I wanted to give my input. I've been playing this game in and off for over a decade now. I'm 23, Im a software engineer with a social life, I pay bills, I have a ton of personal projects, and I'm currently in a relationship.
None of these reasons has been a direct cause to my hiatus. I'm assuming most of you over 20 can agree that whether it's MapleStory or some other game, we're going to play or watch something enteetaining in our downtime to kill time and help clear our mind. This brings me to my main point of discussion, this game simply isn't entertaining anymore. It arguably hasn't been for years. Some players may be quitting because they've outgrown the game, but this simply isn't a definitive argument to make as to why the population has winded down.
Let's take a closer look at what's going on. A series of questionable changes to the game caused the population to dwindle ( Classes, Mechanics, Difficulty ). Nexon tried to accommodate for their failures by trying to solve symtoms rather than the root causes of their blunders -- like, for example, trying to pivot a notoriously social game into a single player rpg with opt in multiplayer features.
However, I'm not here to tag on Nexon for their previous decisions, I'm here to give my two cents on the gamble proposed by the op and many others.
I've read through every post in this thread, and it seems like the largest problem is that there is no single definition for what MapleStory should be. Without a definition for the semantics of how MapleStory should be consumed by a player, it makes it difficult to ascertain whether the pros or cons of either side of the argument outweigh the logistics of the survivability of this game.
Going forward, I'd like to specify that I personally believe all servers but Reboot should be merged. If Nexon does want to service those who enjoy single play, why not just offer a server:
• Dynamic channel generation; spin up more channels when under load.
• Automatically distribute users into specific channels on login, only give them the ability to change channels if they do so Ingame.
• Implement a world-wide dungeon system similar to the mini dungeons from a couple of years ago.
Though these are rather large mechanical changes, it will take drastic measures to resolve this particular issue. This is most certainly the gravest issue MapleStory is facing.
The largest con to not providing a more congested player experience is obviously player retention. If new players can't find anyone to enjoy half the content with then it's a lost cause. Imagine playing a game labeled as an MMORPG and not being able to find a single active player after hours of pointless grinding. You would probably think something along the lines of "there's a reason for this low player count". For more veteran players, a more personal experience may be preferable when you've exhausted all of the games content and you're simply lingering for dailies and old friends, but that shouldn't be expected of new players which should be a priority if this game is going to survive.
Additionally are the matters of the economy, accessibility of content, and incentive. The economy is one of the cornerstones of the MapleStory experience. Sadly, there are so few players in the less populated servers that the economy makes it impossible for casuals or new players to obtain the gear necessary to tackle higher end content. This in itself isn't an issue of course if you create a new player in a populated server, but by the time an uninformed player realizes all of this they're probably not going to want to restart their progress. It doesn't help Nexon highlights recommends lower populated servers.
There are many grounds to hold this debate on, but it's obvious actions need to be taken before we reach a point of no return. The social formula worked, the game was thriving, there was incredible player retention, more incentive to play beyond the endless grind ( ie; friends, party play ), and the praise well outweighed the complaints. The server merge will have to happen one way or another. Allowing limitless world transfers would be a waste of resources and seems like a solution to a symptom, not the problem. Sparatic world transfers events don't give everyone the equal opportunity. The issue of solo play can be resolved once the more pressing matters are resolved.
Accessibility to training grounds shouldn't even be grounds to debate this gander. With optimized party play, it would be a non issue.
Anyways my two cents. I tried to keep my argument as logically sound as possible without using undisclosed player metrics.
