Essence RO

Started by Sinetica, Mar 23, 2009, 12:43 AM

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Sinetica

I haven't played many custom servers - in fact this is my first in years. eRO is basically what you'd expect from a server with beefed up rates; you get to level 35 in 10, 15 minutes killing the starting monsters (cowrings) regardless of class. While you could get to 170 (the level cap) in a relatively short period of time (I've heard of some taking two days, it took me a couple weeks while soloing on and off) it's still decently challenging and the classes, as far as I can tell, seem relatively balanced.

Pet collectors, eat your heart out. eRO comes with an impressive amount of custom pets, such as the four Thanatos monsters, various derivatives of Poring, MVPs (Ifrit, Mistress, Bacsojin, Gloom Under Night, to name a few - though taming doesn't work on most PVP maps and almost all MVP maps are PVP to encourage competition), various humanoids like Succubus, Wicked Nymph, etc. Custom non-donation headgears and wings are also in plentiful supply with quests to earn them - and there's a custom spriting event in case you're artistically inclined.

Let's talk about the community. I have to be frank when I say that it's not top-notch. The fact that soloing is made easy for most classes means that grouping is made almost an oddity - I really only ever see duos and large groups seem to be clumsy, awkward, as if using too many people for a task that could be done by one or two (picture four people trying to unscrew a lightbulb at once). There are nice people on this server, I have met them; and yet there seems to also be a surplus of people who downright ignore you in town when addressing them by name multiple times and then warp away as if you hadn't said anything at all. Questions in the most populated town, Old Payon, generally fall on deaf ears except for the occasional kind soul who might step up to lend a hand. You are generally handed very little information, making it difficult to piece together a combination of RO's bad Korean translations, what few answers you might get from asking in town, and the poorly written guides on the eRO forums to figure out what you're doing. This server expects you know a lot of things about RO when jumping in, which I didn't (first in years, remember?) and probably would've gone without knowing a lot of things without a guild to support me.

As I said, most areas with MVPs are PVP to encourage competitive MVPing (most MVPs are buffed heavily with over 20 million HP). This means a lot of areas are PVP. If you don't like PVP much, pick another server. You will find PKers here. You will also find KSers, a surplus of hunters and gunslingers who believe they are somehow above the fact that you are attacking the monster they are trying to kill; this is especially rampant in the most popular hunting spots (I'll get to that) and I can't count how many times I've seen someone warp in, attempt to shoot the hell out of whatever I'm attacking, and once they see the string of Misses from KS protection they just as quickly fly wing away.

It's hard to find good hunting spots that aren't camped to hell. You're going to get stuck in certain areas for probably two dozen levels, like Anubis or the ever popular Saplings (23k plant element poring custom monsters that give great exp if you can think of a way to kill them without them hitting you - area is always full of people). Skelings are along the same vein, also insanely popular, and a notorious spot for KSing.

I usually see one GM on at least once a day, and while they may lag slightly in replying due to being swarmed with whispers (I presume) they have always replied to my questions in a clear and helpful manner. I wouldn't know anything about corruption or what have you.

If you're willing to overlook the general lack of variety in hunting spots and the antisocial nature of most of the community, the server is very stable (very little lag except for the wee hours of the morning, disconnects are rare), friendly to foreigners (large foreign community, Portuguese, Spanish, some German, also I believe Indonesian), has frequent WoE and Survival Arena, a generally stable economy, and little donator bias (donator bonuses are simple incentives such as bonus commands, custom pets otherwise difficult to obtain, Infinite Fly Wing, and the purely cosmetic Headgear and Wing Disguise).

Appearances are very customizable, and for free. 32 hairstyles for women if I remember right, 200 or so hair colors (though most of them are just more shades of green than anyone would ever need), and some 500 different clothing colors. It's not hard to get zeny but it's not easy to get ludicrous amounts, either - card drops are 0.5% but certain cards are so popular that the areas are miserably overhunted (such as Hornet Cards as one of the more prominent examples which you need 5 of for the Bee Wings quest). Generally the economy seems alright. A functional Endless Tower is in place and several of the 3-1 classes are in the game, though certain skills are not functioning as of yet.

The server is not perfect. It has flaws. If you are looking for a friendly server where people will always leap to help you, this is not the server for you. If you want help you will probably have to ask twice or get a guild. If you're looking for a server with high rates that aren't too over the top, fast leveling with a challenge, and a generally stable, balanced place with a large amount of custom material, essenceRO may be the server for you.

netnubie

I have been playing Essence for a while now and I agree with most of your points about PK, the community, the economy and the lags. But the server is improving on many things now. The server has launched an effort to make the community more friendly and helpful for novices. The KSing actually works in your favour, because  when you let someone else finish your kill, you get a lot more exp. The economy is strange though, for example, a few weeks ago, +10 staff of piercing and +10 recovery staffs sold like hot cakes now, nobody wants them any more. Your comments about your pk maps are valid, but the system has been placed so that people can't come and ks MVP's. Most people get pk'ed in these maps when there is an MVP on. People think that you are trying to scout for MVP or KS them. But most people wrongly killed are usually ressu'ed by the ones that kill them.