After 2 years of waiting, the Web3 version of MapleStory finally officially launched yesterday (15th). This is the most significant blockchain game ever, and "Are you on the island?" became one of the hottest topics yesterday.
After officially launching at 6 PM last night, the server was immediately full, and some players encountered difficulties receiving verification codes due to the influx of new users during registration.
The game token $NXPC went online simultaneously with TGE on multiple exchanges including Binance, Bybit, Bitget, Upbit, and Bithumb, with a current price of $2.87 and a circulating market value of $483 million.
How to start the game? What is the game experience and gold farming income? The editor will organize this for you after personal experience and information gathering.
Start Game
Go to the official website, click "Game Start" in the top right corner, and you will be asked to connect your MetaMask wallet. Please store your seed phrase carefully!
Those who haven't registered before will need to register with an email. Then install the downloader and wait for the game to download and install. Subsequent logins will also be through the Game Start button on this page to launch the game, without needing to log in within the game.
Game Experience
The Web3 version of MapleStory can only choose early version adventurer classes (warrior, thief, magician, archer, and pirate). Old players might feel this is similar to the old version before the V077 update of the Warrior class, but actually, including skills, maps, quests, and other game content, as well as UI, there's not much difference from the current Web2 version.
Nevertheless, due to significant economic mechanism changes and Web3 GameFi characteristics, the overall game experience has changed dramatically in many aspects.
When creating a character, players cannot input their own game character name. The system will randomly generate an English string as the player's temporary character name. The name cannot be modified before minting the game character as an NFT, and the minting condition is reaching level 65 (although the level requirement is 60, another requirement of defeating "Balrog" requires at least level 65).
So when first entering the game, a bunch of English names are chasing green snails, barely able to compete... I spent a lot of effort to drop 5 green snail shells, couldn't even see the characters... I entered the server early, and my own screenshot wasn't shocking enough, so I'll borrow a screenshot I saw in a WeChat group:
The early leveling process has been significantly simplified. After completing this task, you directly arrive at the classic "Maple Island map".
Then you'll be asked to choose a first job, and after selection, the system automatically raises your level to 10 and transfers you to the job change location.
Then you'll go to Archer Village to do a series of simple monster-killing quests. After completing these, regardless of your level, you'll be raised to level 30 and transferred to the job change location for second job change. After this, you'll follow the guide to do theme dungeons until just before the third job change at level 60, when you'll have a short period of grinding to level up.
In the game, monsters usually only drop in-game currency $NESO and potions, with NFT item drop rates currently extremely low. In my over 4 hours of gameplay, I only dropped 2 lottery tickets. There's no longer a gold shop for buying potions, but you don't need to worry about potion shortage. Monster drops are abundant and will gradually drop more efficient potions based on level.
You can quickly view what equipment can be dropped in the current map. You can see that the number of currently droppable accessories is very low, and the drop rate is naturally very low.
Another method to obtain powerful weapons and equipment is by defeating Bosses. In the Web3 version, killing a Boss doesn't directly drop equipment but is equivalent to obtaining a "lottery ticket", meaning you need to kill Bosses daily and roll for equipment with all server players.
I completed the kill on easy difficulty Zakum and only rolled $NESO, not obtaining the Zakum helmet
From the image above, you can also see that the game has some localization, but the completeness of this localization can be described as "disabled"...
Overall, being able to play a childhood game in the industry I work in is definitely touching, but there are still many areas that can be improved, such as multi-language support including localization, better new player guidance, etc. Since the game's drop mechanism has been significantly changed, I hope that in the future, some interesting Web3-exclusive events can be launched that combine Web3 characteristics. This is a bit far-fetched, but after all, the game has just been launched and needs time.
How the mechanisms related to Non-Fungible Token props will develop also requires some time to verify. From a Web3 perspective, the in-game currency $NESO can be seen as a threshold-free Play to Earn, while Non-Fungible Token props are Play (Hunt/Raid) to Raffle, especially the mechanism of server-wide Boss Roll, which requires meeting conditions and then hoping for luck.
Earning Situation
Players who entered with the mindset of earning money are very dissatisfied with this point. Because of its Web3 attributes, everyone hoped this would be a game-rich gold mine, but the actual situation is that the current earning potential is far less than the Web2 version.
Setting aside equipment drops (Non-Fungible Token market) which needs time to verify the buying side (of course, the game has an official equipment recycling mechanism, but this aspect of earning cannot be judged now, and is too luck-dependent), the most direct method is killing wild monsters in the game to get $NESO and then exchange it for $NXPC. The current exchange rate is 100,000 $NESO for 1 $NXPC, which is too high under the current drop rate.
Extended Reading: Blockchain Game 'MapleStory N' Officially Launched, $NXPC Listed on Seven Exchanges, Token Economy, Airdrop Collection Method, Token Price... All Compiled
Citing data from @ZiYu0210:
Community shared: After level 200, when farming maps, one monster can drop 3 $NESO
Assuming a level 200 Fire/Poison Wizard farming, can produce 500 $NESO per minute
>10h estimated earnings
500x60x10/100000×3=95
Besides monster killing and token exchange earnings, there are also equipment drops and selling equipment Non-Fungible Tokens. This income is not fixed, and currently has no data!
The premise here is still reaching level 200, and needing to transfer $NESO to the chain for exchange, which also requires minting a game character. Therefore, monetizing game earnings requires users to truly play to a certain depth. Currently, only players who participated in early activities and received larger airdrops are earning money.
This is actually a contradictory point. To continuously attract earning-focused players, either the exchange rate or drop rate needs to be modified. If not changed, the game might face significant challenges, as it would then rely on players who genuinely play the game, or Non-Fungible Token prop output becoming a good earning channel.
However, to obtain the top-tier equipment set, you cannot progress without paying, and for Web3 players, paying is equivalent to reinvestment. But how can this nearly zero earning potential convince earning-focused players to make their first payment? (Let alone reinvestment...)
For players who genuinely enjoy the game, the current Web3 version's overall experience might not easily persuade them to switch from the Web2 version.
This is a game that can be both grindy and casual, with the fun lying in playing with friends. How the game will develop and adjust will gradually reveal how serious NEXON is about this blockchain game project and what development strategy they have, so for now, a cautiously optimistic wait-and-see attitude is maintained.
So, did you land on the island today?
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