I used to play MapleStory as a kid because all the older kids were really into it.
I accidentally warped to Leafre, was too underleveled, barely paid my way back to Orbis and dropped the game when I couldn't hunt monsters there to buy a ticket back to Victoria Island either.

This kind of vindicates that childhood, in a way. I don't think I'd want to try official MapleStory these days, given how much the game has apparently changed (MapleStory is one of those games that I don't think ever needed the amount of lore it has now), and this is an okay way to just take its old world in, with all the nostalgic music, locations and everything. I really liked actually getting to style my character too!

But Maple gameplay is too dependent on grinding, (party) quests and plain unsatisfying gameplay loops. I think the amount of metagaming and optimal strategies that have come out of it are a testament to how tedious it is as a casual player.
That's why my favorite thing to do in the game was to just travel and explore, without caring too much about enemy levels; Dark Sight is easily the one most fun skill in the entire game, letting you sightsee past dangerous monsters usually without taking damage from them.

But that can last so long before you have to start leveling up again; to return to the grind, the tedium that not even Royals' fairly warm and welcoming community couldn't ultimately help.

Maybe it's a game for other people, but I don't think it's for me.