MapleStory (Korean: 메이플스토리) is a free-of-charge, 2D, side-scrolling massively multiplayer online role-playing game developed by the South Korean company Wizet. Several versions of the game are available for specific countries or regions, and each is published by various companies such as Wizet and Nexon. Although playing the game is free, character appearances and gameplay enhancements can be purchased from the "Cash Shop" using real money. MapleStory has a combined total of over 50 million subscriber accounts in all of its versions. MapleStory North America (Global), for players mainly in North America and outside of East Asia, Southeast Asia and Europe, has over three million players. In the game, players travel the "Maple World", defeating monsters and developing their character's skills and abilities as is typical in role-playing games. Players can interact with others in many ways, such as through chatting, trading, and playing minigames. Groups of players can band together in parties to hunt monsters and share the rewards. Players can also join a guild to interact more easily with each other. Maple Story Trailer  Maple Story Gameplay Gameplay Like most MMORPGs, gameplay centers on venturing into dungeons and combatting monsters in real-time. The players combat monsters and complete quests, in the process acquiring in-game currency called "Mesos", experience points (EXP), and various items. Players can kill monsters alone, or they can form a party with up to six total characters. Loot is shared based on relative damage and level of characters in the party, more being awarded to the higher-level members. MapleStory's 2D scrolling viewpoint more closely resembles a platform game rather than the typical 3D environment or top-down perspective of other games, such as Guild Wars or Mu Online. The controls for the game are executed using the keyboard and mouse. The keyboard is used for many game functions, and much of it can be rearranged to suit user's needs. The mouse is mainly used to trigger non-player characters (NPCs) and manipulate items. MapleStory characters exist in "worlds" or "servers." Players are allowed to create multiple characters in each world. Each world, similar in content between each other in the same version, is split into at most twenty channels, among which characters are allowed to freely switch. The ability to transfer entire characters between worlds was added in December 2007 to GlobalMS. However, this feature has restrictions — transfer of mesos is limited to 1 million, and players cannot transfer to the newest world. Characters New players are sent to Maple Island, a floating island specifically designed to be beginner-friendly. Unlike in many other MMORPGs, players in MapleStory cannot choose a job when they create a character. Rather, every character starts with the "Beginner" job. When characters meet certain requirements, they can complete the first job advancement and become a Warrior, Magician, Bowman, Pirate, or a Thief. Further class progression is only allowed within the scope of the first class advancement chosen. There are four class advancements available progressingly through out the game. In addition to combat statistics, characters have "Fame". Although publicized by the game's creators, fame serves little practical purpose besides fulfilling some quest and equipment requirements. Once characters reach level 15, they are able to raise or drop the fame of any other character once per day. A character cannot raise or drop the same character's fame more than once per month. The maximum amount of fame a character may receive is 30,000. A ranking feature, available in certain versions of MapleStory, keeps track of players that are performing well in total ranking, job ranking, world ranking and fame ranking. Rank information is available from the region website of the player and can also be found in-game. Guilds Players can form Guilds with other players. Guild creation costs a certain amount of Mesos, depending on the version being played. Guild extensions and emblems, which have separate costs, are also available. The purpose of a guild is to be able to find and chat with others more easily, bond with other players, promote cooperation, and battle using teamwork. Members have their guild's name listed under their character name along with the guild's emblem, if applicable. Quests There are over a hundred available quests, each with varying prerequisites; most quests may require the player to have attained a certain level or to have completed another certain quest. Most available quests require the player to retrieve a certain amount of spoils attained from monsters or to traverse an obstacle course. Some quests can be repeated, although the reward(s) and given EXP may be different from those attained during their first completion. Jump quests are a unique type of quest in which a character starts at one area of a map and uses timed jumps to get from one to another specific platform. Players attempt to avoid enemies and obstacles that can knock them off of the platforms. Skills and abilities that increase jumping distance or speed do not have any effect during these quests. Economy Items can be acquired from monster drops, purchased from other characters or shops, or obtained as rewards for completing a quest. These items are used for various purposes. Players are also able to trade items, but higher value transactions attract a virtual tax. Since MapleStory is free, the developers introduced the Cash Shop to generate revenue. This is a virtual shop where players can buy items using real money, so called microtransactions.[8] Most Cash Shop items expire after a certain period of time. Pets, modeled after animals such as monkeys, dogs, cats, bunnies, pandas, and pigs, follow the owner around and can be equipped to pick up spoils dropped by enemies. The Free Market is a place set aside for people who wish to sell their items amongst other players. Miniature shops can be set up in this area, allowing people to browse their stock. Store permits, which are required to set up a shop, are only available through the Cash Shop. There are two types of store permits: a standard store, which requires the presence of the player, and the hired merchant which does not require the presence of the player but requires additional cash shop money to use this feature. The hired merchant store is only available in time periods of 24 hours, one week, or two weeks. Conversely, the standard store lasts ninety days but only works with the presence of the user. One can meet with players located in other towns, provided the town contains a Free Market entrance. However, one cannot use the Free Market to travel between towns. Real money trading between players is prohibited in MapleStory, and results in a ban. This includes trading mesos (ingame currency) with NX Cash Items (items bought with real money). World There are four main continents common to all versions in the MapleStory world: Maple Island, Victoria Island, Ossyria and Masteria. Maple Island is where every new player begins the game. The beginner-friendly island features low leveled monsters and short tutorial quests to introduce players to different aspects of gameplay. Once a player leaves the island, they are unable to return to it. Victoria Island is where players arrive after leaving Maple Island. The island has eight cities, and is where Beginners will upgrade to their first class. Ossyria is currently divided into seven distinct regions with varying environments: El Nath Mountains, Ludus Lake, Aqua Road, Minar Forest, Mu Lung Garden, Nihal Desert and Temple of Time. Masteria is a new continent that is believed to be off the coast of Victoria Island. There are only two towns on this continent: New Leaf City, the Prendergast Mansion and Crimsonwood Keep.[10]   The overall map of the Maple WorldWorld Tour regions can be reached by talking to Spinel the World Tour Guide, located in almost every town in Victoria and Ossyria. The World Tour consists of additional continents that are based on real life countries. There are currently four world tour continents: Zipangu, China, Formosa, and Siam.[11] The newest area is Singapore.[12]Currently, there are no regional maps for any of the world tour continents. Minigames Players can play various minigames, both solo and multi-player. Omok is the Korean cognate of the Japanese game "Gomoku," akin to tic-tac-toe. To win, a player needs to place five pieces in a horizontal, vertical or diagonal line. Match Cards, also known as "Concentration," can be played with grids of 3x4, 4x5, and 5x6 cards. The facedown side of the cards contains images of various monsters, which players take turns matching.   A 5x6 Match Cards game.Pachinko is exclusive to the JapanMS and TaiwanMS versions. In order to play, the player must be in a Pachinko House and have pachinko balls purchased in the Cash Shop. Players try to get the pachinko balls into a mushroom hole below a slot. If the player obtains a certain amount of balls, he or she may win in-game prizes. Gachapon is a vending machine, in which the player inserts a ticket bought from the Cash Shop and a random prize comes out. Rock, Paper, Scissors is based on the actual game, in which one plays against an NPC. Fishing King is currently available in TaiwanMS[13] and ThailandMS.[14] After the player completes a quest to obtain a diving suit, he or she is sent to a map to catch fish. The player may return to catch fish as many times as desired. The Fishing System is currently available in all versions except KoreaMS, GlobalMS and EuropeMS. Players can buy fishing equipment from the Cash Shop and talk to an NPC in various towns to go fishing. Marriage Players may participate in in-game marriages at the town of Amoria (or Peach Blossom Island in the Chinese version of MapleStory). Guests may be invited to the wedding, and the marrying couple will receive wedding ring items. The wedding "ceremony" requires the completion of various quests. If a premium wedding ticket from the Cash Shop was purchased, the player is entitled to have a party after the ceremony. In Amoria Dungeon, players can fight exclusive monsters. The KoreaMS version of Amoria has been altered to remove the training grounds and the Chapel area, leaving only the Cathedral. MapleStory does not currently allow same-sex marriage.

MapleStory is one of the best free online mmorpgs available on the internet. Don’t let the graphics turn you off from the game, as the game is quite addictive. When you first start playing the game, you begin with a short and informative tutorial that teaches you the basics of the game without boring you to death. You start off as a Novice and can choose one of the base starting classes at level 10 or 8, depending on which class you choose to become. The four starting classes are Mage, Warrior, Thief and Bowman. MapleStory is actually a surprisingly balanced game, as no class is “gimp” or underpowered and no single class is overpowered. MapleStory also understands that it’s difficult to level a mage early game, so the game allows mages to change into their first job at level 8 rather than 10, as they have to pump their intelligence rather than their strength as there is no attribute reset option upon advancing to your first class. Mages are incredibly weak early on in the game, as they can’t cast spells until they actually become a mage, but after they get spells they are the fastest early game levelers. MapleStory is one of the better mmropgs out there because is the game is very simple. Anyone can start playing the game and get the hang of it within minutes, as it doesn’t have a complex skill system or frustrating controls. You’ll never find yourself not knowing where to go or what to do for a quest as each quest is explained well using as few words as possible. Unlike other MMORPGs, MapleStory has surprisingly good translations and there are no grammatical or obvious spelling mistakes in the game. One major complaint about the game is that after you hit level 40 or so, grinding becomes a huge chore. It seems that the amount of XP that you need to level grows exponentially as you level, making leveling extremely slow. Additionally, when you die at higher levels, you can lose lose over an hour’s worth of experience which can be extremely frustrating. Aside from the slow leveling, MapleStory is one of the better MMOs out there and is definitely worth a download.

Credit to spiritrival.   We already know that level 1 Strafe is stronger than level 20 Double Shot, since 1 Strafe is 368% average damage while 20 Double Shot is 340% average, but which is more effective with level 30 Final Attack? First, note that Final Attack does not activate for 3rd-job skills. Level 1 Strafe costs 26 MP, uses 4 arrows, and causes 52% damage before Critical 4 times. Level 20 Double Shot costs 16 MP, uses 2 arrows, and causes 130% damage before Critical twice. Level 30 Final Attack attacks freely after Double Shot, activating 60% of the time for 250% damage before Critical.   Stats you need to know: Double Shot + Final Attack takes 1140 ms to fire. There are ~61.9 Double Shots and Final Attack ~35.3 on average in one minute. If Final Attack worked 100% of the time, we'd get Double Shot and Strafe both take 720 ms to fire, making it ~83.3 shots per minute.   Minimum - Strafe, with no Critical Shots: 52% * 4 = 208% Average - Strafe average: (52% + 40%) * 4 = 92% * 4 = 368% Maximum - Strafe, with four Critical Shots: (52% + 100%) * 4 = 608% Minimum - Double Shot, with no Critical Shots: 130% * 2 = 260% Average - Double Shot average: (130% + 40%) * 2 = 170% * 2 = 340% Maximum - Double Shot, with two Critical Shots: (130% + 100%) * 2 = 460% Minimum - Final Attack, with no Critical Shot: 250% Average - Final Attack average: 250% + 40% = 290% Maximum - Final Attack, with a Critical Shot: 250% + 100% = 350% To find damage over time, we simply multiply the number of attacks per minute, by the average damage. I'll be using fractions for attacks per minute, so bear with me. Minimum - Strafe, with no Critical Shots: 208% * (250/3) = 18,304% Average - Strafe: 368% * (250/3) = 32,384% Maximum - Strafe, with four Critical Shots: 608% * (250/3) = 53,504% Minimum - Double Shot with no Critical Shots and no Final Attack: 260% * (250/3) = 22,880% Average - Double Shot + Final Attack: (340% * (1300/21)) + (290% * (600/17)) = 21,420 + 11,020 = 32,440% Maximum - Double Shot with two Critical Shots and a Critical Final Attack: (460% * 54) + (350% * 53) = 24,840 + 18,550 = 43,390%   Double Shot + Final Attack beats Strafe with minimum and average damage. However, like Critical Shot, Final Attack is unpredictable and may not activate when you really need it, and may activate after a monster is killed, wasting time on an extra shot. Because this section speaks only to Bowmen with Final Attack, the reasons to avoid the skill are not relevant.   Double Shot + Final Attack causes more damage in one blow than Strafe. Having a greater attack is not automatically superior, even if the math disagrees. Firing twice with massive overkill tends to be slower than firing once and barely killing.   Strafe costs more MP than Double Shot, with 26 MP at level 1 compared to 16. In Arrow Blow VS Double Shot, I found the 2 MP difference to be negligible. However, a 10 MP loss for each Strafe hurts quite a bit more. Because Final Attack is a free attack (with its ups and downs), many people consider it best to use Double Shot until Strafe gains a few levels, to save money.   Strafe: 26 * 88 = 2288 MP Double Shot: 16 * 63 = 1008 MP   As you can see, you spend much less MP with Double Shot, on average. Again, on average, you'll save yourself over half of the Meso it costs for you to buy MP Potions.   Strafe will eventually outdamage Double Shot + Final Attack in every way. Final Attack may or may not be used well with other skills, but for the purposes of causing damage, Strafe will become superior as you invest levels in it.   For reference, Arrow Blow + Final Attack: Minimum - Arrow Blow with no Critical Shots and no Final Attack: 260% * 88 = 22,880% Average - Arrow Blow + Final Attack: (300% * 63) + (290% * 38) = 18,900 + 11,020 = 29,920% Maximum - Critical Arrow Blow and Critical Final Attack: (360% * 54) + (350% * 53) = 19,440 + 18,550 = 37,990%   Arrow Blow and Final Attack does less average and maximum damage compared to level 1 Strafe. All other arguments for/against Arrow Blow are more or less the same as with Double Shot.   In summary, Double Shot + Final Attack hits harder for each attack, costs significantly less MP, and deals more minimum damage and slightly more average damage than level 1 Strafe (VERY slightly; 2 Strafe beats it by far in average damage). With each type of monster you face, gauge their HP and how many attacks (both Double Shot and Strafe) you use to kill them, and make a decision on whether training with Double Shot + Final Attack or Strafe is faster or cheaper at that point.