2014-04-06, 05:56 AM
(This post was last modified: 2014-04-06, 07:06 AM by CarrionCrow.)
I have 3 points that makes the game almost unplayable in anything but the most casual of ways now.
1. The paywall.
There are too many upgarding systems that cost extreme amounts of real money. They are all required if you want to do the high end content or play competitive (which was a real thing back in the days). If anyone claims to be able to keep up without heavy investing at some point, they are either liars or exploiters.
2. The Nexon approach to scumbags.
It is not viable to let them off the hook every singe time, making the real player's efforts worth a little less every time. Better systems, harshers punishment and much faster response time, or bust.
3. The dumbing down of content.
Streamlining everything so that the new generation of players can keep up with their silver plattern self entitlement behavior makes for very shallow gameplay. It is not just this game though, online and console games does this all the time now.
The Maple that drew me in and hooked me rewarded exploration, and it forced you to know every angle of big maps to be able to get the best EXP. This parking of ones arse while holding down a button, it is not fun at all.
The monsters back then usualy had something that could almost be called personality, there was good and bad ways to approach them. You did not jump at Dual Ghost Pirates for example, and you made sure that the position of your character was sound all the time. It was your character versus one or a few mobs at a time, not the entire map which dies after one button press, never getting the chance to pose a threat or show off any interesting AI.
It is not even a matter of being decked out in strong gear. When playing new classes you can destroy entire maps with just standard clean gear, and you are never, ever in any situation where you can die.
The only exception to this is a handful of bosses that venture into the realm of retardation instead. Magnus, Hilla, Arkarium and Cygnus are all great example of lazy and money grabbing design solutions. The Root abyss chaos bosses are better off, but it is rendered void and null by the paywall.
I have no hopes at all that this will get sorted out during the life time of Maple though. The entire industry must change, and if Maple goes first, people will just call it grindy and get their quick fixes from other sources.
It can get infinitely better than it is now though.
1. The paywall.
There are too many upgarding systems that cost extreme amounts of real money. They are all required if you want to do the high end content or play competitive (which was a real thing back in the days). If anyone claims to be able to keep up without heavy investing at some point, they are either liars or exploiters.
2. The Nexon approach to scumbags.
It is not viable to let them off the hook every singe time, making the real player's efforts worth a little less every time. Better systems, harshers punishment and much faster response time, or bust.
3. The dumbing down of content.
Streamlining everything so that the new generation of players can keep up with their silver plattern self entitlement behavior makes for very shallow gameplay. It is not just this game though, online and console games does this all the time now.
The Maple that drew me in and hooked me rewarded exploration, and it forced you to know every angle of big maps to be able to get the best EXP. This parking of ones arse while holding down a button, it is not fun at all.
The monsters back then usualy had something that could almost be called personality, there was good and bad ways to approach them. You did not jump at Dual Ghost Pirates for example, and you made sure that the position of your character was sound all the time. It was your character versus one or a few mobs at a time, not the entire map which dies after one button press, never getting the chance to pose a threat or show off any interesting AI.
It is not even a matter of being decked out in strong gear. When playing new classes you can destroy entire maps with just standard clean gear, and you are never, ever in any situation where you can die.
The only exception to this is a handful of bosses that venture into the realm of retardation instead. Magnus, Hilla, Arkarium and Cygnus are all great example of lazy and money grabbing design solutions. The Root abyss chaos bosses are better off, but it is rendered void and null by the paywall.
I have no hopes at all that this will get sorted out during the life time of Maple though. The entire industry must change, and if Maple goes first, people will just call it grindy and get their quick fixes from other sources.
It can get infinitely better than it is now though.