Beginner's Guide to Starting Out and Making Money (ver 2)

Preface

Spoiler: preface

Even today after the years upon years Maplestory has been out, experienced players still struggle when first starting out on a new server with nothing but their first character. And the rare individuals who haven't played this game before have it worse!

Fortunately, over the years many low level quests have been added with the specific purpose of providing free bonus exp, free potions, and even fun while doing them. But unfortunately, many people seem to miss or even purposely skip over them. Sooner, rather than later, they wind up a ghost as they guzzled their last potion while struggling to train, and then the next place they go isn't the guide section for tips on how to play or make money; they go to the free market to beg for mesos.

While begging isn't really against the rules, it is frowned upon, and really, it can be entirely avoided. This guide will intend to show you - and PROVE - that leveling up is actually pretty easy. Even when starting out on a completely new server with nothing but your level 1 beginner, it is possible to level up quickly while also gathering potions, mesos, and gears at the same time! All one has to do is complete the numerous quests that are available. Therefore, the only reasons for begging is sheer ignorance, or unwillingness to learn and make your own mesos.

Voting

Spoiler: voting

First thing is first. After you register your account, log in to the Maple Legends website. Then click the Vote option. You can vote once every 24 hours. Each time you vote, you will receive 5000 Vote Cash. If you reach level 45, you will be able to gachapon. But even before that, you will probably want to spend your NX on pets, hair styles, cosmetics, or... I also recommend expanding your inventory a bit.



You can choose to vote for Maple Legends multiple times per day, using different IPs, but remember: you can only be rewarded with vote cash once per person, per day. Collecting a vote cash reward more than once per day is considered Vote Abuse, which gives an unfair advantage and can really distort the economy.

Character Creation

Spoiler: character creation

After you make your account and vote, you'll want to dive right into the game! But not so fast. First you'll want to come up with a cool name for your character. And also after fiddling with the minimal visual customization options you get, you need to roll your stats. This is also important. If you mess up your stats now, it means you will have to waste your vote cash undoing your mistake later. Take the 5 to 15 minutes it takes to get the stats you need, and save yourself some days of lost vote cash.

For pirates, bowmen, and warriors, you need DEX and STR. When you roll you want to see 4 luk and 4 int.

For thieves, you need DEX and LUK. When you roll you want to see 4 str and 4 int. If you want a str bandit, some STR is ok too.

For magicians, you just want INT. Or you can go for the "normal" build, which I do not recommend. Aim for at least 11 int. Or if you must, get 4 dex and 4 str on your roll. But trust me, simply aiming to go full int is a far better choice.

Some people might also say you need to add points to INT regardless of your class so that you can HP wash later. But this is a guide to starting out and making money, not creating the most uberhax pro character that becomes fully effective at around level 15x but is gimped before then. The game isn't fun if the character you want to play is completely useless and can't kill anything. I'd also argue it's not really fun leeching up your main character with a throwaway character you don't really want to play or care about. With the addition of the monster book ring and Ellin Savior ring, a lot more stats and HP are available to players. More than ever before! HP washing, at least the extreme kind, should not be necessary to enjoy the game.

With that said, it's time to get started! For this example, the majority of people said gunslingers are the hardest to start out as, so I rolled a pirate!

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Also, to further prove a point, I will not equip any armors on this character. Only a single weapon! I intend to prove that the wdef stat is not that important, and that you can progress through the game without any armor at all!

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Poor girl, she looks cold though.

Training Camp

Spoiler: training camp

If you know what you are doing, the beginning of the game is a walk in the park! Select your newly-created character, and enter the game. You start off next to a NPC. Enter the training grounds and go past all the useless scenery and movie screens. The conveyor belts are there for a reason: to get you out of this stupid room (and stupid outfit) ASAP!

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In the next map you see Roger. Talk to him, and take his quest. Open your inventory, eat Roger's Apple, then talk to him again. You get:

3 Apples
3 Green Apples
10 exp

Next, continue along and talk to Todd. Take his quest too. All you have to do is kill a fake Drumming Bunny and a fake Leatty, loot their drops, and take them to Peter (further along the way). You get 10 more exp, and now you are level 2.

Depending on your job, you'll distribute your Ability Points differently. Warriors should add STR. Pirates, Bowmen, and Thieves should add DEX. Magicians add INT.

As for your skills, the beginner skills really don't matter that much, but just starting out, Nimble Feet is a decent choice. Three snails can help out those magician-to-bes.. and everyone else can just get Recovery for all I care. It really doesn't matter much either way, though.

Mages: for an easier time as a mage, leave Three Snails at level 2. Blue snail shells aren't too hard to get, and you won't need many for quests, so you can throw the blue snail shells you find for extra damage. At most, you'll need to save five. After you complete the New Life quest, increase it to level 3 if you want.

Now that your AP and SP are distributed, leave this waste of a map by talking to Heena. Then talk to Peter's identical twin brother, Peter, who is waiting just outside. Now you are able to explore Maple Island.

Follow the Breadcrumbs on Maple Island

Spoiler: bread crumbs

Now after exiting the training camp, you are officially on Maple Island, and right next to a new NPC called Dr. Robin. Talk to him, and take his quest. If you already distributed your AP and SP, you are practically done. Do the quiz.

• You can add to HP and MP (though not recommended yet).
• Magicians job advance at level 8.
• Third Question: Scroll down and choose thief.

If you are new to maple or it's been a long time, you might want to pay close attention to what the NPCs say, and maybe read through all the info Dr. Robin provides. There are stat requirements for attaining your 1st job advancements. If you fail to meet them at level 10, you will have to level up more as a beginner.

Anyway, for finishing Dr. Robin's quiz, you will receive 40 exp (and another level). Move a bit to the right, and talk to Sam. Sam wants you to kill 10 snails. Might as well kill them right here on this map! You'll notice that they drop snail shells, coins, and maybe some other stuff. I have one tip to help you succeed: pick up everything!

One thing you will probably notice upon killing snails is that they dropped a monster card. The drop rate of the snail card is ridiculously high. It just screams, "Hey, we have monster book!" Be sure to collect any cards you see. Down the road, even going out of your way to hunt some monster cards could be a good idea.

Anyway, now that you've killed 10 snails, leave this map and cross the next two maps, ignoring the other snails. You'll see Maria standing close by. There is even another quest she has for you. Turn in the quest you were working on for 60 exp and another level! In addition to that, she'll reward your completing that quest with ... another quest! Make sure you pick up both quests. Then you'll want to make your way to Amherst and deliver a letter to Lucas. Continue to the right, and take the upper path. You'll notice next to the portal is a big sign that says "Amherst" with a big arrow pointing towards it.

In the next map, you'll see Yoona. Talk to her, and choose her quiz on shopping. She wants you to find a Beginner's Shopping Guide in the cash shop. Look at the bottom right of your screen for a big red button with a stack of gold coins on it that says SHOP. Click on it.

Now the problem is, you have to find an item in a random place in this shop. That's like finding a needle in a haystack! Right? Wrong! Simply use the search feature, located near the top-right corner of your screen!



Once you click that button, simply type "guide" into the search box. You will easily find the item you need. "Buy" the Beginner's Shopping Guide, then exit the cash shop (bottom-right corner). Now that you have the guide, talk to Yoona again, and you will be able to take her quiz.

• You can expand your inventory (and I recommend you doing this later).
• You can equip cash shop items and normal items at the same time. They are cosmetic items.
• Gachapon tickets last 30 days. I don't know why, but don't buy any until you are level 45 at least.
• Choose 35 on the Memo question.
  
• Finally, a Pillow can't be equipped with a Dagger.

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Now you are given a choice. 30 Blue potions or a stolen fence. Here's some facts to point out: Blue potions cost 200 mesos each, and you will definitely be burning through a lot of these as you kill monsters. Once you get your 1st job advancement, that is. On the other hand, a stolen fence can be bought for 2,000 mesos, and not every job can use them. 30 blue potions at 200 mesos each, or a nearly useless item you can sell to NPCs for a measly 1k. Do the smart thing and choose the blue potions.

Yoona also has another quest: she wants you to kill Blue Snails and Shrooms. Do this quest while you are here. Also, just keep killing the shrooms until you get at least 15 of their mushroom spores. Killing a few other monsters in the area to help shrooms spawn more wouldn't hurt either. If you still find yourself running out of shrooms to kill, you can always go to the northwest map called Mushroom Garden; there are more there. With this quest done, you gain 100 exp and are probably level 6 by now.

• If you are going for a Warrior, just keep adding to STR.
• If a Magician, just keep adding to INT.
• If a Bowman, just add DEX.
  
• If a thief, get 25 DEX, then add the rest to LUK.
• Lastly, if you are making a pirate, it depends. All pirates need at least 20 DEX, and while this is a gunslinger's main stat, a Brawler's main stat is STR.

When you are finished here, continue to the right. You are now in Amherst! Talk to Rain and she'll give you a short explanation and also a quiz:

1. Open Inventory with I.
2. Yes, equip items by double-clicking.
3. Open Equipment with E.
4. Pick up items with Z.
5. Magicians job advance at level 8.
6. Every level you get 5 AP.
7. To leave Maple Island, you go to Southperry.

Answering all these questions gets you 62 exp. The next NPC you see is Pio. Talk to him, and he asks you to collect scraps from the boxes you see scattered around. All you need to do is attack the boxes you have seen with your normal attack (like how you have been fighting monsters).

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For now, ignore the boxes and everything else, and just make a beeline to Lucas, who is standing in the center of the town near the potion shop. Once you deliver Maria's letter to him, he'll reward you with a few potions, then want you to give his reply back to Maria. Well, we aren't dragon-slaying heroes yet, so may as well accept our roles as couriers. Take a quick jaunt back a few maps left to meet up with Maria again, and she will give you 10 exp and a free hat!



But that's not all. By doing this little fetch quest, you unlock two additional quests from Lucas. Let's go back to Amherst and see what he wants. His first task involves going to see Mai for training. The second involves killing snails. Let's go see Mai first.

Mai's Training

Spoiler: mais training

Over to the east of Amherst you will find Mai standing around waiting to help new beginners train. She has two quests for you, New Life, that asks you to collect a bunch of random stuff, and Training, which you should be focusing on first.



Right before you actually start the training, she gives you a razor. Equip it, and then start carving up some stumps! Keep killing them until you have both killed 5, and have collected at least 3 tree branches.

One thing that could happen to you is that the bottom area may be brimming with stumps. You'll notice if you try to go down and attack them that it can be an annoying process, and you start hitting other stumps, losing focus of the first one you attacked. This type of thing frequently happens, so always keep an eye out for opportunities to single out a monster and take them out without aggroing another one.

Once you finish with the stumps, return to Mai for 150 exp. Next she asks you to kill 5 red snails. On this map red snails can be a pain to find, so forget it. What you actually want to do is take the northwest warp over to the Tomato Field and slaughter everything you see. Stay on this map and kill as many snails as you can, until you also collect 10 red snail shells for the new life quest. By now, you should not only have all the items you need to complete the New Life quest, but you also will have inadvertently become the hero of Amherst by slaying many of the snails infesting their farms!

Once you are done, return to Mai. The New Life Quest will get you 100 Red Potions and a hat that either adds to your HP or MP. Either way, it should help a little. Mai's second training will net you 175 exp, 10 Eggs, and 10 Oranges. Now she wants you to kill 3 slimes and get a squishy liquid. Go ahead and do that. More slimes can be found in the top-middle warp. If your character is particularly weak and having trouble taking out these mobs, you can always stand on a nearby ledge and jump while attacking to hit the mobs from a safe spot.

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Completing Mai's 3rd training session gets you 200 more exp. Lastly, she asks you to kill 2 pigs. If you can't seem to find any, the top right warp should have some. Completing this last quest will get you 15 Meat, 15 Lemons, and 250 exp. Now you are finished with this area, and should definitely be level 8 by now!

If you are making a mage, now is a time to stop and consider: do you keep questing or leave maple island immediately? I know it must be tempting to job advance immediately, but there are good things that come to those with patience. If you choose to do all the quests, you will get a lot of items and other help, but you will wind up job advancing at level 10. It is true that you will be compensated for all your skill points. However, when you level up as a magician, you get slightly more HP and more MP on level up...

In the long run, about 5 or 6 less HP and 20-30 less MP won't really matter. Plus, HP washing and MP double washing is definitely a thing you can do later. It's quite easy for a mage or bishop! Since this is a guide on starting out, you will likely need every penny you can get on your first character. As such, even if you are going a mage, I would highly recommend continuing with all the quests. Believe me when I say it will make your life easier! Imagine, no going to the FM to beg for mesos, ever! And best of all, you will get a hefty jump start in your mage career, with access to lots of extra skill points so you don't have to waste time struggling to kill slimes by thwacking them with your wand for hours.

Going back into Amherst, first you pass by Lucas again. Since you have completed all of Mai's trainings, he awards you 250 exp, plus a special letter that lets you leave Maple Island without paying a fee. Then, when you turn in his quest for protecting his farm, he'll give you a random pair of work gloves. People will pay a surprising amount for the yellow work gloves, and even something substantial for the colored ones. Even if you wind up with plain white or gray gloves, don't fret. You could still probably sell them to someone for at least 100k. Continuing onwards, and you meet Pio again. Hopefully you have been breaking those boxes. In return for your efforts, you get 200 mesos, 100 exp, and if you talk to him again, he gives you a nifty chair.

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Find this chair in the "Set up" tab of your inventory. Press \ to open your keyboard settings, or alternatively press the tiny red button on the bottom-right of your screen that has 3 squares on it. Drag and drop your chair anywhere you want. You can now use it to rest in a safe spot, recovering 50 HP every 10 seconds and multiplying your natural MP regen by 1.5.

By now there isn't too much left to do on Maple Island. What you'll want to do is head back to Maria again to help her make that juice. Make sure you've got an extra squishy liquid and your mushroom spores to complete this quest! After she's done making the juice, your next destination will be Southperry.

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Follow the sign and head there, but first talk to Bari. He wants you to kill an orange mushroom and bring back its mushroom cap. Go ahead and take this quest, along with folding your arms and saying, "Challenge accepted," like a badass. Simply climb the rope right next to Bari and start looking for an orange mushroom up there. If you don't see one, you'll have to go in one of the other maps, or kill some weaker monsters down below to make something spawn.

Once you take down your prey and collect your hunting trophy, return to Bari for a whopping 700 EXP. But of course, that's not all. After you've done that, Bari suggests you talk to Biggs in Southperry, so let's head on over there. When you talk to Biggs, he says you should talk to Olaf, who is in Lith Harbor, of Victoria Island. His other quest involves giving him 5 blue snail shells and an orange mushroom cap. *sigh*

Go back and return with another mushroom cap. Biggs will give you a bit more exp and a fruit knife. Well, a weapon upgrade is a weapon upgrade, so you may as well equip it. With that out of the way, you only need to speak with Shanks who is standing on the right side of the town in front of the boat. First turn in his juice quest to get a little more exp and some free potions. And then, talk to him again to leave Maple Island. Normally shanks will arbitrarily extort 150 mesos from a poor beginner such as yourself just because he can. But if you've been doing all the quests on Maple Island, not only did you earn a boatload of exp and items, but you also get a free boat ride too!

Brave New World

Spoiler: new world

Once you arrive in Lith Harbor of Victoria Island, you are immediately waylaid by an obnoxious floating light bulb! Rino, the monster researcher, just can't wait to be the first to tell you about the brand new, awesome Monster Book feature Maple Legends has to offer! It's too bad that I told you first. Simply keep walking right off the nose of the ship, and you can't miss him. Or her. Talk to them to collect your useless, gemless monster ring. But don't throw it away! Like they said, once you collect a bunch of sets of monster cards, you will start getting bonuses from it.

Now what you want to do is continue holding right. You'll drop down and soon you'll be standing in front of a viking-looking dude called Olaf.

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As you can see, there's already a quest waiting to be completed with him. Because you talked to Biggs earlier, Olaf will award you 100 beginner red potions, 100 beginner blue potions, and 500 additional exp. By now you should be level 10. Stay here, though! Now take the lesson on job advancement Olaf has to offer. It's yet another quiz on stuff you should definitely know by now. You get 65 exp.

Now Olaf has yet more quests for you to choose. Notice how they all correspond to a particular job. Go ahead and select the appropriate one for the job you wish to be. Then, also take the other quest he has: Around Lith Harbor. He wants you to kill like 40 ribbon pigs... wait, what?? That's too much! Yes, of course it is.

This is the next important part of questing: knowing what quests to avoid and put off later, and which to cash in now. Right now, you're still a beginner, and this needs to be rectified this instant! Hurry on over back to the left to see Phil, who is standing in front of (or isn't he supposed to be inside?) a ticket booth. At these early levels, I say you should not use any taxi services, but this one time I make an exception. Having to walk everywhere as a beginner is a pain in the ass, plus you are nearly level 11 as it is. You don't want to be gaining any more experience right now. At least since you are still a beginner, you get a 90% discount.

After warping to your class's town, find your job instructor. Don't complete the quest yet. Instead, look for etc dialogues to ask about your job advancement. If you haven't been reading this guide upside down, you should have all the necessary stats to job change immediately.

After you make your advancement, you'll get a few extra gears appropriate for your job to help get you started. You'll also probably receive a few whispers from people congratulating you. Feel free to whisper back and make some friends! Or you can be a jerk and ignore them. Once you're finished reading through a bunch of NPC dialogue and maybe some chatter, turn in that other quest you were saving.

By now, you'll probably still be level 10, or maybe 11 if you have killed a lot of other monsters on Maple Island. You'll also have a new training quest from your job instructor to help you get those levels faster. More importantly, you should have a crapload of recovery items.



Just look at all that stuff! The best part is that at these low levels, more exp and potions is easy to get through questing. For now, this is the end of the chapter for this guide. But your career as an adventurer is only just beginning.

 

Reserved for part 2.

 

Reserved for part 3.

 

Reserved for part 4.