Changing standards

So I've been working on my Bandit a lot recently. Chief Bandit was the very first class I mained when I started playing on Bera in late 2005, and this is the last character I see myself playing for a very long time so it kind of feels like coming full circle. But I was digging through some old screenshots today and they're kind of depressing.

This image was uploaded on September 6, 2006 and is one of the very last images of my CB before I quit MS for a good half year. It was considered "decent" damage at the time. Decent being not heavily funded, not a FM hoar, but not incredibly poor either. 8 att 3 luk glove when 10 was considered "set for life," and a decent dagger for back when dark scrolls didn't exist.


This is October 14, 2009.

And this is without even trying - 10 levels lower, not using an ATT shield, using a level 50 weapon, and mostly using random mule gear I had laying around. So I guess it can also be considered "decent" damage for today.

Does anyone else feel like it doesn't have to be this way? I was pretty happy with my damage back then. Now, even with way better gear I feel like I'm weak. The game isn't any more fun than it was back then just because I'm killing things faster. I feel like instead of pushing for better gear all around all the time, we should be more interested in fun and interesting content. Just wondering what everyone else thinks about this.

I'm still using a speed cape/shoes, dont have any eye/face/rings gear, no MoN, have a clean overall(I sold my 35stat one ages ago and then blew all my meso fail scrolling FS), got a clean Zhelm...I get laughed at all the time for being weak...doesnt really bother me.

People are damage focussed because there isnt really anything else to do. After lv 120 it gets worse and except for grind or upgrade equips, well what else is there to do?...I dont feel like spending half my life doing either of those so I'm not really playing any more.

I agree 250%.

I kind of hate how Maple is nowadays (mainly MSEA, GMS and EMS) with the damage standard... In JMS, it's pretty slack, since not one single person cares about another's damage range. All they care about is getting things done and having fun.

What brings me down nowadays is that I'm still on GMS forums, so seeing everyone else being twice or three times the strength of my own character, which I poured my sweat and blood into, feels like a swift kick in the nuts. I don't want to feel like a damage whore, but due to MSEA, GMS, EMS, etc. buffing up on equips and damage, it feels like I'm being left in the dust and I can't keep up with the rest of the Maple world. x_x The way Maple was in its first couple of years of its existance was the best years of Maple. It was so relaxing and was more about fun than damage...

Maple will NEVER be like it was a few years ago ever again.

At the time, I was probably among the top 1% of Pages, both in level + damage range. I think I was top 50 warriors on Bera too. (Ok, I looked at basil damage ranges thread. First person to beat my range is level 60. I don't feel so bad now)

This is actually from before I scrolled an accuracy overall, my accuracy was not that great..

MapleStory is one of those competitive MMOs that doesn't show skills of a gamer, but how much money that certain gamer has. That's why it no longer appeals to me. Not to say you cannot play MapleStory without the use of real money, but you would MTS for 'NX' to purchase a shop to merchant anyways.. etc. It's competitive via money, not by skills.

Because of how much kids these days spends on MapleStory, everyone else wants to be as strong as them, or stronger, so more people will end spending MORE money to get better gear. Cycle repeats. This, is MapleStory. Welcome to MapleStory.

(This is why some people quits.)

Also, I was rather proud of this:



But I'm sure every other Night Lords and their mother has a 20+ attack glove by now.

This was me back in Bera, GMS :





As you can see... I had 100 base DEX and I was WAY below average, yet I never really cared... I only cared about having the most fun with my character as I could.

I don't have any screenshots at this computer, but I've been here since maple's first anniversary (even a bit earlier), and while a lot of people strive to have the type of equipment I have, spending hundreds or thousands of dollars, I think I've probably spent $500 at most in these 3 years, probably half of that was clothes. You don't have to stress about equipment to improve it, just do what you enjoy doing, and keep a little store up in your spare time. Loot your monster drops, pay attention to new/upcoming events that you can profit from, hunt some area bosses (or bigger ones), and you'll be good to go. The one thing I recommend to anyone who wants to earn decent equipment is pick a character you really enjoy playing and stick to it since a lot of good mesomaking methods are best at higher levels.

[COLOR="Green"]I came to the world of Maple after dark scrolls had been introduced, so I can't imagine what it would be like without them. Most of my stuff today has been made myself through sheer luck of a few 30% scrolls.

Back in the day, on my Page, I had 100 base dex (because I had never heard of capping your dex). My equips ALWAYS matched, and I only ever used scrolls I found lying around either in Ludi from being dropped from LMPQ, or from drops. All my stuff was scrolled for def, and I had never used a scrolled weapon before. Hell, I practically passed out when my friend found a 2 att above average Zard from a drop.

I lived Maple for the friends I had, and even ending up forming "families". My Slash Blast was lvl 13, my Power Strike was lvl 19, and I didn't ever care about damage. The only time where I ever really looked at my damage was when me and my Maple son, who was a Sader, started getting into play fights as to which of us was stronger. Sure, I used the extra points to fix Power Strike, and left booster unmaxed, but I maxed it later in WK when I had 11 points with nothing to do.

The only people we ever feared were sins. They would always come in and KS us and tell us how our damage sucked, but we never cared. Life was great back then. I only found out about weapon scrolls after level 70, and I soon started pressing my luck to get the best equips I could make.

When I reached level 80, I got a Green Battle Road and scrolled it for DEX (4 str 19 dex), a green level 80 gloves set with 9 attack, and a pair of dark level 80 boots with acc on them. I looked amazing, and I loved it. I'll post a picture of it later when I get back to my house.

God I miss when this game was truely fun. Even now, with having the ability to fight powerful monsters, I always have to have the fear that some little pirate or hero can come along and start killing me with it, or ks me. The problem I find is a lack not only of fun, but of true intelligence combined with caring and sincerety. Most people who are new know absolutely nothing, and they don't listen all the time, plus they're always asking for money. And all the old players just tell them to shut up and go away instead of trying to teach them.

Sorry, long post full of remembrance. I really missed those old times. [/COLOR]

Yes. A thousand times yes. I hate the damagewhoring Maple has become, but really, that's what Maple is - doing high damage nets you good results, and everyone wants that. I don't.. anymore.

I don't feel compelled to get better gear now on my NW or my DW, to be honest. I might be more persuaded if Aran came out (and would probably Gach for some gear funds), but in general I could care less if I'm doing 5k less damage than the other NW with a ZHelm, MoN, etc.

When I first played Maple, I started as a mage class, so there's not much different now if I go back onto that character. I can upgrade the staff into an ele staff/wand, but that's pretty much all I could to to upgrade that character.

So I guess I never really went through this stage, since I've only played mage classes until recently. Well, aside from my side project, an assasin. But I got bored of her at around 45. The only real difference I notice is the fact that it takes like 1 month to get to 70 now. It took me a pretty long time to get to 70, and I got 2 characters above 70 within 2 months when I decided to come back this summer.

I look on the training forums and see people complaining about 20%/hour being slow at level 9x.

What, really? I was lucky to get 10%/hour on my ice mage at 5x back in the day!

Though, I'm glad the exp ratio changed. But being a mage, that's the only real standard change that I've experienced.

I know how you feel.
It's the curse of maple story. When you get to the point where you start to be able to have fun, the game stops becoming fun.

During those 2x days of just fooling around, not caring about uber damage. then I reached 5x, and then 7x, and slowly that fooling around stopped for merching and grinding.

Hm, reading this thread sort of scares me as to what I'll think and experience when I come back. I was forced to quit about a month after 4th job was released (which is a little more than a year and a half ago), and I was pretty happy fooling around with my 4x Hunter in Scania.

All I had was a 6 ATK Work Glove given to me by my cousin as a birthday present (back when anything above 12 was considered godly) and was grinding to 43 so that I could use my 62 ATK clean Maple Soul Searcher (that I was planning on scrolling with my stock of 60% Bow ATT scrolls back when they were worth like 600-800k).

I knew back then that I was definitely nowhere near the high-end damage ranges for that level, but I had enough to be satisfied with what I had, knowing that most Hunters at my level would be lucky to have such equipment.

I used to be really sad about my bowmaster's messed up stats because I knew that I'd never have really "godly" damage with her, and that I'd need a ton of upgrades to even compare with moderately equipped bowmen of my level.

Then I read these posts, cheered up and realized that it's not all about damage.

Now I have a bunch of unwashed points in HP and I'm still having fun. (More fun, actually, now that I can duo Pap with my fiance and not worry about having an HB mule.)

Things have certainly changed, a lot. But at the end of the day...

...it's not all about damage.

I feel like instead of pushing for better gear all around all the time, we should be more interested in fun and interesting content.

Seeing standards for all classes rise every couple of months is pretty annoying, however, it serves as one of the very few forms of competition within this very limited MMO. That's why I enjoy it.

I agree. Back when my ranger was only in the 80s or so, i was still using a DEX scrolled glove, 100%ed overall (still am) and a barely passable bow. And i was still being low when it came to damage. I still dont pay much attention to others who say im weak, when im actually a lil above average for having moderate equips, and ~15 points still locked into my HP, unwasahable for now.

I would aalso say its easier to make better equips now, even before maker. So its easy enough to start out with nothing and be somewhat decent.

*sighhh* Times were much more peaceful back then. Now Z Helm PAC 8 atk WG everything is rudimentary.

Haha, worrying whether or not I had enough mesos back then to train teh next day was an interesting experience. Here's one I took of Spring 07.

Me 3 years ago.

i feel the same way ever one else does , that is if they played ms be for we we're all about damage and no fun. i started right be for gms go ludi but a little after the valentine event. i remember me and my step brother (at the time) just going around having fun . training together and being weak as hell compared to now days. my first class was a mage, and my bro was a warrior but he said he got hacked and made a mage with me shortly after . back then being around lvl 50 or higher was consider Pro . i cant stop thinking about ms and how fun it was to play . i would spend hours just training and talking to friends.
since i have stopped and quited for atlest 3-5 months now i always look back at the first time i played and hope that there is some way to bring back the fun while still being here to day. later ill put some images up of me and my bro. they must be abck from 2006 or 2005 or something like that .