[Rant] This game's practically dead in terms of actual content.

a.) People level too fast for it, which brings us back to the EXP curve (and GMS' frequent 2x events).

This is pretty much the root of everything. No point in investing in gear or doing events because you'll get something much better 2 hours later. Back in the old days, upgrading to your next tier weapon actually did something. Scrolling a weapon meant you could use it for a while.

You're never starved for damage in the early levels, or at any point (until you suddenly get to a boss and realise you must instantaneously go from clean equips to 200%+ boss damage -- which is highly demotivational). Noob levels are too easy and end game is too hard. Other games allow you to run dungeons to build up your equipment slowly but steadily. In Maplestory, there's no such progression. Plebs will always be plebs and the rich will always be rich.