I think that compared to simple income issues, what really frustrated top-tier players in this update is the lack of challenge, along with the fact that the rewards tied to those challenges just aren't compelling enough.
I mean, why wouldn't @MaplestoryU just launch a time-limited peak difficulty tier and let the top whales duke it out? When it comes to rewards, there's zero need to hand out things like Neso or Power Crystals—stuff they already have in abundance, and frankly, items you shouldn't be overissuing anyway. In reality, the absolute most attractive part of a Web3 game is super rare, one-of-a-kind NFTs.
The best part is, these rare, limited-edition flex-worthy NFTs won't ruin the game's economy, won't squeeze the profits of casual players, and take relatively low effort for the devs to create—yet they're precisely what top players love to chase.
So, damn it, would it really be that hard to custom-make sick visual effects, NFT items, titles, badges—literally whatever shiny, eye-catching, limited-edition reward you can think of—and encourage them to fight over it within a one-month window?
And can you imagine the true #HyperSummerChallenge?
By hosting a tournament like this with pre-registered teams, top whales would min-max their builds while actively posting guides and gameplay videos on X. Casual players could jump in too—cheering for teams and predicting winners using mob drops. For a few weeks, the entire community's attention is hooked, everyone's engaged and having a blast, and you could even host a design contest ahead of time for everyone to create the NFT prizes. Isn't that what a vibrant Web3 gaming community should actually look like?
@neonbucc@MaplestoryU Totally agree with the Extreme Lotus solution. Whales get their high-end playground, while the middle/lower class can progress. Warping future bosses just to please 0.1% spenders will only kill the game. Balanced takes like this are what devs need to read.
We have players on @MaplestoryU who spent over $100K fighting over the 'exclusive' rights to 1-2 months of a minimum wage income in the US.
If you bring that up then they hit you with "it's not about the money, it's the feeling of exclusiveness"
But in all of the posts I've seen, they mostly mention how sharing rewards with lower CP is ruining the game "economy".
So are they really mad about the minimum wage income or not? LOL 🤣
MSU has never promised any specific amount of rewards to any player regardless of their CP, and it has always been speculative.
Players who pushed above 100M CP when the hardest boss in the game was Hard Lucid did so entirely out of their own selfish needs, and now that their gamble did not pay off, they complain. That's kind of lame isn't it?
Remember, you still need around 50-70M CP to clear Hard Will, which also requires a decent amount of investment. Are these players who spent $10K or $20K not allowed to earn rewards either? Then why would they continue playing?
Also, it's not supposed to be that exclusive, it's Hard Will, not Black Mage FFS 🤦♂️
Anyways, I like to focus on solutions instead of just complaining, so I previously made a suggestion to implement an adjusted version of Extreme Lotus for this exact reason, and I sincerely hope MSU goes through with it.
Because otherwise at this rate Gloom, Verus Hilla, and Darknell will all have their HP completely warped to suit $100K spenders, effectively removing the middle class of players from the game.
I also personally believe MSU did well with this update. Although I would like them to increase the NESO pool further, especially if Extreme Lotus is added.
MSU earns roughly 180B NESO per week purely from NXPC "Contribution Rewards", but they only distribute ~120B in total rewards.
That's roughly 60B NESO being withheld per week, which is more than enough to double the current Ascendant rewards across all servers.
They also earn extra revenue from enhancements, fees, etc. meaning they can increase the reward pool from contribution rewards alone without ever touching their official revenue sources.
Funnily enough, just simply increasing the current Ascendant rewards would also help alleviate a lot of the issues from the previous discussion.
Anyways, this all I have to say regarding the current state of the game. I'm sure some top spenders may be offended by this post, but all of this is my own opinion and I don't care if any of you disagree with me or not.
I only hope MSU realizes there is a readily available solution to their problem.
@nexpacetime@TowelHolderA
@7Chisei Respect your mindset, man. Expressing frustration out of love for the game is one thing, but staying to help fix it and riding it out with friends is true leader energy. Glad to have you in the server!
@UniverseGuild@ysky_skkk I get the frustration from a high-tier perspective, but a healthy MMO ecosystem needs players of all levels to survive. Strict gates might satisfy a few, but it kills the game's longevity in the long run.
Heartbreaking to see this. Still hard to believe top player who spent $ 300k+ would risk abusing macro. No wonder the long post was all about MSU service over the real fact.
Completely understand the frustration recent Will patch has brought. But hey, they really can't make Will too difficult as there are 4 more bosses to be released in short future, and Will has already doubled the CP requirement as it was for Lucid.
my perspective on MSU as a high lvl player:
a lot of good things in this update by @nexpacetime and team
* new wallets are forced to KYC + mvp bronze (lower bots)
* pre 5th job maps (1-199) have field neso decreased (lower impact of bots)
1/n 🧵
#DearMSNDiary@MaplestoryU