Are you having fun?

TL;DR: If it's not fun, why bother?

The title is an honest question. I'm not here to tell you that you're not having fun, or that you won't have fun after Wild Totems are removed, or anything like that. Fun is subjective. Only you know whether you are enjoying yourself or not.

Games are entertainment. Something people do for fun. But a game can never be all fun. Games always have a challenge involved, some difficulty that needs to be overcome to reach the “win”, or the fun part. The effort required could be physical, intellectual, or emotional. What makes a game worth playing is if the parts one enjoys outweigh the parts one does not.

Specifically for Maplestory,

  • Do you enjoy the bossing so much that you tolerate the tedious grind to get the levels and resources needed to reach and beat the next boss?

  • Do you, conversely, enjoy the zen of the grind enough to put up with bs bossing to acquire the gear that lets you one-shot the mobs?

  • Does your love for the story make you willing to level up to experience the next chapter?

  • Or do you spacebar through the story to get to the fun part of massacring mushrooms again?

  • Do you enjoy the thrill of beating the odds so much, that you are willing to keep throwing resources at the RNG until it yields?

  • Do you like the FashionStory enough to put up with waiting forever for the item you like to come into rotation?

  • Do you enjoy your friends' company regardless of what you're doing? Does complaining to them or posting/browsing memes on reddit give you a warm feeling of camaraderie?

  • Are you looking forward to the leveling events and QoL changes from KMS, more than you are dreading nerfs and removals of non-KMS content?

  • Do you trust Nexon's vision for the game enough to put up with their lack of transparency regarding plans and motives?

I could go on and on but I think the point is clear.

If your answers to all the above questions are “No”, if there's nothing in the game that gives you enough joy to make up for the unfun parts, just quit. Or take a break until something significant changes. There are plenty of other ways to spend your time. Surely you can find one that's more fun.