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MapleStory - Travelling back then
So here I was grinding for the cursed eye tails for my level 40 charm quest and I got reminded of the Leafre portal (does anyone even use this anymore?) in the same map and it made me reminisce about the game and how much of a pain the travelling used to be at times back then, but also the impact it had on the game in terms of socializing with people.
Such trivial questions such as: do I really want to use these 30k mesos that I just saved up to get to Victoria island much faster from Leafre or take the long route through Orbis*, had a game changing experience at least to me. I don't know to how many this was a charming experience, but I always enjoyed seeing everyone getting dropped off of their ships and landing on Orbis and then soon to their own separate ways. I've had also met plenty of friends from just standing there talking to people and also enjoying the music while waiting for the ship to arrive. Cursed be those crimson balrogs who always managed to catch me off guard on the Victoria island - Orbis route though.
I didn't really have any actual story to add to this since I figured that my story of talking to a stranger, becoming friends, playing the game and just talking to each other to this very day would've probably derailed the topic here by myself.
Nonetheless, it is always so interesting for me to know what everyone else is thinking as well, so to finish off this blabbering:
1.What was/is your opinion on the way you travel around in MapleStory?
2.Do you think that a game with such travelling system (the old boats) could still be a selling point on today's market for MMO's?
And to answer my own question:
1.Despite me sounding like an old timey person on this post I'm not demanding the old way to travel back or anything of the sort. Though I didn't quite realize the importance of the old aspect of travelling until it became obsolete in the game.
But I do still enjoy the game as it is, not accidentally missing a boat schedule and having to wait for another one to come around really helps.
I'll be throwing a wild guess here and say that dimensional mirrors are the main form of transportation for everyone right now. To me teleporting to friendstory, alishan or wherever, then off to pantheon portal does seem a bit silly just to get around, and instead would prefer a mechanic like auto-pilot (what is this thing even? does anyone even use it?) but better implemented. Say for example, it works just like a taxi to every major city / town only, but it could have a slight cool down and/or meso cost.
2.I am assuming a bit here with the question saying that today's MMO's are much more focused on making the progress not feel sluggish by reducing travel times, but that's just how I feel & have experienced that many of the games are nowadays. Correct me if I'm completely wrong.
That's about all I wanted to say, I tend to type out loud so I apologize if some parts are tad bit confusing to read but I just really wanted to make this discussion and to hear what experiences/ideas you all had. Wew, what a block of horrendous text I've created.
*On a side note, how do you grammatically type a sentence where you continue after a question? I wanted to add question mark at the end of the question at this spot but it just seemed so wrong at the time of the writing.
Comments
1. With the Pantheon -> major city, very convenient, but ya, very little interaction.
Had to go to NLC recently to check something and had to do it the old fashion way since DM doesn't have it and definitely a bit jittery waiting 3-5 mins to get on the subway.
2, If you mean the fast transport to any city part, ya that could be a decent selling point, save time on travelling.
If you mean the old fashion ships, kinda to not really, I mean if a decent amount of ppl started using again, maybe.
Personally, do miss the chats I had with random strangers. xp
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Yeah I meant the travelling with ships, I'll be correcting that, thanks.
And that's probably the biggest question (that nobody has an answer to) whether people would actually be happy to use the ships which take so much time to get to places again.
Edit: this formatting is weird ._.
Can't seem to quote a post correctly so I had to do so manually.
Nowadays, I'd probably have a lesser opinion of having to take those lengthy trips. Probably since I have way less free time than when I didn't have responsibilities. And ESPECIALLY since I've been so spoiled by Pantheon, Maple Guide, and the like that make most areas accessible almost instantly. Now if Pantheon and other instant tele options never came out, I might be more okay with it.
2. Er... a "selling point"? Kinda hard to see how that would pan out lol. If you're asking whether such a system would be acceptable in today's market... probably not, I'd say. Most MMORPGs I know of have either expedited the traveling process (i.e. RuneScape with lodestones, charter crew, way more teleporting jewelry) or have just always had options to skip the travelling. If the game were good (read: addicting) enough, people would still play it (look how many people continue to play despite all the lag). But being forced to wait 5-15 mins (last time I took the Orbis -> Vic ship, the trip only lasted 5 mins...coulda sworn it used to be 10) probably wouldn't be something they'd praise the game for.
You're raising plenty of good points there, knew I was forgetting something so obvious such as the audience probably being a lot younger back then.
Yeah my wording was probably a bit off with the "selling point", but what I meant with it is that could it be something worth mentioning to new players to attract them to the game. Now that I think about it, just a feature would've worked as a term instead.
The way I see it when it comes to RuneScape though, the travelling never was something you did with random people around you anyway so cutting the travelling times seems like a fair decision to me in such cases.
Edit: grammar
I didn't play a lot back then, because it was so time consuming to travel.. and it felt like there was too much idle time..
Idle time that I could be doing things.. since I was still in school then.
Yeah the post was assuming a little regarding that. But even if you weren't around during those times, I still like to hear from newer players what are their opinions about the boats if they ever tried them.
And also a valid point, I guess I was pretty erratic back then and I didn't realize. I never could focus on anything and was travelling a lot of the time just to explore around while listening to the music and accomplishing absolutely nothing in game.
Whaaat? I never even knew this. How'd you do it?
As far as selling points? As much as I appreciate the old travel methods, I think implementing direct travel was a smart idea. A wise man once said, "I want it, and I want it right away." Sadly, I feel this is (probably) the attitude of today's players, and for many other aspects of life other than gaming.