Yesterday, the 2022 Maple Live Talk took place in Korea. The general director Kang Won-ki and the planning team director Kim Chang-seop answered questions sent in by players and talked about what they could do to improve the game accordingly. It was seriously long, about 5 hours, but I’ll try to summarize the questions that were asked and their answers. At the very end, they even teased the summer update, and announced the MapleStory Ignition Showcase which will take place on June 11. This will presumably show off the Cygnus remaster and other things coming this summer, similar to the MapleStory Destiny Showcase in December! If you understand Korean and wanted to sit through a 5 hour session, here’s the full video lol. Again, it was a long event with pretty in-depth questions and answers so my summary below may not include all of the details from the video and might have some slight inaccuracies. Q&A Content Q: Can you remove the Flag Race entry time limit? A: They will adjust things slowly based on their recent trend of easing the burden of competitive guild content. Q: Are there any plans to add sub-content that guild members can enjoy together? A: No plans for now as they are prioritizing other types of content that more players are looking for. Q: Can you increase the chances of getting useful Seed Rings or lower its difficulty? A: No plans for now. They know that Seed Rings are essential due to the burst meta and so it would be difficult to make sudden adjustments which would affect players that already have them. Rather than making changes to them right now, they might go in a direction of moving players to other items in future patches (but this is very far off). Q: Reboot’s server lag has increased a lot recently. Can you increase the number of channels to 39 like some regular servers? A: They are aware and are planning to expand the number of channels in May. Q: I wish Reboot had a way to acquire Maple Points. A: They are planning to add the Power Elixirs + Maple Points package to the Cash Shop in Reboot in May. Q: In Reboot, it takes too long to make Absolabs gear because of no trading. Can you increase the number of rewards from Haven and Dark World Tree weekly quests? A: They know there are many areas that need improvement and think that it should be improved in regular worlds as well. They are planning to increase the number of rewards so you can get 1 coin per week per world in May. Q: Are there any plans to increase Mu Lung Dojo’s narrow rewards range (top 70%)? A: Mu Lung Dojo has two main functions: checking your character’s progression level and earning rank-based competitive rewards. Even if they increased the rewards range, it would essentially not be fixed unless they made it top 100%, in which case the rewards would have to be lowered so it wouldn’t make much of a difference. However, they are planning to reorganize Mu Lung Dojo in May to be closer to the original function of checking your character’s progression. This will include improving inconveniences such as time differences due to server lag. Q: Monster Park areas after Arcana need to be added. A: They will add them as soon as possible. In addition, they are reviewing improving existing Monster Park maps since a lot of people do the Knight’s Stronghold one just because it is the fastest which was not their intention. Q: Ability presets need to be added. A: They think that they still need to work on lowering the difficulty of acquiring Abilities and will continue to improve on that (things like the difficulty of getting specific numerical values, etc.). They agree with the proposition but think that it is too early to provide preset options because it’s still difficult to get Abilities. Q: Are there any plans to expand the Achievements system and add rewards? A: They do think that the Achievements system has shortcomings and will continue to improve on them, but they think that playing to get the achievements should be its own reward instead of adding separate rewards. They will also change the Lord of the Rings achievement so that it can be completed with the Adventurer Deep Dark Critical Ring. Q: Are there any plans to reorganize professions with regards to the mastery decay? A: They agree that the current Meister decay is too high and will improve it as soon as possible but it would be difficult to completely remove it. Q: Are there any plans to improve Toad’s Hammer, like where it becomes difficult to Toad certain items since they require rare or discontinued items? A: They are planning to improve Toad’s Hammer so that you can more easily transfer enhancements from equipment up to a certain level. Q: Are there any plans to re-launch Star Planet so we can play fun minigames at all times? A: They said that they do really like some of the minigames and employees of Nexon also enjoy playing them. Won-ki said that you can even play MapleStory at work (but of course, you need to get your work done and you can’t do wealths all the time). They said that if they were available at all times, it would be difficult to have good match-making and if the rewards were smaller, people wouldn’t participate as much. They will instead proceed in a direction of releasing lots of new minigames in new events. Q: Are there any plans to release past events and stories as events? A: Won-ki stated that in the case of a ‘classic version’, which people sometimes talk about, he thinks that it would be generally a negative experience and it would be more appropriate to remake past memories to fit the current game, and they will go in that direction. Q: Are there any plans to remove or improve the Fritto’s Treasure Hunt portal? A: They made various improvements to Fritto’s experience rewards but not to the portals themselves. They will improve it make it more fun content as it was originally intended and Fritto’s Treasure Hunt will be removed in May. Q: Are there any plans to add party quests (co-operative elements)? A: They think that being able to play MapleStory alone is one of its greatest strengths and progression has been focused on solo play. It would be difficult to aggressively add co-op in that regard but they will continue to use them in seasonal content in things like events. Growth Q: There is a general perception that enhancing or cubing your own items is inefficient. Are there any plans to improve this? A: Won-ki stated that making your own items is an area which has both ups and downs, and people generally remember only the failures. Although they don’t plan to significantly reduce the overall number of enhancement attempts, they do think that for Star Force in particular there is a need to improve the deviation. They will gradually improve it to reduce the deviation while maintaining the overall expected value. For cubing, they plan to improve it this year in terms of ranking up and getting good lines. However, they will do so gradually so that the value of existing items does not tank. Q: Are there any plans to add other ways to get experience? A: They will continue in the direction of adding ways to get a large amount of experience in a short amount of time with limits, such as experience events, Monster Park expansions, and Pollo and Fritto. Won-ki stated that things such as Cernium daily quests not giving experience will likely be resolved around the summer. They’re looking at it conservatively as it may still be too early but the number of players doing things like reaching max Symbol level is gradually increasing so they will do a more comprehensive review in the summer. Q: Are there any plans to alleviate the difficulty of getting experience? A: They have improved certain level ranges (like level 250+) and will continue to ease the difficulty of levelling up long-term by doing things like increasing monster experience. In addition, they want to close the gap between players who play a lot and those who don’t by improving the efficiency of limited experience content as mentioned above. Q: The overall age of users is increasing. Are there any plans to tackle the issue where players’ opportunity cost of playing the game is increasing? A: In terms of experience progression, the above questions were comprehensive answers. They think that MapleStory is both an easy and hard game, and they need to be able to solve this going forward. They will continue to add ‘hardcore’ areas that will require some additional investment while they continue to alleviate the requirements for lower areas. Q: I hope that the problem of not enough spots at popular hunting maps will be improved. A: They will make sure to improve this in the next update. Q: Are there any plans to add systems that let you show off or use other characters in your account? A: They are currently focused on other areas, but they do agree with the question. They are planning to add things like Union Arena season 2. Q: I hope that the barrier to entry for new players can be lowered by adding better tutorials and simplifying things like additional options. A: They strongly sympathize with this opinion. Since it is a 19-year-old game, there are a lot of complicated pieces. They are developing a system that will provide YouTube videos and links to the official homepage at appropriate times and are hoping to share it soon. Q: The supply of Authentic Symbols is too small and needs to be improved. A: While it is still too early to increase the number of Symbols at this time, they will go in the direction of doing things like lowering the coin costs of Symbols in coin shops starting from next summer. Q: Are there any plans to alleviate the difficulty of the Union/Link Skill systems? (e.g. providing Mega Burning Boosters) A: They agree that Union is MapleStory’s most difficult content. They will add Mega Burning Boosters to the Daily Gift starting in June. For making Union easier, they can’t give specifics but they are planning a patch for it soon like the number of characters that are included in the Union raid. Instead of suddenly decreasing its difficulty, they will go in the direction of gradually lowering it. Won-ki mentioned they actually registered a patent on the Tetris-like system of the Union board and would like to keep it because it’s a unique system to make it fun for players but if it becomes too troublesome, they will change it to a point-like system. Jobs Q: General questions about the burst cycle (burst cooldowns, Guardian Angel Slime, Seed Rings, Liberation skills, etc). A: They agree that the utility of Seed Rings is different for each job. They had many internal meetings about burst cycles and they are cautious of unifying all jobs’ burst cycles, Seed Rings, and Liberation skills at the moment. For unifying various skill cycles, it would cause the game to become one where you burst every 180 seconds continuously going forward, which is not good in terms of game scalability and should be avoided. For Seed Rings and Genesis weapons, they are currently end-game items but they will naturally be replaced in the future so they are being careful about changing the items’ utilities. They know that the 180 second burst cycle has been most effective for a long time but they want to make multiple cycles more meaningful and would like to move in a direction that improves this like adding new bosses. They said it is hard to promise unifying skill cycles or changing the utility of items right now. While they don’t have plans to unify them, that doesn’t mean they won’t make any adjustments. Chang-seop said that he thinks making all cooldowns the same is not the solution because every job has many characteristics other than their burst cycle and they are trying to take this into account when making improvements in balance patches. Q: What things do you focus on when working on a remaster? What will be next after the Cygnus remaster? A: They think the most important thing is maintaining job identity while improving convenience. It’s difficult to give an exact order (in terms of release date, it would be Resistance then Heroes), but even if it’s not a remaster, they will continue to improve jobs every month with structural improvements like Angelic Buster. They will share more when they decide on an official schedule. Q: I am curious about your stance and direction of the open job advancement system and ways to fix its unintended usage. A: They have considered this a lot as well. They think it would be ideal if the system didn’t have such big merits but they don’t want to remove it since it is one of the Adventurers’ special characteristics. They are preparing a direction where it can be used freely until level 200, and then after that, the cost would be similar to the cost that other jobs face when they change jobs. Q: Are there any plans to release a new job? A: They will release a new job if necessary but for now, they are concentrating on remasters and job balancing. Story Q: For Arcane River and Grandis, there are no world or side quests. Are there any plans to add them? A: They think the Dimensional Library format is an effective method to add these. They will prepare more side-quests more quickly. Won-ki said that story compression is also needed. They haven’t considered it until now but they will provide it later in a ‘digest’ format so you can quickly summarize and read a story. Q: Are there any plans to add a feature that lets you skip a story after you’ve finished it once? A: They know that no matter how fun something is, doing it repeatedly can make it stressful so they will add a skip feature soon. Q: There is a problem where the same voice actors are playing multiple characters. A: They do know that a lot of jobs have the same voices since they hire famous voice actors, and they will try to find new voice actors to improve this. Bosses Q: I am curious about your thoughts on the price drops of Dawn and Pitched Boss accessories. A: They did notice the recent price drops. Shining Star Force may be one of the reasons why, but they also think one of the main causes is the increased number of players fighting these bosses (based on their data). They do think it’s important to preserve their value and are keeping track of prices. If the situation becomes excessive, they will patch it accordingly. Q: Are there any plans to fill the gaps between bosses by adding new ones? A: They have already added new difficulties to existing bosses and will continue to do so in the future. Mid and low-tier bosses needed some work but recently high-tier bosses also need it, so they will work on it. Q: Are there any plans to rework older bosses like Demon Balrog, Hilla, Arkarium, and Horntail? A: There is precedent like with Zakum but they think having older bosses is a good asset. There is an option to rework them to fill in mid-tier bosses but currently, they are focusing on adding boss difficulties to existing bosses. They will consider this in the future. Q: Are there any plans to improve bosses with patterns that make it difficult to deal damage (like Magnus’ meteors) and patterns that have unreasonable luck elements (like Dusk’s meteors, Lucid’s teleport)? A: They will improve bosses quickly like they did with Hilla and Arkarium. They also think Dusk and Dunkel’s patterns are excessive and for high-tier bosses, they think there is room for improvement so they will update them as soon as possible. Q: Are there any plans to add a boss clear status UI? A: They will proceed in the direction of upgrading the previously added boss bulletin board. Q: Are there any plans to add a UI that visually shows the debuffs on a boss? A: MapleStory’s current combat situation is too complex and they think it’s important to have effective information sharing. They won’t be able to show everything but they will proceed in a direction that adds important things like binds. Q: There is a big difference between jobs in Mu Lung Dojo and Sharenian’s Underground Culvert. Are there any plans to add a new spec measuring system to improve this? A: Think that that Mu Lung Dojo and Culvert are just reference materials and they are trying to make something that gives more accurate indicators. It is quite difficult but they are currently researching about this. Q: I am curious about your thoughts on the introduction of the Battle Analysis system like the one in Ursus to other bosses so players can see other players’ contributions. A: They would like to introduce a battle analysis system as soon as possible if it was accurate. However, it is difficult right now to accurately pinpoint contributions in bosses. They know that using Mu Lung Dojo and Culvert as references is incomplete so they want to improve those first before considering a battle analysis system. Convenience Q: It is inconvenient to use Alt+Enter for full-screen mode. A: They will provide this as an on/off option as soon as possible. Q: Overall improvements of the Auction system, including things like adding the highest/average transaction price and current lowest price. A: It is difficult because equipment prices vary a lot but for items with specific prices, they will improve it as soon as possible to provide more information as a reference. Q: Please remove the 30-minute cooldown on the Meisterville teleport. A: They are planning to reduce this cooldown as soon as possible. Q: Can you show information like Union/Mu Lung Dojo when you click on a character? A: They want to be careful about this as many players don’t want to share some information. However, since things like Mu Lung Dojo floor can be seen on the boss bulletin board, they will be added. Q: A monster sound effect mute feature needs to be added. A: This will be added. Q: Attack speed needs to displayed on the stat window. A: This will be added, as well as attack and magic attack. Q: Certain daily quest monsters should be marked on the minimap like in Monster Park. A: This will be added. Q: An alert before buffs or experience coupons expire needs to be added. A: This will be added. Q: A way to change the skill alarm feature’s duration needs to be added. A: They will consider this and implement it as soon as possible. Q: A way to add items to the disassemble window in bulk needs to be added. A: They will prepare and add this. Q: When opening Rare Treasure Chests (from Elite Bosses), please show the remaining number of boxes you can open as well. A: They will improve this. Q: A feature to turn the buddy login notification on/off needs to be added. A: They will improve this. Q: About the deletion of dormant players’ nicknames. A: They are quite busy right now but will proceed with this in the second half of the year. Cosmetics Q: Are there any plans to expand the Decoration tab? A: When considering the overall usage trends, they think it is too early to expand it. Q: Are there any plans to add cosmetic presets? A: It is hard to say for sure when this will be added but they expect that it’s not too far away. As a result, they expect that it will be much more convenient to change into outfits used for combat and items used for cosmetics. Won-ki said that it would be difficult to add systems that other games have like DFO’s Clone Avatars would be difficult and add a lot of complexity. They will first prioritize and improve changing between combat and casual outfits and then look at improving the Decoration tab. Q: Are there any plans to share things like chairs, ridings, cosmetics within the same world or account? A: They do agree with the need to add this and it is their long-term direction but it is difficult to make it into a system. For chairs, they are currently looking at the items that don’t have certain acquisition limits and will change them to be able to be put into storage as soon as possible. Q: Can longer hairs be added to the male Change Hair Coupons? A: This will be added in the next Change Hair Coupon. Q: Can the ability to use Mix Dye/Mix Lens/Mannequins on Androids be added? A: They will add the ability to use Mix Dye/Mix Lens on Androids as soon as possible but Mannequins are currently not possible. Q: Can the number of Mannequin slots be expanded? A: They think this can be done within the year. Events/IP/Communication Q: The Golden Chariot needs to be improved. A: They are not currenctly considering automatic attendance checks but starting from the next Golden Chariot, they will change it to be 7 stamps per week. Q: Are there any plans to re-do or re-use past events that a lot of players have fond memories of, such as Coke Town or Neo Castle? A: They think they will have an opportunity to show this at appropriate times. Q: Are there any plans to bring back Fight! Return of the Legends? A: They will release it as an event soon. Q: I am curious about how the hair copyright related issue is going. A: They confirmed that the the hair was made after buying that game’s avatar license and they apologize for being late in confirming this. Q: Are there any plans to use MapleStory’s IP to release non-game content (like character goods, performances, albums)? A: They will increase their usage of the MapleStory IP from this year in preparation for the 20th anniversary. Currently, they have the Starfield Balloon Festival and for the symphony performance, they are planning additional dates in July. They can’t talk about other partnerships at the moment but they’re definitely looking into them. They are planning to release more figures. Rewards All players will be able to claim the following rewards starting from May 4. They can be claimed once per Maple ID. Maximum Growth Potion Tera Burning Booster Mannequin Experience Core Gemstone Selective Symbol Voucher (100 Arcane Symbols or 20 Authentic Symbols) 2000 Memory Tokens 10 Extreme Growth Potions 1 Mix Dye Coupon 1 Mix Lens Coupon Selective Growth Potion Voucher In addition, in the May patch, the base number of storage slots will be increased to 24 slots. MapleStory Ignition At the end of the live talk, they showed off a small cinematic, ending off with the title MapleStory Ignition. This will be our summer update and the showcase will take place on June 11. They will probably show off the Cygnus remasters, Odium, other content to be released in the patch as well as the summer events. Source: Orange Mushroom's Blog