AnthemRO

[BomberWill]

So, I just rated AnthemRO here, but it wasn't enough space to write in =P

Server

• Stability: AnthemRO rarely lags. It would have to be one insane event going on or something like WoE for me to feel any sign of lag. Prontera is our home city and even then, lag is hard to detect in that city. They are times when I would get disconnected due to some time gap disconnection, but it happens like once every couple of months.

• Availability: The server isn't always up! OMG BAD SERVER!!!! No, I'm kidding, but AnthemRO does face downtime. Why? The GMs are constantly adding new things for the players to enjoy which only needs like 5-10 minutes of downtime to implement. For all those who currently play in AnthemRO, you should have seen Talis topic on the forums about all the new things being worked on. This is right from that topic: "Guild vs. Guild based Combat mode", "Unslotter, Kaho Changer, Itemviewer", etc.  Some of our recent downtimes were because the GMs implemented a custom event for Halloween which needed some NPCs to be put in and modifying the weapon Electric Guitar, a custom AnthemRO weapon for the Bard/Clown class.

Community

• Friendliness: Just like in any server, we also have some not so good players (which end up getting banned anyways for breaking rules =P), but there are a ton of players who spend hours on end on the forums answering other player's questions and giving advice to make the game more enjoyable. AnthemRO just recently got a Public Relations team who are dedicated to making the game more enjoyable. More on this later. In the game itself, you could yell out a question in Prontera or any crowded city and people are willing to answer it. If you are just starting, avoid PVPing though, most of us (yes even me >_>) are aching to kill people since WoE isn't enough for us blood thirsty beasts!

• Eventfulness: AnthemRO just recently got a PR team to help with this department.  I am currently not sure how big is this team, but I always see a few of them walking around town, just talking to the players about all kinds of things and answering all questions, no matter how silly it is. Hell, I even asked one of the PR "How do I shot web?" and got an answer for that. They all try to host a ton of small events to keep the players entertained and some of them even have some huge events that takes weeks to finish. I seen art contest, story telling contest, trivia contest, and some hide and seek events going on.

Game Masters

• Friendliness: I really don't talk to the GMs much, but I do see them around forums also helping the players on a more technical level. Like if you have problems installing the game, some of them can help fix the issue. There is also a Support Ticket system in which you can talk to the GMs about anything, even things like getting scammed.  No GMs will say (#@& off, but would try his/her best to answer the ticket. They do enforce the rules big time, and do have a section in the forums for players to help enforce the rules also.

• Availability: The GMs are usually busy handling support tickets, bugs, events, new updates, etc, so it may take a while to get help from them.  I read in other topics in these forums that some stolen items take hours/days to find and that AnthemRO is short on High GMs. Even though the GM team may be busy doing that, some do lurk the forums to try and help people (going back to the Friendliness section). AnthemRO also have people that aren't GMs but can help on a technical level to make sure players can play without any client errors.

• Helpfulness: Support tickets may take a while, but forums are direct. Except an answer to any question you have in only a few hours or less depending on the time of day. With the addition of the PR team, no question will be unanswered.

Game-play

• Economy: The economy of AnthemRO is pretty bad. Because we have such a small player base, it is hard to get someone to buy unusual items so we are forced to sell low. It is easy to make zeny though, one of the common ways is to collect Piece of Cake, a vital part of WoE which does sell for a decent amount and any newbie can collect it.  The GMs have been putting ways to get rid of the overflow of zeny in the server to try and stable the economy, but we still need a new flow of players so buying and selling of items can increase.

• Guild Competition: Due to the lack of players, only like 3-4 guilds dominate trans WoE. We also have a nontrans WoE, but I only tried it once so I don't know if it's doing any good.  We have a ton of castles open though so while all the big guilds are attacking the better castles, smaller guilds can go have fun in the other castles. If you join AnthemRO for WoE, try to join a guild instead of making a new one. The forums has a recruitment section and people in Prontera advertises R> guild chats. We are a heavy WoE/PVP server and love competition.

• Class Balance: There is no such thing as balance, it's Ragnarok =P. I don't know about other servers, but we have a special set of weapons to make even the weakest class be more competitive and fun. I seen Gypsy class wreck a Champion because of Belmont Whip (the Gypsy weapon) and Assassin Cross one shot kill people because of the Twin Fang (the SinX weapon). Asura may be the strongest move in Ragnarok, but we do have a way to survive it without getting 1 million HP, like high rate servers do. Acid Demo can be stopped completely because of our gears and Lord Knights are a threat if played correctly. The players helped designed these weapons and are still updating each weapon to be more balanced and worth getting. I didn't rate this too high because some of the special weapons are still way too strong and still needs to be taken care of, the big one being Suiken (the Champion weapon) when combined with Megingjard (it gives +45str in our server to all classes except Sin/Sinx). Some people have found ways to 1 shot people using these two gears + some smaller gears we own. This isn't the only imbalance we face but it's a big one. Nearly every class who wants 150 dex can get it so it's a face paced server. Magic classes are gimped to an extent but Tome and Magi (Prof and HW weapons) gives them an alternative to get around GTB (nulls magic and is common here).

I am not a GM, subGM, or PR. I am just a regular player who has been in AnthemRO since day one. I been playing Ragnarok for almost three years now, and been on many servers, but this is the best server I played in by far. Contrary to all rumors, AnthemRO is stable and won't be dying out anytime soon. If you like WoE competition, come check us out. If any AnthemRO player reads this, come post your views on the server or just say hi =P

[Kasumi]

1k+ people = small server? since when!

[GM-Ymir]

I get this sense that since he says he's not a GM etc he's a friend of one of them. Because I played AnthemRO for a short while, and the lag was horrible. Even in the AnimaRO days the lag was absolutely unbearable.

[BomberWill]

1k+ people = small server? since when!

I haven't seen over 1k people on aRO in ages o_O Hell when I wrote this their was barely 500 on. A server with a trillion accounts don't mean anything if only 2 people sign on, or is this logic flawed? =P

@GM-Ymir: Please keep your comments to yourself. If you go and check AnthemRO ratings, I did not give them 100, I only gave them a 77.

[DeePee]

I think he's just responding to your "AnthemRO rarely lags"

[BomberWill]

he's a friend of one of them.

=/

[DeePee]

Exactly, lol. From what I read, he's just responding that the lag is horrible and that he gets the feeling you're a friend of the GM for saying it rarely lags.

...I guess?

[BomberWill]

Yes but it annoys me that people hate AnthemRO so much they would make stupid assumptions instead of showing facts I don't care if someone hates Anthem or love Anthem, just don't go spreading lies.

A big part of lag is due to the person's computer, which I guess many people do not know this. I have a powerful laptop and I run AnthemRO fine. Hell I can show you videos I made of WoE and you can barely tell it lags if at all.

Anyways, hey DeePee you still play in TalonRO? Hows it doing, it's been a while since I checked it out.

[GM-Ymir]

Yes but it annoys me that people hate AnthemRO so much they would make stupid assumptions instead of showing facts I don't care if someone hates Anthem or love Anthem, just don't go spreading lies.

A big part of lag is due to the person's computer, which I guess many people do not know this. I have a powerful laptop and I run AnthemRO fine. Hell I can show you videos I made of WoE and you can barely tell it lags if at all.

Anyways, hey DeePee you still play in TalonRO? Hows it doing, it's been a while since I checked it out.

This is a joke right? I can't tell if you're being serious. It's widely known that AnthemRO has one of the worst pasts of any private server. And the only reason it might not be lagging now is because so many people left after they realised what AnthemRO was about, profits. I was there for a year or so, and it's quite difficult to survive on the server, especially if you're not a donator. Just reflecting on your original starting post, the donation items are not balanced at all, I mean their SQI are ridiculous. I understand they have server costs, but I know for a certain fact their income used to be one of the highest yields per player of all the private servers. They have no excuse to have laggy servers, which they have had in the past.

[Guest]

I get this sense that since he says he's not a GM etc he's a friend of one of them. Because I played AnthemRO for a short while, and the lag was horrible. Even in the AnimaRO days the lag was absolutely unbearable.

it doesn't matter who he is really, he still has the right to make a review
as for the lag thing... i don't think anyone can prove or disprove that because well... it could be you, or it could be the server who knows

[BomberWill]

Sure AnimaRO may had its share of problems, but this is AnthemRO and its run by new people. Unlike you, I will not talk bad about a server I do not know about, which you are clearly fond of doing. If you have bothered to do research, you would have seen the news about AnthemRO getting a new server and new hardware to reduce the lag not long ago.

The SQIs may currently be a bit off balanced but because of this imbalance, even the weakest class has a chance to kill the strongest class. Another thing I mentioned in my first post, but again you are so quick to flame that I can bet money you didn't read my entire first post. Donators do not rule in AnthemRO. I donated under $150 in 3 years which is barely over 100m zeny, in which I gave away most of it as gifts to friends who play. A carded SQI alone cost anywhere from 150 to 300 mil zeny. Now I own 3 SQIs + other gears which are about 70-100m a piece. Another point I said in my first post in which you did not bother to read. A newbie player can make a character and collect Piece of Cake which sells for about 3600z a piece. Anyone can start AnthemRO, make a level 50-60 character with NPC gear, go collect 100 cakes a day which takes 1-2 hours depending on your class and make 350-400k zeny a day. Now that would be about 2mil a week for a total newbie player and about 8-10mil a month. Now if they double the cake they collect thats almost 20mil zeny which is enough for 1 MVP card. If they buy a Doppelganger Card and stick it into any weapon, they just increased the zeny making by a ton and can buy the 2nd Doppelganger Card in under a month. It is insanely easy to make zeny so it's not hard to keep up with donators. 

Why do you keep talking about AnimaRO like it still exist? The only thing Anima and Anthem share in common is the same web page layout and a few vet members. Please stop ruining my topic and let others enjoy my post.

[Descent]

^^^ Seconded.

Anima =/= Anthem.

If Anthem has problems, it's due to Anthem's issues, not their supposed relation to AnimaRO.

[DeePee]

Well, for a server as aRO it's very much necessary to keep donations incoming. Unlike about every other RO server, aRO uses Aegis as a server platform which makes the server costs far more expensive. If I recall right, it takes at least 3 servers to even get the thing running well. Then also it runs on a Windows machine, making server rental even more expensive. eAthena servers basically only need 1 server to get the thing running fine and they do not use Windows, which is a lot cheaper. So yeah, they do need the donation money.

Sadly, it's also one of the biggest lag causers. If you have played any other server, no matter what the size, you will know the differences in lag. I mean...taking almost a full second to open an NPC menu is...well, quite long.

[XionSiphon]

Well, for a server as aRO it's very much necessary to keep donations incoming. Unlike about every other RO server, aRO uses Aegis as a server platform which makes the server costs far more expensive. If I recall right, it takes at least 3 servers to even get the thing running well. Then also it runs on a Windows machine, making server rental even more expensive. eAthena servers basically only need 1 server to get the thing running fine and they do not use Windows, which is a lot cheaper. So yeah, they do need the donation money.

Sadly, it's also one of the biggest lag causers. If you have played any other server, no matter what the size, you will know the differences in lag. I mean...taking almost a full second to open an NPC menu is...well, quite long.

lol the good old days of finding a nice tiny server but soon getting ruined by the 1-3 second lag menu popup, I hated that too x_x

[Disney]

"AnthemRO rarely laggs"?
(What I'm going to write is probably already mentioned, but I'm not gonna read every post)

It's lagging the hell out of me (and most others), and I play there 3 years.

It's still my favorite server, but start to dislike AnthemRO more and more.
People these days are already fully geared and have the so-called "Super Quest Items".
People are incredibly rude and "KoSing" eachother in pvp, if you only use a sword/mailbreaker for once.
There are seriously people been killing eachother so for more then 2-3 years.
The Forums are a pain. Everything that is going on is flaming, spamming, arguing and so on.
It's honnestly impossible for a new player to get going here.
It takes 3+ Years to get your stuff/equipment done for a non-donator. While for a donator it only takes one minute. $130 for a Custom Sprite Kaho, Isn't that epic failure? Note that these (The Custom Sprites) are NOT obtainable ingame.

And Yeah, I left some things out for sure, but don't bother.