Heavily modified RO servers yay or nay?

[xStormrage]

Right now, I'm part of an admin staff of a private server I'm a lil bit too excited about it and I just want to know if maybe ours could work. This is not a server advertisement or maybe it is .. subtly. But hey, all I want to know is if you guys would like to play on a heavily modified RO Server or if it may or may not be on demand. In my point of view I think it's nice to give a pserver with lots of customs to make it a lil bit different with the original thus, more curiosity and less of the same thing over and over again. But hey, mine's just one opinion out of thousands if not millions of ragnarok players out there. So would you care to share your opinion? It may help me/us shape our current server project. Thanks!

A. Would you like to play on a heavily modified server? Why?

B. What parts of the game would like to be modified? not modified?

C. Heavily Customed low rate, mid rate, or high rate? which rate classifications could a heavily customed server work?

[Bue]

I don't think it really matters how much you modify the game as long as you do a good job. And your server rates depends on the amount of content you have for end-game.

What exactly do you plan on modifying?

[xStormrage]

I don't think it really matters how much you modify the game as long as you do a good job. And your server rates depends on the amount of content you have for end-game.

What exactly do you plan on modifying?

Well, we have a lot in mind and some are already implemented.
- refining systems
- skills, platinum skills
- party based looting system
- stat immunities
- equips that would level up by reaching a certain number of kills
- and others.

what do you think if we try to implement this on a mid rate and a low rate? Would we garner audiences and/or players? by your personal standards Mr. Bue, would you like it?

[live4lie]

- refining systems
- skills, platinum skills
- party based looting system
- stat immunities
- equips that would level up by reaching a certain number of kills
- and others.

-previously and currently played on "modified refining systems" server, good for renewal, not good for pre-re
-party based looting system as in? The server I'm playing on has its own party looting system and it's so exploited and still is being exploited
-stat immunities, nah
-equips that level up, sure, as long as there's a limit and it won't be absurd/buggy

[Sarin]

RO class balance is off on low population servers (and admittedly, all private servers are low pop these days) making some classes more viable and some downright useless. There's a lot of room for improvement there.

What I'd personally love to see on server is having renewal content-latest episodes and items associated with it, quests and so on-rebalanced for pre-renewal.

[lllaaazzz]

i like the ragnarok engine but its alot of work, so if you wanna make a real full mod like the pokemon server or whatever your in for alot of work lol..... its not like rpg maker where everything in 1 screen... i have like 20 txt pads open and use like 10 different programs constantly, and if you arent truly interested have fun looking at tutorials for the same thing 10 times trying to remember where something goes and so help you if you take a break for a week cause RAthena and Hercules are like playing the Piano LMAO

edit: im not trying to sound salty but most servers and ive played alot of servers are huge cash grabs over pre loaded content made by like 10 different people in the communities sort of things....

[xStormrage]

RO class balance is off on low population servers (and admittedly, all private servers are low pop these days) making some classes more viable and some downright useless. There's a lot of room for improvement there.

What I'd personally love to see on server is having renewal content-latest episodes and items associated with it, quests and so on-rebalanced for pre-renewal.

Yeah, that's what we're trying to work on, a couple of renewal mechanics here and there. And class balancing so that other jobs won't be sooo op like the Champions. Like maaaaan, everywhere you go, champions, champions, and guess what, moooore champions!

i like the ragnarok engine but its alot of work, so if you wanna make a real full mod like the pokemon server or whatever your in for alot of work lol..... its not like rpg maker where everything in 1 screen... i have like 20 txt pads open and use like 10 different programs constantly, and if you arent truly interested have fun looking at tutorials for the same thing 10 times trying to remember where something goes and so help you if you take a break for a week cause RAthena and Hercules are like playing the Piano LMAO

edit: im not trying to sound salty but most servers and ive played alot of servers are huge cash grabs over pre loaded content made by like 10 different people in the communities sort of things....

Ahuh, I could see where you're coming from but hey, that's the joy(or not?) of modding one of the  best mmorpg in history. Anyways to be honest with you, on our project right now we're trying to customize things bottom-up. That means no copy-paste of any other servers. If there was, maybe just a lil but we make sure ours is original. And yeah about the cash grab servers yeah, I feel you man, I hate them too. What's more is that those cash grab servers tend to have more players than those who really worked hard on a project. I wish players could look deeper in to the game and not just press enter then click click click 

-previously and currently played on "modified refining systems" server, good for renewal, not good for pre-re
-party based looting system as in? The server I'm playing on has its own party looting system and it's so exploited and still is being exploited
-stat immunities, nah
-equips that level up, sure, as long as there's a limit and it won't be absurd/buggy

I see. Thanks for the feedback, anyways, about our looting system, we made it work on a specific dungeon wherein duals are not allowed. So maybe that could work to stop exploiting the system what do you think?

[live4lie]

I see. Thanks for the feedback, anyways, about our looting system, we made it work on a specific dungeon wherein duals are not allowed. So maybe that could work to stop exploiting the system what do you think?

Yeah sounds good, just make sure that it doesn't work in like event maps, just anything that can't be exploited for extra stuff

[literalwho]

The average RO server hoster can barely manage their own server, let alone make small customized changes that aren't complete garbage.

I'd heavily "nay" it unless the modifications were heavily modified, enjoyable and as long as the server wouldn't plummit into a trashcan within weeks.

[Sarin]

Yeah, that's what we're trying to work on, a couple of renewal mechanics here and there. And class balancing so that other jobs won't be sooo op like the Champions. Like maaaaan, everywhere you go, champions, champions, and guess what, moooore champions!

Ahuh, I could see where you're coming from but hey, that's the joy(or not?) of modding one of the  best mmorpg in history. Anyways to be honest with you, on our project right now we're trying to customize things bottom-up. That means no copy-paste of any other servers. If there was, maybe just a lil but we make sure ours is original. And yeah about the cash grab servers yeah, I feel you man, I hate them too. What's more is that those cash grab servers tend to have more players than those who really worked hard on a project. I wish players could look deeper in to the game and not just press enter then click click click 



I see. Thanks for the feedback, anyways, about our looting system, we made it work on a specific dungeon wherein duals are not allowed. So maybe that could work to stop exploiting the system what do you think?

Used to be more SinX in my time. Champs are great until a prof comes along and handily neuters and holds down three champs at once for elimination.

This is one problem with private servers and low population. Too few people play those important but unattractive support roles like prof, clown, even WoE sniper...

[Playtester]

My personal take on it is that I usually like server that are as close to official as possible. Because whenever I play on a customized server, I tend to just disagree that half of the changes are actually improving anything. And then I just want it back to how it officially was.

However, servers could also be so heavily customized that I won't even recognize the original game anymore. In that case, I might be curious.

Like a server that only focuses on the bomb poring minigame. You do nothing other than play bomb poring in various settings and with cool gimmicks, bonus items, etc. and a ranking system of the best players.

Or a server where only one dungeon or area is open at the same time and entry rotates. So that even on low pop, you will run significantly more often into other players.

Or a server that plays like an arcade game, where you just try to survive and score a high score.

[lilsword]

Yay if you can consistently produce contents while tweaking/balancing the old ones.

Nay if you don't see yourself having more free time in the coming weeks.

Allow me to share my story. I used to host a heavily-customized low rate server back in 2017 but it died within 2 months. Why?

1. I was so busy working on the contents and kind of sidelined the community management, tho I had CMs that time but they weren't effective.
2. Given the contents I've made can only be implemented when certain conditions are met (economy and players' interest to pvp), I wasn't able to implement 80% of them because the server died before the community grew.

Just imagine, 8+ months worth of preparation and hardwork, quickly went to trashcan in just 2 months. In case you actually create a server, make sure you know what you're doing and you have backup plans to salvage it.

[Blinzer]

i like the ragnarok engine but its alot of work, so if you wanna make a real full mod like the pokemon server or whatever your in for alot of work lol..... its not like rpg maker where everything in 1 screen... i have like 20 txt pads open and use like 10 different programs constantly, and if you arent truly interested have fun looking at tutorials for the same thing 10 times trying to remember where something goes and so help you if you take a break for a week cause RAthena and Hercules are like playing the Piano LMAO

edit: im not trying to sound salty but most servers and ive played alot of servers are huge cash grabs over pre loaded content made by like 10 different people in the communities sort of things....

+1



people only fall back onto original ro for what playtester said, which basically dumbs down to most people tend to just make bad changes rather than good ones, and that idea can scare a lot of people away. as the most experienced and skilled server modifier in the business, i can tell you that literally everyone is waiting for a heavy customized server to make a breakthrough and change the way we play RO. it just comes down to whether you are skilled enough to deliver.


but another year has passed and still nothing, where could this mysterious man be hiding?

[Playtester]

The playerbase isn't big enough anymore to warrant all that effort. Seems like a waste of skill. If I had lots of free time today, I'd rather develop my own game.

[Blinzer]

The playerbase isn't big enough anymore to warrant all that effort. Seems like a waste of skill. If I had lots of free time today, I'd rather develop my own game.

yeah, i agree with that in most cases. but that scales exponentially with your skills as a developer, and the thing is most people can't just snap their fingers and start pumping out a good game. changing an already existing game really goes a long way to teaching you all of the basic bricks and understanding the essence of what a game is and how everything interacts with each other. if we're talking about efficiency, a mediocre player would have a very hard time developing anything that isn't a complete disaster.

i was a master of playing RO and thought i knew it all just because i was perfect in-game, but once i started messing with my own server i realized that i actually knew nothing(and i'm not talking about programming either, but true understanding of games at their core). i was just hardwired to conduct myself between these very fine parameters and be perfect within these very specific closed walls of one way things could be, but compared to the infinity that you find out was out there from the start you were just nothing all along. RO has taught me so so so so much, so even though it's old and what you're saying is right, i would still never oppose someone getting into playing around with a server because there's so much to learn there. can you learn it anywhere else? maybe, probably, but i dunno for sure. but here i know you can learn a lot, so for me there's no need to risk elsewhere.

i still wonder how it's possible to be able to execute with such precision without understanding jack s*** about the world you live in. i mean you obviously do understand or you wouldn't be able to play so well, but you totally don't. kind of like real life living beings, if you think about it...