Original | Odaily Planet Daily (@OdailyChina)
Author | Asher (@Asher_0210)
On May 15, MapleStory Universe token NXPC was listed on major exchanges such as Binance, Upbit, and Bithumb. Driven by a strong wealth effect, the price of NXPC quickly surged after listing, reaching a high of $3.98 and approaching a total market value of $4 billion. Users who received Binance Alpha airdrop were sharing their earnings on X, with 198 NXPC tokens worth nearly $600, considered the "fattest" airdrop since Alpha's launch.
However, with the game's official launch, when "blockchain gamers" were eagerly preparing to earn money, issues such as "client crashes" and "unable to receive verification codes" emerged, severely affecting the game experience. Moreover, earnings from grinding continued to decline. Feedback suggested that "for characters around level 190, whether fighting bosses or farming, 10 hours of daily work does not earn more than a Meituan food delivery job". The wealth creation myth failed to materialize, and market enthusiasm quickly cooled. NXPC's price only held for a day before starting to drop, falling below $1.8 at one point, halving from its peak.
So, is MapleStory still worth participating in?
Project Overview
MapleStory Universe is an MMORPG game developed by Nexon, the Korean gaming giant behind classic online games like MapleStory and KartRider. Currently in the Genesis stage, it "provides brave explorers with the opportunity to explore the unknown world of MapleStory Universe".
Notably, Nexon announced in December 2023 a $100 million investment in its Web3 game project MapleStory, aimed at expanding the MapleStory universe. This investment will be used to develop a blockchain-based massive multiplayer online role-playing game.
Image source: cryptorank.io
Earning $2 per Hour, Grinding Rewards Far Below Expectations
Compared to the previous beta stage, grinding rewards have significantly decreased after the official game launch. For most new players, farming for 10 hours daily yields less than one token. Averaged out, the hourly earnings are only $2. Even for level 190 characters, a full day's effort produces only a dozen NXPC, with monster and boss NESO drops being very limited. Even high-level accounts only earn a few hundred yuan per day, with the grinding cost-effectiveness drastically reduced. Additionally, the game's enhancement system costs are high, further diluting earnings.
Worse, the game currently has many experience-affecting bugs, such as frequent interruptions when talking to NPCs, some NPCs disappearing without reason, hindering quest progression, and rollback issues after enhancement, directly causing NESO losses. These compounded problems have completely shattered players' expectations of "earning through grinding", with feedback gradually turning to disappointment and doubt.
Team Responds to Gradually Increase Grinding Rewards
The executive producer of MapleStory Universe and Nexpace CEO recently responded on X platform, stating that the project's player response exceeded expectations, and the team has noticed the concentrated feedback about "low grinding rewards". The official acknowledged that the current reward mechanism of MapleStory N indeed has problems, mainly because the initial player activity was higher than originally estimated, causing an imbalance in NESO and game resource supply and demand, affecting the overall return experience. The team is currently urgently adjusting the reward algorithm and resource distribution mechanism, promising to quickly make "grinding" truly positively incentivized.
Besides the reward issues, technical problems like crashes, verification code failures, and cheat interference are also being addressed simultaneously. The official also revealed that the core system Reactor (composed of Fission and Fusion) will be officially launched in the next few weeks, at which point the economic linkage between Non-Fungible Tokens and NXPC will be further strengthened, potentially becoming a key link between gameplay and value. The team emphasized that they will continue to listen to community voices, make improvements along the way, and gradually refine the game ecosystem.
Overall, the official is gradually increasing grinding rewards, with a May 22 update to the enhanced NESO and experience value drop event, and a new reward allocation mechanism to be launched on May 30.
Summary
Although the current MapleStory grinding rewards are far below expectations, with the blockchain gaming community collectively complaining, and some studio members reporting daily grinding income that doesn't even cover basic labor costs, leaving the overall return rate in a "negative income" state, from the player's perspective, "disproportionate effort and reward" is becoming the mainstream consensus.
However, it's worth noting that market sentiment seems to be subtly changing. Last night, NXPC's price temporarily stabilized, breaking the previous continuous downward trend. The project team has also clearly stated that they will increase the game's grinding rewards in the near future and simultaneously fix key experience-affecting issues. Although the dual-token model still struggles with the long-term structural death spiral, in the context where the "wealth creation effect" has not truly started, the current token price and rewards might offer a short-term "quick money" opportunity window.
After all, this is not an unknown project, but one backed by Nexon, with a global player sentiment IP. Perhaps it's worth giving it another chance.
