2013-10-22, 08:30 PM
Although the suggested idea is admirable, I don't think creating a "NostalgiaStory" world would be helpful or effective. It's surprising to see how responsive CM's at MSEA/Asia Soft are, or appear to be, however.
In my opinion, creating an "Old School" server wouldn't serve the game in any substantial way other than to appeal to a small faction of players who want to recapture their childhood through this novelty server. In my opinion, what may have made MapleStory appealing and "magical" to many players between 2005 and whenever Big Bang hit was a combination of the community, the game, and tons of things that are beyond any of our control. The planets just lined up, per se. Trying to recapture that is not only impossible, but a huge waste of time, as many have pointed out.
For example, I look back to playing beta and the great friends I made for the first few years of MapleStory before Big Bang. Yes, you were forced to be more creative as there weren't as many features, and yes, the game was more challenging. But, I never got a character past level 75 until Big Bang. Perhaps I wasn't driven enough, or smart enough to get to a higher level. But, there were many people like me who couldn't level without 2x cards and the EXP curve was brutal and as a result, tons of players went to private servers. Big Bang, coupled with Nexon's legal onslaught, helped to eliminate that "threat."
That being said, I absolutely loved Big Bang, the new UI, and the new EXP curves. What I don't like, like a lot of people here, is the pay2win model Nexon has adopted and the ridiculously confused and broken economy within the game. The lack of the social focus of the game, which for all we know was a happy accident as there just wasn't enough to do in the game for the first few years other than grind or PQ, so those who weren't into SoloStory (and it was much harder to be solo if you weren't a machine) socialized to kill time and to enjoy the game. That was done more out of necessity than by design, in my opinion. Yes, the days of Kerning PQ were exciting and, here's the word again, "magical," but being able to actually feel like you were progressing in the game without spending most of your time grinding after Big Bang was a great feeling.
I could go on and on. I think there are a lot of great points made in the ProjectOMS post, but I don't think implementing it into some separate server so that players who are feeling nostalgic can go "back in time" whenever they feel like it would be accomplishing anything than satisfying the short-lived nostalgia of players who are close to quitting entirely. How many people do you think are realistically going to be playing the "Old School" version at once? Probably not many. MapleGlobal already has a population problem in a lot of servers, so I don't see how anyone would get any enjoyment playing with 100 people on an OMS server where there is absolutely nothing to do. You would be better off playing a private server at that point.
My advice, concentrate on more effective ways to increase the social interaction in GMS through PQs and so on and so forth, come up with an eloquent presentation on how to modify (and not remove, because let's face it, it's too late for that) the potential system, scroll back damage through some of the suggestions you made, and make the maps a bit more interesting to name a few ideas. I don't think most people miss just having Victoria Island and Orbis/El Nath. The new worlds and features are great - the foundation of the game is what is souring everything at the top. It really wouldn't take much to make GMS more enjoyable than beta and pre-Big Bang.
A side note: How would this be profitable for Nexon other than setting up a business model (pay2play) or ridiculous events tying in with your main characters to interest people in playing? If there's no profit to be made, then it's unlikely that it's worth the time, money, and effort.
My two cents. Good luck.
In my opinion, creating an "Old School" server wouldn't serve the game in any substantial way other than to appeal to a small faction of players who want to recapture their childhood through this novelty server. In my opinion, what may have made MapleStory appealing and "magical" to many players between 2005 and whenever Big Bang hit was a combination of the community, the game, and tons of things that are beyond any of our control. The planets just lined up, per se. Trying to recapture that is not only impossible, but a huge waste of time, as many have pointed out.
For example, I look back to playing beta and the great friends I made for the first few years of MapleStory before Big Bang. Yes, you were forced to be more creative as there weren't as many features, and yes, the game was more challenging. But, I never got a character past level 75 until Big Bang. Perhaps I wasn't driven enough, or smart enough to get to a higher level. But, there were many people like me who couldn't level without 2x cards and the EXP curve was brutal and as a result, tons of players went to private servers. Big Bang, coupled with Nexon's legal onslaught, helped to eliminate that "threat."
That being said, I absolutely loved Big Bang, the new UI, and the new EXP curves. What I don't like, like a lot of people here, is the pay2win model Nexon has adopted and the ridiculously confused and broken economy within the game. The lack of the social focus of the game, which for all we know was a happy accident as there just wasn't enough to do in the game for the first few years other than grind or PQ, so those who weren't into SoloStory (and it was much harder to be solo if you weren't a machine) socialized to kill time and to enjoy the game. That was done more out of necessity than by design, in my opinion. Yes, the days of Kerning PQ were exciting and, here's the word again, "magical," but being able to actually feel like you were progressing in the game without spending most of your time grinding after Big Bang was a great feeling.
I could go on and on. I think there are a lot of great points made in the ProjectOMS post, but I don't think implementing it into some separate server so that players who are feeling nostalgic can go "back in time" whenever they feel like it would be accomplishing anything than satisfying the short-lived nostalgia of players who are close to quitting entirely. How many people do you think are realistically going to be playing the "Old School" version at once? Probably not many. MapleGlobal already has a population problem in a lot of servers, so I don't see how anyone would get any enjoyment playing with 100 people on an OMS server where there is absolutely nothing to do. You would be better off playing a private server at that point.
My advice, concentrate on more effective ways to increase the social interaction in GMS through PQs and so on and so forth, come up with an eloquent presentation on how to modify (and not remove, because let's face it, it's too late for that) the potential system, scroll back damage through some of the suggestions you made, and make the maps a bit more interesting to name a few ideas. I don't think most people miss just having Victoria Island and Orbis/El Nath. The new worlds and features are great - the foundation of the game is what is souring everything at the top. It really wouldn't take much to make GMS more enjoyable than beta and pre-Big Bang.
A side note: How would this be profitable for Nexon other than setting up a business model (pay2play) or ridiculous events tying in with your main characters to interest people in playing? If there's no profit to be made, then it's unlikely that it's worth the time, money, and effort.
My two cents. Good luck.