Earthbound RO Review

Started by dtuza, Nov 01, 2007, 12:58 PM

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dtuza

Hey, so I've just registered on the forums here, although I'm no stranger to RMS, and I thought I'd write up a little review of Earthbound RO to try and pique a little bit of interest in the server.

This was the first RO that I've ever played, so admittedly I don't think I can offer a completely unbiased perspective on the server, but I'm in no way affiliated with the game administration, so I do know that at least I can present some of the good and bad aspects of the game from the point of view of a player.

Rates: 150x/150x/50x Mid Rate, 3x/3x/3x (Low rate, not back up yet, may not be back up anytime soon).  Almost no downtime, D/C once per 6 hours or so.

The first thing that I really like about the server is the fact that a) donations aren't incredibly overpowered and b) if you do support the server via donations (which I don't), it doesn't cost a lot - items tend to cost around $20 USD, and to get completely decked out you'd maybe spend $50 or so.  You can easily trade MVP cards for these items though, or buy them straight up for zeny.  There was recently a wipe (isolated instance, it was I think the second time it's ever happened and of course we've been assured no more wipes from now on - this one was to convert the character DB to SQL) and this hasn't been returned, but Ktullanux and Gloom were actually dropping credits at a low % chance prior to wiping, credits being the currency to buy donations.

The people are quite friendly, although some of the GMs can be a bit aloof.  Lower GMs (I'm going to throw out the names Vanz and Callahan here) tend to be very accessible, though, and most have legits who play regularly, and there is no sort of corruption or cheating in the server whatsoever, nor can I think of any instance where there has ever been.

Events occur probably between 2 and 4 times daily, although I've honestly been sorely disappointed by these.  Most of them tend to be item collecting quests to exchange for headgear, with the occasional MVP raid (which do interest me).  The game unfortunately lost a very talented events GM by the charname of Riku to ASro who ran some fantastic quests.  If those types of events are your thing though, you would certainly enjoy it.

There is an MVP arena in which you can summon an MVP to kill once per 15 minutes per character.  This leads to most people levelling in the late 100s and 200s by killing Thanatos over and over again, but he's the only really "big" MVP you can kill there - Gloom, Ktulla, Kiel, Ifrit, Beelzebub, Fallen Bishop, and others aren't accessible.  If it were my choice, I would make it so that the MVPs from arena wouldn't drop cards, but of course it's not, and at least the MVP cards are reduced to a 0.3% drop (the item rate is 50x).  With the MVP cards dropped at this low a %, there's a pretty active economy for various items (OCAs, AK cards, golds, the usual) but if you want big stuff, MVP cards are what you'll be trading.  The economy is also stimulated by a number of original exchange quests for weapons, items, BBs, etc.

I've continued to be impressed by Washi, the main admin, who works tirelessly for the server. I actually believe he works a little too hard, because in addition to having a newborn child he piles forum work on himself as well as most of the coding work and clientside stuff, and this can lead to things being slow to get done at times.  He lives and breathes for the server's well being though, and truly cares what players have to say, so what little delays there are with stuff like this often don't take long to get done.

Finally, @commands are limited (no @warp/go/storage/gstorage), which I'm neutral to I guess.  I could really care less one way or another whether a given server has these, but in ebRO you can get where you want to go relatively quickly, so it seems to do quite well without.

I hope I've presented a good picture of the server for anyone reading these reviews, I encourage you to check out the server - you'll definitely stay for the friends you make, but the playing experience is also good (though most would not rate it stellar, I expect).  I'd be happy to answer any questions about the server either here or via PM, or in game on the char Guillotine.  Cheers, enjoy :)

Opaque

Great review and im with you all the way, tried this server out and yes i can say it is an amazing server xD

I will be staying there for a long time, ive found my new home.