After 2.5+ long years of playing this game.. it has changed a lot.

Come now, anyone seriously think the game would have made it past it's first year without the cashshop? I'm normally also very prone to dwell in nostalgia, and I do not like some of the more moneyhungry nexonian schemes, but really, had Maple remained where it was a few years ago, it would be even worse than now. A better exp curve instead of the 2x exp card from the start would of course have been the best for the players, but they need to balance that with what's best for the company.
The only thing that worries me is the lack of genuine care Nexons shows. Like not smacking down on abusers deleting their glitched crap and so on.

All in all, don't go around thinking change is bad, without change stuff dies.