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Black-Mage as Blockbuster Content!
TLDR: Black Mage content is currently available only for players after levels 200-250 as a series of very long quests that involve grinding. I suggest making a "Blockbuster Content" of the "Black Mage arc" in the same format of "Black Haven" and "Maplestory Heroes".
Let me begin this post by saying hey! I have a great suggestion!
We all know the plot of Maplestory is very extensive and a lot of great thinking had gone into planning the world, the setting and of course - the characters.
The plotline of the Black Mage, which had been going on for a decade since the patch "Maplestory Big Bang" (literally a decade ago), had finally come to a close and with it some closure had been provided for anyone who had stuck with the game for SO MANY YEARS (though I believe few had).
Currently there is an existing problem which I found myself experiencing - the Black Mage content is only available if you had the luxury to grind, quest and force your way through months and months of farming content to increase your damage range, equips, etc. That is because the Black Mage content is only available as a part of the Vanishing Journey questline which is only unlocked after level 200. And even then, you have to really put a massive effort to go through all the obstacles until you really reach the juicy pieces of the plot you've been waiting for as a fan who finally wants to receive some closure and see the Maplestory saga come to a close.
Personally, I am still stuck in "a vanishing journey", grinding my way through hordes of erda.
There is a thing in Maplestory, which isn't very new, called "Blockbuster Content", allowing the players to experience the epic Maplestory quests of "Black Haven" and "Maplestory Heroes", really bringing out the plot in these two. Personally I really enjoyed it. The fact that it's also unlocked in level 120 and requires the bare minimum of clearing the stages also gives you quick access to the content in a very simple and enjoyable format like an action movie.
I would really love to experience the Black Mage content but currently I can't. My level is not high enough, and it would take time for me to get to such an ideal point with my account if at all. I suggest that the Maplestory "Black Mage" content, from "A Vanishing Journey" all the way to the final act of defeating the Black Mage, be available to players from level 120 and over in "Blockbuster Content" format. Saving the fans who really just want to see the content MONTHS of setbacks.
Comments
If you missed that, then yes, you're going to have to grind to 245 and above to see the story to its completion.
I think it's only fitting that in order to defeat the ultimate boss of the game for the past ten years, you need to get nearly to max level.
I don't think it is fair to say "you snooze you lose" to something as big as the Black Mage, and I wouldn't find it surprising if a lot of people who played MapleStory in their childhood came back to play when they heard the Black Mage is finally available only to find it behind layers upon layers of tedious grinding. Perhaps at this very moment a Blockbuster might not be the best thing to do as its still very fresh, but a year or so down the line making a Blockbuster so people are able to experience the story without having to spend months of Arcane Symbol and level grinding might be a good solution.
This isn't appropriate anyone who wants to enjoy the game for what it is. Newcomers and returning veterans who aren't familiar with the new game systems and have their own commitments outside of the game will find it nearly impossible to invest as much time as it would require for anyone to reach the necessary requirements to finish the plot.
"Black Haven" and "Maple Heroes" were very good examples of content being available in a more user-friendly format for weaker players who are level 120 regardless of their skills and equips, while in reality they had their own specific theme dungeons - Haven and the Dark World Tree Theme Dungeons, which are more suited to players above level 200 with adequate damage and time to achieve that damage.
If I were a level 120 player who just stormed through both "Black Haven" and "Maple Heroes" Blockbusters, just to realize that if I wanted to continue the plot I would have to reach all the way up to level 250, complete a ridiculous amounts of quest, farm the necessary requirements for a duration that would, without a joke, extend well over several months considering a huge part of it is consisting of content that is limited to "once-per-day" or the like - I would be very frustrated as a customer.
MMORPGS should learn to promote a user-friendly experience to showcase their good values and strong points. Maplestory's plot is a very strong point and an amazing value that it has. The fact that there's a whole section of the target audience that can't enjoy its main plot to the fullest because of its absurd requirements as parts of the "grinding and equipment farming meta" is just a mistake that eventually impacts the game's public relations. And there is a lot to talk about regarding the "Maplestory Experience Meta".
I'm one of those people. Last time I played Maplestory was in 2015. I first started to play the game before even the Cygnus Knights came out. I was at the Second Maplestory Anniversary. I heard the showdown with the "Black Mage" finally arrived and just couldn't resist the urge to see it through but I just had all those quests shoved in my face the moment I invested enough time to finally reach level 200, that I've completely lost motivation and I'll be damned if I'm the only one.
I personally missed the big showdown because I only got to 200 in August 2018 and I had a lot of recent problems during December and January that didn't allow me to play. Being told that you just missed the whole party and ALL of its content because you couldn't play during the month and that you now have to go and take the really long path just to see the story you were promised a decade ago is nothing short of a slap to the face to anyone dedicating their time and money playing. Besides Black Heaven and Heroes of Maple already allows you to experience a story in the pace that it needed and for you to defeat the big enemies in the plot with the benefit of accessing stronger versions of those bosses and equipment if you wanted later on. You can have all the satisfaction of bringing down the Black Wings and then fighting a super-boss Lotus if you want. For me all I want is to see the story, and the Arcane River already does it partly, there are story mode versions of all the bosses who are beatable without having to pay for cubes and scrolls, but you have to grind for months to see it (I don't care if it was content that was available ages ago, the sheer amount of grinding that the Arcane River requires is nothing short of poor game design). So didn't they put them all into a story mode the way they did before and that has proven to be something people enjoyed? Beats me.
Took the words out of my mouth. Can we get an Amen here Nexon?
We have Black Heaven and Heroes of Maple always available. If the event acted as a Blockbuster, why not make it a Blockbuster in the first place?
Again we have Black Heaven and Heroes of Maple always available, not to mention we also have Masteria Through Time and Monad always available. It seems to me that Blockbusters aren't even hard to implement or mantain, so why make the most important piece of story in MapleStory, something people have been waiting for decades available only to the privileged few? Black Mage is far more important than the other Blockbusters we have and it got the worst treatment of all of them.
The difference is: black heaven, heroes of maple, masteria through time and monad were all introduced as blockbusters and nothing more. The black mage stuff was introduced as an event, and did not function the same way as the blockbusters in having multiple separate acts to clear. No, this was progressing the story to a certain point, then having to wait until the determination bar was filled and another orb lit up which was days of waiting for each one. After the event period passed, it was reintroduced as a permanent extension of the arcane river region.
Where is the permanent region for black heaven? For heroes of maple? What about masteria through time or monad?
Not under a week but certainly in less than 5 years.
Let's be real, the amount of grinding needed in Arcane River is ridiculous and poorly thought out. Most people won't even play it for the plot, they just want to continue the grind and the people who do want to see the plot are the also the kind of people who probably can't spend every single day of their lives logging in to get another bunch of Arcane Symbols and maybe after a whole week just get a single level. I just want to see the story the game was building up for a decade conclude to and take the whole other grinding and dailies aspect for when I have time, not have to slave myself to grinding all those levels which is going to take more and more months on top of what I have spent on getting a single character to 200+.
Not to mention they made the whole final battle story and all accessible for anyone 200 and up, they didn't even had to reach certain section of the Arcane River, just be 200 and up which means that yes, some people where in a way able to finish the game in under a week while that event was up. You can access Black Heaven and Heroes of Maple as soon as 120 and then do the daily grind of Haven and D.World Tree when you have the time to do it, so why not do the same here but making the requirements to have 200 or more level and having the 5th job? There really is no point here to level gate players who want to see the plot when not only it is one of the most important happenings in MapleStory's lifetime, but when the previous times when we had important plot developments they where presented via a story mode and had their high level challenging content released along it.
-cough- DWT and Scrapyard, but they take place "after" the blockbusters.
Like Petalmagic pointed out both Haven and Dark World Tree where added after their Blockbusters ended as permanent fields. Masteria Through Time and Monad could have also done so but it seems that content is working as its own self contained story, though you still get permanent content like the Julietta raid after completing the Monad Blockbuster. Also both Black Heaven and Heroes of Maple where progressing stories at one point. All of the previous content like Phantom's and Mercedes' stories, Xenon and Evolution Lab where part of the Black Heaven storyline and the Demon and Root Abyss heavily hinted Heroes of Maple. Likewise the Arcane River could have been a progressing story all the way to Esfera and then release the plot as a Blockbuster, then releasing the Labyrinth and Tenebris field after it was over. It is how this kind of KMS plot heavy content has been released until now and everything up to this point hinted that the Black Mage was going to be released as a Blockbuster. While all the plot is still there it sucks that now I and many others have to grind all the way to 250+ just to see what was released for those without those requirements anyway just because they managed to catch an event.
It makes no sense to have the whole plot of "you are the only one who can save Maple World" play out while you've barely started 5th job and have no Arcane Force to speak of (which the story tells you is absolutely essential). If you are to defeat the Black Mage, where the famous heroes could not do it, and Cygnus (who is practically a transcendent at this point) can't do it, you have to be at the pinnacle of possible power.
Yes, the Arcane River content is extremely grindy and the low symbol drop rate makes it time-gated with dailies - but that's a different issue that many others complain about and push Nexon to improve on. That's not a reason to allow people to just skip the whole thing and empty the story of meaning.
They did have the event to allow everyone to participate in the widely hyped final battle against the Black Mage. If you couldn't find the time to participate in that, or joined the game after it ended, well, watch a video. Trust me, playing through this content as a Blockbuster is much the same as watching a video, with occasional breaks to "kill 50 of these mobs".
To defeat the reall BM sure, but to see the storyline and beat the boss, not the real one, something like black heaven or heroes of maple should be included, i had no time to play on december because of studies, so i missed it all, it isnt fair that because of real life problems i cant enjoy the ending of 13 years or maple storyline dont you think?
Its the exact case as black heaven or Heroes of maple, you can do them like at 140+ correct me if im wrong, does that mean that ure defeating true lotus or damien at 140? heck no, but u get to enjoy the storyline of the origins of these 2 bosses which otherwise ud have to wait to be 220+ and 16-17k stat+ to be able to join a party and deal some damage to the boss.
The same thing played out during Black Heaven and Heroes of Maple, sure it wasn't the near absolute pinacle of power the Black Mage is but Lotus and Damien were fairly powerful themselves and you could beat them as early as 120 where you don't even have Hyper Skills.
You already have Arcane Force and 5th job at 200, you can make the story make sense with the player having that and not require them to grind everything since after all its meant to be a story mode, to see the story.
Besides there are weakened quest versions of all the bosses in the game that as far as I know are beatable by a single person on average gear, having to get Arcane Symbols is a gameplay requirement, not a plot one, so technically you can beat the Black Mage on pretty lame gear anyway, the only pinnacle of power needed is to beat his boss mode which you only access after the story is over.
With the Arcane River being the only 200+ area and the only real endgame area of the game, and with how Arcane Symbols can beef up your character really good and have uses outside of the Arcane River you can be sure people would grind it anyway even if it had no plot. MapleStory had no plot for most of its live and people still grinded to the ends of it anyway.
Then why would I want to play? I like playing the game, watching a video is completely devoid of the entertainment I'm looking when I log in to play. And as others have already told me in another thread all the plot is still there, its just level gated, and I wouldn't have a problem with it if getting to 250+ and grinding Arcane Symbols wasn't the monumental chore it really is.
This is just a terrible explanation. If the process to reach this so called "pinnacle of power" involved an actual experience that would be meaningful and memorable for the characters like other very successful MMORPGS that vastly outmatch Maplestory, maybe you would have some basis for your claim. But again - when the Maplestory Content progress is highly unfavorable and NOT player-friendly, requiring spare time that is essentially impossible to have as a functional member of society, then we have a problem.
This is the problem - with things as they are now, the Black Mage content you've created, with guarantee as you can already see, misses a very big part of Maplestory's target audience in order to reward a very specific portion of the community. This is not a financially beneficial decision, and especially not a decision that comes to appeal to your customer base when the game is already very unfriendly.
Make a Blockbuster, make it for level 200, make it so it's only available to those who finished the 5th Job Advancement, make it in a year or so after Maplestory's plot has already moved on to Grandis or Magus and his Master and the level cap is already raised to 350 or something and 10th Job Advancement is available. That way it wouldn't look like Maplestory degrades the biggest showdown of their own game. This is a wise decision.
Back in the day when Maplestory came out, and I was there, the BIGGEST SHOWDOWN OF THE MAPLESTORY GAME IN HISTORY WAS ZAKUM. There was nothing even remote to a thing called "The Black Mage" or Cygnus Knights and no plot foreshadowing to suggest a mastermind pulling the string behind the Zakum. ZAKUM WAS THE END GAME BOSS. 40 Maplers would hide inside a dimly-lit room in the ship from Victoria Island to Orbis so the Balrog pirate doesn't murder the hell out of them and the all-powerful level 70 players would march out and throw down. You would take a month to reach level 30, not even talking about level 70 with the mysterious cloaked NPC tutors in El-Nath, and seeing a level 120 player was like seeing the reincarnation of Jesus Christ. THEN HORNTAIL CAME OUT AND BECAME THE NEW END-GAME BOSS and the cycle continued as the Maplestory experience changed.
Now if I create a new character I can reach level 70 before I have to eat dinner and solo Zakum daily when I wake up before I brush my teeth. I'm saying all of this not to complain but to make a demonstration.
"THE PINNACLE OF PLOT" is subjective to change. As time passes the "Black Mage" will STOP being the pinnacle of Maplestory's plot, and then you will have no basis whatsoever to make the claims that you're making now. I would humbly suggest to prepare for that because the market is moving and you can't stop it. Maplestory and NEXON will generate new content to increase income and market value. "The Black Mage" questline is bound to fall behind.
I agree with you that once Maple moves on, this content can be made more easily available.
(Then again, once Maple moves on, it will probably take a lot less time and effort to reach 250, so maybe it won't be necessary to change anything for that to happen).
But the original post of this thread wants it to happen now.
But this suggestion forum exists for a reason. I may be talking and wanting stuff purely from a user perspective and not consider the damages that it would make to saturate the "Black Mage" content by making it available IMMEDIATELY to EVERYONE.
There is a point to your claim, but we can agree that it's time-restricted and the top brass would need to understand that. So measures need to be taken that when date of expiration arrive, the "Black Mage" content will not be tossed aside like "Horntail" or "Zakum" by players who have no intention of doing them whatsoever as they're on their way to THE REAL END GAME BOSS GERALD DARMOOR. A "Blockbuster" would make an amazing solution for that.
Otherwise, if the difficulty of the Arcane River and its necessity to keep on playing the game and reach new heights continues, it will create a bottleneck where many players have to experience the disappointment of grinding and look for "the fastest way possible" to storm through this content in order to reach the next point, which will eventually be Gerald Darmoor and Grandis. I don't want the "Black Mage" content to fall behind as an old-timer and pioneer of Maplestory.