The problem with RO

The fact that RO is basically dead is no news to anyone. The game has been dying through the last years, reaching unprecedented low player counts, but why?

 

Warpportal and gravity have a huge part on the dead server, since content updates are definetly rare. We get new OCP items every month, no exception. However, we almost never get new content, and when we do, its either incomplete or bugged.

We have been stuck in the same spotlight area for months, and we even have an excuse to have maintenances every other week, insted of every week as it used to be.

 

Besides that, there is no incentive for new players to get in the game. Zeny farming is excruciating for new players, basic OCP items such as HBP (so you can kill and greed loot on TI) are expensive AF considering that they havent returned on a box for a while, and killing MVPS is harder than ever due to green aura, but give no rewards to reflect the new difficulty. 

Of course more late game players still destroy mvps as easily as they used to, but now new players cant even dream of killing those. And even when they do, MVPs do not drop the new rewards they should, like crafting recipes for some really good items.

 

On the other hand, players also have a huge part on dead servers. RO is filled with people trying to take advantage on you. As an example, we have TI zeny farming, where ppl will greed your loot even if they clearly see you are collecting it while trying to survive/kill, simply because they can use "greed" while you have to collect stuff by hand. Of course there are a lot of players keen on helpin others, but the majority of RO's player base are know-it-all that will most definetly not help you, complain about the server actual conditions, but be happy when we get new OCP items instead of content to play.

 

Warpportal need to revamp the game quickly, or it will simply die with people either migrating to other non-oficial servers, or going to other games. Some solutions would be:
- revamping the cash shop: Add some basic items to help new players on the cash shop, with no RNG attached to it.

- getting some real new content on a regular basis: update the game more often and give us non-bugged and complete content, not half of what it should really be.

- have an effective GM team to avoid player toxicity and ill-mannered activities: maps with good loots are filled with people using macros to kill - greed - teleport - repeat. Why tf did you guys remove botting to allow this?

- stop shoving OCPs and Kachuas down our throat and focus on making the game better, instead of trying to milk every lat penny before closing the game.

 

Unless WP and Gravity start taking some measures to keep this game alive, RO will be oficially dead in no time.

 

 

One of the fairest observations.

Though keep bringing in OCPs. Then lower the rates further to curb the supply. Might as well make them account bound too.

Either they keep pumping out OCP's, Costume Eggs and Kachua's or we pay a monthly subscription. We cant expect WP to keep the doors open with just hopes and dreams lol! It may just be a game to us but to them its a business, they need to keep the lights on somehow.

Either they keep pumping out OCP's, Costume Eggs and Kachua's or we pay a monthly subscription. We cant expect WP to keep the doors open with just hopes and dreams lol! It may just be a game to us but to them its a business, they need to keep the lights on somehow.

Never told them to stop selling cash items... Just to do it in a better way, and also give us content, instead of just OCPs after OCPs.

Never told them to stop selling cash items... Just to do it in a better way, and also give us content, instead of just OCPs after OCPs.

 

I think they don't have a choice with pumping out OCP's since they need the revenue to pay for Gravity updates and for their staff's salaries. The whole OCP thing originated in Japan when they took off the subscription system and moved on to the gacha system known commonly as the scroll system. When Gravity saw that this was generating more income than subscriptions, they implemented it to all other official servers moving forward even revamping kRO with this influence.

 

I think if WP could remove the OCP's and make a decent living with subscriptions they would, but the revenue stream would be too slow and therefore we'd get updates twice as long as we are getting now. And its already taking ages. 

 

Also the fact that not everyone is willing to pay up a monthly subscription since not everyone is as invested in the game as others so they'll probably see a dip in revenue if they do go the subscription route.

 

I used to play in a server where they kept pumping out content after content just to keep players happy. They eventually ran out of content before the server could go pre-renewal that they started modifying renewal gear to suite trans jobs. We had einbech weapons that were for level 99 instead of level 200. OGH had a minimum level requirement of 90 instead of 130. They basically took almost all renewal OCPs and modified them for trans just coz they needed more content. And because so many items were editted instead of getting the chance to be merged to a different official server, they couldn't do it since so much was modified. They ended up having to shut down the server.

 

WP need to be transparent with us. Players dont like to be left in the dark. They should at least tell us whats going on or what they need because I believe the community is willing to support if the goal is getting new updates in. I dont mind spending money to get OCP if the contents are good.

Edited by therevengeofnico, 02 August 2022 - 11:11 AM.

I think they don't have a choice with pumping out OCP's since they need the revenue to pay for Gravity updates and for their staff's salaries. The whole OCP thing originated in Japan when they took off the subscription system and moved on to the gacha system known commonly as the scroll system. When Gravity saw that this was generating more income than subscriptions, they implemented it to all other official servers moving forward even revamping kRO with this influence.

 

I think if WP could remove the OCP's and make a decent living with subscriptions they would, but the revenue stream would be too slow and therefore we'd get updates twice as long as we are getting now. And its already taking ages. 

 

Also the fact that not everyone is willing to pay up a monthly subscription since not everyone is as invested in the game as others so they'll probably see a dip in revenue if they do go the subscription route.

 

I used to play in a server where they kept pumping out content after content just to keep players happy. They eventually ran out of content before the server could go pre-renewal that they started modifying renewal gear to suite trans jobs. We had einbech weapons that were for level 99 instead of level 200. OGH had a minimum level requirement of 90 instead of 130. They basically took almost all renewal OCPs and modified them for trans just coz they needed more content. And because so many items were editted instead of getting the chance to be merged to a different official server, they couldn't do it since so much was modified. They ended up having to shut down the server.

 

WP need to be transparent with us. Players dont like to be left in the dark. They should at least tell us whats going on or what they need because I believe the community is willing to support if the goal is getting new updates in. I dont mind spending money to get OCP if the contents are good.

Hi, I have shared as much as I currently can about the upcoming updates and the weekly on goings here: https://forums.warpp...k-july-29-2022/

There will be another post at the end of the week. Please note that we try not to share as far out as the full year to because sometimes schedules change. 

Hi, I have shared as much as I currently can about the upcoming updates and the weekly on goings here: https://forums.warpp...k-july-29-2022/

There will be another post at the end of the week. Please note that we try not to share as far out as the full year to because sometimes schedules change. 

 

Thanks Camp. We appreciate your weekly updates and I'm particularly excited for the big updates from Q3 onwards.

 

The question is, what do you guys need from your community (us as players). I know the question is quite broad and can be taken many ways but, is budget something you guys can freely discuss in terms of for example reaching budget goals to pay for further updates from Gravity?

 

I know a lot of players expect great service but dont really want to pay for it you know? Although there may be few who are invested in the game, what we're ultimately looking at is how can we as players help you guys make the game better? Let's say things as easy as lightening the load of beta testing for certain bugs for you guys and you just have to collate the data later. Even a handful of volunteers to beta test the new world you guys have been planning?

 

There may be some opportunity for your community to take part in improving the game without having to overlap or bypass what CMs do? 

the problem you listed is not on WP hand to solve, its all tied back to kRO the original developer,

 

first of all RO is not a newbie friendly game, even in original county, the booster event doesnt really help bring new player to get hooked on the game,

the game stay STALE forever unless kRO revamp everything to its core, the gameplay, the reward, the exp, the refining and etc etc. ( kRO already done it with RO:ZERO but find it yourself about the zero current status)

 

the game core is too old compare to new MMO to hooked new gen to play, unless someone let their child/grandchild know about this kind of game exist..

then who still in the game, yes you the older gen, the one found this gem, the one of a kind game of it era.. 

 

basically the game will stay same, and keep same...
just take a look how MS from shady company like nexon still strive top10 most played mmo in korea until this day..

how old again is MS ? how long official RO gonna stay like this ?

the problem you listed is not on WP hand to solve, its all tied back to kRO the original developer,

first of all RO is not a newbie friendly game, even in original county, the booster event doesnt really help bring new player to get hooked on the game,
the game stay STALE forever unless kRO revamp everything to its core, the gameplay, the reward, the exp, the refining and etc etc. ( kRO already done it with RO:ZERO but find it yourself about the zero current status)

the game core is too old compare to new MMO to hooked new gen to play, unless someone let their child/grandchild know about this kind of game exist..
then who still in the game, yes you the older gen, the one found this gem, the one of a kind game of it era..

basically the game will stay same, and keep same...
just take a look how MS from shady company like nexon still strive top10 most played mmo in korea until this day..
how old again is MS ? how long official RO gonna stay like this ?

This is true. Ragnarok through the years has become a game based on nostalgia for those players who experienced it back in 2002 or were gaming when it was still a big thing. The games popularity stems from older players who have experienced it the most. Most new gamers these days will not appreciate this and its a fact.

The reason why Gravity puts out more Ragnarok based mobile games is to stay relevant to changing times. Ultimately each player has their own experience with Ragnarok depending on their generation but it will always be the old players who will revert back to RO1 because of the nostalgia factor.

Those who usually strive in the game are the ones that have fully emersed themselves in the game and have invested time and even money. New players may find the game complicated and not beginner friendly but older players will always look at Ragnarok as home. It may be hard starting from scratch but the experience has thought older players to cope with the game and thats why they stay.

Why existing players are quitting?

1. Macros, KS players are everywhere:   Do you want to play with bots and trash players?

2. no challenging things to do:   ET? Lab5? Play new class?(How much zeny do we need?) 

3. Friends are quitted:   why would we come online if no one is there?

 

Why there are only a few new players?

1. Need huge amount of zeny for necessary gears:   else you cannot reach higher LV. or you want to spend 8hrs a day for maybe 2 years with eden gears to get to lv 170? 

2. Macros, KS players are everywhere:   Do you want to play with bot and trash players?

3. Farming is too hard, selling it is harder:   When I first play this game, I spent around 3 months hunting cards to get CVB and another 2-3 months to get enforcer shoe. Who wants to spend this much time on a game? Less players means selling farmed items is hard and it is harder if there are price manipulators which there are many of them.

4. OCP is not a solution for zeny:   It is hard to get rare gears from OCP and it is harder to sell it. Dont mentioned about selling trash items such as BSB, BB, etc. Market is fully manipulated, you cannot even sell a single item because they are lowering the price and force you to sell to their buyer shop. This is why they need RMT to get gears which is risk and necessary gears are overpriced. Do you want to spend 300 USD on a game especially an old game? You can buy 10 premium games with that amount of money. So why dont WP consider to make a OCP set for newbies which has mid-end gears which you can easily reach lv 150 or 170 for some or all classes? (but it will not help anyway. Most of RO players are 2000s kids, new gen players dont even know this game)

5. Too much effort to play this game as a offline mode:   Why you have to spend huge amount of money and time to play online game alone?(or with trash players?) 

Edited by NTSB, 02 August 2022 - 05:46 PM.

There are a couple things free-to-play players can take note of when it comes to gears. It baffles me how most players only know about the free eden gears and do little to no research at all in improving their quality of life in the game.

 

For one, the Noblesse, Imperial and Grace armor sets have already been released. These give F2P players a significant advantage in terms of leveling and increasing their damage even if its a step down from having OCPs. These armor sets scale from levels 100, 125 and 150 and are obtainable by finishing the episode 16.1, 16.2 and 17.1 quests and turning in the quest rewards. This is free so long as you have the time to finish the quests or do the dailies.

 

Before those came out, a couple notable quest gears would be the illusion gears, which honestly are meta with some builds today. Again these are completely free so long as you finish the quest and do the dailies to collect the quest rewards. 

 

Others you can add to the list are probably the Mora armor sets or Rickridge or even the Verus ones for Mechanics. There's also the Thanatos stuff from Ghost Palace in which some weapons are still meta with some mid-range gears. Not to mention the Nightmare Biolabs headgears. All these are completely free. You just have to take time to the quests and collect the rewards.

 

In the new updates, the EDDA weapons, Sin weapons and Automatic armor sets will definitely change the meta. All these? Farmable.

 

Granted there are heaps more that I haven't mentioned but...the game is literally littered with gear you can get for free. Players just need to put a bit more time and effort to get them.

 

We need to stop bad-mouthing OCP's as if we deserve to have them for free. The problem is some people expect OCP's to be affordable but when they're not, they dont look for another alternative. Like I mentioned above, there are so many free alternatives to OCPs that are available but people still find reason to moan just because they dont have access to it.

 

Its a process of elimination. You want to get stronger and you need OCP.

 

How do I get OCPs? Zeny.

 

How do I get Zeny? Farm.

 

How do I farm higher level maps for more zeny? Stronger gear.

 

How do I get stronger gear without spending on OCP's? The answers are all on what I've mentioned above.

 

Its not rocket science, just a bit of research. Everything you need to know can be found with a single google search.

 

Also to note. OCP sets for new players which may be condsidered mid-end gears are called OLD OCP's. Simply put, these OCP's are just outdated and have been considered obsolete. The free gears to scale up from level 100 like the Noblesse, Imperial and Grace sets are actually more effective.

 

I love it when people talk about Macro's like its devil-spawn. To be precise, running Macro's while AFK is illegal, this is considered automating gameplay and is a bannable offense. If you are running macro's you need to be in front of your pc for any messages to come in. Failure to reply to the message usually means you're afk or just arent paying attention and watching tiktok on your other screen or something. I dont really know how the process happens, maybe the GM pulls you away to see if your macro keeps going and you're still not responding. This was made legal because management doesn't want us to get carpal tunnel syndrome.

 

Some people have been in the server or have been playing the game longer than others. We cant expect everyone to be in equal standing. Why do people come into the game expecting themselves to be "the sh*t" only to realize some dude running a macro has better gear than them. Its not because they're better, its because they've invested more time than other people have and you cant take that away from them.

Edited by therevengeofnico, 02 August 2022 - 06:54 PM.

All of this wont matter, 10 years ago it'd have made a change, maybe (if they meant it serious, which gravity and warpportal never have), nowadays I dont think theres anything they can do to save PC RO in the west tbh. They'd have to do a 180 in their way of doing things, which they wont, and even then it'd probably not be enough, as RO is just too old and gaming has changed to much. Even if they did everything perfect from now on (which they wont, would be surprisiging if they did one thing good, havent seen it for a looooooooooong time) people wouldnt return, new server? Sure sure go ahead, another one for the pile of dead servers iRO has accumulated over the years. GMs didnt wanna talk with us, work with us, they made useless threads like "improve ragnarok online", let us post 30 pages of suggestions and ideas and what did they do with it? Nothing, ignore it, give us the impression they care while proving at the same time that they dont, at all. 

Edited by Netha, 02 August 2022 - 08:49 PM.

I think we also need someone to make an in-depth guide from start to finish with no form of help from players. This guide is then pinned or shown on the main Warpportal websites for new players to read or watch. Its not about not researching enough, trust me the google search algorithm can be junky and just gives you useless information. Also, other guides created by some rich players are very theoretical in nature, and when actual new players tried it, it is far harder than that.

Edited by Rebelling, 02 August 2022 - 10:44 PM.

I dont think it is about how to obtain free gears or saying bad thing about OCP. OCP are all good, it is one choice for players to quickly obtain mid-high end gears and it is the best way to support this server. We all understand that WP have to sell OCP to maintain their service. But the main point is why people is quitting and why there are less new player in server. This is why he said this server is dying

 

I started playing this game again in Y 2020. The reason was because I had free time staying home, this is my childhood game and there was a lot of players. If it was like this year, I would not start playing.

 

Last year, I met some new players which came to play 1-2 weeks and quitted because it was so hard for them to get gears and they didnt want to spend much money for playing a game. For who remained playing they borrowed friend gears, some sold KP to make zeny and some did RMT. This is a fact we all cannot deny.

 

Yes, there are many ways to obtain free gears but how much effort and time they need to put? They have to spend months to get Abusive Robe with good enchant or they can just sell some KP and buy a better armor and gears. 

 

And it comes back to a question, Why they need to spend much time/money on an old game to play with bots/ill-mannered players? With that amount of money, they can buy premium games.

 

All of new players I knew last year quitted now because reasons I mentioned. Nothing interesting to do in this game, no friends are playing and full of macro/trash players(KS, Abuse, etc.) 

What I've realized with doing the episode quests multiple times is that:

 

(1) Episode 16.1 - the final boss fight against Bijou is definitely doable in solo you just have to have a pet to tigger the room wide LOV then lure Bijou and the gang to the far end and just keep using the pet as a monster to trigger when fenrir shows up.

 

(2) Episode 16.2 - the quest is easy enough and doesnt require much gears but just takes too long and I usually spend the rest of the day logged off because of how draining it is.

 

(3) Episode 17.1 - this is no walk in the park. Everything else can be done with decent gears but killing EL1-A17T without proper gears is a challenge. This is usually when it helps to have friends who can lend you gears for the time being just to kill him off, and even with that he's not necessarily the easiest boss to kill. I wish WP would have a party option for this. Back in when I was playing LOTRO we had a system where we could call players who were willing to help us finish the quest. I believe this is where a lot of ungeared players hit the wall and prevent them from obtaining the Grace armor sets which, in my opinion, is awesome gear for the player who doesnt want to spend money on OCPs.

 

I'm not sure if this exists but a nice community maybe on WP or discord would be great where a collective of players pool together resources to help each other out in finishing these quests or simply helping people hunt for stuff they otherwise can't get themselves. I know this is a pipe-dream but with enough players willing to help and just enough mooching, it can be done.

 

This also helps those players who still love playing the game but find themselves in a situation where all their friends have moved on to much better and modern games. Some people just like the classics. 

 

I've actually done this for my small circle of friends where I let them borrow gear so they can finish whatever quest it is they need done or even farming for them because it gives me a reason to emerse myself more in the game without getting bored. 

 

Its true that some guides we find online especially on youtube may seem easy if you're fully geared but would be impossible if your socks dont even match (if you know what i mean).

 

If people do lend their gears, screenshots need to be made of the conversation where Player A lends items to Player B. If Player B doesnt return the items, Player A has the option to file a report to the GMs and get their gear back and getting Player B banned. Although not everyone wants to subject themselves to the hassle of having to go through a WP ticket just to resolve something, there will be players who wont mind so long as they get the chance to help people.

 

Personally I would rather not subject myself to that type of hassle but I'm willing to incur the risk to help the community. Now if 10 people do this that means 10 other people can finish their quests and get decently geared with the Grace armor set. The aim isn't just helping the community grow but also giving people a reason to stay. I've tested the Grace sets myself and with a decent weapon like the OS weapons or even the Thanatos ones, you could do some damage. Then by level 170 get the nightmare biolab headgears.

 

There just things that become impossible to ungeared players and I feel that if WP or Gravity doesnt make any changes like they probably never will, its up to those who want the community to flourish to take things into their own hands. Yes this poses risk but so long as you have all your screenshots or videos of the conversation and transaction, WP wont hesitate to get you your gear back.

 

This is also great for people without friends in game. 

Edited by therevengeofnico, 06 August 2022 - 04:13 PM.

I know there are some nice people in this game that help(d) newbies, but lets be honest here, the largest part of the community is a competetive to the point of being toxic as fudge, large parts of people, even in this forum, always fought against stuff that made the entry into this game easier, BECAUSE THEY HAD TO SUFFER AND GRIND FOR YEARS TOO TO BE WHERE THEY ARE SO EVERYONE ELSE HAS TO AS WELL", welp, those kinds of elitists had a large part in killing of this game and I hope they enjoy their worthless BiS gear they wasted 1 1/2 decades of their life on, not to mention the thousands of bucks. (yeye noone payd money, all self grinded blablabla, for some thats true, for most its not.)

Lending gear? Either to people you know very well, or you will only lend out crap youre willing to lose, which wont help newbies enough to make them grind for years, for a game thats pretty much dead, a community that does 90% of the content alone, if at all. Idk what theyd grind for years and years, and the grind process isnt even remotely fun, mostly frustrating. RO needs to be completely rebuild, the whole system of selling broken gear for real cash that lets you solo boring content thats neither fun nor has stuff worth grinding for is a dead end, the game has gone downhill since renewal came out, so many terrible mechanics implemented, from exp gain to the way classes were designed (lets give everyone an Aoe that clears screens yay!), to the fact that so much of their "new" content is just recoloured old content, they dont even bother to change the drops and let them drop the same crap the base monsters did 20 years ago. If not even gravity or WP cares about this game, why would people that could play stuff like elden ring instead of this? Would be a lot cheaper too, even if you dont own a PS5 yet.

Thanks Camp. We appreciate your weekly updates and I'm particularly excited for the big updates from Q3 onwards.

 

The question is, what do you guys need from your community (us as players). I know the question is quite broad and can be taken many ways but, is budget something you guys can freely discuss in terms of for example reaching budget goals to pay for further updates from Gravity?

 

I know a lot of players expect great service but dont really want to pay for it you know? Although there may be few who are invested in the game, what we're ultimately looking at is how can we as players help you guys make the game better? Let's say things as easy as lightening the load of beta testing for certain bugs for you guys and you just have to collate the data later. Even a handful of volunteers to beta test the new world you guys have been planning?

 

There may be some opportunity for your community to take part in improving the game without having to overlap or bypass what CMs do? 

 

This. It feels like overtime the player base feels like the enemy of management, and vice-versa (at least I've gotten that impression). iRO has a small, tight community, so it would make sense to utilize it more like this. The first thing I thought of was bring back Sakray before implementing a significant adjustment or update to the main server.

I always want to donate items to help new players have a much easier time to settle down in this old as heck server But as mentioned, there are always toxic greedy competitive players who just pretend to be new players just to save couple hundreds zeny.

I have my own take on things. It might not be the "popular consensus", but this is how I feel:

 

In order to combat the gap between new and/or casual players and established players, there's been several things put in. From Eden group equipment quests, Jumping Janeway, booster characters, etc. These involve people doing a quest and getting EXP and/or level jumps and (with the exception of Janeway), decent equipment you can use into third class. Problem is that alts are the characters people use these features on. Not newer players. If a newer player did use them, they might get pretty far, but they'd have no zeny to do anything with.

 

How long has the Homeward Bound EXP rates been in? So long that it seems like normal rates. Now, if/when it gets removed, it'll seem like a lifetime between levels. Spooky Machine would be good for newer players... if we had any. It's just being used by people like myself to hoard ygg seeds (which the price has dropped for), EMBs (so I don't have to actually PAY for VIP in order to access my second storage and Overlook), and for the prize medals. The costumes would bring in a little zeny, but that's about it. Oh, and not to mention that it SEEMS like people use bots to exploit it. Not making accusations, just saying...

 

It's true that WP has their hands tied in most of the things they're allowed to do. But one of the things I like doing are the random quests. Some of them are worth doing and have very good rewards. However, some aren't worth the time, and actually require using your own resources to complete, with nothing to show for it. I personally would like to see the rewards revamped, and even some zeny being given out to do some of these quests. Getting a mil for completing The Sign Quest would be awesome for the amount of work you gotta do just gathering the material (or to recoup your losses on items you spend your zeny on buying), but wouldn't be so much that it would break the economy. It might give people something to look forward to doing instead of just grinding.

 

Speaking of grinding, how about adjusting the EXP in different areas? Places like Nif are only good for one thing- MVPs. No one really goes into the Prontera Culverts except to kill GTB. How about adjusting the exp for some mobs to make other places viable for leveling? Variety is nice.

 

I also remember when the GMs would give stuff away, both in-game and in their newsletter. I don't know. To me, it just seems like the game lost its vision from back in the pre-renewal days. Money replaced passion, people preferring EZ mode, and apparently, Koreans wear everything on their heads including ice cream. The game just doesn't seem like it's where it should be.

 

TL;DR: Too much Compensation/freebees, not enough rewards.

What ppls want is the consistency of providing in-game updates just like kRO did. Giving ppls big update once/twice a year then ppls wait another months long to get another update is a big slap in the ppls face. You feel me.

Can't have this thread without someone like me stating the obvious.

The problem with RO is Renewal.

 

Enjoy o/

This. It feels like overtime the player base feels like the enemy of management, and vice-versa (at least I've gotten that impression). iRO has a small, tight community, so it would make sense to utilize it more like this. The first thing I thought of was bring back Sakray before implementing a significant adjustment or update to the main server.

 

Yeah man this also works for those players who are already bored and have nothing to do anymore. I'm guilty of this. I log in, get my 30min bbg for 5 badges, do CLab, YSF, GMT then Faceworm and log out. Having to help beta testing will breathe new life into players who have found themselves in a stagnant situation. 

 

The community is willing to help, WP should utilize us. Because at the end of the day, any bugs found or any changes made are done through the eyes of the players who will be dealing with them on the daily. Its literally Q&A for free lol

 

I always want to donate items to help new players have a much easier time to settle down in this old as heck server But as mentioned, there are always toxic greedy competitive players who just pretend to be new players just to save couple hundreds zeny.

 

This is so true. This is why I stopped giving stuff out to just anyone. Its unfair for the newbies or even the returning player with nothing. But also, gone are the days where people are appreciative of the items you give them out of charity. There was this one dude who came up to me and asked me for some stuff so i gave him a bunch then he turns around and gives me a list of ocps he needs and says if i had any spare lying around. I was like wtf man. He had like Little Garden on the list lol. All those gear I gave hime would've been of better use if I gave it to someone who actually needed it lol!

 

I have my own take on things. It might not be the "popular consensus", but this is how I feel:

 

In order to combat the gap between new and/or casual players and established players, there's been several things put in. From Eden group equipment quests, Jumping Janeway, booster characters, etc. These involve people doing a quest and getting EXP and/or level jumps and (with the exception of Janeway), decent equipment you can use into third class. Problem is that alts are the characters people use these features on. Not newer players. If a newer player did use them, they might get pretty far, but they'd have no zeny to do anything with.

 

How long has the Homeward Bound EXP rates been in? So long that it seems like normal rates. Now, if/when it gets removed, it'll seem like a lifetime between levels. Spooky Machine would be good for newer players... if we had any. It's just being used by people like myself to hoard ygg seeds (which the price has dropped for), EMBs (so I don't have to actually PAY for VIP in order to access my second storage and Overlook), and for the prize medals. The costumes would bring in a little zeny, but that's about it. Oh, and not to mention that it SEEMS like people use bots to exploit it. Not making accusations, just saying...

 

It's true that WP has their hands tied in most of the things they're allowed to do. But one of the things I like doing are the random quests. Some of them are worth doing and have very good rewards. However, some aren't worth the time, and actually require using your own resources to complete, with nothing to show for it. I personally would like to see the rewards revamped, and even some zeny being given out to do some of these quests. Getting a mil for completing The Sign Quest would be awesome for the amount of work you gotta do just gathering the material (or to recoup your losses on items you spend your zeny on buying), but wouldn't be so much that it would break the economy. It might give people something to look forward to doing instead of just grinding.

 

Speaking of grinding, how about adjusting the EXP in different areas? Places like Nif are only good for one thing- MVPs. No one really goes into the Prontera Culverts except to kill GTB. How about adjusting the exp for some mobs to make other places viable for leveling? Variety is nice.

 

I also remember when the GMs would give stuff away, both in-game and in their newsletter. I don't know. To me, it just seems like the game lost its vision from back in the pre-renewal days. Money replaced passion, people preferring EZ mode, and apparently, Koreans wear everything on their heads including ice cream. The game just doesn't seem like it's where it should be.

 

TL;DR: Too much Compensation/freebees, not enough rewards.

 

Oh man that last part hit the nail. Ragnarok losing its vision from back in pre-renewal. 

 

Although some may argue that they had to go renewal because there would be no sense in keep it at pre renewal and not moving on the 3rd classes and eventually fourth classes but still, the sense of adventure we had back in the old days is so different compared to what it is now.

 

Maybe its the changing times. With everything around us being done so quick and easy, somehow it may have influenced how gameplay has become through the years. Things like same day delivery or fast food can probably be tied to how we expect games to run nowadays. Even in the aspect of leveling. Back then I didnt mind leveling slowly so long as I'm having fun doing it. Nowadays its like I feel i need to hit 3rd job in a day or else I'm doing it too slow you know? I guess it was just simpler times back then and things didnt happen as quick as they do now.

 

Money replacing passion really strikes me since back then they poured so much into the game. You knew with the quality of content they came out with that they were determined to make it work. Eventually I guess when the money kept rolling in they probably thought the players will pay for anything they came up with. And even looking at things now for us being 12-year olds with credit cards, they just milked the nostalgia out of us scroll after scoll. The reason most of us stay is because Ragnarok was and is "THE GAME" to us because it played a huge part in our childhood, but eventually our love for the game wont be enough and Gravity needs to get back to how they were a decade ago and do what they did but this time with more passion lol.

 

What ppls want is the consistency of providing in-game updates just like kRO did. Giving ppls big update once/twice a year then ppls wait another months long to get another update is a big slap in the ppls face. You feel me.

 

Unfortunately, Gravity will always have kRO as priority, next jRO and after that whatever. We can hope that they notice us but most of the time they leave servers apart from kRO and jRO in the backburner for updates. It's sad but it's how things are really. The reason why Gravity is also putting a bit of their attention to other servers is because of the revenue they generate. ThRO is probably one of the most profitable servers they have outside of their big two. They also have quite the playerbase. That being said, the money they get from WP is a smidge compared to other servers which is why we're always last on the list. 

 

Also to note that WP has to pay Gravity for these updates. People can complain about expensive OCPs or Kachua's or Costume Eggs but at the end of the day, the money WP generates from the cash shop pays to keep the server up and pays for the updates we're getting. 

 

I'm not saying throw more money at WP but understand that there's only a handful of people spending heavily on the cash shop especially with the size of the playerbase and they have to set aside a portion of that revenue to pay for future updates and the rest go back into the business paying for staff salaries. 

 

Almost everyone wants lightning fast updates so we can be on par with kRO or even jRO but only 1% want to pay for it. The rest are just there for a free ride yet they still keep running their mouths complaining.

 

I know there are some nice people in this game that help(d) newbies, but lets be honest here, the largest part of the community is a competetive to the point of being toxic as fudge, large parts of people, even in this forum, always fought against stuff that made the entry into this game easier, BECAUSE THEY HAD TO SUFFER AND GRIND FOR YEARS TOO TO BE WHERE THEY ARE SO EVERYONE ELSE HAS TO AS WELL", welp, those kinds of elitists had a large part in killing of this game and I hope they enjoy their worthless BiS gear they wasted 1 1/2 decades of their life on, not to mention the thousands of bucks. (yeye noone payd money, all self grinded blablabla, for some thats true, for most its not.)

Lending gear? Either to people you know very well, or you will only lend out crap youre willing to lose, which wont help newbies enough to make them grind for years, for a game thats pretty much dead, a community that does 90% of the content alone, if at all. Idk what theyd grind for years and years, and the grind process isnt even remotely fun, mostly frustrating. RO needs to be completely rebuild, the whole system of selling broken gear for real cash that lets you solo boring content thats neither fun nor has stuff worth grinding for is a dead end, the game has gone downhill since renewal came out, so many terrible mechanics implemented, from exp gain to the way classes were designed (lets give everyone an Aoe that clears screens yay!), to the fact that so much of their "new" content is just recoloured old content, they dont even bother to change the drops and let them drop the same crap the base monsters did 20 years ago. If not even gravity or WP cares about this game, why would people that could play stuff like elden ring instead of this? Would be a lot cheaper too, even if you dont own a PS5 yet.

 

Eventually the game had to go renewal just because of progression. Once all the classic and pre-renewal content had been squeezed out they needed to improve just like any other game. Eventually they had to develop new content and stronger monsters. There was no way for players to deal with that with the regular pre-renewal content let alone just being trans class. 

 

The problem with non-renewal servers is longevity. If a server doesnt go from classic to pre-renewal to renewal, whichever settings it gets stuck on they'll have to recycle the same content over and over and over again til they either change to renewal (which is unlikely) or they close.

 

I've seen this happen so many times. Classic and pre-renewal servers usually last between 2-3 years sometimes 4 but that's pushing it. If a classic server goes beyond 2years and a half you'll expect them to recycle content or even modify content. Same goes for pre-renewal but around the 3year to 3 and half year mark. Once they go down this rabbithole there's no turning back. A heavily modified server is as good as dead because there's no way you can move to renewal at this point. There are just too many anomalies. The modified content will not allow them to merge with another server or even switch to renewal because at this point, some renewal content had already been modified to fit classic or pre-renewal settings. Also if it does happen, modified renewal gear for classic or pre-renewal will be worthless once the settings change.

 

This is why WP had to close the trans server because it was either going to go renewal (which defeated the point because we already had Chaos and Thor hence they didnt do it) or close because the server content had already reached its max. They ended up giving players the option to merge into either Chaos or Thor with boosted characters (which I dunno what happened to those). The only reason they could was because the content was similar in terms of pre 3rd class chaos and thor. There were no overlapping modifiers.

 

WP had to switch to renewal or else they would've had to close the server. Everyone needs to understand that if the server doesnt move forward, it eventually dies.

To me, the most important thing to keep people here is new contents. You can give them new powerful gears every week, but if there are no new contents for people to use these amazing gears with, they're gonna get bored quickly. Like the upcoming update with only new costumes and new costume enchant box, I can see people got hyped and active like 3-4 days. After they get the stone they need, they may try it in a few old dungeons/maps, and then just go back to waiting mode.

 

Oh man that last part hit the nail. Ragnarok losing its vision from back in pre-renewal. 

 

Although some may argue that they had to go renewal because there would be no sense in keep it at pre renewal and not moving on the 3rd classes and eventually fourth classes but still, the sense of adventure we had back in the old days is so different compared to what it is now.

 

Maybe its the changing times. With everything around us being done so quick and easy, somehow it may have influenced how gameplay has become through the years. Things like same day delivery or fast food can probably be tied to how we expect games to run nowadays. Even in the aspect of leveling. Back then I didnt mind leveling slowly so long as I'm having fun doing it. Nowadays its like I feel i need to hit 3rd job in a day or else I'm doing it too slow you know? I guess it was just simpler times back then and things didnt happen as quick as they do now.

 

Money replacing passion really strikes me since back then they poured so much into the game. You knew with the quality of content they came out with that they were determined to make it work. Eventually I guess when the money kept rolling in they probably thought the players will pay for anything they came up with. And even looking at things now for us being 12-year olds with credit cards, they just milked the nostalgia out of us scroll after scoll. The reason most of us stay is because Ragnarok was and is "THE GAME" to us because it played a huge part in our childhood, but eventually our love for the game wont be enough and Gravity needs to get back to how they were a decade ago and do what they did but this time with more passion lol.

 

 

I couldn't agree more. The times are different. Hell, people can order and start watching a movie faster than it took me to rewind a VHS as a kid. Being a "keychain kid", I could find simple ways to occupy my mind for hours on end. Now, everyone is in a rush, and they need everything NOW. Idk. Me personally, even in these times, I'd prefer to level with friends than to ultra-power level to max level, then sit in South Pront wondering what's left to do besides WoE a couple times per week. But those people are gone. Maybe I should join them. *sigh*

 

Eventually the game had to go renewal just because of progression. Once all the classic and pre-renewal content had been squeezed out they needed to improve just like any other game. Eventually they had to develop new content and stronger monsters. There was no way for players to deal with that with the regular pre-renewal content let alone just being trans class. 

 

The problem with non-renewal servers is longevity. If a server doesnt go from classic to pre-renewal to renewal, whichever settings it gets stuck on they'll have to recycle the same content over and over and over again til they either change to renewal (which is unlikely) or they close.

 

I've seen this happen so many times. Classic and pre-renewal servers usually last between 2-3 years sometimes 4 but that's pushing it. If a classic server goes beyond 2years and a half you'll expect them to recycle content or even modify content. Same goes for pre-renewal but around the 3year to 3 and half year mark. Once they go down this rabbithole there's no turning back. A heavily modified server is as good as dead because there's no way you can move to renewal at this point. There are just too many anomalies. The modified content will not allow them to merge with another server or even switch to renewal because at this point, some renewal content had already been modified to fit classic or pre-renewal settings. Also if it does happen, modified renewal gear for classic or pre-renewal will be worthless once the settings change.

 

This is why WP had to close the trans server because it was either going to go renewal (which defeated the point because we already had Chaos and Thor hence they didnt do it) or close because the server content had already reached its max. They ended up giving players the option to merge into either Chaos or Thor with boosted characters (which I dunno what happened to those). The only reason they could was because the content was similar in terms of pre 3rd class chaos and thor. There were no overlapping modifiers.

 

WP had to switch to renewal or else they would've had to close the server. Everyone needs to understand that if the server doesnt move forward, it eventually dies.

 

Im not saying RO shouldve stoped to develop further, but renewal turned RO into a -_-show, 99% of the new changes were bad, I cant really recall a good one. The best I can think of was cutting the dumbest ideas like linking dropchance to your level, but there was nothing good in it, they butchered classes, they butchered stats, they butchered skills, made every class the same braindead press AoE to wipe screen class, and all was centered around implementing a cashshop that gives out the most broken items that are btter than the content that comes out for the next 5 years (if it comes out eventually). Renewal was created to shove a cashshop down our throat and it made RO so bad that noone wants to p2p for it anymore, the only ones keeping it afloat are people with low self control that burn thousands and thousands of dollars of this game that got them addicted, its similar to diablo immortal, a potentially good game is destroyed by greed and incompetence of the officials.