Help me understand what will happen to maple.

Ok, I've been doing some homework about this whole big bang thing, but I wont say I'm an expert. I need some help sorting all of this out and actually deciding if I'm coming back. I need your help.

First off, this isn't a thread spouting out all the problems with maple. I love the game; I wrote about the game; I played the game for three years; I found a girlfriend in the game. But I grew tired of waiting for the potential I saw to become reality. We (my girl and I) eventually moved on together to new and brighter horizons.

I've been playing a little of bit of maple recently, just to see what has changed. I love all the new pqs and the dojo seems fun. I like the potential system, but I'm unhappy about the permanent decent skills and stat whoring that they perpetuate. The "easier leveling" marketing strategy for big bang seems to have hooked me back for the time being. But after having a run in with a few videos, I'm beginning to feel skeptical about what this patch will do to maple. The recent poll results from the main site doesn't tell me what I want to know, and in fact it asks no single question that I'm actually interested in. The questions I am interested in are as follows:

Will bb alleviate, present an efficient alternative, or bring an end to grinding?

Will bb do something about the horrible economic turns that have resulted from numerous exploit periods?

Will bb discourage exploiting of the game?

Will bb clean up the useless features of the game which include the following:

• filler mobs that nobody will ever level on
  
• useless maps that make the game feel as if it's a never ending walk
  
• redundant items that merely serve to fill up space in one's inventory and that have no collective value
  
• quests that have outlived usage
  
• garbage NPCs especially the ones littered about in towns
  

Will bb make questing a more enjoyable part of the game?

Will bb give us more rewards for hard work, rather than simply 3 and 5 points?

Will bb do more to differentiate the classes, while helping to make sure that no class ends up dead last (as archers have historically been)?

Other than suggesting cash shop items, will bb do more to help people be unique in terms of stats and skills in the game?

Will bb replace stat whoring with a more useful form of competitive fun?

Perhaps I'm being unrealistic. However, one must question the quality of the team that has designed maple if such a revamp patch as this one is needed. If such a patch is needed, was the game ever good in the first place, or was it simply a half-assed bastardized project that never should have been? I see design flaws everywhere in the game, and simple greed could not be the nature of all of these flaws. Nexon did not explicitly design a game to maximize profits, for if they did several components of the game would have been designed differently. Maplestory is but a shell of a game with tons of potential, but they have not spent these years well if they were attempting to build something meant to last this long. I want to know if they've finally pulled their thumbs out of their asses and done something about it, or if they're just going to let the sparkler go on as long as it can until it fizzles.

I'm not at all angry about the changes, but I'm unhappy that Nexon hasn't done much to elucidate the true nature and intention of big bang. I'm going to go ahead and call them out by saying that "faster leveling", a 55% poll turnout by the community, is an outright lie if they nerf exp curves while signfiicantly (exponentially) increasing monster HP. I can't help but see this as another hoax by Nexon to get people to play their badly designed game. I haven't made up my mind whether I should leave or stay, as I'm currently having fun doing what I used to do. I'm wondering why everyone else has their hopes up so high. Help me understand what will happen to maple.

Will bb alleviate, present an efficient alternative, or bring an end to grinding?　 It will alleviate it a bit. Grinding is much, much faster after Big Bang. Or at least, up until 120 it is. It'll be much easier to level up a character after Big Bang.

Will bb do something about the horrible economic turns that have resulted from numerous exploit periods? Um... I don't really know what issues GMS faces, but I don't think this will have much impact on the economy, except for the fact that some equips, like level 110 Dragon equipment and Hwabi throwing stars, will drop from normal monsters.

Will bb discourage exploiting of the game? I don't think anything ever will. People who do such are sick in the head. They don't let anything stop them from hacking, exploiting, or overall hurting a game, just for their own tiny bit of satisfaction.

Will bb clean up the useless features of the game which include the following:
•filler mobs that nobody will ever level on Yes. A lot of monsters that are previously unused will be used after Big Bang. A lot of currently pointless monsters serve a bigger role in the game after the Big Bang. Though, some others may suffer a bit.
•useless maps that make the game feel as if it's a never ending walk Some yes, some no. This is something you'd kind of have to see for yourself.
•redundant items that merely serve to fill up space in one's inventory and that have no collective value Nope. I don't think any of those items have gone anywhere.
•quests that have outlived usage All quests are renewed. Some may fit that category again, but I think a lot of the quests after Big Bang do more good than before.
•garbage NPCs especially the ones littered about in towns Um... I think this has to deal with specific versions. The only way to tell is to see what happens in GMS gets this patch.

Will bb make questing a more enjoyable part of the game? Yes, a bit. Quests are much better now.

Will bb give us more rewards for hard work, rather than simply 3 and 5 points? I don't quite get what you mean by this. AP/SP gain? Those stay the way they are. =/

Will bb do more to differentiate the classes, while helping to make sure that no class ends up dead last (as archers have historically been)? Yes, kind of. There's a huge game rebalance included. I don't think any class is left too far behind anymore.

Other than suggesting cash shop items, will bb do more to help people be unique in terms of stats and skills in the game? I don't think so... Things have changed so much. Skill builds are kind of redundant compared to what they are now. Skills will still be built the same way. Stat builds MAY change, but I think most people will still keep doing what they've been doing.

Will bb replace stat whoring with a more useful form of competitive fun? I think potential killed all hopes of that.

Thanks for your reply.

Will the game be good enough to start (attempt) inviting people back?

Yes and no. Some people will greatly hate the changes to the game while others will love it in its entirety. Of course, there will be shades of grey. However, I'm sure this would bring more positive interest than negative views of Maple.

Thanks for your reply.

Will the game be good enough to start (attempt) inviting people back?

It really depends on the person. Some people, as soon as they heard about the updates (such as Mages' ultimates having a cooldown), decide they're not touching Big Bang with a ten foot pole. Others who have quit for a while decide that these updates will make Maple worth coming back to.

GMS will stay GMS.
Damage whores will stay damage whores.
12 year olds will stay 12 year olds.
Nexon America will stay Nexon America.


GMS stopped being worth it long ago.

GMS will stay GMS.
Damage whores will stay damage whores.
12 year olds will stay 12 year olds.
Nexon America will stay Nexon America.


GMS stopped being worth it long ago.

Nobody is willing to ask the tough questions. Why is everyone still here if we all just expect and know that nothing will ever change? Possibly because there's an attachment there somewhere, and a hope that it will change someday. I'm sure there are many who want to share your view, but can't deal with the reality that everything they worked for was for nothing. It's all one big investment for almost every one of us.

I don't have a problem with all the wrong turns that Nexon makes as long as they eventually make a turn in the right direction. I like that people learn as much as they possibly can about the patches, and it makes it seemingly obvious that they have a stake in this as well. Posting here at southperry was a purely tactical decision.

Otherwise, and if you're right, I'm just sticking with Riot Games.

Maybe you should try out the test server (if there is one). If you like it, come back. If you don't, back to League of Legends.

Will bb alleviate, present an efficient alternative, or bring an end to grinding?
MapleStory is a grinding game. That's how you are kept playing for weeks and months and years, hopefully (on Nexon's part) spending money as you go. The exp curve changes with BB but monster HP goes up, so depending on your gear (see below) you may or may not be levelling faster. There should be more selection of where to grind, though, so you are not stuck on the same map for scores of levels. Also, there are many more classes to try, so you can alternate between characters if you get bored with the grind.


Will bb do something about the horrible economic turns that have resulted from numerous exploit periods?
No. Some tweaks to the economy might happen with mastery books and dragon gear dropping from normal mobs, but don't expect miracles.

Will bb discourage exploiting of the game?
No, unless it discourages playing it. As long as people play, people look for ways to cheat. BB does not include any changes to the basic design flaws that make MapleStory so easy to hack.

Will bb clean up the useless features of the game which include the following:

• filler mobs that nobody will ever level on
  
• useless maps that make the game feel as if it's a never ending walk
  
• redundant items that merely serve to fill up space in one's inventory and that have no collective value
  
• quests that have outlived usage
  
• garbage NPCs especially the ones littered about in towns
  

Since all mobs of the same level will have the same HP and give the same EXP, they are all (theoretically) equally attractive to train on.
Useless items continue to exist and take up inventory space.
Some quests have been revamped. However, "quest usefulness" is in the eye of the beholder.
Towns have been changed and compacted.

Will bb make questing a more enjoyable part of the game?
Supposedly yes.

Will bb give us more rewards for hard work, rather than simply 3 and 5 points?
I don't understand the question.

Will bb do more to differentiate the classes, while helping to make sure that no class ends up dead last (as archers have historically been)?
Supposedly, BB brings about class balance. Everyone different yet equal. It really remains to be seen just how well that works.

Other than suggesting cash shop items, will bb do more to help people be unique in terms of stats and skills in the game?
Maybe to begin with. Soon enough, cookie-cutter builds will emerge.

Will bb replace stat whoring with a more useful form of competitive fun?
No.
The Potential system brought a quantum leap to damage whoring, with the funded now being able to do five times the damage the non-funded do (as opposed to about twice as much, before). BB lifts the damage and stat caps, encouraging people to keep cubing their gear to absurdity.

Will bb give us more rewards for hard work, rather than simply 3 and 5 points?
I don't understand the question.

I'm referring to an end or a middle game. Not just access to party quests and medals, but an actual reason to achieve those levels. This doesn't need to be a pvp-style game, but it needs more reason for leveling than simply raising skill levels. That, or the leveling should just be abridged. With many of the core builds finished by level 100, what's the point of leveling 20 more times?

Many of these questions are linked to intrinsic reasons that players have quit the game in the past, and many of the questions interact with other questions. Let me show you through example.

They could have designed a game that didn't encourage exploiting the game in the way that it has been in the past. Stat whoring encouraged item duping in the past, and that's a good reason the game should be walking away from that part of design. Grinding also encouraged such exploitation. If players have a reason to be at a certain level (that is, seeing an equal need to be at a particular level versus level up), then it should quell the grinding factor. If players understand that they are rewarded for hard work on several dimensions then it draws the metagame away from stats and grinding. The current metagame is unidimensional, and therefore the exploits that hurt the game the most are much more damaging than if there were more reasons to play the game than leveling for the sake of leveling. The exploits that damage the game the most are the ones related to core game design, which implies that the core design factors should be examined. Nexon asks players if they want to level faster, but that question implies nothing about whether the game will be played differently. Furthermore, it implies nothing about what players actually want (do they want to achieve skills faster? do they want to grind less? do they simply enjoy leveling because it's thrilling?).

The question is, does bb change the facade of the game, is it the same game with a new face, or does it change the core, the metagame?

It's the same game. Or rather, a different game - different mobs, maps, skills, quests - but with the same concept.

The main reason for levelling is to acquire new skills. I don't know of any class where the core build is done by 100, everybody gets their "smexiest" skills in fourth job.
In the game today many classes finish maxing the really useful skills between 140 and 160, so you may well say there is no attraction to levelling beyond that.
This is especially true now with potential, which makes the few AP you gain per level almost meaningless compared to your gear.

I have not studied BB enough to say whether it provides enough interesting skills to motivate one to level all the way to 200 to get them all, for any class.

Most exploits I've seen, btw, are about money, not levels.

It's the same game. Or rather, a different game - different mobs, maps, skills, quests - but with the same concept.

The main reason for levelling is to acquire new skills. I don't know of any class where the core build is done by 100, everybody gets their "smexiest" skills in fourth job.
In the game today many classes finish maxing the really useful skills between 140 and 160, so you may well say there is no attraction to levelling beyond that.
This is especially true now with potential, which makes the few AP you gain per level almost meaningless compared to your gear.

I have not studied BB enough to say whether it provides enough interesting skills to motivate one to level all the way to 200 to get them all, for any class.

Most exploits I've seen, btw, are about money, not levels.

Money is in a distal relationship with leveling and stat whoring. You use money to get better stats (or buy more potions) to level faster.

The core of just about every 3rd job build is finished in the 100-110 region, just as the core of just about every 2nd job build is finished between 50-60. 10-30 for every job is the only region that seems just about right for getting all the necessary skills. Now do a little bit a of research on when people are more likely decide to quit the game because leveling seems just a bit pointless. There's much more potential for variability in deciding to quit after 120 (much fewer feasible training areas, expedition drama).

Why is everyone still here if we all just expect and know that nothing will ever change?

I'm still here for the extractions and the (sometimes) enjoyable community.

I have no beef with KMS, which I still play on occasion. My problem is with Nexon America's poor choices, and their lack of competence in fixing the numerous problems that their games have, consequence of their own actions or some outside force.