New Low Rate Server Discussion

[isragnarok]

Hi Everyone,

My friends and I are starting a Low Rate Server. We would like to know how many are interested in playing on this server in order for us to decide how much will invest for this project.

As of now the rates are 25x/25x/25x. Max Base/Job is 99/50 and for Trans its 99/70. It also has the basic add-on NPC's such as Item Signer, Healer, Warper, Job Master, Skills, Reset, Universal Rental NPC and Stylist. We also have WoE thrice a week and each last 6hrs. This is just our beginning and we promise that we'll expand and we'll last for about 5 years.

The main language of our server is English but we have GMs who can also speak Filipino, Spanish, French, Mandarin and Cantonese. Our GMs are not corrupt. They've been playing for RO for at least 3 years now and played on various servers. An example is one of our GMs was the owner of Crimson RO, which was high rate server four years ago. He was [GM] Prodigy on that server

Please reply to this thread if interested, have a suggestion or have a question.

Thanks.

[Skotlex]

Fact: There are far too many servers out there.
Suggestion: If your server is good it'll spread by word of mouth. Getting the people currently involved to spread the word around the net through whatever circles they participate in should help.

Remember that you can't wait for players to be interested in order for YOU to want to work on it, it should be your own motivation to start it. if the server grows and there's more people, then of course you will feel more motivated to work on it, but initially it should be  a self-propelled effort, YOU have to be motivated to work on it, not wait for others to make you feel interested in it.

About the fact out there, you may want to think on what exactly will tell your server apart from all the others, and then use that as advertisement material in here. You can also look through the "need a server" threads looking for anyone that has requirements that match. You and the server owners have to decide on what will make your server different from the others. If your decision is that you just want a nice classic stable server without corruption nor donation items, then stick to that and persevere, reputation should grow slowly from word of mouth, perhaps a bit faster if the involved people are all active.

That's just my two cents on the topic.

[RMSPMS]

Well said..... imo I would follow those words of wisdom by Skotlex YOU have to have the drive. Like that one movie about baseball.....if you build it they will come.  It had Kevin Costner in it but i cant think of the name of the movie. lolz

[Pandora]

My advice is, make sure you understand what you're getting into. Having a server is more work than it looks, it should be considered as more "work" than "play", it has its fun moments, but you need to deal with the not-so-fun stuff as well on a regular basis.

Once you start a server you make a commitment to your players, to keep their server going, because we all know how much it sucks when the server you play on closes and you have to start over. Make sure you have the means to support your new server, as well as the patience for it ^_^ Good luck!

[RMSPMS]

If only some of the other servers i have played on would have went by those words of wisdom Pandora.  Well said indeed.  and btw i remebered the movie it was "field of dreams" i think rofl Good Luck to your new upcoming server and listen to these ppl they for sure know what they are talking about. there is not a thing i would disagree with on what they have said so far

[Acrued]

Ah the smell of a budding Ragnarok Server *deep breath*

Anyways, The best thing you can do to make the server successful is
just make the server the best server you can. And you can be sure
that people will get other people to play by word of mouth.

What you don't want to do is be one of these servers: Link
Every new server starts good, whether you can keep it good will determine your
inflow of new players.

I hope i didn't get irrelevant xD *checks over...* Looks like its still on the subject of how to get players on your server...
i'll post it! xD

[Zone]

Ah the smell of a budding Ragnarok Server *deep breath*

Anyways, The best thing you can do to make the server successful is
just make the server the best server you can. And you can be sure
that people will get other people to play by word of mouth.

What you don't want to do is be one of these servers: Link
Every new server starts good, whether you can keep it good will determine your
inflow of new players.

I hope i didn't get irrelevant xD *checks over...* Looks like its still on the subject of how to get players on your server...
i'll post it! xD

That link is unnecessary.

[bensei]

did i read right?... woe lasts 6 hours?...

...

oh my god...

but you guys do know that keeping up a economy in such a woe would be almost impossible, right? Especially on low rates, getting a good economy in castles is REALLy important.

[Zone]

I can assure you, only an idiot would WoE for 6 hours straight, especially when it is new.
Second of all, most people have school, which means, 6 hours is too long anyways.
You get out of school at 4 pm, get home at 5 pm, get done with school work at 6 or 7, and then WoE for 6 hours?
Most people in school do not have that much time to dedicate to playing RO that much on a daily basis.
Some do, like myself, but I surely would never WoE for 6 hours straight, that is absurd.

[bensei]

woe surely is not supposed to replace pvp anyway.

[lrellok]

i am actually kind of interested in this topic, as i am on a server that, by the definitions here, should be growing, and is not.  We have a solid server, little to no down time, good people, no GM give aways (well they do spawn mobs in town, but you still have to kill them), and an insanely solid economy ( the GM runs a discount vendor IF no one else is, and remove as soon as anyone sets up).  We have a ton of events, story line and otherwise, and the admins are continually looking for improvement tips, and almost always implement them.  But no ones stays, and we don;t know why.  Yes, we have 10 people, but that will not change if people do not stay. 

So, my question is, besides all the obvious stuff relating to corruption, rigging, brokenness, and things generally applicable to any server, what, do you feel are the key points or running a low Rate server??  Obviously, we cater to a different group then high rates, but also different then those who would be on IRO.  What is the distinction, and how do we work towards that?

[bensei]

1. Normal woe times
2. Depending on how gear dependant you want the server to be, super quest items, to keep people entertained after they hit 99/70 trans.
3. Eventually making it a donation server, (lazy people will probably decide to join that way, also the economy gets more items)
4. Events, very important, keep people entertained.
5. and last but not least, you need something special that makes you different from the other servers, that could be the super quest items, or special headgears (home made maybe?) that no other server has.


Personally thats what i hate on "no mvp gear etc" low rate servers, they simply dont keep me entertained after i hit the max lvl.

[Skotlex]

Have a read here, I was wondering the same.

My impression is that you just cannot lure in new players if there's not a "large enough" base, even if you do all you can to keep them around. It may just be lots of luck to get people that will stick regardless, and enough of this to get through the threshold that will get other random people interested. After you have that base, the rest of stuff mentioned here works. It is just that somehow all/most new servers already have enough people to get through this at the very beginning. If you do your server right, and it has around 20 people online, it is very easy to get others to join and stay...

[bensei]

meh once you have 10 people on the server, those 10 people can tell their friends to try out this server as well, the friends of said friends will try it then too, and so on.

[Acrued]

Also putting yourself out there to kindly notify people of your server's existence.

Such as in the "Seeking Server" Area, Lots of Low Rate seekers. But also like Bensei mentions, You
have to have something that will set you apart from the other servers, something Unique.