If you live under a rock, you’re probably one of the only people that hasn’t heard of the news, the global version of MapleStory 2 has been announced! The CBT signups are now out and it will begin on May 9.

You guys probably already know I didn’t like MapleStory 2 very much and so my coverage of the game ended pretty quickly haha. However, I’m probably going to try out the global version a bit so I’m really hoping they start with a later version of KMS2. That’s why I’m making this post, a timeline of all of the major updates that KMS2 has received so you know what to look forward to in GMS2!

NOTE: I won’t be covering every single patch, only the big ones and major updates. A lot of MS2’s patches are minor changes to skills/maps/systems or just events so I’m only going to be focusing on new content.

Official Release (July 7, 2015)

Almost 3 years ago, MapleStory 2 was officially released! This is the base version of the game and a lot of changes have been made since then. I made a comprehensive guide which covers a lot of the basics from back then!

The game launched with 8 classes: Knight, Berserker, Wizard, Priest, Ranger, Heavy Gunner, Thief, and Assassin (plus the Beginner job!).

Season 2 Update (July 30, 2015)

The Season 2 update was the first big patch. It increased the level cap to 40, added new skills to all jobs, new bosses, areas, and dungeons. I covered this one in a previous post.

Season 3 Update (August 20, 2015)

The Season 3 update increased the level cap to 50, added new skills to all jobs, new bosses, areas, and dungeons. This included Balrog! I covered this patch as well.

Welcome Update (September 22, 2015)

The Welcome update added the following things:

• Chaos difficulty for certain bosses
• Better dungeon rewards
• Quest reward experience increased by an average of 200~300%
• Job balancing
• New Epic quests
• New dungeons
• New Party Finder system
• Guild member limit increased from 25 to 50
• New Guestbook system for houses

Balrog Hunter Update (October 29, 2015)

It was called the Balrog Hunter update because of some added rewards from defeating Balrog I believe, but this patch actually added:

• New dungeons
• Added the ability to enter 4/10 person dungeons alone
• New Pilgrim system that increases the time limit of a dungeon to 20 minutes
• Wounded Soul state no longer restricts your HP/SP and now lasts 60 minutes
• SP orbs that restore your SP now drop from Elite/Boss monsters in regular maps and dungeons
• EP orbs that restore your EP now drop from various objects in maps
• Guild search system
• Job balancing

Maple OX Quiz Show (November 12, 2015)

This patch added:

• Maple OX Quiz Show minigame
• Minigame experience rewards increased by 6x~10x
• 36 quests had their required number of kills halved
• 7 quests had their required number of collected items halved

Optimization Patch (November 26, 2015)

This patch was focused entirely on optimization! They added a feature to automatically optimize the game’s settings based on your computer. Here’s a few more videos showing off the changes: 1, 2, 3.

Rune Blader (December 17, 2015)

Although the developers said they didn’t want to add new jobs anytime soon, only 6 months after MapleStory 2’s launch, the first new job, Rune Blader, was released.

Rune Blader uses the two-handed Blade and combines it with magic enchantments that give their attacks elemental power.

In addition, this patch had:

• Increased number of character slots to 9
• Job balancing
• Clues to the new area, Karkar Island
• Elite Monsters have been nerfed so they can be soloed
• Boss Monsters will disappear if not fought for 5 minutes
• Quest experience rewards increased by 1.5x
• Keys no longer required to enter dungeons
• Certain 10-person dungeons changed into 4-person dungeons

Fishing/Music (December 31, 2015)

This patch added three things. The first was the Fishing system! You can buy fishing rods and bait then use them to fish. Since it’s MapleStory, you can fish in water, oil, poison, lava, and more! You can fill out your fishing journal and receive special fish themed rewards.

The second was the Music system! You can purchase a piano or guitar and play songs on them using your keyboard. You can create or purchase Music Sheets that automatically play composed songs. You can also create ‘parties’ to play songs together with others.

Here are a couple of examples: 1, 2, 3.

Finally, this patch added Karkar Island, a new area. It has its own set of new high level dungeons (most of them level 50!).

Some other additions:

• Special boss themed skin items as boss rewards
• New hairstyles
• Action Skills purchased from the Merit Market no longer need to be levelled up, they come at max level automatically

Verekant (January 14, 2016)

A new boss was added in Karkar Island, Verekant (aka “definitely not Magnus”).

This patch also added pets! You can buy them in the Merit Market. Pets can automatically revive you, use potions, and loot items (they have their own inventories). They’ll also have a unique pet skill that gives stats.

Pets last 30 days. After that, you can no longer summon them. You’ll need to buy food in the Premium Shop to extend their life by a certain number of days.

You can actually buy pet related items in the Black Market from other users, as long as they haven’t used them yet.

This patch also added:

• Immortal weapons
• Item sets
• New Challenge Mode dungeons

Compact Keys & New Instruments (January 28, 2016)

This patch added:

• New Epic quests
• Compact Keys (basically skill macros, using multiple skills with one key)
• New instruments: Harp, Clarinet, Timpani
• New faces and makeup

Enchanting & Beginner Changes (February 25, 2016)

This patch added:

• Enchantment changes
• Ability to trade mesos in 1:1 trades
• Minigames can now be entered at any place
• Improved world map and quest UIs
• Ability to skip the Beginner tutorial

Maple Arcade & Maple Guide (March 31, 2016)

The Maple Arcade has been added, it allows you to play special arcade games and compare your score with other players. They added two so far, Spring Farm and Crazy Monkey Ocean!

The new Maple Guide gives you special rewards when you reach certain levels, recommends various content based on your level, and gives daily missions that you can complete for rewards.

This patch also had:

• New minigame Dance, Dance, Stop
• Job balancing
• Increased stats for armor items
• Ability to change additional options on equipment
• Ability to trade most items in 1:1 trades
• Ability to buy/sell mesos with Merit in the Black Market

Maple Arena (April 28, 2016)

Maple Arena is a new PvP mode that has true 1 on 1 fighting. You can face another player and whoever wins 2 times wins the battle!

A new area called Coco Island has been added, it’s the largest fishing area in Maple World!

This patch also included a bunch of changes to make Epic quests better:

• Epic quests’ experience rewards have been greatly increased (so you can easily level up just by doing them).
• Certain Epic quests now have a ‘Finish and Go’ button that allows you to instantly return to an NPC whose quests you have completed.
• The quest helper UI now has 10 pages, each of which can have 4 quests registered.

New Instruments (May 12, 2016)

Three new instruments were added: Violin, Cello, and Flute.

Rune’s Colossus, Nutaman (May 26, 2016)

This patch included:

• New Epic quests
• New boss, Rune Colossus Nutaman
• Golden fish and bait
• Music Control Machines to play music in your house
• Lotus Air Taxis are now faster if you use a radio as opposed to paying mesos

Double Impact Update: Level Cap Increase (June 30, 2016)

The first patch of the Double Impact update was to increase the level cap to 99.

They added the Characteristics system that allows you to collect Characteristic Points (10 from an Epic Quest and then 1 every time you level up 50+) and spend them in 5 categories (Character/Battle/Exploration/Quest/Life) to get various boosts (e.g. boss damage).

Shadow World was reorganized. Instead of accessing it through various portals throughout Victoria Island, it can only be accessed through the Shadow Gate map. It is now a separate island on the world map and only one map features PvP. It also has new Twisted Spaces which are special missions you can complete at random.

It has a new type of currency called Treva which you can collect from completing missions in Twisted Spaces. The existing currency Karma has been removed.

Sockets and Gemstones have been added. Accessories can now have up to 3 sockets into which special Gemstones can be equipped. However, to unlock these sockets, you’ll need to combine 2 of the same item.

You can now change the additional options of accessories by talking to Ophelia.

Guild levels, skills, and events have been added. You can level up your guild up to 25, unlock and use various skills, and participate in events with only your guild members. The maximum number of guild members has been increased to 70.

A Return to Previous Location button has been added when you teleport back to your house, allowing you to return to the map you came from.

Skin and Gemstone items now have their own tabs in the inventory.

This patch also included 1st anniversary events, but they didn’t seem very big to me. From what I see in the patch notes, it was just collecting coins to spin a wheel for prizes and a couple free items given away.

Double Impact Update: Striker (July 14, 2016)

MapleStory 2’s second new job, Striker, has been added! Striker uses Knuckles and is a melee-specialized character with relentless attacks.

Three new instruments were added, the trumpet, trombone, and saxophone.

Double Impact Update: Shadow Expedition (July 28, 2016)

This patch included:

• New type of dungeon: Path of Dark Dimension – Shadow Expedition
• You now gain experience in PvP
• Drop rate of the Lumi De set has been greatly increased and some base options have been changed to additional options

Double Impact Update: Soul Binder (August 11, 2016)

The Double Impact update added another new job, the Soul Binder! Soul Binder uses her Orb for both ranged attacks and heal allies.

Double Impact Update: Kandura (August 25, 2016)

The last patch of the Double Impact update added the “final” boss Kandura.

The patch also added:

• Chaos Papulatus
• New dungeon
• Job balancing

Reset Server (November 25, 2016)

In preparation for MapleStory 2’s biggest update yet, they added a test server for the first time called the Reset server. It was open to everyone for one week to test the new update.

Restart Update (December 15, 2016)

The Restart update can be compared to MapleStory’s Big Bang, it restructured a lot of the game’s content and was basically the developers’ way to fix many of the things that players complained about. I won’t be covering the changes in detail but here are some of the high level changes that they made:

• Removal of the Beginner class (you now directly choose a job upon character creation)
• Updated Adventurer tutorial
• Epic quests have been reorganized (existing players can choose to reset their Epic quest progress to play through the new quest line)
• Level 1~50 World quests have been removed
• All dungeons have been reclassified into three types: Adventure, Raid, and Chaos
• All user-designed items and blocks have been consolidated into the new Maple Workshop
• New design items have been added
• Housing reorganized, now everyone gets a house for free
• Added chat commands like rolling dice, holding surveys, and playing card games
• New Life Skills system including Mining, Agriculture, Crafting, Smithing, and Housing
• New Exploration Goals system
• Enchantment system reorganization
  • +6 ~ +9 will no longer decrease your number of Enchantments if failed
  • If you fail at +10 or higher, you can no longer enchant that item but its current enchantment level will stay
• Skill system reorganization
  • Skills have been divided into two categories: Active and Passive
  • Instead of using Crystals to level up your skills, you now use Skill Points (you gain 1 per level up)
  • The Skill window has been changed to a tree structure to show skill prerequisites
• Job reorganization
  • The max level of most skills has been changed to 8 (some are still max level 1)
  • The damage, cooldown, and SP consumption of all skills has been reorganized
  • New skills have been added
  • Certain skills have been removed
• Operation reorganization
  • You can no longer die from fall damage.
  • Climbing walls is now automatic and no longer consumes EP
  • Holding onto monsters no longer requires you to hold Space
  • Quick Swim has become a basic function
• Inventory reorganization
  • Mount/Pet tab has been renamed to the Summon tab
  • Materials/Life/Quest tabs have been added
  • The inventory now has the following buttons: Enchant, Change Additional Options, Expand, Disassemble, and Gemstone
• You can now resurrect yourself with mesos for a certain number of times per day, after which you’ll need to pay Merit

New Dungeons and Life Skill (January 12, 2017)

This patch added:

• New dungeons
• New Life Skill: Enchanting
• Job balancing

Karkar Island Epic Quests (February 9, 2017)

In this patch, Karkar Island received a new set of level 50+ Epic quests (the old ones were removed in the Restart update) along with new Adventure/Raid/Chaos Raid dungeons.

It also added new Life Skills: Herb Gathering, Alchemy, Crop Growing, and Cooking.

Skin Item Sockets (March 23, 2017)

Skin items can now have Sockets, into which you can install Gemstones that give you stats.

Skill Points & Stat Points (May 31, 2017)

You can now gain Skill Points from certain trophies and Epic quests (in addition to levelling up). The maximum level of skills has been increased (to 22 for Beginner skills and to 10 for job skills).

You can now gain Stat Points from certain trophies, Epic quests, and exploration achievements. They can be distributed to the following stats and can be reset at any time.

• STR
• DEX
• INT
• LUK
• HP
• Critical

Guild content has been reorganized.

• The maximum guild level has been change from 25 to 10 (all guilds’ existing levels have been reset).
• The Guild House has been added.
• Based on your guild level, your limit to members, guild skills, and guild house NPCs will change.

Epic quests have been reorganized (they really do this a lot).

• Level 1~30 quests have been changed.
• New opening footage and early story quests for certain jobs have been added.
• Epic quests are now divided into Chapters, based on the story.

The patch also included:

• Content reward reorganization
• Life Skill improvements, reward updates, and recipes
• Level 51~65 maps

Reverse Raid: Tree of the Devil, Zakum (June 29, 2017)

A new type of raid, the Reverse Raid has been added. You can investigate the portal in the center of the Reverse Gate to challenge the Tree of the Devil, Zakum!

Reverse Raids award Reverse Coins which can be used to buy new Reverse equipment.

This patch also added:

• Discounts on all housing related costs
• New skills for all jobs
• Dungeon Ranks missions that reward you if you achieve a certain Rank in a Dungeon

Battle Pets & Reverse Raid: Pink Bean (July 27, 2017)

This patch added:

• Battle Pets
  • All pre-existing pets were classified as Companion Pets.
  • If you are level 50 or higher, you can tame hungry monsters in hunting maps and turn them into your Battle Pets!
  • You must use Candy (purchased from towns) to turn them into gentle monsters, then throw a Capture Capsule (can be made using a Life Skill) to try and catch them.
  • Only certain monsters can be caught.
  • The Life Skill: Pet Capture has been added.
  • You can also obtain Battle Pets from Random Raid Dungeon rewards.
  • Battle Pets have ranks, and based on that, they’ll have a certain number of abilities and require more experience to level up.
    • Normal: no ability
    • Rare: 1 ability
    • Elite: 2 abilities
    • Excellent: 3 abilities
  • You can summon a tamed Battle Pet to fight with you.
  • They will gain experience with you and as they level up, their abilities will be unlocked. All pets have automatic revival, item loot, and potion use.
  • You can combine Battle Pets to level them up. Once they reach level 50, they can no longer level up or be used to level up another pet.
• Reverse Raid: Existence of Another World
  • Protect the Temple of Time against a strange creature from another world, Pink Bean!
• Epic Quest Renewal
  • A Navigation system has been added that guides you towards the objectives of your current quests.
  • Level 31~45 Epic quests’ story and contents have been renewed.
• Guild Content Reorganization 3
  • Maximum guild level has been increased from 10 to 15.
  • Guild Coins have been added that you can use to purchase items from the Guild House stores.
• Dungeon Difficulty Changes
  • Level 50+ adventure dungeons’ difficulty levels have been adjusted.
  • Difficulty of all Raid and Chaos Raid dungeons have been adjusted.
  • Dungeon rewards have been increased.

Guild Raid & Transcendence System (August 24, 2017)

This patch added:

• Guild Raid “Xenon System”
  • A new Raid you can complete with your guild members.
• New Battle Pets
• Equipment Item Transcendence System
  • You can now use the Transcendence System on items level 50+ (hats, tops, bottoms, gloves, shoes) to give them a Transcendence Option.
  • An item can only have one Transcendence Option. If you try and Transcend it again, it will be replaced with another one.

Sky Fortress (November 30, 2017)

Join the flying ship Sky Fortress and defend Maple World in this new Epic quest line!

World Invasion – Infernog Last Line of Defense (January 25, 2018)

A new type of dungeon called the World Invasion has been added, the first of which is the Infernog Last Line of Defense! Instead of how a regular dungeon works, against Infernog, you must survive for 15 minutes and deal enough damage that the Sky Fortress’ charged up weapon is enough to finish him off.

Helpful Links

Yeah that’s actually it, they haven’t had any other big content updates since January haha. In this section I’m just gonna link some things you guys might find useful. They’re all in Korean but you can use Google Translate and probably understand most of it!

• Play Guides
  • Official guides for the various systems of MapleStory 2.
• Job Introductions
  • You can see overviews of each job, a quick showcase of their gameplay, and a list of all of their skills.
• Beginner Guidebook
  • This page has descriptions for each job, as well as story synopses for each area of Maple World and has small overviews of the game’s different content.
  • The page also links to guides for different level ranges and guides for item farming.