I have played this game for over 20 years now at different times and on different platforms but I cannot in good conscious actually recommend it.

From the lying about droprates to the need to play this game constantly every day to be even viable to play the major parts of the game, MS already has all the negative markers of MMOs.

Yet even the game is unredeemable. The gameplay is uninspiring, providing nothing of entertainment, resembling much more of a cookie clicker for the majority of the gameplay, and only really needing you to time a couple things in the most difficult parts. The most difficult and complex parts of the game can only be compared to the most average gameplay of undertale, or any indie game (especially considering how much money Nexon makes…).

At least one must enjoy looking at the game, right? No. Maplestory’s little development put into the actual game translates to the fidelity of a subpar game released in early 2000’s that somehow survived this long (often through sunken cost). Notifications, damage numbers, hurt and hitboxes, they all are overlapping and unoptimized creating for a low graphical fidelity experience that even some of the most dedicated casual players would struggle with.

And that is not even on the graphics. The chibi art style is, in my personal opinion, not doing any favors. Added with the low quality art style where the pixels are visible, it has the graphics for what should not be one of the top mmos in this age. **My qualms with the graphics are personal opinions and distaste, and if you enjoy the chibi and pixelated art style, then all power to you. However, all the other points about the game are independent and should still stand with anyone**

The game used to be good, even after the bigbang patch, each class had its own style, its use, support, tank, healer damage, nowadays all classes are the same, 1 skill as main damage, a ''rotation'' based on time, there is nothing that motivates you to be a better player, I could perfectly describe it as an ''MMROPG FARMING SIMULATOR'' since that is what it is based on, it can take you from 1 month (if you play the paid servers) or even 3 years to reach ''end game'' the game even separated from its Korean counterpart for the same reason, I definitely DO NOT recommend it to a veteran and if you are a new player, good. You have been warned, even so the game has its ''touch'' of nostalgia