Maple Story(SEA)- Then and Now

           
                  Maple Story is one of the first sidescroller mmorpg to hit the net. I remembered seeing the advertisements in my local booksotre when Maple Sea launched. i was still 9 at that time and didn't really use the computer that much. It was at the age of 13, a friend of mine asked me to play Maple Story.

                   Few months after that, i downloaded the game, simply because i didn't have anything to do except for drawing, this was during the age before I got addicted to animes and manga. With my slow internet speed, I managed to download the game in around 6 hours. Registered Asiasoft, maple, and i'm all set, it's time to play my first online game.

                    My first impression of Maple Story is just what I expecdted, a simple 2d side scroller with 5 main jobs that has 2 choice of job advancement each. the game was very simple, and at the beginning, levelling up was really easy, you coud get to level 10 in about 1 hour. and after that you're done with the first island(Maple Island) and move on to the next(Victoria Island), except that is, if you want to become a magician, you can go to victoria island at level 8. after the first job advancement, you get your 1st job skills which are quite lame since you have to stick with it for another 20 levels. some jobs will use this 1st job skill up to lvl 70, but with upgrades.
 
                     My first character got to level 30 in 4 days. 10~25, Quests. 26~30, Kerning PQ(friend thought me how to do a Pq, just type 'I want PQ' at Kerning PQ entrance. I was a thief, so i had to choose between a bandit and an assasin for my job advancement, asked my friend's oppinion, chose assasin.  2nd job, Yay!, but still, use the same skill but, with an upgrade, which is, a critical rate.

                     31~50, took around 3 weeks, with school and stuff. Did mostly Monster Carnival and Ludibrium PQ. afetr lvl 50, lvling got slow. and I wasn't funded so, getting good equipments were hard. did Orbis PQ till level 53, which then i realized my damage was really low compared to even the everage assasin. So, i quit.

                     It took me approximately 1 year to begin mapling again, this time, i became a bandit, the other option of job advancement for a thief, since shadowers have really cool skills, but dam was that a mistake, since bandits, are were the hardest job to train, got to lvl 67, and quit. couldn't stand being a bandit.
So, it goes on, i play, quit, play, quit, play quit,... this kind of thing is normal in maple, during the first/2nd week of mapling, you get addicted to level up, but after leveling up gets slower, u lose the motivation and quit. I really, can't imagine the play time of those who reached level 200(cap lvl) before the bigbang, even after all the potentials, PQs, and stuff, b4 the big bang, without 2x exp. my lvl 90 DK, needs to train 4 hours almost non-stop to gain 1 lvl. that just sux.

                      I had a 5 months of break after a major exam so I played a mechanic and just quit maple like 1 week ago, this was my first char after Big Bang and there's just so many significant changes that it just doesn't feel like it's maple anymore. I'm now at level 147 and have lost the motivation to play after soloing scar at lvl138.

Map:

                      In my oppinion, Big Bang has its pros and cons. the first thing you'd realize, is the map, which is Victoria Island. i'd still prefer the old map, even though, last time, you need to go to different towns to go to another major map(kerning>singapore),(ellinia>Orbis). Now all those transport means, are put into 1 screen, in the middle of the map. it's just too easy. Above is the pre-Big Bang map of victoria island

 EXP rate:
                    Another thing is the exp rate.leveling up is so much easier before big bang came out. i'd say, 5x easier. thats just too much difference. I already said that i need to train 4 hours to level up at lvl90 during pre Big Bang. But after Big Bang, at lvl 140, i could level up, in 3 hours.

Jobs:

                    last time, there were only 5 main jobs, now theres just so many. Aran, Evan, Dual Blade, Mechanic, Wild Hunter, Battle Mage, Night Walker, Wind Breaker, Flame Wizard, Soul Master.


KOC:

               maple screwed up with 1 job category, the Knights of Cygnus(Night Walker, Wind Breaker, Flame Wizard, Soul Master) when Big Bang lauched. people became KOC because it's stronger than the adventurer(the original 5 jobs) but its cap lvl is 120. People who became a KOC, usually know they won't be able to reach, more than 120, but with the new exp rates, no one wanted to become a KOC because you could reach lvl 120 in 3 weeks.

                So, NEXON made the 'Ultimate Adventurer' to encourage people to go for KOC. it Ain't worth it, trust me, except if you're really a hardcore mapler, or you already currently have a KOC character. Basically, you need to get a KOC to lvl 120, just to create a slightly stronger Adventurer.

Dual Blade:

                 Really overpowerring job that looks the coolest, a combination of an assasin and a bandit. With this job, no one wanted to become a thief, this has the best of bost world(bandit/assasin). why would anyone become either of those, well, the skill books, uses cash. So, if you don't want to spend, on @cash, don't become this job. sux

Job Revamp:
                 When all those other new jobs came out, aran, evan, etc.. Adventurers, seem weak compared to those jobs. even their skills doesn't look appealing enough. So Nexon made a revamp on the Adventurer's. It took a few years, but they finally updated the skills. Now, the damage gap for these jobs are closer.

                 
PQs:    

                 After the Big Bang, less people do PQs because the reward exp isn't that high, and purely training can make you level up faster. It's empty. almost no one does PQs, especially the low level ones, because you level up so fast when you train, PQs are not required.

                 After a very long time, only then Nexon made a PQ revamp. The difference here is that PQs give reward exp according to level instead of a fixed amount of reward pq. The higher your level, the higher the reward exp you'll get. the mobs also becomes stronger as the everage level of maplers increase.

                  Now, there's a mirror in most town which could teleport you to any PQ entrance with ease. This is both a bad thing and a good thing.

Potentials:

                  Nexon introduced potentials in Maple Sea, which would later prove to be a big affect towards the damage of all maplerly the hardcore maplers. I would say hardcore maplers arethose guys who really wants their damage to be as high as possible. They would pay alot of messo for good equipments, even 1 stat makes a difference for them.
         
                   Potentials came out, now the most important thing in an equipment is its potential, because potentials can make a lot of difference in damage, at my level, 14X, a 3% potential, i would gain 300+ damage. Hardcore maplers usually have 200% of their stats or more.

Enhancement:

                    If an equipment has been fully scrolled, you can enhance the equipment by using equip enhancement scrolls. The number of times it has been enhanced can be seen with the number of stars on the equipment. The greater number of stars, the greater the chance for it to get destroyed when enhance again.

                    People usually enhance weapons which has been scrolled decently to further increase the weapon attack/magic attack of the weapon, but Hardcore maplers would want all of their equipments enhanced. Enhancing is a risky job, I wouldn't enhance any of my equipments more than 3 stars by myself -.-

PVP:
                    Pvp is okay, but I just hate that you can't see the amout of damage you're doing. I mean, If your damage increased when you are wearing a new,better equipment, there's no way to tell, except through experience, where you just have that feeling that you're dealing a greater damage by killing maplers easier.

                    The BP is the whole point of PvP, especially for the unfunded. The special BP equipments, is really something they should have since it gives awesome bonus stats, when you have the full set.

Conclusion:

                  There's just so many things to talk about, too many changes. Some I don't mind but, Big Bang really changed the whole Maple. It's just not ample anymore, I'm not saying it's bad or anything, but the feeling of maple has disappeared.

                   The major change I think, was caused by the exp rates. last time, You need to work hard to gain a level, and usually, It's best done in a party. So you would make friends easier through PQs and teamwork. Maple before Big Bang was a place where gamers chat, make friends, hangout and stuff. You could call it, the Facebook of no-life-gamers. An example of hangout spot is the hunting ground in Henesys. Pros, (3rd jobers or above), would usually hangout over there with oher pros, showing off their skills and level.

                     Now, you can't show off your skills, because even an everage gamer can become a 3rd jober in just 1 week. So, a 3rd jobber isn't considered as a pro anymore.
   
                      Besides that, it's hard to differentiate between the real pros and the nubs/everage people. So many high level maplers, everyone has a scarlion helmet. Last time, any1 who had a scarlion/zakum/targa helmet can be considered a pro because to get a zakum helmet, you either need to join the zakum expedition or buy it in the free market, which would be very pricey. Anyone with a scarlion/targa helmet needs to be a lvl 90, which would have been considered a high level at that time. Now I Differentiate with the accessories they wear, usually, the obvious ones, like Angelic Blessing and androids.

Some screens of my Character