A painfully detailed guide to MapleStory [DEC UPDATE] MAPLESCOUTER…

Steam Community guide by Devvult.

Foreword

This is my first time making a guide, so I hope it's not too bad. I would've never thought of making a guide, especially a MapleStory guide at that. But here I am. If you have any feedback I'd be open to hearing it. As long as it constructive feedback that I can work with.
I will try to update this guide as much as possible and keep it up to date. You can see on the right hand side when this guide was last updated. If you have any questions feel free to ask me in the comments section.
I will also try to make a less detailed version of this guide, for those who need a quick guide.
Sadly people tend to forget this, so I'll start by saying this; DO NOT FORGET THAT THIS IS A GAME AND GAMES ARE MEANT TO BE FUN. THIS GAME IS A MARATHON NOT A SPRINT. YOU'RE NOT COMPETING WITH ANYONE HERE. KEEP THAT IN MIND AND PLAY AT YOUR OWN PACE.

Intro

Before we begin, I want all returning players to throw everything they knew about this game out of the window. The reason being that Maplestory is a completely different game from back then. Lots has changed since then, whether you like it or not. Maplestory can be overwhelming at times, there's so much you can do which often leads into demotivation. Don't let that stop you though, after more experience and maybe after this guide, hopefully you will have a better understanding over this game. This guide will be a lot to take in. Take it a step at a time, at your own pace. Even if you have to come back several times to this guide. You can always ask me if you don't understand something, I'll be more than happy to help you.
Now that everyone is a "new player" in this regard let's begin.
Note: I will leave some useful link that other people/creators have made at the end. So even if you don't care about this guide I would still recommend those links as they can help you a lot. Naturally all credit goes to those people who made those links.

What is MapleStory?

MapleStory is a premier side-scrolling MMORPG! Most MMOs transport you to fantastical worlds, but only MapleStory sends you to a retro, 2D universe that recalls the golden age of gaming.
Choose from over forty unique classes, from warriors and magicians to pirates and ninjas. Join millions of other players on an adventure of epic proportions as you hunt down the villainous Black Mage. Interact with dozens of colorful NPCs or form a guild with your friends. The possibilities are nearly endless, and new content is regularly added in thrilling updates. MapleStory may look cute, but don't judge a book by its cover. Its challenging gameplay will put even seasoned veterans to the test.

How to play:

I made this guide a while back but I did not even explain how to play this game. MapleStory is NOT your traditional MMORPG game. Like I mentioned in "What is MapleStory?"; "MapleStory is a premier side-scrolling MMORPG" with emphasis on "Side-scrolling".
MapleStory is a lot like fighting games(excluding Soul Calibur & Tekken). In a sense where there's only 4 ways to move. Instead of the 360° movement, you can only move up, down, right and left ( ↑ ↓ → ← ).
So how do you play?
Like any other MMORPG, MapleStory has a lot of skills you can use. But instead of having to point and click or aim to fire an ability/skill, MapleStory just has stationary or directional skills. Meaning you don't have to aim(for the most part) where your skills go. Which makes it more simple to play.
But don't let that fool you, MapleStory is easy to learn hard to master game, meaning that MapleStory isn't just a simple game that you can pick up and play. Hence why I created this guide.
You play MapleStory using the Arrow Keys ( ↑ ↓ → ← ) instead of the traditional WSDA. Every skill is now bound to: 0-9; a-z; F-F12; CRTL; ALT; INS; DEL; HOME; END; PAGE UP; PAGE DOWN.
And you're going to need ever single keybinding, because MapleStory has a lot of Skills, Pots etc.

Regions & worlds:

The very first thing you get when you start is which region you want to play in. It's either; 1. North America or 2. Europe. Depending of which region you choose your experience will slightly change. I will get into that in a second.

Now what do we have?
Below you will find the two regions you can choose from & the worlds within those regions.

• North America
  **
• Scania
• Bera
• Aurora
• Elysium
• Reboot (now Kronos & Hyperion)
  **
  
• Europe
  **
• Luna
• Reboot
  **
  

Now which region should you choose and why?

The biggest difference in these two regions is the amount of players. This can either be a pro or a con, depending on your preference. NA being more populated than EU.
Sidenote; I've been playing NA even though I'm EU. Because of the fact that I have people on NA to play with, I can't speak on EU since I don't really have played on it(as of lately). I am sure EU is lots of fun too. (The latency on NA isn't that bad for me. Especially using ExitLag. (not a sponser))

Moving on to the worlds

Depending on which region you chose the outcome of the worlds will be different. Let's start with EU since it only has 2 regions. But before we start about worlds within each region you need to know the difference between a regular server and a "Reboot" server.

What is a Reboot server? And how is it different from a regular server?

A "Reboot" server is a server where "p2w(pay2win)" features are removed. What does that mean? It means that everything you can buy with real life money to progress faster in the game is removed. Instead of that they made it to where you can buy those things with ingame money instead of real life money. But the trade off is, that you can't trade with other people. No pun intended.
Reboot also has additional exp and meso drop rates. Meaning you will level up faster and gain more money ingame. This is a given because everything in this world cost ingame money. So you'll be needing lots of it. At first this sound good on paper/sounds easier. But in reality this is and will be harder when you are a new player. The reason is that because you can't trade you can't progress further if you're stuck. No new gear, no better potions etc. One of the other changes in this server is that you can have more than one profession. Unlike regular worlds, where you can only have one. I will go further into details about what a profession is later in this guide.
You now also have a second option when it comes to Reboot: Hyperion. The exact same as Kronos just a fresh start, meaning less players. This is both a pro and a con, refer to the statement on the EU server having less population.
Note; that cosmetic items are still purchased through real life money. Keep that in mind.
Sidenote; there are a lot of botters(hackers) in this world. Making it sometimes impossible to play(because of no training spots). But this only applies to higher level areas. You won't have to worry about it until very late. I do not know too much of this and neither do I know what Nexon has done to prevent this. Keep that in mind if you if you really want to play in this server. I'd suggest doing a more research for this world.

So why EU? And what does EU have to offer?

EU has two worlds to offer. One being the Reboot we just talked about and the other being a regular server called; "Luna". This is the only regular server, unlike NA who has more than 1 regular server. EU used to have more worlds but they all merged into one, due to the fact that the worlds were underpopulated, making Luna the only world left. With this in mind, EU is a less populated region making it more calmer than NA. If you want a more calmer experience I'd recommend EU. The reason why this is a pro is because if you want to train in a spot it's less likely to be taken by another person. A con, depending on your perspective, is that there are less people to interact with.

So why NA? And what does NA have to offer?

So unlike EU, NA has more regular worlds to choose from. And same as EU, it has Reboot in it. And this being more populated than EU means that this Reboot server will have more botters((hackers)but again, I do not know of this too much. So do your own research). You have more variety to choose from. NA has less populated worlds and also populated worlds. A bit of both, as it should be. Balanced. Out of all these worlds Bera is the most populated. Most streamers either play in Reboot or Bera. So if you want to play with streamers I'd recommend playing in one of those worlds(again I wouldn't recommend Reboot, unless you know what you are doing). But if you don't there are plent of worlds to choose from. But keep in mind that the more players in a server, means less training spots will be available but more gear you can buy from other players. So it's a pro and a con. This goes the other way for less populated worlds, more trainingspots less gear to trade. And depending on which world you choose the economy will be different too. If there are more people, more people will sell the same stuff, making those items less valued. The other way around in less populated worlds. Less people means less items and that means higher prices.

No clue where to start?/Need a recommendation?/Need someone to play with?

I use to play in Bera, now I play on NA Kronos. If you need anyone to play with I'm more than happy to play with you, although I don't play on regular server anymore. My recommendation depends on what you like. But I would for sure recommend NA as a region. Due to the fact that you have more options. Even if you are from EU, the latency isn't that bad(for me). Aside from the region I would recommend NA Bera/Kronos, but do go to a less populated server if you don't want to play with a lot of people. With that in mind I would recommend either Aurora or Elysium. Aurora being my first choice.

FAQ #1

So now that you have chosen a region and a world, what now? Now you can choose a class to play the game with.

Before choosing a class

There are two events that help you level your character extremely fast. These events are called burning events. Make sure you make use of these events as it's extremely easy to level.

What is the Burning event?

Burning events let's you level 3 times instead of 1 for each normal level. Meaning if you would level up from lv. 10 > lv. 11, instead you level 3 times; so from level 10 > 11 > 13. How do you access a burning event? Well that depends on when the event is running. Only when this event is active can you make a burning character. Does burning last forever? Yes and no. Yes being that after the burning is done you get to keep your character. No being that you character will no longer level 3 times instead of 1 and will go back to the usual 1:1 levels.

Does burning have a limit?

Yes Burning has a limit. As I mentioned before there are two burning events. One goes till lv. 150. And the other one goes till lv. 200. 150 being Mega Burning and 200 being Tera Burning.
IGNITION UPDATE: HYPER BURNING TILL LV. 260(6th job)
Note: That in this event you can get a lot of goodies. I.e. good gear and other various items. Make good use of these and these events.

An overlook of all the classes

Generally there are 5 types of classes.
**

• Warrior
• Mage
• Pirate
• Bowman
• Assassin**
  Each of those classes have their sub-classes and some of those sub-classes have their own sub-classes. That'll make sense in a minute. So let me explain that. Let's take the ancient explorer class for example. If you choose to make an explorer you can choose within that class what you want to become. You can choose one of the above mentioned classes. Let's say you want to become a Warrior. You job advance into a warrior. But within that warrior job class, there are 3 different ways you can choose. Dark Knight, Hero or a Paladin. Depending on what kind of warrior you want you can choose between those three. Dark Knight being a Spear/Pole Arm user. A Hero being a Sword&shield/Two-handed Sword/Axe&shield/Two-handed Axe user. And lastly Paladin being a Sword&shield/Two-handed Sword/Blunt weapon&shield/Two-handed Blunt weapon user. And the same goes for Mages, Pirates, Bowmans & Assasins. But not all classes have these type of sub-classes. For example a Mihile is a warrior. But he can't choose between other warriors because his job is also a Mihile. Unlike Explorers they have warrior class and Dark Knight, Hero & Paladin as jobs.

Before maining a class

Before you make a class there are a few things to point out. Just like any MMORPG, there are classes to choose from. Meaning there will be a class "better" than one another. But this is a stupid way of choosing your class. Never, and I mean never, choose a class based on this. Unlike a MOBA where you playing META will give you advantage over another player, here that wont be it. Mainly because of the fact that this game isn't a PVP game. And just as I stated in the intro, this game is NOT A SPRINT. NOT A COMPETITION. So choose a class YOU LIKE. Not because it's "better"/"META" or because someone else tells you that class "sucks".
That being said there are some classes that are "essential" to make.

Which classes are "essential" and why?

Let's start with the why. Why are they essential you ask? Because they change the fundamental of how you play this game. Depending on the class, it can change how your main plays. The reason why you need these classes are they buff your main class. How? Because of a thing called "Link Skills".
Link skills lets you give a fixed skill of that class to another class. Each class has their own fixed link skill, that you can't change. Let's take a Mercedes(archer type class) for example. Her link skill is "Elven Blessing". Her link skill allows you to gain more %EXP. So it's easier to level. And that's one of the many link skills you can get. You can give that to any of your other classes. This is why it's important to make lots of other classes, solely for that purpose. To buff up your main. But to be able to get these "link skills" you have to have that specific class to at least level 70. There are usually 3 levels of a link skill. First level unlocks at lv. 70, to be able to be used by other classes. After that the second level will be unlocked at lv. 120. And last but not least at lv. 210. Usually level 2 is enough as you start.

So which classes would I recommend for links skills?

First and foremost I would say wait for a Burning Event. So it's easier to level them and get their link skills.
As of which I would recommend? A Mercedes, just as I said in my example, her link skill is essential. To be able to level faster is a godsend.
So first and foremost I would recommend Mercedes(you don't say). Lv. 120 should be enough for now. As well as every other link skill until you either reach a wall or when you're reaching end game. Secondly I would recommend Aran & Evan. As these three classes have EXP boosting link skills. But feel free to skip Aran & Evan. There are others that have a bigger impact on your gameplay than these, but for the time being leveling is your focus until you reach 200. Besides it's good to have EXP based link skills so if you make more characters you can level them up more quickly.
For all other classes link skills, go to Scardor's Google Docs: here[docs.google.com]. There you can see not only the link skills but also the Legion.

What is Legion?

Much like Link Skills, Legion is a grid system buff for your whole world. It's a bit like Tetris, Legion being the grid and your characters are the blocks. And much like Link Skills each class gives their own fixed stat. Your character will be graded according to your lv. The higher the level of the character the higher the grade. For example a SS grade is linked to lv. 200+ and so on. And with that grade comes their own "Tetris" block. Just like how to grade gets better as the level gets higher, the block also gets bigger as the level of your character increases. And just like the fixed stats from the characters the Legion grid also gives bonus stats. You can see the legion in the above mentioned link, along with the link skills.

How should I choose my main?

This all depends on what you like. Who you think looks cool. Because your first character will always be a gamble. You have no idea how each class plays, and each class is different from one another. You can always look at a DPS chart and say; "yeah, I want the strongest class". But do you really want that? What's the fun in that? Like I said in the beginning, and I really can't state this enough, this game is meant to have fun not to be the strongest, nor is it a sprint/competition of who is better/stronger. Play who you like and who you enjoy playing as. If that's a Pirate, YARR away.
If you really aren't sure or if you think multiple are cool looking I would recommend a channel called; KyoWantsCute. He is a Maple content creator and goes over all the classes and their skills. So you can get a general idea of how each class plays and how they look like and if it's for you or not.

FAQ #2

A fresh start

Now that you created your character and have gone through the tutorial. You start your STORY in the Maple world. Now there's two ways to play this game. You either skip all the quests and go straight to grinding or you explore the Maple world and embark on various quest to explore the story. If you choose the latter I have to warn you that it will be a painful journey and that lots of quests are outdated but that doesn't mean that their not interesting. Especially when you are a new player. You get to explore the Maple world and see what it has to offer. And just as I stated previously. TAKE THIS GAME ON YOUR OWN PACE. TAKE YOUR TIME WITH IT AND HAVE FUN. That being said regardless of what you choose there are some quests that are worth doing.
Note; Some classes have their own storyline, which you have to do in order to do certain stuff. Like job advancement. I will talk about this in the paragraph below.

Job advancement

Regarding the job advancement's there was four job advancements, but that all changed and now there are six job advancements in total. The job advancements goes as follows;

• st job advancement = Lv. 10
• nd job advancement = Lv. 30
• rd job advancement = Lv. 60
• th job advancement = Lv. 100
• th job advancement = Lv. 200
• th job advancement = Lv. 260

Common words you need to know

• (Boss-)Mule(s)= is a character who serves a singular purpose(i.e. only for bossing(boss mule))
• BiS = Best in Slot
• MVP xx:35 ard/cyg/MS = EXP buff at xx:minutes Ardentmill/Cygnus boss/Mushroom Shrine
• SF = Starforce
• FZ = Frenzy(increases the spawn rate of mobs in that map)
• FS = Firestarter(increases the burning stage % inside a map)
• AH = Auction House(previously called FM(Free Market))
• (B)POT = (Bonus)Potential
• CDHAT = A helm with CDR(CoolDown Reduction) as potential
• CC = Change Channel/Current Channel
• CS = Cash Shop
• IA = Inner Ability
• WAP = Wealth Acquisition Potion
• Lomien = Lotus+Damien

What are Special Content?

Special Content falls under 4 categories; Story, Growth, Competition & Arcane River.

Theme dungeons is a Story quest-line that gives you various rewards. Some are good some are bad. That's why it's important to