Upcoming updates analysis and summary

Quite literally, this post is contains information on upcoming updates analysis and summary on them. Rather than a guide, it ended up in a heap of somewhat organized bunch of data...

Do note that 90% of the info listed below are based from KMS, which I can't assure that all of the contents either will be same in GMS, or will be arriving at right date. All dates except for Maple Film Festival Passport are just predictions using some math-y calculations and graph trends.


Here's something you can listen to while reading. Credit to our best MapleBGM supplier, SlipySlidy.

This guide is (story related) spoiler-free, so feel free to look around owo

Contents :

Maple Film Festival Passport

Theme Dungeon - Fox Valley

Grand Athenaeum 5th Episode : Shadow Alchemist

New job : Ark

Arcane River : Esfera, and Commander Will

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Maple Film Festival Passport - 7th of March, 2018, official date
Requirement : Lv 33 and above, Zero characters must have cleared 2nd chapter.

Uses and gives away Popcorn Coins.




Participate in each film's event and earn stamps on your Maple Film Festival Passport.



Here are the list of events:

-Monster Cabbie : Parody of A Taxi Driver, a Korean drama, in KMS

-Detective Kemdi : Parody of Detective Conan

-Spitfire : Parody of Dunkirk in KMS

-Deplorable Maple : Parody of Dispicable Me in KMS

-Standoff : Parody of The Good, The Bad, The Weird in KMS

Event	Stats per stamp	Maximum number of stamps	Maximum stats
Monster Cabbie	All stat +3 / Max Hp +150 / Max Mp +150	20	All stat +60 / MHp +3000 / MMp +3000
Detective Kemdi	Attack +1 / M.Attack +1	20	Att +20 / M.Att +20
Spitfire	Damage dealt to normal monsters +3%	10	+30%
Deplorable Maple	Boss Damage +3%	10	+30%
Standoff	Ignore Enemy Defense +3%	10	+30%

You will receive [MFF Cinemaphile Title] upon participating the MFF event, which expires on April 11th, 2018. Equipping the title will grant you the additional stats mentioned above.
Upon obtaining all stamps of the events, you will be rewarded with [MFF Cinemaniac Title], which expires on end of May 2nd, 2018. The Cinemaniac title has same stats as Cinemaphile, but has longer expiration date.

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Monster Cabbie



-Basically, you are a taxi driver and your main task is to kidnap take the monster "customers" into your taxi and drive them to their destinations and earn meso.

-Monster Cabbie is a solo content, meaning no parties required.

-The higher levelled "customer" will pay more meso.

-Pilot Irvin will randomly appear in the middle of the map, who can take all of the customers in your cab to their destinations at instant.

-For last 30 second, you will get a bonus time which allows you to earn extra money than the usual amounts.

-Stirge, Jr Wraith, Wraith and Shade are Kerning city customers (top left)
-Wild boar, Iron hog, Iron boar and Fire boar are Perion customers (top right)
-Orange mush, Green mush, Horny mush and Blue mush are Henesys customers (bottom left)
-Evil eye, Curse eye, Cold eye and Surgeon eye are Ellinia customers (bottom right)
-Rock spirits (the Arcana mochi one) wants to be friends with maple world monsters and are willing to go to any destination.

-You can convert the cab meso to real meso on 1:1 ratio (on weekends and public holidays, 1:2 ratio)
-You can convert the cab meso to Popcorn coin on 500 000 : 1 ratio
-You can save on money and use them later to upgrade your taxi for better event game play.

-Many achievements are available which rewards 20~150 Popcorn Coins.

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Detective Kemdi



-Invitation flies to the top of your character's head every 15 and 45 min mark during 10.15am ~ 11.45pm (KMS based, unsure on GMS)
-Obviously you can't get invited if you're in CS or Auction or such.

-Game of 5 rounds, which you will have to crack the code of 3 digits, no repetition.
-You get 15 attempts, and if all used up, or if the top 30 places are filled in, the round ends.
-Each player gets different and unique code, so you can't really yell out the answer...
-X indicates all 3 digits wrong, △ indicates right digit but wrong place, and O indicates correct digit and place. If the correct code was 1/2/3 and entered 3/2/1, the game will show one O and two △.

-Rewarded per round, if your inventory was full and didn't receive them then talk to Kemdi in the exit map.
-First place gets 20 Coins, 2nd ~ 5th get 15 Coins, 6th ~ 10th get 10 Coins, 11th ~ 20th get 5 Coins, 21st ~ 30th get 3 Coins, and entry reward is 1 Coin..

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Spitfire


-Must be Level 100+, or cleared Chapter 2 for Zero characters.

-Exactly same as Hunter's Arena.

-Costs 10 Coins to spawn 500 monsters, maximum at 3000 for level 200's.

-Receives 120% exp

-Solo content, but shares the map with other players.

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Deplorable Maple



-For every 3 Elite monsters defeated will result a Deplorable Maple Elite monster to spawn.

-Upon defeating the D.M.E.M, a bonus stage (like after defeating an Elite boss) takes in effect, and mini Deplorable Maple monsters will be spawned. These mini mobs give extra exp.

-The bonus stage will last up to 30 seconds, and around 40 mobs spawn per stage.

-You will get a stamp for defeating 100 mobs, so you will need to activate the bonus stage 3 times per day in order to obtain a stamp every day.

-According to one of my friends, defeating all of the elites spawned by Rune of Darkness will trigger the event immediately.

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Standoff



-Similar to the gauge of Nova event.

-Stay in Henesys, Leafre, Perion, Sleepywood, Orbis, El Nath, Ludibrium, Magatia, Edelstein, Haven, Mu Lung, Deserted camp, Pantheon, Nameless Town, Chu Chu Village, Lachelein Main Street, Grove of the Spirit Tree, and Trueffet Square to slowly gain points.

-Hunt monsters near your level to obtain Film Piece. (unofficial name) (10 points per piece)

-Hunt elite monsters to obtain up to 11 Film Pieces at once.

-Maximum daily limit : 10,000 points
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-100 Film points can be converted into 1 Movie clip, which then can be used to obtain 1 Popcorn Coin.

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Maple Film Festival Coin shop : The King of the Rings

Coin shops are available in Henesys, Leafre and Nameless Town.

You can buy almost every single event rings from this shop.

Item	Cost	Tradeability
Jewel Craft Ring	10 coins	Untradeable
Jewel Craft Box	10 coins	Untradeable
Adventure Dark Critical Ring	1,500 coins	Transferable between account
Synergy Ring coupon	800 coins	Untradeable
Synergy Ring cube	30 coins	Untradeable
Cosmos Ring	10 coins	Untradeable
Cosmic Atom	60 coins	Untradeable
Cosmos Ring cube	30 coins	Untradeable
Reboot Cosmos Ring	1,200 coins	Untradeable
Vengeance Ring	10 coins	Untradeable
Vengeance Stone	60 coins	Untradeable
Vengeance Ring cube	30 coins	Untradeable
Reboot Vengeance Ring	1,200 coins	Untradeable
Completed Onyx Ring	500 coins	Transferable between account
Onyx Stones	100 coins	Untradeable
Reboot Onyx Ring	1,500 coins	Transferable between account
Enhancement Sack	15 coins	Untradeable
Traits Sack	15 coins	Untradeable
Random Snack Damage Skin Box	80 coins	Transferable between account
Random Film Festival Mask Box	40 coins	Transferable between account
2 MFF exclusive chairs	700 and 1,000 coins each	Untradeable
2 MFF exclusive permanent riding coupons	250 and 350 coins each	Untradeable

[Ring Master Chair] can be obtained when obtained all rings above. This includes rings obtained from previous events.





Note that there are no Nodestones or Enhancement Scrolls in the shop.


Recommendations on things to buy : Adventure Dark Critical Ring and Completed Onyx Ring :

These two rings are a great way to increase the oh-so-rare Critical Damage which, combined with 100% crit rate, increases your damage like hella high.

For Onyx ring, you would need it to be fully upgraded, and the most ideal element would be Fire rather than Ice, in my opinion, because Fire has 20% chance to inflict status whereas Ice has 10% chance. Status might not seem important, but after the introduction of Cadena and her Link Skill, they are quite worth having (at least, if you don't have 100% status)


Some additional patches:

-New bunch of achievements, like a lot.
-Very minor changes on bosses
-PSOK can now apply to SOK items

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[Theme Dungeon - Fox Valley] & Additional Patches - Estimated date : 20th of March, 2018


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Theme Dungeon - Fox Valley

Requirement - Lv 185 or above




Yes, it's near the Shade tutorial area, Pointy ear Fox Village. Due to this, an additional Shade-exclusive script is available. There is also a tiny Explorer-exclusive script.

Ironically, Fox Valley is not linked to the Fox Village. You will never be able to get into Fox Village through Fox Valley.

To summarize the story, a storm strikes in the Village and the player has to meet the Fox God to stop the disaster.

I am not going to write the whole story because one, spoiler, and two, too much translations to be done...

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Additional Patches

-Nerf on Item Fusion system cri

-Zero re-opening

-Additional reward on Pollo & Fritto : Bonus Potential Scrolls

-Wisp's Wonderberry

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ARK - V Care - Estimated date : 15th of May, 2018

Patches focused on 5th Job Advancement:

-Transferable Arcane Symbol within account

-V core upgrade system

-Changes in 5th Job requirements - removal of cooltime of Arcane Stones, filling exp into each stones are now compulsory.

-Chu Chu Island bait changes

-Pollo & Fritto minor changes

-Grand Athenaeum : 5th Episode - Shadow Alchemist

-Increase in HP of Elite bosses - by 750 times (!!!)

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Grand Athenaeum : 5th Episode - Shadow Alchemist is based on Zero's tutorial story, when Alpha was referred to as Eight, meaning the 8th memory before the cycle of brainwashing. The story is shown from the perspective of Fang, an alchemist, and the story in general heavily relates to Zero's past and Commander Will's past.

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ARK Coin shop

Available in Henesys, Leafre and Nameless Town.

Item	Cost	Tradeability
Epic Potential Scroll 50%	100 coins	Untradeable
CSS 10%	30 coins	Untradeable
Master Craftsman's cube	70 coins	Untradeable
Special Medal of Honor	70 coins	Untradeable
SP reset scroll	50 coins	Untradeable
AP reset scroll	50 coins	Untradeable
Incredible Chaos Scroll of Goodness 60%	100 coins	Untradeable
Gold Potential Stamp	20 coins	Untradeable
Special Bonus Potential Stamp	30 coins	Untradeable
Innocent scroll 50%	50 coins	Untradeable
Golden Hammer 50%	30 coins	Untradeable
Bonus Potential Scroll 50%	150 coins	Untradeable
Nodestone	50 coins	Untradeable
Choose Arcane Symbol coupon	50 coins	Untradeable
Damage Skin Extractor Coupon	1,500 coins	Untradeable
ARK Random Damage Skin Box	80 coins	Transferable within account
Transcendent of Time Damage Skin	300 coins	Transferable within account
Superstar Damage Skin	200 coins	Transferable within account
ARK chair	300 coins	Untradeable
Pepe sleeping bag chair	400 coins	Untradeable
Dangling Nest chair	700 coins	Untradeable
Discovery Campfire chair	1,000 coins	Untradeable
Round Ship permanent riding coupon	1,000 coins	Untradeable
Steam powered ship permanent riding coupon	300 coins	Untradeable
Cruize permanent riding coupon	400 coins	Untradeable
Naked Bike permanent riding coupon	250 coins	Untradeable
Damage skin slot increase coupon	100 coins	Untradeable
Trait boost potion	300 coins	Untradeable
Job Advancement coin	300 coins	Transferable within account
Character slot coupon	200 coins	Untradeable
World map Teleport 1 day coupon	15 coins	Untradeable
Mastery book 20	10 coins	Tradeable
Mastery book 30	20 coins	Tradeable
Final Figuration main colour change coupon	50 coins	Untradeable
Final Figuration sub colour change coupon	50 coins	Untradeable
Final Figuration colour reset coupon	30 coins	Untradeable
Power Elixer x100 coupon	5 coins	Untradeable
Pollo & Fritto ticket	20 coins	Untradeable
Chaos Ring coupon	3,500	Untradeable

According to research & comparison of patches between KMS and GMS, it is likely that the V Care Patch will release at the same date as ARK : Main Patch.

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ARK - Estimated date : 29th of May, 2018

-New playable job : Ark

-Chance of Bonus Potential Stamps, Soul shards and Cubes dropping from Elite bosses are decreased.

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Ark




Ark is considered as a Pirate class, and he is a half-Specter High Flora, his Specter part often referred as a "monster arm".


His name comes from Noah's Ark, which is quite fitting to his story line which I won't bother going through cough. To summarize, he wakes up in a deserted planet Verdel with half of his body turned into a Specter, and he meets the Caravans and accompanies them in order to unveil his past and his identity, and escape from the lifeless planet.



Ark uses knuckles as his main weapon, uses STR stats, and uses Pass of Abyss as his secondary weapon. Regardless of whichever knuckles he equips, it does not visually show up on the character due to his arm.

Also Kinesis' VA ahh owo theyre both cute




His personality in the story, unlike the illustration and concept unlike Luminous, is very gentle, kind and justified, to the point where Cadena mentions him as a "nice bloke". He is also reasonably good mannered.



Almost all of Ark's skills covers massive areas, and due to his great mobility, Ark has an incredible ability to mob with ease. It can literally go head-to-head with Aran's mobbing capability.

Ark's functions can be described as a well balanced combination of Zero, Kaiser and Cadena. Ark uses a system similar to Kaiser's Morph Gauge to transform into a full Specter, and uses various buffs and skills in his Normal form which then requires an alternating switch play between Specter form and Normal form. He also requires some skill cancel while bossing, to stop moving all over the place and remain at one spot.

Maintenance sounds a bit complicated, but according to surveyed KMS users, Ark is a lot easier than Illium in contrast.


With first impression, great damage & increase in attack stat, AoE skill in 3rd Job, diagonal mobility skill, stance and superstance, useful Link Skill and basically has 55% base crit rate.



Funnily enough, the whole concept of Ark is opposite of Illium, such that Illium is associated with blue, a ranged job, a magician, dark skin tone, red eyes and mechanic-related skills, whereas Ark is associated with red, a close combatant, a brawler, pale skin tone, blue (and yellow) eyes and skills that require to attack with a part of the body.


Personally, I would totally like to main Ark, just only if Blasters were a bit less addictive.




Also, gender-swapped Ark isn't that bad. Prettier than Illium
He slept for about 500 years and still has eyebags

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Esfera - Estimated date : 19th of June, 2018

The 6th and the last area of Arcane River, Esfera, is patched in.



Requirement - Level 235 and above I can hear the crying
Requires 560, 600 and 640 Arcane force





The members of Maple Alliance, Ollie from Ereve, Melangeur from Pantheon, and Shumett from Edelstein, joins the player at Morass and accompanies the player to Esfera, the sea of origin.







New boss : Commander Will is also available along with the patch.

I haven't researched too much on Boss Will himself, but all I heard about was that the difficulty is beyond what Lucid gives you.

The Arcane Force required while Boss fight is 760.

The boss level is 250, which means even with max level you won't get higher level bonus damage.

Story mode Will's Hp is equivalent to Normal Cygnus.

Upon defeating Hard Will, he will drop Cursed Red/Blue/Yellow/Green Magic Codex (pocket item), Cobweb Droplet, Mirror World Nodestone and Will's soul shard.

Using the Mirror World Nodestone will grant you a Skill node : Spider in the Mirror




Also some additional patches :

-Reward point now resets every midnight if not accounted via CS

-Mini game : Discovery Arena is added for limited time

-Discovery Link, similar to Hunter's Arena, is added for limited time






Personal Opinion on which way the current Maplestory Director is going towards to
Terrible for unfunded or light players. The director is literally trying to kill them all... On the other hand, he is rewarding the highly funded players with more challenging things. Basically saying to them "spend more money".
Kind of a waste on Fox Valley and Ark. I think the team could've done better, like putting some effort in details of stories, and event-promotions and exclusive rewards. All they gave for Ark as new job was Ark damage skin, and that was it. (ARK chair does not count because it's referencing to Event ARK, not job Ark)
Also this director really hates the previous director

https://namu.wiki/w/메이플스토리/업데이트 내역?from=메이플 업데이트#s-1