[Updated August 22 at 9:45 AM PDT] We have added information about the Extra Character Slot sale and corrected the default Storage slot number.

[Updated August 2 at 10:20 AM PDT] We have added more details about the world merges to the original post.

We are pleased to announce that this August, we are planning for world merges in MapleStory! Our team has been working hard behind the scenes to prepare, and we hope these changes will help you find parties and make new friends.

What is a world merge?

A world merge is when several worlds are combined together into one new world so the players from each of those combined worlds can meet and play together in the same world.

Which worlds are getting merged?

• The first new World will include Broa, Khaini, Galicia, Renegades, Arcania, Zenith, El Nido, and Demethos. The name of the new world is Elysium.
  
• The second new World will include Windia, Mardia, Yellonde, Bellocan, Chaos, Kradia, and Nova. The name of the new world is Aurora.

We have prepared an FAQ to address some of your questions and concerns. Please note that we will provide additional updates about the world merge later.

FAQ

Does this change how I log in?

• If you were in one of the affected worlds, you will now log into your new merged world from the World Select screen.
  

What will be the max character limit in these new worlds?

• The maximum character slot will be increased to 50 for all worlds after the world merge update.

What will happen if I have more than 50 characters?

• The character selection screen will display up to 50 characters - players who have a large amount of characters from multiple merged worlds and who exceed the max character count in the new world can open a special UI to select which of their characters they would like to display within the new world's character selection screen. Those players who have more than 50 characters must select 50 characters through this UI and start removing their characters until they have fewer than 50 characters. The 50 characters they choose will be displayed in the character selection screen and can be accessed normally, while their excess characters will be temporarily inaccessible.
• After these players remove some characters from their character selection screen, they will be able to access the newly added special UI again in order to select other characters to replace the ones they removed. This special UI will be provided after the world merge until January 2020.
• If players don't select the 50 characters that they wish to display on the character selection screen before the UI is removed in January 2020, only the highest-leveled 50 characters will appear on the character selection screen and players will have to remove characters to access the hidden characters.
• Players in these merged worlds who have a large amount of characters are highly advised to begin removing their characters and consolidating their equipment so they can easily access all their characters later once the world merge is officially implemented.
• To help you better access all of your characters, we are holding a special sale on the Extra Character Slot Coupon. Players can purchase an Extra Character Slot Coupon for a discounted price of 99 NX after the maintenance ends on August 28th. The sale will last until January 29, 2020.

If a player has unused character slots that exceed 50, would they automatically have 50 slots open after the merges?

• New worlds will have 8 free characters slots by default, just like other worlds. If a player has 8 default character slots open for all Alliance worlds, this player will still have 8 free slots in the new world.
• If a player has 8 default character slots for all Alliance worlds and also has 10 additional slots that were opened by using character slot coupons, this player will have 18 slots open in the new world.

How many characters can I delete per day?

• From the start of the world merge until January 2020, the daily limit for deleting characters will be raised from 5 to 10. 

How will Legions be affected?

• The Legion Blocks and Presets previously set will be reset in new worlds.

Will this affect my guild?

• Guild names are unique per world, which means when several worlds enter into a world merge, there may be some duplicate guild names.
  
• If there are any overlapping guild names, they will be renamed automatically by adding some random characters during the maintenance on August 28. The guild name should not exceed 12 characters in length. If your guild or guild alliance name was longer than this, it will be shortened to 12 characters. Guild and guild alliance leaders who were affected by the duplicated names will see a pop-up when they log in to MapleStory. This pop-up will allow the leader to change the name of the guild or guild alliance. Only the leader will receive the pop-up and this pop-up will be available from August 29 to January 2020. If the leader of your guild or guild alliance is no longer active in MapleStory, you should contact Customer Support. 
  
• Guild and guild alliance creation will be blocked from August 28 to September 8. You will not be able to create new guilds or guild alliances during this time.
• As of August 1, we began temporarily checking any new guild names against the guild names in all merged worlds until we have the maintenance on August 28. This is to minimize the number of potential guilds with the same name in the new worlds.

How will this affect rankings?

• The World Rankings will be re-calculated according to the rankings after the merge. 
• The current ranking records for Mu Lung Dojo, Dream Defender, and Legion will be reset. It will be re-calculated the following week after it goes live.

What will happen to things that are shared across characters on a world, such as shared storage, Cash Shop, Monster Collection, and link skills?

• When exceeding the max meso value for Storage Room, the total amount of mesos in storage will be added together to a total of 29,999,999,999 mesos in Storage Room. Players are highly advised to move the exceeding mesos in the storage to the characters that they will keep so they can easily track their mesos. The exceeding mesos will be given separately as coins through the Gift Drop.
• When exceeding the max number of items in the Storage Room, the number of Storage Room slots in each world will be added up, only up to 128 max. Items exceeding the limit will be hidden, and these items can be displayed when withdrawing items from the slots. The players in these merges who have a large amount of items in storage are highly advised to clean up their items so they can access all their items with ease after the world merge is implemented. 
• If exceeding Storage slots have been purchased through the Cash Shop, players will be compensated accordingly. Please see below for the detailed compensation plan for the exceeding slots that have been purchased.
  
• When exceeding the max number of Cash Inventory items, items exceeding a certain amount will be hidden; hidden items will be displayed when a player withdraws the existing items.
• When exceeding the max number of Auction House slots, items exceeding a certain amount will be hidden; hidden items will be displayed when a player withdraws the existing items. If the players exceed the Buy and Sell slots, they'll have to move the exceeding items to the inventory to be able to buy and sell again.
  

How will players who have excess purchased character slots and Storage slots get refunded?

• Character Slot Expansion Coupon: Since the default number of free slots is 8, if the number of character slots that a player has is more than 50 (including 8 free slots), this player will get refunded in Maple Points for the exceeded amount.
• Storage Slot Expansion Coupon: Since the default number of free slots is 4, if the number of Storage slots that a player has is more than 128 (including the free slots), this player will get refunded in Maple Points for the exceeded amount.
• For example, If a player has exceeded the slot number by 10 and purchased 5, they will get refunded for 5 coupons with Maple Points. If they’ve exceeded by 10 and purchased 15, they will get refunded for 10 coupons with Maple Points.

Will the Maple Rewards Shop purchase limit be reset with the world merges?

• The Maple Rewards Shop purchase limit will not be reset with the world merges. The reset will take place with the start of the next new month following the merges.
• For August, players will only be able to purchase Maple Rewards Shop items within the monthly limit by August 27, when the world merge maintenance begins. The Maple Rewards Shop will be closed from August 28 until September 1. We recommend that players purchase all items they need before the world merge update begins.

Other notes:

• Game information that is updated regularly will be reset.
• Meso Donation King rankings will be re-calculated into Top 5 rankings based on the merged world.
• The Character display order will be reset.
• Link Skill information will be reset.
• Due to the complexity of account-shared quests, there is a small chance that some quest progression may not be completely transferred during the merge. 

We hope these changes will allow players on the new merged worlds to participate in more community activities than ever before. If you have questions that aren’t answered in the FAQ above, feel free to post in our forums thread here. We’ll try to answer as many as we can.