Ragnarok Online

[Saint]

Bungee jump???? <_< well i am not surprised... i didn't look around the town at all. i just go for the dungeons. =/ my monk is now lvl 79. yet i think as soon as i hit 80 i am gonna try and get my Sage, Sin and Archer to lvl 70. =D

[Saint]

Well it is on the site now, so hopefully it won't be long. you can check out some info about the 'city of the dead' at the main site. (link provided). =D that is a cool looking town. *Click*

[Debitt]

Yes! FINALLY! Yes yes yes yes yes yes yes! XO <3!

[Saint]

did you guys know about the OBB Quest???? @o@ i stumbled across it while bumming around ROempire. its not too hard really. i wonder if it will still be there after Maint. i had wondered why OBBs had droped in vend value. this is why. the Sage that will make you an OBB is in Comodo near the west exit. he is in the water, named Old Man i think. just ask for wisdom and then advise on boyfriend/girlfriend. then keep talking till he gives you a list of items to bring. and just so you know... the one they give has an error. the actual amouts i will give you here. 10 Brigans, 15 Clam shell, 10 Crab shell and 50 Cyfars. Good luck you guys.

[MyrrhLynn]

Well since my account is still active and I have nothing left to Bittorrent download I'm officially playing again. Actually my merchant is vending as I type this. I was in CT level 3 earlier today. The experience in there is quite nice for my Wiz since it's so empty. Of course I do need to keep teleport handy because of those stupid books and chests. -_-

So how is everyone else's characters doing?

[Debitt]

I've parked my assassin at High Orc's. xD The experience isn't bad, as long as I don't get mobbed. *pets her fly wings*

[BishounenCookie]

I've broken the RO habit long ago, but here are some of my best memories in the game. Unfortunately I didn't take alot of screenshots and I'm a really bad screenshot-taker, but there are some interesting ones in here, including some that might make you gasp o_O

Yes, that is a Gold Bug MVP -- yes, I was a level 40-something acolyte.
Yes, the jellopies were picked up by hand, not bought.
Yes, that is a real assassin on iRO Chaos, that I leveled up by hand, the account still exists to my knowledge but I never financed it.
Vaelin is my IRL friend.

[Yusuke]

It's a fun game. The servers are just too crowded. I'm not gonna pay 12 bucks a month for crowded serves!

[Debitt]

...overcrowded servers? HA! try playing the Korean RO servers - they make iRO look like a ghost town. And if you want a less crowded server, DON'T play Chaos. *puts on the cap of a Loki patriot* =D Come over to Loki, there are less people and we're friendlier!

xD;; I've given my sin two axes before....slowest moving being EVER.

[BishounenCookie]

Well it used to be a lot better of a game. There are several big reasons for its decline. So here comes my grandpa-esque discourse... here is a bit of RO history for you. Some of you may be bored, some may find it interesting... still others might follow suit and reminisce empathetically.

Back in the original beta version, the game dynamics just made the game a little more fun than what it is today, even though the game is probably over twice as big as it was then. I don't want to say that it was "easier," but you could definitely feel a sense of satisfaction after spending much less (but still a ridiculously lot of) time pummeling semi-cute, outlandish creatures to death in rapid succession. The possibilities were alot broader for your typical mid-level player. And indeed, you can see my level 40ish acolyte above, MVPing Gold Bug. There were no guilds in the first beta, but I was in a perma-party during the entire first beta segment, and we did almost everything together--even moreso than guilds do nowadays. We did all kinds of things, from hunting Orc Hero (which I almost MVP'd ^_^) to sitting in our special spot in izlude, which is now inaccessible. It was that tiny garden type area on the north side of izlude, I think it had one bench. Another interesting area in izlude was the building farthest east, kind of vertically centered. That was the gathering place for the game's french speakers.

There are simply too many people playing RO nowadays. When i first started playing RO, there were under 1000 people on the server (we had only Chaos) at any given time. It was a fairly close-knit community, and you would hear alot of famous names repeated over and over if you did your social networking. Soujiro, the original Supernovice; Luna, the founder of the now-defunct RagnarokSource.com; L0cke, the level 99 theif: these are a few names that I can recall. And of course you had the Apez gang of hackers, who must've terrorized RO for years. Back in those days, anti-bot sentiment was strong and people opposed botting more fiercely than they even do nowadays. But for a period of time whose length I can't recall, Apez flunkies were a small minority. Those were the good times.

By the end of the first RO beta, the game was really going downhill. Players who had dedicated their lives to the game (less the basic responsibilities and life-sustaining activities, such as sleeping, eating, and work or school) were furious over some of the nerfs Gravity was imposing in order to tweak character balance. As the game went more mainstream, the influx of lame, mannerless kiddies, along with the Thais, only complicated and eventually destroyed RO's fairly pleasant social environment. iRO could have been a beautiful patchwork of all nationalities, but thanks to peoples' unwillingness to try to understand and get along with other people and cultures, the diversity only served to destroy iRO. Now, I can't talk about diversity in MMORPGs without mentioning FFXI, of course! But I'd like to point out that FFXI is a much different scenario. In FFXI, you have the Japanese, who basically keep to themselves and don't mingle with the Americans... which is to be expected of the Japanese, this is nothing surprising. On the other side of the world you've got the American userbase who practially worship the ground that the Japanese walk on. This is no surprise, either, since the American userbase is comprised mostly of sick, fervent, over-zealous, code-switching, un-American Japanophiles who never cease to make me cringe. I would not give any credit to these japanophiles for "broadening their horizons." It's more like they're shifting their horizons from one thing to another. FFXI isn't a truly multicultural game in my opinion, it's distinctly Japanese. It's only natural for blinded Japanophiles to fester in such places.

The big talk that was going around during the last days of the first beta was about the up-and-coming second beta, with advanced classes. The first beta was to be closed, and then the second beta was to be opened up some unspecified time afterwards. People speculated that it would only be down for a few days, or a week at most. But the entire summer went by without a word from Gravity. A few people resorted to playing the Japanese version, which was still in the first beta stage. I believe it was during this time that Gravity first instituted IP blocks to keep foreigners off the existing servers. Additionally, it was at almost the same time the first beta ended that the once-glorious RagnarokSource.com vanished. The website was dead, but many of the core members remained in an IRC channel on EsperNet up until sometime earlier this year when they moved to enterthegame to merge with a newer RO fansite.

Then there was the second beta. There isn't much I can say about the second beta, except that it was about the time that I realized RO was not fun anymore. My tightly-knit perma-party was rocked by complicated social affairs which I never really understood. I think most of them quit RO at that point, and I was just kind of left all alone. It was pretty emotional for me because I must've been playing with these people for the better part of a year, day in and day out, sharing the addiction. It was fun. And then all of a sudden it was just all over. I never met anyone on RO after that who I would consider "friend material," save a few people who I never really stayed in touch with. The game was pretty much overrun by jerks at this point.

Actually I lied, there are a few game-related things that I can remember about the second beta. We got to keep our characters from beta 1, but our levels were cut to 2/3 due to increased EXP requirements that came with the new game formulae. The game was just TOTALLY different from beta1. In beta1, my acolyte had perfectly rounded stats except for LUK, and he was a good, solid, and powerful character. As most of you know, this does not work in RO nowadays, especially for an acolyte! Also, you almost never saw a 2nd-class player. All eyes were on you if you were an advanced class in any town. It stayed this way for quite some time. One of my friends did achieve Huntress early on, though. The Sakkat Hat hack was also popular during this time. There are several different kinds of trunks - and you had to collect 300 of the most rare kind of trunk. But something was coded wrong, and it turns out that you could somehow get the NPC to accept any kind of trunk for the quest.

My addiction persisted for maybe another year after the loss of my friends. I'm too lazy to try and figure it out. The rest of my RO days were bland.

RO was a completely different game from the RO that you kids play nowadays. I think it sucks. :|

[Debitt]

I played first beta, and I personally prefer it now (though that could be because my old thief was a poorly built disaster). And Pay to Play is HEAVEN compared to second beta. But that's just me. I'm not complaining about the "lack of diversity" because in all honesty, I don't think it matters. I play with people from Canada, from Finland, from Malaysia, from South America, and I can't tell what country they're from unless I ask them - there is no glaring "diversity", just a user base that shares a common server and a common interest in gaming. I actually DISLIKE the people who go out of their way to annoy you by acting "diverse" (thoughts of the guy who kept following me going ">O Speak Spanish!" come to mind) - not to sound racist or anything, but the game IS in the English language, and people should at least make a concious effort to communicate with the larger part of the community.

[BishounenCookie]

I agree with you in some ways. I don't mind if the game isn't diverse. Although it really brings out peoples' true colors when you throw a bunch of nationalities together in one game with no moderation whatsoever. Things get really ugly, and people show their true colors. Such a pity that people can't get along, eh comrade?

As I recall it, iRO used to be called eRO, for "english." It was unspokenly designated to be the international server where "everyone else" (non-Japanese/Korean) would be dumped. Over time, Gravity seems to be chartering off the rights to serve RO to different nations, though, by cutting off various ethnic chunks from iRO. They are spreading it around the world. This seems to be their policy. Normally, you never hear of these little asian games outside of northeastern Asia and China--the companies' goals are mostly local to their own nation or surrounding asian countries. Gravity seems to have global domination in mind.

Look at what happened to Shining Lore. There are probably hundreds of various other little similar games that you never even hear about, probably because the companies who make them don't see non-asian people as a considerable market for these games. But somehow, there's just something about RO. It is a raging wildfire.

[MyrrhLynn]

Hummm interesting. I just started playing in June so I don't have old memories like you two. XD iRO is still the "dump place" even though they have eRO and pRO and all those other ones that doesn't mean you can't sign up for iRO. Actually I wish I was on eRO T_T from what I've heard the mods there work uber hard to kill the bots and make the game fun for everyone.

And I can only help but laugh when people say iRO is crowded cause I'm on Sakray. As nice as a close knit community is, having more people can be nice. Then you have more people getting rare items and selling them and more people buying the stuff you sell, and more people to level up with.

[Debitt]

From what I've heard oRO (Australia and Oceania) is one of the best servers for GM interactivity and such. I know people who have the GMs on their MSN buddy lists. That makes me jealous - I could just log on and say "Hey, think it would be fun to summon a couple Daddy Baphos in Prontera?" and BOOM there they are! /gg

xD; And I agree with MryrrhLynn - anyone who thinks iRO is crowded must be agoraphobic or something, because Sakray is pretty quiet.

[BishounenCookie]

You may say it's not crowded now, but it was a big problem for a long time. It's especially crowded in the eyes of someone who was used to playing with 500-1000 people. I remember for a long time you could hardly find a map where there was a comfortable player:monster ratio. Now that RO is bigger, I think the crowds are probably less intense than they once were, and I know they have increased the spawn rates since the earlier days.

I remember when iRO had more GM interaction. Christy used to talk to us all the time using the broadcast thing with the yellow text. I remember her showing up in random towns just to chat with people. I had a little chat with her, myself -- my name was "Funk Soul Brother." She said to me, "I like that song." and she started singing it. (well, typing.) Conversation ensued.

But after awhile I just stopped seeing or hearing about GMs.

[quote="MyrrhLynn"]Then you have more people getting rare items and selling them and more people buying the stuff you sell, and more people to level up with. ]

Wow, rares. I didn't get many of those. I was just another poor mid-level Priest in RO and recieved relatively few donations compared to my female counterparts.

When iRO switched from beta 2 to pay-to-play, I remember that right off the bat I didn't have any items except a knife and a cotton shirt, since they did an item wipe to start things off somewhat fresh. Suffice to say I justly felt insulted that they had equipped me with a knife. Here I was, a holy servant of God, forced against my will to wield a whetted weapon! To wield a sharp weapon is a blasphemy to the holy class.

After regaining my composure and making a blood-sacrifice of a random novice, I meandered off to Yo-Yo Jungle (a once popular place, nobody goes there anymore) to aimlessly whack a few things in hopes of earning a little something to replace part of my disconsolated equipment I once donned with pride and purpose. Today was my lucky day. After bludgeoning only a few Yo-Yos, out pops a Yo-Yo Card 1 ea.!! I scurried back to town hoping I could quickly pawn it off to a random merchant. Instead I ended up having to resort to the "S>Yo-Yo Card L/O AFK" method. But within a few minutes, a wizzie offered me 200k for it. Not knowing what to expect from the economy at such an early stage, I figured it was a decent sum of money anyways (and easily earned on my part) so I jumped on his offer. Two hundred thousand zeny easily furnished me with standard-issue Priestly equipment... and with some zeny to spare, too.

[MyrrhLynn]

recieved relatively few donations compared to my female counterparts.

OMGosh that pisses me off so much when people say that. Girls do not get random/more gifts then guys do. I don't know how that stupid rumor started but it sure as heck isn't true anymore. They had a huge thread on it as RO Empire. Only a few of the girls said they had ever gotten "gifts". With me personally yes I have gotten gifts but they are from my friends who I also give gifts too. Even Dancers (my sister has one) have stalker like people come up and talk to them, but they don't get random gifts. Not to mention the fact that I think 25% of all female sprites on iRO are actually being played by males.

[Debitt]

xD; Yeah, the ratio of gift to creepy stalker that the female sprites attract is seriously skewed. My brother's priestess has 3465364734 stalkers/"protectors" and the only gifts he's gotten are from me or his IRL friends.

[BishounenCookie]

Sorry that it pisses you off, but I see it happen :] It pisses me off too. It's no rumour by any means, it's a conclusion that I arrived at independently. I do think for myself, and I would hate to think that someone is suggesting otherwise.

Even my own best friend wouldn't go out of his way to help me out in RO.

Scenario: Rich fourteen year old knight, Sephiroth45988, crosses paths with KittyPriestess25254.

Sephie: here, I dunt need dis rare Bible I just found from an Evil Druid.
Kitty: Oh thank you soooo much!! *^_______________^*
Sephie: by the way wood u like 2 level 2gether
Sephie: ?
Kitty: sure

It's just what happens. Cram a bunch of young teen boys going through puberty into a game like this, add young anime-crazed teen girls, and there is bound to be some interesting chemistry going on.

Sadly, a number of people with ignoble intentions liked to play on this one. One incident that stands out in my mind is when this archer girl started whispering to me in broken English. She said that she was Japanese and was from jRO, but that the people in jRO are jerks, so she came to iRO instead. (???) She said she was lonely and wanted a boyfriend. But she had a price tag, too, which was a brand new bow and lots of arrows. I played along with it for a little while just for kicks, but other than that I don't remember how I responded.

I don't mean to complain that I didn't get my share of freebies or whatever, but I do mean to point out that priestesses were the more lucky ones, generally speaking. I was never quite as impressed by a "job 50 survivor" priestess as, maybe, a "job 45 survivor" priest. I have indeed played both male and female characters, you can see from my screenshots. I'm not pulling this stuff out of nowhere.

There may be more creepy stalker figures than pubescent teenagers now, but that's not how I remember it when I played.

At any rate, it was just a passing comment, not a central point. I was just hoping to put a smile on someone's face with my wonderful prose..

[Saint]

XD XD XD glad people are chatting again.

Also i know MyrrhLynn got a better set of equipment from me than Elric-kun did... so there is something to the girls get more. =P That was at the start to, when both of them were pretty much 'strangers' to me. Just fellow members of CAA that wanted to try out RO.

It just seems right to help a girl out... o_O but a guy.. you can give him a hand, but he needs to be a man and do it himself. XD

Alas, my opinion may not be poltically correct enough for the assertive ladies of today. =) my apologies.

Also, while I wasn’t an online person till prolly age 20 I did have some much younger teenage friends. And yes I can totally see, a <_< well... normal teen boy wanting to charm over a girl... and if he can’t in the real world a virtual one will work too. So I can see the case Cookie makes.

[Debitt]

*slaps Saint* you sexist pig! Just kidding. =P I think if you gave the guys stuff, their macho-ness would be offended. Am I right?

[MyrrhLynn]

*slaps Saint* you sexist pig! Just kidding. =P I think if you gave the guys stuff, their macho-ness would be offended. Am I right?

Haha well I'm more then happy to TAKE any gifts I'm given. But then again I also have gifts planned to give out for Christmas. (uhh if I can get my wizzard unstuck that is. Stupid iRO error.) Oh and Saint I actually played iRO a lot whereas Elric-Kun does not. And I gave him the staff you gave me when I started.

Actually I think it's female acos/priestesses who get the most "gifts" From talking with my other pals on iRO though they usually get gifts from their friends, not complete strangers.

Actually I think my computer hates iRO. I start playing if for the first time in like 2 weeks and it errors out, and then even gives me a blue screen error. Fun, fun.

[Saint]

Christmas gifts??? like clock hands. =D XD

[MyrrhLynn]

Christmas gifts??? like clock hands. =D XD

Dude give it a rest.

Haha, with Christmas getting closer I really want to go to Lutie and play in the Toy Factory with the music turned on.

[Saint]

really i was thinking of going to the Death Pits... get plenty of Coal for you guys. =P XD j/k

[Debitt]

Saint...you're a genius.

[Saint]

o_O Thank you?

oh did you know i tried to start a game on Loki. ^_^; its hard being a poor little Novice. i was gonna make a Rogue and a Hunter i think. yet it was just something to do when i had nothing else going on. which brings up the fact that the economy on different servers is crazy. Fine Grit = Sakray 10K maybe, Loki 100K Elf Ears = Sakray 6M, Loki 2.3M <_< thats just strange. oh well...

[Debitt]

Yeah, I was alarmed by the Sakray economy as well...x3 PM me some time in game~! I'll most like be on Raiyuu, or my new aco Ichinomiya Kantarou.

I got bored and I made a little banner...thing with my characters. Proudly presenting Ichinomiya "You should have gone FS" Kantarou, Hemuloki "Take that Poring hat off" Battousai (xD; the last name he got from a guildie...), and Raiyuu "Don't give him caffine" Sen.

[Jman]

I'm interested in playing this game, but I know you have to take a newbie test...can anyone get the answers u.u

[Counselor]

I am on Ragnarok, have been for months. I'm on the Loki server. The language can be bad but Id love to see more Christian players there and for us to make our own guild. I have a guild that has me only in it called NightWish. That's a Euro group i found out but to me the NightWish was to see Christ Child as the shepherds did and the icon shows a night star. I knows its a play on thier name but who cares. Anyhow IM me if you wanna check it out. My characters are high enough to help you.

CounselorTC on AOL IM.

[Jman]

Yeah everyone lets get together a group of ROers and make a clan!