game geekery v. 1.0 MS
I have played a ton of online games over the years and I'm going to rant about them a little bit. yep...
maplestory
maplestory.nexon.net/Default.aspx
"free" online game depending on what class you play
So I haven't played the ol' maplestory in a month or so. I just don't like it anymore. They did this huge weapon overhaul and released new improvement scrolls. It completely wrecked the mapleconemy by making things like chaos scrolls worth next to nothing...like 30 mil (and yes, the economy in that game is so screwed that 30 mil can get you next to nothing of worth or use and is actually not even enough to keep potions on your character for a long amount of time...especially for bishops as Genesis uses crazy amounts of mp). Also, because of the overhaul making so many things worthless, most of the people around my level bracket left. In truth, I probably would have left right after they nerfed my genesis anyway (giving it a cool down time...D: D: D: D: D: ). The only reason I haven't uninstalled the game is because I run/ran (depends on how you look at it since i've all but abandoned the game) a guild there called Altair. I fully expanded the guild so really the jr masters don't need me around much to still run the guild. The only power I have that the jr. masters don't have is that i only have the power to make jr masters. They can expel and promote and plan guild events just fine.
In additional to all the above, the maple community is truly ugly. They are mean spirited, self obsessed, selfish, drama causing, mega beasts throwing temper tantrums on the daily. Why would I want to stay and play a game with that sort of base when i can go play one where the people can at least act a little less dumb? I stayed and ignored most of the idiots for years...and it was an ok run. Highest lvl character is the 120 Bishop MirZarya and it was fun getting there with friends. Too bad everyone is gone and now i have no reason to stay.
If anyone has thoughts of trying out maplestory, be wary of the community. People will see your low level character and they will try and scam you. Also, if you want to try the game, don't go buying mesos like an idiot. You WILL get hacked and nexon won't do much, if anything, about the things you will lose because of it. That brings me to the biggest issue of all...Nexon. Nexon will not be much help to you if you get hacked. They will not help you if one of their patches won't work and messes the game up for you. They will not effectively ban the hackers and scammers or stop their bull in a way that doesn't also mess you up (for example, hackers were exploiting an event glitch that enabled them to get numerous chaos scrolls and glitched mesos. nexon, instead of rolling back just those characters, rolled back THE ENTIRE SERVER so that everyone lost whatever they had done over a two - three day period...and that
happened TWICE...THREE times in a specific server AND THIS WAS ONLY FROM ONE EXPLOIT!). nexon will NOT replace lost nx items (meaning the items some people PAY real money for in the game) when they rollback and cause you to lose the items you bought. You can also expect a slew of glitches for every event released and then a slew of server offline days where nexon has to go in and fix the issues they didn't work out before the patch release. Nexon is a really big issue with MapleStory.
Speaking of NX, you should also know that all the big powerful skills for the new classes of Evan and Dual Blade have to be bought, with real money, from the nx shop. Yes, you have to PAY for skills for those classes. You can bet your ass that all the hero and dark magician new classes to come will all follow this trend so don't expect to try them out unless you are willing to put down cash for them.
If I were to break it down a bit for new players, this would be the information I'd give to you.
learning curve:
-it is a REALLy easy game to start playing. They have streamlined the character creation process and tutorials so much that I really can't see anyone feeling overwhelmed or put off by first starting out. There are plenty of quests that guide your new character all throughout the main island. The in game map will also help you for most places except for hidden streets. Also, leveling goes by super quickly for the first 45 levels. You could hit level 50 pretty easy in two days if you played a lot during those two days. 50-70 is a bit tougher but if you find training partners you'll get through it. There are a lot of people that can hit 120 in 1-3 months. it took me far longer but I didn't stick with one character.
game environment:
-Graphics are cute and most of them aren't eye searing (oh malaysia...why do you hurt me so?). The game music usually suits the area (including hilarious guitar rock solos in Crimsonwood keep and goofy carnival horror music in the haunted mansion) and sometimes will have you in fits of laughter. The themed locations are far more interesting than the main towns and paths. There are TONS of mini bosses to hunt and even some that you wish you didn't find when you do (teleporting into bigfoot is a huge issue I have had in the Phantom forest. He just appears out of nowhere and stomps you).
continuous content:
The game patches a lot. New areas and classes come with the big patches and new events with the smaller ones. There seem to be events going on constantly. The issue here is that the constant stream of updates has also made it a constant stream of glitches, exploits, and game crashes. Don't expect things to run smoothly after a big patch has occurred. When duel blade came out, people of that class had their accounts randomly BANNED when they tried to turn in a quest. This is just an example of some of the fun you'll experience if you choose to try and play right after patches have been released.
In game experience:
Don't be surprised if you make it past 120 and notice that alot of your friends are leaving. High lvl players tend to get bored or fed up with Nexon and leave. Guilds also seem to crash pretty quickly. Bossing isn't something that people do nearly as much as they SAY they do it. Dealing with Nexon will probably frustrate you. Several quests lines aren't finished. Party quests will definitely frustrate you because the community is awful. You will die a lot and therefor lose a lot of exp. 2X exp event weekends will make certain maps completely unavailable for you (as they are guarded by those that get them first). Everyone will accuse you of "ks"ing even if you have only just walked onto a screen they are in. People will randomly defame you. ...I could really go on and on but most of this is getting into the community aspect.
Community:1 feeble fist of fury...raised to the sky in frustration
The community for this game is horrible. If you play unguilded you will find that people will be trying to KS you constantly. No one will think twice about scamming wins from you in party quests like the monster carnival. If you find yourself in phantom forest near a bigfoot, watching someone kill it because you want to get through that area, you WILL get the bigfoot thrown at you by the person trying to kill it. All bets are off during 2X exp. People will fight over certain maps to the point where guild wars happen a bit (making it so that the members of guild X target members of guild Y and ks them constantly for an issue with a map on 2X event weekends). If you play in a guild, there will always be drama and it gets old really quickly. Most of the people in your guild won't be your lvl if you are new to the game so most of them won't be playing with you. Most of them won't even answer your questions, if you should have one. You won't be invited to guild boss events as you won't be a high enough level. ...its just so bad. Even if you manage to create your own guild with people that aren't so awful, a lot of them will wind up leaving the game before too long because the game gets boring. Also, you'll still have to deal with people ksing your guildmates and trying to scam/hack them. It is really a horrible community.
If you really want to try the game, use websites like hidden-street, mapletip, and basil market to help. skill guides, lvling guides, and quest help will all lesson your frustration greatly. Of the Nexon made games, this one has the worst service and the most people. Just know that there are several other companies that make this style of free online game and some of those games have a better quality community but a smaller one. There are a lot of really great free online games out there.