Nostale Classic

First of all, I apologize for the rather large number of posts I've made in this thread recently. I don't want it to come across as me constantly throwing new ideas at everyone or trying to flood the discussion with my own plans. I'd simply like to gradually share and work through my thoughts about what a potential Classic+ project could look like, while also responding to the ideas and arguments brought up by others.
With that said, there is one more thing I think would be extremely important if a Classic+ project were ever created: marketing.

Nowadays, I don't think simply putting a banner on the NosTale website would be enough. If the goal is to bring back former players, you would need to reach people who haven't even thought about NosTale for years.

One way of doing that could be through YouTubers, TikTok creators and streamers who used to make NosTale content.

For example, in Poland there is a YouTuber called Yoshi, who used to build a large part of his content around NosTale about 10 years ago. Today he has almost 2 million subscribers and makes completely different content.

Imagine someone like that suddenly making a video saying: "I played NosTale again after 10 years."

I think a lot of people who haven't played the game in years would click on that purely because of nostalgia. And this wouldn't have to be limited to Poland. There are probably former NosTale creators in Germany, Italy, France, Spain and other European countries who could reach different parts of the old player base.

I think this could create a much bigger initial wave of players than traditional advertising alone. The important thing would be to advertise not only to the people who currently play NosTale, but also to the people who used to play it.

Because if the goal of Classic+ is partly to bring veterans back, then we shouldn't only ask "What would make them return?", but also "How do we make sure they even hear about it?"

Hello,

It looks like my account on this forum has been deleted, although to be fair, it has been well over a decade since I last logged in...

I came across this thread a few days ago, and I felt that I had to leave a message to show my support for this initiative.

I started playing NosTale in 2009 and remained a very active player until around 2016–2017.

From that point on, I gradually stopped playing. Not because I no longer had enough time, or because I thought the game had become bad, but because the direction the game was heading in seemed increasingly unhealthy to me.

To be honest, I think this downward trend started as early as Act 5 with the introduction of level 90 equipment. At the time, this gear created major class imbalances that took far too long to address.

That period marked the beginning of power creep. It was still manageable back then, but I think it is fair to say that it has now reached a completely absurd level...

The second nail in the coffin was allowing multi-accounting. NosTale is supposed to be an MMORPG where cooperation and playing with other people are important. Nowadays, the game has become a place where people spend more time soloing raids with 20 alts... I honestly don't know if players realize just how far from normal this is supposed to be for an MMORPG.

I genuinely believe that a NosTale Classic would be an excellent idea for several reasons:

• More and more games on the market are offering "old-school" or classic versions. Therefore, launching a NosTale Classic would hardly be an unprecedented or overly risky move for Gameforge.
• The target audience for NosTale Classic would not necessarily be the same as the audience for the current version of NosTale. NosTale Classic would mainly appeal to former players who quit the game and would be interested in returning for the nostalgia.
• Finally, we should not forget that, due to its mechanics and graphics, the game struggles to attract new players nowadays. Capitalizing on the existing base of former players would therefore make strategic sense.

I would also like to emphasize that the value NosTale holds for former players should not be underestimated. Many people experienced incredibly strong emotions and created lasting memories through this game. Even today, many of them still think about NosTale from time to time. A NosTale Classic would, in my opinion, be the most coherent response to that nostalgia, both for the community and from a financial perspective for Gameforge.

Regarding the gameplay of NosTale Classic, I think the focus should be on the overall experience

First, I believe it would be important to retain modern quality-of-life improvements, and perhaps even improve class/SP balancing in order to fix some of the issues that existed back then.

Second, we have to keep in mind that the target audience would mostly be over 25 years old. Most people in this age group now have jobs and other responsibilities, meaning they have less time available for grinding. For that reason, I think an XP boost up to level 80 would make sense, allowing returning players to progress at a reasonable pace without taking away too much from the original experience.

Beyond level 80, however, progression should once again require a meaningful investment of time. Reaching the higher levels should feel rewarding and remain something players have to work towards. For the same reason, crafting requirements and drop rates should remain unchanged, so that players who choose to invest more time into the game are properly rewarded for their efforts.

Third, I believe the game should stop at Act 4. Power creep really started becoming an issue with Act 5, so if the goal is to avoid repeating the same mistakes, it would make sense to stop before that point.

Fourth and finally, when I talk about the overall experience, I really mean everything. It should start from the moment you open the launcher. Bring back the old launcher, the old artwork and visual style, and so on. The goal should be to recreate that nostalgic feeling that will immediately resonate with returning players.

Thank you for taking the time to read this massive wall of text.

I'll be following the progress of this proposal with great interest.

Have a great day!!

Hello everyone!
Recently, I was asked to share my thoughts on this idea of a NosTale Classic, so here I am!
After reading the general community sentiment, the pros and cons of the proposal, and Gameforge's stance, I decided to chime in with my own perspective.

Am I in favor of or against a "Classic" version of NosTale?

• In favor, with reservations... but keep in mind, this is coming from someone who has been playing since 2008 and is extremely nostalgic for the early versions!
• With reservations because I agree with Gameforge's rather skeptical view regarding the feasibility of such a project—it would likely demand too much time, effort, and money, with the risk of shifting focus away from the main servers.

Thinking it over, a viable alternative could be:

• A temporary, "slow-progression" event server centered around "collecting" -> Similar to NosFire or past event servers, with a maximum duration of around 2 months.
• A select few elements from old NosTale, such as old map layouts.
• Modern UI and current system mechanics to make the server realistic and easier to implement.
• Core focus of the server: Reliving the nostalgia of the early days on a temporary basis, shifting the focus away from power-leveling as fast as possible and putting it back on map material farming, PvP in Glacernon (Frozen Crown), and meaningful gear progression where equipment doesn't immediately become obsolete.
• Equipment progression -> One idea could be removing the main standard gear from regular crafting and raids, introducing instead a dedicated NPC on this event server that lets you upgrade your gear step-by-step from Act 1 all the way to Act 5.2. This progression could require existing (though limited) materials, alongside new materials obtained via drops, crafting, or raids.
• "Slow-progression" Battle Pass -> Rewarding essential upgrade materials as well as exclusive cosmetics not currently available on the main servers, plus the character transfer ticket at the end of the event.
• The Progress Book could become a "Collector's Book" -> Completing specific tasks/quests would grant rare collector items (exclusive pets, mounts, costumes, etc., currently unobtainable on live servers, or specifically designed for this event server).
• Character creation restricted to Adventurer only (NO instant Lv 56 characters).
• Level Cap: Normal Lv 99 (NO Champion/Hero Level).
• Maximum Act: Act 5.2.
• Remove Land of Death (LoD) entirely from this slow-progression event server.
• Make completing the Act 5.2 main quest mandatory in order to qualify for the character transfer to the main server.
• Keep the remaining core game mechanics up to date (aside from the aforementioned caps and restrictions).
• Promote single-client gameplay (e.g., limit account creation to 1 per week instead of 3, make the majority of materials limited/untradeable, etc.).
• NosMall heavily trimmed down to cosmetics, pets, and other collectible items.

What are your thoughts on this kind of "event server"—one that captures the essence of classic NosTale through slow leveling, active open-world map farming, and collecting?

I also published a video in my YT channel about this topic, you can find it here ->

My Forum account was deleted as well XD. I just look at the forum and saw this post that catch my attention and i did not read whole comments i just read first page and 6th page.

Honestly I would say 70/30 for my case to join back in game. if something changes and start from 0 for sure people will come back.

First Current servers, I know the servers has been progress too far and fast. Since the released of where they allowed alts account and act 5 money is getting faster to get / people getting too op with the equip etc...which is one of the reasons I left my char at 85 for nostalgic reasons but i still kept my slow pace game but unfortunately i cant catch up now. Even in IC i couldn't even deal enough damage to get rewards where it used to drops any amount of pot / money every waves .so i left it as it is and login just to afk from times to times.

If they were to make a new classic server with the current players knowledge of the games people can easily hog hunting places, imagine a whole server going to the sharena dungeon, krem to hunt WOA(angels' feather), fullmoon, shining pieces on temple to sell or make ress and one hit kill each mobs if they have their build correctly.

and When it comes to special events there are no special new events where it wont consume seals anymore and no one is breaking their heads now to solve the raids like we used to do. Because everything can be solved with damage for example when snowman raid , halloween raid all first came out i remembered that all of us trying to clear it by looking at the sign of the snowman face and know when we have to use PD skill with pajama sp or using jajamaru summon's and hiding skills on halloween raid just to get bushies XD. and now that knowledge will be no longer usable cause players can just solved it with power on new server.

so If the team wants to remake slow moving server they have to redo most of the things to keep the game exciting for players also new special raids..

I'm not against on making new slow server but i don't see the enjoyment if all playstyle is the same unless the story of map changes..for example like we can make new characters but the story isn't act 1 to 5 anymore it was like the after story or before story of act 1 to 5 ...where monsters, maps, sp are different more like a time travel back or what happens after the acts is cleared...also not to forget to implements the special raids where damage is not everything.

also Seeing GM playing alongside the players and gm hosting events is special memories for us like once we cleared all the monster in milano/nosville we will get like a week boost of experience.

Before I have opened up a thread of making a nostale playable on phone new server or anything..but unfortunately it was turned down...cause the reason was risky and expensive if im not wrong...nowadays everyone is on phone so they can play it anywhere and not to mention if they want to dual account they have to purchase 2 phone to play yes they may use emulator on pc but it's going to be a bit challenging.. maybe the idea will be turned down again.

well anyway i missed all those experiences but i'm not sure how many people will get back again unless its something really new and start from 0 that have repeated the stories alot of times...and currently all servers that are merging together most of it are alts i believe so i don't think its a real individuals so let's see if it will get approved. I believe this thread has been made few years back also but was closed as well..since this is getting more attention let's see how it goes.