Is Maplestory "Cheaper" then before?

It's in the form of a question but it's more of a discussion piece. So I decided to step out of the funhouse shenanigans area and ask this question. I ask because I was thinking of playing MS again but am reluctant because I remember how much of a drain on the wallet it can be if you want to gain access to certain things. So I'm curious as to whether it's "less costly" to make a relatively good character (at the level I could enter boss run squads with relative ease) as of maplestory's many changes (It's been about a year and a half since I quit).

No. It's all about NX.

Quit while you're at it.

Nope.


If you don't have money for Miracle Cubes, you may as well not play. If that's not where the game is right NOW, it's going to be that way very soon.

Quite the opposite; in order to have competitive damage, you need to spend insane amounts of money compared to say, 2-3 years ago.

What bosses? MapleStory has bosses? Stuff like Zak/HT/Scar/Tar are doable by pretty much anyone and there's not really any sort of group organization to do the harder bosses.

But you don't need all that extra damage except in LKC and at Chaos HT and higher bosses. All the normal monsters are designed to die in 2-3 hits even if you have clean gear.

But you don't need all that extra damage except in LKC and at Chaos HT and higher bosses. All the normal monsters are designed to die in 2-3 hits even if you have clean gear.

This. Although I'm even willing to argue you don't need all that much damage at LHC either. Good party members >>>>> High damage (although of course, good party members with high damage damage is the best).

Unless you're playing a Bishop, you have all the damage you need if you play normal AP builds with 100% scrolls on everything. The BigBang damage change allows for casual players to reach Oblivion ToT mobs without needing to do massive amounts of damage. (Casual play includes Zak, HT, Papu, etc, too)

However, if you want to play "competitively" for high damage, then you'll need more NX than ever for Miracle Cubes, Premium Miracle Cubes, AP Resets, Vicious Hammers, Pam's Songs, Vegas Scroll enhancers, and soon to come Protect Shields.

I stay steady around $10-20 per month, and I don't feel weak. It's a similar investment to other subscription games, except that most of the stuff I buy is permanent, so it's less about being able to play as improving steadily with cash.

On top of all that, more and more and more mesos keep being bumped into the economy by hackers and even Nexon with their cr@p meso sacks, so even regular equips keep growing in price.

If you enjoy the regulars elements of the game, like gameplay, graphics, quests, etc you can play and forget about Equipment and NX, but if you play to interact with others, you will always feel the need to become stronger and thus need a lot of money.

im still playing maple for free lol

I stay steady around $10-20 per month, and I don't feel weak. It's a similar investment to other subscription games, except that most of the stuff I buy is permanent, so it's less about being able to play as improving steadily with cash.

This. While I don't disagree with the majority of the opinions here, well-to-do gear and most importantly enjoyment (cause as already pointed out you can't enjoy the game if you're taking twice as many hits to kill stuff) should only take about $20 a month. A few cubes here and there, a pet and some cash stuff to cover the hideous Scallion/Zakum hat and Dog Mouth and HAIR! Works for me anyway.

Why does everyone say you need money? You don't. What do you think the MTS is? It really all boils down to who works harder. I can get just as "good" as this game as anyone else. But to answer your question, yes, I do believe it's cheaper than it was before purely due to the MTS being in the game.

Stop bringing up the pineappleing MTS in every NX thread, I'm sick of people bringing it up as if it was the best addition ever to MapleStory. The MTS is horrible, the only way to make any NX out of the MTS is selling things worth over 5k and even then taxes kill all the profit. ALso the NX:meso rates in MTS are horrible. Like 1:25+

The day we get the cash trading window and they take out the MTS, MS will be "free to play" again as you want it to seem to be.

Why does everyone say you need money? You don't. What do you think the MTS is? It really all boils down to who works harder. I can get just as "good" as this game as anyone else. But to answer your question, yes, I do believe it's cheaper than it was before purely due to the MTS being in the game.

The majority of players who actually have NX to spend gain it from money spent IRL. People who get all their NX via MTS and not spend a single dollar IRL are in the minority and are the exception to the rule.

The majority of players who actually have NX to spend gain it from money spent IRL. People who get all their NX via MTS and not spend a single dollar IRL are in the minority and are the exception to the rule.

Feels good though.

No. Its been a while since the "Pay for Power" model have been implemented on MS

Why does everyone say you need money? You don't. What do you think the MTS is? It really all boils down to who works harder. I can get just as "good" as this game as anyone else. But to answer your question, yes, I do believe it's cheaper than it was before purely due to the MTS being in the game.

Oh look, the MTS argument again. You're probably failing to realize that as long as MapleStory is running and people are playing this game, your tradeable in-game items have real worth. If you have a weapon that can sell for 100k NX, then that weapon is worth $100. Yeah sure, it's against the ToS to actually perform that trade, but the entire reason the MTS can exist is that there are people are willing to pay $100 for that weapon, and people willing to sell it for $100. Now what happens when you actually sell that weapon by using the MTS? The buyer receives their item, Nexon pockets 7500 (iirc) NX, and you only receive 92.5k of that NX. Who actually wins here? Nexon, as usual.

"But wait," you say. "I still got my NX, and I didn't use any of my real life money! The person who bought the weapon was lazy, and I worked hard for that item. As long as you work hard, you can still play this game without spending your own money." Yeah, keep pretending people like you don't represent a pitifully small portion of the population and that whatever means of acquiring that in-game money that you are using is even close to being worth the amount of time and energy required to obtain it through legitimate means, in terms of real life currency. As a former hardcore player myself, I know people who were/are willing to farm hours a day to pay for their habit, and people who were/are willing to spend hours a day in the FM making money, competing for shop spots, pondering item investments. If you want to play "gold farm story", that's your choice. Nexon needs those super hardcore stingy players, anyway. They help create demand for the NX in the first place.

It's like $500 to be above average nowadays.

im still playing maple for free lol

Pretty much how I play, and I stack up to others, if not, better.

This. Although I'm even willing to argue you don't need all that much damage at LHC either. Good party members >>>>> High damage (although of course, good party members with high damage damage is the best).

I feel the same way basically since I've gone from 110 to 150 without any problems at all with below-decent gear on one character. But, I do accept the fact that if you have a high amount of % gear you're going to do much better in LKC if you by yourself can 5-hit the monsters there.

Feels good though.

I think it feels better to be able to drop however much money you want at anytime you want in the game.

It's like $500 to be above average nowadays.

Average should be defined by the ability to kill monsters and train which anyone can do even with horrible gear. Therefore above average would be anything above that, so that means putting any amount of money from 10 dollars to 1000 dollars would put you above average.

I feel the same way basically since I've gone from 110 to 150 without any problems at all with below-decent gear on one character. But, I do accept the fact that if you have a high amount of % gear you're going to do much better in LKC if you by yourself can 5-hit the monsters there.



I think it feels better to be able to drop however much money you want at anytime you want in the game.



Average should be defined by the ability to kill monsters and train which anyone can do even with horrible gear. Therefore above average would be anything above that, so that means putting any amount of money from 10 dollars to 1000 dollars would put you above average.

You can come up to excuses' but the society has made a standard within the community. You aren't considered above avg until you hit at least 100% stats, 130% pushing the pro range, 150% pushing insanity.

I don't really care either way, but for bosses that are already soloable, no such accommodations, of "I can kill mob's" really apply anymore. This is my rule of thumb;

Excluding leons castle

1 hit your training monster, above average
2 hit your training monster, average
3 hit your training monster, get better gear.

Pro is when you measure how fast you solo bosses, it shows your efficiency. Though I don't agree with it, its what the game has become.