General

I have to admit, now I always look for efficiency and what-nots. Like, I have Mercedes' link skill so I can teleport to Eulle > Henesys > Six way Pathroad > Pantheon > Anywhere.
I think what's making "now" as "now" is the general lack of players. When it was released/around 2009 or 2010, there was a lot of people, but those just grew up and stopped playing. For example, one of my RL friends, when we got to high school, got into the homestuck fandom and a bunch of other stuff that she just lost interest in this game... More advertising would probably help the small community, and more interactive things (party quests aren't really all that appealing IMO) with incentives might help bring it together.
The current community isn't terribly small though (and I'm speaking for MYCK), and you can still find those people who just want to talk and do the party stuff.

@LitheMovement
This actually sums up why I started and played maple for the longest time.
I ended up going into the privs just for the purpose of more nx outfits and multiple skill configurations.

Then and now, I still like this game for it's simple yet eye-pleasing animations. I just find enjoyment in specific animations, and new ones that I see. When dualblades came out, I thought they were the greatest things ever. Even my pally now, I like blast and the charges. Although it's not fancy and all over the place, it has a pleasing appearance to me.
I remember I use to make a char as a bucc, dress him up in regular nx clothes and just beat slimes / mushies for fun.

Although I farm events, kill bosses, and stay in the fms, I think the biggest reason why I'm still here is just for the aesthetically appealing characters. They're strangely enjoyable to see for me.

I really wish maple would benefit partys more. I want to train with friends (especially since a bunch of RL friends started playing) but I just can't. It slows them down as well as myself, making the game boring and tedious. RnJ was the only party benefiting thing I've been able to do with them, but now that they're 140+, it's pretty dead.

I don't mean to put this on warrior section. Sleepy when I did this.

@Karkain: "Char Kicked into next week" by the bosses... [i]"[url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I_aEjIfcoUk]I came to laugh at you.[/url] That is what you wanted to hear, isn't it?"[/i] (currently halfway watching Zeta)

As for me...

While I can't provide an honest insight for Pre-BB, as I didn't exactly play it, I watched my sister, and even she got bored at Lv. 42 for an I/L Wizard, grinding Jr. Cellions.

The eras I could really provide my experiences of include Pre-Unleashed (since Tempest) and Post-Unleashed.
- Before Unleashed, the damage cap for all classes was 999,999 a line. DPS only really favored classes who could deal the most lines in a short amount of time (Phantoms, Mercedes, Bowmasters), or those who simply ignored the damage cap (Angelic Buster). There were also none of those %HP damage attacks, either, except for really Battle of Azwan's rocks and totem lasers. LKC was the (in)famous party play zone, and everybody partied for a spot at Crockies. No one really bothered with Bearwolves due to having to collect lots of spoils items from mobs with high HP. Skill Books existed for classes like Hero, Paladin, Dual Blade, Bishop, Aran, and Evan. They dropped from Zakum, CZakum, Hilla, and Root Abyss (don't know if HT dropped these books back then). These books gave a valuable 1v1 or mobbing skill depending on the class; Paladins, for example, had Advanced Charge Blow. This was the mobbing skill that buffed Charged Blow, notably increasing its lines to 2 hits, later buffed to 6 hits on a later update. Without this skill, Paladins had to mob using Blast, and this single-target skill was nothing like the Blast of today (shorter range, less damage).

- After Unleashed, I felt the damage cap went a bit too high. 50mil takes a lot of funding to achieve; sometimes I feel 10mil a line would be more appropriate, if the bosses had their HP adjusted accordingly. The difficulty creep from Normal to Hard/Chaos Modes is also a bit too far, with the HP they have. But even then, it could've been a lot worse. KMS has the MEE (Miraculous Equip Enhancement) scrolls which rendered weapons upgraded with regular EEs obsolete. I also recall other regions of Maple had a 5mil damage cap with an Empress weapon, or a 10mil damage cap with a Fafnir. If you used an Elemental Wand as a Mage, then you were still stuck dealing 999,999 a line.
Clearing the Normal Mode versions of the bosses is alright enough for me. Hard Mode is just too much of a gap for ones who don't spend much...
On the subject of training, LKC has fallen. That place started falling apart (literally) once Evolution Lab and DIPQ came out and people started adapting grinding strategies (like triggering the Hilla vs Magnus event for the latter in the end of the PQ). Second Drill Hall and Stronghold are also rivaled by Commerci. The later trade voyages give lots of exp, as long as you can beat the voyage bosses. That was where I became Lv. 200, and in the end, I was like, "Huh? I'm Lv. 200 already?"

The nerf to post-RED Paladins was expected, but even then, your mobbing and bossing skills are still miles ahead of the pre-RED Paladin. On the subject of Physical Resist Ignore, I'd be happy with even 25% of it back, as that boosts our damage without making us outdamage Heroes.

The actual role-playing was facilitated by a wide variety of decision making. I actually put myself in my avatar's shoes and pretended that it was me.
Now it's been streamlined where the decision making and natural fantasy aspect have evaporated and been replaced by business business business. The fantasy still lives in the outfits and personalities that I've given my characters, but no longer do I imagine myself as one of them.

Was wondering why this was in the Warrior section.. Now I know lol

Anyway, I came back about a month and a half ago. Last time I played was in 2005-2006.

Obviously the biggest change I noticed was the rapid rate of leveling up. In terms of the game and developing your character in it, I like it this way. But back then, although grinding, trying to job adv, etc. was a big deal.. Really, for the most part it was the community. Just chilling in free market before the rooms officially opened (1-22), and ofc HHG. Then you had Kerning PQ where you just HOPE that you get 10% overall dex as a reward so you can sell for roughly 1mil. Using ./find -name- to track and outclick them when they come out. I was a beast at getting my party in btw and did it without AC (old players should def know what im talking about here). Good memories, good memories. And all those drop games being played in potion & weapon/armor shops.. Damn, the list goes on. I don't want to write anymore since I miss those times

But in terms of population, I'm not sure how it was after I quit till now but comparing it from back then and as of right now, the population atm is pretty much dead compared to what it used to be. At least in Bera, each channel used to always be at LEAST half full (referring to the channel bar meter). In the summer time? Forget it. Sometimes can't even log in.. Every channel was channel 1 lol

But to conclude, the game is still fun now since it's still Maplestory. But instead of building a community and making relationships being one of the priorities in the game, it's damage now (for the most part), which isn't necessarily a bad thing I guess..

Back then, I was pretty addicted to this game mainly because of the quests. I also enjoyed getting a new set of armor every 10 levels (back when it took a little bit to lvl up).

But now, I see all of these event quests and I go "What is the point?" because I know the next event will probably give something even better. All the events are "Come on for 2 hours a day every day", and, after a few years, it got tiring. And all the new quests in the new areas, the story line and the stupidity of the npc's makes me cringe.

And back to the armor, nowadays it's "0-140 with whatever drops, then empress/fanfir". I can't even enjoy the variety of armor with my noobs now because I hit lvl 70 in one day.

I mean, I still enjoy some of the new content that is released. But there really isn't much of a reason for me to come on anymore, since most of my friends quit, and it is hard to make new friends out of people that are afk in drill hall.

WARING! WALL OF TEXT APPROACHING!

Then: Player base
Even though I'm not much of a people person, I loved to see players everywhere on the less populated channels (17 for myself). There was just something that made the game feel more alive when you walk into Leafre and oh look, there's people organizing a party for Temple of Time quests. Or you walk through (insert town here) and there's like 4 people sitting around and talking, and (sometimes) you could just join the discussion. Things felt more alive, and boy did I love it when I came by a fellow Crusader using a shield and decked out in armor because they were too poor to afford ATK robe, gloves, etc. If I could high five people in game, I would have high fived a lot of people back then. Heck, I even met my best in-game friend because I was in PPQ one day since I couldn't afford to grind at that moment, and while PPQ'ing he asked me why I used a shield instead of a two-handed sword, then we wound up talking for 2+ hours about the differences between offense over defense and defense over offense. Though I'm not much of a people person, I love to see a game bustling like it did then. Especially now that I'm past level 200 and can look on a low level person and reflect on when I was that low. I'm a nostalgic lol.

Then: Bossing
Since I was a pauper, I couldn't afford good equipment and relied on whatever I found or traded to get (trading for equipment is a dead concept), which meant that I didn't stand a chance at getting into a bossing squad. Well, nothing there has really changed, but I digress. When my Priest friend was called in to sub for a Zrun since their Bishop couldn't make it for some reason, I was legitimately excited for her because that was huge considering how she was as poor as I was. To me, bossing back then was like being a hero. If you went on Zruns and HTruns (or if you could kill effin' Black Crow >.< ), you were something. People with HTP's were either filthy rich or were legit badasses. I remember when I was in an attempt at boss runs with my then-guild, and some of my guildmates gave me props for being so dedicated to defense, which came in handy when I had to solo Zakum 3 because of lag surges. I cannot express how good it felt that my hardcore defense paid off, and even got me a few thumbs-up's.
Again, though, I digress. In my head, bossing was only for the elite. Or people who were darn good campers at Zak. Bossing was simple, and though it could sometimes get repetitive, I enjoyed the simplicity of boss fights. Usually the boss would be stationary, but they'd spawn mobs, throw some negative statuses at you, and 1/1 occasionally (unless it's Zak 3, then it was like every attack), and while it was time-consuming it felt satisfying because they didn't pull punches and even if you knew how to fight the boss, there was almost no chance you could take the whole fight alone. For instance, I used to duo Pap with a buddy because while he had good damage he was afraid that he'd die and the whole thing would go to waste, and one time he died and it took me forever to kill Pap.

Playing back then excited me because I never knew when I would stumble into something awesome or meet a new friend. Everything great that I had back then I literally fell into on accident because there was just a lot more unity in the game. Oh yeah, the fanfiction was a lot better then because there was no generic plot to MapleStory and the stories were usually pretty free-spirited. Can't forget about the fanfics.

Now: Player base
There really aren't many people on anymore, which kinda sucks. Those that are on I don't generally talk to because it's almost always ungodly funded people who want to compare ranges with me. *sigh* It'd be great if people came back to Maple just to make towns look less like ghost towns and more like actual towns. I can't just go to some random person and strike up a conversation anymore. Everything seems a lot more isolated than before in spite of all the attempts to push for playing together that Nexon's tried. I dunno, I guess the game just lost its magic somewhere along the evolutionary process. I miss it, but in my experience hindsight is usually seen through rose-colored glasses. Who knows? Maybe someday Maple will find that magic spark that once made it so fun? It kinda just seems like everyone I encounter nowadays plays to win and high numbers. And honestly, I wonder if people think anything when they see my abundance of unobtainable items (relics like my precious Gellerhead Shield) that I seriously use instead of like a Tyrant set or something. Probably not, but hey I can dream, can't I?

Now: Bossing
It feels wrong that I can now solo bosses that once upon a time totally would have Char Kicked me into next week, or would have taken me hours to kill in an epic clash. I kill each body of Zakum in 2 hits, and CZak only takes me like 10 minutes alone. HT takes me like 5 minutes, and I have yet to attempt CHT 'cause I literally just remembered a couple days ago that they took out the transformation pre-quest. But I digress again (again). All I ever hear of anymore is how quickly someone solo's (insert boss here), and the new boss fights are ridiculously designed. Magus was pretty innovative because of his damage zone, and heck, while the falling balls of doom are annoying, they spice up the fight. But you know what? Magnus is manageable because all you need is a little practice with control and you can handle the hazards because he doesn't spawn mobs, inflict statuses, 1/1, or is able to hit you unless you're in range. I could really go on about how much disappoint I am with Suu. I understand environmental hazards like Magnus, but seriously? A 1HKO radial laser, plus falling debris and swarms of mobs on top of anything else I haven't seen? It looks like his fight is almost nothing if not him sucker punching you. It saddens me how far boss fights have fallen from grace. But give it time, there will be videos of him solo'd in less than 5 minutes and Suu's fame will be a bygone memory, just like Zakum.

It kinda sucks now because there isn't anyone to really play with, and anything remotely interesting to me people already do alone. I dunno, I guess we'll just see how MapleStory continues to develop and how the player base changes as we go. There's a lot more this artifact of a character has yet to see.

Thanks

yeah maple's gonna die
heard that 4 years ago

Another pally complaining about a nerf that was known 6 months ago..

Maple has evolved into a pay to win solo game. Some content is better than before, some worse. In all honesty it will take a lot to build up Maple to what it was years ago but Rome wasn't built in a day. At least GMS forum mods are finally acknowledging content that players would want to see cause we all know that back in the day if you had an issue chances are it wouldn't be addressed. It would be nice to see party quests being buffed exp wise so that more people would opt to work together and pq. I think back in the day, my favorite part of leveling was party questing.

Then: stuff was different
Now: stuff is different.

If things stayed the same people would complain and bash the game for lack of growth. Its changed a lot, people complain.

Moral of the story? You cant please everyone, people complain regardless.

I kinda agree with you on the the decline of players. Since I started playing again when night walker came out. It was hard to find ppl to talk to or even finding ppl that are afk. (GAZED for me). But I just stuck with the game cause I still found it fun and i noticed more people are starting to log on. Probably because school is starting to end so more time for people to play.

Evolution of Player interaction. (WALL OF TEXT INCOMING)
The evolution of player interaction has changed alot. Back when Monster Carnival came out and it will just an all out battle to see who gets the most points. I remember Assassins usually would take the giant robo lego dudes at the bottom and other classes would take the robos. Everyone would want haste, rage, hyperbody, heals from clerics, etc just to give that much more of an edge to get that win. Then after leveling pass 50 we moved on to ludi maze pq where we had to memorize the portals just to get the tickets for experience. Then we would have to track the party that got in just so we could get in after. Just fighting for the pq felt so rewarding. Then player interaction evolved to "T>win" at monster carnival which i felt was very boring, no real fun in that. Then after the whole "T>wins" i felt is when the player interaction has died at the earlier levels.

Then the biggest thing i truly loved that nexon did was the release of LHC party zone. Where every 2x event there was a ks wars going between 4 parties, everyone would be attacking just to kill those crocs. Then empress was released and it would take parties just to try kill her. But with her release and new items players became stronger and what was "party zone lhc" became a leech zone and LHC HP to exp ratio was great only for solo play with people afk in parties. Same goes with SDH, and HoH. It was a great party zone. I remember when someone afk we will try all in our power just to keep him from dying of touch damage. Then Fafnir gear came out and just like LHC, SDH, HoH, and Warrior grounds got hit because its either now solo-able or got nerfed do to hackers. I mean its not really anyones fault (IMO) that players are getting stronger, new equips are coming out to help aid the poor or even the strongest. Its just the training spots that we used to know is starting to become outdated and turned into a solo experience. New training spots that are difficult to take down at higher levels to be released, but then again as players get stronger that new training spot will become solo-able then become obsolete.

Bossing
I remember back in the day, it took 5+ parties with 4 NL/BM, Dark Knight, and a Bishop (Or their 3rd job before 4th job came out) just to kill Zakum, horntail, or even pink bean. Then less people started doing those bosses and became solo-able to do those bosses. Zakum became a twice a day fast exp training boss, same goes with HT. Now we have 4-6 of the most difficult bosses to kill. (CRA, Normal/hard Magnus, empress, normal-hell Gollux). Its arguable that people they just want to solo these bosses or they cant kill it cause of "Not enough damage" but i feel the community put that on them selves. We for got about bringing others to these bosses. I know once my friends and i finish our 10 Ra boss runs we gonna try one of the CRA boss. Even though we may fail at least we will have a good time together and know where we stand with these bosses.

I agree maplestory then and maplestory now has changed alot. I heard people say "why did they have to update the game?, Why did they make it so easy to do zakum, HT etc?, Why are people spending so much money on this stupid game?" Honestly if nexon didnt update the game and we still had zakum, ht etc, then i felt the game would of been very dull and dead. Im glad they introduced empress, cra, gollux, magnus etc. They are the new "Zakum, horntail, pink bean of pre bigbang maplestory." The game still has the same concept as before, now is just presented differently.

My only issue is that the boss content between zak,ht,pb and CRA, hard magnus etc is really huge and there is nothing there thats why i feel why people are leaving. Hopefully with the new boss equips it will help the unfunded players or players that can solo zak,ht, etc and cant do CRA, Hard Magnus etc get up to par.

Thats my 2 cents about maple then and now. INB4 some bad basil post about me writing this wall of text.

I've always played for fun and that's how it always will be.

Maplestory Then and Now. Hmmm. Let's see.

I used to play Maplestory back in 2006 and just returned to the game a couple of weeks ago, so I think I'm in a position to give at least my perception of Then and Now.

I miss a lot of things like the Kerning PQ area, the Perion FM, grinding at Pig Beach, but I think this is just nostalgia getting in the way and clouding my perception of the game. Of course back in 2006 when I was just a kid, that aspect of the game was amazing. I loved the liveliness of the Maple world and the ability to explore endlessly while still have it be beneficial.

This is one thing I think is really different compared to Then and Now. You can complain all you want about the population decrease, or the inflation, or the pay to win aspect of it all, but really what is different for me is the sense of adventure. It may be due to getting old, and not being a first time player, but there was something about "Then" that made every quest, every map, every town, and every person you met along the way feel like a wonderful adventure that you couldn't stop living. Now that they've made everything as "efficient" as possible, you lose that sense of wonder. It becomes "ignore 90% of the game's content and maps" because the most efficient way to level up is to click on that Maple Guide that teleports you to a random place you've never seen before and expects you to be able to orient, where you are, how you got there, how to get back to where you were, and it just feels jumpy. It feels like they've compartmentalized aspects of the old Maplestory so that you can quickly achieve the end goal.

And so legends like Tiger and FangBlade, and Suuuushi, have died because everyone became like them. There are no people in the levels 10-140 maps because people achieve end game in less than a week. I'm not saying I miss the old grinding and exp curve (I don't...being able to get a Level 165 in two weeks is amazing). But I felt like it just breezed by, and I didn't make any of the incredible memories I did back "Then." It's still fun, it's just not magical anymore.