Hey guys, I used to play MapleRoyals around 3 years ago with my wife and brother-in-law. We had a lot of fun back then, but once we reached around level 120, we felt stuck — there weren’t really any good grinding spots that gave decent EXP, so we had to rely completely on paid leeching. We did Bigfoot a few times, but it wasn’t enough, and there weren’t any PQs available for our level either. We’ve been talking about making a comeback — but honestly, has anything changed in the past 3 years? Is it worth returning?
Depending on your classes of course. Could go to temple of time too, or ellin forest grinding. Probably some other places I'm forgetting.
As someone who's been grinding the maple streets for 20 years now, I'm pretty sure the biggest change in 3 years is just my ever-diminishing free time. Check the announcements though.
Can’t argue with that though. Its just we having holiday very soon, and we thought having fun by coming back.
There are definitely some good grinding spots for 120+. As others have mentioned, EPQ and Ellin Forest (same area) are great. Temple of Time is good as well especially preparing for PinkBean (SoonTM), at 145+ (I forget the exact level requirements for Crockys, so don't quote me on 145+) you can do LionHeart Castle (LHC) which is insanely good exp. There are daily bosses for 120+ that you can join in on. Probably a bunch of other spots that I'm failing to mention.
You got a natural 3 person party which would be easy to go on some party boss hunts together and PQs. If it's like a Pirate/Warr + Thief + Archer trio with maybe a Hs mule that's like a success formula that might last for a long time and fit in any content. I think a lot of players (me included) don't really have that luxury so it's either just a solo grinding mushroom game or mule leveling game. Thus where joining a friendly guild comes in handy to learn and find people to play with (at your corresponding level+gear for the best in-game experience, I mean a 80 CGS guild probably wont go EPQing with you 20 times, or maybe they will I don't know lol). In all seriousness the biggest Weapon+CGS upgrade you can get in this game are buddies that you can play with and they are willing to play together with you, which looks like you already have.
A classic case of "4th job syndrome" where people achieve the acclaimed title and suddenly lose motivation. You just need to find a new goal in the game, and it might bring back your motivation. As for leveling, I personally tried to complete as many content-blocking questlines until 135, and those are very diverse and rewarding exp-wise. Many are mentioned above and most/all have easy accessed guides in the forum. If you have time and desire, you can start with mules and play them when leveling higher with the mains is tedious. With 3 people on 6 clients, you can very reliably do trio attackers on daily zak, krex and scarga which is great exp and loot.
As a MapleRoyals Mormon of sorts, a recruiter extraordinaire , I implore you to try out the odd jobs. There are many variations that have a different take on the game. It truly feels like playing a different type of MMO. Ironman in particular -- the self reliance makes it much more challenging, thought I see how party play would be a problem for your goals. It was kind of revolutionary for me, but I'm more obsessed with the other two to tryhard on my ironman. Perma beginners. (I probably annoy some people yapping about permas so much, but I have to recruit). They are very challenging, since the EXP is severely cut off. Especially if you avoid LEECHING on principle or PQs as well. The grind never ends and the only demotivation is if you're playing super alone. Islanders. Around the event we have had around 10 or more people active restarting their islander grind. It's calm, its challenging, its not complex and you wont have to deal with pots, markets, or even gambling gachas. There's no drama, no leeching, no PQ, no stress, no annoying players and the dozen players we have are supercool people. It is repetitive, but its a different take on the thing you've experienced at lvl 120 in a normal gamestyle.
You can gain some easy levels from the Ellin Forest and Temple Of Time questlines to get beyond the early 120's. Once you have a decent level of your main 4th job attack (usually lvl 15-20+) buy some Onyx Apples and kill bigfoots, thats how I power lvled my Hero from 124 to 140 without much effort while I didn't have any expensive gear back then.
