CharmRO: First Impression Series

[GorthexTiger]

Name: CharmRO
Rate: 60x/60x/30x

RMS Review Standards:

Stability:

Stability was great. During no time did I have an issue logging into the game or experience lag. I think the only type of lag I experienced was the client lag itself.

But there was virtually no lag from the server at all. With around 50+ players online, and with the server hosted over 2074.23 miles away, I was impressed with the speed and stability of the server.

Community:

The community was normal. It was neither majorly helpful nor mean. I asked for assistance for what kind of build I should use for a knight, and got told to go level as a Swordsman.

The eventfulness wasn't exciting either. I wasn't able to partake in any events, however, I did notice that they had an NPC where you could pay money to raise the rates of the server temporarily, and then it would have a 8 hour cool time. Very creative and nice.

Game Masters

During most of time, there was not a GM online. However, near the end of my review, there were a few GM's online.

GM-Siegfried came online and sat in the main town of Payon, and was wearing "not available hats". This was fine, as I was intrigued by what he was wearing, I had no information on what those customs did or did not do. He was, for the most part, unresponsive, and didn't make an effort to be too friendly. A formal "Hello" was how I was greeted.

GM-Lex came on shortly after GM-Siegfried, they were a little bit more social and helpful with other players, from the way the players were acting, she seemed to be a crowd favorite.

I then warped to @go 16 (Jail) on purpose and asked for assistance. I stated I had accidentally keyed in a 6, and meant to go to Jawaii.

She responded immediately and checked to make sure I wasn't serving a jailtime, then warped me back to the main town.

Game-Play:

The prices for the economy seemed fair. It was a mid-rate, and prices didn't seem to excessive.

Other Factors To My Review:

-Ease of Use –
Downloading the server went extremely smooth. With a fully patched clean KRO sak install, I was able to use the small installer, and still connect without any missing files.

-Forums-
The forums...were hit-or-miss. A lot of "catagories" can be grouped with other catagories if you want.

Having seperate "catagories" for each of the following:

-Game Master Reviews & Feedback

-Players Suggestions & Feedback

-Screenshots / Multimedia / Pictures & Art

It just seemed like they were made to take up space, when they could be consolidated.

In addition, they have IP Board 3.0.0. While this and of itself isn't an issue, I find the default skin of 3.0.0 horrible and ugly, and to not have any other skin choices for the forum, makes reading the forums a bear.

However, on a lighterside, they do have a catagory for upcoming Events, as well as doing weekly Forum events. Much like "find the location" and dress up as the GM who was there, they also do forum events for coloring pictures and stuff, which is very much original.

-vending Arena-

The vending arena had tons of space, and plenty of room, however, there were these small little NPCs with numbers around the vending arena.



I tried walking past them, and was able to, so their exact nature, and what they did, was a mystery to me.

-Customs & Donations-

Customs:

There are many customs on this server. What do they do? I have no idea. As soon starting, I decided to see what kind of items I could get. I acted like I was going to donate money, and proceeded to see what I could see which kinds of items I could purchase. I got no information on what kinds of items I could get.

I browsed the forums, and was able to find this:

http://charmro.net/f...r-the-educated/

While this guide is helpful, it gives you the outline of what kinds of items are available, but for the most part, doesn't outline what they do and in some cases, doesn't provide a picture.

For me it was just a quest outline; I still had no idea what kind of items were available for donation, what they looked like, and what they did.

-In Game Play-

For the most part...the in-game play was satisfactory. They have made their main town Payon, which is fine, the main town doesn't matter to me, but they also replaced it to match @go 0 for greater simplicity.

My first reaction to logging in to their main town was: WTF: crowded.



As you can see, the entire main town is f*** by NPCs all over in one place, ranging from this-that-and the other thing, and are completely disorganized.

Some NPCs seemed usable, but there was an NPC that, for instance, told the "rules" of the server...and that's all it did. It didn't ellaborate or give you an option to review them by a menu. It just spewed the rules at you, a very basic NPC, but nonetheless, it seems like it was just placed there to take up space.



Notice, how the "custom" warper (will get to this later) is not even near the original warper. While navigating the main city, it was a nightmare, people would sit near the NPCs, or use buffing skills, which made reading the NPCs names against the grass, with their names in dark blue, with skills going on, an invitation to have a stroke.

I seriously, hated, the main town.

Then, this is what shocked me even more. I then @warped to prontera, and this is what I saw.



A perfectly able, empty, and CUSTOM textured prontera (or at least it's custom to me). Again, this is based off preference, but rather than making a regular city your main town, I'd make a custom Pront that has tons of space, and 2 isles on the side of the main road available for NPCs to be the main town, to sort of ditch the clustered feeling of the current main town.

Also



Izlude was also edited as well. Both beautiful and wanting to be used. What got shocked me even further is this:

The custom warper has "2" options to warp you to either their custom town (Aquarious) or to their Dead Branch Room.

I was shocked when I warped to Aquarious and found THIS



If you look on the minimap...this is ALL the NPCs they have on that map.

Literally, all the NPCs, on the map, are spread out all within my screen.

Now, look at the minimap.

The map itself is HUGE, even more suitable for a custom city, and TONS of space to cleverly space out the NPCs. The way the towns and the way the NPCs are organized seem a bit rushed, and could be better utilized.

The deadbranch room on the other hand...



Is just a big empty space. Not exactly a "room" but a collective "fest".

If I were having a party spawn db's, there is nothing to stop another group from coming in and either attacking our spawns, or creating more spawns than we can handle and kill us. Again, this area seems a bit rushed.

-Leveling-

While leveling on the server, I found out that some MVPs were in different areas than they are supposed to be! Take a look here and see Creamy Fear in anthell01.



After getting killed many times from the random monsters in anthell01, I decided to back to the basics: prt_fild08

And guess whom I found?



Yeah, THANATOS ODIUM.

I asked the players why these monsters were running around and about, and they said that it was probably the remnants of an event.
@killmonster2 anyone?

And finally, my final point of this review. I was leveling up and noticed that a few of my menu buttons had changed.



I began to look into it more and noticed this.



A few of the buttons had been replaced with their own custom designed buttons.

While I appreciated their attempt to make a difference with the default skin, I think it did more damage than good. To me, it looks like a half-donkey attempt at making a custom skin for their server, which got pushed aside because other projects were more important on the totem pole.

IN SUMMARY

Pros:
-No Lag
-Staff is interactive and attempts to do as much as possible.
-An MR server that feels like a HR (can easily attract previous HR players)

Cons:
-Main Town looks rushed, while plenty of other areas could handle the NPCs.
-You have custom maps; USE THEM!!!
-Donation information, and general item information on Customs is near impossible to obtain without extracting info from the GRF.
-Some parts feel "rushed"
-An MR server that feels like a broken HR (hey, at least the staff are working on it!)

IN-CONCLUSION:

I feel, I would not stay here.

It has many of the markings of a great server, but, it feels like it lacks a "heart" or "depth" that makes you wanna stick around. However, the admin and staff are available and willing to help, and are trying their best to make their server great. I feel that this stage is just beginning, and with a little time, will grow into a server that will literally "charm" you.

[Usagimimi]

Nice review; as I've stated before, just bypass anything mickiedeez says. He's almost equal to patapon in terms of trolling (I'm sure mickie would find this an honour).

I was actually going to try CharmRO, but once I saw their maintown the other day, I didn't. It was terrible. Just that alone made me not play there with my Guild.

[Nell]

It's not so bad, once you get used to it.  :>

[Usagimimi]

It's not so bad, once you get used to it.  :>

ReboundRO is 100x better imo.

[oLexo]

Thanks so much for reviewing =3 I really had no idea that you weren't a new player! But I personally really appreciate the critiques... it's always nice to have outside input to make you go "WOAH! We should ____!" <3

[Nell]

ReboundRO is 100x better imo.

Yes.  In you opinion.   :>

[Usagimimi]

ReboundRO is 100x better imo.

Yes.  In you opinion.   :>

Yup, that's what I said :P

[Green]

It's not so bad, once you get used to it.  :>

ReboundRO is 100x better imo.

Does that actually have anything to do with the review, or is it just a half arsed attempt to advertise Rebound?

[Usagimimi]

It's not so bad, once you get used to it.  :>

ReboundRO is 100x better imo.

Does that actually have anything to do with the review, or is it just a half arsed attempt to advertise Rebound?

No, it's an opinion.

If CharmRO didn't have such a badly-done maintown (among other things), I would be there with my Guild, and not have pulled my hair out trying to find another server << It was a major turn-off and that's why we didn't choose there, and that we went to ReboundRO instead.

I could care less about advertising RRO. I'm actually disappointed that CharmRO turned out to be "sucky".

[Edit]

It seems opinions / statements earn negative Karma lol

[Nish]

Nice review.. I like reviews like this

Servers seem alright I can understand your point of view with the NPC's not being in better spots but that's something that can be fixed pretty easily.

Maybe Luna will take notice of your review.

I still think Luna has done a good job with the server and hope she does well with it.

[Usagimimi]

Same. CharmRO has potential. It's just too bad that potential wasn't exploited right from the beginning.

[GorthexTiger]

So far, after this review was posted, within an hour or 2, I could already see fixes being implemented, along with a poll to change their main town.

[mickiedeez]

He's almost equal to patapon in terms of trolling (I'm sure mickie would find this an honour).

I came before Patapon. Don't insult me.

BTW my first post wasn't a troll post. 

[Nish]

So far, after this review was posted, within an hour or 2, I could already see fixes being implemented, along with a poll to change their main town.

That's good.. Thats why I like Admins like Luna, she actually takes the time to listen to players and make changes.

Good stuff.

[Flip]

Late, but thanks Gorthex. And I see that Luna acts as well; that's the most important thing I really wanted these reviews to do in the first place; to makes admins think and look back at what they have.