MapleStory: Big Bang update

The massive update has a name! It’s called Big Bang. No, I am not talking about the Korean boy group Big Bang but about an update, hehehe.
Nexon held a press conference in the Grand InterContinental hotel about the upcoming summer patch of MapleStory.

So what is the Big Bang update all about? If you been following my blog, you will know that a LOT has changed in the past two weeks.
I mean… Two new jobs! The Battle Mage and the Wild Hunter, a complete overhaul of the game, signs of another job and an idea of how one new area will look like!!

This summer update will be the biggest update ever in history, that’s a fact.

A teaser video for the Big Bang update has been released. Check it out ▼

[Alternative link]

The Big Bang update will be split up in three updates. The reason why it’s split up in three updates is because there is a story to each update respectively.
For more information please read more.

So what is the Big Bang update?
The Big Bang update is apparently too big to release everything at once.

On July 8th, a patch will be released that will contain the complete overhaul.
This means a complete reorganization & restructuring in:

Formulas
Monster balancing
Job balancing
Windowed mode
Support for 1024*786 resolution
Game UI skin
New skills
New EXP curve

The EXP curve is so good that 80% of required EXP has been reduced when you hit level 70.
The max. level requires half of the total existing EXP. That’s great. ^^!~

Since we’re getting new skills and our older skills removed, can we afford it to buy SP resets? No. We cannot do that! So therefore Nexon is giving us a free full SP reset.

On July 22nd, a countermovement called Resistance will be added to the game.

Battle Mage
Combat type magician
Position: Tanker
Speciality: Aura skills

↑ Battle Mage’s Finish Blow skill

↑ Battle Mage’s Cyclone skill

↑ Battle Mage’s Dark Lightning skill

↑ Battle Mage’s Dark Genesis skill

Wild Hunter
Riding Archer
Position: Shooter
Speciality: Swallowing monsters

↑ Wild Hunter’s Flash Rain skill

↑ Wild Hunter’s Crossroad skill

↑ Wild Hunter’s Beast’s Anger skill

↑ Wild Hunter’s Sonic Boom skill

Pretty cool, eh? Make sure to see the Resistance playlist on YouTube!! Unfortunately a lot of videos are outdated since the skills were boosted and nerfed in later patches.
But with two jobs there has to be a new area where you can advance into Battle Mage or Wild Hunter, right?

In March 2010 the MSEA crew uploaded photos of the Nexon office. And the curious me spotted an interesting photo:

Yes, an unreleased map! Two map icons were added in a recent Tespia patch and it confirmed my expectations. This IS Edelstein! Edelstein is the name of the new main area for Resistance and there is also a mine called Leben.
But today photos were taken from the press conference and this just confirms it:

Edelstein looks beautiful!
While we know everything about Resistance and Edelstein, what about the storyline?
Alilatias, a visitor, made a very good hypothesis about the storyline of Resistance:

The town of Edelstein was a peaceful technologically advanced town in some distant corner of the Maple World. It’s an area so distant that few from the Knight and Adventurer strongholds of Victoria Island and Ereb knew much about it. Surely the two Legends wouldn’t know of it either, as Aran had just woken up from a slumber spanning hundreds of years, and Evan is still a child.

Edelstein was prospering… Until one day, the Black Wings stormed through the town. The local government stood no chance against their dark magic. For years, the Black Wings had turned Edelstein into one of their strongholds, at the expense of the local citizens.

All this time, several people living within Edelstein had been plotting to retake the city and drive the Black Wings out. By day, they are ordinary citizens just trying to make a living for themselves. By night, they are the Resistance.
And finally, the Resistance is ready to make their move.

This makes a lot of sense. If it doesn’t make sense to you, click here to read more about this.

The Big Bang update is not done yet. A third patch related to Big Bang will be released in August!
On August 12th, new support for Resistance will be added!

New support? What could this be? Well, I wrote about the huge overhaul, the Battle Mage and Wild Hunter…