General

@piana: lol, i noticed excactly the same....

@readers: There are a lot of people who quit. I've quit Maple and other games with huge gaps that seem unworthy of my time to surmount (generally I just get bored or depressed). So yeah, people can quit, but there is also an addictive element involved. When I was playing, I kept getting getting bored or depressed and kept seeking fun that wasn't there. Then I realized what it was and had to quit maple and other games like it. I've done this with other things in my life and have generally felt better in the wake. Anyway, quitting isn't always easy, especially if you're unaware of yourself and the realities of the game and life. But of course, since there seem to be be people who do quit certain games like Maple, it probably isn't too large an amount who find it hard to quit, but significant enough to warrant investigation.

@wellness: I mean, you wouldn't know unless one were to conduct some scientific study looking at the differences between the demographic of gamers who play MapleStory and gamers from other games. It could be an interesting topic if the study were done right, even if it's somewhat outside of the realm of academia in general.

Because there's always the choice to just quit, should the former be the case. Many other fun games exist or even other hobbies - and it doesn't make sense to just depress oneself further if they find the game's odds stacked against them (unless they're severely depressed and not thinking in any rational sense and need some kind of intervention). That isn't to say I'm advocating for everyone to quit the game or that it's not fun or anything like that, but I don't think it's that straightforward. =P

And no matter what it is that you do, the power creep in a game like MapleStory is unreal enough, especially compared to so many years ago. One in that case should also view their game purchases as a kind of investment - if that $1000 or $2000 that you spend to make your character a lot better will still be worth that amount spent a year or two or later from now.

@readers: This should be considered. I have no clue, but the way the game is designed -- where you have large gaps in power and gameplay experience; and the style of rewards --, I can see the former being the case. Then you compare it to other games that are more pvp-oriented with hardly any noticeable gaps, then you may see there is less chance for depression.

@wellness: The question then becomes whether or not the game is making people who play a lot feel depressed, or that something else in their life is making them depressed and thus causing them to play more.

I'm inclined to think more of the latter. Either way, that's how these games get you. Perhaps as a form of validation, or a way to 'get ahead', or some other reason, such a model for gaming is what drives that cycle in the first place, getting people to spend ridiculous amounts of money on it and further fueling their addictions.

One loses in such a scenario anyways, although good game design will make these issues unnoticeable to the average gamer in the advent of P2W games. To not spend money would be to spend a lot of time on the game, but then that brings up the question of whether or not the time commitment is worth the gains made. (YOLO, in this case, is a very real acronym.) To spend lots of money would get you very far in the game, but your real life commitments might suffer because of it, especially if gambling addiction is an issue for you (and regardless, you might really be thinking that the $1000 or $2000 you spent on MapleStory could have instead been used on so many other things).

@littletlk: I guess so because I originally said cubes not scrolls.

I heard they did for like a week, and everyone now assumes its an event.

@beefly:
They can't. (Can't tell if that was rhetorical or not)
They told us they'd put bonus cubes in the rewards shop ages ago, but never did.
It's really unfair. Even if it was only 3 per month, it would help immensely.

@gakinotsukai: scrolls can recube bpot?

Play reboot if you enjoy playing single player games.
Play normal servers if you actually like playing MMOs.

I'm a little late to this party but:

@antisenpai: I thought a general consensus on pay 2 win is defined as getting any shortcut ingame by using money. This could be thought of as purchasing cubes in the cash shop or just marvel/gacha (paywall items). Overtime the game has become "less" pay 2 win, but it's still pay 2 win regardless.

@beefly: I recently discovered that you can get bpot scrolls in Mu lung Dojo for 25k points. Since I've started doing a run weekly, I think that's a fairly fair way to get them.

In terms of reboot vs normal, it's tough to say. I've put a lot of time and effort into my character in Bera so that the switch to reboot didn't really appeal to me. I've heard a lot of people like reboot for the population and the fact that it's not "pay 2 win" but the cost of that is a lot more farming than I'd ever like to do. It also comes with it's own share of lag issues for being a very crowded server.

@antisenpai: The "time is money" thing does apply here also. People have to consider if their time is better spent playing all day (it probably isn't) rather than focusing on improvement in other areas. This game isn't made to be fun or rewarding in the short term, and I have noticed a trend toward people being depressed who play it. Put those things together, and you get the picture that the game is better played by taking the short route and not playing too much. So it's pay to win when you consider the current state of society and pragmatism.

@derkion: Negative, you can have the same tier of funds, one just takes longer to achieve, stop being lazy and just work for things "That's a fact that you cant say it isn't cuz it is man" where is the logic behind this statement?

None of those servers are better than Tespia was

@antisenpai: The moment u can get something with real money and makes u better than one exact person that doesnt spend real money on the game its when a game is called P2W , so yes , this game is still P2W thats a fact that u cant say it isnt cuz it is man...

@hualicious: Meh, at that point in the game, does it even matter anymore?

@antisenpai: But the players who don't pay are still depended on P2W-players who do buy NX with money. So without them no NX and limited to Reward Shop and Maple Points.

so your most active servers are gonna be scania, bera, and windia. The game is still worth playing. 5th job brought back alot of hype as well as some pretty fun game play.

As previously stated dont start buying anything till you determine what to play. What i would recommend is looking up "link characters", you can find a list of which characters are most beneficial to use. and start by making ALL of thoes. You will want to lv them to lv120(not as bad as it sounds, its about 2-3 days per character) when you are making your links, you will more than likely find a class that suits you.

Once you find the character you want to play then start worrying about funding. YOU CAN SPEND ALOT OF MONEY FUNDING! But it can also be cheap. I know most gear in my server(bera) goes for 70-100each. Ands thats talking buying 27~30% main pot gear. Anything less than 27% main pot and the prices drop fast. So you can fund for as cheap, or as expensive as you want. Just FYI, its cheaper to buy premade gear, rather than try to cube yourself.

If you happen to come to bera, hit me up. IGN ~ Azourius(226 Demon Avenger), and ill help out as much as I can.
@vicetone: I'd have to disagree. I spend 40b, and about 100usd on this, and that got me to almost 5m. ive invested about another 300usd now and im 9.5b

@antisenpai: Me, not so much for the ToS, but I hate doing the whole voucher/collateral/scamming thing.

@beefly: Even those can be obtained, with selling scrolled gollux or scroll service/tyrants, can buy nx with meso, which is against tos, but who even cares about that anymore.

Stay away from reboot.

@derkion: $1000-$2500 doesnt get u near 5m~10m if hes starting over.

@antisenpai: Except bonus potential cubes.

Game isn't P2W anymore at all, you can get everything you want and need through just playing the game, unless you're lazy.

@gingakuman: Reboot is fine, especially if you dislike the whole P2W type of gameplay, however the thing that deters me is how much grinding you need to do. Everything is almost meso based in reboot (except for pets). So from the moment you set foot onto reboot, you gotta be prepared to grind all the way to Lv.250 and even past then as well.
Reboot tends to also has more hackers due to botters farming messos and then account selling

@wellness: hi! Thanks for an honest reply. I do not want to spend more than maybe...200.00 tops! I had already spent over 3k in my previous years and now I have nothing to show for it cause the game has changed so much lool RIP ME.

I might just do Reboot...

@derkion: True, but I wasn't exaggerating. I was considering more godly equipment and funding, which I figured he would inevitably want. He could do a lot with 2m-2m range, but it does have its limits in bossing and training. Having a more godly range and luxury equipment and nx is more comfortable.

@wellness: LOL u exagerated a lot, mayb ud need that money for a 5m or 10m range but definitelly not for a 2m-2m range

Some time and $1000-$2500 I'd say, depending on the events.

Well nexon realeased a lot of features that made this game less p2w( but i wont lie to you, the game IS STILL P2W), for example nowadays with time, patience and friends u can get to 2m range without spending a single dollar, but for getting passed a certain range ud need either nx or buy nx with mesos for perfecting with cubes every single item.
The game is much easier and more friendlier now than years ago where the range gap was tremendously high in my opinion, 2 years ago i was stuck in a certain range but nowadays little by little i manage to increase my range and get stronguer with no real money invested at all.
The only real problem i find is that there is way too many lag, way too many disconecting issues, way too many bugs and glitches and way too many hackers. But for the rest is fine =P

@rachelll: windia is not dead there are lots of people in Henesys cc1 and there are still many guildmates in "their" HQ, if they have one

Windia is pretty dead and the currency is hyperinflating so you probably don't want to invest money into the game until you know for sure what you want to do/what you like.

@gingakuman: thief doesn't have a vertical jump, as oppose to many other classes out there, which makes him even lesser superior (wtf can you say "lesser"?).
Mobility isn't really a factor anymore when you consider playing a thief. They ARE fast attackers, but my archers have a much greater mobility.

P.S: Welcome back! Don't listen to people who are about to tell you this game is sht and that you shouldn't download it. This game IS sht sometimes but you should totally do.

@deadangel13: thanks! Um..so what is the point of playing a Thief? If everyone has a flash jump; that kinda makes them less superior?

About the helpful guide after 5 years you were'nt playing, I'd recommed watching some videos on youtube (bossing, training at new areas, 5th job, new jobs) from the past year. Unfortunately writing a wall of text would hurt both of us

Start all over again, you probably have nothing valuable to recover your old account for.
But don't go to reboot! Choose between Scania or Windia (I promise to be your friend if you go with Windia). Reboot might be friendly to new players but you'll understand soon enough that you've made a mistake.

As far as I can recall, all jobs have double jump now except for the majority of mages.