I'm rating every area separately, not as a cumulative score. x3
PREPARE FOR A REALLY LONG REVIEW!
Let me preface this review by saying I'm a former GM; I'll get into that a little later. Let me also say that I have been prettymuch absent from this server for two or three weeks and am writing this review based on my experiences up to this point, though I know things may have changed since I've been gone.
Stability/Availability: 9/10 - No issues here. Very minimal lag, and that was likely on my own part. No issues here, either. The server is rarely down at all.
GM Activity: 4/10 to 8/10 - This depends on the GM, or the situation. I haven't been around these past two or three weeks, so things might've changed in my absence. In terms of customs, lovely. Custom quests for tons of headgears, custom exp quests for every level group. The server is MADE for the player, in that regard. People are constantly working hard to create new things for the players to enjoy, and they do a very good job of it.
However, when I was given a staff position, I learned a lot more than I really wanted to about the server. My IRL job led me to go on an inevitable hiatus not long after I became a High GM. During my hiatus, running through town on my legit, I cannot count the times that new players were asking for help and they were ignored. The staff board was full of suggestions that didn't receive any replies. Somewhere a long the way, players that had previously been perma-banned suddenly appeared again, and whenever someone punished said players, the punishment was repealed before it was over. There was that, and the fact that a couple GMs had this habit of logging in and then going afk, so whenever people WERE acting up, they assumed it was okay since "Well a GM is right there and I'm not in trouble yet".
I have nothing against either of them. In fact, I rather love them very much as friends. I just don't agree with a lot of the stuff that went down staff-side, despite my love for them out of game. :< *waits to be murdered*
Community [Friendliness]: 4/10 to 10/10 - Actually, let me just make examples of the best and worst of the community:
Good: I left the server for a bit, and before going, my GM spawned a bunch of porings, and I got on my legit and threw all of my gears into the porings. There was one person who kept my donate set and wears it to this day - he IMed me out of game to tell me I could have it back whenever I wanted it. There was another instance where people I didn't even know on a friendly basis stood up for me in my absence, and that was flattering ^^;
Bad: A very good friend of mine who left the server told me his account info when he left. I logged onto his main, and instantly a player started insulting him (or rather, me on his character), telling him he wasn't wanted there. The whole time, a GM was next to him, saying "lol" instead of intervening. I went to a different town to hand things over, and I was followed by that GM and the person who was insulting me. They followed me again, to another town, before I just went inside a building to finish my business.
The people are very nice, depending on who you talk to. Most of the "original" players have left or are on significantly less due to school, but as with any MMO, it depends who you run into.
Competition: 8/10 - I don't WoE, I don't PvP, I don't GvG. I'm not about that kind of gameplay at all. But SerenityRO is HUGE on WoE, and they take it pretty seriously. Very competitive from what I hear. All the GMs WoE on their legits (which admittedly causes a lot of speculation and accusation on part of the players).
Overall: There are a lot of kinks that need to be worked out for this server to reach its true potential, but they're on the right track and I wish them all the luck in the world. I advise people to at least try it out if you want to play a server where the gameplay revolves around what Serenity can CREATE FOR YOU to enjoy. It's an interesting take on an aging game, despite once-large flaws in the staff. Give it a look, it could always stand to grow~
PS: Can post screenies of things mentioned in this review, just request.
