Hi everyone,
My name is Brian and I've been a member on the wiki since 2012. I started playing TWOM in 2010~2011 on an 3rd gen iPod touch. I began in Bigmama, Lanos as a ranger who distributed all my stat points randomly based on whatever I thought sounded good (a high intelligence ranger sounds good on paper, right?). I spent the next 3 to 4 years playing TWOM until I began losing interest in the game. While my contribution of new content began to slow, I still religiously moderated the wiki until I fully stopped playing in 2017. The game has changed immensely since I first started playing and especially since I stopped. I've decided to write this post since the Prelude of a New Era update dropped and thought to myself: 'what better way to begin a new chapter than by closing an old one'. In this sense, I'm writing closure for my inactivity on the wiki which I did not do in 2017.
For nostalgia, you may be interested in reading the 2011, 2012, 2013 and 2014 onward sections (bolded). Otherwise, you may as well skip to the end (marked "Closing").
2011
The platinum shop was updated for the first time in 2011 where they introduced pets (which I claim to be the most unbalanced system in the game). 2011 also marked the first of many monthly events and allowed players, for the first time, to break the level 43 soft-cap by introducing a reliable way of gaining ancient coins for exp. The ancient coin drop rate from the event boxes were heavily nerfed in the following events. Ancient Dungeon was also added in this year which occurred every half hour. I doubt anyone thinks of them anymore except for when they see an Ancient Ring. 2011 also marked the death of wall clipping, where rangers and mages would shift/teleport into the map entrance/exit and be able to hit mobs without them being able to hit them. Likewise, this was able to be done in LH2 and 3 by the staircases which allowed them to walk around freely in the walls.
2012
In late 2012, the Sky Castle was added and gave dedicated players the ability to reach level 46 without the use of ancient coins (although you'd have to no life to do so). It was also in this year that Mirato, from the Wadangka server, reached level 50, the game's max level. I believe Mirato was the first player to do this. Her videos are still uploaded to youtube if you ever want some nostalgia. The 2012 update was the first big update TWOM received and also introduced combine books and level 40+ equipment (which also gave a use for S class enchant scrolls, which until that point, had only been used on Bigmouse weapon drops). Unfortunately, 2012 also marked the year of monetization for TWOM. While 2012 added elixirs to change your stats (thank goodness), they also added gemstones which made enchanting items immensely more difficult for the average player (veterans will remember the days when holy water only cost 1-2k each). No doubt the addition of gemstones (and later, costumes) has kept the game alive a lot longer than I anticipated. The Arena was added in 2012 as well, but just like the Ancient Dungeon, it was removed. It was a good concept for 'fair' PvP, but people only really played it for the Savage Boots (which I've been told are now mob drops).
2013
In 2013, Instant Dungeons were added as a means to help regular players to obtain items that would otherwise be gate-kept by players camping bosses. This was a good addition to the game and also introduced new boss mechanics that I believe are included in all the cool new raid bosses. The Battlefield was also updated in 2013 to include 5 different level groups, making it a lot more fair for higher level players but also creating a lot of anger for the people who invested in creating BF campers, many of which would have to invest more to keep them relevant.
2014 onward
Past the year of 2013, my memory for the game is a blur. I remember coming back to the game for a month once the Swamp map was added, which would have been the second biggest update to TWOM since the addition of the Sky Castle. I believe this was also when costumes were introduced, but I'm not certain. I will commend Com2uS with progressing the lore of the game - after the Sky Castle update, which provided no new lore, I believed Com2uS abandoned the meaning behind 'the World of Magic'. I'm happy they decided to progress Oatwill and Billy's story with the swamp update, although I admittedly haven't dwelled much into the new lore myself.
Closing
When I first started contributing to this wiki, there was a lot of info missing - and that was when the game was a fraction of the size it is now! It was so exciting gaining a new info about mob drops or spawn timers! There were so many gaps of knowledge that have since been filled by contributors (like you!) that help new players (and old geezers like me) learn about the game. And with the "Prelude of a New Era" update, I can only imagine there will be more gaps to fill. While I can't be certain of the wiki's future, I hope the current contributors find the excitement I did when (I believe) the game was in its prime and also uphold the sense of community found here at the wiki.
While I doubt that they will see this, I'd like to mention the names of a few people who worked on the wiki when I was active. At the time, we had an amazing community:
Chopstixz (founder of the wiki)
IcedWings (introduced me to the wonders of wiki editing)
PuTRiangle (an editor I looked up to)
FlyingBanana (a fellow editor who also played on Bigmama)
DarkWind (my rival)
Tamao1 (an incredible moderator and contributor)
Awwzumgirl (someone I could always rely on to get things done)
MimichanX (an incredible moderator and a joy to talk to)
AWasik18 (a friend and fellow contributor)
If I missed your name, PLEASE accept my apology! Your contributions to the wiki meant the world to me when I was active.
I'd like to give a shoutout to BrancyXY, who had been moderating the wiki by his lonesome for I'm not sure how long now. Thank you for upholding the wiki and also considering its future after the most recent game update (I read your post, and I'm glad you've decided against creating a new wiki!). It can be hard to stay committed to updating a game you rarely play anymore and I really appreciate your dedication to the wikis continued success :)
Thank you to NovaIsReal, who I believe is the wiki's newest admin! Looking at your recent contributions, I personally always found it difficult to get images and item sprites uploaded to the wiki for new pages so I'm glad that you have a grasp at it!
I'd like to give special thanks to all the new and current contributors to the wiki. Your contributions, no matter how small, help everyone who plays the game. Keep up the amazing work! :D
Finally, thank you to those who use the wiki (you give us purpose!).
Until next time.
Cheers,
SecretName