JMS v301 - Hayato

Just as an FYI, I played during Beta. I come back to Pirates, Cygnus, Aran, Evan, and all kinds of other crap. They released all kinds of real content without ever adding a class back then. Those were good days, when every major patch started off with tons of exploration and figuring out what's new and what you can do in the new areas.

I wasn't implying you didn't play during beta, because everyone played during beta, even those that didn't. However, my point was that those were indeed good days. They added both classes and areas. I was simply pointing out that was that there was a time when they did so, and that it hasn't always been like this.

How are people not insanely annoyed by this? How is it fun to have 20+ characters on your character select, and look at them all and essentially be looking at wasted time?

I hope those are rhetorical questions, because the answer is obvious. It's because everyone loves buff mules. The precedent set with the Cygnus Knights and continued on into the card system was a horrible precedent to set, but it's been completely and utterly adopted by the majority of players. Some are annoyed at a lack of new areas, but most just get excited about new classes, new link skills and the fact that NexAm is still adding content, because that's just how low the expectations bar is nowadays. As much as I'd also like Nexon to stop catering to the lowest common denominator in the community, it's pretty much set in stone that it'll continue unless the community's collective mentality undergoes a colossal paradigm shift to shun the pay to win, damage whoring nature of the game. Sadly, 10 year olds don't understand the concept of ethics in a country that's religiously capitalist ETHICS BE DAMNED.

Just look at JMS's English Community for a perfect example. A ton of people swarmed into JMS for Hayato, played for about half of a week, and now we don't see most of them anymore. They played, the initial thrill wore off, and they left. The worst part about that is Hayato is basically the most innovative character they've come up with. He's very interactive, very fun to play...and yet people still bore of him easily because they're doing the same exact crap they do in GMS, just without their broken gear.

You're...talking about a small subset of the english speaking community in a version of the game that doesn't suck, where the god tier class isn't pay to play and Demon Slayers are permanent (IIRC, there was a button for creating them on the character creation screen in one of the Hayato videos on youtube). A speedy swordsman capable of rapid fire swordicuffs would ironically be significantly more popular in the other versions (that get less attention from Nexon) which he'll never be exported to. Especially in GMS cough cough. Mostly because, with JMS, even if they release a new class, the client isn't in english and most of the players in that version don't speak it, so it's a matter of course that not even a new class would keep english speaking non-Nipponjin from going back to friends and guildies in their native versions.

But on a related note, how do the actual JMS players like the class? That would be a better metric to go by.

AND THEY BETTER DAMN WELL LIKE IT! If only because their not liking it would mean that they not only get all the cool exclusives, but also that they're not even grateful for the attention and content players in other versions lust after.

L> Trade Jett and Dragon Warrior for Hayato and Kanna

If the theories of that video were taken into consideration, all new classes would have different mechanics to the old ones, not just look different, and that alone would be appealing enough to lure out new players instead of making them stronger than every class released previously, which is what they do right now. The only original mechanism that Angelic Burster brings into the game that no other class has is the hovering spinning monsters, which isn't more than monsters diying in a different way.

Well, Angelic Burster is a little more unique than that. But to be more specific, new classes are pretty cool relative to the unoriginality that Nexon normally displays. Because Nebulites and NLC being destroyed, both in the plot and as an area. However, it is true that they're horrible when it comes to innovation. But that isn't news.

As much as I'd like new classes like Hayato and Kanna that fill different niches, instead of more powerful rehashes of existing characters, that we get new characters at all is still a plus and deserves praise. At least until they get rid of the critical flaws of the current permanent classes. After that, we won't need any new classes. But as long as the permanent classes have a level 120 cap, are weak as hell, slow as hell, mob for pomegranate, boss for pomegranate or are lacking two races, there's always a need for better classes.

But then...I suppose that's the brilliance of not simply buffing the older classes up instead. It constantly drives players to new characters with exclusive cash shop inventories. In fact, maybe it's a conscious decision by Nexon to focus entirely on exclusive cash shop inventories, like they do on gachapon/potential/nebulites/inner abilities, since new areas don't generate profit on their own.

At least until they start releasing areas that require cash shop items to enter.