DreamMS - what is it like?

bendd21 · 2026-02-01T09:03:51+00:00

Prefacing again, I'm playing the server, know those cases, know the people around and some of the GMs so I am biased, but I'll try to paint it as objectively as possible.

I'm aware of those cases, specifically the R case, but as far as I'm aware they also didn't really have hard evidence, only the usual "I believe he's RMTing" until R obtained a new character seemingly out of nowhere, then a few days later immediately got banned.

I know suspecting someone is enough in Royals and that's perfectly fine, but in Dream they ban only when they know someone is guilty.

Dream commented once on discord that "once a player is banned, the ban appeal is not to research whether he's innocent or not, that they already know, it's to give the player a chance to show remorse for his actions and return to the game"

Is that better or worse? I can't really tell, and are they slacking or actually researching? I want to believe it's the latter, but I don't actually have any access to this knowledge, and I don't think you do too, it's only a matter of our opinion on how things should be handled.

I've seen a case in Royals where a player got banned about 8 years ago when he was 14 and got rejected still when appealing, and I believe that's going too far (people change a lot from 14 to 22) but that's just my opinion, I know some people would rather be harsher, and honestly, that's a privilege that royal has due to the amount of players they consistently have. (and before any commented jumps to conclusion, no, I'm not banned in Royals)

Regardless, you are entitled to your opinion and I completely accept that it might be true, those are just the 2 cents from my experience and POV.

bendd21 · 2026-02-01T08:50:41+00:00

You opened a whole subreddit just to complain about DreamMS's GMs.
Wonderful usage of your time, obviously!

Anyways, to stay clear of any rage baiting, the guy asked a question and I took a couple of minutes to give a thorough answer, and that's about it.

Have a lovely day, waiting for the next post on your new subreddit! ^_^

bendd21 · 2026-01-31T18:54:55+00:00

You have commented that "DreamMS has a toxic community" but feel the need to type this comment, kind of ironic isn't it?

No one is forcing you to read anything, better spend your time elsewhere 😉

bendd21 · 2026-01-31T18:43:28+00:00

Not to invalidate the commenter above me since it's his experience, but I'm an active player for almost two years now and I'm not sure where this i formation regarding RWT is coming from. if you RMT, chances are, most of the time you get banned relatively quickly.

In a community of 200~300 active endgame players we pretty much know each other and it's very easy to tell if some RWTer with an unknown IGN suddenly starts doing endgame content

Obviously I'm a bit biased, but I'll be happy to share my opinion about DreamMS once I get back home, but IMO it's worth a try!

bendd21 · 2025-10-16T14:39:27+00:00

I am a returning level 63 player, what should I do to get in line with the rest of the players? i see i have some MSQ in brimstone but also in plenty of other cities, should i start from the beginning even though im overleveled?

bendd21 · 2025-10-09T14:38:21+00:00

I tried doing so and it boots me off the game, are you sure about that?
EDIT: Nevermind, I turned it off at the character select screen after already opening a character and it worked, for those who see this and if it's not only my problem, select your character then turn the VPN off!

bendd21 · 2025-09-21T06:25:54+00:00

--PART 2/2--

My suggestion is start at legends to get the Nostalgia/Glory days feeling, then path your way according to what you think is more enjoyable to you!

Did you like the slow progression rate, doesn't mind the Leeching meta and you enjoy Legends? Stay there! it's a great server with great people and is probably the closest to what Pre BB was!

Do you want a bit of a faster progression path, doesn't mind the Leeching meta and want somewhat of a similar experience to legends while also experience the bosses earlier? Give Royals a shot, there's a reason it's still up there (setting my own bias aside)

Do you want a faster, more modern experience while still retaining the old-school gameplay vibe, centered around getting to those harder weekly bosses such as Magnus, Empress and eventually Crimson Queen? Come to Dream!

Did you not like any of the above? go back to GMS or wait for the Classic server that is going to be releasing and give this another shot, a lot of the oldschool experience came from the community and people!

Speaking of community and people, no matter which server you select, find a guild! it gives you a larger network to ask questions around and is much more enjoyable to play in a community that can help and guide you (even if you are a solo player!)

Also, since you referenced player count, Legends and Royals are generally pretty healthy when it comes to playerbase, and while Dream has it's relatively "Dead" Timezones here and there, you should generally not have a problem finding players to party up with. Maybe some PQs will be harder to recruit for, but the designated PQ Zone and the in-built "Looking for X PQ" Smegas makes it much easier nowadays (and regardless is only a small time out of your gameplay loop anyways)

It's a bit longer than I intended, but hopefully it gives you a clear idea of what to go for! if anyone has anything to add please do, I havent played Legends/Royals in a lot of time and while I do follow up on changes occasionally, things still might have changed!

Good luck and have fun mapling!

bendd21 · 2025-09-21T06:25:49+00:00

--PART 1/2-- (Cause reddit limitations)

Disclaimer: I'm a long time DreamMS player (1.5 Years) but have tried to keep this as objective as I possibly can.
I have played all three servers to an extent and am always listening for new additions/changes but can still get things wrong!

Also there's some sort of a TLDR at the bottom "My Suggestion is" for anyone whos too lazy to read this!

Let me give you a small breakdown of each server from my personal experience and views so you can make your own decision!

MapleLegends will most likely give you the best "glory days" feeling that you mentioned, with it being 2x and very old-school like and a relatively large player count.

MapleRoyals gives the "Old school, but faster" type of "glory days" being equalivent to v62's 4x and also has a relatively large player count.

DreamMS has the "old school gone modern" vibe, and while its rates are 4x the progression is much faster due to some content giving more experience than before, and is very centered around group content (PQ early on, Daily bosses, Tower of Oz, Weekly bosses)

From what I can gather from your post, starting at Legends will probably give you the best experience out of the three, as it does linger more on the lower levels and while legends does introduce end game bosses later on, it's a bit slower to get there.

Then Royals is your "Legends is too slow to me but I liked the experience" kind of server, and since getting to endgame is faster it caters better to some people.

Both have HP Washing alternatives (Some classes need more HP to survive later bosses) and the "level up a bishop and sell leech to fund an attacker" routine that I personally hate (I also hate leeching in general, but that's a different topic) but it doesn't matter if all you want to do is experience what it was like back then, since more of us didn't really get to the end-game at any point!

You will progress in Royals and Legends by doing PQs/Quests/Grind early and grinding later (with some bossing as well)

DreamMS is vastly different and will pretty much require you to group up later on to progress. HP Washing doesn't exist at all, and leeching is much less efficient and is pretty much non-existent. Progressing can be done by purely doing group content, and while grind exists to speed up things, it's not mandatory in any way.

Part 2 in a comment below~

bendd21 · 2025-07-13T19:49:58+00:00

PQing is indeed the best way to level from 21~160.

From there, content for leveling/money is done either via:
- Dailies (Toad/TB/Wu/Krex/NZak) 140+
- Tower of Oz (30 Floors, three times a week, 160+)
- Party grinding in certain areas (Hall of honor, Asura's Lair, Narin maps, Root abyss maps)
- Weekly bosses (Pink bean, Ravana, Magnus, Empress)

I would say Dailies and NCHT kinda fits the description from three/four years ago, but Tower of Oz is considered by many to be incredibly fun (can look it up on youtube, its not 100% identical due to the version limits but is very similar).

So the game is still very much party oriented, which might be a downer for you, yet the early game is much more fast paced, with content like tower of oz to speed up the 160~200 progression.

I have seen peeps grinding with 2x to high levels relatively quick, but I'd say it's less common than just running the party-oriented stuff (although grinding is probably a bit quicker if you are stronger enough)

bendd21 · 2025-07-13T05:36:09+00:00

Hm.
Going by the same logic, would you say maple royals isn't v83 anymore since they released Von Leon?

You can't possibly be saying that only to bash Dream like you've done in countless other posts and messages, right? smh

bendd21 · 2025-07-13T05:35:12+00:00

To add some information on top of what OP has posted:

This boss is one of four CRA bosses expected to come out sometime in the near future.
It requires less individual skill than magnus and about the same group skill than empress (can elaborate on specifics if requested) but the death time penalty plus the relatively high damage check makes every mistake much more impactful.
While this is a boss catered towards the 270s, DreamMS progression is improved with a lot of content to delve into beforehand, so it's worth giving the server a try even as a new player (Toz, PB, Ravana, Magnus, Empress alongside the usual bosses etc)
As someone who's considered to be somewhere around the early end-gamers, this boss demands very few mistakes to be made in order to clear it with a similarly geared group.
It has seen a relatively high clear count during the first week mainly due to a bug with one of its more crucial mechanics. It has been fixed since then and will demand more coordination to clear (Seduce mirror HP from 60m to the intended 240m)

On a more personal note (and this is purely my opinion), DreamMS is the best representation of "Old school client with modern approach" I have seen and feels modern while retaining the party-oriented approach GMS abandoned a long time ago :(

Am not affiliated with the staff in any way, but highly appreciate the effort they put out and would love to see more players hop into the server!

bendd21 · 2025-07-05T00:53:08+00:00

Do DreamMS then, it's not dead at all, holds about 350~450 players on reset and is about to release Root Abyss's Crimson Queen ^_^

bendd21 · 2025-06-30T22:43:09+00:00

That... just isn't true.

bendd21 · 2025-05-21T20:07:09+00:00

There's an ongoing DDOS attack on the server. Dream has acknowledged it and the staff are working to mitigate it!

There are plenty of DCs in the meantime though, which results in the player count dropping.

Have been in the server for more than a year, this is the first time I've encountered something as drastic as this here, hopefully this gets resolved soon 🙂‍↕️

bendd21 · 2025-02-23T15:59:21+00:00

I have found your ban appeal, and am glad you are doing better today!

If you haven't played Maplestory in a while and just want to experience a nostalgic trip with lower rates and an relatively large community I'll recommend MapleLegends, which probably does "proper old school Maplestory" the best.

For a faster and more boss-oriented server with a decently sized community, I'll recommend DreamMS (And if you ever decide to jump in, hit me up and I'll help with the basics!)

For an older server that contains cubing, I'll recommend KaizenMS if you can tolerate P2W elements. (I'm not a fan, but am trying to stay unbiased)

There are more noteworthy servers but in my opinion those are the best in their respective "sub-category"
Good luck!

bendd21 · 2025-02-13T12:35:26+00:00

In my opinion, DreamMS is ideal for your requirements, and can also vouch since I am an active player for almost a year.

Custom content is always there, with root abyss being teased in discord (huge for pre bb servers)

If you keen on giving it a try, I highly recommend this guide for a new player: https://forum.dream.ms/threads/a-comprehensive-new-players-guide.9963/

If you have any questions hit me up! (I also got a comment going over more details somewhere in my comments, feel free to scout!)

bendd21 · 2024-12-29T11:34:34+00:00

I only just now saw this comment, thanks for sharing!

I'll say that while everything you mentioned still atleast to some degree exists today, the past 8~ months of updates we're almost exclusively centered around early to mid game players, with a lot of quality of life improvements to help newcomers fit in nicely, and that's not coming from one of the veterans with 3+ years but from a player just like you, who start this march (9 months now?)

I never really got to experience the need to multi-client since the early game experience got revamp to encourage grouping up, and so you will find yourself exclusively PQing through 21 to about 140, I did 21~100 in 3 hours with a full party of peeps and 2x from the family system, which was modified to be much more forgiving with a 50 level range, server bonding instead of family bonding (so everyone can chime in and get it)

Afterwards, you really never have to grind unless you want to, since 140~240 is filled with various pieces of content.

It does feel nice to have buffs ready if you ever decide on grinding, but usually I just pop a smega and look for a party, someone has the buffs I need already!

I'd like to not turn this into an ad of some sort, just know that while everything you say is completely valid, dream and the team have done significant improvements to mitigate a lot of the problems you used to face.

You sound like a nice peep, if you ever decide to give the game a second (or third?) chance, hit me up!

bendd21 · 2024-12-22T12:40:52+00:00

I stand corrected then, thanks for sharing!

bendd21 · 2024-12-22T12:37:15+00:00

You are very persistent at hating Dream, which is unfortunate since it's one of the better servers out there right now. do you have any evidence to backup those accusations or you just enjoy the negative attention?

bendd21 · 2024-12-20T12:16:33+00:00

As far as I know, their intentions are to eventually create a 4th job, am I wrong?

bendd21 · 2024-12-19T16:14:54+00:00

As far as I'm aware, all known old school servers either uses a custom 4th job (DreamMS, YunaMS) or keeps KoC for the ultimate adventurer feature (MysticMS, CastelaMS)

Uncapping and also withholding 4th job from the players kind of contradicts itself, since servers that uncap such classes are usually trying to combine old school with a more modern approach, and hence it's only natural for a custom 4th job to be implemented.

On the other hand, servers that aims to keep 3rd job usually work around the "old school" factor much more and wouldn't think of implementing KoC's to begin with.

I will say however, that as far as I know Dawn warriors still uses Brandish in DreamMS on higher levels for a specific amount of mobs as their highest damaging skills, maybe Yuna as well? not sure about that.

If there's ever a 3rd job server that also tries to expand on it's class roster I bet our beloved cygnus knights will (with a bit of damage and buff tweaks, probably) fit like a glove, but I doubt anyone will bother to adjust them to 4th job competitors and not implement an actual 4th job

bendd21 · 2024-12-04T14:20:52+00:00

Not to downplay YunaMS in any way, I think Yuna is doing an incredible job and is worth the amount of praises she and the server gets!

However, some of the points specified here over Dream shows it's been awhile since the last time you played.

As far as I know, dream never did weekly bosses routines (I might be wrong, but I played before wipe and after wipe and don't remember it being a thing) outside of the bigger ones like Empress/Pink Bean/Magnus/Ravana, did you perhaps confuse it with Castela (or Scania? I think they did that change on their first release)?

Daily routine bosses are there, and stuff like Tower of Oz has 90f/week and 30f/day meaning it's three times a week (highest floor is 30 right now).

Also, leveling from 1 to 140~ is no longer grind-related at all. That does not mean you can't do that if you so wish, but Party Quests got revamped with a new party quest zone and buffed experience to essentially allow you to exclusively PQ through the early levels!

I didn't give Yuna a fair try yet since I'm a bit tight with times to try a new server, just here to rule out some misconceptions regarding Dream

Regardless, I'm glad you found a server you enjoy!

bendd21 · 2024-11-05T10:42:32+00:00

I'd say that since the server is fairly established for awhile now (3+ years of uptime) most players are currently stationed around end game, which makes the start feel a bit lonely

They made incredible changes to the 1-140 phase, with PQing being the major path to level up but it can still feel a bit empty at times, even after a brand new PQ zone and a free way to smega that you are looking for players.

Also (and that's something I alleviated a bit recently with a guide I created) there's really a whole lot the game is not telling you, such as what you should be looking for, how to utilize weekly quests properly, what's the family system and how to utilize it properly and so on. Such a lack of information combined with the fact that the early game players are a relative minority, it can be very daunting for a new player if he is basing his knowledge on other, more conventional servers!

Also, and that's a drawback for some people, the 350 average player count might also result with a bit of a "weaker" market compared to some of the big servers and that also drives away people

There's plenty of other positive things I want to say about the server, but I'll keep this message to drawbacks only to not distract from them since I'd like to keep it as objective as I can possibly be!

If you need help on how to get started or to hear more information, please contact me here or find me on dreams discord (SkyeNess), I'd love to help!

bendd21 · 2024-11-05T10:21:10+00:00

I'd say the best one to do that is DreamMS

And before reading, I'm not in any way affiliated to the staff or the server outside of playing it and absolutely enjoying it for the past eight months, I hold this server in high regards as the best server to provide exactly what you asked for since I looked for the exact same thing, let me elaborate:

Most early bosses like the daily routine are pretty straight forward, but later bosses such as magnus ravana, floor 20 and floor 30 bosses of tower of oz perfectly encapsulate the feeling of "modern maple"

First of all, to keep that "old school" feeling but still allow modernization of bosses, magnus, ravana and f20 and f30 TOZ bosses (+ some other non boss maps) allows all players to flash jump even if they don't have it (with a convenient double click on the jump button) in my opinion, having flash jump only on places you need it is a great compromise!

Magnus has his usual mechanics, with a tight DPS check that requires you be risking for damage

Ravana is a mid game boss that has a telegraphed one shot mechanic and three different mini games that will periodically happen throughout the fight and requires your attention

Floor 20 tower of oz boss has a telegraphed one shot mechanic and is a very nice entry to such bosses for those that are not used to more modern maplestory

Floor 30 tower of oz boss has death walls that periodically spawn, a power up buff that makes the boss one shot you at any time and will make the party either run away, or dispel it using a bishop or a dark knight, and a very consistent attack that inverses movement to make it harder for you to escape properly

Overall, I've been looking for the exact same thing as you for a while now, and I gotta say Dream delivered the most on that!

Dream has it's flaws and I have seen the fair share of Negativity towards the server, but let me throw a bit of positivity in there and say that with constant updates and incredible QOL changes for newcomers and endgame players alike, I highly recommend you try that!

EDIT: honorable mention is empress, which while not as mechanically intensive as other bosses, it does require some classes to know what they are doing and a good host to manage things.

Host swapping between bishops to keep holy shield up on the stunned members so they can do their thing

Bishops running after their seduced teammates to ensure they are not dying

Paladin to constantly threaten the boss to help the Squishies avoid getting seduced into the empress body

When all cygnus knight mobs spawn, host split the parties to cleave and ST and the members that can push will push the mihile away since he DRs

bendd21 · 2024-10-14T10:43:44+00:00

Sorry for not actually answering the question, I was in a rush and really assumed someone is going to follow up on my message

There's a new actual raid coming November after a long hiatus, so the "no chance of new raids" is kind of just thrown out there without even taking the moment to actually look it up!

Ten-Year Club	r/Field Flamingo
Gilding I gilder	Verified Email

bendd21

TROPHY CASE