"Happiness is like glass. It may be all around you, yet be invisible. But if you change your angle of viewing a little, then it will reflect light more beautifully than any other object around you"
In my opinion, the rankings should be split up like they are on the Korean version . Although still Maplestory, they are two entirely different games playstyle and server rule wise!
Rankings in my eyes, and for many others, are seen for those who want to compete in the game. Yes, there are a lot of casual players that play Maplestory but for those who want to go hard and compete this is practically the only way other than the dojo rankings but even then that per world and classes not the game as a whole. When reboot first came out it was a semi-debate/issue of reboot being mixed in with the rankings of regular servers but to some, it was not seen as much of an issue since 250 was already a thing way before reboot came out. However, now that 275 is a thing it is a big debate now because reboot has such a higher multiplier than normal servers (I think its somewhere around 2.7x exp compared to regular servers). On top of this people in regular servers who are trying to fight for rankings are not able to use exp cash coupons that they either wanted to buy or use from their marvel machine. If people were able to use the cash shop exp multipliers it could possibly be a fair ranking fight but since we cannot it is nowhere near fair! I have no problem with reboot since I have played it in the past but in this current case, it is comparing apples to oranges.
I know a few people will try to argue that players in non-reboot worlds have access to things such as Frenzy, Firestarter, or Ring of Torment but these are items that only the top 1% of player have access to. Most players would either have to do the same struggles as reboot by making and funding their own kanna mule, or for those who might have a little more meso buy service for frenzy or firestarter. So it's not entirely accurate to compare the entire world of reboot to people in normal servers who do have access to these exclusive items when most of their populations do not.
As of today's ranking updates (Jan 28, 2019) Reboot servers have 14 people at 255 who can now access Limina compared to regular servers only having one! Not to mention the top person on reboot is 50% of the way to 260! It has been 5 days and Reboot is already a quarter of the way to 275 total exp wise. At this current rate, it feels like they would probably be hitting 275 by the end of February where regular servers it would be probably closer to April. By this time the rankings would probably already have top 5 and possibly even top 10 players who have hit 275, more than likely being reboot players.
Side note: I also feel like it would be nice add the option to view specific ranks for the adventures. Example being if someone plays an adventurer warrior they should be able to see the rankings for hero, paladin and dark knight individually.
I made a post similar to yours explaining and showing the issues. But yes I completely agree with you that the external chat could be improved upon. A fix that I found for obs is that if you go in and out of Cash shop it will refocus the game. For your 3rd edit I feel it should keep positioning when relogging on a new character but if you reopen the game you should need to have to reposition it how you like.
With the new patch came one feature I have been waiting since the announcement of it on KMS. The new chat features that allow for a better chat and allowing for the chat to be placed outside of the game window. However, I have already noticed a few issues with it. When I first put it outside of the game window I noticed an immediate issue of notifications. There is a Mega tab designated for megaphones but when someone gets an item from a surprise style box or gachapon it puts it in the regular chat window. It would be nice to have these notifications put into the megaphone tab since that is practically what they are. Another issue related to this is usually when people get an item from gach or boxes one can click the notification and see what the item looks like, yet if the chat box is out of the game that is no longer possible. It would also be nice to still click the notification and see the item in a specific window. I have not been able to test it with item megaphones yet but I would assume it would be the same. Will respond to post later with an update.
The final issue I have seen for it comes more from recording software. In OBS when trying to do a window capture of the game it targets the chat window and there is no possible way to get it to target the game. This might be an issue that OBS developers would have to solve but for the meantime, it is quite bothersome.
With this change it basically forces people to either cube or buy two line drop gear just to be able to have near the equivalent of 180% drop. For people who are free to play in non-reboot servers, this is almost impossible to achieve since the whales of the game will either out bid player with either an absurd amount of meso or actual real life money.
It has also been shown by KMS players that even with the additional drop rate buff of node stones and symbols that there is no way that it will ever be better than what we currently have now. It is going to take players longer to progress! Economies for node stones spike till again free to play players can't afford the items in order to level their skills. Symbols will also take longer to obtain because people will just have to resort to doing dailies to level them up.
Not only are node stones and symbols the main concern of players but it is also the cubes that can be obtained through bosses. Free to play people use these to upgrade their gear or make gear to sell in the free market or the auction house. However, now its going to be even harder to obtain these items.
This is a horrible change and hopefully the community will voice their opinion loud enough for Nexon to actually reconsider.
