Rant on the topic of adding Aran to the ranks of Royals (And why it would be a good change)

Make sure you read the post before voting.

Intro:
MapleRoyals is a great server, no one can deny that. But even good things can be improved upon, and that's why I'm proposing to the RoyalStaff the ''idea'' of adding Aran to the cast of classes.

Remember these?


Short Story about me, Royals and Aran: (Skippable)
Aran was always my favorite class when playing Maplestory, I started playing in 06 but I never really found my class untill 3 years later, 09 when Aran was released. The class brought something unique to the table for me, something which other classes couldnt. They were always fun to play. Didn't matter if it was grinding or bossing, I had a blast playing them. But not only the class and it's skills are nice. Rien is probably one of my favorite towns in Maplestory. Being from the northern parts of Sweden, Rien always gave me a good vibe and a sense of familiarity when visiting, it sure reminds me about the winters of Norrbotten.And it's cool to be able to have something cozy like that arounnd. Our white haired hero was the class I ''mained'' and played for a long time, even awhile after Big Bang's release in late 2010. But Nexons influence on the live version of the game is a mess and I missed the game of old where leveling was hard and chatting with other players often had priority over getting to the next job. The loss of the social and difficulty aspect drove me away from the game and I quit in 2012.
One day I randomly found a video of the old maplestory on youtube, from there I was on the nostalgia train for real, this was probably around january in 2014. I thought that maybe even Maple had private servers running on older versions like WoW had? So I started googling. One thing led to the other and there I was, on the home page of Mapleroyals. When I found Royals I was happy, I'm sure you all reading know what I'm talking about. Royals has a tighly knit community with alot of nice people, very reminiscent of how the community used to look and feel ~2006--preBB. On top of that Royals also had low leveling rates and a formula that closely resembled/resembles the game of Maple at it's prime. (which in my opinion is between 07-2010) Mapleroyals is nothing short of spectacular and I give huge cred to the minds and staff behind it.

*Me in 2009-2011*

Why did I make this thread?
Recently I've heard one guy/girl here and there saying they're losing interest because nothings made to change feel of the game, I've felt the same at times. So that's why I'm writing this. Sure I think the server will survive even if it stays the same as it is now, and I don't necessarily suggest the die-hard ''things were better in my days'' players will care that much if there's one or two less players complaining about their nostalgic love. But why not make a change that would benefit everybody? A change which wouldn't take away the nostalgia at the same time as it brings a more fresh vibe to the server we all love? While I agree that adding things such as Carnival and other instances would help I think the Server also could use a bigger change, but a healthy one. In this post I will give my take on why I think that adding Aran will the change that will ultimately make the server a better place for everyone and it will add some persarverence to the server as a whole..

Disclaimer:
This peace of text won't be about what that staff did wrong when creating the server, rather as earlier mentioned a proposal of a fresh addition to the nostalgia that is MapleRoyals. Nostalgia doesnts have to be black and white, just because it's a nostalgic server doesnt mean it always has to look the same, stay the same and feel the same. And after you, dear reader have read this post I hope you can see on this topic from my point of view aswell as make your own conclusion. Make sure you get yourself a drink and thank you in advance for reading.

Structure:
Below I will write 3 arguments as to why adding them would be a great idea, I will include Aran related ''Spoiler links''to bring you into the right mood. Furthermore, I will tackle the popular argument aswell as smaller ones as to why they Should not be added. There will also be a poll included for you reading to vote what you think of this matter at and I would also be happy to see some consctructive criticism and comments below.
Lastly below will be a message centered towards the RoyalStaff while I'd be humbeled if you read through everything written, if there's a part you feel like you need to skip, skip that one.

Also leave your comments below!

To get you abit warm before the real rant begins feel free to check these links out

Spoiler: Aran nostalgia

Aran Trailer



Aran Trailer 2



Aran Skills



Aran Class Info on ''Hidden street''

http://bbb.hidden-street.net/character/class/aran-1st-job

Aran Teaser Website

https://spadow.wordpress.com/2009/06/25/aran-teaser-website-open/#comments

Accurate Pros and Cons of the class (scroll down)
https://ayumilovemaple.wordpress.com/2009/08/16/maplestory-aran-skills-skill-build/

Class variety is hugely positive

Variety in a game is never bad unless it affects the other part of the content negatively. Those negative impacts can be things such as an unfair advantage for a class/character compared to other characers or unblanced weapons and/or spells in a game. Whether we're talking Luminous obscure KS potential in the current, ''live'' Maplestory, Fox in SSBM

Spoiler: For anyone that doesn't get the fox reference, watch this

or release Darius in League of Legends. These aspects help to lower the quality and ''fun aspect'' of the game altogether. But if it's done right it always does the players and game well. And in my opinion Aran is one of these potentially good changes.

The addition of Aran would mean that there's more choices for players to make and more chances for people to find their right class, maybe Aran will bring the many other player on Royals the same joy as the character gave/gives me. Adding a new class like this would also help to fill the void alot of people have been feeling on the server lately. Because the server is meant to be nostalgic there will, presumably be no more major changes and that lack of content demotivates people. My answer to filling the void being Aran is undoubtedly a biased answer, but an biased answer with good grounds. Unlike all other classes but KoC and Evan that came afterthe release of pirates, Aran was in no way unbalanced compared to the rest of the cast of classes. They had decent mobility, were decnt mobbers, but sure with SE their bossing power was really good. But still, getting mob/kill/monster stolen by this class wasn't either a big problem since Aran's attack animations are rather slow and because of the combo system, their really strong skills take's a while to charge up. Overall Aran is a great character and other than the weak argument that ''Arans not nostalgic (which I will adress down below) there's few arguments as to why it would be a bad addition of content.

Why not make the character creation screen abit versatile and more lucrative?


More than a class

The polearm wielding menace that is Aran isn't just your ordinary maplestory class, as you may know it's categorised as a hero class. A hero class brings more content than the other classes does and that content is also unique in many cases to the said class, meaning no one else but that class can make use of the quests and maps that are brought with it. While this sure can bring a contrast between Aran and the other classes, making it look like our polearm-wielder gets some hero privelege it doesn't necessarily need to be a bad thing. Depending on how you present it, it might just be the exact opposite. In other games than Maplestory, classes like these are earned through completing this or that task and why can't this ''work for value'' mechanic be added to Royals aswell? Maplestory doesn't really have a specific goal rather than hanging out and having a good time.(oh and grinding for the sake of being able to grind harder mobs but for some reason we still love it)

But what says that we can't add a goal that you work towards? Call it a extra layer of depth or icing on the cake no matter how good of a game you have, goals are important. This is why locking the class untill one of your explorer classes reaches higher levels of maybe 120, 150 or maybe even 200 would certainly be a both fun and interesting way to present a class while also improving the overall feel of the game. This would also add a competetive aspect for the veteran players of the game. While the first beginner to reach 200 is yet to come forward every single class, without exceptions has reached max level and that has rightfully given a handful of people the pride to call themselves ''the first 200'' of that class. With the release of Aran the VeteranRoyalers will once again have a marathon to run, and I think making an event for the first one hitting that 200 would do the community on the server well. You could even include the original launch events featured on global to further the hype of the class.

(Note: these guys also come with the Aran package)
´
A new class can add stamina to the server
A server like royals can perhaps in the long run have a hard time to survive on just four classes. a player might make one class, level it to ~150 before quitting and moving onto another class. The problem this brings is unless new, vast and unique content is added this will serve the server because there's only so many classes to level, and not everyone likes all the explorer classes either. As earlier mentioned, more and more people are feeling bored, maybe not till the point of quitting but that boredom is still there. This is mostly noticable in the Veteran players of Royals. I've asked around alot in order to gather as accurate information as I possibly can in order to make this thread and it seems like the one's I've spoken to indeed feels similarly as I. But of course I couldnt cover everyone's opinion so take that statement with a grain of salt. But the point still stands. Royals might have a hard time surviving in the long run unless something is brought in to improve the game in general. As you've probably already guessed my answer to adding persarverence to the server is not gonna be adding discount on starbucks on wednesdays(even though that cerainly would be nice) no, my answer's still gonna be Aran.

Now all my arguments are out of the way and I'm happy you, dear reader have stayed for this long. If you're feeling exhausted, take a break, this is a lot of text but now's the time for the last section. It's time to tackle the counter arguments for adding Arans. Let's get to it

Because after all there's people in the server who prefers Aran to stay like this:

Arans aren't nostalgic
Maplestory Global which the vast majority of players grew up playing were released 2005. But the game of 2005 was way more simplistic than the v62 we're running in. Only victoria Island, El Nath and Orbis existed and there were no 4th job. And almost no functions. The rest came with time

Spoiler: Maplestory GMS Patch timeline

http://www.southperry.net/timeline.php

Both pirates and the 4th jobs that are featured in Maple Royals were added 2008, one year prior to the release of Aran and Maplestory's fourth anniversay. I hear no one complain about the fact that Pirates are included in the cast of classes even though they were added 3 years after release. If you mean to tell me you all experienced the ''golden age'' in the area between 2008 and Arans release in 2009 I simply can't believe it. Saying that Aran isn't an Nostalgic class would be lying. And when I've asked around this very argument seems to be the most prominent one which people bring forward in order to put down the idea of adding Aran, it's not nostalgic. But they can never really explain why they feel like it would be bad change past the fact that to them, the class isn't nostalgic.
But what is it that's so important with this Nostalgia? Is your Nostalgia really so fragile and important that you can't even see one extra healthy class being added to improve the game? One that wouldn't affect you at all if you don't want to play it. A class that is balanced and also won't killsteal you because of it's mobbing power being of a very similar powerlevel to other classes. In fact the only real negative change the class may bring to you is that the price of polearms and their scrolls will go up. Which by the way only is a negative thing if you're a DK who uses polearms instead of spears, otherwise those gach scrolls with Polearm Att will just earn you more meso via your merchant.

There's also this point where you have to stop and think about how important your nostalgia really is. Is it really of such value that you can't even see a change happen who will ultimately make your very own server better and maybe even reignite passion of gone players or inspire new ones to play? What is this ''nostalgia'' to you? and why cant anything be touched to alter it, just abit'' Comment on that down below. Anyways I hope I didn't aggravate you dear reader. I'm not trying to force my thoughts on you, and I respect that you have other definitions of the Maple Nostalgia than I have. But please. Don't let this ''Nostalgia'' be in the way of your reasononing. I personally quit because in the game, you progressed too easily, the game was overflooded with content just thrown in your face and disgustingly unbalanced classes, not because some butterflies-in-the-stomach type feeling was gone

*This is a good example of a BAD change* *This was and isn't*




Smaller refutations
I googled what has been said about this idea in the past in the royal forums and also if the discussion has ever been brought up. There I found someone stating that they could just play Maple Destiny if they wanted Arans but it really isn't that easy. Destiny has a Experience ratio of 16x, just like after big bang. And the increased exp rate was what I thought of as the worst change when BB came out. Destiny doesn't either have as much of an engaged staff, awesome, nice and friendly of a community aswell. They doesn't either have the close to 1800k player base which brings plenty of life to the server. The server also lacks the passionate forum posters that royals have. (shoutout to Plenty among others)

There's also the missconception that adding something to, say, royals will bring about other changes aswell and that doesn't have to be true at all. Example: People might think by adding something like Aran people will be demanding and beg them to add things like KoC, Resistance and others, like Evan. This shouldnt be a problem at all since the Staff and the staff alone decides what should be added and not. Me personally, I wouldnt mind KoC and Evan but any class other than that is unbalanced and outshines the rest of the cast. The programmer already has his hands full so starting to nerf these unbalanced classes and rework their kit is not even on the map.
Royals advertise themselves as the nostalgic server. But as earlier mentioned why not add nostalgic AND fresh?

Aran, a full aran requires v83. Well sorry, dear programmers If I missunderstand how programming n stuff works but bear with me, I'll read ALL comments and correct errors in the post later.
But wont the new source be based off on v~80 files? The base structure is somewhat there. Wont it just be necessary to add the extra files that are required for Aran?, the ''Aran files'' such as the quests, maps , skills aswell as the npcs? These Files shouldn't be too hard to get, its not like they have to be rewritten from scratch. But of course, you've got to make these work with the current files that are present, and since I don't have any understanding on how hard that is I won't go in to it.


Conclusion
To round this all up I'd like to say that while the four explorer classes sure works now I'd still want to see some new changes in the future and an addition and representation like I have proposed can prove to be a really fun and lively thing indeed. Furthermore while Nostalgia is good it shouldn't occupy every thought process of the game risks are worth to be taken at times. Personally I think the level lock on Aran and such is indeed a very great idea and can prove to be an essential change for Royals in the future. Thank you so much for reading.

Spoiler: [/SIZE][SIZE=6]For the Staff[/SIZE][SIZE=4]

You're all doing a great job on the server and I'm gonna play on the server even if you don't include them. But it would mean alot to me and probably many other players. At least think about this thread over night before responding with any official statement. Also sorry if I offend any of you, especially the programmer for lack of knowledge and incorrect information. Pm or comment below and I will fix this. Thanks for everything you've done so far!

And with that I'm signing out, Thanks you for reading the thread, and dont forget to vote!

Engstrom out *Drops mic*

 

hot

 

They should make a class which has frog mounts

 

Hi,

First off, I am new af to this server, so my opinion shouldn't have that much weight BUT I would like to say this.

Your arguments are, overly simplified:
1. Class variety is sweet
2. Its a hero class, offers oppertunity for creating goals for veterans
3. New class adds stamina (IMO its very similar to point 1, but w/e)
And you debunk the main counter arguments with, in short, it's only a year after pirate

1) About class variety. Sure, Aran would fill a void for new players to level a new class. Wouldnt KoC aswell, for example? Plus, that would add 5 classes. Maybe not as unique as Aran, but they definitely had a interesting story and some very cool and flashy skills IMO. Now this is ofcourse highly debatable, but so is the flavour of the Aran class.
Replace all your words Aran with KoC and it still works, so I don't think that that is the best argument, since it could be made for any class in the future, up to and including Evan...

2) The fact its a Hero class is indeed interesting, and offers opportunities and flavours to the class and server. But again, Any extra content/class/boss/world could be put behind a achievement wall, so you still have not managed to convice me Aran would be the go- to option for a new class.

3) The added stamina is IMO closely related to 1, so I will not continue the rant

And then the counter argument. The way you put it, it does indeed seem like its not a big deal adding Aran for "its not nostalgic" reasons. BUT, according to the timeline you linked, 2009 was not only the year of Aran, but also Targa/Scarlion (new, better alternatives for Zhelm), the big UI update, KoC, Vicious Hammer, Scissors and the first Exp change.
I think the later updates of that year, especially the UI, Hammer and EXP made people feel like Aran was the first major change that led Nexon on the path it is now, but I have no basis for that statement.

I would like to say this before anyone thinks of replying. I am not against Aran as a class coming to Royals. I had a ton of fun playing Aran back when they released in GMS. After 3 years of playing explorer in Windia you want a new experience, and it was a good one. What I am saying is that the arguments you brought to the table for me feel like they cut corners and could be applied to any future update, drifting Royals further from the nostalgic feeling that brought all of us here. Ofcourse you can point out that the staff can implement what ever they want, and that is true. But making posts on the forums for new updates etc will always be of influence, and implementing Aran on the basis of these arguments will only lead to further updates/new classes in the future I think.
But again, who am I, maybe there will be great support for Aran, and that will be that, and that would be awesome!

PS. English is not my main language and I wrote this in a few mins, so yea

 

Thank you so much for the response and points made Edervipp. I said that this might be abit of a biased post in the start but you're right that they might as well just add KoC but I thhink that might be more work for the programmer on Royals. Anyways you did indeed bring up good points. Stay awesome

 

You too man

 

If I remember correctly, John said that as for the this moment, they decided we will never have new classes. I disagree with that statement - Yeah, I do agree that implanting those right now is a big no. But I do think it's too early to say "never". I think first thing first the new source will bring a lot of new content that will keep you busy for at least half a year. Now, I also think we should wait until the community grows even larger than it is right now, and we should wait until we have at least 500-800 characters who are level 200 and then only discuss it. Does it conflict with the idea of nostalgia? absolutely not in my opinion. I know everyone have different ideas of what nostalgia is for them, but let me remind you this is a 7-6 years old content, and we already have Ulu City which came out about 8 (?) updates later. At the end of the day, trying to maintain the nostalgia will make us avoid a lot of great content that we have yet to explore. So I basically support your suggestion, but I wouldn't want this sort of content in the game right now. I think it's too early.

 

Supporting just to lower the number of priest in this server!

 

!voteyes
IF there is a level requirement before you are able to create an Aran.
Coming from a fairly new player, I see it as a lot of motivation to get a character up to a specific level. KoC would also be a nice addition to the game, however I feel that it should also have a level requirement before you are allowed to make one.

Excellent idea. Excellent presentation of the idea. I see where a lot of current players are going to be against it because of the fact that it isn't the MapleRoyals that they are used to. It's also a valid argument that the way we run the server currently has us placed #1 on the private server site.
I'd love to see something new added to the server to "spice things up a bit" (happy Cinco de Mayo lol), however I would hate it if that ruined the old school maple feel for people.

 

not gonna lie, I only want Aran for the wolf mounts lel.

 

It's already been stated by multiple admins that we would never be getting new classes. Providing new maps for grinding and classes are a completely different thing. Please do a bit more research on the topic as there are already multiple threads on adding new classes (and all have which have been denied). Matt himself, the owner of this server, has already said he would never do new classes because it goes against what he wants.

https://royals.ms/forum/threads/new-source-status-update-3.31341/page-2#post-178459

 

MapleRoyals - Error
You do not have permission to view this page or perform this action.

 

+1 for KOC

 

Wouldn't like this at all.

 

I'm honestly of a mind that Pirates were outside of the Nostalgia era of Maple. They werent part of the original 4 classes and Id rather they werent here. But it is what it is. Anything after Pirates, is when things really started to change. I don't know how to exactly put my feelings into words, but things were just different. Didnt care for it as much. Nothing in particular about the classes bothered me, they were just new and flashy. I know I have a real "Get off my lawn" vibe going, but I chose this server for a reason. Its as close to the period of Maple that I enjoyed the most as I can find.

 

I think the OP made it clear that he's done quite a bit of research prior to posting this. Note that I had warned him in-game prior to the thread being posted that his idea would be shrugged off and may even be completely shut down due to the community's perspective on true nostalgia, but it seemed unfair to tell him not to bother voicing his own opinions. I also told him the idea was mentioned several times on the forum so by now I expect that he is completely aware of what he's getting himself into.

Regarding the thread itself, it does surprise me that the quite a few members of the community don't consider Arans to be slightly nostalgic. They were nearly forgotten when newer classes were released and the same applied to subsequent classes. What makes me wonder even more is, when did people actually quit playing MapleStory? I highly doubt the release of Aran was the reason we quit playing the game. If that's true, then the same could be said with the release of Pirates. KoCs are a different story because they are basically cheap knockoffs of the original classes and every one of them outshined their cloned rivals. If anything, I'd be willing to bet that if the potential system or any other P2W feature were never introduced, a majority of us wouldn't be here right now. Changes like the EXP rate would not have been so bad if Nexon hadn't made it extremely easy either. Think about it, you're on a 4x rate server right now and are reading this right now, aren't you?

While, I do not support any ideas of new jobs being added to the pool of classes to MapleRoyals, I can't say I wouldn't mind them being here either. When pirates were released in GMS, I had no intention of creating the class, nor any other class for that matter, and felt like their skills were just copies of already existing jobs. Aran on the other hand, was an original idea and I was open to it, excluding the idea of the combo system. My friend, who had been playing since the beta, absolutely loved the class and used it as his main it for years. For the most part, they were able to blend in with the rest of the classes and their main weapon being a polearm helped balance the market. Tbh, their existence wouldn't make me like or hate this server any more, but it would mean a lot more work for the devs.

Anyways, just a little message to the OP: The new source is based off of v83 so it may be possible that all the necessary files are already present. It'd have to be one of the very last things to work on if it is ever considered, but I doubt it will. The dream of being a MapleStory developer, from my point of view, is to finally fix all the pre-existing bugs before moving onto the real fun of coding features that the community can agree upon. Knowing how much work that takes for one person to accomplish, that could take years.

 

I just think it's quite frustrating to have to repeat ourselves when the answer is already there and readily available. If it was a nostalgic post on why they missed Arans/KoC that would be different, but this is directly asking for something that has already been denied on multiple fronts. In other words, your opinion is fine but it's also not forum etiquette to make multiple threads about the same thing, especially when it has already been addressed.

 

I'm just telling the people what I would like to see and also I wanted to spark some discussion. I did my research, alot of it. which is proven and noted at various points of this thread. You would also have known this if you actually read the rant instead of mocking it immediedtly, thanks for the answer though Jeen, and keep doing great work

 

And I'm sorry if I aggravated you, staff members about this since It has already been talked about multiple times but I thought that I maybe could change your minds somehow hence why this is written in a persuasive manner. I did what I could to make a attempt to get my favorite class ever in the most solid private server out there. And it seems like it didn't work. So I'm sorry I guess? But I'm still happy I sparked some discussion and tried to drive forward a community driven change

 

I did read it. And honestly, it doesn't really matter how nuch research was done because it doesn't change the fact that it has been denied on multiple occasions already.

Furthermore, when I said do more research, I meant do it on our forums so that you didn't make another post on the same topic (since multiple posts on the same topic are frowned upon), but thanks for misunderstanding and then mocking me.