MapleStory

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MapleStory
File:Maplestorylogin000001.png
Developer(s)Wizet
Publisher(s)Wizet, Nexon, Shanda, AsiaSoft, NXGames, and Gamania
Platform(s)Windows 98/ME/2K/XP
Release2002, 2003,2004 and, 2005
Genre(s)MMORPG
Mode(s)MMO

MapleStory is a free 2D side-scrolling MMORPG developed by the Korean company Wizet. It is published by various companies like Nexon (NexonKorea & NexonJapan), NXGames, Shanda, AsiaSoft (AsiaSoft International & AsiaSoft Online), and Gamania. Although gameplay is free, many appearance and gameplay enhancements can be purchased from the Cash Shop for real money. Several versions of the game are available for specific countries or regions, each of which has its own set of worlds. MapleStory has total over 30 million players in all of its many versions. Maple Global (for players outside Asia) has about 1 million players.

In the game, players defend the "Maple World" from monsters, as in a typical RPG (Role-Playing Game). Players can interact with others in many ways, such as chatting, trading, playing in parties and playing minigames.

Server/World and Sign Up Info

File:MapleStorySite.gif
Screenshot of the menu bar of its portal website "maplestory.com"

Current MapleStory versions:

Thai people can play both MapleSEA and MapleStory Thailand. The Korean version was created the first, and thus has the most features. Other versions are currently several months behind.

MapleStory South Korea (KoreaMS) has nineteen worlds and one Beta Tester world. In this version of MapleStory, "passports" for NEXON Korea Co., Ltd. are given upon sign-up. KoreaMS is sometimes referred to as 'kMS'.

MapleStory Japan (JapanMS) has seven worlds. For this version, "passports" for NEXON Japan Co., Ltd. are given upon signup. In turn, you can use these passports to create accounts for all Nexon-created games. JapanMS is sometimes referred to as 'jMS'.

MapleStory China (ChinaMS) has 30 worlds, and does not require any kind of a passport to signup but CSSN is needed host by Shanda Corporation co., Ltd. ChinaMS is sometimes referred to as 'cMS'.

MapleStory Taiwan (TaiwanMS) has ten worlds. New users are given passports form Gamania Digital Entrainment Co., Ltd. TaiwanMS is sometimes referred to as 'twMS'.

MapleStory Thailand (ThailandMS) has three worlds. New users can register a passports form Asiasoft Corporation co., Ltd. ThailandMS is sometimes referred to as 'thMS'.

MapleStory Global (GlobalMS) takes place in four worlds and, at one time, a beta testing world called 'Tespia' which split into two worlds called East Tespia and West Tespia. However, Tespia East was closed on June 2005 and Tespia West was closed on 16 November 2005. To play, you must signup for a NXgames passport. The Thai and South Korean versions of the game also use the same world names as Global version, but the servers are not otherwise connected in any way. Also South Korea, Japan, China, Taiwan, Thailand, Singapore, and Malaysia users cannot play or sign up for GlobalMS. GlobalMS is usually referred to as 'gMS', and sometimes 'oMS' (for OfficialMS).

MapleStory South East Asia/SEA (MapleSEA) has three worlds that are named after constellations. For MapleStory SEA, "passports" in AsiaSoft Online Pte, Ltd. are given upon signup. Each passport is entitled to three MapleStory accounts, therefore, you can have up to nine characters in each world in MapleStory SEA. MapleStory SEA is sometimes referred to as 'MSEA'.

  • KoreaMS Worlds: Stius, Bellocan, Demethus, Yellonde, Kastia, Elnido, Windia, Scania, Bera, Broa, Khaini, Zenith, Croa, Mardia, Plana, Arkenia, Judis, and Khadia
  • KoreaMS BETA Worlds: Tespia
  • JapanMS Worlds: Popura, Sumomo, Khalin, Sakura, Momiji, Kaede, and Anzu
  • ChinaMS Worlds: Pepe, Yeti, Curse Eye, Wild Cargo, Hector, Small White Rabbit, Copper Drake, Fire Boar, Ligator, Orange Mushroom, Blue Snail, Shroom, Slime, Pig, Jr. Necki, Lorang, Tortie, Octopus, Lupin, Star Pixie, Emerald, Black Crystal, Diamond, Topaz, Sapphire, Amethyst, Aquamarine, Opal, Rina, and Alex
  • TaiwanMS Worlds:
  • ThailandMS Worlds: Scania, Bera, and Broa
  • GlobalMS Worlds: Windia, Broa, Bera, and Scania
  • GlobalMS BETA Worlds: Tespia (Tespia East closed on June 2005 and Tespia West closed on 16 November 2005)
  • MapleSEA Worlds: Cassiopeia, Bootes, and Aquila

Gameplay

File:Maple0030.jpg
Screenshot of the game in action

Characters in MapleStory advance by gaining experience points (EXP), leveling up, and collecting various items and pieces of wieldable equipment. The player combats monsters, acquiring money (called mesos or meru in-game) and various items as well as completing quests.

MapleStory gameplay takes place on "worlds". Players are allowed to create up to three different characters in each world for every account made. Each world, which is identical, is split into up to 20 channels where players can play. Each channel is identical in terms of maps, monsters, and other things. The only difference is that there are a different people on each channel. One physical server hosts two channels. Characters, items and money can not be transferred between worlds.

New Players

New players are sent to Maple Island, a floating island specifically designed to be beginner-friendly. Unlike many other MMORPGs such as World of Warcraft and Everquest, players in MapleStory cannot choose a character class when they create the character. Rather, every character starts with the class Beginner until they meet the requirements to complete the first job advancement.

Leveling Up
File:Maplesea lvlup.JPG
Image of a character levelling up.

To level up, a character must acquire a certain amount of EXP (experience) points, which are accumulated by killing monsters. At each level-up, a player receives 5 ability points (AP) to be distributed among the stats of STR, DEX, INT, and LUK as necessary. After undergoing the first job advancement, the character also gains 3 skill points (SP) at each level-up to use on various class-specific skills. Whenever a player makes a job advancement, one skill point is gained.

AP can also be put into Maximum HP (Health Points) or Maximum MP (Mana Points). However, because these stats increase automatically at each level-up, so putting points into them is strongly discouraged by many players.

Stat Points

There are four main types of stats, which are necessary to advance through the jobs:

  • Strength (STR) increases the maximum power of melee attacks. It increases the max damage for warriors and minimum damage for bowmen and thieves. It also increases the amount of HP gained when leveling up. Warriors need 35 AP in STR to make their first job advancement.
  • Dexterity (DEX) increases the accuracy, avoidability and minimum damage of all attacks, except magic. It increases the max damage for bowmen and the minimum damage for warriors and thieves. Bowmen and thieves need 25 AP in DEX to make their first job advancement.
  • Intelligence (INT) increases the magic attack and magic defense stats. Magic attack affects a magician greatly as their damage and accuracy is based on it, although INT isn't too useful for other classes. It also increases the amount of MP gained when leveling up, but the increase is so small that it's almost unnoticeable. Magicians need 20 AP in INT to make their first job advancement.
  • Luck (LUK) increases the avoidability and accuracy of all characters, and decreases the EXP lost when a character dies. It increases the maximum damage of thieves.

Exact effects of each stat depend on the player's weapon and class.

It is recommended by most game guides that the various classes should only increase class-specific stats. Warriors should only increase STR and DEX, (with STR being the main priority) as they only use physical attacks. Bowmen should also raise STR and DEX, with with DEX being the main priority over STR as archery damage is mainly affected by DEX. Magicians should increase only INT and LUK (INT being the main priority). Thieves are advised to increase LUK and DEX (with LUK being the main priority), although STR dagger thieves (thieves who use a STR dagger) also need some points in STR.

Skill Points
File:MapleStory powerstrike.jpg
Image of a Warrior using the skill Power Strike on an Orange Mushroom.

Every character class has specific skills to invest in. The effects of Skills vary greatly. Skills fall into one of two categories, passive and active skills. Passive skills (such as an archer's 'Eye of Amazon') take effect as long as SP has been placed in the skill; they work automatically. The effectiveness of these skills increases as more SP is added. Active skills must be used when necessary. There are two types of active skills, attack and enhancement skills. Attack skills tend to do more damage and can be used as the main attacking method (such as a magician's Magic Claw). Enhancement skills add temporary enhancements to only the character (such as a thief's Dark Sight) or the character's party (such as a Cleric's Bless).

Quests
File:Saunaguy.jpg
An NPC who gives you a quest, should you be a high enough level.

Quests are tasks that players may perform for NPCs (non-playable characters) for rewards and experience. Most quests have level requirements (and some have job requirements, or other types of requirements), and are usually difficult to accomplish for a first time player. You can also receive experience after completing certain quests, and some quests have substantial rewards. Some quests can be redone as well after completing it for the first time, though the rewards and given EXP may not be the same.

Dying

When a character's HP on the health bar (red) reaches 0, a character dies. This is depicted by a tombstone falling from the top of the screen, and the character becoming merely a head on a ghost-like body. Upon dying, a character is teleported to the nearest town and revived with 50 HP. The amount of MP after a character's death does not change. Beginners lose no EXP when they die, which suggests that dying is a cheap and quick way of getting to the nearest town. However, once they make their first job advancement, each death will cost them a certain percentage of EXP depending on the amount of LUK they have, meaning Thieves and Magicians will lose less EXP than Warriors and Bowman because they have LUK and the others don't. A character cannot fall below 0% EXP of its current level. Which means that if you die, you will not level down, you will only reach 0 EXP.

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Character classes

Main article: MapleStory character classes

All characters begin the game as Beginners. Once players have gotten their characters to the appropriate levels and meet the stat requirements, they are able to complete the first job advancements and choose new jobs. There are four choices for the first job: Magician, Bowman, Thief, and Warrior. All of the jobs require a minimum level of 10 except for the Magician, which requires a minimum level of 8. Each job also has different stat requirements which are discussed below. This choice decides the class of the character and all future job advancements will merely refine and strengthen this initial choice. It should be noted that once a character has chosen a certain job, it cannot be changed.

Once players reaches level 30, they are able to complete the second job advancement. After completing a quest consisting of collecting 30 dark marbles in a given location, players are given the option of selecting their specialities and changing to the second job. The classes that are made available this time differ based on the class chosen at the first job advancement. Thieves will be given the option of choosing between becoming Assassins or Bandits. An Assassin's weapon of choice is a claw with throwing stars, whereas the Bandit's weapon of choice is a dagger. Magicians will be give the option of choosing between becoming Clerics with healing and Holy based attacks, or Wizards with either fire/poison or ice/lightning attacks. A Bowman can choose to become a Hunter with a bow, or a Crossbowman/woman with a crossbow. Finally, a Warrior can choose between becoming a Page who specializes in blunt weapons or swords, a Spearman who uses spears or polearms, or a Fighter who uses swords or axes. Each class has its own merits and disadvantages. With each new job advancement, new skills are introduced to the player.

At level 70, characters can once again change their job at the Mystics' Hut in El Nath of Ossyria. Unlike previous job advancements, the player is not given a choice for their third job. Thieves who became Assassins become Hermits, but Thieves who chose to become Bandits become Chief Bandits. Magicians who chose the Cleric path become Priests and Wizards of both types become Mages. Hunters become Rangers and Crossbowmen become Snipers. Lastly, Warriors who became Pages, Spearmen, or Fighters become White Knights, Dragon Knights, and Crusaders, respectively. Third job advancements have been released in most versions except MapleStory South East Asia and Thailand will be releasing it in early January 2006 or Q1 of 2006. The Third job advancment has been posted on the front page of MapleStory South East Asia, but no date has been announced. It is rumored to be release within the first two weeks of January.

At level 120, the character can again change classes and become even more powerful. However, 4th job advancements have not yet been implemented in any versions of the game due to the lack of lvl 120+ players, although there have been rumours that the Korean version of the game have been testing the 4th Job, which means it could be expected in the near future.

Template:MapleStory Character Classes

Monsters

Monsters residing on the beginner island (Maple Island) are suited best to beginners, just as Victoria and Ossyria monsters are to higher levels.

Killing monsters gives the player experience, common drops (leftovers from the monsters), ores (used to make items), equipment, quest items(for certain types of quests) useable drops (potions, throwing-stars, etc) and during certain periods of time, "set-up" (event) items that are mainly decorations. The value of the drops tends to increase with the level of the monster though some lower level enemies drop items that have very high market values.

Some monsters are more vulnerable to certain elemental attacks. For example, fire boars are weak against ice-elemental attacks, while undead monsters such as zombie lupins are weak against holy attacks.

Other monsters are more or less vunerable to the type of attack, wheather it be weapon attack or magic attack. For example, a Sentinel (a monster residing in the Orbis Tower) is very armored against weapon attacks, making it hard for most characters other than mages to defeat.

Cash Shop

Since playing MapleStory is free, the developers of MapleStory introduced the Cash Shop to generate revenue. This is a virtual shop where players can buy items using real money. However, most items do not give bonuses to the character. The items sold in the Cash Shop include clothing items, haircut coupons, pets and many more.

Cash shop items are mainly for looks, and can only be obtained through the Cash Shop itself. Other than fancy equipment that the players can wear, some other items from the Cash Shop can also grant the players special abilities, such as negating the experience points lost from dying and giving players a 2x EXP gain bonus (only available in some versions of the game). Pets can be useful apart from looking cute, mainly through the fact that they can be trained to pick up items and mesos for their owners, speeding up your training process, but to use these features, you have to buy extra items, for an example, if you want your pet to pick up your Mesos for you, you must buy them a meso magnet from Cash Shop and equip it to them.

Players who are not able to afford these items due to real life monetary constraints, might trade the in-game currency, mesos, for the Cash Shop items. Scamming is likely to happen in such cases, which is why trading of in-game items for Cash Shop items is a bannable offense.

Cash items for sale are available in the Cash Shop. The currency of Cash Shop is Nexon Cash/points, frequently shortened to NX Cash. These are purchased outside of MapleStory through the MapleStory web site. Paypal is the only accepted method in MapleStory Global, although Wizet has stated that they will soon implement direct credit card transactions. Additionally eChecks are currently not being accepted.

In MapleSEA's case, in addition to credit card payment (through PayPal), it has also released Prepaid cards that are sold at a fixed price of SGD$10.50 (approximately USD$6.30) per 10,000 A-points (which can be used to convert into MapleCash) or MYR$24 (approximately US$6.40) for 24,000 MOLePoints (which can be used to purchase 10,000 A-points).

Sometimes, items will be put in the Cash Shop that are sold for a single MESO (NOT cash)for in-game quests. This is usally just for quests.

Mini-Games

There are three mini-games that can be played between three MapleStory characters. They are called Omok, Match Cards, and Pachinko.

Omok

Omok is a remake of a classic Japanese game named Gomoku. This game seems very similar to tic-tac-toe except that the board is much larger, and you must get 5 in a row rather than only 3. Consequently, a lot more strategy is involved. The game follows the standard rule, which requires exactly five stones in a row (more does not count), and the Three and Three rule, which states that you cannot make two unblocked rows of three stones in one move.

Match Cards

This is also known as the game concentration. Match cards games can be opened in 3x4, 4x5, and 5x6 versions. The flip side of the cards contain images of MapleStory monsters which players take turn matching.

Pachinko

Pachinko (exclusive mini game for MapleStory Japan）is a popular game in Japan. It is a one player game. To play Pachinko you need to buy Pachinko balls (coins) in the Cash Shop and to play it, you have to be in a Pachinko store which is located in Kerning City, Shouwa Town, and Ludibrium. In order to win you need to try get the Pachinko balls in a mushroom hole below a slot. When you get it in, the slot will start. Sometimes an angel or a lady will try to help you move the monsters in the slot. The chart of winning table is: Strige, Mushroom, Blue Snail, Chopiter (=400 balls), Red Snail, Jr. Boogie, Jr. Wraith, Jr. Sentinel (=600 balls), Jr. Cellion (=1,000 balls), and the Jackpot, Jr. Bulldog (=1,500 balls). Also there are prizes you can win if you got the amount of balls.

Game issues

Scamming

Scamming is rather common in MapleStory, as in most MMORPGs. The most usual scamming type is tricking new players into buying items for several times their actual value or by stealing their items. Scammers do this by daring other players to drop valuable items and then picking the item up before the player has a chance to pick it up again. This is aided by using an "autoloot" program to automatically pick up any items dropped nearby. This was later addressed by the MapleStory Global staff to be the "drop game". In an older variation of the drop game, the player being scammed would be told to drop an item and type /mapclone, /mapsuperitem, or /map100 et cetera, causing the server to kick the user (and in some cases crash the client), allowing the other player to take the dropped item.

Another common scam is "tab tab space enter", how this works, is once you enter a trade screen, the person will tell you to show them a rare item, and try to get you to press this combination of keys. This combination of keys moves the cursor to the accept trade button and accepts the trade.

There are also some people who scam about faming (the act of increasing one's fame) since players cannot trade fame in a secure trading window. One will ask to buy or trade fame with other players, under the condition that the other player will fame them first. When the scammer receives the fame he/she will then leave without finishing the trade. There is not much you can do about this since trading fame is not allowed.

In the Cash Shop, there is a "Gift" feature (currently in GlobalMS this feature is disabled). A player can buy that item and give it to another player. Players would trade in-game items for the Cash Shop items. Since there is no trading window the items must be traded one at a time. Similarily to fame scamming, the scammer would take the other player's item first and not give the item they promised, either from the cash shop or the in game item. It is difficult to catch such scammers, as trading of Cash Shop items are deemed illegal, and players who get scammed dare not report them. Any user caught doing this will be banned if they are caught. Though currently the gift feature of Global Maplestory has been disabled.

External Programs

Botting is a common problem in MapleStory. Instead of playing their character, a player will leave a program to control their character. The program will automatically do a sequence of steps to kill enemies and gain experience for the character without human intervention. It is considered unfair as the player is able to gain experience for their character without actually playing the game.

Many people will also use a Auto Clicker to get into a Party Quest. If a GM (Game Master) finds out that a certain player has been using an Auto Clicker, he will ban the player for a set amount of time.

Another problem that has become more common recently is keylogging. The keylogger records all keystrokes typed by the person and sends a log back to the hacker who then uses that username and password to log in to that account and steal everything. However, keyloggers need to be installed into your computer for it to work and are usually contained in computer viruses.

Other Issues

Another issue about fame is "mass defaming". When one person wants to "mass defame" another character, the player calls upon their friends or any other characters they may have to defame the other character, decreasing the victim's fame stat significantly. Although fame is not too important in the game (as it is possible to buy fame from other players), some players threaten others with mass defames in the hope of intimidating others to do what they want, particularly to drive away other characters in the same training area.

Another issue is the existence of fake GMs (Game Masters). These characters are ordinary players who imitate names of GMs and claim to have GM powers. Some of the names include but are not limited to Wiznet, GlVl, GMDiddy022 and names with GM in the end. They pretend to be GMs and ask for your money, items, or your password. They threaten to ban you if you don't give them what they want. There are many ways to find out if a character is a GM. GMs always have the floating "GM" sign on top of their character. They always type in a distinctive blue text. You cannot look at their player information. If you do find a fake GM, you are able to alert a real GM by using a special feature called "Alert GM", which you can access by right clicking on the character.

Security and Reporting Abuse

Recently Wizet has added a loader called GameGuard created by nProtect to protect the MapleStory client from modification in the Global and South Korea version of the game. Most of these autoloot program have been blocked by GameGuard, which is also used by Softnyx for its Gunbound and Rakion games and Webizen for its "MU Online" game. Although GameGuard stops many hacks, hacking is still a problem. Though many players are skeptical of this, Godmode (invincibility) hacks still work under certain circumstances. The players who use this hack most likely train in obscure spots, or use Godmode to reach areas most people avoid. Contrary to popular belief, these players can be hard to catch, as GMs tend to stay in areas that have more people, and Godmoders can sign off if they notice someone approaching. Lag also contributes to making them harder to catch, as if someone sees another player walk through an enemy undamaged, they will most likely think it was only because of the lag between the two characters.

The "Alert GM" feature can be accessed by right clicking on a character and selecting Alert GM. You will see a window pop out that lets you choose the situation you want to alert this person for. You can only alert a GM once a day. Too many false alerts from a player could result in penalties (such as temporary bans). This feature is more updated in the South Korea version, where now a player can report specifically what the abuse was.

The latest security measure implemented by Wizet is the "Security PIN" feature, which is only implemented in the global version. A keypad will appear on the screen and the user has to enter their PIN by clicking on the numbers with their mouse to access their account. It has been implemented so that hackers using keyloggers that only monitor keyboard button presses are not able to get into people's accounts. The numbers change position as well so that tracking the mouse will not reveal the PIN number either.

The MapleStory global website will only allow access from the Microsoft Internet Explorer browser.

See also

Wikibooks has more on the topic of: MapleStory
Official Websites
Official Message Boards/BBS/Forums
Fan's Websites
  • Happy Mapling - Library of game information [GlobalMS].
  • Sauna - Library of game information [GlobalMS].
  • Hidden Street - Library of game information [GlobalMS & MapleSEA].
  • BasilMarket - Item auctioning website [GlobalMS & MapleSEA].
  • Mapletip - Source for Maplestory with guides and an item database & Message board [GlobalMS, MapleSEA & JapanMS].
  • A Drop of Maple - Library of game information [JapanMS].
  • Omega Sector - Library of game information [JapanMS].
  • eNet MapleStory - Library of game information [ChinaMS].
  • Global Game Making - Patch information and pictures in Korean [KoreaMS].
  • Maple2 - Library of game and Message board in Thai [ThailandMS & MapleSEA].
Fan's Message Boards/BBS/Forums
  • Sleepywood - Message board with extensive Free Market [GlobalMS].
  • FlorinaBeach - Message board for [GlobalMS & MapleSEA].
  • MapleSource - Message board [MapleSEA].
  • OhanaTown - Message Board [MapleSEA]
  • Perionch1 - A English message board for any type of Maplestory game [GlobalMS, MapleSEA & JapanMS].
  • Gamezizon - Large MapleStory Message Board [KoreaMS].
  • Soya Community - A MapleStory Message Board [KoreaMS & KoreaMS TESTER].
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