This is why people are quitting, and how the GMs can fix it.

Entirely from memory, most from verbal interactions on Ventrilo back in the day or from personal in-game experiences (such as the player on Sushi referring to him/herself as Craig in a private discussion). Can't say for sure I didn't see anything about it on Sleepywood back in the day, I probably did as that type of stuff is quite commonly discussed (and inaccurate, as you mentioned), but it doesn't really matter if/where things are discussed/posted.

How was Craig playing on the character Sushi? The player on Sushi identified as Craig post-Susan quitting. It was either sold or given to him, both of which would constitute as account sharing regardless if one quit or not. Unless you are implying that he attained it illegitimately? Please clarify how the account was attained by Craig. If it was not taken through illegitimate means then it would be considered account sharing.

You didn't deny Craig having Gavin's info., so I'll take that as you acknowledging that he did share his account information with him. Please elaborate if that is not the case.

No idea what your rant is about. I'm just providing information. Don't get so upset, you can discuss this stuff without letting it get to you emotionally!

 

Funny enough, that's how I feel about leeching.

 

I agree with said stuff. :0

I personally find the argument that this game is competitive quite silly. Beyond the first page of the rankings that are set in stone with the first couple of Level 200's, what is there actually to compete with? Your friends for sure, but that's a closed off personal competition between you and them. If one decides to do something you deem unfair for the competition such as account sharing, then they're immediately not valid to be considered competition, and have no claim to personal bragging rights; the only actual reward at that point.

I find issue with the current account sharing rules as it forces everyone into the limits of competitive play whether or not they care to play that way. I'm sure many would like to just play casually, and not have the fear of being permanently banned for helping a friend.

Besides the first few ranking pages (which have been long since filled), Competition should be a personal challenge for those willing to participate and follow the personally set guidelines, not game rules forced on all players lest they be banned.

 

Precisely.. take the other server talk into PM guys. Nothing in OP's post is directly talking about other servers, just what could be done here.

 

What? You're comparing this to a freakin democracy? And then you compared it to a company? How is this a contradiction? OP is saying to hear the voices of the minority, not to ignore the voices of majority. This is painfully obvious. I'm baffled how you could have interpreted it as "ignore the majority." I mean seriously?

This is true. This is the reason I play on this server. Because it is #1. Same with many of my friends and friends' friends who decided to join us. Because we persuaded them, and because it's #1. I think you have a problem with trying to generalize too easily. OP is not trying to speak for everyone. But for some reason, you assume that OP is trying to speak for everyone. OP is trying to make more people happy without negatively affecting the people who are already happy with the server. That's good business. You have the same mindset as the GMs. Just keep the majority happy and ignore the minority. That's gonna cause problems. No matter how passionate you are about this server, you cannot deny that it's losing population. 6 months ago, this server averaged at 1200-1300 every time I checked. Now it averages 700-800. I sometimes see it at 1100+ if it's the weekend, but 6 months ago it was 1200-1300 even on weekdays. That's a big difference.

It's funny because OP made a claim, and his claim seems a lot more sensible and educated than yours. Then you go on about how you're not making the claim. To quote OP, "I just want you to get a better idea of why I personally believe that my analysis on MapleRoyals can be trusted." He LITERALLY MENTIONS right then and there that he's not trying to make a claim. You are free to disagree with him but stop pretending that he's coming in here to attack your server.

He is asking for changes that do not negatively affect other people. Yes he was wrong about account sharing, but having events and making minority voices happy is not too much change, it's positive improvement.
Also, you mentioned something before about events being stupid. Events are not about the money. Sure the money is a benefit, but if there is 1 winner out of 100 participants then more often than not you will walk away with nothing. If there's an equal chance to win every event and there were 3 events per week it would take you half a year to win something. That's not abut the money. It's about the community. Again. Not sure how you interpreted it otherwise.

Groupthink is a scientifically proven psychological term and is one of the most common issues in any team. Professional companies suffer from groupthink. People far more qualified to lead and make decisions than anyone in this entire server, including the GMs, fall into Groupthink. This assumption is not based on nothing. This assumption is based on an extremely common issue. You learn this shit in every business or psych class in college.

Look, I don't mean to seem aggressive, and frankly I don't care if GMs find my post insulting. I have a strong opinion to express here. I think you are angry that someone has mentioned shortcomings of the server you chose, and you are trying to defend your decision for enjoying this server. I think you had ideas of why the server might be declining in population, but I don't think you have any supportable or educated claims here. The reason I agree so strongly with OP's points is because his points are all commonly known business practices. Groupthink is a known thing. Community involvement is a known thing. Minority attention is a known thing.

If people listened to you, and said "hey it doesn't matter, we're losing people and our population declined by 15% over the last 3 months but it's OK, we're still the best," then communities and companies would literally crash and burn. You don't ignore a 10% average decrease. And stop trying to assume that everything we're saying is some kind of statistical claim here - I'm not saying that any of these numbers or points are factual, but apparently I have to mention that to you because you assume so anyways.

 

I honestly cbf to read and respond to all that flame.

So im just gonna say okay.

 

So I get my post deleted when I clarified this server's population in relation to other servers, and I get warning points and my posts deleted? Please GMs (@Sof), have some consistency jesus christ. These are all the posts just within this discussion explicitly about other servers:

"She switched to another server, along with 5 of her friends who wanted to accompany her"

"Other servers drop from their peak of 400-500 to 100-200. Tell me you would actually care about the number of players dropping by 300 and still being higher than the peak of other servers by almost double."

" I'd give others servers a chance"

"one popular (top 5 in GTop100) MapleStory private server allows account sharing"


Delete all of those posts and distribute warning points as well, for some consistency. Or are those posts just being kept as they negatively talk about other servers while mine possibly positively talked about other servers? This censorship is as harsh as some of the legit communist countries then, for real. Step it up. This is honestly getting quite cringy and sad bros...fkn sad

 

/r/iamverybadass
/r/iamverysmart

 

You got points because you posted twice after the initial purge when I said to keep that discussion out of this thread.

It's not censorship, there's a time and place for everything (this isn't the place, as I said, OP's discussion was focused on what can be done here), and this is already walking the razors edge considering discussion of other servers isn't allowed.

So, please, again, keep the discussion on topic, and if you'd wish to talk about other servers in that capacity, do it elsewhere.

 

@Evan So why was my original post deleted then? That post was specifically before you mentioned to "keep that discussion out of this thread". Likewise, every of the posts I have mentioned that explicitly talks about "other places you play private maplestory" should be deleted as well. Where's your consistency there? This is quite sad and reflects the inconsistency of the forum moderation.

To get back on discussion, I support the OP's point that there should be more attention to providing the small requests of players. Players' tolerance can get quite thin over time and may risk losing them, decreasing player retention rate on this server.

 

I'm not the only one here deleting posts, and because later discussion was based off that post, so as you said, consistency so it was taken out too. I'm also not always here (or other stuff), so just because discussion has happened, doesn't mean it wouldn't have been deleted at time of post, if someone was there to see it. etc.

I'm sorry, deleting posts isn't exactly fun, and it's not fun to have your posts deleted, but it's not just you, and it's not personal.

 

Who were you with on Broa? I fondly remember running into LoOpEdD when I wasn’t new to the game and his damage was so much higher than anyone I’d seen before him

 

Thank you for this! As a player in overpopulated Scania who reached lvl 200 on a paladin pre big bang with no account sharing, having to fight for maps and 12hr training sessions usually alone I totally agee with your feelings.

My friends at the time who reached lvl 200 certainly did not share either.

 

This thread is going off topic. The following will be my suggestions. These ideas come from my perspective and what I enjoy in Maplestory and I truly believe it would increase the average player "life" in terms of the total time users invest in this private server. I'll focus more on the social aspect of the game, which I believe to be a major factor of player longevity amidst the endless grind Maplestory itself offers.

Make PQs great again.

Thoughts
I believe if PQs were a decent alternative to leeching, then this game wouldn't be too reliant on buying or selling leech. I used to play a long time ago and its crazy how some people have come to buy leech as a level 25 or a level 30. I'm not against it but the fact someone's willing to skip through 1-135 just to go bossing is surprising to me. With the new HP tweaks we're getting, all these INT based, non-mage classes will require fewer AP invested in INT (perhaps even rely on equips only) and could therefore join party quests.​

Maplestory is a social game. I don't think many of us like grinding endless hours nonstop on our own, without engaging in any conversation with anyone else. PQs let us socialize. Every single time I've taken a break on Royals, I've returned only to start a new character as my BL would be filled with inactive players and KPQ and LPQ are great for making new friends and level up alongside them.

Non-mobbing classes have a really hard time leveling up. I don't think this is hard to see: without any sense of progress in a character, you're inclined to quit sooner rather than later. Can you imagine being a level 72 hermit as your first character? Sure, you shine at PQs during the early levels (KPQ and LPQ) as your damage is very high compared to others classes but at this point, as a level 70+, there are no PQs that promise decent exp to engage in. This is what let me to quit in GMS back in the day. Level 72 hermit and it took way too long to level up.

Making friends that would ideally level up with you til end game (135+) is a good way for underused classes to have a chance at bossing. When I joined I made a FP mage and leveled up with three of my friends (sin, cleric, marksman) all the way from LPQ til Wolfspiders and ulu. These friends let me join their Zakum run as a FP mage, now that's what you call a rare sight in a Zak Run, aye?

Proposed Solution
Buff OPQ and LMPQ (revert its nerf) as it could be a good, fun way to level up until (and slightly past) 3rd job. When I played back then, I'd always go to LMPQ to level up my characters as it was fun, engaging and motivated me to get better items to get done with the rooms I was assigned faster. This would be an added benefit: Low-mid level items become somewhat relevant again.

Buff PQ rewards. When I started Maplestory, I used to do KPQ because you could get an overall dex 10% as a reward. This would sell for 1m which was insane money to me as I had spent my time killing mushrooms and pigs. I suggest we add ores required for crafting, such as mithril and steel, decent non-commonly farmed scrolls, medals (LPQ Master, idk), low chances at maple leaves (face accessory) and perhaps even some other gachapon rewards like colored work gloves, bandanas, chairs, etc. Nothing too op, of course. Personally, I think if OPQ offered a very small chance to obtain scrolls such as shield matt 60%, it would be way more desirable.
​

Lets decrease the EXP/hr gap between the Archmage / Bishop grind and other classes.

Thoughts
Bishops and Archmages are masters of leeching and leveling up. That's what they've got going on for them and therefore it shouldn't be altered: they should always be the meta for fast exp gains.
Grinding on a non-mage class seems really unappealing when there's a massive leech market around the server. Like, what's the percentage of players who manually grind on a 3rd job pirate or bowman, really?

Proposed Solution
If we release large (wide) maps with mobs who are really high HP, EXP and relatively bad spawn locations, they'd seem like a mages nightmare. However, it could encourage party play for single-mob DPS classes and priests. A 4-6 person party for optimal EXP. I bet ya you'll befriend these guys you grinded and had conversations with so you can go on training sessions in the future. ​

Focus on moneymaking and gear improvement rather than exp all the time.

Thoughts
We currently focus on EXP primarily before focusing on anything else. This is because this server's motivation is being a good bosser in the endgame and we want to get to that point in the game asap. What ever happened to stop to smell flowers every once in a while?

Low level players should be given a chance to obtain items (etc items even) that a high level would desire.

When it comes to medals, there's only a handful of them and lets face it: most of us just rock our regular job advancement medals til we're level 200.

Proposed Solution
Add more medals: I would like to get an extra 2 int and 200 mp as mage by completing a huge chain of quests, or grinding a specific PQ in hope to get one of these items. Perhaps I'm 1 or 2 str points short to wield my level 25 perfectly scrolled purple umbrella (level 25, requires 6 str) and don't want to give up my other INT-items or AP in order to wield it.
I'm suggesting we get the chance to focus on grinding for our gear rather than our level. Anyone remember this event in GMS in which mobs dropped these purple tickets which would randomize your skin, face and hairstyle? Boy, tons of players were killing low level mobs for the sake of these items. EXP was not what we were after, a cosmetic upgrade was our goal and we leveled up a few times just trying to get what we wanted. It didn't even feel like grinding.

Low level mobs with a higher chance of dropping relatively rare items that a high level would desire. Lets say (and this is only an example) teddies in ludi dropped earring ints 10% or helm ints 60% at a very low drop rate (if we could have it to be level dependent, it'd be even better). As a level 30, there's not much of an issue to grind there as its already decent exp but now you'd have an added bonus: a chance to make quick cash. Now, teddies work as an example but what I would like the most is having these mobs far from usually populated areas like Magatia perhaps. Teddies are way to accessible to anyone lol.

A good example of a go-out-of-your-way item would be the bone helm. Its a level 42 helmet with decent speed and jump bonuses. While it is outshined by the Zhelm (as all helms in the game), it still remains as a good item and some players may prefer the mobility until they can afford a zhelm (or have the required HP to get it).

​

These are just some ideas that crossed my mind. I'd appreciate feedback on them if possible, thanks for reading.​

 

i think u guys code slow because easter was ''April 1'' and its 28 april and we are still waiting for easter event maybe u guys need some new coders

 

@Ayer As per my thread:

https://royals.ms/forum/threads/don...-better-alternatives-to-other-classes.119250/

LHC is exactly that - a party grinding atmosphere where it is not feasible for mages to leech. This is the key to an alternative to leeching/bossing. For the earlier levels, exactly as you said - buffing PQs to make them not utter trash compared to leeching is the way to go. Just lessen the discrepancy between a useless Pirate PQ/Orbis PQ compared to leeching, which can be bought by 1 day of voting.

However, staff has yet to express opinion on this matter: an alternative to leeching/bossing.

 

Ah, I didn't know what LHC was as I was a GMS noob (Lv. 72 was as high as I ever got before bb) but this seems like a very good idea. I guess we'll wait and see!

 

@Ayer
That's hilarious we're like the same person. I got to lvl 71 in GMS and quit around when Aran came out. PQs were always the main source of fun for me and once the activity died in GMS, I quit.
This server is pretty nice since at least there is SOME activity in PQs. The PQs in Ludi are both pretty active.
Thank you for mentioning OPQ. It DESPERATELY needs a buff or some really nice reward to at least make it equal to LMPQ.
It's too bad there's no good PQs for leveling really from 100 to 135. I know next to nothing about CWKPQ but I guess because of the daily limit it wouldn't really be great for exp, would it?

 

You making an Anonymous forum account to ask GM for a change is suspicious.
It makes it look like you find the game boring, and break the rules a lot.

The game is running perfectly fine.. yes the population for the server has dropped. but that is because there was a new auto-ban system for vote abuser.
50% of the population vote abuse. therefore a lot of people for banned. NOT because of quitting.