This is the reason I, a mapler since the very start of the game, left the game for the first place. and i'm not here to gripe, not for nothing at least. I really DO care about the game and wish to see it getting that glorious comeback it deserves from years. now, my opinion also based on others, friends of mine and not only my regard.
What make and made MapleStory so fun for many players is the feel that you "achieve" something.
You level up, and it makes you achieve a progress in the game, like more skills, items, mesos, new places, and quests: let's narrow "quests" down to "the story", which is needed for my point later.
Now, everything is right up to some level. the stories are good (very good, actually), classes are vary, skills are cool, et cetera.
But in some point, everything become TOO hard to achieve. like in level 220, for instance.
Now, right, you say "it's always been like that"? not quite.
It's always been a challange to level up to the very high levels.
like in the days that pre-date Big Bang update. myself, I worked hard leveling my Bishop to level 130 before it was easy nowdays. but it was more like for "status". to get the feeling you getting higher and higher.
But today it's different.
I like the story of MS very much. I want to see the high level places, wear more powerful items, fight the new bosses and stuff, but I just can't play my way up there. it's super hard to level up past 220 for me. and I feel like there's nothing achievable for me in this game anymore. I can't even see a new maps because it's level-limited.
the level while it's starts to be too hard to level is not suppose to be where there is so much to achieve, but it's not achievable for 90% of players.
Once again, i'm not here to cause a riot or something like that. I care about the game, and i'm stronglly sure that my opinion is based on something solid.
Please, make the game more accessable. I don't think that I have to waste exaggerated amount of time in order to progress with the game's story and fight the new bosses. there must be something to ease on that.
Please, let's have a nice and pleasent discussion about this.
Comments
Getting past 220 is extremely easy now that we have the arcane areas.
The feeling of achievement comes from the effort you put in to reach a goal. Not how frequently you reach goals. We even have actual achievements to collect now. We have lots of bosses at various levels of funding. New node goals and arcane symbol goals.
You even hear some people complain that the game is too easy now in comparison to pre-BB. In my opinion it's just that we have more options now.
But if you liked pre-BB grinding then you should really love 250+ grinding.
What's the real reason you're struggling to get past those early levels?
I've tried, I really did, but i'm getting like 1% in 30 mins, at the maps people are stated online. my range/arcane force are high enough.
I would be glad and open to hear about how it's easy to level up past 220.
Actually, my unpopular opinion is that Big Bang changed the leveling system for better.
Sounds like you need to work on your approach if you're only getting 1% in 30 minutes.
I'm 250+ and I can get better rates than that without Kishin/Totem if I actually try.
I honestly liked 220~240 the most in the whole grind to 250. I thought it was pathetically easy.
I also hold the unpopular opinion that solo story is a trap and that party play speeds things up significantly.
If you're really struggling to kill mobs fast enough, try getting a friend to cover the other side of the map and just netflix and chill or something.
I can't see how easy you both think it is to get past Lv220 with no decent equips? I can't fathom how much time you have to spend on playing maple story around with everything else in a daily schedule. I guarantee can't do it on my night lord since h's stuck in Twlight Perion with lv140 gear since the lv150 gear expired sadly.
I don't recall my rates at 220 since I trained in Scrapyard and Dark World Tree back then, before we got Arcane. Even then it wouldn't have been 2%/hour because I would not have been training at those rates. I was 226 when V patch hit.
Heck, I was getting 10%/hour training very sloppily at a less popular Arcana map between 240-250.
I got two mules at 220/221 and even just capping event coins with no spawn or exp increase I get more than 1%.
Have you tried looking at map rotation videos of other people training your class and looked into what EXP buffs you can use?
Are you in regular servers or reboot?
Also, past 220 you'll reach new areas and milestones every 5 levels instead of every 10 levels.
Only average 2-4 hours a day. That isn't a lot for an MMO. Reboot player so that slightly changes things but still it's not that bad.
180-200 is the worst grind in the game imo. Once you hit 200 it becomes much easier. Then even easier at 210 and 220.
I think my rates were around 5% per hour in morass maps. I mostly liked the aesthetic of the dungeon so I did my grind in there.
Do note that I almost NEVER used EXP coupons and I've never used Kishin/totems though.
Back in the 220 levels I think I was averaging around 10~20% an hour. Again, without coupons for the most part.
Up until 250 you should easily be able to get at least 1~5% per hour even playing incredibly sloppy.
I play as Phantom - Those numbers are even when using stolen HS. I wonder why.
Yet, I still think that the story must be accessable for everyone. we are entering a new story arc and most of the players (who intersted in the story, ofc) imo haven't even reach the end of the current story (The End of Black Mage event we had doesn't count - it was temporary).
My phantom was teraburned during the last one, I hit 220 pretty easily but didn't really carry it beyond that.
But yeah, I would much rather play 200+ than 180-200. That's why so many of my characters are parked at 180.
I'm just waiting for more storm growth or free EXP events because honestly, I hate that level range.
I do agree with the story, the level limitations are a bit extreme. Players can't even see the latest event's story as the area doesn't exist yet.
I think there's plenty of story <200 but above 200 it kind of gets railroaded (Not a bad thing) into behind hidden behind 10 or 5 level increments.
The problem is that for casual players it might take months before they see the next bit of story.
While this is an MMO, that might be a bit extreme for players who only care about the story.
It would be nice if the black mage story was easier to access the end of, though realistically those changes will come as more 250+ content is added.
If you're struggling to one/two-shot you might benefit from using decent HS node instead of stolen HS and use cross surge instead. Getting higher arcane force will also help.
I don't know what your situation with legion or links are either. If you don't have any spawn increase it might benefit you to choose a larger map instead and rotate it.
This guy has a bunch of phantom- and general funding/training guides.
Thank you!
Also,I meant that my HS is node-based and not stolen (paradon my memory).