AvrisRO

[Karuna-tan]

The small chatbox is never enough for me apparently, so here I am, writing yet another review. Here we go.

Server ratings

Stability: For now the server has been pretty stable to me, during the time I've played there. Sure, it's a new server and hasn't been open for a long time, but anyways. Nothing bad I can say about this. 10/10.

Availability:
For now, I haven't experienced any crashes or such, so the only downtime for me has been the maintenances and they are always announced on the forums in a new topic and in the shoutbox as well. I've never been online myself when the maintenance has been only minutes away, so I don't know are there any ingame announcements as well. Script reloads I have experienced while playing and the players do get a warning before that. 10/10.

Game Master ratings

Friendliness:
I haven't been in touch with the GMs a whole lot personally, but I've been watching closely how they act on the forums and such. Agnus has a bit of a temper and he does snap - but then again, I bet he doesn't get paid for doing what he does. Just like the dev on my first server said "If I'd get paid for this monthly, I'd instantly be best friends with every player there is out there". Even GMs have their limits when it comes to dealing with stupid people. As for Gosu... Gosu seems pretty neutral to me, so I can't really say much about him. Then there's also Cupcake and from what I've learned, he takes care of the event side mostly, so naturally he seems like a friendly fellow to me. 8/10.

Availability:
If you can't get a hold of a GM ingame, you can be guaranteed to get a hold of them on the forums. I posted into the bug reports-section and a day or so later Gosu had replied to my topic (which was about El Dicastes not having a tool dealer like the other towns). I did use @request ingame too when I was having trouble with a quest I was doing, but right at that time I think no GMs were on (they're normal human beings like us, they have their own lives outside RO and such, I understand that). In short, if @request ingame doesn't get you any results, make a forum account if you don't have one already and you can get a hold of a GM. 9/10.

Helpfulness:
I haven't really needed much help from the GM team for now, but I've seen them helping out other players and such that have been having problems with the client not working and such. I'm glad to see that they do know about scripting and such, because I've played on servers where they have no idea about scripting in the first place. 9/10.

Community ratings

Friendliness:
Let's face it guys - every server has their small pack of trolls that love to hog the main chat. AvrisRO, in that case, is no different. However, there are friendly players that will help you if you ask for help. Yesterday I was having problems with trying to start a NW quest because I couldn't find the NPCs for it - I explained my problem on main and asked for help and tadah, a kind soul sent me a PM, telling me where should I go and which NPC should I talk to in order to start the quest. 8/10.

Eventfulness:
Lately I've seen Cupcake doing a lot of events. As far as I know, the server doesn't have any automated events (not that I know of at least), so this is a really positive thing. Of course it might also be because holidays were just now and he had some free time to actually hold events for players. But personally during the last few days I've witnessed at least 3 events held by Cupcake. 7/10.

Game-play ratings

Economy:
Since the server is new, the economy is pretty decent. Every server has its own overpricing moron (again, AvrisRO is no different), but for the most part the prices for items are reasonable. Some of the gears are more expensive than others (especially if they're useful in WoE/BG). For now I haven't seen any high tier MVP drops on the market (i.e. Variant Shoes, Valkyrian Armor etc), so I'm kind of anxious to see how people will price those once they hit the market finally. 8/10.

Guild competition:
There's no WoE currently, but it's bound to hit the server soon. Even if there was, I wouldn't be really able to rate this part, since I don't do things like these.

Class balance:
There are no 3rd classes here, only trans, so it's pretty much the same it's on just about every server. Donation items are in no way overpowered and as far as I know, they're not anything custom either so they won't break the game. 9/10.

Overall: 78 / 90 (90 is the maximum for me, since I won't rate the guild competition at all.)

[Zoladrius]

This is a fairly honest review. I have no complaints at all about anything written.

If you're looking for a good low-rate, with good guilds, and a lot of potential, I really suggest AvrisRO

[Kristea]

Yay, a real review thread! Thank you!
Let's see. I've been trying to help aRO by updating my review on the server, but I'm only one and I also have much more stuff to say. So let's start.

Server rating:
Stability 9.8/10
In the first weeks (maybe one or two) I did experience some lag. But the GM team quickly moved the server to another host and it never happened again.
Availability 10/10
Except for the maintenance, it's always up.

Game Master Rating:
Friendliness 8/10
Nothing against them. I saw some people raging about Agnus and his attitude. Think about this honestly: a bunch of trolls/haters appears out of nowhere just to piss everyone off (yeah, those truly exist, they aren't mythical creatures, sorry). Who has to take care of them? The GM team. Now imagine how some react when they see a bug. "OMGOMGOMGOMGOMG, PLEASE, GM, A BUG, FIX QUICK, YOU GUYS ARE LAME BECAUSE THERE'S A BUG". This even pisses me off and I'm not a GM. They aren't gods. They are human, they can't predict everything. Of course he gets mad. Everyone would be mad if they put their effort in something and they see some people b*tching about it. Give him a discount. Give the GM team a discount. They deserve it. Of course they shouldn't take it on the players, but still... It's comprehensible, they have to deal with stupid stuff every single day. And they have been improving a lot with this experience till now. So, I have to agree with Karuna-tan on this as well.
Availability 10/10
If you don't see them in game, they will be in the forums. Even if they don't answer your thread, they have seen it, don't worry, don't make a fuss about it.
Helpfulness 9.8/10
Honestly, it's one of the best GM teams I've seen. They fix bugs quickly, the events are now implemented (and aren't automated ones!), they are always there in the forums. Also, the features are being implemented. I also loved both GM's that quit (it's quite sad they did, actually).

Community Rating:
Friendliness 9/10
Of course there are trolls. This is the internet. You can find them pretty much everywhere. So just accept them and you'll see they just want to have fun. Or ignore them. You won't be able to run away from them, anyway. The community is friendly, active and helpful. If you have any problem, just say it in the main and you'll receive help for sure. There are always more than 200 people online everyday and it's growing day after day.
Eventfulness 8.9/10
There are events now, by the way, everyday. And non-automated ones. Too bad it's really late in my timezone, but I still participate in some. ^^

Game-Play Rating:
Economy 8/10
This is one of the things that still scares me. Some people find it overpriced. I find it underpriced o.O
Some things are overpriced, yeah, but most of them are underpriced. But I hope it gets better... Still, it's great for a newcomer. Newcomers will find this quite acceptable for their levels.
Guild Competition -
There are a lot of guilds now, but since the WoE will start in the next week, I can't talk about the competition for now.
Class Balance 10/10
This is a server with no 3rd jobs. So yeah, it's pretty much balanced. The donations are also balanced and no customs.

TL;DR
It's a great server overall. It's the only one who gave me the feeling that I can totally waste my free time here without the fear of it closing soon. I just don't like all the drama around this server on RMS, there's no real drama in the server, it's pretty calm. So yeah, don't believe everything you read (I bet you were scared and you wouldn't try it thanks to it). Try it and you'll see there's no one better than this (and I bet there won't be for a long time).

[Triper]

I saw some people raging about Agnus and his attitude. Think about this honestly: a bunch of trolls/haters appears out of nowhere just to piss everyone off (yeah, those truly exist, they aren't mythical creatures, sorry). Who has to take care of them? The GM team. Now imagine how some react when they see a bug. "OMGOMGOMGOMGOMG, PLEASE, GM, A BUG, FIX QUICK, YOU GUYS ARE LAME BECAUSE THERE'S A BUG". This even pisses me off and I'm not a GM. They aren't gods. They are human, they can't predict everything. Of course he gets mad. Everyone would be mad if they put their effort in something and they see some people b*tching about it. Give him a discount. Give the GM team a discount. They deserve it. Of course they shouldn't take it on the players, but still... It's comprehensible, they have to deal with stupid stuff every single day. And they have been improving a lot with this experience till now. So, I have to agree with Karuna-tan on this as well.

So, just because a part of the population are trolls/act stupid/type stupid stuff/rage/etc that gives the right to rage on players to the GM/ADmin team?

If you know how to act and be calm and not stress over a game then you get a win even with trolls around[it's hard and we all know that but that's why you've win people and people who can't win. That's right, there is no looser but just people that can't win because they can't see the win above their own roof and are always inside their own shell of ideas. When they get out of their shell then they can strife for a win].

This same concept applies with irl stuff, if you're selling a product and a bunch of people starts to talk about how it sucks, you aren't going to punch or scream to them to get out of the store but instead you will act calm and just say to them that even if the product sucks according their point of view others may like it about how it's and how it works and maybe other products may interest them and be of their pleasure to then, who was against a product, end on a potential buyer transforming a bad situation into a win situation.

Adapting this concept to RO it's all about read what the trolls says and just play their game:
They say the server sucks without events? Give them events.
They say that pvp is boring with nobody? Make pvp attractive.
There is a bug? Check if it's possible to fix it fast in minutes, make an announce about it, stipulate a time to fix, announce all the stuff in forum and in game, show the community that the GM/Admin team exists and do stuff.
etc

RO pservers are like a business, you act bad and the server *may* die fast. You act good and be calm versus any adversity and "read" the stuff between the lines and you get a win server.

[Kristea]

And I said that... Quoting:

...Give him a discount. Give the GM team a discount. They deserve it. Of course they shouldn't take it on the players, but still... It's comprehensible, they have to deal with stupid stuff every single day. And they have been improving a lot with this experience till now. So, I have to agree with Karuna-tan on this as well.

And it's true. They have been improving. A lot actually. As I read in a review earlier, the server may have started good, but then it went downhill and now it's getting even better. Just someone who wasn't there in the past days is able to deny this. Someone once said you should learn with your mistakes. Well then, I've seen this happen in this server. To be honest, yeah, I was afraid this one wasn't going to last long after the stuff that happened back in December. Many started wondering if this was going to last. But now I can say I trust this GM team. They actually listen and learn with their mistakes. So yeah, why not trust them? I finally found one which is worth playing and I'll stay there until something proves me wrong.

[Triper]

Because there isn't any other of the kind? lol

[Kristea]

There is more LR servers that are good, actually. And I tried all of them. But... Nothing compares to this one. Everything is balanced (no overpowered donations, no cards on them too), the GM team is quite capable, there are people playing it (for a change). This has all I could ask for. You just have to wait a bit, have a bit of patience and everything will show up eventually.
And I finished all I had to say. ^^

[Aynia]

Monster&MVP Rules of Conduct

    MVPs are FreeForAll! Means anyone can kill it but the following using Ice Wall / Blessing / Buffs / Pneuma / Heal, etc. on MVPs is not allowed under ANY CIRCUMSTANCES. The reason for a FreeForAll rule is that anyone coming onto the field and a MVP in progress of being killed by you, your party, another party or player MUST BE ABLE TO BE ATTACKED BY EVERYONE. Anyone trying to make someone else not be able to attack a MVP is subject to this rule and that includes but is not limited to priests helping their own players with pneuma to not be killed by the MVP. If someone else is around that is longranged you are subject to this rule and should stop using pneuma on the MVP.
    Do not grief players. Mini-bosses and normal mobs are submitted to this rule. Do not steal monsters from Grimtoothing Sinxs. Killstealing both these types of monsters are not allowed.
    @noks being off is no excuse / lee-way to KS a member
    Do not Dead Branch outside of the Arenas (located in Prontera)
    Do not mob entire maps. This is permissible only if no one else is on the map; otherwise, you're limited to five intentional monsters at any given time.
    Using Ice Wall / Blessing / Buffs / Pneuma / Heal, etc. on MVPs to grief is illegal
    Do not trigger MVP teleportation or any other action which may impede others' progress on killing the MVP (unless you intend on killing the MVP yoursel(f/ves)

These rules are now in effect.

LOL these admins are retarded. Can't pneuma tank MVPs that'll use clashing spiral. Can't ice wall ledge bio mvps.

[Lysander]

LOL these admins are retarded. Can't pneuma tank MVPs that'll use clashing spiral. Can't ice wall ledge bio mvps.

I understand where they're coming from, but that blanket rule does seem a tad excessive. They might as well disable those skills outside of BG/PvP/WoE, since they are under no circumstance allowed to be used anyways. Seems like a lazy approach to dealing with griefing issues.

[Triper]

Those rules are so stupid that I don't know from where to start:

Mini-bosses and normal mobs are submitted to this rule

This is 100% stupid because of making something for MVPs being applied to normal mobs, one thing is getting something not used on some places/monsters but another is to make impossible to use some basic stuff as heal during lving because is against the rules lol So, battle acos are a must now and no more heal bomb basic stuff on the starter lvs? lol

Do not mob entire maps. This is permissible only if no one else is on the map; otherwise, you're limited to five intentional monsters at any given time.

Also wth is in that admin/gm minds with the can't mob more then 5 monsters?? Cya grim sinxs? Everybody knows how 5 is too low for the sp used.
Also, no more bring the mvp with slaves+mvp if > 5??? lol

Also srs agree with Aynia. They want people used to lots of methods that are even used on officials[and in some cases there is even worse since they make more use of "exploits" and "bugs" in the code then on pservers since lot of stuff in pservers is already fixed to make that not happen]to try to kill through another ways? So, who will kill Seyren MVP[or any bio 3 mvp lol mvp+slaves are super easy to tank[/sarcasm]] there now? Power up part should be fun :3
"Ban" some super cheap ways based on "exploits" of some skills is one thing but another is to make some mvps impossible lol

Imo, it looks a lot to me that they just brought the shotgun from the attic and gave a shoot in their feet.

PS - Do they know/have seen/have some knowledge about how people kill some mvps? It doesn't look like by the way they implemented this.

PS 2 - Wasn't this the server where there was to happen PK enabled on guilds that marked others as enemy on MVP maps/outside of WoE or something like that? If it was then I can see a bit of the "why" to put this but still... it killsruins the fun :|

Every time I see something about this server is always a bad thing which makes me sad with the huge potential and ideas that they had at the start

[Kensei]

Using Ice Wall / Blessing / Buffs / Pneuma / Heal, etc. on MVPs to grief is illegal

LOL these admins are retarded. Can't pneuma tank MVPs that'll use clashing spiral. Can't ice wall ledge bio mvps.

Please tell me that you didn't read the bolded part

[Lysander]

using Ice Wall / Blessing / Buffs / Pneuma / Heal, etc. on MVPs is not allowed under ANY CIRCUMSTANCES.

It was even capslocked for you. -facepalm-

[Kensei]

I'd support Aynia if what Lysander quoted is considered as one of MvP rules. Hi why don't you disable Reject Sword + Devo as well? Or even better, MAKE A NO-SKILL MVPING OMGA SO GENIUS, KILL DEM MVP WITH NORMAL ATTACK, NO MOAR GRIEFING.

If you think those skills are OP or griefing go try to kill a bio3 MvP in less than one hour, counted after you located the MvP. Do it without using those skills, and I'll bet you won't even be able to touch the MvP.

Any strategy from the MvP party should be allowed, but ANY GRIEFING attempts (by using those skills) to make the MvP party unable to hit the MvP is illegal (i.e Pneumaing MvP while the party is ADing it).

[Triper]

According to Aynia's post:

not allowed under ANY CIRCUMSTANCES

[Yusifer]

I'll be honest that I wrote the initial server rules, and for the Ice Wall, etc. thing, I specifically mentioned "only if it's used for griefing." If it was changed to "any circumstances," then that's really silly :x

And the <5 is only if you're sharing a map, like Seals. If no one else is there, then mob the whole thing, who cares? But if you're sharing, it's not cool for a Sinx or a Wizard to run around and steal all the mobs - which, since targetting someone, is considering KSing if someone else attacks them - and then no one else can level at that spot.

I figured 5 was a decent amount anyway if you're sharing a map.

Not sure if they changed this rule around as well, but no one helped me write them, so it was based on only one person's input.