Surely most of us are aware of the recent fourth job implementation and the numerous amount of issues that came with it.
The response from Studio/WP is nothing to write home about and it is in fact some of the poor management of the issue that got me really angry. I thought about it a lot and came to the conclusion that I don't think anyone in Studio/WP even understand what has happened so let's go over this.
The Root of the Problem
The root of the problem is obviously the fourth job implementation but there's a multitude of issue before this was even a decision to be done.
Online game revenues for the second quarter of 2023 were KRW 17,025 million (US$ 12,919 thousand), representing a 25.0% decrease QoQ from KRW 22,696 million and a 31.4% decrease YoY from KRW 24,827 million.
The decrease QoQ was mainly attributable to decreased revenues from Ragnarok Online in Taiwan, Thailand and Japan.
Such decrease was partially offset by increased revenue from Ragnarok Online in United States.
The decrease YoY was largely due to decreased revenues from Ragnarok Online in Taiwan, Thailand, Philippines, Singapore and Malaysia.
Based on a recent report it is not hard to deduce that Studio is trying to capitalize on the increased revenue from iRO.
The implementation was potentially rushed but more importantly many of iRO custom features were simply overwritten. (Seriously does no one know how to version control?)
The features overwritten are as follows and not limited to:
- 3rd job quest requiring Magic Stone and several job change quest is broken
- VIP is no longer nullifying zeny cost for Rebirth
- 15 default available Character Slots are now reduced to 9 Character Slots
- Refine Certificate System was changed and no longer accepting Certificates from Cash item
All the above leads me to think that there is very little if not zero coordination between Studio and WP.
The Many More Problems That Came After
We all know the server's been acting like garbage and hardly shows any sign of life after the updates.
First Issue: The Great Offline Vending
All the server issue did in the end result in the Great Offline Vending Issue.
tldr; items/zeny in offline vender were not returned to players and many have to be retrieved via Code Redeemer, end of story right? Hardly.
Many of the players, myself included were able to retrieve our item at a later date via RODEX after the vending system finally timed out, and on top of that we were able to retrieve another copy of the items via Code Redeemer. This was limited to items that was not refined, carded or enchanted.
So yes, the management effectively legally duplicated our items. This in particular benefited the richest of the rich that would leave their items on 20+ of their offline vends.
On top of all this, many still did not get their zeny returned.
Second Issue: +10 -> +11 Refine Change
Now I understand why this need to be changed but the way this was done was just horrid.
Right away there was no communication because obviously there's no coordination between Studio and WP.
Then let me explain, this "band-aid" fix was put in before I even started playing iRO, the said fix has influenced or "corrupted" the entire market for so long that we have an incomparable surplus of highly refined gears compared to other servers.
+20 Gears existed in iRO solely thanks to this. Taking this away basically meant that whoever that holds these +15~+20 gears will have their worth grow exponentially because no one will be able to achieve these refine levels under any normal circumstances anymore.
Studio/WP's responses to this is well,
I do find it hard to believe as well but again, you will adapted to it since it's not a "feature"
Hardly aware of the effect this change meant.
There needs to be something put in place in the very least for this transition.
Third Issue: Why This Version of Fourth Job
I can only refer to twRO as that's the only other server that has received fourth job outside of kRO (jRO doesn't count, they customize everything)
To start off, the first version of fourth job has only received negative feedback in kRO, studio understood that and implemented the rebalanced version in twRO.
The first version of the fourth job is basically just "3rd job+" with more bonus stats and buffs. The rebalance fixed some of the issue and most of the skills has at least became borderline usable.
I simply cannot understand why. Did someone in Studio try to rush this whole update trying to capitalize on "the slight increase of revenue" from iRO?
Either way Studio thought this was a good idea and Trouveres still have to climb Thanatos Tower twice because Studio said so, which leads to my next issue.
Fourth Issue: Skipped Content?
I'm aware that Studio/WP said "we'll catch up to these skipped content" but exactly how long do we have to wait?
To start off, Merchant/Blacksmith skills were forgotten for the longest time and I generally think this was only fixed because Studio does not know how to version control.
Now besides the commonly mentioned content such as Illusion Dungeons, Glast Heim Challenge Mode or EDDA Biolab, there are some things that's been missing for a long time.
The Green Aura Update was not fully implemented.
The Green Aura Update was supposed to introduce several new MVP etc drops and most importantly the Mysterious Combination Bundle, this never got brought up and holds a lot of value to gameplay
Secondly our Eden Para Market is a ThRO copy, which is missing a lot of items from the kRO version.
Fifth Issue: Compensation?
It's probably nothing exciting but you said it so I'm holding you up to your words
Conclusion and My Concerns
I think it's easy to deduce that I'm rather angry about the way Studio/WP is handling the situation and namely this is about the general economy.
The turn of events lead me to think that Studio/WP is fine letting the rich get richer and are completely fine letting it stay that way.
Edited by DrowsyCate, 16 October 2023 - 09:34 AM.
