My Approach to improving Maplestory
Posted in the Maplestory subreddit but I wanted more opinions from you guys as well.
1) I propose that many quest areas and exp scale with levels. Many places on Maplestory are not worth visiting because they provide users with no benefit. Quests are also super uninteresting and unrewarding. I also propose that each area has one main quest and smaller side quests similar to zero style quests (rewards in cubes and other desirable loots). This will also discourage boring party quest spams.
2) In terms of rewards, I feel like we need more gateway items, as in items that will help the players garner enough damage to reach the next level of content. The new lvl 120 130 140 items were really good in terms of doing that. However, the issue of the necessity of potentials in your equip is too strong, so I propose the lower level quests having "stamps" that give a certain % stat/ATT potential to the released 120 130 140 sets so that they can go about increasing their damage to fight the next line of bosses, etc. Most high level quests, i feel, can give out couple of cubes and epic/unique enchants since it requires time to reach those levels and questers will want to enhance 140+ equipment. I am not very knowledgeable in the market but since there will be a lot of value able loot, there will be more people trading items which I think keeps a market healthy.
[I want to clarify that the potential stamps should be for certain equipments under 140. This would introduce new comers to potentials and make it so that they won't be intimidated by potential right off the bat]
3) Give lion heart castle type training back but in multiple areas. Lion heart castle encouraged team training and made interaction with others more accessible. We have Future Ereve but many people get tired of training before they reach this place. [Propose that exp should be prioritized from Quest > Party training > Training. To prevent leeching, make a requirement that each party member has to contribute to attacking]
4) More interactive bosses [The Most Important]. Instead of having punching bag style bosses like zakum and horntail, introduce more bosses like magnus and vellum where dodging is necessary. I feel like they can also tune classic bosses such as papulatus and zakum to have skill shots and obstacle filled environments. [We need more bosses between lvl 100 and 140 that give players a challenge and make them feel like the game is not just "grinding for exp"]
Final word: I do not feel party play for the sake of partying is healthy until the content of the game becomes fun. I know there are lots of people that have stated that there aren't enough party play and many content is soloable. But I see so many people partying only for the sake of filling heads and people soloing content because they spent a lot of money/time in the game. I want to clarify to Nexon that just introducing a boss and slapping a "party requirement" is definitely not the direction to take.
17 Comments • Newest first
When Nexon was asking for feedback. I stated that doubling down on making grinding maps (Runes, Elite Bosses) good was the wrong direction.
The primary way to level should be Quests and Party Quests. Nowadays when ppl play other games they log on do a few runs, socialize, and are satisfied. Prime example of this is LOL, ppl go on do a few battles and are happy. Thats way different from grind in the same pattern over and over for hours in MS...but I guess some ppl find that fun. If PQs were the most optimal way to get exp for all levels not only would it increase the fun but it would also put people in more situations to socialize.
Hunting Ground maps should be primarily for hunting items, events, quests, unlocking new areas (i.e. Commerci, gollux, etc.), etc.
Also, when 5th job is released, it should be similar to when 4th job released where you have to do quests and etc to get skills and every level actually counts. I remember making quite a few Dark Knight friends in early 4th job because we had to work together to get access to our skills. Additionally, levels were more important at certain times back then. Today, if you gain a level, 3 SP points grants you about 3% more on a skill. Far pre-BB, 3 SP could increase a skill by 7%+ at certain levels. This in itself incentives people to train more and feel rewarded for leveling.
I even have a strict reincarnation/fusion idea, that I strongly believe will work and keep ppl in the game. But thats a long post I don't feel like typing.
I've read this and I do have some concerns
1) if this were to be so then leveling would be a bit too easy and level 2t0 would be even more meaningless now (even though at this point 250 is just a title and isn't even a status of great achievement). I think you'd want to scale these quests to maybe 210 as to getting link skill 3 wouldn't be as tedious, but cap the exp from quests to be maybe 600m as anything higher would be too much imo
2)while this would help newer players it would make the newer lvl 150 equips look like pieces of gold plating you have to buy with your life savings and constantly having to improve while lvl 140 gear can be easily upgraded and getting %stats. I think the main problem with cubing is that there are still so many useless lines despite nexon having filtered many of them out. There's also the fact that the easiest way to obtain cubes is to spend money opobtIning them and that bossing is a secondary trait to it and has a much lower chance of getting anything good/tiering up (used 50 craftsman cubes and my emblem is still epi)
3) while I do agree that more and newer content needs to be made for end game discouraging leeching might discourage players who might not have time during the weekday to level and keep up with their friends who have more time than them to level. Then again i sorta see leeching as a gray area and don't really care too much of what happens to it. I'm sure I could find something thT might make leeching be better than the example I used but eh, more worried about the lack of content and the fact that I'm limited to one map from 165 to 250.
4) i have nothing against this and whole heatedly agree.
if the stamps gave anything relenvant you woul see many players switching to empress rather than CRA
[quote=quil]we really dont need stamps for potential we already get free cubes which is nexons main way of making money and actualy that is really the only thing i disagree with should have been more clear[/quote]
Hmm, my intentions were to introduce the players to the power of potential and motivate them to utilize these cubes. I feel like at the moment, the new players are not educated on the usage of the cubes (and theres also pressure to keep them for late late game equipment). Also, the stamps will not be available for equipment above lvl 140, so I don't think it'll discourage the purchase of cubes at all.
we really dont need stamps for potential we already get free cubes which is nexons main way of making money and actualy that is really the only thing i disagree with should have been more clear
[quote=quil]i disagree with most of this however i aree that we need more training areas the main issue with this though is that players will move to the best place second best is no good so we'd need serveral areas tht give the exact same exp[/quote]
What are the reasons for disagreeing? :o
Obviously, the training is a problem so I think exp priority should be Quests>party training> training. Sure the meta exp will be preferred so I think the "best" exp map should change every 5~10 levels so people will move around :o
one way that leeching can be fixed is you can only gain exp if you kill a mob every minute
mechanical grave is gonna have huge/big maps, so we have that
[quote=calabari]After reading your suggestions I have one major concern: Making the game easier for people to get better (i.e. giving them better items) is not the right approach. This suggests that hard work is irrelevant and takes away a main aspect of MapleStory that is so appealing (to at least the older fan base) - that is grinding and working toward goals.
Areas like LHC need to be replaced solely for the interactions that take place there. When a higher leveled stronger version of your class walks by it shouldn't discourage you, it should motivate you, and I feel like these areas do a great job of causing these interactions. Spoonfeeding the new community is not the way to attract them. People like games that are challenging but are rewarding as well, no one likes games that make you feel like a 2 year old.[/quote]
Hmm. My intentions were to introduce people to the importance of potentials and limiting the stamps to lvl 140 and below. So many players are intimidated by potential and I feel like giving them a gateway item will motivate them for higher damage. People will still need to work towards making better equips past level 150.
Wow. I forgot people used to leech off of lhc. I feel like we can tweak it a bit to discourage leeching. I am still adamant on the idea that lhc type training spots improve interactions with others.
I realize spoon feeding is not the right idea but my main concern is giving people incentive to play and explore quests etc.
one thing i liked abt old maple was that EXPLORING new maps can be really fun. i remember that i was using dark sight to explore cursed temple to see how jr balrog looks like on my bandit at lv33, and i actually found balrog taht day and ofc died like a nub.. but i do enjoy those days.......now its like you 1shot all mob and no maze at all u lleasily get tired(still love the nlc map and quest line).
for now i guess im fine wiht all the contente now, just need fix glich and reduced the LAG.
with that system you select a main and move items to ur main from ur mules you never need nx with it I would love for something like this to happen dont get me wrong it would just destroy the game
@quil : IIRC the items aren't guaranteed, rarities have a low % chance to be rewarded (as they do in most events).
Random coupons didn't give out royals, and the scrolls were lite versions.
[quote=iCygnic][url=http://maplestory.nexon.net/community#%2Fshowthread.php%3F1317750-MapleStory-Project-Reborn%26nxid%3D6]Or they could do this.[/url][/quote]
the more i look at this the less i agree most of those items are rare for a reason AB ring (for example) is in reality a crappy item, it only has value because of its rarity. and if we get free protection scrolls random face/hair coupons people will have almost no reason to buy nx anymore causing the game to die this project rebirth that you guys are so proud of is real bad for our game
[url=http://maplestory.nexon.net/community#%2Fshowthread.php%3F1317750-MapleStory-Project-Reborn%26nxid%3D6]Or they could do this.[/url]
After reading your suggestions I have one major concern: Making the game easier for people to get better (i.e. giving them better items) is not the right approach. This suggests that hard work is irrelevant and takes away a main aspect of MapleStory that is so appealing (to at least the older fan base) - that is grinding and working toward goals.
Areas like LHC need to be replaced solely for the interactions that take place there. When a higher leveled stronger version of your class walks by it shouldn't discourage you, it should motivate you, and I feel like these areas do a great job of causing these interactions. Spoonfeeding the new community is not the way to attract them. People like games that are challenging but are rewarding as well, no one likes games that make you feel like a 2 year old.
i disagree with most of this however i aree that we need more training areas the main issue with this though is that players will move to the best place second best is no good so we'd need serveral areas tht give the exact same exp
tldr ?
p2s