New Sarah Server (20x/20x/5x)

[Ziddo]

I'll start this review by copying a format from previous thread's reviews.

Server Rating

New Sarah Server is what replaced the Sarah Server, i think. Because I used a poor term i have to explain more. Balik Ragnarok Online had two successful servers, first was BalikRO Chaos, still alive, and BalikRO Sarah, which is already closed. Sarah Server was ran by almost the same people but Sarah Server closed. I played on balikro chaos but im starting to go out-of-topic. Im supposed to review New Sarah. It's a low-rate server, 20x/20x/5x, Bosses drop are at 1x. Floating rates were written on their server advertisement before it went live, but when asked on forums, the GMs said they might not implement it because the economy is "stable". There are a lot of players, on first weeks there were more than 500, went up to 900+ and now averaging at 700-800. First official woe just started last weekend. 

1. Stability - 7/10

Server just started early march but there are times the server is lag, especially for PLDT users(idk if pldt is an international isp, but if you're a filipino you most likely know this, Oh. I forgot to put in the first paragraph, majority of the players are Filipinos.) One of the heads own his own hosting site so i think they can still improve on this(or not). I know because the admin uses his real facebook to post in the official facebook group of the server.

2. Availability - 8.5/10

Server is always up, unless on maintenance---which I would like to mention, does not usually start on time and end on time. Maintenances not ending on time are okay to me, it's pretty normal. But server maintenances not starting on time is on a different level.

3. Friendliness - 6/10

Idk, I had players which became my friends up until now when I seldom log on. But some of the admins aren't. Would you believe when people like me on the forums were saying "hey we think x is wrong because xxx, we think xxx", x being the problem and reason and suggested fix, we were told to find our own server if we dont like their server settings. But still, I had fun on my stay and I'm happy i met some people here. I would like to point out that the server has hundreds of players so I guess if you want to meet friends, it's inevitable that you don't get to.

4. Eventfullness - 6/10

There's an automated server event, Poring Race. But most people like me don't join because the event isn't rewarding. You only get to triple your payment to join but your chances of winning are less than 20%(i forgot how many porings there were). There were events on the forums too but these events lack proper control. Prizes are given days after the event ends, Instructions most of the times are lacking/unclear, there was one time the instruction was changed AFTER it was posted so those who replied on the thread right away were disqualified for 'not following' the new instruction. Some winners are announced very late too. But rewards on most of these events are great. They don't happen quite too often tho.


Game Play Rating

1. Customization - 8/10

Follows official stuff from official server. But edited other things, Roses and crystal mirrors and green lives selling price is worth trash, Byorgues not re-summoning guardians. Some 'op' boss cards are disabled.

2. Economy - 6.5/10

One of the most controversial things talked about by me and other guys at their forum---RMT. Brief history check-
On their server rules, it was stated rmt is not allowed.
Until someone pointed out that the clause stating rmt is not allowed disappeared. We weren't informed of this deletion of the clause, they just deleted it there.
Up until now, people still keep telling the GMs to not allow RMT, which they did.... They disallowed RMT in-game. One repeating message on the server is "RMT is now prohibited in-game. Do your buy and sell through facebook"... It still is allowed on social medias.. Most rare equips like orlean's gloves, pole axe(1pc) and orc hero cards(just 1 orc hero card at whole server atm, 2 boss cards in whole server in circulation afaik) are sold for real cash and not for ingame currency because rmt is allowed(i dare say supported, the official fb group is created by the admin of the server, at one point, the pinned post was about a player volunteering to be a midman for real money trades, also, one of the admins said he is thankful because through new sarah, he helped other people earn real cash, yay for charity.)

Other things are priced pretty fairly. imho.

3. Class Balance 10/10

It's a 99/70 trans server. So it's as balanced as it gets. Btw they just 'fix'-ed the snap reloc asura dodge(13-cell thingy).


Closing:

Overall, this server has potential, a lot of players, not that lag,  but with how the administration manages it, I've decided to just quit. I believe what happened to Sarah Server will just happen to New Sarah Server. Left alone to die by the admins.

Oh, btw, additional info. I got banned for 7d because I was telling a random guy in payon that the GMs are dumb for making a dumb decision. moskovia farming spot was nerfed hard. Crystal mirrors and witherless roses are less than 500 and 1.5k ea, respectively, which I hated because I used to farm there. Apparently, a gm was there and read my chats(i used the words 'dumb' and 'stupid' once each, not directly, and my pc got banned for 7d because of 'disrespect'). I was pc-banned instantly for 7d without silence, mute, or warning. I still think they just wanted me out of the servers for constantly criticizing and pointing out their imo-bad decisions and actions, I even got many forum memebrs to agree with me, meaning I had a point. All I wanted before was for the server to be better because it had potential. I tried reasoning out with the gm, he said the warning is the server rules and that should be enough. So i said
NV: "Here in the ph, we have a constitution, it states what is not allowed and stuff, but when criminals are being chased, even cops, use warning shots, maybe in my case you shouldve used a warning shot". His reply was "but im not a cop".. That analogy tho.

---I'm guessing rms management might be contacted by the head of the server because of this review but If it becomes needed, I can provide proofs to things I mentioned here.

[Neffletics]

A player from this server told me the same story, according to this player, the server was fun during its first few weeks but now, he can fortell that this server will die like the previous 'classic' version. Well, we can't really blame someone who already ran multiple servers in his past years. Not to mention he closed MagRO to focus on BalikRO Chaos and Sarah (Of course these servers are gaining more profit than his MagRO). These owners are no different from Jeff0807 of Sakray PH. I even posted some revelations about this person in our facebook page. This guy is still denying that he owns Sakray.

Back to the topic, what do you expect from servers whose aim/goal is to just earn.

[Ziddo]

I thought it was unfair for the server to be given a review by someone who has been online for just minutes for several days so I logged in a bit longer on more days and asked my friends about the current state of the server, went to the PvP room, unfortunately I couldnt join in the woe as I sold all my equips already. So here's a more recent summary:

Population during non-peak time now sometimes go to less than 500(and a lot of those are @autotrade vendors). It still goes up to 700 sometimes but I have never seen it go to 800. Months after, the PvP room is still almost a ghost town, nobody almost goes there because they're busy farming at gonryun(which is populated af) and on other areas. Most high-end gears and some other things, like I mentioned are still being sold via real cash. The "RMT is now prohibited in-game. Do your buy and sell through facebook" changed to "RMT is now illegal and will result to *****(i forgot the exact word, sorry)". But this doesn't change the fact that RMT is openly allowed to continue, right as of this moment, someone made a poser of the midman for RMTs and the players are even tagging the head admin(cmiiw) himself to ban this poser.

Occassional lags and disconnections still occur.

WoE isn't that fun according to my friends who still continue playing except for one(he's on a top-competing guild), there are 2 castles open(one of my friends said there were 4 open, idk what to believe, i think there are 2 castles open) and the competing guilds barely reach 3.

Also, even if woe and pvp becomes more active, this will still be dominated by cash users. Donation shop is full of buff and stats scroll. Well, farmers may buy from the donors but not every new player will be able to buy as many foods and buff scrolls compared to players who started earlier and/or donors.

Things I failed to mention that I think I should: no socket npc(idk why),  db can only be used on the map below prontera. Can autotrade only in prontera (i think), poison bottles and acid bottles have to be farmed and not sold on npc, and etc.

[Neffletics]

poison bottles and acid bottles have to be farmed and not sold on npc, and etc.

I don't see the reason why they have to make these available on NPCs. This will turn the server into SonicBlowRO or AcidDemoRO lol

Anyway, the server is dying and will turn into AutoTradeRO/AfkRO in few weeks. I'm not surprised since the server is one of these servers who suddenly opened because there was a hype on it and they didn't prepare s***.

I've spoke to many of the players from these server, they've sent their stories through a private pm on Facebook. They wasted the opportunity given to them.

Until now, I am still daring Vy Low (New Sarah) and Jeff0807 (Sakray PH) to post something in RMS regarding their scamming stories. (Pin0i m0n3i m4king$)

[Ziddo]

I don't see the reason why they have to make these available on NPCs. This will turn the server into SonicBlowRO or AcidDemoRO lol

Anyway, the server is dying and will turn into AutoTradeRO/AfkRO in few weeks. I'm not surprised since the server is one of these servers who suddenly opened because there was a hype on it and they didn't prepare s***.

I've spoke to many of the players from these server, they've sent their stories through a private pm on Facebook. They wasted the opportunity given to them.

Until now, I am still daring Vy Low (New Sarah) and Jeff0807 (Sakray PH) to post something in RMS regarding their scamming stories. (Pin0i m0n3i m4king$)

I didn't mean it to sound bad, I personally think it's a good thing that these are not on the shops. I just thought I should've mentioned this earlier when I rated the class balance thingy. I no longer like the server but I don't hate everything that's in it. Like what I did say, the server had potential but with the way things are going, there's nowhere to go for New Sarah but down.

As of now, it's more suitable to name the srver FarmRO.

[Neffletics]

As of now, it's more suitable to name the srver FarmRO.

More like Open-MindedRO (If you know what I mean)
It's meant for players who wants to do business. looool