AnthemRO

[Johnsu]

Now,  I know a lot of you have opinions about the history of this server, but I assure you this review is non biased. Do I want to get more members to join? Sure. But I will not do so under false pretenses. Anyhow, Full steam ahead!


Server

• Stability- As far as lag goes, I dont. Some do, but thats to be expected when you live a distance from the server location. I have triple cliented in the main town (prontera) and slightly lag. But thats due to my ping and connection.
  
  
• Availability-as uptime, Ive seen a zone crash at 2am and it would be fixed within 10-15 minutes tops. I truly love this. Updates generally last between five to ten minutes at most. Currently, Direct assault is being installed and this is the longest Ive seen it down in almost 2 years.
  
  
  
  Community
  
  
• Friendliness- Honestly, There's a lot of people willing to help you if you ask nicely. Ive seen people come in-game and beg for free stuff and get mad when they don't receive. You got your whole "Spell out Please" bandwagon peeps, but they are very rarely seen. The PR's we have are really useful, who, spend most of maybe all their time answering questions. The forums themselves are a nice addition, if you stay away from OT or ranters, You'll do fine.
  
  
• Eventfulness- This is probably the worst aspect of anthemro. We lack events. We have weekly match me events, and an ongoing storyline, but thats about it. Very horrid part of the server. I dont remember the last pvp event, but yeah, lacking events.
  
  Game Masters
  
  
• Friendliness- Truely good talkative GM's. They pop up in alot of threads making everyone laugh and whatnot. You see them ingame too, but usually in pvp watching us try to kill them, and failing at it. -_-
  
  
• Availability: As I noted earlier, crashing zone at 2am, fixed fast. There is always someone to help you provided you setup your support ticket correctly. I've read in past reviews that the GM's take so long in answering, they never get to them. That is really untrue. Do you know how many item logs must be looked through to find your screwup? Yeah. Same goes to people complaining about anima tickets. The Database doesnt go back that far.
  
  Game play
  
  
• Class balance Honestly, Everyones pretty matched. With toad reducing 40%, and devi and ghostring reducing it more, asura doesnt do more than 8k. Acid demonstration does 2k tops. LK's have frenzy, Meh. Status armor. Magic classes got the HW card. Gtb. Stuff doesnt get released so fast here because it has to be throughly tested to make sure it doesnt break pvp/woe.
  
  
• Economy- Pretty horrid, but its stable. Ad credits are 1m, Mvps are 25 for major, 15 for non. Hell, Valk randris card is 15 ads. Recently the ad shop was reworked to update prices and other means. Now, when you donate/buy something, you get points which can be used for Battle manuals, Bloody branches, OCA/OPBs, etc.
  
  
• Guild Competition: Pretty so so lately. We're lacking more guilds. Closing castles to make woe fun has been the discussion as of late. Nontrans woe exist, but mainly for the ones who cant handle/Dont want to handle trans woe.
  
  
  So, that pretty much sets you guys up. Remember, Play hard, not flame hard
  
  
  
  Recent stats:
  Players online: 501 as of 09/30/2009
  Server status: Updating for Full Direct Assault
  Head GM: GM Talis

[GorthexTiger]

Great review, only thing I can see needing improvement, is maybe going over your review one more time, and explaining a few things in better detail. You did somewhat when you were explaining the donation stuff or whatever, but, as an example, I don't know what 'ads' are.

Are they a currency?
How many times I vote on a banner?
The things I mute on TV during commercial time?

Anyways, great review, makes me excited about the server.

Added to my watch list

[Mashimon]

Ads are the equivalent to 1 Us Dollar.  You can get ads by either donating or by voting in the toplistings (voting in the toplistings doesn't get money for the server, but it allows non-donators to get ads over time).

Some banners can be voted on every 12 hours, and others every 24 hours.  They give you anywhere from .01-.03 ad every click.  It doesn't seem like a lot, but over time, you can get a decent amount of ads.

Any item that is in the item shop can be purchased with ads.  Prices vary, however.  The cheapest is 1 ad, (1$) and the more expensive are 130 ads. 
Most items from the shop can be found in game for cheaper.  The current exchange rate is approximately 1m per 1 ad.  (The amount is player-regulated.  The GMs do not put input here.) 
Most of the MVP cards can be bought from the ad shop.  This is how many players get MVP gear, seeing as our card drop rate is .03%.
Many items in the item shop can be obtained in game, as well.  Some items can't, however.
However, there are no items that are reserved for people who donate versus people who vote in the toplistings (The amount of time in which one may get said items, however, is vastly different).

On a side note, I pretty much agree with Johnsu enough to not want to write my own review 
Would be like reading the same thing twice.

[Annihilate]

hmm. so anthemRO is flooded with mvp cards then?

[Benfi]

Well, the server is good in the way that it uses official software, but at a cost.
It's horribly outdated (and even with their current episode they are missing lots of stuff), barely gets any updates at all in a way that they had no actual update since christmas 2008. I got so tired of playing here. It's always the same, nothing new to do. Sure, Direct Assault is one new feature, but it took them what...a year to make it? ~_~

Same goes for player suggestions sorta... some very easy ones have been up for like half a year to a year, got tons of player support but for whatever reason barely gets implemented. Is Talis the only one working?

And yeah, the market is flooded with MVP cards, which isn't a bad thing. But they are very, very donation based because the server is so expensive.

Anyway, I played this server for quite a while, gave it a chance, but the only good thing about it I guess is the size of the community and perhaps friendliness of GMs?

[Annihilate]

i mean, seriously, at this rate all recallers will have GTB cards,all sinx's have incantation samurai or something... etc etc.

hmm.

[Zone]

i mean, seriously, at this rate all recallers will have GTB cards,all sinx's have incantation samurai or something... etc etc.

hmm.

not all, but if you want to be good, you  need those cards.
There are ways to get them without donating, and that's called the ad-credit system.

[Mashimon]

hmm. so anthemRO is flooded with mvp cards then?

You're looking at it from the wrong perspective.
Anthem RO is a low rate server.  It's a 5/5/3.  Having the MVP cards makes this server the custom server that it is. 

Well, the server is good in the way that it uses official software, but at a cost.
It's horribly outdated (and even with their current episode they are missing lots of stuff), barely gets any updates at all in a way that they had no actual update since christmas 2008. I got so tired of playing here. It's always the same, nothing new to do. Sure, Direct Assault is one new feature, but it took them what...a year to make it? ~_~

I'm not sure you understand all that was going on.  First, Anthem is an Aegis server.  It's hard for things to get updated because they essentially need to come from hacks and leaks from iro (at least, that's my understanding).  Anthem is as close as it can possibly get.  Anthem is currently at the Satan Morroc (Don't know which number that is).

Regarding DA, the coding was lost and needed to be re-coded.  This is the only reason it took so long. 

Same goes for player suggestions sorta... some very easy ones have been up for like half a year to a year, got tons of player support but for whatever reason barely gets implemented. Is Talis the only one working?

And yeah, the market is flooded with MVP cards, which isn't a bad thing. But they are very, very donation based because the server is so expensive.

Player suggestions tend to have to do with coding too, especially if you're talking about the ones that implement new quests. That's not exactly an overnight thing.
Again, you're sounding pretty negative.  The server does have a donation system, and this donation system goes to cover server cost.  Aegis servers are more expensive.  The MVP cards, as unbalanced as it seems, actually give the classes balance.

[Najara]

Since this isn't my review I'm not going into too much details, yet I'd like to add something. ;P

aRO was fine, now it's so so (I haven't been able to/didn't play for like 2 months due to lagg and constant disconnections.)
The current GMs are actually pretty kind, unlike the Ex-GMs. Sadly, they rarely get in-game.

In general I enjoyed my time there, yet, I would not suggest this server for players who aren't able/willing to donate. =/
Why? Because the current players there are either new players who never ever PVP/WOE (thank god, because if they did, they wouldn't play much longer), or donators loaded with MVP carded items, and most (from the second option) aren't really nice either.

Anthem is currently at the Satan Morroc (Don't know which number that is).

That's 11.X or 12.X, iRO and most of the other private servers are 13.2+
Even though it's Aegis, it's not that hard to keep updated. Thing is, when they do, players whine, and when they don't, they whine as well. With other words, it's never good enough.
I think that's why they're taking it slow. From what I noticed, the last update (that got Kiel Cards, Valkyrie Randgris Card, High Wizard Card etc implented) caused alot of comotion, since they're avaible through donating. =/

[Mashimon]

From what I noticed, the last update (that got Kiel Cards, Valkyrie Randgris Card, High Wizard Card etc implented) caused alot of comotion, since they're avaible through donating. =/

Most of those cards (I don't know about the hwiz) were available on drop.  I think one person on the server had a valk and one had a kiel before they got put into the shop.

It's not that hard to make money in game.  It's rather monotonous at first, but it's like that on any server when you're trying to make money.  I know people who have top gear who haven't donated a cent.  The donation system doesn't make Anthem RO what it is.

[Najara]

It's not that hard to make money in game.  It's rather monotonous at first, but it's like that on any server when you're trying to make money.  I know people who have top gear who haven't donated a cent.  The donation system doesn't make Anthem RO what it is.

No, but it has a huge share in it. The fact that MVP cards are avaible (in a lowrate) through donating does make the server diffrent then others.

About the money making, you got a point there, 'hard' wasn't the right way to put it, more like... 'It takes time'? But yeah, everything takes time, but with "time" I mean longer than one year, maybe even 2 or 3+ years if you don't know the ways.
(Unless you use third party programs (atleast botting is out of the question, now) or have 'friends' whom give you items when they quit.)

By the way, I'm not trying to make AnthemRO look bad in any way, I'm just listing facts and apperently... we both have a diffrent opinion about that, just making that clear so there won't be any misunderstandings. 

[Benfi]

I'm not sure you understand all that was going on.  First, Anthem is an Aegis server.  It's hard for things to get updated because they essentially need to come from hacks and leaks from iro (at least, that's my understanding).  Anthem is as close as it can possibly get.  Anthem is currently at the Satan Morroc (Don't know which number that is).

Regarding DA, the coding was lost and needed to be re-coded.  This is the only reason it took so long.

I said they use official software right? And that being a good thing, except having huge negative side to it. They may have Satan Morroc, but they still miss a lot of features from earlier episode, even not all from episode 10.1-10.4 is implemented yet. Not to mention 75% of the official quests are missing. They added quests for episode 11.1 and 11.2, but most of the older quests are missing (biolabs, kiel, etc.).

And sure, DA takes a long time to make, but at what cost? There haven't been any other updates (apart from some small fixes) since almost a year. Things just got boring, very boring.

Player suggestions tend to have to do with coding too, especially if you're talking about the ones that implement new quests. That's not exactly an overnight thing.
Again, you're sounding pretty negative.  The server does have a donation system, and this donation system goes to cover server cost.  Aegis servers are more expensive.  The MVP cards, as unbalanced as it seems, actually give the classes balance.

Uhm, there are some very simple player suggestions that don't require any coding. Updated Arrow Crafting Table, Status Arrow Quivers, Castle changes and some others. And actually... making a new quest shouldn't take more than a few days.

Sure, I understand that the server needs money to survive, but the way things are, new players just barely stand a chance. You can say that all donation items are available ingame by not donating and that everyone can get them, but honestly now...do you really think a new player will spend months/years to get at the same level all the veteran players are at now? I don't think so.

I had fun for a short while here, but it's almost useless to try being competitive and there's not much to do. Might sound mean and I don't have the intention to make the server look very bad, but this is just how I experienced my time on the server.

[Annihilate]

The donation system doesn't make Anthem RO what it is.

1. the kiel thing being dropped before it was avaialable via donate doesnt really fly as a good reason for w/e point it is cos at 0.03% drop rate it would take 3333+ Kiels on the average for a card to Drop which will take approximate 6666 hours of nonstop hunting [not accounting for the actual time it takes to kill it] which is equivalent to roughly 278 consecutive sleepless nights.

2. and then, lets say, typically I'll need the ff at the very least as mty MvP/MiniBoss cards - GTB, Ghostring,Deviling,OrcHero which- i.e. 98 ADs worth based on anthems server page. How many voting sites are there? Id like to make a realistic estimate on how long it takes to get 98 AD's.

3. The Donation Page includes
           a. Lord Kaho's Horns [top headgear, usable by all, +6 DEF, +20 STR/INT/DEX, +20 MDEF].
           b. Berzebub Card [-30% Cast Time]
           
4. A lot of the MvP-Miniboss Cards have been edited too - Like Garm Card[+10 def on armor] and Toad Card [40% demihuman reduction]













=/

[balam]

Its an excellent server, most of the things have been said and you really cant make an objective opinion if you hadnt even tried it, sure its been around for 3years+ which leaves a lot of veterans with insane gear (doesnt break the game tho as said gear is mainly fancy overupped gear), but also those veterans are leaving and theres a good chance for newbies to win some free gear when they give it away.

If you don't donate you can still have fun as I did all the way until I managed to get a good gear set w/o needing to donate, just hang with people you like and play with them, the gear doesnt matter do have fun and with some dedication anyone can get a mid-gear set in less than 1 year without needing to donate.

If youre not an honest player, this server aint for you they are strict on their rules and non biased at all, wanna bot? well you just wont be able to <3


Meet us on our forums, theyre pretty active and that makes a nice difference from other servers I've even tried where their forums are always dead.

[Johnsu]

I noticed you mentioned us lacking episodes. Im sorry, but I have to say having episode 13 or whatever doesnt really mean anything, Sure, we're slow to update. Would you like something on your server be released and cause the whole server to leave because it broke woe/pvp? Personally, People are still enjoying thor's at the moment, and moscovia. I find it exciting when a little is released at a time, so I get to enjoy it. Not all at one time, imo.