I write this message with the players currently unhappy with New Rise as a whole, and those that have quit as a result of it in mind. I don't know any better, so I assume anyone that is displeased with the update's overhauls is displeased by them for the same reasons as everyone else is, including myself. But the
survey* lets us voice those concerns as wholeheartedly as we can.
I beg anyone that sees this post - I am not sure how active these forums truly are, with lurkers and writers alike, but I beg all the same - partake of the
survey*, and speak. Do not be afraid that it might be null and void - staying silent is how these things are thought 'okay' for the game, and you've the right to speak. If you can't, or have already, please share the
survey* with anyone else that is unhappy, or has quit the game. Spread the word.
*EDIT: As of a few days ago, the survey has ended. Thank you all for participating, thank you all for voicing your opinion, one way or another. I'll keep this post up so that more can come. If it doesn't get through to the heads, at least this wall will serve people who just want to vent. Personally, I'm more than happy that there's more people out there thinking what I am thinking. It helps knowing I'm not insane.
The former title of this post was "Please attend the 2026 survey! [ New Rise 
]"
I am a player of nearly 2 years before the posting of this discussion. New Rise has effectively killed what the game was for me. Not every single change, no, but namely the way content has been altered for the worse, and gear progression treated just the same. Early-mid-game content that used to feel like achievements to overcome further and further, are now being reduced to easy chores not providing any engagement - slot machines to roll weekly. The removal of Project Theta was unprofessional - no single game should do away so simply with content that was still being played to that day. The overhaul of Tech Duinn Dungeons is terrible- they are even worse than AHM dungeons (i mean the ones before the update - these were hit even worse), where it used to be a fine stepping stone for people building into the midgame - a fine step of progression, ruined. The Crom Bas overhaul, while not as worse as the other examples, also share this odd philosophy of dumbing things down and making it easier. It was all fine as is, there was hardly any need for such massive changes. The game is *not* that complicated, and even if it turns out to be otherwise, that can be overcome. It's difficulty. It's natural.
Not to mention, that Crom and Glenn no longer allow entries for those that have already spent theirs. Prior to the update, people could still party up with their friends, even if they've acquired all of their rewards - they could still play the game together even if they wouldn't get rewarded for it, and were not limited to an arbitrary number of entries. This is how I could play with some of my friends who get their content done day 1, while I had work to do. They could still come around and help me out, but that's no longer possible, and we can play the game together less and less as a result.
The Weapon Quality system, and the overall overhaul of certain dungeon rewards now simply dropping gear like an ARPG or a gacha, is terrible. Acquiring Celtic or Perseus weapons, and the materials for them, was a fine line of progression - you play the content, you save up materials, and you craft the weapon you'd like, akin to any other normal MMO out there. Now they drop like common trash, and there's little to no point in crafting weapons unless it is your endgame choice, like a Nightbringer, or Ruination. Furthermore, I suspect that the loot pool is now obscenely bloated to the point anything rare that could drop, is now even rarer - Glas materials from Crom, for example. Alongside that, now Perseus weapons inflate the pool, and I haven't seen a material drop since the update dropped, and if my suspicions are correct - this means that mastercrafted weapons are now even harder to get prior to the update.
If the worry was that it took too long, or that it didn't respect the time of players, this could be simply addressed by doing smaller things such as easing up drop rates for materials for weapons and armour, or adding more pity systems that eventually reward you for simply playing the game. (Techs before New Rise lacked this exact system for Ruination/Geas/Demo gear, which may have been a roadblock for a lot of people if the drop rates were unfavourable - this could've eased gear progression in a simple, non-intrusive way).
Other, minor things, also bother me. The overall nerfing of gold drops is one. Free-to-play players may find it harder to save up money in a steady fashion with gold cuts. Let alone the fact that a fair few materials may or may not be useless thanks to the new Gear Progression system - this leads to said materials selling less and less on the auction house - another important venue for gold. I reference the above - how weapons simply drop from chests, and that there is little incentive to craft instead of rolling the dice, unless you're crafting your endgame weapon.
The overhauls to Alts - for a game that encouraged multiple characters per account, especially with the character cards - is a foul taste in the mouth of anyone that has taken the time to play through the game over and over again, just so they could play a different character, or simply- play the game more. Perhaps some of these changes were necessary as to not put those with alts with an edge over other players, but ... I feel like it all could be done a different way.
My guild is currently dead. Where there were always people logging in to play daily, statics organized to go through Techs, Croms, Glenns, as we made our way steadily toward Glenn VHMs and, hopefully, Bri - now there is nothing, and no drive. For much the same reasons I find this update unsatisfying and more, they have essentially quit the game and moved on to other things, alongside most of my friends list. And I personally cannot bring myself to play the game properly anymore - I simply log in and idle sadly, lamenting on what happened to the game I loved and played daily otherwise. This update's overhauls have discouraged us all from keeping ourselves engaged with the game, because the content is a lot less engaging to run now, and solo-play has been encouraged further and further ever since the Leprechaun event, which - for an MMO, is a sin.
I write this because I want it to be otherwise. I want the game that I loved to remain stalwart- for me and my friends to have reasons to log in pertaining to all of the above, I want that drive to progress step by step over the months, to grow slow and healthy, toward the harder content this game has to offer. I want to do so with the aid of my friends, and the excitement we once had. This is all coming from a place of love. Seeing this game rot away would break me, and I want it a different way. Perhaps this will resonate with more people than I'd expect, or perhaps I'd simply be a vocal minority, and that I'll slowly find out, this game is no longer for me, however much that might hurt me.
I suppose, I simply wish things mostly went back to the way they were before New Rise, and by extension - probably before the new director's takeover. The path was steady back then, and nothing was for the worse.
Thank you for taking the time to read.
Comments
What I'm worried about is how many lapdogs, and shills are going to spend the next week making new email accounts on a VPN to kiss the butts of the devs who made this horrible update, as well as the New Life update due in 4 ~ 6 months. (looking at certain VDM's, Ex-ss's and other zealots who'll try to dilute the criticism of the update to skew results.)
I tried to give New Rise a chance, after literally quitting the moment the Korean stream showed it in July 2025. I gave it a chance for 2 months knowing full well how horrendous it is, and it is still a completely garbage update. They have created a mass exodus of players leaving the game, the Korean servers are almost entirely empty, and their players went to Mabinogi mobile made by Director Naak the original director of Mabinogi. It isn't just me, new players and returnees who have tried this update think it's garbage too. The new player experience is expedited straight into a garbage fire of gutted and unpopular content like Brie Lieth, and Crom bas. Meanwhile the entire game is invalidated due to this expedition process that ruins the overall experience of the game. The devs have to take responsibility for the players that quit, and the damage they've caused the game.
It is a shame Mabinogi has to go through this when Eternity is still in the works.
I thought the game was really popular in Korea. People have said a third has left from both NA and Korea, but to hear them nearly empty on the latter is bordering on the insane. If that's not a red flag to the team, I don't know what would be. At this point, working on a reversion of New Rise would really just be a better 'update', won't it?
Also begs the question for me at least - what happened? I'm not educated on the game's history, but why isn't the original director of Mabinogi no longer at the helm of their very much alive game? I'm glad he's still on a related project, and I'll be more than happy to try out Mabi Mobile when it comes overseas as much as I hope it'll be playable on PC, too - I still love Mabinogi after all. I'm just in awe as to how this was allowed to happen. I feel terrible for the art team because from what I hear, the new gen isn't half bad at all, and they're all still hard at work, clearly with some love and passion still about - but then the venue for their art and storytelling is handicapped, out of their control.
I also wonder- are there two separate teams working on both the main game and Eternity?
Between g12 and somewhere in g13 or Chapter 4 Devcat passed the development of Mabinogi to the Nexon Live team. The Nexon live team is Nexon's own group of developers that handle alot of their games in a bulk manner. They also have a very very high turn-over rate for directors between each of their games. Not sure why that is, but alot of the time they either quit or are forced to resign/transfer after Korean players revolt. Director Naak is a part of, and one of the leaders of Devcat a subsidiary studio of Nexon, and Devcat is currently working on Mabinogi Mobile which is very successful right now.
New Rise is not very popular, and hasn't been popular at all since it was released in Korea. They have been criticizing Director Choi's misunderstanding of the game, and the negative impact New Rise, and New life have had on mabi to the point where they compare him to Director Hwang seon-yeong (hwang seon-yeong directed the saga chapters, created the "Big Bang" update for maplestory, and directed Peria Chronicle's alpha stage until it went into end-of service.) The main server in the korean region before the New Rise update was almost always full, but now most of the channels are as empty as NA-Mabi on a weekday.
A lot, if not all the changes are just horrendous for the longevity of the game, a week, that's all it took for me to get a NEW character to Endgame, A WEEK. And I could've easily did it faster if I spent a bit of real cash, or even gold on items to help make the grind faster (Skill training pots, Exp pots and the like)
The most egregious change for me though, is not only the equipment rarity system, but also the fact that dungeons now just drop gear all the way up to the Nightbringer set, it's just awful and ruins the point of doing any content to grind out the materials. Crafting is literally pointless now, just run Shineseeker, you'll get the drop eventually, probably a LOT faster than grinding out the materials yourself now. Also on the point of loot, reducing drop rates in dungeons unless you're using Neartite is actually disgusting, thanks for limiting the grind in the worst way possible, Nexon.
Mabinogi is not the "Fantasy Life" game most of us all grew to love anymore, New Rise has honestly killed all the enjoyment that the game had left and gives me absolutely zero hope for Eternity.
Let's hope the same happens this time, that the survey results are as much of a red flag as the player counts, and that they rethink their choices. Even if reversions, updates or reworks would be in order as to repair what New Rise has done, it's going to be such a delicate mess of a process thanks to the fact NA and Korea both have different builds of the game.
It used to be a comfort food for me- it still kind of is. A lot of MMOs today have made and are still making poor decisions to this day, and I'm running out of places to turn to for a comfortable 'second-life'. Mabi really offered that to us all, I think. It'd hurt too much if they kept taking and taking away from it.
I found New Rise interesting at first, I was okay with Ably Hardmode being shorter, as dungeons cause me lag and can be a bit boring. I wish it was HARDER though so it wouldn't kill the party system. They really are making it more of a solo game which is a bad move considering there aren't many good MMOs left. Mabinogi is the only one that I enjoyed enough to keep playing for now.
I don't get why they completely ruined Tech missions, specifically Revived Illusion cause that's all I've tried since New Rise. It makes me sad, because at first it was too hard for me, but I was serious about getting through that. I got stronger, I got weapon upgrades, and I returned to it to find it was easier. The circle rooms in Revived Illusion were annoying to me, but eventually I figured even that out (though in hardmode, I hated how long the timer was for it). And now suddenly, it's stupidly easy and there's no challenge. Why did I bother grinding then? Weird that they couldn't just make the timer shorter for the circle rooms, but now instead they got rid of most of the rooms, making it feel pointless to run with a party.
They're not only hurting players who struggled getting to end game to begin with, but they're ruining the fun for new players. They will be confused, with too much information thrown at them, and they will breezing through everything at the same time with no challenge. It's just bad.
I liked the concept of Neartite, but not at the expense of worsening the base dungeon drops. Also as others pointed out, it's killing the whole system by just giving us these weapons. It should be weapon mats we get, I totally agree with that. It feels like they went from stingy drop rates and player party restrictions, all the way to "hey, here's a free demo weapon by the way, have a nice day". I'm not against the gacha armors being put into the pool because at least that makes more sense. It's a way for players to get armor for free, which I wanted. But they're ruining things for people who wanted to build their weapons, or people who were in the middle of grinding mats to make and sell a weapon. I want the weapon handing stuff back out of the game. Maybe celtic weapons could stay for new players to easily obtain them.
I hope the devs listen to everyone's complaints and fix New Rise. I hadn't even considered the limit runs for glenn and how that's also hurting parties. Just let players keep running even if they hit the limit without being forced to pay for it. Let players have the choice to help other players, don't take it from them.
Also, I don't see why they got rid of gold drop from mobs in Offering. I hope they put that back in, because I have a feeling this is leading to getting rid of gold drops from mobs in general and that's an awful idea. Earning gold from dungeon/sms/monster killing is a natural way to earn gold for people in mabinogi. I will feel so demotivated if they go down that route so I hope they don't. Not sure if I'm a fan of the echostone changes yet either, honestly. It's a shame, I loved Offering, but idk if I would go back to it after that. I don't even do sms much anymore, definitely not for dailies.
The most egregious nerf to gold from my perspective was changing Feth as a result, too. Not just the tech checks being halved, not just the dungeon and mobs being a lot less, but also the gold that they do drop, is minimal.
The survey is now closed, and it seems that this is at least part, and hopefully not the only thing, they got out of all the responses.
- as per the developers about the KR test server, teasing the puppeteer and fighter Arcana on January 29th
If this is all we get- "step in the right direction" as it is, then I suppose our best bet is to keep complaining, and keep this post up. Don't know what else.
Considering a lot of people's dissatisfaction with New Rise, I imagine a lot of players had something negative to say on it; hopefully this helps change more, and for the better.