Information Getting everything off my chest

*This topic is very, very long but may and may not be worth reading
**This topic was created without discussion with staff. Its something I need get off my chest
***This topic also contains yet more history lessons for those interested why Legends exist
****I warn you this post is really long

There's times of the year where I feel rather emotional when it comes to Legends. Usually I keep it to myself and think through stuff, this is another time however though I just need to tick tick tick it out on my keyboard instead of keeping it in my mind.

1. History lessons

When it comes to MapleLegends it have already exceeded 3 years of how long its technically around. The first ever post behind the scene was made September 9, 2014. This was when thoughts and considers of starting an own MapleStory server started. Before that I was playing NobleStory, which was a MapleStory Private Server with 2x/2x/2x rates where I've reached 183 as a hero.

NobleStory was probably one of the best servers I've played, but it had a lot of things that I did dislike. Example, they had features to buy skill books without having to do Horntail, they had events where you got a lot of EXP for free (bosses which were usually summoned after an event), and a few more things.

As I've just mentioned, NobleStory was the best server I've played.. but I also said that it had things that I disliked. This is at a point where you are in a 'If only.. x existed' moment.

During that time there were a few other servers that had a decent size. MapleRoyals which was 4x/2x/2x and ClassicMS which was 1x/1x1/1x.

When it comes to the actual gameplay style, ClassicMS was possibly the closest GMS-like server ever ran. But even that server had issues, such as

• Pay2win Gachapon (GM scrolls)
• 2x EXP cards
• A guild by name of Shinobi was known to gain free items by the owner
• Rank 1 of the server gained free items as well after donating a 'high amount' of money
• Some things like NLC drops were missing

These things are very unappealing. However, even though these facts were known, people still had fun playing the game and especially had fun meeting new friends. ClassicMS to me at its prime had one of the best communities ever.

But it wasn't perfect. Again, I was looking for that perfect server, I was requesting servers to change x and y since they were unappealing, but it wasn't happening.

And thus, I've quit. Then I moved to a server called AltruisMS. This was seen as 'ClassicMS 2.0' because it was created to fight the things people disliked about ClassicMS, so it was big for a very short period.. then died again. Likewise for ClassicMS this server started get issues that I wasn't satisfied with. Then I got a message about NobleStory. I peaked around and first impressions I had that so many quests worked. NobleStory had a lot, and a lot of quests working compared to the servers back then.

I was always a quester and a person that likes to collect things, so that was very appealing. I've stayed there for a very long time, and it was the last server I've played until...

MapleLegends.

When it came back to the earlier 'if only x existed' it was clear that nobody was planning to do it. ClassicMS had flaws, NobleStory wasn't 100% GMS-like and Royals had insane rates and was very un-GMS-like especially at the time

I asked very good ClassicMS friends if ClassicMS was perfect, what would you want changed.

Similar things that I mentioned were mentioned.

Thus a new server consideration was born. Back then we had no name yet, and coming up to a name was very difficult.

At one day Navi came with a pastebin with a lot of random names

'MapleOrigin'
'MapleStory Classic'
'MapleStory scape'

And similar. I am not sure if the pastebin is still around, but it was just a list full of names, really.

There was one that flew out of me immediately 'MapleLegends'.

The explanation of the pastebin basically was 'MapleStory and League of Legends' I don't even play League! Why would I like this name?

I don't know, honestly. I like the name, I still like the name even today. I was actually against a 'nostalgic' kind of name, and wanted a similar 'cool' server name like MapleRoyals does. To this day I think a nostalgic name is very good for marketing (ClassicMS had simply the best PR name ever), but I didn't liked to go to that road, be yet another 'nostalgic server'. This was when both OriginMS and ClassicMS were around. The market was filled already!

The goal of MapleLegends then?

The goal and everything was actually decided already way before the name. While I said September 9 was the first post on the forums with the name already applied, development already started around August of the same year (2014) without a site or anything.

• A pay2win free server
• A server that was truly GMS-like with very rare exceptions
• A new home for ClassicMS users
• Features and polish no server ever had before

When it comes to MapleLegends #2 have probably changed the most. Back in 2014-2015 I wanted everything to be GMS-like, kinda what Royals now does with 'new source'. I wanted drks to have stun when they use dragon roar, I wanted annoying unnecessary Omok spam when you make a matched set, etc...

The thing I never however had a thought to remove at all is the FM button. The FM button is something that I am very close tight with, and will be very close tight with probably forever.

During MapleLegends there were considerations to remove the FM button or to replace it with some special custom social map (way before Royals will now), but I wasn't a fan of it. The problem was that part of the FM button is also the merching. FM button makes the marching very active, and appealing to do. And to me the merching part of MapleStory is the most important aspect to make money. I believe without a FM button its too much of a chore to sell stuff, as well as introducing new players to merch. And the social part of the game is the second (or even more so) important aspect of MapleStory

For GMS-like I was into vanilla v0.62, which is what Legends was when it came out. However, I was semi prepared for further additions. During close beta I've added Ulu city, Ellin forest, and a few more without releasing them at all.

For ulu I slowly got a mindset of 'I do not want to release this'. I do not remember the exact reasons, but whatever the reasons were, its now released anyway. I believe ulu ended up released because high ranked people really had nothing to do anymore.

When it comes to public the first thing people really wanted added was Temple of Time. Why? Royals had it. Yes, that was the pure reason. If Royals have it, we should too.

If we were to add ToT, it would mean we were no longer vanilla v0.62. Do we want this? Slowly more and more people asked for ToT. Each announcement had pictures of people posting ToT content, and more.

Why ToT? ToT was higher level content over Skelegons, and people were very tired of Skelegons. The other problem with Skelegons was that it was extremely overpowered for Bishops, while warriors had absolutely nothing. ToT was for warriors, which is also why most fighters were asking for ToT.

And thus after a lot of requests, ToT was being added. We were officially no longer vanilla v0.62 and took similar roads as Royals did; adding content into v0.62. Well, technically we already were no longer vanilla v0.62. We made tweaks, we added custom boss-bars (Anego, HH, Blue MM, etc).

When it comes to my own opinion I am actually not against adding content at all. Big bang wasn't destroyed due to high amount of content, but it was destroyed because of the changes, the changes to balance, the additions of Pay2win items, and more.. not because of the high amount of content. Personally, at least.

When it comes further with adding content, I got a mindset of 'Why does every server make a GMS-like nostalgic server? Why is there none for other regions?'

And thus I started work on Shanghai and Thailand. MapleSEA had these nostalgic places and were completely in English! Why not do this? And so, we did. Shanghai and Thailand were released and we officially had nostalgic content for our SEA users. A while after we did similar, but for our Taiwanese users. Thus Ximending, Night Market, and Taipei 101 were added.

We were no longer an Old School GMS-like server, we are a global Old School MapleStory Server, for everyone. And it was even nice for the GMS users, since they could experience new content they never could before.
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2. You should always be happy with your own server

When it comes to any server, the most often thing an owner gets from their users is 'they do not listen to us' 'there's a lack of transparency' and similar things.

This is an issue here, this is an issue at Royals, this is most likely an issue everywhere.

The problem is that you as owner (such as myself and other owners) have a pre-set goal in their mind when they create a server. I had one, I've explained most of it earlier, and other owners have one too.

While you create a MapleStory server, you create it for a reason; it is because what you want to make is not in the market yet (that is if you do not make a 1:1 clone of an other server that is).

MapleLegends, as explained earlier was a new home for ClassicMS. While that was initially true, it moved from that and added more content, etc to improve MapleLegends.

Very early I was already a person that likes polish, and thus very early on the OCD thread was made to correct typos, misplacement, buggy ladders, etc.

In end of the day however, there's still things I do not like. It could have 80% of userbase positive about it, or want it changed. But if you, as owner, do not like it, its very unappealing for yourself to do it anyway, just for the users. While this is a basic mindset of you, the user to have a successful server, to listen to the feedback of the users, it will overall destroy your goal what you wanted in your server, which can be very demotivating.

When such events happen, it isn't 'We do not care about the opinions of our users' its 'I'm sorry, but this wasn't part of what I wanted in MapleLegends'. It can have every bit of support, but if you do not like it, nothing will change it, unless you go against yourself. But if you do that, you will slowly kill the motivation. Your server will change slowly and more slowly into something you never wanted. It may give you more users, but it give you much less appeal and motivation. Which do you prefer?

With this explanation hopefully you will understand the side of the owner, and understand why not every feedback can happen, regardless of support. If you were to create something you'll understand my side very quickly.
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3. We are just like you, a human. A fan of MapleStory

Something that usually happens is people that are afraid of other that are higher up. GM's, Administrators, etc.

The thing about MapleStory unofficial servers to me is always the benefits that you are not stuck in some shady contract of 'zero communication' or whatever. At Neckson a community manager got fired for communicating at Reddit in regards of a ticket from a person. That's how strict companies are.

That's something unofficial servers will always benefit from, which is that we are fans of the game, just like you. We are not here to get all your money and do not care about you at all, we are a player like you, that played the game for a very long time, and run one because Neckson can't do it themselves, on their free time while having a real job separate.

We do not bite, we talk just like you. Don't be afraid.
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4. Being professional

This is a word that I got tossed at for many times. Its something I have very mixed opinions on.

What is being professional?

This can be a different opinion for many, but to most it means you need act like a 'mature' person and always be formal when talking everywhere. Not swearing, not making 'childish' jokes, and so on.

When it comes to this I agree that you should be professional when it needs to be. Creating notices, taking care of ban appeals, reports, and so on.

However, to some you should ALWAYS be professional, and this is where I disagree.

To me its the most important thing to be yourself, and not act like someone you are not at all. This makes you fake, and to me its a sign that you look into it more from a business aspect, and not a community aspect of running the server.

Of course you should not EVER make racist jokes, or insult people as a whole. I do think you can make general jokes, tease around, and show users that you, like them, are a user, so they are less afraid of you. Show that this server is run from the user, by the user, and that you are like them.

Some see me as being unprofessional, some see me as someone that isn't boring and enjoys what I am doing. And the latter is how it should be, personally. I do run this for fun, I do not run this for money, and that's why I do not want to change myself.

I tried to be just professional for a bit in past, and I just didn't enjoy it. This is not who I am, this is not what I want to be, so this isn't something I will change to.
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5. Emotions

This is another thing that is thrown at me at times, that I am a very sensitive emotional person.

I agree, there's no deny whatsoever that I am an emotional person. HAHA WHY WOULD I MAKE THIS POST IF I WEREN'T, RIGHT? Yes, I am an emotional person that is sensitive at times.

There's benefits and bad things with this, which is with everything.

The benefits personally is that you have an easier understand of an other person's situation, usually bad ones. You can see the side of the person more easily, while its more difficult to understand otherwise. The other benefit to me is that you care more about things, and that more things are important to you, which otherwise wouldn't be case

The bad thing is that you are easier irritated at things... and that's obvious clear to see from me at times, heh. There's times I am incredible jealous how much of a brick wall someone can be when it comes to irritation from people, while I am here all annoyed because people are being annoying Easiest the worst aspect from me

In end of the day however like earlier mentioned I am a human that is not perfect. I do not even wish to be perfect. The problem with being perfect is that people are actually pretty bothered if you are. You need have things in yourself people can relate to, so you can talk about it. That's the fun part of everything. You usually make friends because you click with each other, because you can related to things and because you are similar. If you were perfect, this is harder, imo.

6. Will something ever happens with MapleLegends?

As mentioned in this post technically I am holding MapleLegends for over 3 years. 2 and half years officially (April 1st, 2015), and that's quite a while.

MapleLegends had a rollercoaster of emotions for users, and staff a-like, but even right now after being DDoS'd for over 3 months we have the 2nd biggest userbase of all servers, and that's very nice.

The fact that so many users stay after being unstable for so long just shows to me how many people care about the server. Countless people have made friends, countless people got together creating a big guild and a big home. Some people even met each other IRL, which they otherwise may not if it wasn't for this server.

Just these things in mind is what made everything worth it to me. ClassicMS had the best community, and the most important aspect to me was very well re-created at MapleLegends. The community is tight, and that's what makes it very enjoyable for me.

There's a lot of design choices I am proud of I decided on when MapleLegends was being created, and design choices I would like to keep. MapleLegends is MapleLegends, and that's what it should be.

With that said there's zero plans to ever give up on MapleLegends. As long people enjoy the game, as long people are close together, as long people are here to re-experience Old School MapleStory there's no reason for me to give up on it.

There may be conflicts we have, we may not go along together well, but in end of the day you are as every other a player. You are part of the story, you are as any other a Legend.

Thank you for sticking around for as long as you did and you are all Legends!

*I had no place to mention anything related to the staff, but they are awesome and I want to thank them so much for all the work they have done. You guys are the best.
**This thread stays closed since I do not want it to be a hugfest. I am not in need of one, I just want to throw out what is in my mind. This is purely for reading purposes only. You are however free to PM me if you want something out as well.