Reinventing Ragnarok - by a Game Designer

[ShadowLight]

Hello guys,

I am an aspiring game programmer and designer (Electrical & Computer Engineer Degree w/ minor in Computer Science specializing in game design) who loves MMORPGs. As someone who grew up with games like Ragnarok, Maple Story and World of Warcraft, I always dream to have a game of my own but I believe that I need more experience developing it first. But developing my own game is very costly. So here I am, my first few steps towards that dream. I truly believe that if I could make a successful private server, one day I would be able to start developing my own game.

I've been playing and experimenting on RO servers for almost 10 years now (man I'm getting old). I have experience as both server Admin/GM as well as developer (for server w/ more than 300 players at peak times). Some of you may know my from my previous private server idea: http://forum.ratemyserver.net/server-discussion/private-server-moving-forward/

In case you're wondering, I did release a BETA version of the server and guess what? Players loved it! [Check the preview changelog at the end of this post!]

To summarize, here are a few server features that was tested and appreciated during the server BETA (yeap, this has already been implemented and tested):

• Point System: You will obtain points from killing Paragon (Custom Minibosses), MvPs or players. These points is shared among party members and can be used to buy equipments.
• Paragon Monsters: In every map, there will be 1 Paragon-type Monster for every 10 monster in the map. These monster are stronger and almost impossible to take on alone but contains an enormous amount of EXP and higher drops than the normal monsters. This encourages players to work together in order to defeat them and share the rewards!
• Skill buffs: There has been minor changes to many skills that introduces new way of playing a class. These changes gave birth to Soul Mages, Fistfury Monks, Lightburn Priests and many many more~!
• Spa Healing System: Unlike most servers, players will need to go to Spa in order to heal up. Players are rewarded with EXP boost upon leaving the Spa. Players actually loved this system, it allows players to take a break and socialize before going back to their adventure in Rune-Midgard.
• Upgraded Airship System: Players were able to travel from a city to another via Airship. This allows players to travel without losing the travel experience (and meet new people)!

I opened the server on BETA for about two months to get reviews and opinions. And I have to say, most of them (about 15 players) truly enjoyed the server! They had a blast working together to defeat paragons and MvPs obtain points and gears! The only things missing is the common "Not enough players!" problem. To be fair, most players tend to stay away from BETA servers. 

What I always dream of having in a game are these:

• Reintroduce social aspects of MMORPGs: No, I don't mean facebook games. I'm talking about games that rewards players for working together! So far, the Spa, Paragon Monsters, Airship and MvP Points did exactly this. These systems were designed to introduce social aesthetic on the server.
• Boost flexibility in combat: The custom skill design was introduce to add in more combat styles in the game. In addition to healer priest, other variation of healing were added to classes such as Paladin and Bard/Dancer. They are now more capable to heal but they way they do so is totally different from each other. This adds flexibility for players to play based on what they like/what their style is.
• Add in sense of adventure: This is a long-shot, but one of my initial work on this is the Custom Airship system. Players are able to feel as if they are on an adventure - not just getting level and kill monsters for no reason. I'm hoping to add in new content and questline to add in the wonderful fantasy world of Ragnarok Online. Adventure shouldn't stop just because you reach max level, it should be even better when you maxed out!

Sorry for the extremely long post! I can go on and on about this but I'll stop here before I scare away forumers. Let me know what you think!

Short video on class changes (this video is old so it only highlight about 30% of my changes - link is also old - DO NOT USE):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I0NLoCxrnkk
PS by Triper - Allowing the video to let people know about your ideas and stuff. Let's call it "borderline".

I need to know if you guys are interested before I release the official version of the server. I will be doing head-counts on my forum and announce if the server is ready to be released based on it.

Here's a preview changelog (skill changes only, not including all changes):

Spoiler

GENERAL CHANGES

All players' MaxHP will be increased by 100%.



STATUS CHANGES

Bleeding:

Any damage done on Bleeding target will cause them to take 20% of any damage received during the duration over 5 seconds.



Poison:

Poison can be lethal (can cause death).

Poison effect is now stackable (up to 20).

Poisoned target will take 20 hp per seconds every stack until the duration end.

If the effect is removed before the duration end (by skill or items), the player will take 50% of the remaining duration damage.



CLASS CHANGES

Lord KnightCharacter_LordKnight.jpg

Moving HP Recovery regenerates 100% of standing recovery.
Parry will now block all physical attacks (both ranged and melee) for 6 seconds. It now has a 1-minute cooldown.
Auto-Counter will now only counter one physical attack (both ranged and melee). When countered, the attacking enemy will be stunned for 3 seconds. It now has a 30-second cooldown.
Joint Beat will reduce target's movement speed up to 50%, last 5 seconds.
Head Crush now has a 100% chance to bleed enemy that can last up to 15 seconds. It now has a 45-seconds cooldown.
Frenzy will no longer restrict players from chatting or to be healed.


PaladinCharacter_Paladin.jpg

Moving HP Recovery regenerates 100% of standing recovery.
Devotion will now share 50% of the target's damage but has twice the range.
Autoguard will now grant the Paladin a shield that is blocks damage based on Paladin's MaxHP (up to 30%). Effects is shared on devoted target.
Reflect shield will cause the Paladin to lose 15 SP per second. Effects is shared on devoted target.
Defender will reduce Paladin's movement speed by 80%. Effects is shared on devoted target.
Allied target affected by Providence will receive 75% of healing done by the Paladin. Skill effect lasts 10 seconds and it now has a 15 seconds cooldown.
Pressure will reduce all healing received on enemy target by 50% for 10 seconds. It now has a 1-minute cooldown.


Assassin Cross

Character_AssassinCross.jpg

Detoxify can only be casted on yourself.
Sprinkle Sand blinds the target for 3 seconds. It now has a 30 seconds cooldown.
Throw Stone will stun the target for 0.5 seconds. It now has a 0.5 seconds cooldown.
Envenom now has 100% chance to poison the target. Casting Envenom on poisoned target will increase their poison stack by 1. It now has a 15 seconds cooldown (can be reduced to 5 seconds at max level)
Create Deadly Poison now has 100% success rate.
Enchant Deadly Poison no longer require Poison Bottle but will only increase your damage against poisoned targets. If you consume a Poison Bottle, your damage will increase against both poisoned and non-poisoned enemies.
Sonic Blow will deal twice the damage and has 100% hit rate when done behind target. It now has a 6 seconds cooldown.
Grimtooth will cause the player to be immobilized for 3 seconds. It now has a 10 second cooldown.
Venom Dust no longer require red gemstone. Standing on Venom Dust will cause player to be poisoned and their stack to increase by one per second.
Venom Splasher no longer require red gemstone or the target to be 2/3 HP. Venom Splasher will cause the target to explode every 0.5 seconds dealing 50% ATK and spread poison status on and around the target (increasing poison stack if they are already poisoned). It now has a 1-minute cooldown.
Soul Breaker damage is increased by 5% per poison stack on target.


Chaser

Character_Chaser.jpg

Detoxify can only be casted on yourself.
Sprinkle Sand blinds the target for 3 seconds. It now has a 30 seconds cooldown.
Throw Stone will stun the target for 0.5 seconds. It now has a 0.5 seconds cooldown.
Envenom now has 100% chance to poison the target. Casting Envenom on poisoned target will increase their poison stack by 1. It now has a 15 seconds cooldown (can be reduced to 5 seconds at max level)
All strip skills has 100% chance, last 8 seconds and has a 30 seconds cooldown. Full strip has a 1 minute cooldown.
Intimidate will now teleport you and the target 10 cells behind you.
Plagiarism is now an active skill. When casted on a player, the next spell the player cast will be copied (and will remove the plagiarism skill effect). Plagiarism can be casted while hiding/chase walk and it will not reveal the Stalker. Copied skill last 30 seconds.
Preserve increase the duration of copied skill to 10 minutes.
Backstab deals twice as much damage on target with full health and causes bleeding effect.
Raid deals 50% more damage per target hit, stunning them for 2 seconds and blinding them for 5 seconds. It now has a 15 seconds cooldown.
Gangster Paradise will cause players around stalker to be invisible (similar to Cloaking) for 8 seconds. Can be used while hiding/chase walk. It has a 7x7 area of effect.


Sniper

Character_Sniper.jpg

Arrow are no longer required to shoot and use skills.
Sharpshooting no longer has cast time and will deal triple the damage on targets below 35% HP. It now has a 15 seconds cooldown.
Arrow Making will allow players to choose their arrow of choice (Fire Arrow, Ice Arrow, etc).
Traps are no longer required to use trap skills.
Blitz Beat chance will now based on Beast Bane instead of LUK. 3% * Beast Bane Level.
Falcon Assault will deal twice the damage on targets afflicted by Freeze, Sleep, Blind and Ankle Snare. It now has an 8 second cooldown.


Clown/Gypsy

Character_Clown.jpgCharacter_Gypsy.jpg

Pang Voice can also be cast on friendly target. When a friendly target is affected by Pang Voice, they will be healed every second for 8 seconds based on the caster's int and level.
[Clown Only] Dissonance will now deal damage based on the caster's int and level.
Apple of Idun and Service for You will heal players based on the caster's INT and level.
Frost Joker/Scream chance increased to 100%/95%/90%/85%/80%. The chance is reduced depending on the range of the enemy. For each cell apart, the chance is reduced by 12%.
Using Encore now leaves a copy of the song's ground effect on the player's current position for 10 seconds.


High Priest

Character_HighPriest.jpg

When casting Turn Undead to non-undead target, their property will change to Undead for 10 seconds. It now has a 5 seconds cooldown.
Resurrection no longer has a change to instantly kill or damage Undead property monsters. Resurrection will no longer require blue gemstone. But it now has a 2-seconds fixed cast time.
Sanctuary will no longer require blue gemstone. It now has a 30 seconds cooldown.
Basilica no longer require holy water, yellow gemstone, blue gemstone and red gemstone but it will last only up to 10 seconds. It now has a 5 minute cooldown.
Safety Wall no longer require blue gemstone. But it has a 25 seconds cooldown.
Aspersio no longer require Holy Water.
Assumptio will now reduce all damage taken by 20%.
Redemptio will no longer cause the player to sacrifice himself/herself, but it now has a 3 minute cooldown.


Champion

Character_Champion.jpg

All combo skill are now targeted skill and can be used independently. Each combo skill will grant the player one spirit sphere (max of 5).
Chain Finish will stun the enemy for 1 second. It has an 8 seconds cooldown.
Chain Crush Combo has an 8 seconds cooldown.
Call Spirits reworked: It is now a passive ability. Call spirits will grant +5 ATK for each spirit sphere.
Dangerous Soul Collect now has a 1 minute cooldown and no longer has a cast time.
Explosion Spirits no longer reduce natural recovery of SP.
Asura Strike reworked:
Old: Asura strike can only be casted if the user is on Explosion Spirits buff and has 5 spirit sphere. After using Asura Strike HP/SP will not regenerate normally for 5 minutes.
New: Asura strike can be used at any time. After using Asura Strike SP will not regenerate normally or by items for 3 minutes. If Asura Strike is used with Explosion Spirits buff and 5 spirit spheres, it will not consume any SP nor will it restrict SP regeneration.
Absorb spirit sphere is now self-cast. The skill will consume 1 spirit sphere and heal the Champion 300% of ATK.
Throw Spirit Sphere will now target allies. It will heal 300% of the Champion's ATK per spirit sphere.
Blade Stop is now a target skill, can be used at any time (no longer require the player to "catch" attacks) and lasts up to 6 seconds. While in freeze condition, the Champion can cast Throw Sphere and Asura Strike.


High Wizard

Character_HighWizard.jpg

Fire Pillar no longer require Blue Gemstone.
Each spirit from Soul Strike will cause the target to take extra damage from consecutive Soul Strike (up to 150% extra damage). This effect will also cause your Napalm Beat to deal damage equal to the target's MaxHP (up to 30%). Napalm Beat bonus damage does not work on bosses.
Safety Wall no longer require Blue Gemstone. It now has a 25 seconds cooldown.
Gravitation Field is now a channeling spell and last up to 6 seconds.


Professor

Character_Professor.jpg

Each spirit from Soul Strike will cause the target to take extra damage from consecutive Soul Strike (up to 150% extra damage). This effect will also cause your Napalm Beat to deal damage equal to the target's MaxHP (up to 30%). This bonus damage does not work on bosses.
Soul Burn will no longer fail and will burn 5%/10%/15%/20%/25% of the target's SP and deal twice the SP burned.
Spells cast by Auto Spell no longer cost any SP
Successful Magic Rod will make the Sage cast the spell back to the user.
Autospell will also trigger when a player cast a target-able spell.
Advanced Book will also increase MATK by 3 per level.
Spider Web no longer require Cobweb. It has a 15 seconds cooldown.
Dragonology skill will now grant +2 MDEF per level.
Safety Wall no longer require Blue Gemstone. It now has a 25 seconds cooldown.
Deluge, Violent Gale, Volcano, Frost Weapon, Lightning Loader and Flame Launcher no longer require reagents.


Whitesmith

Character_Whitesmith.jpg

Vending will now reduce Mammonite zeny requirement up to 90%.
Skin Tempering will also grant up to 25% damage reduction.
Iron Tempering will also grant up to 25 DEF.
Steel Tempering will also grant up to 5% DEF bonus.
Enchanted Stone Craft will also grant up to 25% MDEF.
Ore Discovery will also grant up to 15% bonus HIT.
Research Oridecon will also grant up to 20% extra critical damage.
Weaponry Research will increase ATK up to 10%.
Smith Dagger, Smith Spear, Smith Sword, Smith Brass Knuckle, Smith Two-Handed Sword, Smith Mace and Smith Axe will each increase ATK by +1 per level.
Meltdown will has a chance to reduce Attack Power or Defense instead of breaking player's equipment.
Creator

Character_Creator.jpg

Vending will now reduce Mammonite zeny requirement up to 90%.
Potion Pitcher will no longer require potions but has 50 SP cost.
Slim Potion Pitcher will no longer require slim potions but has 150 SP cost.
Demonstration no longer require Bottle Grenade and will now has a chance to reduce Attack Power or Defense instead of breaking player's equipment. It has a 1-second cooldown and the stay-effect duration is set to 2/4/6/8/10 seconds.
Acid Terror no longer require Acid Bottle but has a 1 seconds fixed cast time and 100% change to bleed.
Acid Demonstration no longer require Bottle Grenade and Acid Bottle but has a 1 second fixed cast time. It now has a 10 seconds cooldown.
Homunculus no longer require reagents to create.


_____________________________________________________________________________

[close]

[Triper]

All I can say is this: Dust: An Elysian Tail was designed and programmed by a single person and it's amazing!

[ShadowLight]

All I can say is this: Dust: An Elysian Tail was designed and programmed by a single person and it's amazing!

I actually have not heard of this game. It looks amazing! Thanks for the share, Triper. Though I have tons of experience on programming, planning and design, I don't have any artistic skill nor resources to get em. But I'll look into how he was able to build such a game single-handedly. Thanks again! 

[Playtester]

I don't recommend making an MMORPG alone, it's too much work and it will still suck. An MMORPG needs hundreds of people working on it to become good. But other games? Yeah, it's very well possible to make one of the best games completely alone if you have enough time to invest. Pixel worked alone on Cave Story for 10 years straight and then just released it for free and it became quite popular. Touhou, the most popular shoot 'em up series is also made by one single person (Zun). Generally the best stuff can be created by a single person because then there is no collision of opinions and if you are indie, no publisher that tells you to do something differently so it sells better.

The main problem is that it takes soooo much time to do it. Not many people can afford to just work for 10 years on a game. Or even manage to keep their motivation up till the end.

[Terpsichore]

It looks like you're trying to brew something new and fresh while ignoring the version of the game that was created with the same purpose in mind and actually accomplished it in many aspects.

I don't understand why people still shun renewal so much when it offers a massive amount of new content, skills, mechanics, etc. You can tweak pre-renewal as much as you want but it just doesn't offer enough substance anymore, renewal is vastly superior when it comes to combat mechanics and variety. It is also a lot less one-dimensional and the game doesn't revolve around a couple of over-the-top skills to get anything done.

Does it have issues? Of course, but the same goes for pre-renewal. If I were in your position, I would work on improving renewal mechanics and content. There's a distinct lack of quality renewal servers yet generic trans servers that offer nothing new appear almost every week, mostly because it doesn't involve much development (if any) and tends to be profitable during the first month or two.
The problem that I can see is that, sadly, it would be hard to notice a hidden gem inside a such a big pile.

Another thing to consider is that a large portion of pre-renewal players nowadays are WoE/BG crowd that just wants free supplies and to mash their designated button while running multiple third-party programs and would surely ignore your server due to all the customizations, even if they are good.

[Playtester]

I don't understand why people still shun renewal so much when it offers a massive amount of new content, skills, mechanics, etc.

There are several threads in which we listed hundreds of reasons why renewal is so bad. It ruined what made RO special and unique and turned it into your average MMORPG that works with the masses.

Main points for me are still:
- ruins partying
- doesn't reward risk
- every class can do everything

Obviously the additional content isn't what players shun, that's why many pre-re servers even try to add the new maps with stats recalculated to pre-re.

You could of course also fix renewal itself, but that is a lot of work because one of the steps to fix it would be to remove the exp penalty, make all monsters harder and completely rewrite the exp value of each monster. Also remove or rebalance various 3rd class skills.

[Terpsichore]

All of this can be fixed and improved though, and to be honest most of renewal changes are good, it's just a few rotten apples to take out and those are easy to spot. It's not like trans doesn't have it's fair share of serious issues as well, we're just used to them.

To address your points:

- ruins partying

I don't think so, solo grind is a lot slower and hardly efficient. Issue is that officials went overboard with cash shop boosts and broken gear so it looks like people just solo breeze through everything effortlessly, this is especially bad on kRO. The fact that after so many years there's a large amount of MvP cards and God gears in circulation doesn't help either. The game is actually pretty decent if you use "normal" stuff.

- doesn't reward risk

I don't exactly understand what do you mean by this but the trans "meta" is the epitome of playing as safe as possible and taking no risks, maximum cheese in PvM, only builds optimized for cannon fodder warfare in PvP and of course no variety at all.

- every class can do everything

No idea where you got this notion from but it's simply not true at all, the only difference is that all jobs can grind normal mobs and advance by themselves, albeit slowly, which doesn't really apply to end-game or PvP. Support roles are as defined as always and pure damage dealers excel at it by a long shot.

[Playtester]

I don't think so, solo grind is a lot slower and hardly efficient.

You must have been playing a different renewal. It's well known that solo grind is the only viable way to level up in renewal. This is mostly caused by the way exp of monsters works (and drops too in case of kRO). To get the best Exp/HP ratio, you always fight the easiest monster that still gives you 100% Exp. You can easily solo kill such a monster and there's no reason to team up, because if you team up you still can't kill double as fast (assuming you move together and fight together), but your exp per monsters is almost halved.

In pre-renewal it was so that if you were in a group you could fight much harder monsters that can't be defeated solo, but in renewal those monsters wouldn't even give you Exp due to "No exp if monster level is too high".

I don't exactly understand what do you mean by this but the trans "meta" is the epitome of playing as safe as possible and taking no risks

See above... in pre-renewal you could for example go to Bio 3. Really high risk to die, but if you survive, you actually get 20 times the amount of XP than when facing easier monsters. In renewal Bio 3 monsters hardly give more exp than any other monster, the only reason to fight them is because you are high level and the XP penalty kicked in for all other regions.

No idea where you got this notion from but it's simply not true at all, the only difference is that all jobs can grind normal mobs and advance by themselves

That was the point, though. Every class can grind solo now rather than having to look for a party. I like it more if every class has that one thing it is good at and only when in a party the full potential is realized.

[TonyStark]

Hey! I was one of your first players! (Actually I think I was the first, I was the first to max anyways.) I was the High Priest, Aceso, haha. I loved the idea of the server and how everything worked but it slowly died when school started and people had things to do. I wouldn't mind seeing a revival of it, though, I haven't found any other servers like it yet.

[ShadowLight]

This actually opens up a great question to whether it is better to customize pre-renewal or renewal. To be honest, I have more experience on Pre-Renewal than Renewal (incoming potential bias!). Both of you carry valid points on the pros and cons for both sides but here are my reason to why I choose Pre-Renewal:

1. Updates: While Terpsichore point is valid: Why choose frame with less features/updates? This is actually my biggest concern, is actually to keep up with possible new updates AFTER my release. There will be a HUGE modification on almost every aspect of the game, keeping up with new expansion or patches from the original games would be too costly. Surely, one may argue, "Nobody ask you to keep up, just use it as starting point". I actually have experience developing a server using the latest patch/emulator and it was a nightmare to keep up with players demand to get hold of new features ASAP. Not mentioning new bugs or conflict introduced in the newer patch. In short, I prefer to keep introducing MY updates (already lined-up two expansions on the server) instead of letting renewal steer the wheel, which brings me to my next point:

2. Split Directions: There's no doubt that the new features are amazing and good to have in a server, but many of them is not the direction that I would want to go. Since the server I'm building (or planning) is heavily customized, I need to design the game to introduce and allow players to get used to MY features instead of teaching them renewal. This reduces the amount of time players need to invest to learn the new basics of the game.

I would list a few more but I'm actually at work right now, so I'll leave it to just two points for now. These are the big ones. Feel free to share your opinion (there's no wrong ones, you're free to go against what I think).

Hey! I was one of your first players! (Actually I think I was the first, I was the first to max anyways.) I was the High Priest, Aceso, haha. I loved the idea of the server and how everything worked but it slowly died when school started and people had things to do. I wouldn't mind seeing a revival of it, though, I haven't found any other servers like it yet.

I definitely remember you! Thank you so much for your participation and support . I learned a lot from reviews and suggestion I get from BETA players! The revival is going to be bigger (since I graduated, I have more resources (time & money) to invest on the game. Will announce when it is finalized.

[annaquin]

Well there is few flaw in original game design...

Flaws appear when news and updates keep pile up ...


RO original game design was simple but magnificient

Thief = Dodge , hard to hit
Swordman  = Hit hard, Tank
Mage = Easy to kill, Impossible to avoid
Archer = Long range, Run away
Acolyte = Can't be killed, Can't kill

The problem was : Acolty player couldn't level up alone .. so game content made sure, players couldn't play alone in higher level dungeon.
Because thief was abble to dodge unlimited monster, they were the perfect tank

So team was easy as a duo
thief+mage/archer
swordman+acolyte
mage+acolye

2 factors ruined the game ... when 2nd class appear
POTS and flee/def reduction. Because of those , most players could solo level and ended up the MMORPG concept.

When they added 2-2 class, they added new negatives factors
1 hit kill and bypass flee/def. Because of those, build like pure agi was nearly impossible for hunter/assassin, but also it make monk and crusader tremendously strong ( build like pure DEX/INT crusa was OVER killing everyone without a chance )

When 1 build can kill 99.99% of any others build, it kill the concept of variance that was so magnificient in Ragnarok.

They added again advanced class , buffed Assassin with also a 1 HIT KILL, pretty much all class went buffed with a 1 HIT KILL, killing the concept of build and render the game a course of balanced VIT+1 HIT KILL.


You should go back to the basis
no reduction of flee/def, no skill to bypass def or flee, no pot without skill recovery, no delay between respawn, less useless map and more monsters per map.

[ggwp]

renewal is vastly superior when it comes to combat mechanics and variety

pve
pre renewal : anubis trolololol
renewal : magma dungeon then goes to hunt on boss type monster from 120-175

pvp
pre renewal : da holy triangle (Champion - AssX - Proff)
renewal : anything except AB - Wanderer/Minstrel

woe
pre renewal : stack stack stack
renewal : full frontal woe (unless the defending guild knows how to run one cell strategy)

Better ? maybe. Vastly superior ? NOPE

doesn't revolve around a couple of over-the-top skills to get anything done.

Arrow Storm pretty much destroy both PvE and MvP aspect. While in PvP there are several skill that does it (vary between emulator used by server)

- ruins partying

I don't think so, solo grind is a lot slower and hardly efficient. Issue is that officials went overboard with cash shop boosts and broken gear so it looks like people just solo breeze through everything effortlessly, this is especially bad on kRO. The fact that after so many years there's a large amount of MvP cards and God gears in circulation doesn't help either. The game is actually pretty decent if you use "normal" stuff.

Solo grind is the fastest way to level , even with crap gears. Been there done that on a lot server to the point already lost count how many.

You must have been playing a different renewal. It's well known that solo grind is the only viable way to level up in renewal. This is mostly caused by the way exp of monsters works (and drops too in case of kRO). To get the best Exp/HP ratio, you always fight the easiest monster that still gives you 100% Exp. You can easily solo kill such a monster and there's no reason to team up, because if you team up you still can't kill double as fast (assuming you move together and fight together), but your exp per monsters is almost halved.

Basically after Scaraba bottleneck its either you quest , hunt boss type mobs or MvP. Grinding normal mobs after 160++ are stupid.

In pre-renewal it was so that if you were in a group you could fight much harder monsters that can't be defeated solo, but in renewal those monsters wouldn't even give you Exp due to "No exp if monster level is too high".

See above... in pre-renewal you could for example go to Bio 3. Really high risk to die, but if you survive, you actually get 20 times the amount of XP than when facing easier monsters. In renewal Bio 3 monsters hardly give more exp than any other monster, the only reason to fight them is because you are high level and the XP penalty kicked in for all other regions.

Bio 4
Scaraba 3
Revamped Guild Dungeon
Verus
Fire Basin
Eclage Tower
Several new Instance (OGH , FQ , CT Nightmare , GH Nightmare , Geffen Tournament)
They got more exp but the reward doesnt worth the risk (like anubis vs bio 3 in pre renewal).

[ShadowLight]

Well there is few flaw in original game design...

Flaws appear when news and updates keep pile up ...


RO original game design was simple but magnificient

Thief = Dodge , hard to hit
Swordman  = Hit hard, Tank
Mage = Easy to kill, Impossible to avoid
Archer = Long range, Run away
Acolyte = Can't be killed, Can't kill

The problem was : Acolty player couldn't level up alone .. so game content made sure, players couldn't play alone in higher level dungeon.
Because thief was abble to dodge unlimited monster, they were the perfect tank

So team was easy as a duo
thief+mage/archer
swordman+acolyte
mage+acolye

2 factors ruined the game ... when 2nd class appear
POTS and flee/def reduction. Because of those , most players could solo level and ended up the MMORPG concept.

When they added 2-2 class, they added new negatives factors
1 hit kill and bypass flee/def. Because of those, build like pure agi was nearly impossible for hunter/assassin, but also it make monk and crusader tremendously strong ( build like pure DEX/INT crusa was OVER killing everyone without a chance )

When 1 build can kill 99.99% of any others build, it kill the concept of variance that was so magnificient in Ragnarok.

They added again advanced class , buffed Assassin with also a 1 HIT KILL, pretty much all class went buffed with a 1 HIT KILL, killing the concept of build and render the game a course of balanced VIT+1 HIT KILL.


You should go back to the basis
no reduction of flee/def, no skill to bypass def or flee, no pot without skill recovery, no delay between respawn, less useless map and more monsters per map.

Yeap, these are the flaws that I would like to fix (or at least try to). But again, it has to be done slowly. Any drastic changes would make players feel out-of-place. They ch0ose to play Ragnarok Online afterall.

[Suspension]

Well there is few flaw in original game design...

Flaws appear when news and updates keep pile up ...


RO original game design was simple but magnificient

Thief = Dodge , hard to hit
Swordman  = Hit hard, Tank
Mage = Easy to kill, Impossible to avoid
Archer = Long range, Run away
Acolyte = Can't be killed, Can't kill

The problem was : Acolty player couldn't level up alone .. so game content made sure, players couldn't play alone in higher level dungeon.
Because thief was abble to dodge unlimited monster, they were the perfect tank

So team was easy as a duo
thief+mage/archer
swordman+acolyte
mage+acolye

2 factors ruined the game ... when 2nd class appear
POTS and flee/def reduction. Because of those , most players could solo level and ended up the MMORPG concept.

When they added 2-2 class, they added new negatives factors
1 hit kill and bypass flee/def. Because of those, build like pure agi was nearly impossible for hunter/assassin, but also it make monk and crusader tremendously strong ( build like pure DEX/INT crusa was OVER killing everyone without a chance )

When 1 build can kill 99.99% of any others build, it kill the concept of variance that was so magnificient in Ragnarok.

They added again advanced class , buffed Assassin with also a 1 HIT KILL, pretty much all class went buffed with a 1 HIT KILL, killing the concept of build and render the game a course of balanced VIT+1 HIT KILL.


You should go back to the basis
no reduction of flee/def, no skill to bypass def or flee, no pot without skill recovery, no delay between respawn, less useless map and more monsters per map.

Hum, you have just summarized the reasons I though of this http://forum.ratemyserver.net/server-discussion/a-new-kind-of-classic-server/

Glad to see actually a lot of people think the same about this game. It's way easier to fix on pre-transcended classes.

[annaquin]

 I saw your server ..... technically I think skill content in Raganrok indeed should be more different.

One way to acheive is specialisation.. but the second way is combination.

I studied Dragon Nest and tried to explain why it failed the same way as RAgnarok ... players were enjoying the fairness of PVP the tremedous speed and action as well as combo. But .. at some point, some skill have more DPS than others...



Game content and entertainment are too differents things... that's why I am not bored to play S4 League at some point where there is no new game contents at all.

PVP in RAgnarok fail because it does lack a goal ... In Guild Wars, PVP has a meaning , Battleground in Ragnarok had a meaning but it's like a total different game... and you need to play against others that don't do battleground at all.

1st class skill skill should have more versatility than 2nd class skill and ...

So fire bolt should have a level factor of 200%
10 MATK x 200% x base level  should be the correct formula

Turning wizard should lower the factor of 50% making fire bolt 10 MATK x 150% x base level

Turning high wizard should continue with 50% and warlock 50%

So a warlock with very large SP , can do 10 MATK x 50% x base level

Also leveling shouldn't be with rebirth process ( stupid commercial idea ) but more like

novice->mage->wizard->high wizard->warlock

There is plenty servers that actually implemented modification and upgrades in order to get the experiences of players more happy.




There is some new good things in renewal, like combo that were totally forgotten in Ragnarok design.

I don't despise 1 Hit kill skill... but the fact that DPS character and smart player can't play is stupid.

Clever way to kill in kRO with Warlock was WI~Gravity Field~WI~Gravity Field .. a very long process that has 90% ^ n chance to kill.
Those are combination and combo...

The stupidity of monk having 30% chance to enter into a combo stance while been in close combat and need to hit armor What the...


To summarize, the general failure of RO private server community is coming from owner , not debating and not arguing in order to move forward with a 100% agreement on changes.

The best way to changes skill is not to do it alone on your private server but to actually agree with community to vote for a general change and let Gravity keep failing.

To my point of view, there should be no valid reason for a mage lvl 150 to not be able to kill a warlock lvl 150, except from skill of the players only.



Join WOE in kRO and you will see the ridiculous stupidy of Comet Spam with fire pillar plant. The game eliminate any possibilities for versatility for WOE. In PVP , you simply can't counter cloak+cursed circle or GX cloak pressure OC, what is the meaning of this ? That's not competitiv, it's artificial hard mode where you simply can't but retaliate somehow with ygg and then start to play.


I like the venom splasher with contamination effect , geniuly good design... In renewal they were a new concept of game poison spore that would actually drain HP, some timid attempt where made to design the necromancer class ( a mix between chaser and wizard )

So yeah new classes are missing for completion.
necromancer ( undead skill , poison skill )
shaman ( ghost skill, dark skill )
summoner ( create dead branch type , minion stuff )
berseker , geomancer, timemage, mimic , lanceur ( lance jumper like in FF7 )
vampire ( ... )


May be a poll per skill changes should help to make an agreement between everyone ( server runner, players , etc.. )