Removal of FM Button - 8 months later

I thought it might be interesting to hear the community's opinions after some time has passed. I'm going to outline my thoughts, split up into a few sections - replying to some quotes from the original thread.

Nostalgia (Rose-Tinted Glasses)
While nostalgia is the main reason most (if not all) of the players have started playing this server, that shouldn't mean we look at v62 vanilla MapleStory as the holy grail of gaming. It's something that can be improved upon to be an even better version of the original game. It's clear that the staff share this view in some aspects, which is why classes have been rebalanced moving into the new source. It's the reason things like Temple of Time and Ulu have been added, to make the game better than it was originally.

Travel Times
Travelling in video games isn't fun, especially in a game like MapleStory where it's extremely tedious. Removing the functionality of the FM warp button hasn't stopped the use of mules to buff people up - all it's accomplished is having to spend more time travelling to accomplish the same thing. The primary function of video games is to provide a fun experience for people, and travelling to FM, or to the map your main character is grinding at isn't fun. This, too seems to be a point of view shared by the staff, which is why boat travel times have been removed. They're boring.

Social Aspect

I wanted to touch on this because I think there's a false equivalence being made here. Social circles of players don't scale linearly with player base. That is to say, just because the server is bigger doesn't mean people have more friends. The FM was where you'd go to talk to your friends, it was where people would congregate. This can't really be replicated through buddy chat, because most of the way people make friends on Royals is through mutual friends, and you'd meet them by talking in general chat while everyone's character is around. It used to be commonplace for a friend to say "I'm chaosing my cape, come to ch12 fm" and people would flock to goon out and wish them luck. Now it's not as common because travel times suck.

I could go into a lot more detail about each of these points, and make a few others, but I don't want to turn this into a wall of text.
Please share your views 8 months after the initial change.

 

8 months later and I’m still waiting for tommy to “flock in” and “goon out” over my ill-fated scrolling adventures…. but I suppose the relevant question to ask is: will those living in the Scottish highlands long for the overnight megabus from Glasgow to London after the half-hour delight of the hyperloop from Waverley is introduced?


The removal of the FM button is a change we can get used to – but to what avail?

 

The removal of the FM button has made the game more tedious, more inconvenient, and generally more unpleasant.

However, the removal of the FM button, along with other largely unwanted changes that have come with the new source, were decided not because of what is good for the playerbase. They were decided because management (which is Matt, and maybe some John) has a vision for Royals to be its vision of old MapleStory. As long as that philosophy is in place, no matter how many arguments are advanced for the return of quality of life things like the FM button, I do not believe for a second they will. And of course management can do this. It's their server, their money, and so on. Regardless, it's still worth advocating for the players I feel, even though none of the arguments have to do with the main issue of management and its pursuit of nostalgia.

I recall in one of the previous threads about the FM button (how many have there been now?) that one reason for the removal of the FM button was that players were using buff mules from FM and this was never an intended use for the FM button. To be sure, the FM button made buffing both one's own and others' characters very easy. I would happily HS, MW 20, and echo for people whenever they wanted and it was very little if any inconvenience to me. You're killing BFs? Sure, I'll HS you! Just say when to HS! Click FM button, HS, go back to whatever I was doing. The FM button enabled people to help each other out. Now, if a friend is killing BFs and needs HS and they ask me to HS them, I'll still say sure, even when I don't really want to. I'm losing out on valuable time farming things like Voodoos or Leps. It's a huge pain to walk to Evil Dead if I wanted to do something else, so I just let my character stay in the map getting hit by Elderwraiths back and wait, literally doing nothing else than waiting to HS and then repeat the process all over again in the next channel. Of course, I could just say no and decline to help, but that's the issue of removing the FM button. People become less willing to help each other because of how much a hassle it is now. For that matter, people who ask me to help them transfer items between their own characters as they relog is a pain. I had no problem going to FM and helping them transfer when I could just go to FM and back out at any time. But I'm not going to walk to FM from ulu 2, wait for them to trade me, wait for them to relog, wait for them to accept my trade back to them, and then walk all the way back to my door assuming it hasn't disappeared, and then get back to farming. But back on the topic of buffing from FM. So turning to buffing oneself from FM, the most ironic thing is that self-buffing is still entirely doable. It's just a huge pain in the ass. O4 is where people grind when they're not able to do a boss run for exp. It's the map for all the ppl2pass players. It was standard to have an HS mule in FM and to duo O4 with another person, using someone's HS mule to provide the exp buff while grinding. The whole HS process took less than ten seconds. Now, you can still have you HS mule buff you at O4 (thanks to the Mystic Door glitch that allows you to door in any character, regardless of level or whether or not they have completed the ToT quests), but this just means you have to make sure your HS mule is below the leech level for the mobs or do the following if you're unfortunate enough that your bishop is able to leech exp from the kills. Option one is to have the HS mule go into the Cash Shop after HSing. Which means you have to leave Cash Shop to HS and you have to not die because of Magic Guard running out and getting hit by a mob. You can also have the HS mule go to another map after HSing, so your HS mule or both you and your partner have to walk to meet up and cast HS, and either have the HS mule walk back to the other map or have you and your partner walk back to your respective platforms and get back to grinding. You repeat either of these options every three minutes. It's cancerous. So the FM button effectively makes the game more antisocial since it gives players another obstacle to help each other out at a common and easily accessible meeting place and the FM button discourages the very essence of MapleStory that is grinding: grinding is now more tiresome and if management wants to prevent self-buffing, removing the FM button is a poor solution that doesn't even work.

The irony is that boat travel times have NOT been removed. Management intended to introduce forced boat rides with new source. Management later compromised with the currently nonfunctional Fast Travel Ticket in Cash Shop. (Thank you, staff members who advocated for that). It's a character bound time limited item purchased with NX that enables the character holding it to skip boat rides. But boat travel times haven't been removed. They're bugged at the moment, so we largely instantly warp to wherever the boat is supposed to take us, but in the future, without a Fast Travel Ticket or a Teleport Rock, we will be forced to wait out the boat ride. So the days of paying a small bit of meso to skip the Ellinia-Orbis ship is over. And even with these increased costs of NX (and having to vote and spend the NX on things like SE mules when going from Zak to Krex or vice versa), I highly doubt the old MapleStory days of sitting on the ship and meeting people will be a reality here on Royals. The reason why people rode the ship and wasted ten minutes or so on the ride in old MapleStory was because the only way to skip the boatrides was with NX that we had to buy with our lunch money as kids. NX is easy to obtain here. It's nonsense to sink more NX into things like skipping boat rides that literally just make our character do nothing for ten minutes at a time when we could be using that NX to increase the circulation of things like scrolls, WS, chaos, etc. which we really need considering how unstable and inflated WS and chaos prices. But I digress.

The server feels far more isolating now with the removal of the FM button. We have twenty channels now and not many people are there chatting or afking, sitting in their fancy chairs. I'd sometimes afk in the Amorian Loveseat Chair and when my sitting partner had logged off, I'd see these randoms just sit with me. It was fun. The server felt closerknit, more of a community, when I would see people's characters and mules in FM. People had social circles that based in certain channels of FM. Channel 14 was more or less Fryslan. Channel 6 was Home. Guilds established headquarters, official gathering places, in certain channels and certain FM rooms. Guilds felt more communal like that, and now that culture is dead or nearly dead. The FM button allowed us all, at any time we so chose, to take a break from whatever we were doing and go socialize. Sure, we can all just talk in buddy chat. But it's different, getting face to face with someone's character and talking in all chat. You feel more connected with the other human being at the other end of the computer screen. It really does feel more personal, more bonding. And now management makes an obstacle to that player-player interaction, making us go out of our way to go see someone when it used to be organic encounters, a natural flow of taking a break from grinding or rendezvousing before or after a boss run. Old MapleStory was, after all, a social game. It is ironic to me that the removal of the FM button erodes that social aspect.

In all respects that I am able to perceive, removing the FM button is a bad decision. The sole justification for it I can understand is that the FM button was not nostalgic, and so it was removed. And that's a reason that none of us can refute.

Spoiler

Also, wtf Tome you made a serious thread haha! Good to see you back!

 

I have found that the biggest use I've gotten from the warp-to-FM button is easy access to a safe location where I can afk. Before the change, if I wanted to take a break from grinding I would go to FM with one click and be good to go. There's something about seeing an afk character in FM that truly embodies the MapleRoyals experience to me. What's interesting is sometimes I go afk in FM for a few minutes and return with one or more of my buddies standing beside me! How nice :3c. Whether I want these people around me or not (I'm talking about you, @Lyrium), by simply being in FM I've created a potential social gathering that requires little effort to join provided people can get to FM quickly.

I've also found that before the change, the first thing I would do when I logged in was go to FM and change channels to see where people in my buddy list are. Often times, simply changing to their channel and them seeing that you're in FM is enough for them to come to FM themselves just to hang out for a bit. Without the warp-to-FM button, if I'm training and I notice someone in FM changing to my channel, I have to think about whether I want to journey over to meet them -- and most of the time I don't.

With the change, instead of going to FM to afk, I stand on a platform or hang on a rope in the map I was training in. This is all fine and good, but there's a fairly low chance I'm going to see anybody when I come back to my keyboard. And when I log in, changing to the channels my buddies are on doesn't really lead to anything. An interesting outcome of this is the fact that I haven't even seen @Seb's night lord in person yet, despite having him on my buddy list for several months now!! I'm almost certain that we would have met in FM at least once if the warp-to-FM button were functional.

It's like living in a dormitory at a university versus living at home with your parents. If you live in a dorm, all you have to do is open your bedroom door and your friends are right there. If you're living with your parents, you have to travel all the way to school and coordinate a meeting time before you can hang out, and then you have to head back home.

 

I'm not sure if this was an idea from the last thread on this, but what if there was a cooldown to the FM button? Something like 15 minutes, you can't abuse buffs & it isn't an insanely long time. I'm also super used to not having the FM button at this point & wouldn't really mind if it didn't come back, but I think there has to be a compromise somewhere.

 

I don't remember there was a fm button back when I'm playing on MapleSEA. Surely for convenience sake, having the fm button really cuts the time and efficiency. But then with that, you most likely see people afk in FMs only to come alive for all the buffing skills.

Like Charlie said, its really all about getting used to it. To me whether to have it or not, doesn't really matter.

 

I remember that, at the beginning of the first thread, Dimitri listed these, basically as reasons why they were getting rid of the FM button:

This was coming from a member of the Staff at that time. I think we can all agree that these, with the exception of the first one, are not strong reasons to remove the FM button. Regarding the first one, as @Shiyui said, self-buffing is still doable and also, like I said in the first thread, they could prevent skills from working in FM and that would solve the problem. I'm guessing not able to buff yourself in FM anymore could be considered a "pro".

However, I think there are many cons to this. In my opinion, the game is less enjoyable, like several people mentioned before, it's making the game less social. You can no longer meet with your friends easily because of this. You have to walk all the way to FM and because of that, many times you're just like "ugh, nvm". It takes away so much from the quality of life changes that I really loved from MapleRoyals compared to GMS. It saved you a lot of time, who wants to spend so much time on walking when you could be spending that time on something much more valuable? I could keep going but I really think this thread is not gonna go anywhere based on how most feedback threads go...

The first thread was closed by @Matt explaining why there was a FM button in the first place (read it here):

Spoiler: Matt's response

He also mentioned this decision being "heavily influenced by him". He wants Royals to be "as similar as possible to as we all remember the game being back in 2008/2009". This is clearly a sign that it is a personal decision made by the owner of the server, which is not wrong. It's his server and yeah, he has the right to do what he wants with it. But at this point, the community should be listened. What would it be of Royals without the people? We wouldn't be here arguing. Sure, no one's gonna leave because of this, but it's unpleasant to see that the community isn't being listened when the vast majority (90% according to this poll) doesn't agree with the removal of the FM button. Many games died or are dying because of unpopular changes; admins took their players for granted and didn't listen to them. If it ain't broke don't fix it.

 

@iSaind read this! dam feels xD

 

I like the idea of a cooldown on the FM button. The whole buffs at FM thing did seem a bit loop-holey to me. I did like how I could do business with someone quickly and the community aspect was for sure stronger with the FM button.

To those against the FM button in any form, i'll say what everyone around here says to me when i say I think leech ruins the game "Don't like it? Oh just don't use it" lol...

 

Fm button that charges 1m from your inventory every time you press it
Or FM return scrolls

 

KEY: OSMS = old-school MapleStory

Lots of great points by everyone. However, a couple of people have also mentioned that despite all these great points, there still exists the "irrefutable" vision of MapleRoyals in its desperate clutch for nostalgia. And I want to address that vision in particular, because I'm not sure if it really is irrefutable.

Most of you don't know me in-game, and that's because I rarely log into the game. Also because I hate all of you and I'd much rather be sad and alone. Nah, I'm kidding. Anyways, back when I first started on this server, the only reason I actually joined was because I really missed all the party quests that I used to do with random strangers on the internet as a kid. I hopped onto Royals during the old source and fumbled around character selection trying to find the dice to roll my character's stats. It didn't exist—the game automatically reset your stats for you. How convenient! So I dumped my stats into INT because I wanted to be one of them cool Bishops with one of them cool skills that hit the entire map. What was it called again? Leviticus? Exodus? Eh, it doesn't matter.

Except, I couldn't even get through Maple Island. I did literally zero damage! What I thought was nostalgia was actually rose-tinted PTSD. Violent Vietnam-era flashbacks of my 8-year old self whacking away at snails seeped into my mind, gunshots exploding in the suffocating air around me. But I chose to remain strong. I had to persevere. I had to do it for the party quests. I could almost smell the stench of Kerning City's underbelly. The swamp—it called me! I clenched my eyes shut and continued to whack away at the snails, fantasizing myself as the filthy sewer rat version of Moana.

I eventually made it through Maple Island. And after more arduous hours of magic clawing my way through colorful variations of slimes, I took the cab to Kerning City like the freshly-minted level 21 baller I was. Finally, time to sojourn through the wild adventures of KPQ as I had done during the precious years of my wasted youth! Except... parties were hard to find and there were no level restrictions, so I just sat on my ass while random Bishops farmed the map and shoved tickets into my dirt-crusted hands like the filthy sewer rat I was. But hey, I got to finally relive the nostalgia that I desperately yearned for, right? This is what I had battled so hard for, right?

Well... there's always LPQ! And OPQ, right? Right??!?

Unfortunately, by the time I got to OPQ, the waiting room was completely empty—save the tumbleweeds and cobwebs that filled its corners. I dreamt that I was a butterfly, soaring through the porcelain clouds of Orbis Tower, waving to the star-studded pixies and weaving through the volatile shells of nependeaths. I purchased super megaphones to gather a party, but there was never enough interest. A few of us would linger around at a time, but our camps would eventually disband in frustration. I grumbled sadly to myself and hitched a ride to Haunted Mansion, where I held down my Heal button at Voodoos while watching Futurama. Once I hit third job, I quit altogether (until that dank 2x exp event), as the sweet scent of nostalgia had fizzled into a bitter aftertaste of disappointment.

Based on the top of my head, here are the other inconsistencies in "nostalgia" that I can think of:

1. A lot of maps are just flat-out deserted. Aqua Road. Omega Sector. Korean Folk Town. There's no joy in exploration because you're always alone.​

2. No boat traveling. Some days I'd take the boat back and forth between Orbis and Ludi just to hear the BGM (this was pre-YouTube) and chat with people.​

3. Rare and epic equip drops. I don't actually remember if these were a thing in OSMS; I'm pretty sure they weren't. But anyways, they make things really confusing.​

4. The EXP and drop rate, obviously. (old man voice) Back in my day, we'd grind on our asses for 10 hours at nependeaths just to gain a level, because every other map was full and we were too poor for pots.​

5. NX is readily accessible. I used to glare enviously at the beautiful chibi sprites all around me in Henesys, as a poor 9-year old azn boy growing up in a working class household. Now I'm as beautiful as everyone else. In fact, I'm even more beautiful because I used my middle class salary to donate and give my character plastic surgery. But... I still feel so ugly inside. Why? Why god, why? Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? Oh and also, it leads to a huge influx of HP washing that is accessible by anyone and everyone, which obviously was not a thing back in OSMS.​

Spoiler

As a side note, does anyone remember back when GMS did the free event where everyone got one free random hair coupon? My brother got the buzzcut hair so he quit the game. I got the antagonist hair so I continued to play. Eventually I'd reach 3rd job by glitching through OPQ and played until the explosion of private servers.

I'm sure the list goes on and on. But it's late and I'm too tired to brainstorm more things.

I also want to mention that this is not meant to criticize the Administrators at all. And so before you say anything, I totally get it. I know. Some things are in progress. Some things are actually good things. And a lot of things are simply due to the fact that we're a limited private server. But the point is, these explanations only further emphasize the fact of the matter that MapleRoyals is actually nothing like the OSMS. Whether it be due to bugs, features, population, or any other logistical factor, the playerbase here behaves in a way that is fundamentally different from our experience with the OSMS from almost a decade ago, no matter how closely the two servers may be set up. Yeah there's like the same monsters and whatnot, but is there really much beyond that?

However, at the end of the day, the most important thing is: that's okay. In fact, that's actually cool as hell! A lot of people come here for the nostalgia, yes. But I very strongly doubt that many people stay here for the nostalgia. For me, the nostalgia ended after around three weeks when I hit third job. So I think I speak on behalf of a significant chunk of this playerbase when I say that although many of us joined this server to relive the golden days of OSMS, we stayed for the friends that we've managed to find for ourselves. And how awesome is it for us to have these public discussions and have the incredible opportunity to directly shape the community that so dearly defined our experiences on this server?

Obviously I don't think we should drastically buff the exp rate or introduce dumb characters for the hell of it (seriously, no angelic buster waifus pls). Nostalgia is important, I totally get that and actually agree with it. It's an important value not only to the Administrators, but also to many of us that simply enjoy this game. And it's what draws a lot of people to this server in the first place. But I think the vision for this server should be prioritized around what the players here value the most: community. Because I genuinely believe that community is the single most determining factor in what allows for the immense popularity and enduring legacy of MapleRoyals. And it's what draws a lot of people to any private server in the first place.

Let's be real for a second. Is killing the same ugly big rock boss monster thing twice a day what makes this server so enjoyable? I'd venture to guess that it has more to do with being able to kill the same ugly big rock boss monster thing twice a day with your friends. Like seriously, we all know MapleStory is inherently an awful, awful game. Maybe y'all have Stockholm Syndrome and actually enjoy the mind-numbing grinding, but I'm here to hang out with my e-homiez.

 

From a player's aspect, if the admins decide to bring back FM button again and kept as it was back in old source, where you have access to all sorts of buffs (Echo, MW20, HS, whatever you name it), nothing's gonna change.
And as StrictBan stated above and in the previous thread, dispose all of the buffs (which is what I'd do) or limit them so mobility buffs/spells such as Haste, FJ, Teleport is accessible so it doesn't/don't give the player(s) the advantage to have buffs that you normally wouldn't have while yon're grinding or area bossing unless you bring your mule(s), partner's mule(s) with you.

As for another thing I'd like to bring up if FM button were to be a thing again; your favorite NPC Albert (The Smega/Owl Man) would need to be reworked or be moved to a different place (e.g towns). I've stated my reasons in the following thread: https://royals.ms/forum/threads/shop-npc-in-fm.1759/#post-7184
tl;dr
Giving classes other than Bishop access to a "door" to a npc that literally takes just a few seconds before you can start selling your equips that you acquired from mobs dropping them, what's the point with Bishops having the skill other than what it's used for, for then? Let Bishops be Bishops and not just be some door mule to someone!

Just giving my two cents on this matter~

 

Because of this, I've found myself unwilling to move away from maps that are near FM. Unlike in old source where I would commonly explore and go grind/farm at more unusual maps, I just stay in el nath or singapore on the off chance that there's a boss run ,where I'm a portal or two away from the FM. I mostly just find this saddening on reflection, that the simple removal of the fm button has made my gameplay manyfold more linear because I want to easily be able to meetup with any friends who might pop online.

 

lol u can still go out and explore... its not that far of a walk to find the nearest FM

 

Speaking for my own personal opinion as a player, this post does not represent staff;
I don't really see why being able to use FM for buffs is a bad thing. Giving people easier access to buffs just promotes grinding, which is something that is already a lot worse than bossing at later levels. It helps to give players more options in leveling and meso making, which is a good thing. Sure this wasn't the intended purpose of the FM button, but that doesn't mean it has to be removed all together. If players found a way to use this mechanic to enhance the game experience, then isn't that a good thing? Especially when removing it negatively impacts other aspects of the game such as peoples ability to socialize with eachother.
The only argument i really support for the removal of the fm button is that its more nostalgic, and tbh at least for me, walking to fm is somewhat nostalgic, but is it really worth the change, a change that has negatively impacted a lot of peoples game experience, just for a slight bit of nostalgia? The nostalgia is gonna wear off eventually anyway. Things are nostalgic when we re-experience something from our past, but the feeling of nostalgia goes away when things turn into an every day thing, like walking to fm is.
Despite this i actually support Matt's decision to remove the fm button. If he believed it would make the game more enjoyable then i truly do agree with the decision to go through with it. However, i also think that we have waited long enough past the initial shock from the change, and that its time to start seriously looking at feedback from the community and make a decision on whether or not to keep this change. I doubt anyone is gonna change their minds any further regarding the fm button at this point, and "waiting to see the effect of the changes" any longer is more likely than not just gonna result in people giving up rather than actually adapting and growing to like the change. We made the change, and players have had lots of time to test out and experience it. We're way past the initial shock from the change, but the feedback is still overly negative, so i think its time to admit that while it was an interesting idea, removing the fm button did not turn out to be a good change in practice, and that it's time to seriously reconsider this change. Thank you.

 

I'm against bringing it back. Why? So far the biggest arguments are: lack of using FM for quick trades/setting up store, lack of FM buff muling, and it's not as social anymore. One of you have even called actually playing the game "cancerous", and perhaps I enjoy watching people squirm at slight inconveniences.

Everyone has got along just fine for the last 8 months without the FM button (+all the years on live Maple, plus like every other game ever because they all have similar shopping-esque centers), and it takes a mind shattering 10-30 seconds to use a scroll and get to the FM. I just... why is it so necessary to take shortcuts? In life, the most enjoyable and worthwhile things take time. "It's just a game, it's meant to be fun", is the game not fun, are you guys still not here, 8 months after it's removal? I mean, the game is a grind anyways, if walking to a map is so horrific, why not just remove the need to actually level. To anyone who used to have an NES and a game genie, I'm sure most of you realized that just cheating your way to the end, in any way big or little, cheapens the journey (except the Konami code in Contra, because that game was impossible to beat with 3 lives).

I'm being bitchy, I'm sorry. I guess, this equates (to me) to a kid wanting ice cream for breakfast and the parents saying no. The only way I'd be okay with it coming back is if all dropping, picking up, skills, and trading/stores/shopping is disabled if you warp to the FM. People claim to want the social aspect not given by buddy chat and guild chat, I have a feeling the true reason lies deeper in wanting one of the aforementioned things, and having the FM back just for social occasions won't actually do anything, won't actually make people happy. I'm sure it will make a few happier, and more people will chill in the FM, but it shouldn't be (and I hope will never be) what it used to be.

 

Your analogy is wrong. In life the most rewarding things take time to obtain, yes. For example, getting a degree, or mastering a skill or a sport. Even if you don't feel rewarded or satisfied before finally obtaining them, like hating school or not enjoying failing at a sport at first, when you actually do, you feel rewarded. What's enjoyable or satisfying about walking to FM? Nothing. It's literally just a waste of time because sometimes it just doesn't mean losing "10-30 seconds to scroll and go to FM", like you said. If you're grinding and you wanna go to FM for whatever reason, like meeting a friend, trading or taking a break, yeah it can take "10-30 seconds" to go to FM, but it's gonna take more than that to go back to where you were before. Depending on how far from town you were, it's gonna take longer. That's why @Stan mentioned he only stays at Singapore and Nath so he can be close to FM. The lack of FM button prevents him from doing other stuff he used to do. Before I reached 200 I was at skeles basically 24/7 but whenever I took a break I used to go to FM to chat or afk, it made me stay on the game for longer because instead of logging off when I got tired, I would go to FM. Removing the FM button prevents you from doing that. If I were grinding at skeles in 2017 and got bored, I would just log off because I wouldn't wanna walk to Leafre or use 2 tp rocks (if they worked) to go back and forth.

 

Lmao, it's a pixelated game. We're all adults with our own real lives to attend to, just make our lives easier and bring back the FM button so we can stop wasting time on walking and spend more time on useful things that actually help us advance in the game. A "mind shattering 10-30 seconds" adds up throughout the hours each time you need to buy a smega, do business, set up store, etc.

 

The point isn't that we can't survive without the FM button but rather that it has changed (at least for some of us) the way that we play the game and in my opinion, for the worse. As I said, my gameplay has become incredibly linear. I compensate the lack of of the FM button by making sure I'm never too far from the FM itself. However, I fear that others do not do the same, such that the FM is no longer what it used to be and thus when I am not bossing, I tend to afk from the game and chat to people on other platforms.

It's a change I can survive, but one that means I spend less time on the server.

I'd be more than happy if that occurred. Better yet, make a common room like the FM that people could warp to and commune in, which would save you all the hassle of somehow preventing people accessing merchants. Unfortunately, this would be far too un-GMS like to be implemented and tbh probably would take up far too much staff time to produce something of adequate quality.