other bowmen, for the most part. But then other bowmen started shooting up the ranks with their 2x EXP cards, while at the same time making 5x more grinding profit on 2x drop cards (because pot costs back then were expensive! If you looted 100K but used up 75K in potions, you made +25K. If you used 2x drop and looted 200K, suddenly you made +125K profit). Without any NX for myself, I got massively left behind.
It wasn't long after that private servers started appearing in the public eye. I absolutely LOVED OdinMS because you literally could not pay to get ahead. And with a fair shot at the rankings, I was the top leveled Priest and second in overall magician rankings when the server shut down. And that was no simple task...I spent many hours telecasting Shining Ray to get there.
I've been a big fan of low rate private servers ever since. Though I am no longer highly competitive and driven to be in the upper rankings, I love the fairness factor and the fact that somebody, somewhere, is risking a lot and sacrificing time and money to keep the game version of Maple Story alive. Because what Nexon puts out isn't so much a game anymore, but rather just a business plan with the title of Maple Story. And let's face it, I'm not the only one tired of "Maple Story, the profit margin". But I still enjoy "Maple Story, the game", which I know isn't legal, but at least it still exists.
So if you ask why I still play, it's because I'm much more satisfied with my alternative methods of playing, which don't involve Nexon quite so much.