Maple Story is a free, anime/fantasy, 2D side-scrolling MMORPG developed by the Korean company Wizet. hi Maple Story has been released in Japan, Korea and China. The global version is now available for sign-up. There is also a new additional server called MapleSEA for South East Asians to play. It is almost identical to MapleGlobal and is still in the beta phase of development. In the game, the player defends the "Maple World" from monsters and can chat with other players.
Gameplay
Character advancement comes through gaining experience points, levelling up, and collecting items and pieces of wieldable/wearable equipment. The player combats monsters, acquiring money (in a currency called mesos) and various items as well as completing quests.
The official release version of Maple Story on its Global version takes place in worlds called Scania and Bera, and the closed beta version takes place in world called Tespia. Meanwhile, the world in the South East Asian server is called Aquila. Each world is split into up to 20 channels which are identical except for the players currently playing on them. One physical server hosts two channels.
New players are sent to Maple Island, a floating island specifically designed to be beginner-friendly. Unlike other MMORPGs such as World of Warcraft and Everquest, players in Maple Story are not able to choose a character class when they create the character. Rather, every character starts with the class Beginner, until they are able to advance to the first job advancement, either at level 8 or 10.
Players can choose to leave Maple Island any time they want, granted they have enough mesos to buy a ticket to Victoria Island. Once they leave Maple Island, however, they can not come back.
There are four main types of stats, which are necessary to advance through the jobs.
- Strength (STR) increases the maximum power of melee attacks, except for thieves.
- Dexterity (DEX) increases the accuracy and minimum damage of all attacks, except magical. It also affects the damage of Bowmen.
- Intelligence (INT) increases the maximum power of magic attacks. It also gives magic defense.
- Luck (LUK) increases the avoidability of your character, the damage of Thieves and the experience loss when it comes to dying.
The various classes should increase only specific stats. For example, Magicians, who excel in magical attacks, should only increase intelligence and luck, as dexterity and strength won't affect magic attacks. Likewise, a warrior, who excels in physical attacks, only needs to lay his points in strength and dexterity.
The different character classes all have specific skills to invest in. The effects of these skills varies a lot; some are passive traits, such as Increased MP Regeneration, while others are active and can be used on the field, such as Power Strike.
Character Classes
There are four main character classes. At level 8 or above, players can become a Magician if they meet the requirements when it comes to stats. Otherwise, at level 10 or above, players can choose to become either Bowman, Thief or Warrior, granted they meet the requirements.
Once the player reaches level 30, they are again able to change their class. After a quest of collecting various items in a given ___location, the player is given the option of changing their class. The classes that are made available this time differ based on the class chosen earlier (at level 8 or 10). Thieves will be given the option of choosing between becoming an Assasin or a Bandit. An Assasin's weapon of choice are throwing stars, whearas the Bandit's weapon of choice is a dagger. Magicians will be give the option of choosing between becoming a Cleric, or one of two types of Wizards (either fire/poison or ice/lightning). Bowmen can either choose to become an Hunter or a Crossbowman. Finally Warriors can choose between becoming a Page, Spearman or Fighter.
At level 70 the character can once again change their class at the Mystics' Hut in El Nath of Ossyria.
The World of Maple Story
There are quite a few places the player can explore on Maple Story, and the game world consists of several islands each with their own unique towns and fields.
Maple Island
All new players begin their adventure on this island, where they are introduced to the basics of the game. Maple Island consists of low level monsters, perfect for weak beginners to train on. Some stops are:
Amherst
New players can buy a decent weapon here or train on the surrounding orange mushrooms.
Southperry
New players can buy some armor, start a collection quest, or board "The Victoria" to go to the main Victoria Island here.
The Victoria
When new players think they can finally handle the real, true adventure in the Maple World, they can board this ship to go to Victoria Island. The ticket costs 150 mesos. Beware! Once you leave Maple Island, you cannot go back.
Victoria Island
After training on Maple Island a little, players can take a ride on the ship over to Victoria island, where their Maple Adventure truly begins. Victoria Island is currently the largest Island in the game, and has several towns and heaps of monster-filled areas to train in. Here are some of the places you can visit on Victoria Island:
Lith Harbor
This is where you arrive from Maple Island, It is a port town located on the west coast of Victoria Island. Beginners can get some valuable information about Victoria Island and the Ant Tunnel here.
Henesys
A peaceful town located in a vast prairie on the south of Victoria island, beginners wishing to become a bowman can visit the "Bowman Instructional School" here to make the job advancement. The local shops sell weapons and armor for Bowmen. The nearby "Henesys Hunting Grounds" is one of the most popular places for people to train, so players may experience lag at times in this area.
Kerning City
A bustling city located north of Lith Harbor, beginners wishing to become a thief can make the job advancement here. The weapon store is dedicated to providing thieves with equipment such as Daggers and Claws, and thief armor. Players can also undergo a Party Quest from Kerning city, where a team of 4 players between level 21 and 31 undertake a variety of tasks before fighting the boss, "King Slime" , and winning some valuable items for successfully completing the quest. Be warned that only one party per channel can be doing the party quest at any time, so you may have difficulty getting in. The quest has a 30 minute time to add challenge, and to help keep waiting times down.
Perion
Located atop the plateaus at the north of Victoria Island, Perion is a dry, desert town. Players can choose to become a warrior here. Many types of stumps and boars live in the vicinity.
Ellinia
A lush village built amongst the treetops in a forest on te Northwest of Victoria island. Ellinia is the home of the Magician, and any beginner wishing to become one should go here to do so. The surrounding forest treetops are home to a wide array of monsters, such as Green Slimes, Stumps and Mushrooms. The famous Ellinia Station is here also. A ship departs from station every half hour (real time).
The Dungeon
Each town has a road leading to the dungeon, excluding Ellinia. Initially, the dungeon will not seem much of a challenge to anyone, however the deeper you go into the caverns, the tougher the monsters become. At the end, you can face the dreaded Jr. Barlog.
Sleepywood
Located in the Dungeons, Sleepwood is the one safe haven for travellers adventuring into the depths. The only point of interest in the small town is the hotel with its healing saunas.
Ossyria
Ossyria is a place for high level characters to train. It is not on the world map.You need to buy a ticket for 3,000 mesos("meso" is the currency in the game)and then wait for the ship to come. Once you arrive on Ossyria after staying on the ship for ten minutes without dying, you can explore the area. To leave Ossyria, you must go back to the Orbis Station and wait for the ferry. Some places of interest are:
Orbis
Orbis is a town at the top of a mountain inhabitated mostly by winged fairies. It is the first town you see after you land on Ossyria.
Orbis Tower
Orbis Tower is a 20 floor tower and is the only way to get from Orbis to El Nath. By doing a quest players can obtain statue teleporting scrolls to get through the tower quickly, otherwise they must walk through all the 20 floors every time.
El Nath
El Nath is a snowy town in Ossyria. The place to begin all third job advancement quest is located in El Nath. The shops there sell so far the best items available from any shops in the game. Later on, there is a Party Quest with the strongest boss in GMS, Zakum.
Hidden Street
If you stumble upon an area beginning with this title, you've just found one of Maple Story's many hidden areas. Unlike normal portals used for travelling between areas, portals to Hidden Streets are usually invisible. Hitting the "up" key on suspicious looking places, such as a "Danger" sign, may lead you to one of these.
Some Hidden Areas
Pig Beach: The hidden portal can be found in some large orange flowers in the area "3-Way Road Split".
Mushroom Garden: The hidden portal is in the area "The Hill West of Henesys", right at the top-right. Press "up" on the middle house.
Beach Hunting Ground: The hidden portal is also in the area "3-Way Road Split" when pushing up on the DANGER sign at the bottom middle.
Road to the Garden of 3 Colors: In Cloud Park I, close to Orbis, make your way to the left and press up in the centre of the shrine.
Somebody Else's House: In Pig Park II (Also a Hidden Street, to get there push up on the pig statue on the far right of the map), there is a secret portal, it'll lead you to where Mushmom resides! Beware!
Common Scams
Unfortunately, scamming is rather common in Maple Story, as in most MMORPGs. The most usual scamming type is tricking new players into buying items for several times their original value. There are several other scams in play as well. In a similar fashion, players dare other players to drop valuable items and then uses an "autoloot" macro to automatically pick up items dropped, thus stealing the item.
Another problem that has become more common recently is keylogging, capable of not only hacking your account in Maple Story, but also gathering other sensitive information, such as bank card numbers or taking control over e-mail accounts.
One other dilemma are hacking and botting programs. Players can use the "autoloot" above, the speed hack, which makes the character go faster, et cetera. These may not be the only patches, but if you see anything weird, like people leveling for no apparent reason, people running a lot faster than normal without special shoes or a tube, people taking items across the screen, or anything suspicious, think about whether you should or not report them.
External links
- Official Maple Story global site
- Official Maple Story Korean site
- Official Maple Story South East Asian site (MapleSEA)
- Hidden Street - Extensive English database.
- Maple Tip - Tips and guides for Maple Story.
- Link to download the Japanese version of Maple Story