a list of things a server should have

[Usagimimi]

I will admit that I did not read.

Mostly because the idea of making a topic about this is obnoxious.

People play for different reasons.

Your reason to play =/= everyone's bliss.

Their reason to play =/= yours exactly, perhaps.

To list it off is arrogant and unpleasant, a characteristic of self that should be abolished.

One can have an opinion with appearing egotistical or flaunting their vanity. This was not accomplished today.

/end

[Karuna-tan]

I stopped reading when I saw the words job changer, warper and @go. Way too much spoonfeeding for my tastes.

[Thoth]

I've seen too many servers fail lately because they don't know what they are doing.
so I made a list that everyone can look at, where they can get some ideas.
this list is made with the general idea of a low rate that focuses on parties for pvm/woe. if you arent willing to even read the list thats fine, that just means you arent trying to make a good low rate or woe server.

I recommending a better format so everyone can benefit from it. 

I'm honestly confused. do you mean more spacing or what? I figured sorting into categories would be adequate.

[Usagimimi]

if you arent willing to even read the list thats fine, that just means you arent trying to make a good low rate or woe server.

There are things I agree with in the list, but much that I don't. I really don't agree with your attitude, though. You need to get off your pedestal and learn to be a bit more humble, especially since you haven't earned any sort of high rep' here. You have no place to be talking down to others, esp. vets.

Also, I think yC means to use the list code and to space things out so it's easier on the eyes.

[yC]

The use of different font size, bold etc for heading.  Yes definitely more spacing will help.   Divide into smaller categories or sections will make it more readable and with sub-heading it will be easier to find interested section to read on.

Use better bullet point?  the list structure like this:

• look better
• but a lot more work in your case.
• that's why i said a blog post could be easier to do, the formatting tools are better there

Maybe a table of content will help too. 

[Chemical Crush]

I've seen too many servers fail lately because they don't know what they are doing.

Sometimes people do know what they're doing, just they have a different idea of a Low Rate than you.

so I made a list that everyone can look at, where they can get some ideas.

I applaud you for making this very large list of thought out ideas/suggestions.  But I suggest you do size it down or write it a different way... because when I saw the post I was like 'this is literally a wall of text'.

this list is made with the general idea of a low rate that focuses on parties for pvm/woe. if you arent willing to even read the list thats fine, that just means you arent trying to make a good low rate or woe server.

Again, not everyone has the same ideas as you, so saying that someone isn't trying to make a good low rate is you being arrogant/full of yourself.  Not everyone will consider your ideas 'good'.  If you consider your ideas to be better than others than I suggest you make your OWN low rate with all these ideas/suggestions and see if other people agree with your low rate.  Also your title is misleading, its not something every server should have.  Why?  Every server is different for a reason, if they werent, we'd all be playing on the same server.  Which again, shows that people enjoy different things.

[Triper]

@thoth: yC is saying that something as:

Title Section

Spoiler

• Thing 1
• Thing 2
• Thing 3

[close]

For each section so it doesn't look a big wall of text but more of a guide where people can get ideas from.

[Yuzo]

Bro I found the thread interesting. Just fix the formatting so its easier to read.

[Skotlex]

Weird, I read the whole "wall of text", and I didn't find it that hard to follow. Hope it's not related to the fact I enjoy reading books :B

Anyway, somebody has had quite some time playing RO to think up of all these suggestions. Many are pretty good, others are highly dependant on personal tastes. Though, the one thing I know for sure is that to implement, even just 60% of these, would require a team of highly dedicated people. Heck, it would be like actually running a business xD

In the end, maybe that's why RO servers always fall short. If you really had the man-power to run it like a properly maintained business, said man-power would probably be better spent-elsewhere. xP Still, it's nice to dream.

[Yuzo]

The formatting is fine for me, just maybe others would find it easier to read. I really enjoyed reading the thread. Most of the ideas are really good.

[crysiscore3]

I read all of the first post... skimmed the second. A ton of ideas, and I agree with more than I disagree.
But the list is way to long and specific for what most servers should have.

Some things truly are vital:

WoE countdown is a feature you see a lot, but still only a minority of servers, which to me makes no sense. There's clearly a complete script on EA for this, so not adding it is just plain dumb.

Bad castle management is also something that plagues most servers. The answer to having low guild competition is not to close more castles off. Open a few more. A big guild will not simply sit on one castle(unless it's the only one).

Putting zero thought into inflation is another issue. You need to keep an eye on prices. Pick the range you want to maintain and add zeny sinks accordingly. If that means raising the cost of white pots or warps, whatever. This varies based on what is present in the server, but it's always possible to drain money out of the economy.

If you want rid of bots, use packet encryption or buy Harmony/Elecom Shield. Do not use that horrible bot police script that harasses me every five minutes with a captcha.

For customs quests, ask me for 300 of 8 things instead of 2400 of exactly one thing.

For all custom quests, at least provide a list of NPCs and item descriptions on a wiki/forum post. Quest guides aren't required, but I shouldn't need to scour every map in hopes of finding where you've buried a quest npc.

That would be my list of "all servers should do this". And I'd go to bat for every single one of them.

[Chemical Crush]

Bad castle management is also something that plagues most servers. The answer to having low guild competition is not to close more castles off. Open a few more. A big guild will not simply sit on one castle(unless it's the only one).

If you want rid of bots, use packet encryption or buy Harmony/Elecom Shield. Do not use that horrible bot police script that harasses me every five minutes with a captcha.

For customs quests, ask me for 300 of 8 things instead of 2400 of exactly one thing.

For all custom quests, at least provide a list of NPCs and item descriptions on a wiki/forum post. Quest guides aren't required, but I shouldn't need to scour every map in hopes of finding where you've buried a quest npc.

That would be my list of "all servers should do this". And I'd go to bat for every single one of them.

I totally agree on the quest thing, I mean 100%, I got so discouraged about some servers ( I like to quest ) because it'd be like 'TONS OF CUSTOM QUESTS'  And...they would be in the MOST RANDOM places, its not that I don't mind looking for them, its just...I dont want to spend all day trying to find them haha.  At least put them on the wiki like you said, or give SOME kinda hint as to where some might be.

I don't get the idea behind having more castles open with less guild comp.  I mean I guess I could see it, 1 big guild having to defend 2 or 3 castles would be kinda hard...but you shouldn't be opening WoE if there is only 1 'big' guild on your server anyways.  Least not imo.

As for Harmony/Elecom/Whatever else, I agree, although I have issues with Harmony because of time gaps, I have no idea why I do?  I'd rather be dc'd every 15 to 20 minutes due to it, instead of some pop up bot police annoying me.  Especially if you have it open in all maps, don't wanna die a billion times in Nameless or anything of that sort because spammy bot police harassing me while my party is dying cause they are also getting spammed.  :s

[crysiscore3]

I've played a number of lower population servers, and it's still nice to have WoE turned on. But when one guild has 30 active and no one else has even a dozen, the answer isn't open one castle. Geffen castles can be taken/held by 5-6 people. It's a different dynamic I suppose. It is true that WoE is better with more people, but if you handle it right, it can still be fun with a smaller number of people.

I also played on a few active servers with a good 200 people... and three castles -_- I think the idea behind this is "make it as much like iRO as possible!". But numbers don't allow that. It makes sense on a server like Dreamer, but if you have fewer numbers, adapt and go in a different direction.

I'm not personally a fan of Harmony, packet encryption is the way to go in my opinion. Barring that, Elecom, Gamefort and the other one.. Gamesomething :p are all preferred. But still, Harmony > Bot Police. Frankly, I would rather have bots. For one thing I still see them all over the place on those servers, so at least some bots can bypass it while I'm stuck with constantly entering captchas.
And worse that's landed me in jail several times because it's not always a clear picture <_< At least I've never failed two in a row so I've never been banned, but it's worrisome.

[Thoth]

I don't get the idea behind having more castles open with less guild comp.  I mean I guess I could see it, 1 big guild having to defend 2 or 3 castles would be kinda hard...but you shouldn't be opening WoE if there is only 1 'big' guild on your server anyways.  Least not imo.

you need to encourage that one dominating guild to have traitors, backstabbers, and random upstarts actually try to challenge them for a piece of the pie.
a group of 5 people is never gonna fight a group of 45 if they can't make them divide up their forces.

[Raziel]

hmm i kinda liked the  list and the purpose for which this was put up for.
As someone who values player opinions, suggestion and is concerned in making the server better , i gotta say your list is kinda useful. but most of the things listed are pretty obvious and are already known to many. It would be a lot better if you could consolidate that list and point out things that are most important and usually neglected or missed out.
Or maybe highlight them ?? just saying 

Overall, a great guide although mostly individualistic opinions , coz i do disagree with some . No matter. I'm sure many would find this useful none the less.


~Rody