Maplestory and I go way back.
I’m no stranger to Maplestory history. At one point, I was in the top 5 in GMS and #2 in Bera behind Fangblade. I trained with him, watched him hit 200, and helped with some of the first few Zakum kills. If there was a milestone back then, I was probably there.
After picking it up again this past year, history seems to repeat itself.
Niru was slated to be the first player to reach the modern level cap of 300 last week. This isn’t exactly an easy feat, regardless of the server you play on or the items you use to accelerate the process. He was so far ahead, that the next highest level, to my knowledge, just reached 298 in the Taiwan version of Maplestory. That may not sound like a lot, but considering how it took Niru well over three months to get from 298-299, it’s certainly impressive.
When we all thought we would be witnessing history, as one of over 20,000 viewers in his stream, Niru gave us a hell of a curveball, spending over 40 minutes being very open and critical of Nexon and how they’ve treated interactive servers. It’s incredibly detailed and well thought out, and it really highlights the problems those servers have had for years now, which include:
- Cubes being more expensive in our version compared to other versions: Cubes are various items that upgrade the potentials of your gear. Potentials are, in short, extra stats you can roll for, and have a fairly heavy RNG factor to it. The cubes available in Interactive worlds are almost twice as expensive as in foreign interactive worlds.
- Pay2Win feeling prohibitively unrealistic, even for those who are looking to spend money: The Pay2Win items available in interactive worlds are simply not worth it, and those that are worth it are untradeable, forcing players to look for workarounds to obtain them, such as services, which can open up scamming possibilities and overall extra work for players, when the process can just be streamlined and they can be made tradeable/available in the market.
- Low population in worlds, which affect the economy, and seemingly no desire from Nexon to merge: Most of the interactive worlds, except for Bera, are fairly low population, and merging them just makes sense, as it’ll also merge the economies and bring much needed life to the interaction of said servers.
- Frenzy Totems not being available: Frenzy Totems are items that drastically increase the spawn rate of the map that you’re on. It was probably the most controversial addition in Maplestory’s history, but has become a mainstay in interactive worlds ever since. Removing them and never bringing them back just adds a strain to the viability of grinding, and it just doesn’t make sense to not bring them back to at least a seasonal availability.
Maplestory has two types of servers, Interactive, and Heroic, with the latter often referred to as Reboot. Interactive servers behave like it says in the name; You can trade with other players, access an auction house, and buy and sell gear, items, and everything in between. These servers are how old school Maplestory used to be, through and through. Most Cash Shop items are also tradeable in these servers, making things like cosmetics and some p2w items much easier to access.
In Heroic servers, none of the aforementioned exists. You are solo, and your progression is tied to you and only you. Most progression based items in the cash shop can be bought with meso, and you cannot sell or trade any of it. If you’re familiar with Solo Self Found modes in games like Path of Exile, then it’s effectively that. The large majority of players play on Heroic servers, so this ordeal doesn’t really affect them, but for those who do play on Interactive, these issues are extremely important.
My thoughts:
To make this clear, this is not a discussion on Pay to Win. While Pay to Win will always be around, for better or for worse, it is not the point of this particular subject.
Now, to the topic at hand. I think all of Niru’s points are legit. The conversation about interactive servers not being worth it and “you might as well play Reboot” sucks. The fact of the matter is that there are people who do want to play interactive. The reason they want to play should be catered to, and as long as there are a good number of people wanting to play Maplestory on interactive servers, they should be taken care of as well.
The big takeaway I have is that there are so many different aspects of the market that are just absent, and people resort to services way too much, for way too many things, and it should all just be streamlined. There’s no reason for Frenzy Totems to be a problem if they just made Frenzy Totems available most, if not all of the time, and there are ways to readily obtain them, even if they are expensive. Merging servers seems like a no brainer to me, and Nexon had no issue doing it before, so why not now? Low population does not mean dying, but low population can mean dysfunctional markets. If you don’t want to merge the servers, then merging the markets is the next best solution, albeit not a great one. It’s really easy to say there’s no reason to play interactive servers when reboot exists, but there’s no reason to say that when the incentive to play interactive servers is improved, and people very clearly want that. You don’t tell someone looking to buy a new car to just get a motorcycle.
Speaking up and Speaking out.
Lastly, there’s the platforming. Niru can do what he wants on his own channel. Just because you may or may not like what he said, doesn’t mean he can’t say it under the circumstances he sees fit. There is nothing “unprofessional” about what he did or said because there’s no professionalism expected in the first place. I find it very weird that people conflate criticism with negativity, as if he’s expected to just be quiet and do what he’s told. That never ignites change, and it never will.
He does a better job of explaining this than I do, but it’s imperative to understand that there are issues with interactive worlds, and it’s not about which server is better. It’s about making everything better for every player, no matter where they play.
He doesn’t work for Nexon, nor is he obligated to abide by the standards they may or may not set. If Nexon told him not to talk about the bad things when they were set to interview him, that’s a bad look on Nexon’s part, not Niru’s.
I don’t think he’s some sort of hero for speaking out, but it’s always good to see someone who’s passionate about something they love also have the wherewithal to criticize it.
I hope Nexon paid attention.
