Constellation - Taurus

20 June 2009

Q&A Session: Nexon Trio vs Maplers

Maplers, have you had sleepless nights over bugs, features and other issues in MapleStory? About the possibility of new worlds, marriage feature, character migration, user GMs, in-game events and other burning questions just waiting for someone to answer them.

You know what they say about wishes, “Be careful what you wish for, it may just come true.” It certainly did, at least for the lucky group of lucky Maplers invited to this closed-door Q&A session this morning with three of the MapleStory game developers from Nexon Corporation – Jun Choi, Niki Yoo and James Bae.

From left to right: James Bae, Niki Yoo & Jun Choi

Kicking off the Q&A session with the introduction of the Nexon party of three, we find out that the MapleSEA team in Nexon consists of six persons, with the other three members in Korea presently. And Jun Choi is the person in charge (and the one you should direct your complaints at…)

The marriage feature was thrusted into the spotlight at once, with one of the Maplers wanting to know if more benefits would be implemented apart from the special wedding rings and Amoria Party Quest.

The throwing of questions at the poor developers came fast and furious, with many of the Maplers all wanting to have their say in the bugs, features and issues they encountered in the game. However, Jun and his team gamely answered most of the questions. Most of the time, Jun cracked his attentive audience into loud crackles of laughter with his unique sense of humour.

Some highlights of the Q&A are as follows:

Q: Are there going to be additional features added for getting married in MapleStory?

A: We did consider adding other benefits like party boost, and even having a baby added into the game. There are many other ideas that we are currently toying around. Once we have confirmed them, you can look forward to seeing them in the game.

Someone mentioned about the Family System gives too much benefit. As good as free cash items (VIP Teleport Rock, 2x EXP & Twin coupon). Jun joked, we will remove Family System in the next patch.

Q: Have you considered adding User GMs to the game?

A: The role of GMs in the game is to ‘police’ and monitor hackers and other illegal activities in the game. They also need to be strict and stand firm when dealing with them. User GM is a role that we are currently looking into, and we will certainly be looking to implement it if the need arises.

Q: Lag and disconnection is a big problem in the game, especially when there are server checks or new patch releases. Is there any way to improve on this?

A: We acknowledge and apologise for the disruptions in gameplay but do rest assured that we are doing our best in investigating and resolving the lag and disconnection problem as soon as possible. One solution that we have implemented for the release of Episode 2 was allowing players to download the patch a week in advance. Hence, we avoid the situation of too many Maplers downloading the patch at the same time and causing lag and disconnection.

Q: Why are some job classes better than the rest? Are they meant to be this way?

A: We have been asked questions about the apparent disparity of the different job class right from day one. Most of the maps are best played with participation by the different job classes working as a group. Certain job classes do better in some maps while other job classes perform better in particular maps. With each patch and update, we usually address this issue of re-balancing the job class to make the game more enjoyable for all.

Q: Are there going to be any more new worlds implemented in the game?

A: We do have plans for new worlds in both Singapore and Malaysia. We hope to encourage more players into the game by having exclusive events and forming of new community for the new world.

Q: Will we be able to migrate the characters to the new worlds?

A: To keep the balance in the new world, everyone will be starting from scratch. However, we are thinking about a character transfer system with certain policies that will allow players to keep their characters while maintaining balance in the new world.

Q: How can you ensure that new patches in the future would not magically revive fixed bugs from previous patches?

A: Simple, we can’t. Haha… As with all new patches, we migrate all the data from the Korean Maple server and pass it to Asiasoft where they will thoroughly test out all aspects of the game. However, with every new patch released, some previously fixed bugs may get revived or transferred back into the game. Unfortunately, this is something we cannot control. What we can do is to ensure that we test out each patch to the best of our ability and minimize the chances of this happening.

After two hours of fast, straight-talking action from both the Nexon trio and Maplers, the session was reluctantly brought to an end. Of course, apart from the never-ending supply of curry puffs, spring rolls and soya bean drinks to keep our Maplers happy, the Nexon team brought along exclusive Maple Story goodies for them.

Don’t worry if you were not one of the lucky few this time, maybe you’ll be one of the lucky ones next time Jun and team drops by again. In the meantime, continue playing MapleSEA!

Scroll down for photos of the session