[EMS] 16 years of Rayque!

Basically, my second birthday for the year.

Hi guys! Today's the 30th of September, which means I've been playing EMS for 16 years daily on Rayque!

It's been a very productive year in terms of levels; the changes introduced with the Ignition update (which was released at the end of 2022) has been absolutely fantastic. Whereas previous years didn't see many level ups on Rayque, all of that changed with Ignition's introduction of substantial daily EXP rewards and Monster Park Extreme.

To give you an idea, here's a breakdown on the levels-per-year:

• 2007: Level 2X (started on the 30th of September)
• 2008: Level 4X (2nd Job Advancement in Q1 2008)
• 2009: Level 11X (3rd Job Advancement on the 19th of April)
• 2010: Level 14X (4th Job Advancement on the 23rd of January)
• 2011: Level 161 (Level 154 before Big Bang) 
• 2012: Level 189 
• 2013: Level 200 (reached Level 200 on the 29th of December)
• 2014: Level 206 
• 2015: Level 210
• 2016: Level 216 (5th Job Advancement on the 15th of December)
• 2017: Level 226 (reached Level 220 on the 18th of February)
• 2018: Level 237
• 2019: Level 247
• 2020: Level 251 (reached Level 250 on the 12th of April)
• 2021: Level 260
• 2022: Level 266
• 2023: expecting to reach Level 280

As you can see, the amount of level ups saw a decline around the early 2010s, due to the general changes introduced with Big Bang and the first level cap increase from 200 to 220. This decline grew worse with the level cap increases to 250 and 275, where the amount of grind multipliers (which used to go up to 32x in EMS) were reduced drastically, the EXP-per-mob couldn't compete with the steep EXP-required-per-level, and the amount of HP per monster has been inflated (read: overcorrected) since Big Bang in order to balance out the power gained from Potential/Enhancements. 

Then, with the introduction of Level 300 and Arcane/Grandis symbols, symbols are locked behind level milestones all the way up to 285. The amount of hours required to reach these milestones puts Pre-Big Bang levelling to shame, and the inherent value of symbols makes reaching these levels more important than ever. Players have been starving for better EXP gains, and Ignition saw to remedy that. I've said this before and I'll say it again: Ignition might be one of the most pivotal updates to MapleStory's history, because it fundamentally changed the landscape by addressing one of the largest hurdles in the game: levelling. New Age will become the Chaos update that followed Big Bang, where it'll refine the groundwork that was laid before. The traditional power-grind of old has been surpassed by daily EXP bursts.

Case in point: I'm currently breezing through levels that would've otherwise taken me years, weren't it for the Ignition update. Around the year 2020, I could only expect a handful of level ups, even though I've always been diligent with my dailies (even Pre-Big Bang). I was one of the first in EMS to have maxed out on Arcane Symbols, and this was before they drastically made Arcane Symbols easier and gave out daily EXP rewards. 

So you can imagine, that once they slapped EXP on dailies, levels went like a hot knife through butter. Before Ignition, 

I was only Level 265. In less than a year I've hit Level 277, and I'm expecting to reach Level 280 by the end of 2023! We are talking about 130 trillion EXP in just one year, without changing my habits whatsoever. It's been the exact type of change that continues to be a huge boon to my progress, and it's going to be even better with the New Age update. Now, if only they could do something about gear progression in a similar manner to what they did with levelling...

It's hard to imagine, but at this rate, I might even reach Level 290 in 2025. Anyway, milestones! Stuff that happened this year: I've completed Hyper Burning twice, maxed out my first Grandis Symbol, obtained my second and third

Legendary Additional Potential, and I've reached my long-awaited 10.000th Commerci Lith Harbor Voyage milestone. 

The FallenAngel Guild Castle has been opened, and I can't wait to have my 6th Job Advancement later this year.

So yes, there's still plenty of fun left on this never-ending train ride, and I wouldn't have it any other way. Cheers! 

That's it for today - I'll see you guys again next post. The journey continues!