EXP nerfs in the current KMST Patch.

tl;dr The game was very hard, Nexon made it very easy

News to me taking hours per level was "hard" back in the day.

I can understand trying to keep your attention and whatnot, but leveling in itself is in no way even remotely "hard".

Sorry, can someone clarify something for me? People are complaining because 2 popular training spots in KMS (NOT GMS) were nerfed? Not to mention they only nerfed 2 mobs in KSH, because unless I'm missing something important, HoH wasn't nerfed at all.

No one in GMS even bothers with C-2/Pirates2 anymore with Aliens being available..

HoH isn't party play in KMS, you know.

If they can roll out a 5th job or hyper skill esque system really fast it'll be awesome. Skills that are awesome but we won't have the ability to max or even see them used for a long time down the road. Some buff you get at level 250 a la echo except way better. An attack or something at 240 or 230. I dunno, but it'll be something significant to making the personal achievement that much more satisfying.

I agree with the few reasonable posts, this is an extreme overreaction at the moment. I agree that the rollout of these changes is awkward because it makes serious changes to leveling without releasing additional content to make it bearable, but this doesn't mean that nothing is on the way. Does anyone know anything about the new root abyss training area for lvls 180+? And wasn't new content announced but not revealed yet? There is just a lot to expect, and I'm sure they'll deliver in some form that will diffuse this paranoia but if they don't it's of course their own funeral. But does anyone really believe that, please don't be unrealistically cynical.

Precisely, having content to explore "all the way" to 250 would mean escalating that content to fit the game progress.

We have these 3 theme dungeons:
Mushroom Kingdom
Kerning Square
Chryse

Sweet content, right?
Not really.

Grinding will level you past that content so fast, that it won't be important anymore when you're level 60, 70, or 120. Because no level 70 will say "Hey, how about going to Mushroom Kingdom to explore the level 30 content?".

i kinda feel you... every time i make a new character i always end up doing the theme dungeons once im over level 100(for the medal) because questing there will only hinder your progress because levelling can be done so fast without any interruptions. And the state the game currently is right now, level 30 ~ 60 content can be removed without affecting anyone since we breeze past through them.


((and yes omg, i was happy to become a priest last time because it took alot of dedication during the levels where heal was basically useless))

Now, 4th job.
With no party play areas it meant a ridiculous amount of grinding. I first got to 4th job back at skeles. I admit it was a bit too much of a pain back then.
But now it means NOTHING!
It could have used some adjustments, but NOT going from months and months of work to get to 4th job, to be able to do it in 19 hours, or for more casual people, in 2-5 days.

The game right now feels rushed.
You rush through everything to 4th job. And then you're welcome to be annoyed by Mastery Books, people 30 levels below you with triple the damage thanks to potential, and the inability to kill any important bosses without lots of funding or knowing people, people you didn't meet on your way to 4th job because it all happened in a heartbeat.

tl;dr The game was very hard, Nexon made it very easy

The problem, to me, is that Nexon focused on new classes = new content. On one character, I'm fine with 8+ hours per level (my Paladin spent a good stretch, probably 50-155, at a minimum of 8 hours each, reaching up to 25+ hours at the slower points, since LHC came out when it was high 15x). If the only way to experience new content is to grind a new character to 120... no thank you. My account has what, 9 or 10 4th jobs on it now? If they want me to enjoy playing all those characters to 4th there'd better be a decrease in the grind I have to accomplish on each of them.

If they want me to try the new classes, specifically their 4th job skills they can't nerf grinding. And since they want me to try new classes, the equation is simple.

If they want me to grind characters I've already got, they can balance the existing classes so there's a point to me playing Aran/DK/Paladin (all of which lose out in the dps race by a large margin - the DK and Paladin in general, the Aran at high-end upgrades due to its low hits per second). A single equip upgrade for an AB could add more dps than my Aran can do, total.

News to me taking hours per level was "hard" back in the day.

I can understand trying to keep your attention and whatnot, but leveling in itself is in no way even remotely "hard".

god bless this man

News to me taking hours per level was "hard" back in the day.

I can understand trying to keep your attention and whatnot, but leveling in itself is in no way even remotely "hard".

I believe he was referring to the tedium involved in regards of leveling. I don't think anyone can honestly say it's hard to find a monster and kill it. Only when you have to repeat the process around 6000 times simply for 1 level can it start to become 'hard', which was his bottom line. And in all honesty, I can't blame him.

in the old days

taking days, months to level is fairly common

months have been reduced to days and days to hours ...

1 damage to orange mushrooms, poking monsters till the skill improving MP/HP Increase is maxed ...

The old ways are no longer compatible with the way Maple is now, there are too many classes and incentives to make them all. I miss the way the game was, but it's not productive to dwell on it. If we really had such a problem with post big-bang maple, we wouldn't still be here.

News to me taking hours per level was "hard" back in the day.

I can understand trying to keep your attention and whatnot, but leveling in itself is in no way even remotely "hard".

I agree, but I don't have to spit it out for you: It wasn't hard as in solving an advanced math problem, but hard as in having to bear an extremely annoying math professor and a pomegranatety classroom while trying to solve a problem. Maple Story never took skill, save perhaps jumping quests and memory/omok minigames, but it was still quite a task getting to fourth job. You know what I mean.

i kinda feel you... every time i make a new character i always end up doing the theme dungeons once im over level 100(for the medal) because questing there will only hinder your progress because levelling can be done so fast without any interruptions. And the state the game currently is right now, level 30 ~ 60 content can be removed without affecting anyone since we breeze past through them.

Exactly what I meant, thank you.

Stereo basically hit the nail on the head. They designed the game so you could breeze through the content with new classes, get to 120, gear up your character, and spend cubes on your end-game equips. It's basically centered around novelty and money.

It's no surprise that they moved all the newbie party quests from level 10 to level 30, and then to level 50. While newer ones are unlocked at 120. Perhaps what they need to do is push stuff like Mushroom Kingdom to a bit higher levels, or completely overhaul the concept of a "Theme Dungeon", making it more like mission maps rather than long questlines. Because the questlines are quite useless if you wanna play the game efficiently. All new events for new jobs are "get to 120 before X date to get cool stuff!", so there's no excuse to say you can just play it slow and "enjoy" the questlines. Ain't nobody got time for that, must get event ring/medal/mount/mask/set at 120!

Well, in the end I think Nexon realized this problem I'm explaining, but instead of fixing old content and balance the game, they went the Nexon way... leave old stuff the way it is, and just ADD HIGHER FUKKEN NUMBERZ.

More potential lines!
More stat boosts!
More hp for players!
More pendants!
More classes!
More damage cap!
More levels!
More trillion hp bosses!

Yeah, that will do it.

[MENTION=4377]LegendGospel[/MENTION];

The only thing they haven't added yet is more lasers (and content obv).

[MENTION=4377]LegendGospel[/MENTION]; That's why Nexon needs to actually consolidate their content so that it flows better. I figure that most can get to level 120 within the given event period so that's not as much of an issue to me, but the major problem as you've mentioned is that people would rather blaze through those levels than replay a theme dungeon they've done before where the rewards are now paltry in comparison to what they were previously. But then again, theme dungeons are also an issue on their own because most people of the appropriate level can finish it within a few hours so they still can't hold much of an appeal to players unless they wanted to take a break from the normal training spots.

If I were charged with making sure the early levels were fast and yet an enjoyable experience, this is what I would do assuming that I have no restrictions:

Introduce class-specific questlines that begin at the second job which includes daily missions for fighting monsters or doing something, with the quest rewards being weapons and armours that could help unfunded Maplers. We've come a long way from the times when you had to get your own weapon and earn it which is helpful in helping people to not quit due to lack of funds since not everyone figures out the beauty of Mining and part-time jobs immediately and having your own quest branch's equips would do a lot in helping you feel special and you might even anvil them later if you like the equips enough.

There was going to be a second point but I forgot what it was about. I think too that Nexon recognizes this but hurrdurr lasers and $$$.

add area not classes ...

seems like adding re-used paper and reskinned objects are the norm

The only reason I'm glad for the 250 cap is that I can still play my main without exp going to waste. And I'm ok with that.

The problem, to me, is that Nexon focused on new classes = new content. On one character, I'm fine with 8+ hours per level (my Paladin spent a good stretch, probably 50-155, at a minimum of 8 hours each, reaching up to 25+ hours at the slower points, since LHC came out when it was high 15x). If the only way to experience new content is to grind a new character to 120... no thank you. My account has what, 9 or 10 4th jobs on it now? If they want me to enjoy playing all those characters to 4th there'd better be a decrease in the grind I have to accomplish on each of them.

If they want me to try the new classes, specifically their 4th job skills they can't nerf grinding. And since they want me to try new classes, the equation is simple.

If they want me to grind characters I've already got, they can balance the existing classes so there's a point to me playing Aran/DK/Paladin (all of which lose out in the dps race by a large margin - the DK and Paladin in general, the Aran at high-end upgrades due to its low hits per second). A single equip upgrade for an AB could add more dps than my Aran can do, total.

It's the way the game is designed that makes it hard for them to create new content that everyone can participate in. MapleStory isn't like every modern MMO, where the level cap is easily reached by anyone who plays the game for more than 60-100 hours and all new content can be focused at the level cap, or scaled. MapleStory was designed to be an endless grind, where casual and average players could have plenty to do in lower level areas, while the hardcore players could continue to log in and play for more experience. For years, that meant concentrating the content at lower levels, while putting in a handful of high level bosses that hardcore players could kill over and over again for experience and lucrative drops that they could sell to invest into the luck-based upgrade systems.

Over time, the continuing power creep (natural to have in MMOs) meant more and more players got to higher levels, exposing a void in content, crowding the few areas and bosses that were available, and pushing players to grind for 20+ hours for a single level. Nexon has a limited amount of resources with which to create new content. They could add more high level content, but that keeps a significant part of the playerbase from accessing it, and you reach a dead end at level 200, so they needed to preserve that time sink.

So what did they do? New classes! The point was not just to give players new gameplay options, it was to encourage players to start over by making them overpowered, giving them something new to work on. Make them forget about the broken systems at higher levels. Everyone can participate, and old content gets recycled.

By making dozens of new classes, they've managed to extend the life of the game by quite a bit, and avoid making any big changes like the level cap extension until now. It was a brilliant move by Nexon.

It's the way the game is designed that makes it hard for them to create new content that everyone can participate in. MapleStory isn't like every modern MMO, where the level cap is easily reached by anyone who plays the game for more than 60-100 hours and all new content can be focused at the level cap, or scaled. MapleStory was designed to be an endless grind, where casual and average players could have plenty to do in lower level areas, while the hardcore players could continue to log in and play for more experience. For years, that meant concentrating the content at lower levels, while putting in a handful of high level bosses that hardcore players could kill over and over again for experience and lucrative drops that they could sell to invest into the luck-based upgrade systems.

Over time, the continuing power creep (natural to have in MMOs) meant more and more players got to higher levels, exposing a void in content, crowding the few areas and bosses that were available, and pushing players to grind for 20+ hours for a single level. Nexon has a limited amount of resources with which to create new content. They could add more high level content, but that keeps a significant part of the playerbase from accessing it, and you reach a dead end at level 200, so they needed to preserve that time sink.

So what did they do? New classes! The point was not just to give players new gameplay options, it was to encourage players to start over by making them overpowered, giving them something new to work on. Make them forget about the broken systems at higher levels. Everyone can participate, and old content gets recycled.

By making dozens of new classes, they've managed to extend the life of the game by quite a bit, and avoid making any big changes like the level cap extension until now. It was a brilliant move by Nexon.

Diabolical scheme by Nexon over near-10-years
nuff said

If not MapleStory would get closed
but I think they extend the cap is because SOMEHOW (I just can't figure out how, can any computer savvy enlighten me?) they found a way to bypass the 2bil limit and thus they could do whatever they want with any numbering-related contents which were previously limited by the 32bit (was it?) system limit

Among all, WHAT benefit them the most? LEVEL CAP
Yes, more grinding, more potential(Not the one that can be cubed) and more lifetime of a character can be found.

They were probably stuck with the Level limit since they have to find out a proper well to settle the super high level content, and it must be balanced (Yeap, shouldn't be like aliens in revamped NLC
Can't be way too much (Too high then it runs over 200
Can't be way too low (Then it would be pointless
And must be long-lasting (Lv180-200 is hard-leveling but is a small range, I THINK

So if they extend to Lv250
they can make REAL high level contents from Lv180-220 or 240 something.
(But the cycle still goes on, what could be the final content for Lv240 onwards then? The EXP curve is harsh enough...
Now, we'll wait and see how Nexon will act for the new level cap after nerfing the EXP. of most of the popular monsters we hunt all the time
Because afterall, whenever they nerf something ,a new thing come.
They surely will do something, they won't let the players face hardship forever, for real.

LEVELING HONOR IS FREAKING HARSH IN ASWAN TO CERTAIN PLAYERS !
Getting to Lv70 just for the third line does kill for some players
Then.. "We'll make it into ABILITY and goes with 4 types of rank!! And it's unlocked from normal leveling!"
Also "Oh , why don't we make it into EXP from medals? Thus players don't have to face the skeleton soldiers all week long until they puke!"

And Nexon Korea can always find something to crash markets of certain items (Just that they want to do it or not)
Ex : Empress equipments from 9th anniversary boxes.


Well, my personal opinion, worth not even dirt or worth few pennies, it's up to you...

I'm guessing they'll be adding one crazy new mob that requires you to be in a party to give crazy exp and everything will remain the way it is.
I wouldn't mind grinds and slow leveling... what bothers me is that I must do it in the same pineappleing place forever. That's one reason why I got stuck at 186... it's just too pineappleing boring to kill the same things over and over and over again. And that's not the only problem: you're forced to party if you want to level at a decent rate.
They won't add new maps or new mobs that anyone can solo, and if they did it would be stupid and pointless: hackers will ruin whatever new content is soloable. Like they did with Future Henesys and who knows what else.
I'd be insane or extremely bored if I ever attempted to get 250 with nerfed EXP rates in awful maps (Main reason why I haven't hit 200 yet): Spamming 1 awful button pineappleing forever in an awful map annoys the crap out of me. If I'm going to grind it must be fun and rewarding.

I'm currently soloing at Drill Hall 1 and I'm level 197 It's surprizingly good (which doesn't mean it's good)for solo EXP. Soloed there for 3-4 hours and got 60%. There's no SH parties during my playtimes so I'm kinda forced to do this. Other option is getting a pt of leechers and destroying the Crocs map with Tempest. So in fact I have 5 options: Solo Crocs with HS+leechers, Solo Drill Hall 1, Party Drill Hall 2, Party HoH (Never find anyone), Solo Drill Hall 1 with Leechers+HS

I agree with you though. I kinda wish they would add some fun high level PQs and a few areas that give the exact same exp, so that one isn't better than the other.

At least there's evolving world coming soon.

The problem with this "genius" method of proloing the games life is it's short term. They kept our attention but now they have 30+ classes that they now have to constantly balance and manage until the next clearly overpowered class comes out. Making some classes time limited, is a good way to juggle, but I'm tired of the unreliable balance/unbalancing of classes and really discourages me from playing, personally.

The problem with this "genius" method of proloing the games life is it's short term. They kept our attention but now they have 30+ classes that they now have to constantly balance and manage until the next clearly overpowered class comes out. Making some classes time limited, is a good way to juggle, but I'm tired of the unreliable balance/unbalancing of classes and really discourages me from playing, personally.

Short term? They've been churning out new classes for four years now. How long do you think MapleStory's going to be around, anyway?