Information "User online count is everything" and GTOP flaws.

So much salt
So happy with 1k people online and now that the playercount is low all of a sudden it doesn't matter
'1,000 users online reached July 29, 2017 for first time ever.'

 

From a players point of view, you have described exactly what most of us do.
I do go on GTOP100 to search for MapleStory servers. I do not go below number 15~ on the list.
When I do find a server that attracts me, it being well-represented website for example. I look at how many players are online and when the server has started. Most of the server tabs I just close down, because it looks like someone has just learnt java or sql whatever maple runs on.

I do believe it is hard to overcome GTOP100 for MapleStory. It's just like youtube and you wanna attract everyone with vimeo or something.

It's nice that even though gtop accepts multiple votes from phone/comp/ tablet you still live up to the policy and ban vote abusers even though you lose votes and potentially players.

Suggestion to battle it (again my opinion) keep players interested in the server. I don't mean with gm ola ola events. I mean content wise. Question yourself: What needs to be done in order for new people to join? What could be done to revive some oldies? What would current population would like to see? All this written down on a piece of paper will bring lots of ideas to the staff team, which you could agree on

 

i agree with nubjulez that the solo event was a really bad thing
also i think hp wash is still a problem even though monster book ring did contribute a lot
and obviously leech city as stated
and i really dont support adding this neo tokyo city or w/e by the way
i think in the long run it will be just another deserted area or cause other areas to be such
and most importantly... its not nostalgic for all GMS players
oh and it further support hp wash (high dmg monsters)

 

1. I despise vote abusers not only because it is insincere to the server, but mainly because it hurts the server as a whole -- you get banned, the server gets less players; you get banned, your friends lose you. It is in fact quite a selfish act. This goes to hackers, bug abusers, and others.

2. I lost interest in GMS initiialy because everyone became too focused on doing their own things; the game became a single-player RPG. There was no social interaction -- people only wanted to level up and tell others to "cc pls". Sadly, even with a nostalgic server like this, MapleLegends has become a reflection of GMS. I believe some may argue, but this is just my personal view/opinion of it. It is sad to lose interest in ML simply because everyone starts getting banned or are too concentrated in being the best at the game. Worst of all, a social hierarchy exists in this game, believe it or not -- that most of us strive to be higher on this vain social ladder or be the most likable. Yes, it's true.

3. There are a few more things I wanted to add, but maybe next time. I only get on nowadays to observe how most people would choose anything over social interaction, and how little people play omok, let alone be really good at it. I realize quite often narcissistic behaviors occurs within the server as well and thus have reduced my play time to focus on other things in life that holds value and meaning. I refuse to dive deep and dwell into this world that pursues attention, eventually leading to an addiction.

4. I cannot deny the fact that MapleLegends has given me many online friends and fond memories. I've been even lucky to meet some of them in real life and have lots of fun outside the game. However, ML just isn't the same anymore. It can't really be helped can it?

 

It can be helped, but it is more dependent on the players than the GMs. If the GMs wanted to have fewer "cc plox" moments, they could increase the party experience when there are more people in the party (rather than reduced if there are three or more), but that just increases the desire to leech. If the game is constructed in such a way that there is more than one way to build a great character, more than one way to achieve a goal, and more instances where "Portal" style cooperation is needed, then yes. As long as there's an unspoken manual about how to play this game (1. Make a Bishop, 2. Make the class you want to play, 3. Make that class completely lop-sided from the way you should build it, 4. Leech and buy equips everyone wants, 5. Wash your character, 6. Do end-game stuff) then there will always remain a drive to maintain a selfish and narcissistic attitude about playing the game.

 

Well what do you expect will happen when a server strives to be GMS-like?

When we copy all the mechanics and content of GMS, we get GMS. There is a saying that history repeats itself, and that is because of human nature. We have casual players and social players, but a lot of competitive players as well. The competitive players will exploit every loophole they know to get an advantage, they will do things in the most efficient way. They will no-life, camp, leech, overcharge, lowball, hp wash, share accounts, kill steal, and in extreme cases scam, vote abuse, and hack.

So when we have exactly GMS-like training spots like ghost ship, with high exp to hp ratios, high spawns, and safe platforms to sleepgrind on, guess what? Everyone flocks there. And HS is still stupidly broken OP, so of course the most efficient exp by far is a two man party, even if your partner does nothing but leech. And the meta of the game is to make a bishop and leech your main. So we have a situation where a large portion of the server wants to be in one spot, and usually a single person is there taking up the room and not wanting to share it. And people don't want to do anything else because other options are less efficient... so then hate and toxicity rises...

And what is our solution to the inevitable KSing? Is it nerfing ghost ship to more reasonable levels, or at least removing those godforsaken safe spots? No! Is it nerfing HS or rebalancing clerics? No! Is it making other grinding spots more appealing, or otherwise incentivizing players to do other things? No! It's @mapowner: a treatment for the symptoms, but not the cause. But even Mapowner is known to be abused.

So you're shocked and surprised this server is turning out a lot like GMS? Take a look at all the core mechanics of GMS and compare them to Legends. Bishop leeching a HP-washed main bosser is still the most efficient meta game. And so people still do it. The bazaar style FM system is still stupid and heavily biased towards favoring people in FM1. So naturally everyone will rush there after a server restart. And on and on.

The community wanted nostalgia, and they got it. The rose-tinted glasses probably came off by time you hit 2nd job, but the "nostalgia" is still there. The bad kind of nostalgia. All the old problems and qualities you didn't like about GMS? They're back to haunt you too. Because nostalgia.

In all honesty, Kimberly , the best features of this server (aside from bug fixes) have been many of the custom additions.

 

As much as I'd like to explore each and every server, some people simply don't have the patience to go through them all. I hate to say it but I personally look at gtop ranking, player online count, forum activity, and even website design to determine whether I'd play the server or not. It displays professionalism and most importantly, the strive and motivation of the server's staff have, in order to be successful. I wouldn't be able to count the amount of times I poured my heart and soul, investing countless of hours and days into a server only to find it shut down abruptly out of no where. By siphoning and weeding out the "likely to be unsuccessful servers", you are effectively saving time and effort. Nobody wants their progress wiped. I've been part of the MapleStory private server community so long that I can name many servers that didn't live up to the hype but can't count them all.

On almost every single server I played, Kimberly was there lurking. I'm sure Kimberly has seen her fair share of servers that were pivotal to the success of MapleStory private servers today. Rebounding from their failures and reinforcing the importance of transparency, constant updates and maintenance. This is the difference between successful and unsuccessful servers.

 

Not sure what you're expecting. A server trying to be as GMS-like as possible is bound to run into the same problems.

I really don't think leeching is as big of a problem everyone seem to think it is. Leeching is only really efficient through 3rd job and a few levels into 4th job. As anyone making buff mules would know, trying to leech through 2nd job is extremely frustrating. It is much better to PQ and physically train the character through those levels.

I also disagree with the lack of social interaction. Solo training and self-leech is, again, incredibly inefficient at higher levels. Someone choosing to avoid social interaction would literally be hamstringing themselves in terms of progression. There are a few options and all of them require some sort of group work:

• Bossing (Zak/HT/Anego/Samurai/BF/etc.).
• Oblivion 4 (duo attacker w/ buff mules, attacker + I/L)
• Petris (duo attacker w/ buff mules, attacker + AM)
• Skeles (duo attacker w/ buff mules, attacker + Bishop)

While 3rd job can be accelerated through leeching, a lot of times it is again more efficient to party up with stuff like Himes and Gallos. The only reasonable argument I can agree with for solo training being more prominent is Ghost Ship. I don't think it's a knock on social interaction for someone to want to hold down a button and watch Netflix for a few levels.

Again, not quite sure what you're referring to here. Server population is fairly small so most people know each other and are generally pretty friendly towards each other. In fact, because of that, certain individuals have their ability to progress completely capped because they're basically shunned by the community for acting like a dick to EVERYONE. No bossing group/guild/alliance would want to take on someone who is rude, refuse to follow instructions, late, etc.

There is definitely some antagonism between different social groups (guilds/alliances) with regards to pricing for bossing services. But social hierarchy? I think you might be surrounding yourself with the wrong people if they see others as beneath them.

I don't think it's right to accuse an entire community of narcissism based on an inaccurate perception. I don't know where exactly you got your picture of the server from, but it diverges quite a bit from the actual state of things. Choosing to be a solo player on this server is extremely ineffective. In a community full of min-maxers, no one in their right mind would intentionally cripple themselves like that.

Choosing to focus your life on more productive things is fine, but you don't have to shit on others for spending time on something they enjoy. You can build something up without tearing something else down.

 

I'm glad you disagree; you brought up a really good point that reminded me of something important. New and fresh social interaction occurs mainly at lower levels because of party quests; most of us knew that party quests gave the most efficient exp/min so that was our go-to source of exp. Most can agree that we make our ML friends initially through party quests or a random stumble across someone at FM; those friends are usually the ones that last the longest and the ones that connect you with a larger group of friends (or other guilds/bossing squad). Tell me if there are common cases where you find these kind of friends through forums or a hunting ground.

I should have been more specific about social interaction regarding players at higher levels (about 3rd-4th job). But that's not even my point. Yes, it's true that at different levels, different sources of exp give different efficiency rates. The problem I am trying to convey is that lesser social interaction = lesser fun. If people are busy solo-grinding (yes, I get it, that's the highest and most efficient way to level up, which is one of the goals of maple), the game becomes less fun.

I want to mention "Game Theory". If you have not heard of it, look it up, it's a simple idea yet holds deep meaning. Then try to connect that idea with Maplestory's game design (at higher levels, of course). It brings this debate of individual game-play vs. cooperative game-play, or simply put:

Individual play in any case leads to greed and narcissistic behaviors (some may argue, that's fine), which leads to my next point:

Hey, props to you if you were lucky enough to surround yourself with the right people -- though I am quite surprised you have not seen or realized a sense of social hierarchy that circles around the server. I mean at least to a certain degree? If not, wow. Good for you.
However, if I get private messages on discord such as "I don't talk much to my guild because I don't seem cool enough," or "I think people seem to know each other already, especially in their own cliques," -- that leaves a huge impression on me. And no, this isn't just a matter secluded within one guild. I am talking about the server as a whole. No, this is not a matter of a shy vs a more outgoing person. Whether you agree or not, my point is that there is this so-called "social ladder", and it only feeds an individual's ego, i.e, "I know I am better than you", "I inwardly do not like this person because he/she seems to think they are better than me", etc. This is connected to my later point on narcissistic behaviors, which can lead to an addiction, i.e., I want to be higher on the social ladder (not limited to popularity alone; it can be things such as trying to be the most "likable", "you are not better than me at x, y, z"). And the addiction part is things like "it's not enough. I need more of this and I need to keep climbing this social ladder and get better than everyone else." Here is an illustration; I do not intend to trigger anyone, but since I need to make my point clear:

[I made an illustration, but figured it simply stirs up conflict, so I chose not to post it, but I could PM you if you want, just to make myself clearer. It relates to my initial post of "There are a few more things I wanted to add, but maybe next time." Even if I try to be as vague as possible, people know who they are and it may target them whether I intended or not. Beware though, my illustration may expose a lot of things about our inner self that not even others know of.]

This point seems to be connected to my next point:

Unfortunately, many times even when I use words like "quite often", people still assume I am referring to everyone. I presume that those who believe what I said does not affect them in any way would simply ignore it. I apologize if you think I am shit-talking someone; that is not my intention at all. In fact, I used to enjoy this game very much myself. I simply posted the last portion to represent my struggle with my own narcissistic behaviors that began to develop. It's easy to fall into this trap. I was honest with myself; I accepted the fact that even I myself was absorbing these behaviors and developing my own, so I made my decision to reduce my play time for MY own good -- I do not intend to put ANYONE down. It wasn't easy, but I eventually escaped with enough self-control and willpower.

 

man i so agree with u
but i think its mostly due to the fact there is just 1 way to play this game efficiently and its completely not fun but totally leave all the others behind and its the following:
-open a mage
-get it to high lvl with lots of int equips and meso
-open an attacker (mostly nl, corsair will do just fine as well)
-up as high int as required and lvl with int equips and leech till u 130 or 150 with horntail pendant or w/e
-ditch your mage ( if you opened an arch mage youre gonna need hs mule as well)
- rush bosses all day and night with attacker (mostly horntail, and zak before that) until you are the richest or strongest or w/e, cheers
-repeat

its really not fun, people just do it because its efficient or w/e, totally ruins the game in my opinion
*monster book ring was really cool way to counter this
also you will notice that these players always play alone leeching themselves or hunting bosses or w/e

 

Why quit at that point?
If I do achieve that, there are lots of to-do list waiting for me to enjoy, to spend my time on what I really enjoy on maplestory.

For me it is questing, interacting with other players, exploring and writing our maple story because it is our story, and etc.
I can't say for others though.

 

okay i take it off

 

Just my opinion though. Hope I dont sound rude

 

Lol I feel like such an anomaly. I log on, grind a little, talk to someone if I see them, smega some nonsense for fun once or twice, then see if there's any quests I've been ignoring to maybe do. I'll also do some nonsense like maybe walk from Lith Harbor all the way to Ellinia just because it's fun to do and because I can. I haven't joined a guild though because I'm not sure I'm 'hardcore' enough. I like socializing and so I'd join one to talk to other members and help out lower lvl members with quests and stuff but I'd be useless at zak runs or HT.

I've been on the server for like a year and the half, and I think my character is lvl 80 or so. I have one main - the other two are mules just to hold all the garbage I collect. When I get too many scrolls, I blow them out a low prices in the FM to make room. I have no illusions of doing daily zak runs or bossing. I just kind of love the chill vibe of Maple. It's how I used to play Pre-BB GMS until Neckson destroyed it with BB and then I lost interest.

I'm just grateful that Legends has kept things as accurate to pre-BB as possible so I can continue to play the way I played GMS from about 2005 - BB.

 

Horny doesnt care about being hardcore, just about being sexy.
R>

 

If you truly want to be Guildless, join Guildless - we don't care about being a 'hardcore' player, either.

 

One real problem is toxic players cooperated with each other and start calling new players as asshole, "I will report you" which I experienced lately.
What Im trying to say is that, your community is not friendly
You do your job and I do mine, what kind of human live like that?
Is there anything good about gamblers but ruining the society? (gachapon)
I things I realized that those who selling leech is not a good kind which also ruin the community.
There should be a npc which calculate the average prices of items selling at FM (good bye scammers)

Of all which I like most is playing with newbie like me and start exploring and do quest together, but after lv3x they got scammed and insulted somewhere sometime (by the bad community) and start leaving the game to the last one I know.

 

Sorry to hear your bad experience.
Regarding toxic behavior and insult, please take screenshots and file an abuse report. There is no guarantee that action will be taken, but at least you get a chance to fight against injustice.

Regarding players trading with you at an unjustified price. Before accepting the deal, ask your friends or strangers for price check. There is a free market channel in discord, most people are helpful when you ask for price check. And if you don't trust the word of one, ask from more people and compare their answers. Most importantly is don't be desperate to land the deal fast, tell the player I will come back to you later after consideration. I have been scammed numerous times in official server because I was young, but I have never been scammed before in maplelegends thanks to my awesome friends.

Regarding gachapon, don't buy the gachapon using NX because the reward is heavily nerfed. Use only the hunting ticket gachapon which dropped by monster. The Nerf is to reward players who spent time in game hunting monster.

Another proof to convince you not all players here are toxic. Look at what is this
https://forum.maplelegends.com/index.php?threads/shinos-charity-foundation-for-new-legend-ers.11305/

If there is anything you need advice on, you can reach me on discord Tsuki#7462