I'm no stranger to 2x events. I've been playing Maple since about summer 2005; events like this were extremely rare and meant whether or not you'd be able to reach level 50 during the weekend before going back to school. Nowadays, I've come to absolutely loathe 2x events, even though someone at my level (243) should be excited to get a semblance of good rates. I'd single out one reason, but as I reflect on it, there's a multitude of reasons why I think the current method of 2x events is showing it's age, so I'll list em' out:
1. Server Population: During the day of these events, I'll be seeing people say that all 20 channels of CLP, LP1, and even LP2 are taken up, same with Slurpy and most likely FES2. Like people waiting for a highly-desired product, they camp out hours ahead of time in preparation, sometimes up to 4-6 hours. If you're just sitting around in Hene or literally anywhere else, you're outta luck for the next three hours if you actually wanted to do any kinda progression.
2. Server Instability: Reboot + People that suddenly want to grind all at once leads to a lot of lag/disconnects which leads to lost maps.
3. Legion Wealth Coupons (Among others): Nexon took a step in the right direction when it came to adjusting 2x coupons to stay active on a person if they were to crash/dc/log off, but didn't exactly put that flag on other items. If I were to find a LP1 during 2x and had a wealth coupon, wealth acquisition potion, and a gold MP pot and disconnected halfway through, that'd be a whole 15 minutes of gains I'd be losing out on because I made the mistake of trying to enjoy the 2x event.
To put it simply: To me, 2x events have become nothing but traps if you're on a populated server.
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You might say "Then just don't play in 2x lol", but that's the point. I want to enjoy 2x. I wanna get a buncha meso for starring. I also don't want to lose out on a bunch of legion wealth coupons because the server couldn't handle my farming along with everyone else's. I've got an idea, though.
Give everyone a 3-hour 2x coupon that lasts a week in their inventory. Or, 3 1-hour 2x coupons, much like the ones given out already for compensation or mission events or what have you. It wouldn't be impossible to have, either: +100% EXP/Drop/Meso Obtain for <X> hours. I believe these coupons would promote flexibility, allowing people to grind when they can, instead of being forced to come on and try to fight for a spot in one of the 5 most popular maps. There'd also probably be a considerable less chance to crash/dc and lose all your buffs/coupons.
The cons I can see out of this idea would be that rates such as 8x (2x Event, 2x Coupon, Burning, Rune) wouldn't be a thing anymore if these 2x coupons were to fit into the same buff category as everyday 2x coupons. The only way that I could see it working out is if Nexon made an exception and made a special buff type for this and allowed this coupon to stack with other 2x coupons. Other than that, I can't really see any other problems that could arise.
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TL;DR: Instead of having 2x events, give people 1 3-hour overall 2x coupon/ 3 1-hour overall 2x coupons so players can actually enjoy the boosted rates on their own time, rather than having to worry about crashing.
Comments
I think we have at least ten types of the blue exp coupon with the white leaf; with different durations, tradability and types (so one untradeable 1hr coupon is different than the other one and therefore takes an own slot...) You could remove around1/4 of the items from maple because they are unnecessary copies.