Ragnarok Online used to be really great and then gradually got worse even before renewal. With renewal it was then completely ruined.
There are only two things good about renewal:
- Client improvements (world map, NPC markers, HP bars)
- More maps & updates that keep the game interesting
What old RO did a lot better was what I could simply define as "balance", but of course there is a lot more to it.
Originally, RO was actually quite well balanced. All the monsters gave really well balanced exp and drop rewards. There wasn't really one monster alot better to kill than another one. Instead the best monsters to hunt did depend mostly on your class. Even the map spawns were well thought out so that all the maps were balanced. That meant you always had 30+ viable maps available
Then 2006 came that really changed the balance to the worse. A few selected monsters were strongly buffed in the exp they gave, but without increasing their atk stat at all (Spore, Wolf, Muka, ..., Isis) and then those buffed mobs got all their maps were many of them spawned on. In fact one thing was good about this update: After the update there was one map that was particularly good for each monster to hunt, so it actually made hunting cards more viable (let's be honest, the only reason they added that many Hunter Flies in Geffen Tower 1 was because there was no map for hunting them).
The big problem with that change was... instead of all maps being viable for leveling, now only a few selected ones became really good for leveling, while all the others will only be visited to hunt an item anymore. This of course also strongly affects the items that new players get. Nobody new player will get a Bigfoot Card / Poopoo Hat anymore simple because hunting Bigfoot isn't as effective as hunting Wolves anymore. Balance reduced.
But that wasn't enough. The next big "ruining" update was 11.3. While on the one hand they finally brought a dungeon that is challenging but not impossible for a normal player (I think Bio 3, Thor and New World were made too hard in pre-renewal), they also added something that completely ruined partying: Anubis.
Now suddenly all the Priests on the server instead of looking for someone to party with started to just level up on Anubis with TU (or even offensive Ygg Leaf using). Before it was fairly easy to find a Priest for party simply because Priests did depend on others, but not suddenly, it was hard to find a Priest and without a Priest, hardly any party setup is viable. Partying reduced.
But then... to top all of the other "ruining" they added renewal. It limited maps you can go to even further by putting that arbitrary exp/drop penalty on level difference. But what's worse about this change is: There is no challenging region anymore where you actually still get exp. Monster the same level than you are just too easy and you can kill them solo and even mob them. This put the final nail on the party coffin. Not to mention that 3rd classes are no only really horribly balanced, they also reduce the uniqueness of each class, making every class able to solo.
But hey, at least Anubis doesn't give 28000/22000 exp anymore! Let's add that to the pro list.
So now that I finally found a place to express my feelings, let's get back to the classic server...
The idea of a classic server itself isn't so bad, because renewal really ruined a lot. Gameplay-wise the classic server is superior in pretty much all aspects (except client improvements, see above). And just not having 3rd classes is a huge boost in class balance (which is also the reason why WoE is better).
On the other hand the lack of (non-bot) players is pretty frustrating.
But I think it's also that Classic just isn't advertised well enough. For a player new to RO you won't even explain the difference between the two servers on the main page. The classic server advertisement is only directed towards old RO players. Why not but the two servers in direct contrast with all its pros and cons?
Like:
"Renewal: More content, 3rd classes, easy to play, quest-driven progression, focused around soloing.
Classic: Only classic content, no 3rd classes, more challenging to play, grind-driven progression, stronger party focus."
Then everybody could just decide himself what he likes more.
But honestly, just keeping old episodes just because people liked the game better back then isn't really the solution.
The real solution would be to admit renewal did many things wrong and revert them.
I would start with completely removing any exp/drop penalties no matter how big the level difference is. Almost 100%.
But that doesn't work with the exp monsters give in renewal, what's needed is a complete rewrite of the exp that the different monsters give. The EXP:HP ratio should slowly increase the harder the monsters is. Simplified you start with 30:1 (Poring 60 HP - 2 EXP) and end up somewhere around 3:1 in endgame (???? 30000 HP - 10000 EXP). That way it is always worth partying up to fight harder monsters simply because the exp ratio is better on harder monsters.
It was beautiful how in pre-renewal every single monster exp stat was carefully "handwritten" (in renewal it's just almost always same for all monsters of the same level), but if that's too much work, at least work out some plausible formula for it. Something that restores the system of some monsters being good for base exp while other being good for job exp. Something that does not only consider HP and ATK but also things like element (undead monster generally had a lower EXP:HP ratio originally).
Next step would be to rewrite 3rd class skills so they are more individual and balanced.
And so on...
For now I'll stay on Classic!
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