Notice My current state and mood for MapleStory (Post from 2019)

great job Kimmy i played version thor hamer and loved the old school in GB and EMS

 

Hey Kimmy , i am a new user relatively (joined like a month ago more or less) and MapleLegends has been something i am actually enjoying since this is the 1st time i am back to MS since the bigbang probably. As well as the community is actually pretty healthy overall (which is a HUGE pro to this server)

I have read the whole thing and i really feel for you , being in a tough position like that. Allow me to give you my 2 cents on the matter from my perspective in this short time as a "new user" to your product in an honest manner :

1) Hp Washing overwhelmed the hell out of me at the start , i am not going to get in arguments of whether it should stay or be removed but regardless , i assure you the new user does not care about how "healthy" this is to the product taking in consideration all the time & effort exerted by some people to adapt to HpWashing as well as the product supporting such a thing. All they care about is playing their favorite classes without having to wait a HUGE amount of time just to be able to have hp to start playing. I am sure you know all of this , but the point i really don't get is how hard you're trying to please the people who invested into using your product "MapleLegends" when it was still maturing and adapted to HpWashing while losing out on the demands of your market in return. I get their efforts going in vain will be the most awful thing ever , but so is the game dying for not being dynamic enough to analyze the market needs/demands and figuring out how to deliver these needs to the user in the best manner possible.
A huge dilemma right ? But i don't think its balanced right now either , its too biased in the favor of "Must protect the old community" without really giving much of a thought of how can we balance it just alittle in a way where it becomes more attractive to the new users market as well as not completely making those who did invest their time & effort feel it was all in vain (i am sure there were so many ideas of things to be implemented to facilitate hp washing problems and some were really good tbh)


2)Another thing leveling up is too reliant on leeching , when you made the server you aimed for an OldSchoolMS experience yet as we progress you're actually enhancing the flaws that were denying the best experience for us. I know removing leeching removes alot of sides to the way MapleLegends is being played but it does introduce a new kind of challenge and have the people grind their own effort rather than buying it. Its worth a shot in my opinion to try and tackle this gradually without removing it all of a sudden , but as you said the server being stale and boring is an issue that can be broken by introducing new challenges to yourself and your community.

3) The idea of the 2nd world gave me some sort of a relevant idea , why not have a 2nd world that's made for testing/trying out stuff while receiving feedback from your community ? It can be only accessible on weekends and its only made for "testing" as i have mentioned. (sounds too optimistic i know but its just an idea)

As an owner , i think you should be more selfish into taking decisions that bring more success and demand to your product rather than trying to satisfy every single one. (keep in mind i am actually hp washing now but i don't know how long its going to take me before i get to a point where i feel this is taking too much time/effort just to get me ready to "play the game")

I wish you all the best Kimmy and its okay to be burned out like that , dont go too hard on yourself
Goodluck

 

I've been playing tons of private servers starting from 2012, and this server is hands down the best server I've ever played. I knew this since day one of this server, one of the main reasons is the professional and loving staff we have. I don't think we thank them enough.

 

Just take the risks kimmu, server can be better, some people have some cool ideas to address HP washing or class balance, which are the biggest issues imo. You can always do polls for the community if staff have a hard time deciding on something.

HT timer too short? now's 3 hrs
shads on suicide watch? double stab buffs
resets too expensive? even 3k will do
weapon cancels unfun? make pallys break it
no one does neo tokyo? buff droprates

those are just some problems and I feel most of the stuff requires little tweaks to get fixed, like a change in some numbers. Hmm, the most recent addition I love the most is the style server, I think 99,999% of the players here enjoy designing their chars, just unleash all the nx, all the hairs, a cash shop mega expansion, everyone will be happy. hugs kimmy.

 

In 2016 when I was looking for my childhood game, I came across Maplelegends (it was not Maple Royal first and that search was through google images lol). It was such a nostalgic experience for me, i could cry.

I didn't continue to play very long. Until my brother and cousin started playing as well (you could say I converted them haha). I guess my point is that knowing GMs really care for the users and there are still people waiting for me, I would come back whenever I need a break from life.

Lastly, the recent bucc's buff was lovely <3

 

i dont know what changes you wish to do, but in my opinion working to get new players is always good. usually making the game more attractive to new players will also make it better for the current players. i think that even if some players dont like it they will stay, because this server is very good in general. and for the long run its important too. like you said we lose player base because of age and the fact that this is not modern game. so i think getting new players should be first.
you can always ask the community for feedback. there might be idea that will make everyone happy, but you just didn't think of it yet. tell us what you want to do
i started to play summer 2017 btw.
thanks for all the hard work. you got great game..

 

I understand how you feel trapped and can't make decisions that will satisfy everyone, but don't feel that you can't attempt make gameplay changes fairly.

For example: Reducing ap reset price FEELS unfair to old players right? Well we have cash shop history. You can the difference to people. Yes this doesn't make it 100% fair, but there are many options and tweaks you can do like this to make your "radical" decisions more fair and pleasing to everyone.

I personally think legends is more or less a finished product as well. People are really looking forward to NT part 2 and pink bean, but after that I do think the game will get stale again. At that point you will either have the option to leave it as is, and keep legends stale, or work on custom content to keep things fresh.

I think either are fine for legends, but, i do think having custom content (done properly of course) would lead to the most success for legends in the long term as it will keep players interested.

 

I've been playing a lots of cms private servers starting from 2016, and this server is the best server I've ever played.Many servers are unable or lazy to fix many problems, resulting in server instability, and MapleLegends'boss experience is the best I've ever had. I invite friends because they are not good at English, so they are not willing to try this excellent server. I tried to sinicize the server, but after communicating with you, I realized that multi-lingual input support would cause users in other languages to see all the information is question marks. So now I'm ready to give up translating the game into Chinese. I started enjoying the game. Maybe those who left the game because of the language didn't understand how good a server they had missed.As a Java developer, I tried to build a server to fix old school problems, but I didn't finish it because I didn't have relevant experience. I want to say that if I need help, I can make an effort for maplelegends. Thank you and the community for your dedication to this excellent server。

 

Kimmy, ML has been an awesome community to be a part of. I've been able to meet up with people IRL. In fact, I met up with some today! It's been awesome grinding to 200, but I know that I wouldn't have been able to do it without this unique environment! Shoutout to you and all the staff for all the support! Thanks!

P.S. DKrai: It's been almost a year since...

 

My 2-cent worth of thought
The key to survival imo is the user base in the server, which includes previous, current and potential users. This is what makes the game fun with accompanionship and a lively community. Below are some ideas for exploration and discussion, peace.

1. Increase streaming benefits and promotions
-> referral codes
-> bonuses for those referee and new players referred
-> streamer tag, just like the donater tag on forum
-> in-game text to remind users, something like 'Feeling bored? You can stream and grind, or even watch our streaming channels while you play!'

2. Restricted 2nd World
-> hype of a new server i.e. people rushing to lv. 200 with live rankings
-> resource re-allocation i.e. breaking the existing pyramid structure and everyone is a new user now, with no meso or level advantage
-> restricted in the sense to pilot test it on weekends (active) for current and new players
-> possibility of re-consolidation i.e. allow merging of 2 worlds into one in bossing, major events or entirely in the future

Major con for this approach is make-it-or-break-it i.e. the risk of diluting the in-game community and concentration of people from the current world. Therefore, it works best if the 'total number of new players' attracted is more than the 'total number of active current players' in the existing world. If the pilot test fails, part if not most of these new players would be re-consolidated into the original world, achieving the objective of additional new users into the current user base. in the best case scenario, we would see 2 worlds running with 2 big in-game communities.

It is a bold yet exciting idea to be explored, careful thoughts and resource commitment, allocation (GMs) would have to be in placed before any execution.

3. Make HP Washing even easier
-> cash ticket (100, 250, potential of 300) should drop outside of events
-> gold gachapon tickets should be included in more if not all events
-> reduce purchase price of AP Resets to 2500 i.e. 2 washes a day

Assumption: HP washing is acceptable for old users who 100% loves and will die for this server, HP washing seems relatively daunting for new players which require at least months of consistent, thorough voting and hardcore meso-making to acquire washing gears.

Conclusion
Ideas are suggested with considerations of vitality (community, active users) and balance (challenging, equality) with regards to the server.
Many players begin with the end in mind, striking a balance in making the server vital is fun yet challenging. It isn't always the easiest thing to do yet with careful considerations, feedback and evaluations, it is possible to achieve relative balance where most users (>60%) would feel entertained or satisfied.

Sincere appreciation goes out to Kimmy and the team to support this server, Kudos and Greatjob! Also, i think the community has also responded in several ways (text, donations) to show their appreciation, while some appreciation is left unspoken by the heart.

Ending off with one of my favorite quotes, 'If you're going through hell, keep going.' Winston Churchhill

 

I knew this day would eventually come. I was talking about it with my best friend just tonight at his place. I think the only way to make MapleLegends be able to expand and accomplish what you want, you'd have to update it to a .72 or .83 server. Of course, doing that means having to fix a lot stuff on those types of servers (effectively starting all over again) and make the necessary changes to keep the MapleLegends environment unchanged - and on top of all of that, the ridiculous amount of work required to transfer the database from the current server to the next (because without the source code, it would likely all have to be done by hand).

The only thing I hope for is that I can accomplish my main goal of getting all 12 of my characters to 4th Job at the same time. It was something I feared starting that I might not be able to finish if there wasn't enough time to do it all. But that's the type of person I am. Big goals! Anything worth doing is never going to be easy. There is an old proverb that works here: The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.

I just want to tell you, Kimberly...you've done a great job thus far. I appreciate all you've done. No matter which way you want to go next, I trust your wisdom.

 

I joined in 2017 when server had peak population, I never thought I would be able to experience my childhood again playing maplestory with internet buddies but thanks to you and Navi, I was able to relive the nostalgia to its fullest (the joys of ludi/henehoeing and needing to scout and fast click for KPQ/LPQ because its full in every channels ) Good times.

On the contrary, I think you SHOULD regularly make this kind of post. There's nothing negative about this, I'd even suggest you make a discord channel where it's just you ranting about dev stuff. Often people don't know a whole lot of what goes on behind the scenes and posts like this puts things into perspective.

I think you should stop feeling pressured to constantly add new content. People come to this server for the V62 experience, everything non v62 are just bonuses. IMO, Pink Bean should be the last non v62 content to be added. After that, instead of new content, maybe just simply focus on slightly tweaking event content and fixing and improving existing issues. The thing is, for the server to remain true to itself as a v62 PS and not fall into what Royals have become, there needs to be a limit to how far things can be changed. There needs to be a clear vision of what the optimal v62 PS should be, and once you achieve it you just let it be. If population dwindle then so be it, no server has thrived for longer than 10 years anyway, let's just make it the best it can be in whatever time there is left.

To be honest, I think you've done enough for the community already. It's not good or healthy to spend so much time being so stressed and burned out doing things you don't enjoy especially since when it comes down to it, it's just a game. I'm sure no one here wants to see Kim go bald from stress of running this server.

All I can say is go for the decision that YOU personally will regret the least

 

I haven't actually thought about leaving the server over any of the changes. At the same time I never really considered any of the changes to be an indicator of whether or not I'll continue playing the server either. Any of the changes that come are secondary reasons at best why I continue to play, and that is because I have found a home here. I found a community of people under some caring leadership, both in guilds and in game moderators.

I don't really believe a game can fail so long as there is care put forth into it by its leaders. There can be disagreements, but I'm not sure if that's a good indicator of whether or not something is succeeding or failing overall, and the fact that there can be dialogue is in itself a healthy thing to have.

There'll be changes that make me upset. There'll be others that make me happy. There'll be changes that I'll make jokes and quips about but overall I'm going to continue playing. I'm going to continue because I can see that the staff here cares about both the integrity of the game and keeping its players happy. I'm going to continue playing because the staff cares enough to open up to us and share their hearts.

It's clear that you care. It's clear that you love this game and this community. That's why I'll trust whatever vision Kimmy has for this server, whether it is big changes or the continued small changes. I may not like the changes but I'll appreciate the work and care that went into making them.

 

Update the cashshop you flat chested loser

 

I'm not super active around these parts but wanted to say hi to all of the beautiful Maplelegends people! Great speech as always Kim, its nice to see feedback going back and forth.

From my perspective I think the server is fine as is but I also like brainstorming so I will toss out a few ideas even though some of them might be way off base or not usable. They will just be suggestions and random thoughts from me.

For HP washing I would simply take AP resets out of the Cash shop entirely and only give them out rarely during events. While its true that this was something possible in the original game, it seems to be one of those things that get taken too far instead of serving its normal purpose.

Of course that change would only be meaningful if the server was wiped first (yes I am aware that is also a controversial suggestion) but I think it is probably one of the quickest and least painful avenues to achieving a "Classic" Maplestory experience that will not be as easy to abuse.

Its the staff's call to make but I don't believe it would hurt to have a poll to gauge how players might feel about such drastic action. It is extreme but I'd call it short term pain for long term gain. Sorry there is not an easier way to fix that.

Finally the suggestion I would also make, is to use whichever version of MapleLegends is the easiest to maintain and simply keep it going mostly with just seasonal events. (even if it means giving up certain features or additions)

Those are my thoughts in any case, certainly each of these topics could be explored in large discussions and debates all on there own. I don't think its so easy to say that there is a "right" or "wrong" answer with most of them. Viable arguments could be made on either side with practically all of the issues but the (perhaps) over ridding principle is the basic Maplestory game and what gels good with it and what does not.

For everything else you could get an image that states "Deal with it" and use the picture anytime someone complains.

Good luck everybody, sorry again that the best idea I could come up with is to blow up the world!

 

very agree

 

I think that if maplelegends wiped, ALOT of players would go to a competing server. One of maplelegends big advantages is that it has a stable population and a good long term playerbase. A server wipe would probably jeopardize this advantage.