Leika-RO Review

[Buscapé]

I've read here in the forums many Leika-RO reviews, almost all of them with a positive tone. And while I can see where those are coming from, it's also known by this community - and assumed in most of those reviews - that the server has experienced a major drop out by players.

This drop out was certainly led by some guild, but some individual players like myself ended up leaving Leika-RO as well for what could be perceived as the same problems that motivated big guilds in leaving the server in the first place. So, my intentions here are to offer a view from the "other side": the ones who had left the server due to a number of problems that might get or have been resolved by its administration. Have in mind that I have absolutely no ill feelings toward any of the staff, and I even admire them for the perseverance and most importantly their capacity of admitting mistakes and correcting them.

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Stability and Availability: 9/10

When the server first started, there were many issues regarding those two aspects. But once things got going, it became much better. There were a few moments where you'd experience a bit more of lagging, but I can put the weight of these on my internet service as well.

Customizations: 6/10

Like Dark Souls II to the Souls community, Renewal is the dog that everyone likes to beat in the world of Ragnarok Online. It's supposedly what "killed" the game in first place and also why so many private servers have classic and pre-renewal settings. While I respect those servers, and I even played in those for quite a long time in some periods even after Renewal was released, I don't really see the point in trying to bring what is perceived as the "positive difficulty" that was supposedly "left behind" by Renewal from the classic RO game.

The ADMs made this by implementing a number of changes in skills and monsters, in an experiment to balance the game while kicking its difficulty up a notch. To avoid "portal chasing" by Rangers and Suras, MvPs were given Kaupe; some skills were buffed or nerfed, and almost every change implemented by jRO was implemented in the server as well.

But they also made good changes, like dropping the ridiculous drop and experience system from Renewal, a complete overhaul on the refining system, Eden Quests until level 175 and adding many mobs from RO episodes that you probably won't see in many other servers.

Two of the customizations that I liked the most were the Achievements, that unfortunately never fully worked - and given how they were never even mentioned again, I don't think they will - and the Lockbox system, although it was kind of a "pay-wall" system where you'd have to get a key to open said lockbox via an event that rarely occurred - more on that later - or by buying it in the cash shop.

In conclusion, these customizations are likely to be a matter of personal taste. From what I've heard and read in their forums, Kaupe was removed - although seemingly reluctantly - from the MvPs. It still doesn't make the game any easier. And maybe you want a harder RO experience, like the one you've had in RO pre-Renewal. But if you really want that, than you have plenty of other pre-Renewal servers out there.

Bugs and Solutions: 5/10

For all the customizations the server got, there were also many problems within the game, most of them related to mechanics. Monsters had ridiculously high MATK, and new players were getting one shot KOs by Evil Druid's Heaven's Drive. At first, the GM just said that the players should have had MDEF equipment so the problem could be solved (it didn't, by the way), and then, only two weeks ago, they decided to nerf MATK from monsters level 1 to 110.

The problems weren't only with PvE, but also in PvP. Warlocks are known to have great DPS with spells, but the amount of damage they were getting from skills while wearing Eden Group gear was ridiculous. Warlocks were then nerfed and deemed ineffective, and so that's a recurrent problem within the bug tracker: temporary fixes.

Were those "bugs" solved? Yes, they were, but there weren't any definitive solutions. Of course those problems lie within many lines of code, and maybe the ADMs don't have time to delve and solve them for once, but the temporary fixes aren't solid enough.

Population and Community: 3/10

I really have to wonder where the ADMs managed to get so many toxic players at once in a server. FWIW, I didn't know whether I was playing RO or reading a /vg/ thread about Meme Souls.

I had joined the server only one or two weeks after its official release, and it already had reached 200+ players online simulteneously, which was only a good sign. But I don't think your server will have a good selling point when the first thing you see in the #main chat is "u a f0ck1n n1gg3r u f0ck1n scrub".

Of course it could all be jest, but once you got to know people in-game and in the forums, you could see that that was the general feeling in the server. I won't say there weren't good people in it - there were plenty of them, and they helped me and helped each other even in dealing with the toxic players -, but all the aggressiveness and the "git gud" feeling transpired by those players and sometimes even by the GMs who eventually joined the circlejerk led me to just unfollow the #main chat most of the times.

Now, from what I've seen, the server has been reaching peaks of 50 people online now, which is quite sad to be honest. Like I said previously, and some of you might be aware of by now, big and "famous" guilds have left the server for numerous reasons. One of them might be that they can't even deal with themselves sometimes.

PvP and WoE: 5/10

I'm not really a fan of nerfing and/or banning certain equipments in games, unless they either have the chance of getting monopolized by a certain group of people or if they give a player or a guild an unfair advantage, like using a MvP card.

Leika-RO did great in banning MvP cards from WoE, but banning equipment isn't something I'm fond of. Now, you can say that I want things easy and all that comes with an adverse argument, but I think that if everyone has the possibility of getting what's supposedly an OP equipment, why would you ban them in the first place? It'll all be down to skills in the end of the day if those requirements are met, so it's not really a big issue.

Regarding PvP, for a community as "competitive" as Leika's, you'd expect way more of it like constant Battlegrounds and movement in PvP rooms. But there weren't much of it at all when I was there.

GMs and ADMs: 7/10

That's where things get a bit clouded. I for one love the ADMs for all the work they've put together in making the server, scripting it and fixing many emulating problems, and also for being willingly admitting that they might have made some mistakes while managing the server. But I also question their ability to administrate a server.

Being a good RO programmer doesn't really mean you'll be a good RO community manager. That's why you'll probably look for someone to complement yourself in that area. But here, you had the dream team of Hercules scripting with no one to balance it out. Things could've gone way better had they found someone with the littlest bit of PR skills to deal with a community like Leika's.

Maybe they tried to find these with the GMs they recruited, but they were almost non-existent. When the server first started, they were very active, but once things started going down it seems like they appeared less and less. The helpers, which didn't even have GM powers, were almost all day in Prontera ready to help new players, but you rarely saw Event GMs doing events or speaking and engaging with the community while the ADMs were doing their work.

Economy: 3/10

One of the things you must question when you first start a server is how you'll balance out your donations. You don't want to make a pay2win server because it'll probably lead to ostracism in the RO community, and bad mouthing is one of the most powerful forces when it comes to destroying one's reputation in RO. But you also don't want your donations to be useless, so you won't have any income to maintain and eventually improve your server.

It looks like the ADMs made this question, but they didn't find the middle ground. And there you had the creation of a broken donations system with a kind of broken economy as well.

Studies and experience have taught me that allowing players to sell donation currency could lead to inflation problems once you met one of those "platinum" players, who seemingly have no ends in their pockets. Leika-RO had the bad luck of finding one of those right at their start as a server.

Prices not only of the currency but also of rare products which could be bought almost immediately by the one who held all the financial power on its hands began to rise rapidly. Cards which were cheap at once started becoming unreasonably expensive. Players came to the market and were turned away by the prices. And there you have a broken economy.

But the problem also lies in the donations. Items like the Gyges Ring, which gave IIRC MATK + 30 and a slot and what could be perceived as OP hats were being sold by US$ 7 ~ 8. Unlike Battleground or even Temporal Boots, those are items that not every player will get, and therefore it could break the server's equilibrium in PvP and Woe. Why they were available to be bought in the first place when the ADMs are so hell-bent on balance and difficulty baffles me.

---

I don't want to repeat myself, but I have to: I wish no ill towards either of the ADMs, or their staff. But as I've read so many reviews here with only positive aspects of Leika-RO, I was wondering whether I could provide a good answer with the negative ones. While I'm aware that I might not have the most solid arguments and how most of those are down to personal preferences, it still is in your hands the decision to join the server. Even though I gave it low grades, I'd still recommend that you experiment it. They might have done changes that could have improved the player's enjoyability not limited to taking away one MvP skill.

Believe me: I really want Leika-RO to succeed. And if it does, I want to be there to enjoy the moment. But until them, I'll be only a faithful observer.

[Terpsichore]

Hey, thanks for the review.

I respect your opinions but I'd like to dispel some misconceptions.

Bugs and Solutions: 5/10

For all the customizations the server got, there were also many problems within the game, most of them related to mechanics. Monsters had ridiculously high MATK, and new players were getting one shot KOs by Evil Druid's Heaven's Drive. At first, the GM just said that the players should have had MDEF equipment so the problem could be solved (it didn't, by the way), and then, only two weeks ago, they decided to nerf MATK from monsters level 1 to 110.

The problems weren't only with PvE, but also in PvP. Warlocks are known to have great DPS with spells, but the amount of damage they were getting from skills while wearing Eden Group gear was ridiculous. Warlocks were then nerfed and deemed ineffective, and so that's a recurrent problem within the bug tracker: temporary fixes.

Were those "bugs" solved? Yes, they were, but there weren't any definitive solutions. Of course those problems lie within many lines of code, and maybe the ADMs don't have time to delve and solve them for once, but the temporary fixes aren't solid enough.

Many people assume that monsters actually hurting with spells is a bug or a custom change, it isn't, monster's MATK is based on their ATK in renewal. The formula isn't 100% correct as most of formulas are based on guesswork and are being constantly adjusted. Low level monsters deemed problematic since during the level 1-100 phase we can't expect people to get any real gear and elemental armors, so their spell levels were toned down. Obviously the whole formula will be updated when there's more info available.

As for warlocks, the issue lied in spell damage reductions (and other things) not applying to GvG settings, which is a base issue with our Hercules version since map_zone_db.conf is new and quite wonky. This was dealt with a long time ago. Damage output of warlocks wearing Eden gear is close to none by the way.
Hercules is a solid emulator that innovated in many fields and provided more options, as well as better security and stability but certain things need to be adjusted anew.

PvP and WoE: 5/10

I'm not really a fan of nerfing and/or banning certain equipments in games, unless they either have the chance of getting monopolized by a certain group of people or if they give a player or a guild an unfair advantage, like using a MvP card.

Leika-RO did great in banning MvP cards from WoE, but banning equipment isn't something I'm fond of. Now, you can say that I want things easy and all that comes with an adverse argument, but I think that if everyone has the possibility of getting what's supposedly an OP equipment, why would you ban them in the first place? It'll all be down to skills in the end of the day if those requirements are met, so it's not really a big issue.

Regarding PvP, for a community as "competitive" as Leika's, you'd expect way more of it like constant Battlegrounds and movement in PvP rooms. But there weren't much of it at all when I was there.

Only gear that was disabled in WoE (besides the MvP cards) were Temporal Boots and the respective enchants since they were proven to be insane with proper setup and stacking (instant cast, 200 int proc, etc) and had too much of an impact, most of WoE players agreed to it.

As for BGs, we've made them way more accessible and upped the badge gain as well as unifying those across the 3 BGs. It seems that not many actually care about BGs themselves but rather the rewards, this is a rather controversial topic.

Economy: 3/10

One of the things you must question when you first start a server is how you'll balance out your donations. You don't want to make a pay2win server because it'll probably lead to ostracism in the RO community, and bad mouthing is one of the most powerful forces when it comes to destroying one's reputation in RO. But you also don't want your donations to be useless, so you won't have any income to maintain and eventually improve your server.

It looks like the ADMs made this question, but they didn't find the middle ground. And there you had the creation of a broken donations system with a kind of broken economy as well.

Studies and experience have taught me that allowing players to sell donation currency could lead to inflation problems once you met one of those "platinum" players, who seemingly have no ends in their pockets. Leika-RO had the bad luck of finding one of those right at their start as a server.

Prices not only of the currency but also of rare products which could be bought almost immediately by the one who held all the financial power on its hands began to rise rapidly. Cards which were cheap at once started becoming unreasonably expensive. Players came to the market and were turned away by the prices. And there you have a broken economy.

But the problem also lies in the donations. Items like the Gyges Ring, which gave IIRC MATK + 30 and a slot and what could be perceived as OP hats were being sold by US$ 7 ~ 8. Unlike Battleground or even Temporal Boots, those are items that not every player will get, and therefore it could break the server's equilibrium in PvP and Woe. Why they were available to be bought in the first place when the ADMs are so hell-bent on balance and difficulty baffles me.

This is another thing that will never keep everyone happy and is hard to tackle.


If donation gear isn't tradeable, it turns into p2w. If it's tradeable, people are able to make zeny through it but everyone gets access to this gear.

The second option seemed more reasonable.


If the stuff offered isn't interesting or is too expensive, there's no income. If this stuff is way too good, balance is broken.

What we did was basically keep all the things that actually impact balance out of it, things such as:
Heroic backpack, immune shield, cat ear beret, red pom hat, large baphomet horns, fallen angel wings and other gear that outclasses everything else by a long shot and is actually good in PvP.


We instead added a wide array of new, mainly PvM toys. Basically a different approach, offering dozens of completely new items that enable different playstyles and support underused builds instead of one trick pony powerhouse PvP gear.

We also kept out utility items that surely wreck economy on the long run, such as:
Bloody branch, convex mirror, kafra card, siegfried token, bubblegum, giant fly wing, lexa scroll, etc and our enriched/hd ores are pretty cheap, plus all MvPs drop them, Whitesmith's refine skill works with armors as well.

Most of this stuff was shamelessly sold on pretty much every server I've played on before without a care about the impact on economy and long-term consequences, we didn't want to repeat the same mistakes that severely crippled other servers even if it would have resulted in "easy buck".

The feedback I've been getting regarding our cash shop was largely positive, and funnily enough, many people asked me to add many of those problematic items I mentioned above. There's always room for improvement though.

As for zeny, we've dealt with everything that could cause issues with our rates, such as lunakaleet foods, certain spots that spawn monsters infinitely, witherless roses, etc, etc and implemented plenty of zeny sinks. Looking at zeny logs it seems to be working just fine on preventing zeny inflation.


Thanks to the review again, it's refreshing to see a different point of view.

[Buscapé]

No problem, Terp. I was constantly looking at the server's forums before I left and all that I saw was a mess. People couldn't put up good arguments as to why they wanted things differently aside from the usual "STOP NERFING" and "YOU ALL A BUNCH OF NAZIS". I think it's only fair to you and Byte to know most reasons why someone can leave the server aside from getting pissed with WoE and such.

As I've said before, I'm rooting for you. My life's also not easy after college started, so I had to take a step back in the game. Leika-RO still is one of the servers with the most potential that I've looked into in the past few years, so all in all, I really want you guys to succeed.

[ggwp]

gear that outclasses everything else by a long shot and is actually good in PvP.


We instead added a wide array of new, mainly PvM toys. Basically a different approach, offering dozens of completely new items that enable different playstyles and support underused builds instead of one trick pony powerhouse PvP gear.

Gyges Ring[1] =
3 Int
30 Matk
Lvl 1 Hiding

Recovery Ring [1] =
Vit 1
HP 250
HP 10%
Increase potion efectiveness by 5%

- both doesnt outclass everything else by long shot (god items disabled)
- both doesnt actually good in PvP (are you even good at playing RO PvP ?)
- both are PvM toys (WTF if you need hide for PvM)
- both are enable different playstyle and underused build instead one trick pony powerhouse gear (lel)

Fun fact : official server who sells Recovery Ring in cash shop have majority their player use that ring since years ago.

[Terpsichore]

There are similar or better alternatives to gyges ring ingame if you're worrying about matk, such as buwaya tattoo and vesper gear 01.

If you're worrying about hiding then I have to inform you that it doesn't actually matter if you use a smokie clip or this ring, why? Because you swap those utility accessories in and out, unless you cancel hiding by using the skill again? It seems like you're trying to tell me that you are good at PvP so I assume you don't make those beginner mistakes.
The biggest perk this ring gives is being able to slot a horong into it so you save a bar slot on jobs that aren't mages, which don't give any use to the matk it grants.

As for the ring of recovery, if you actually bothered to log into the game and check it out, you would know that we axed it to give 5% max hp instead of 10%, but you didn't of course, you're just trying to stir up s*** in here, right?

[ggwp]

They are similar but Vesper Gear wont out damage Gyges in most case where you cant use other cash shop item to help.

In PvP you use hide as REACTION to dodge skills . By having 1 Gyges +1 Vesper Gear (and 2nd Gyges to swap) you will always have both acc slot and instant hide swap cancel reaction. 2 Vesper Gear will have to sacrifice either one since you have to choose which card to use as default. Acc card that could be put on Gyges = Scaraba , Alligator , Errende and Horong.

Did Leika Acid Demonstration not using matk in the formula ?

I should bothered to download and login on your server just to know that you nerf Recovery Ring from broken to OP ?

Demi human reduce middle and lower donations only ? check (inb4 every other p2w server sell this too response)
Cash shop gambling system (Lockbox) ? check

[tezushi]

Demi human reduce middle and lower donations only ? check (inb4 every other p2w server sell this too response)
Cash shop gambling system (Lockbox) ? check

You know you can get those demi reduction items too by voting, right? I got Blush of Groom just by voting.

I'm gonna say it anyway, but it's the same with other RE servers. They have those demi reductions in their cash shop as well, so I don't know why you're QQing about this.

At least LeikaRO doesn't have bubble gums, bloody branches and HD ores in their cash shop. 

I don't like the lolbox, too. It's stupid.

[Terpsichore]

So this guy openly admits to not even logging into the game, doesn't even know what he's ranting about yet continues moving goalposts?

That's some dedicated trashposting, dunno if I should feel flattered.

[Buscapé]

I don't see a huge issue with selling gear with Demihuman resistance effects, as pretty much any other server does so. Gentleman's Pipes are a must if you want to keep your fashion up. But I do have an issue with those accessories (Gyges Ring, All in One Ring and also the Orlean's Necklace), although I myself thought of buying them to use in PvE with my Warlock. Unfortunately dollar prices have risen up everywhere, so my senses hit me and I decided not to donate to the server.

The lockboxes are a good idea, but the paywall is another issue itself. I recall obtaining one when I killed a MvP, and IIRC it was the Golden one, and the key price was like US$ 2 or US$ 3 in the Cash Shop. I could've bought Leika Coins to then buy the key, but by then one player who had all the market control of the product had decided that Leika Coins would be 7,000 zenys each, so I'd have to spend at least 14m ~ 21m zenys just to open a lockbox which could or could not give me good items.

And then we get back to the Leika Coin issue. Had said player had a competitor in the market also buying those coins from the admins, that would be a non-issue. But, when I left the server, you either got money by re-selling the Leika Coins from that person who bought many of them for higher prices - what leads to - tada! - inflation! - or you'd have to grind for rare items with inflated prices caused by the influx of Leika Coins in the market which not many people could afford.

I don't know what the current Leika Coin price is now, but given the population drop, I'd believe it hasn't changed much. So, if a player wants to buy a good hat from the donation shop, he'd have to spend at least 35m to buy those coins, if he chooses not to donate to the server for any reason. That also creates a revenue problem, as you'd have sporadic donations from a few players which can leave your server any time soon instead of "expanding" your clientèle so you can obtain revenue from more sources and therefore guarantee a more established money stream.

You can argue that there is the Vote for Points option, which exists for pretty much every other server out there, and it is a good initiative indeed. Still, you'd have to vote every 24h for 40 days so you can afford an useful donation hat. It's not that much dedication, but it is an awful lot of time for you to wait just to buy one hat that may be like 1/3rd of what you need for your character plans.

I'm thinking of "making a visit" to the server to see it's current state and also see if my review holds the truth, especially regarding the server's economy. Once I find time to do so, I'll report ASAP.

[ggwp]

Most people play renewal for PvP / WoE not PvM. By having several PvP items in donation while non donator need to vote weeks for it , you put non donator at disadvantage in PvP. Isnt that what we call "PAY TO WIN" ?. Before they get the required donation gears for PvP / WoE (approx 4 item just for 1 class) from voting or any other non donating way they already realize that Leika PvP / WoE is a joke. This what happen to the 3 guild who leave the server.

175/60 skill set server without Siege sets means almost everyone could potentially kill others with ease on normal PvP map (3rd performer still have hard time though). When we include other job buff/debuff skill on the equation , the damage become retarded enough to one shot people (even on woe reduction). 175/60 skills are based on official PvP balance which adjusted to Siege set. KvM wont help since this will create gap for new player where older player wont BG after they got their own KvM. While with Siege set new player can farm zeny their own to catch up.

And on WoE you rub the wound with salt with your own stupid idea of increased guardian stone + barricade hp. We know that GS + BR is repairable and defending guild can use flag to directly warp on defend point. But attacker guild would need to walk and its not likely they can walk freely in the road without getting attacked by defending guild. Heck you should be glad those WoE guild are mediocre because proper precast on server without Siege set will do guaranteed 1 cell. Been there + done that on several 175/60 server without Siege set.

You could keep being stubborn and think my post dedicated trashposting or starting to realize before its too late.

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I don't see a huge issue with selling gear with Demihuman resistance effects

Im fine with demi human reduce donation as long its not whooping 5% or more difference.

Cranial + Beret = 40%. Mid + Lower = 5%.
Its 60% to 55% damage taken or donator take 8% reduced damage from what non donator get.

Cranial + Beret + KvM = 56%. Mid + Lower = 5%
Its 44% to 39% damage taken or donator take 11% reduced damage from what non donator get.

8-11% is clearly pay to win.

[Buscapé]

Having gotten back to the server after some long time - real life problems and all -, I think I can revisit some of the points I've made in my review a month ago.

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Stability and Availability: 10/10

Seems like it has gotten better over time. Minimal position lagging, no random DCs, and fast patching. Here they have improved and then some. Props to the ADMs.

Customizations: 6/10

I've followed all the lengthy discussions regarding buffing monsters and such, and it's clear that the GMs and the players who still play in the server like the improved difficult setting in-game. Given that some people have been reporting that MvPs are getting skill changes without it being mentioned in patch notes, it could be seen as an issue, but after all it comes to personal preferrences. Just have in mind that you won't have a "vanilla" experience here.

To be fair, though, they still got lots of hats. I'd argue that this server has even more hats than official ones. Problem is, they're still difficult to get if you don't have much time available to spend on collecting their event currency. The achievement system seem to be dead as well, unfortunately. The best customization there is, though, is the Prontera board with hunting and collecting missions. It has a lot of variety, and it gives almost all classes a chance of leveling up when they don't have parties to do the 151+ Eden quests. The lockboxes are still there, though, with their keys being available only in those events that happen here and there and via cash shop with prices that, to me at least, are too high just for opening a box with random prizes.

Bugs and Solutions: 6/10

It's gotten better. Bug reports are usually solved within a day or two, but the amount of them don't seem to have diminished in the last few months. You'll still see people complaining about bugs every so often, mostly after server patches. But now I think it's more down to Hercules being a not-so-good platform for emulating RO rather than the ADM's competence.

Population and Community: 5/10

Another thing that has improved. The "Don't be a jerk in #main" rule made things look better, and the community now seems to be friendlier. There will still be the "git gud" people, usually the ones who sit all day in Prontera with their custom 175 yellow auras, but eventually you will speak with the nice ones. It could be much better, though.

PvP and WoE: 5/10

With the massive drop-out from the big guilds, WoE now seems to be dead. The hopes are that with the new influx of people, things can get a bit more exciting. There still is a ban on Temporal Boots and other "overpowered" items, but I think I'll extend on this topic later.

GMs and ADMs: 7/10

Now the ADMs have been making a more hands-on approach to the community not only in the forums but also in-game, which is always nice. Event GMs and Helpers also seem to be more available now. But I still feel that the server could use a Community Manager. I understand how difficult it is to multi-task scripting, dealing with donations and also dealing with a community that seems to get more and more toxic such as the one you meet in Ragnarok in the past few years. It needs effort; more than what they're putting into at the moment.

Economy: 3/10

This is the deal breaker. One could argue that the population drop made things worse, and given the amount of zeny circulating when the server had 40 to 60 players online simultaneously, prices were inflexible enough that no changes in the environment would make a difference. And that's exactly what happened.

A few months ago, prices were staggering high for common and rare prices, something that would cut short a new player's motivation in making money in a server with a low drop rate unless they found out that most of the money made was through selling donation currency for high prices, and the effects of having that option influencing prices getting high. Also, with the MvP customizations, things were hard to get and that made people deservedly set high prices for them. It still could have lead to unfair competition even within players, where new players would have a hard time dealing with veteran ones who had the opportunity of grinding and partying to get their end-game equipment when the server had more people.

Now, the market seems to be a bit more stable. Common items have lower prices, but some rare items seem to have gotten even more expensive. What amazes anyone is that those items keep getting sold - one has to wonder who has been doing that, though.

Another factor that makes things difficult is the cash shop itself. The amount of hats and even equipment which gives outrageously good bonuses to people with money to spare in donations is enormous; although there was a drop in prizes for these hats and even for some of the equipment, and also the ease of getting donation currency in-game can make things a bit more fair. But the currency supply is limited mostly by the amount of donations made to the server, which gives players with money such as the that Gionelles guy (or girl, I don't really know to be honest) a lot of power in a still fragile market system.

Regarding to the equipment available in the cash shop, some of their advantages can really make a difference in WoE and PvP settings - maybe not as much as fully enchanted Temporal Boots or MvP cards, but enough to make it so if you have a set number of players in a group with those items, you can kiss guild balance good bye. Mix it all together with the high market prices for end-game equipment, and you have a very troublesome picture that most players either don't seem to mind or don't discuss because they're making a profit out of it.

---

Things have been getting better overall, to be fair. Population has risen in the past few days, seemingly because one guild leader was expelled from a server which is a direct competitor of Leika, and now him and his "followers" are moving back to Leika-RO. Let's see now in the next week or so if their presence will make a difference in the market, that for now seems to be the biggest server issue to me.