Final day of Global MapleStory 2. While I did enjoy my very casual time in MS2, I had stopped playing back in 2019 (with the intention of resuming) because there were a bunch of other titles I was spending my time in (like the soft launch of Lost Ark in Korea). And then other things distracted me from actually getting back into MS2 again over the remainder of its short life. Thus one of my main characters (the one I signed into) was only level 61 (and I decided not to spend these last few months since the closure announcement, to level up). This is one of those titles that had its own unique charm (but I also realized there were systemic core issues that made it challenging to really deliver on the non-P2W goals for the global version). The sunset announcement brought back memories of my own feelings when the NA/EU version of Devilian was announced and its own server closure back in March 2018.   So I know how players who had really put in a lot of time into MS2 (especially their cosmetics, UGC, and housing) felt heading into the final weeks, days, hours, minutes, and seconds (and then the after closure effects where you are no longer able to login).

Unlike Devilian (where the game had been left to its own devices on many fronts including technical issues with the game client which slowly prevented more and more players from actually being able to run the game towards the end), it was nice to see Nexon (which before GMS2, I had a very low opinion of) at least try to send the game off properly for its loyal community that stuck with the game until the end (even something that looks simple like the archive, still took effort that most companies won’t spend time doing). So even though I had not engaged much with the game over the course of the past 1.5 years, I still wanted to be in-game to see my characters and the game off for one final time. Again, I know even from my limited time playing that the game had core issues (it is never easy taking a game designed with specific cash shop mechanics for its monetization, and trying to undo it for another region – such is the life of Korean designed MMO’s that are brought over to the west).

The above video was a quick edit that condensed my final hour of recording (I was watching the live stream as they shutdown each server) down to a few short minutes (starting with taking in the music at the server select screen, quickly running through Queenstown to Tria, briefly hovering overhead, to the final chaotic sight and sounds in Tria (channel 1) on NA West, and the moment when the game server was brought down where you are kicked back to the server selection splash screen sans the server listing where your only remaining menu option is to exit).  Rest in Peace Global MapleStory 2.

Nexon also put together a MapleStory 2 archive which includes downloadable graphics, artwork, and game assets (totaling 3.5GB).  Their YouTube channel also has a playlist of the games music.

http://maplestory2.nexon.net/en/news/article/56486/service-discontinuation

While I actually enjoyed my time playing MapleStory 2, I guess I’m not surprised about this news.  Nexon started off with some lofty goals of listening to the community (to remove the pay2win aspects that were prevalent in the Korean version) for the global version; it was obviously a challenge generating recurring revenue in a free to play title via mostly cosmetic items.  Furthermore, there really isn’t much they could do regarding the typical Korean style endgame grind (RNG for example).  It also didn’t help that Nexon has had internal organizational challenges after the failed bid to sell the company.

Myself, I sort of stopped playing in 2019; it wasn’t intentional though.  Part of my time at the tail end of 2018 was playing Lost Ark (KR OBT) along with TERA.  By March 2019, I was playing some other in-development titles including the early alphas of Torchlight Frontiers and Wolcen.  In April, it was the Thai OBT of Ascent: Infinite Realm along with TERA’s level 70 update.  Basically, MapleStory 2 fell off my radar even though I had plans to resume playing since I didn’t get far with the level 70 expansion (and associated new content).  It wasn’t until July when I resumed for a short while (to play the Striker class which I only ended up creating, but never actually played).  The Astellia Online CBT (July) and then Guild Wars 2 (starting in August) stole part of my time (while I chronicled my leveling to 70 in TERA) where MapleStory 2 again became out of sight, out of mind until this news.

Most of my characters in the game have the exact same names that I used in Devilian (which sort of makes me feel that I partially doomed this game to failure).

With this news, I’ll probably resume playing to see the game (and my characters there) off.  I feel really bad for those folks who invested a lot of time into the game and their UGC, music, and/or home creations.

Nexon released the first major expansion for MapleStory 2 last week (December 6th) which includes the Sky Fortress and new Soul Binder class.  I haven’t really started playing the expansion quests yet (I also haven’t actually finished the main story line since I leveled my wizard to 60 from 46ish strictly via life skilling and am close to hitting 60 on my assassin leveling the same way).  Regardless, Nexon continues to impress me since they offered a free character slot (which worked for me since I already had other characters slotted in the initial 6 open slots).

I was already pinching myself when they sent accounts with a level 55+ character an entire set of Epic gear (done as a way to get more players into the end game content given some of the issues and feedback regarding the raid and how players were having to go back to slightly easier dungeons in order to get geared up a bit better).

I know some folks aren’t too keen being handed gear like this but it still needs to be re-rolled (they also did give some re-roll scrolls out) as well as enchanted to actually get the most out that gear.  I’m going to set aside some time to complete the Epic quest line so that there is at least some continuity with this new expansion while also leveling up the Soul Binder.  Over all, MapleStory 2 is really my surprise game of the year (and unlikely one considering my previous negative view of Nexon).

My initial general impressions still stand.  As of this writing, my wizard remains my highest level character at level 52 (max level is currently 60).  Most of my leveling has come from life skills (the stuff I have in my home as I level up my masteries from mining/farming/forgaging/ranching).  I plan to continue with completing the Epic Quest storyline once I hit the level cap from life skilling.  Yes, I’ve truly found that Nexon meant it when you could level whichever way you wanted and while this way is a little bit slower, I like the fact that I’m progressing in multiple areas (life skill mastery, obtaining materials used for crafting where performing that will increase my mastery there, and gaining both experience to get to 60 as well as earning Prestige Experience for post level 50 extended progression sort of like Paragon levels in Diablo III).

Since my other post covering a producers newsletter, very little has also changed in the area of the cash shop.  The biggest feedback they got was in regards to the cost for style crates in order to break down unwanted cosmetic items from them for the style coins that are required to acquire seasonal cosmetic sets.  But my leveling has also made me realize where the monetization opportunities were pushed to; mainly in the area of quality of life convenience with purchasing extra time for AFK fishing and the real winner; the auto gathering badge (the 30 day being the most cost effective).

While you can sit there and press “F” over and over again, it gets old really fast.  The badge puts your character in auto-collect mode when you start gathering a node and will continue until it is no longer possible for that day for that particular node.  The process of gathering itself is fast since most nodes are placed in a plot of 4 where you collect 4 of them at a time (no huge time sinks as is the case with many other games).  This badge can also be shared with your other characters since it is bankable.

They could’ve made the system just a simple account wide feature but there is a method to the madness; it’s just a little inconvenience where you have to go through this process of opening your character profile, going to the badge tab, moving it your inventory, opening the shared bank (which takes a few seconds by design), and then transferring it (and then doing the exact opposite when switching to another character to retrieve it and then equip it).  The badge itself is inexpensive (360 Merets for 30 days).  They know there will be some players who will just buy a badge for each character to not have to go through this process.  I’m not knocking it either because I think it is very fairly designed.  If you’re playing just a single character, none of it matters.  But if you do this on 6 alts, you will notice this design (it is nothing like Black Desert Online’s very fleshed out cash shop convenience mechanics designed for end game players).

What about the world chat (message seen server wide) capability that costs Merets?  I actually don’t see this as an issue.  Sure, it’s not going to (and hasn’t stopped) gold spammers because they’ve already done the chargeback thing with Nexon.  But for the average player, they’ll have to think twice about spamming world chat with nonsensical stuff.

Again, if someone were to have asked me an year ago if I’d be playing any Nexon published game for a month straight, my response would’ve been “no way”.  So yes, Nexon (both Korea and America) has exceeded my own expectations.  That doesn’t mean that I don’t understand the end game grind that happens at level 60 with gearing and enchanting.  But that also isn’t my first priority.

Finally, having purchased the legendary pack that came with 90 days worth of Premium (in the form of 3 30-day coupons) which is Nexon’s monthly subscription, I activated one of them after the actual official launch.  The health potion you get isn’t game breaking for one.  I would say the free air taxi is a very nice convenience (you can go anywhere from most anywhere quickly).  The game gives opportunities to earn such tickets (including the Mapleology game event which is meant to celebrate the launch of the game for the first month); I already have a huge stack of them.

What I will say is the single entry special Premium dungeon is a fairly easy and quick way to get a lot of Meso’s (gold) since a decent “run” can easily net 200+K Meso’s.  I felt extremely poor from just Epic Questing (earning more Meso’s happens again at end game) before I activated a 30-day coupon; where I was scrounging to just buy gear from the Black Market so that I would have items in-line with the mob levels (it’s normal for your gear to be 2-3 levels lower than the mobs in the quest dungeons that are at your level).  After a few days, Meso’s hasn’t been a problem (I know end game gear being traded costs a lot though but again, that isn’t my first priority).

Overall, I am happily having some very casual fun in MapleStory 2.  I have yet to get into my housing, the music system, and the UGC design stuff yet let alone pet taming.  So there is still a whole lot more of the game for me to experience yet.  And I have to give a lot of kudos to Nexon for making someone as skeptical as myself to feel like I’ve only scratched the surface of the game.

Executive Producer Jungsoo Lee provided a current status update of the game as MapleStory 2 closes out the head start and prepares for todays official launch.

For the most part, I will have to say this has been one of the most well managed launches along with some very transparent and very articulated communication coming from a Korean studio.  One of the most annoying thing was world chat being almost entirely gold (Meso) seller spam; something they acknowledged and are taking steps against (though realistically, the measures they plan to take will only force those folks to bot dungeons or AFK spam open world mobs in order to level up to 50 to get around that newly implemented level restriction).

The game itself has turned into a pleasant surprise for me where I am enjoying various parts of it even though as I’ve mentioned, is not the type I normally enjoy from an aesthetics/artistic point of view.

He also addressed feedback they received regarding the cost of cosmetics (style) in the shop.

http://maplestory2.nexon.net/en/news/article/37141/producer-blog-style-crate

Again, the candor with the transparency as to their monetization of this version of MapleStory 2 is refreshing.  I’m hoping this won’t drop off post official launch given the much larger numbers that will be trying out the game (where it will put every aspect to test including the support roles).  As of right now, they’ve taken someone like myself (who is highly skeptical with the modus operandi of companies like Nexon) to actually feel very good about the overall direction that this version of MapleStory 2 has taken.  If they continue to do it right, this will only force their Korean based counterparts to improve/do better in this area (making it a win for those of us who enjoy the design aesthetics of those studios).

As I mentioned in one of my prior MapleStory 2 entries, the graphical aesthetics in this aren’t what I normally find appealing.  However, there is a certain charm to it which offsets my usual feelings regarding this style.  While the game has this simplistic look to it, the game has an incredible amount of depth to it (things that I would like to see in titles that I normally play).

Another thing I became engrossed in was the housing.  I haven’t even begun to construct anything worthwhile and have just dropped things haphazardly just to gain some progression in that system.  Some folks have already created some mind blowing layouts though (my plan is to sort of create a Japanese style “castle”).  For this version of the game, Nexon has allowed a generous 25×25 tile layout for free (you can expand the initial setup you select for free in addition to increasing the height).

I was looking through the tiles that can be purchased and there is quite a lot that is offered for free (some desirable ones including things to create a kitchen all cost Merets though).  This is also where I came across a gotcha because I inadvertently purchased a few tiles by clicking on them when I was in construction mode (there is no confirmation).  There’s a budget button which I hadn’t used which is probably where you can define how much you want to actually spend (to prevent overspending by accident).

The game’s built-in tutorial system (Maple Guide) pops up very simple tutorials at level appropriate intervals for mounts, pets, gathering, mining, etc.  There’s also the entire music composing and performance system that I also want to get into.  It reminds me of the system in ArcheAge (except instead of having to gather and craft the paper that your music will be composed on, the game just sells blank music sheets that are useful for a number of performances).  The central area of one of the lower level main towns (Tria) is normally crowded with other players playing (some in ensembles).  Audio wise, it can be somewhat chaotic but also sort of funny.

I haven’t really looked into the UGC (user generated content) portion of the game where you can design your own costumes which can then be listed for sale to others.  Nexon is still working on this area (I believe an additional piece of software known as the Design Lab hasn’t been released yet) where even design blueprints for housing will be sellable/purchasable in the future.  Basically, MapleStory 2 offers a bunch of activities outside the normal combat related ones.

As far as the combat, it isn’t that bad.   I have a feeling it really shines if using a game pad controller though (which is supported).  The game does have both WASD and point-to-click movement.  Being an isometric game though, diagonal movement requires holding two keys (which I found annoying).  Point-to-click movement has its own issues though because the UI and skill bars aren’t locked out while in combat (during one dungeon run, my chat boxes were all over the screen and things I had on my skill bar were either moved or dropped off by accidental clicking).  To date, I haven’t found one single quarter view isometric game that has done the UI right where it allows a lockout and disabling of tooltips during combat.

Nexon did not skimp on inventory space in the global version (giving players a large personal stash and sufficient account bank storage) nor has the game thus far dropped a ton of consumables or materials to fill it up.  I’m still finding it hard to believe I am playing a Nexon published title where I’m feeling the constraints of the designed cash shop mechanics that is prodding you to spend money to increase your quality of life.

Questing gear can be sold to NPC’s or listed on the Black Market (aka trade broker/auction house) and starting from level 20, be broken down into materials.  Items when equipped become soul bound so only dropped ones can be traded.  And here is what I really like.  There is a counter for how many times that item can be traded (normally one time).  This means that items cannot be constantly flipped.

The games social functions is where things shine.  Emotes here are truly expressive in anime style fashion which plays well with the chibi anime style character models.  I just wished there was an officially supported way to use the original Korean (or even Japanese) audio.  I know there is the unofficial way to replace the audio files but I also don’t want to run afoul of Nexon’s designed anti-cheat system (Nexon Game Security).

There’s a bunch of other things that I haven’t even yet encountered yet since I’m in no rush to get to max level (50 but goes to 60 at official launch on the 10th).  Overall though, my impressions of what Nexon has done (for the time being) with the global version is very favorable.  Given this is F2P, I expect there will be a huge influx of players on the 10th.  Fortunately, there are regional servers to distribute that load (each is their own realm meaning you cannot play with those on a different server; so NA-West cannot play with those on NA-East as an example).

This is actually one of the first Korean MMO’s in quite awhile that I can recommend to others (to at least give it a try for the first 15 levels with each class) which says a lot because of how cynical I am about them (not to mention that Nexon has normally been one of those “avoid if possible” publishers).  The game can be played with either the standalone Nexon launcher or via Steam (beginning October 10th, a Nexon game account can be linked to a Steam account where you can play from either; server side, there is no separate servers for Steam accounts).

http://maplestory2.nexon.net/en/news/article/36597/the-head-start-begins

Rather than attempting to login right at the start, I waited around 45 minutes and was able to patch (from the Mushkin Royale install) and be in-game around 10 minutes later.  The starter area had at least 20+ channels spun up.  Playing until level 10 on my first character, I didn’t experience major issues besides a dialog box that began popping up regarding an authentication issue with my login session (I was still connected to the server though).

Other players have been experiencing some latency related issues, disconnections, and non-delivery of their Founder’s pack items.  The number of complaints on their forum are fairly low for day 1 (for the time being) so it seems like Nexon has managed their infrastructure planning pretty well.  I’m just going to take it easy and level various classes during the head start period.

http://maplestory2.nexon.net/en/news/article/36662/producer-blog-core-changes

List of Key Changes:

• Level/Character Progression Changes
• Safe Revival Adjustments
• Dungeon Difficulty, EXP and Meso Adjustments
• Housing Improvements
• Other Changes

Reading the details, I will admit that I am very surprised by Nexon actually going above and beyond listening to player feedback and making as much changes prior to the launch of the game.  One key change was removing instant revival potions from the Meret cash shop for the time being (this will be reevaluated as needed in the future for hardcore players) while adding this to the Meso shop.  Meret’s are the virtual currency purchased with real money while Meso’s are essentially in-game gold.

Adjustments to Meso (gold) drops and experience gains are also being made across a range of game systems (monster hunting from questing, dungeons, fishing, and other lifestyle skills) with the emphasis being about removing unnecessary grind.  Furthermore, rather than penalizing players for not following the main line quest, changes have been made to the Epic Quest progression system that will allow players to level up how they choose (they can do main line story quests, just do Epic Quests, perform a mix including fishing).

I believe the biggest change was made to the housing system where the objective was to make more of the housing content accessible to much more players by making more of the content free or at lowered prices.  Increasing the size of the house will be free for example and most building blocks will also be free (while paid ones will have lowers costs compared to other regions).  Interior level requirements (think of this as a separate grind for being able to improve your furnishings) have also been removed.

Again, I realize this is Nexon and they could introduce changes down the line which negates some of these but they’ve impressed this skeptic so far with how they’ve managed to listen to feedback to date and to also put some of it into actual action.  As I mentioned in my prior post, I planned to go ahead with purchasing a Founder’s Pack (even knowing this is still a cash grab) and have now done so (I’ve always waited until just prior to the end of the sales to make a final decision on these sort of packs to see how a company handles feedback going into their launch).  Again, I never thought I would be taking part in actually putting time into a Nexon title but here it is.

MapleStory 2’s (MS2) producer posted a letter regarding how Nexon America will be monetizing the game.  I really haven’t been covering MS2 because I’ve tried to steer clear of putting any time in any Nexon developed/published titles since they tend to have the same conveniences design (like limited inventory space from the get go), cash shop consumables that provide too much combat advantages, cash shop pets/mounts/cosmetics that enhance character power.

The only Nexon (America) published game I still have on my system is Riders of Icarus.  While going through my 2nd and then 3rd stint of the game, I did notice they made bag space expansions at least easier to acquire during early leveling but I still filled that and the server storage fairly quickly with all the consumables the game dropped by the time I hit level 20 (I stopped playing again shortly after this).

I know that I am extremely jaded/skeptical whenever developers/publishers (known for blatant pay-2-win/convenience cash shop designs) come out with a message that they understand the players disdain for pay-to-win (which has morphed into some clever pay-to-convenience designs).

Going on a short tangent, I remember back in 2016 when Kakao (then known as Daum Games) along with the developer (Pearl Abyss) tried convincing players they were removing the blatant P2W aspects from the western release of Black Desert Online.  Myself, there were too many signs from the start (with regards to the Pearl Shop which sold items that had bonuses which couldn’t be acquired elsewhere as well as game mechanics that inconvenienced the player just enough with imposed limits where you could “re-acquire” that full functionality again like increasing weight limits as one small example) which threw up the red flag.  For serious players, it is easy to spend at minimum, $300 per month to keep up with the latest cash shop mechanics.

Valk’s Cry for example was removed from the NA/EU version because it was a cash shop only item in other regions which increased the enchantment chances (less chance of failures).  2 years later, the item was added back into the NA/EU version (with in-game ways to acquire them but still giving a huge advantage to those who spend money for amounts greater than can be achieved in-game) along with the ability to disenchant cash shop cosmetics into Cron Stones which can then be used to safely enchant (prevents downgrading on failure) to BDO’s highest enchantment tier which is PEN.  Thus a credit card swiper can just purchase costumes from the cash shop and blacksmith them for a huge amount of stones to get past the RNG failure rates.

Thus my early decision to not purchase BDO turned out to be a correct choice.  It’s not about the low cost of the game (BDO can be gotten for as low as $5 when it goes on sale).  It’s about their overall monetization strategy where the entire late game is really designed around imposed limits which a player can reacquire via various cash shop items in order to remain competitive with the other try hards.  I prefer not being a part of the problem with helping developers and publishers perpetuating this type of business model especially when it is a buy-to-play one.

Digressing, I was naturally skeptical at the start of this producers letter but my attention wasn’t lost when the letter began with “How will MapleStory 2 make money?” and how they were “working really hard to make MapleStory 2 the right free-to-play game for most people.”

The phrasing was what grabbed/kept my attention since normally, there is an all-encompassing aspect with trying to please everyone (which just won’t happen where players are openly vocal about anything that could be construed as an advantage).  Instead, the producer cut to the chase of how they plan to make money (including the need for continual financial support) while knowing not everything will please everyone.  They then proceeded on to the details of what they would not sell (items that added stats or consumables that allow brute forcing of content via revival potions) and what they would (focusing around ways to “style up your character”).

The “convenience options” (both in and outside of the cash shop) was then mentioned (which is where some folks will naturally have some issues).  My take is it depends on what those item(s) are and that won’t be fully known until the game launches.  They were also transparent about the Style Crates (loot boxes) with the percentage chance (1%) of getting an outfit (1 random outfit out of the 100 that will be curated regularly).  Yes, I had to pinch myself that this is a posting from Nexon where I hadn’t stopped reading out of disgust.  The communication was to the point and trying to be as transparent as possible (sure, I realize Nexon could flip on these later).  Still, this is a complete 180-degree from the sheer lack of communication from PLAYWITH Interactive (Warlords Awakening) and also something not as read-between-the-lines like the producers letter from Neowiz for Bless Online.

This game is unsurprisingly a cash grab (the Korean version launched back in 2015) since there are Founder’s packs ranging from $25-$100 as well as 10 days of head start (October 1st).  But I’m not putting this into even the same category as Bless Online (see the following).  The bulk of what you are purchasing is the games currency (Merets) with a few bucks worth of exclusive virtual goodies (the premium subscription is what ends up being heavily discounted).  Where it differs from other cash grabs (like Bless Online) is it isn’t going to be a pump and then dump deal (since this is one of Nexon’s key franchise).  So they do have incentives to keep this game going for the long haul.  And I’ve knowingly purchased such packs (including the most expensive ones) knowing they were cash grabs (Devilian, MU Legend, TERA Collectors Edition, TERA Console Founders Pack to name a few) before.

The feature that interests me the most though is the player generated content which Nexon has stated will be an important design platform (which yes, can lead to some very troll worthy creations) and its associated Design Shop where the creations of other players can be purchased.  Besides costumes, some of this will also include blueprint designs for housing, the ability to create mini-games and custom dungeons.  I could never really get into Minecraft or Trove (both have a huge focus on player generated content) because it was too voxel focused in its aesthetics but also because of Trion for the latter.

MS2’s world has a similar design with chibi style characters so its aesthetics isn’t something that normally appeals to me, but I am going to give it a whirl (since I am really interested in the user generated content as well as activities that can be done).  After giving it some thought, I am going to go ahead and get a Founder’s Pack for this game since they were already clear there would be cost associated with purchasing templates for the Design Shop (along with listing fees) so it makes sense to take advantage of the packs for the Merets.

With that said, I am not completely sold that Nexon won’t try to pull some fast ones in the future.  But this is also interesting territory for me where I am giving Nexon the benefit of the doubt and seeing how well they follow through especially in the first few months after launch.