[Complete] Scheduled Server Maintenance - January 8, 2014

Link

I wanted to jump in here to clarify issues with regards to the high-end Sweet Water item drop rate.

This set of high-end items was introduced in the V144 update on 12/18 and was intended to be an end game item for Maplers to collect. As part of their introduction into the game the developers decided to introduce an increased drop rate allowing players to get a head start on their Sweet Water set. This temporary drop rate was much too high for long-term availability for such high end items.

Before we jump on the conspiracy theory band wagon over this being a ploy to make you spend money let me give this some context. Currently we have a number of equips available which were intended to be part of the player progression up towards Sweet Water but are being skipped over because of the unnaturally high drop rate of Sweet Water in the current game. These include:
• Reverse
• Timeless
• Abyss
• Fearless
• Imperial
• Empress

To illustrate this point if you look at the Free Market right now you will see some Empress items selling for more than higher level Sweet Water variants simply because of the high availability of Sweet Water items.

At the previous rate players were getting up to 3-4 Sweet Water items a week. Sustaining this rate would have completely negated the achievement associated with earning high end equipment and gearing your character.

The new drop rate was only implemented today so it is much too early for anyone to know if it is too low yet. How about in about a month we revisit this and if players are still overwhelmingly in favor of a drop rate increase we can discuss that with the developer?

As an FYI NxA has also asked the developer not to include Sweet Water items in the Marvel Machine drops so hopefully that reduces any concerns you have there.

I know this doesn't make a lot of logical sense, but... you can say the same thing about Nexon at every aspect when it comes down to it. Fafnir/RA equipment gives a better potential boost than Sweetwater, so why not ask them to exclude those as well?