Dear Maplers,
This week’s blog will be a bit different from the previous ones. We would like to take time to discuss our journey to launch, the Skybound Expansion and share our plans for moving forward.
Both the development studio and MapleStory 2 team at Nexon have worked non-stop for the last year to launch and update the game. Starting at the end of last year, we discussed all the changes we hoped to make for the global version to cater to our community, and made countless changes, including the following:
Enchantment system change
Removal of weapons breaking if they fail to enchant
The inclusion of fail stack when players fail to enchant
Dungeon reward structure change
Removal of Lumistones
Removal of outfits with stats
Removal of purchase options relating to gear progression
Improvements in the weekly cap system
Addition of Normal Mode Chaos Raids
Improved Sky Fortress reward structure
Addition of Exploration Goals and World Quests
Change in reward rates and Style Coin price reduction for the Style Crate
More UGC weapon templates based on community feedback
Double drop weeks for the dungeons to support the community to progress faster
Toad Toolkit experiment to smooth out gear progression
Changes to combat meso sellers, including some system requirement changes and over 100 rules to block and ban them
And many more...
This journey has been very exciting, but when we look back, we see that we’ve learned a few things about what we could have done better, or wish we had done differently. We have been spending a lot of time discussing how we should move forward based on what we have learned, and I would like to discuss our high-level direction going forward.
Key Learnings
When we were making the above changes to create a better MapleStory 2 for the global audience, there were a few areas we felt could do better. As we have discussed, we are always reviewing feedback and constructive discussions that players share with us. We want to tell you that we recognize that there is feedback around the random aspect of progression combined with the content cap, and we have an opportunity here to improve the game.
We are not guaranteeing any action at this time, meaning this blog is not meant to say we are removing random aspect or removing the content cap. However we want to share with everyone that we understand this feedback, and we are discussing different ideas to ensure players are always making progress when they invest time into the game.
Another thing we have learned is that we must be more thorough. Speed is very important, and during the first two months the team here was focused on making changes with a fast turnaround. But some of the solutions were not permanent fixes, and were closer to a Band-Aid solution, and sometimes these temporary fixes had unexpected side effects. Thus, going forward our philosophy will be to take more time to thoroughly review our options and come up with better solutions.
Plans for 2019
We believe it’s important and necessary to adjust existing game systems as we add more content. We have a massive update plan in the works, but we are also checking to see where we can make adjustments to content already in the game. We want to focus on key improvements that provide a better you with a better experience.
To summarize our plan for 2019:
Content we have prepared for our early January update will be released as scheduled. Look out for more information on this during the first week of January.
We will be discussing key improvement ideas starting in January. A few ideas are getting locked in now, but they require more review to ensure the changes will be effective.
While we are working on the changes, we will also be running events to help players make faster progress with the current systems and structures.
We are going to have our next expansion next summer, but that doesn’t mean that we won’t be making smaller updates before then. We will continue to add content and make improvements to MapleStory 2 throughout the year.
You will get more detailed information before we make any final decisions and move forward with changes. Please, stay tuned in 2019 for more!
For December
Since it is too early to discuss content which is still being worked on, we are going to run two events starting next week after maintenance. These events are to show our appreciation towards players, and to help players progress faster to, and beyond, Normal Chaos Raids.
Holiday Bonus Giveaway (Next Week’s Maintenance - December 31st)
If you are level 50 and above, you will be getting a package containing a massive amount of gear and resources upon login. This gift package includes:
Full Epic Set Gift
Epic Armor Set
Includes an Epic Lv. 50 Headgear, Top, Bottom, Gloves andShoes
Can’t be dismantled
Can be used for enchants
Epic Weapon Selection Box
Includes an Epic Lv. 50 weapon for your class
Can’t be dismantled
Can be used for enchants
Epic Absolute Accessory Selection Box x5
Gives your choice of Epic Lv. 50 Accessories, five times over
Can’t be dismantled
Can be used for socket opening
Enchanting Gift
Epic +10 Enchant Scroll Selection Box x3
Upon opening, you can choose between
Weapon Enchant Scrolls for your class
Armor Enchant Scrolls
Toad’s Toolkit x5
Onyx Crystal x10000
Gemstone Gift
Tier 2 Offense Gemstone x3
Account Bound
Epic 1 Socket Conversion Scroll x3
Each scroll unlocks the first socket on a piece of Epic Lv. 50 accessories
Yellow Gem Dust x200
Purple Gem Dust x200
Blue Gem Dust x200
Bonus Attribute Gift
Epic Armor Bonus Value Re-Roller x15
Epic Weapon Bonus Re-Roller Selection Box x5
Epic Accessory Bonus Value Re-Roller x5
Please note that the items in the above list are character-bound unless otherwise noted and will be bound upon opening the Holiday Bonus Giveaway.
Accessory Fusion Cost Discount (Next Week’s Maintenance - December 31st)
We will also be having an event discounting the Fragment Fusion costs for Accessories! During this time, the price of Accessory Fusions will be reduced by 50% for Exceptional and Epic Accessories. For example: Absolute Earrings Fragment Fusion Cost will go from 500,000 mesos to 250,000 mesos.
Other Things
An improvement to the housing UI is coming in January to make decorating and improving your house much smoother.
More UGC weapon templates will be coming in January as well.
We are working on more thorough plans to take action towards in-game scamming, boosting services and RMT issues.
Please continue to share your constructive feedback and see you in 2019!
Sincerely, Jungsoo Lee