2012-11-10, 10:07 AM
I just want to highlight a few things, hope you don't mind:
1. While Maple's lore isn't as interesting as the lore of other games and it really needs an update because the connections are there but broken, it's not garbage. I don't know just how many quests you completed previously but hunting down the quests that weren't 'Defeat X and get Y, with no expansion on Z' was entertaining because it makes my character feel more like part of the Maple world instead of being an amount of pixels. I'd say try out some of the questlines like the Elin Forest, it's a really neat tie-in to the lore you get from the Elin Forest PQ and even expands all the way to the revamped Silent Crusade if I'm not mistaken. Oh, and Magatia's questline remains my favourite in Maple to this day.
2. In terms of WoW, while there's still a lot of EXP that IS how quests in Maple Story should also be done. Sure, you mentioned grinding but the quests are chained together and you sometimes get forced to make choices IIRC; because you do play the quests and the characters are linked that may give you incentive to try the other route if you play a new character. I myself only do the new MS quests because I've more or less memorized the key happenings in each but I'll re-do if there's a new link somewhere.
3. That may not be true re: I must be having fun or I wouldn't be doing this. Sephie's main argument is that people complain a lot about lack of content when there is actually a lot of content, only that it's missed out on as people take one look and say "Nah, I guess I'll just go back to training since it's 2x and I wanted to get to x level", which I could expand on and say people will never stop complaining about lack of content unless something's done about how people blaze past the recommended levels for these areas too quickly. Perhaps a bit of analogy would make this easier:
Let's say baking is a point by point skill and assume that once you've made it, you've basically achieved a 100% success rate. I can get more money if I make wedding cakes as opposed to cupcakes but to invest on the wedding cake skill I need to make a thousand cupcakes. But wait! A chocolate cake draws near; I only need to make ten of these to be able to make the wedding cake, and making the chocolate cakes takes less time than a thousand cupcakes. So, instead of having fun and trying out a thousand different cupcakes I put in all my effort to make chocolate cakes and I succeed this in five days by making nothing but chocolate cakes. Making wedding cakes seems fun at first and I rake a lot of points but then reality sinks in that 1) I have nothing to do since wedding cakes are in the highest category 2) Wedding cakes get boring and 3) I'm so used to the luxury of wedding cakes and chocolate cakes that I couldn't be bothered to make cupcakes any more as they're too easy. I would quit by this point since there's no more challenge or experience to be had.
Merchanting is a completely different issue. You think we would see it as being boring because it's the same place but you're missing out on the crucial part that makes it fun: The challenge and experience. I for example make it a goal to make at least 500 million mesos every time I open a shop and I don't even sell Cygnus equips; the things I sell are commonplace scrolls or items that I know will rise in value. A person selling nothing but Cygnus equips would likely see it as being boring since they're following the wedding cake analogy above while I have to have extensive knowledge of the market, study future patches and accumulate the items whose price will rise to achieve the goal I've set.
And as usual, this got long.
Words Wrote:I've leveled so many characters pre BB, when BB released and right now... I think I have an idea.
First time I played I did quests, explored, laughed, etc up to lv70, and then quit. It took hours to level or to get a decent amount of mesos... no meso/ underlevel= can't explore.
All my other characters got past 4th job (pre BB and post BB) because I didn't spend as much time exploring as I did grinding. Over the years and with different characters I've explored and leveled almost everywhere* except Magatia. All this because:
1. After doing it once it's pointless to do ALL the same content over and over again when I can achieve the same while grinding in the same 3 places*. and
2. There wasn't a story and there still isn't much of a story. Compared to wow's or other games, maple's lore is garbage.
As good as it is, in wow you'll see people grinding quests where they get the most exp. Regardless of how great content is, people just want to level in wow, or any other similar game. (Unless they're looking for something else, like achievements or items).
Point is: regardless of how good or bad content is, people (depending on what they want) will go to wherever they have fun: be it leveling, merching, exploring, what-have-you.
Also, I don't get the question "what are you getting from the game" if we must not consider the most important aspects of the game. How are we supposed to answer?. I MUST be getting fun from the game or else I wouldn't be playing. I have my preferences and my way of having fun, just because we don't share doesn't mean I'm getting fun wrong.
If you were right, I guess merchs would be the worst: they never get to see any content other than the same 20 rooms!!! And just in one channel!!! Sometimes even two!!! The horror D:
*Back then it wasn't exactly same 3 places. "x spot for y class" was what made you explore, if I only played my Bowmaster I would've never left Newties because I wouldn't be able to visit other places due to its low HP.
1. While Maple's lore isn't as interesting as the lore of other games and it really needs an update because the connections are there but broken, it's not garbage. I don't know just how many quests you completed previously but hunting down the quests that weren't 'Defeat X and get Y, with no expansion on Z' was entertaining because it makes my character feel more like part of the Maple world instead of being an amount of pixels. I'd say try out some of the questlines like the Elin Forest, it's a really neat tie-in to the lore you get from the Elin Forest PQ and even expands all the way to the revamped Silent Crusade if I'm not mistaken. Oh, and Magatia's questline remains my favourite in Maple to this day.
2. In terms of WoW, while there's still a lot of EXP that IS how quests in Maple Story should also be done. Sure, you mentioned grinding but the quests are chained together and you sometimes get forced to make choices IIRC; because you do play the quests and the characters are linked that may give you incentive to try the other route if you play a new character. I myself only do the new MS quests because I've more or less memorized the key happenings in each but I'll re-do if there's a new link somewhere.
3. That may not be true re: I must be having fun or I wouldn't be doing this. Sephie's main argument is that people complain a lot about lack of content when there is actually a lot of content, only that it's missed out on as people take one look and say "Nah, I guess I'll just go back to training since it's 2x and I wanted to get to x level", which I could expand on and say people will never stop complaining about lack of content unless something's done about how people blaze past the recommended levels for these areas too quickly. Perhaps a bit of analogy would make this easier:
Let's say baking is a point by point skill and assume that once you've made it, you've basically achieved a 100% success rate. I can get more money if I make wedding cakes as opposed to cupcakes but to invest on the wedding cake skill I need to make a thousand cupcakes. But wait! A chocolate cake draws near; I only need to make ten of these to be able to make the wedding cake, and making the chocolate cakes takes less time than a thousand cupcakes. So, instead of having fun and trying out a thousand different cupcakes I put in all my effort to make chocolate cakes and I succeed this in five days by making nothing but chocolate cakes. Making wedding cakes seems fun at first and I rake a lot of points but then reality sinks in that 1) I have nothing to do since wedding cakes are in the highest category 2) Wedding cakes get boring and 3) I'm so used to the luxury of wedding cakes and chocolate cakes that I couldn't be bothered to make cupcakes any more as they're too easy. I would quit by this point since there's no more challenge or experience to be had.
Merchanting is a completely different issue. You think we would see it as being boring because it's the same place but you're missing out on the crucial part that makes it fun: The challenge and experience. I for example make it a goal to make at least 500 million mesos every time I open a shop and I don't even sell Cygnus equips; the things I sell are commonplace scrolls or items that I know will rise in value. A person selling nothing but Cygnus equips would likely see it as being boring since they're following the wedding cake analogy above while I have to have extensive knowledge of the market, study future patches and accumulate the items whose price will rise to achieve the goal I've set.
And as usual, this got long.