Can't log onto MS since May 2014 - Ridiculous?

I believe that would be incorrect. There may be few alters, but they are necessary. Both BlackCipher and Hackshield MUST be truly installed to work as well. I tried all this recently when I tried to make Maplestory work from a Dropbox folder. (Why update 8 machines individually when installing it in Dropbox will update them all at once? It can be done, but not without fully installing it on each machine into the right target folder.)

It is true, though, that once you install maple on a machine that you can update it just by copying files. I do that currently. I update one machine, copy the directory onto a USB stick, and then copy the files from the USB stick onto every other machine.

This was back when GameGuard was a thing, I've never had a reason to try since then because I stopped playing sometime after the changeover.
[MENTION=8631]VGreg[/MENTION]; for the love of god use the edit button, I have to keep merging your double posts. Last warning.