NovaRO Review

[Deegs]

I got some coffee next to me, might as well put it to good use while I procrastinate towards bigger things.

About me:
A little context as a player reviewing this renewal server having already played two in the past already (No real point on sharing my pre-re experience). I have originally tackled on playing renewal for the first time once hearing about RedditRO becoming a real thing. I thought to myself, "wow, a server named after one of the biggest sites on the net. There's no way things can go wrong with this huge publicity stunt." I was wrong. The team behind the project were not ready to tackle on the project and have full control, instead what they delivered was a "decent" (note: I might as well call this half-assed but TrueRO might take the cake on that one) emulation that gave a somewhat "vanilla" experience by having players to do quests to change jobs, traveling around just like in the olden times.. That's pretty much it. Content wise, it was non existent. However, it gave me a nice introduction of Renewal mechanics and gave me some nostalgia I met some pretty good buddies there in which I still talk to up to this day.

TrueRO, the reason why I even played this server it was because it was a group decision to have our guild "Collision" play there (Also because a GM in RedditRO ended up blackmailing one of our members by using the email he registered his account with gayporn sites LOL). By no means were we as strong as we were in RedditRO but because other conflicts behind the scenes caused many problems and in turn caused a small group of players to end up playing there, I was one of them. I definitely liked this server at first, my buddies and I got to 175 within the first 5 hours of playing (Probably something wrong here but leveling was a pain and I was glad I could skip it). As weeks and months moved on, we ended up just joining another guild in helping them with their WoE affairs. I was devoted into this server as I gained even more insight and knowledge for the renewal world, sadly my friends did not share that same passion. So our group of friends slowly decayed into a solid 3 and a half (I say half because he only logged on to afk and talk to people). As time continued to pass it became painfully obvious that no real updates were happening within the server, no new content was appearing. The meta game was simply dictated by going to a damn vending machine to get WoE equipment and foods into   afking in town. It sucked, and on top off that the huge outbreak with the hacker gave the server an even worse light and nobody felt safe. Things were decaying fast... That was when ggRO appeared. We all know what happened with THAT mess.

Server Review
With how very reluctant I was into playing another Renewal or RO server in general. I would have never imagined the reason I would have given another server a chance because of a really long time friend PM'd me one day and asked if I still played RO. It probably took me 2-3 weeks to come with a conclusion after being burnt out with D3.

Stability:
It went from a 0 to a 10 within the span of a week while I was there. I joined probably a week before all of the craziness with the DDoS attacks. I wasn't really affect as a player because at the very beginning because I didn't really care. My only plans were to maybe play along side an old time buddy and then probably afk and do other things. All of that changed when the fir- I mean, when once again my friend mentioned this new software called "Discord" which the GMs used to communicate heavily with their players. I haven't really seen something like this in a long time. It caught my eye, the Admin showed to truly give it his all when it came to keeping everyone at bay on what was going on and being upfront on the issues that was happening. There was no sugar coating on the problems, the players were informed and the problem was solved once the server moved to servers somewhere in Canada (Let me tell you the ping is goddamn phenomenal, I am from the states, eastern side). After that accident, everything went really well, until a couple of days ago but that was also handled well with minimal loss.

Availability
The server has always been been up for as long as I remember. Changes are usually done live and it doesn't disrupts players that much. The times the server is down is probably because someone from the outside is trying to f*** over Nova or, an important patch needs to be implemented and everyone needs to patch to re-log.

Game Master Ratings

Friendliness:
Not sure what to say on this part, I grew very fond of these guys(and gals!). I wasn't really expecting to have any contact with these guys but hey! I can personally say from experience, I was welcomed with open arms and my boy Panic knows how to push my buttons (hue). Nova himself is a great individual, truly dedicated at what he does and he shows it. It took me a long time to realize he was also bilingual when I offered to do some translations for him. I knew there was something that I liked about him and it's because he also speaks Spanish! Oh, and because he gets s*** done with his team.    The remainder of the cast are great people as well, they are all as equally as impactful, to the point on some of my buddies argue which one is the better GM because the majority do such a great job.
                           
Availability:
GMs are always around. In game? I usually see some of them daily in game. However, if someone has a burning question then running to Discord to message them personally is definitely anyone's best bet.      
                        
Helpfulness:
I cannot seem to remember a time when a GM have turned their backs to me, and they definitely are there to help anyone who asks a question. Also, long side the GM team there are player Helpers, which are a group of selected players that also exist to answer questions that some players might have (Hi there!).

Economy:
Economy, is up for grabs. I don't plan on really sugar coating things, specially when it comes to the market on what is being sold. A custom map exists to gather all of those who wish to sell something in addition of having @whosells, quick and easy. When I mentioned that the economy is up for grabs, I mainly write this because most often than not, the only times I end up searching for items with @whosells is because I need elus or oris to break things. I get my shopping done with the #trade channel, which has worked wonders for me.   
         
Guild Competition:
I don't personally play WoE...Yet. Mainly because I am still currently building up a guild and getting to know my members with the addition of having to gear up to clear content efficiently will take a bit before we tackle on the rest. I do know that the WoE is currently a tree way with the Brazilians, Filipinos, and the Americans/Canadians guild (Sorry, if I am generalizing many player nationalities here but, I hope many get to understand the scope of different nationalities fighting with one another in WoE). How good and action packed are the WoEs? I have no clue, but with that info that I was passed down to me sounds like there is definitely something up for grabs against one another.   
                           
Class Balance:
Class balance. I've seen great adversity among all players and it's not just 1 class to rule them all. Although in the back of my mind I am always salty  towards genetics. It's a bit ridiculous, but then again I am no genetic main so I cannot really give my full on opinion when I know it takes a lot of effort to get a class to shine and there are very few individuals who do that.

With that said, that covers my overview of the server. Now on with the positive & negatives.

What I like
I really enjoy the community and how friendly they are. I haven't gotten into a serious conflict with anybody and I have always enjoyed talking to anybody that came by. The BG scene is usually somewhat active as well, it's not completely dead, and people will be playing at the right hours. I enjoy the daily system, it's a system in which you spend 1 hour a day logged in (if you DC by any reason it sadly resets) and you get rewarded, this goes for 30 days until you go to the beginning. It gives you an incentive to log in daily to play and working towards the MCB isn't a bad reward for playing a month! At certain time intervals there also exists a scripted event called slots, in which everyone in the server gathers around to try their luck into getting gold coins, gym passes, convex mirrors, bloody branches and +10 foods, and best of all the jack pot! I don't know how I managed to win it but hey I love my eddga hat because it has insane value.

There is also other type of scripted events which are the dice events and disguise events. Another spectacular thing that struck me was the custom event that was designed for the month of halloween. It had a custom dungeon, town MVPing those special mobs dropped special tokens which was used to purchase exclusive hats for halloween, and some other really good goodies. There also exists a lottery NPC nothing really exciting with that. The biggest thing that for whatever reason it has attracted me to play this server and try to get myself known out there was the "Main Office" had, which is the building west of prontera. This building is a two floor construct which hosts many important NPCs, such as the reset NPC, uncard NPCs, the DB room, job changer, daily rewards, gold exchange to cash shop npc, disguise NPC and many more that I can't list off top of my head. It also contains a NPCs of players who have played and left a mark on the server to remember them (Personally it was this that made me play). There are also custom instances such as their Monster Hunter instance which is a way to obtain shadow gear without having exclusively be a cash shop for an easy cash grab (I am looking at you kro and iro). In that instance you MVPs you play against almost play as if they they were raid bosses which have their set of skills and timers a player must keep track off and step away from the fire to defeat. There is so much more but man, I don't wanna spoil everything!


What I don't like
Refining System
Perhaps many will definitely will disagree with me or maybe not (I've gotten positive support on the forums at least), and that is the refining. Enriched Oridecons and Enriched Eluniums are worth 1000 Cash points. (1000 = 1 dollar by the way or 120 gold coins which you can get by playing daily and further by gambling with the slot machine npc). I find those rates insanely pricey because there are no other alternatives of creating a higher chance of success when it comes down to refining. I underline this because I fundamentally disagree how refining is being looked within Nova. It's a hefty trade with little to no gain. Mainly because I find the importance of refining such a big deal in renewal that with no addition of HD oridecons or HD eluniums the RNG required to get an item to +9 with the thought of enchants in mind seem, no matter how much time a player spends of gathering the materials. A good example and this also applies to LHZ enchants and it prevents the further development on certain mora equipment. Let's say a player manages after several weeks and at most months of RNG trying to get the best enchants for a slotted temporal boots. Luckily with the enriched elus such player manages to get to +6 successful, and then all progress stops. When a player has to stop progressing due to a fundamental mechanic in which renewal made apparent of increasing the refine cap to +20 for a reason, something is wrong (This is not to say that this isn't an easy task either, but definitely impossible to reach by these standards.)

There are counter arguments from others opposing this idea, some are:
By not having Enriched Elus or Enriched Oris. It promotes longer play!
-It might on the surface, but when you start to think more deeply about it. It prevents players from further refining equipment to unlock it's true potential. Important cash head gears cost 5000 Cash points, which is roughly around 5 bucks. Let's keep in mind that you can still buy these head gears with gold coins which could take take up to a week or weeks to collect just to be able to to buy it, only to not be used up to it's potential because the commitment to get one +9 is insane. Unless you are that Nigerian prince everyone has been talking about, you can forget exploring new build paths. Additionally, it prevents the development on enchants on certain equipment. Mora, GH boots, LHZ enchants, I could even go as far as say malagno up to an extent.

If HDs are added, everyone will have instant +9 equipment!
-This is something that will become the case with time. Will equipment be instantly +9? Hell no, it takes probably around 30-100 HDs to even get an item to +9 if you are lucky. It'll become a tedious struggle to get to unlock those +9 effects but guess what, the player will feel in control and will feel okay taking the risk on upgrading their precious RNG equipment. (It sucks that I have to keep bringing RNG into my entire argument which really sucks personally, but it's simply the direction renewal took and everyone should be embracing ways on giving players a bit more control rather than milking them)

We are a growing server with a low pop, we can't be having people that strong!
-This is something that that also ties down with MVP cards, MVPs will drop. Players will adjust to the situation at hand. Similar situation with refines. People will adapt, new builds will come out, new ways of dealing with obstacles will come out. Putting an indirect barrier on those who wanna progress but know that the loss is far much greater than the reward is simply not worth it for many.

My last few words...
Whoever has gotten this far of my review, I wanna say that I enjoy playing this server mainly because of those who are behind this project. The server is a great bonus to be honest, and I enjoy spending equal time with the community on discord or doing who knows what in game with my guildies and my new buddies I've met adventuring to the unknown. Anybody who is looking a renewal server should definitely give this server a try~

[NovaRagnarok]

I greatly appreciate your review and your input Deegs. You've been a pleasure to have on the server, and it makes me extremely happy to see that my server's achieving the mission I set out to fulfill.
That is, to offer an up to date Renewal server where things get fixed, with a friendly community.

I, like you, played those very same servers and felt disappointed on what was being offered, and longed back to the days of CookieRO.
That's what brought me to finally making NovaRO, after years of server hopping.

We've definitely had our share of issues lately, but I'd like to say we've handled them well and can boast complete server stability.
My GM team first and foremost is a group of friends. You can't comfortably work with someone you dislike, and this helps so much in player relations.
Not only that, but I've managed to gather an insanely talented team, including the likes of Tokeiburu (Creator of GRF Editor, RagnaShield and many other useful RO 3rd party tools)
Combined with the team's creativity as well as my own scripting, I can safely say we have some of the best scripts around. This also translates to quicker episode updates and new official instances.

I'm glad you touched on the Discord subject too, because it's probably one of the best things that have happened to our server, you can check it out here http://tinyurl.com/discordnova
Before this we had attempted all methods of Voice Communication, including RaidCall,TeamSpeak, Ventrilo, and none of them stuck. I had been using Skype to manage the server with the staff and eventually Skype had some major downtime, that's when a friend recommended Discord.
We've found it to be an invaluable tool in communicating with our players, and we've made a lot of friends through it as well. Definitely one of the big factors in how closely tight knit or community happens to be.

Now on to your input on refining,
The entire Cash Shop is designed in such a way that no player needs to buy things from it in order to be competitive, and Gold Coins are very easily attainable by just playing and participating in events, which you mentioned. The main reason HD ores and Safe Certificates have not been implemented is because we have not had the time to fully develop a fair and balanced system that promotes gear progression using these items. I agree that there should be a somewhat linear path to improving your gear, and that it is currently locked to RNG to a certain degree, but just throwing said ores in the Cash Shop or anywhere else for that matter would lead to a huge imbalance in power. It is something that we have thought of, but we want to get it right from the get-go. And that takes time.
In order to obtain a larger population, which in turn will lead to more fun to be had on the server, we have focused on delivering new exclusive content first and foremost, but we are aware some of the players that have been here longer definitely do need more end-game progression that isn't entirely RNG based. I will keep you posted and I promise that there will be something done on the matter, just give us some time.

Again I thank you for your review, and I'm glad to have you as a player.

[Deegs]

I appreciate the response! It's good to know that you're looking into these matters to create a healthier environment

[Roland90]

Well, here comes my First RMS, hope i can express most of things:

A very good server, have 2 weeks playing it already and i can mostly say it has been a good experience so far. A few bugs here and there, but all servers have that. Thing is, my worries are very concentraded in how would gms try to fix stuff, how much that matter for that. It happens so that on this server they care with most of it, specially Nova.
   
I will list a bit of the Pros and Cons i have found here so far, trying to be very honest with these.
   
Pros: Helpful community, a good support via discord; good command in game to search for stuff @mi, @whereis, @whosells, etc.;Despite the donation item system, u still need to know more of the game to be good at it, donating a lot would really influence in winning everything; GM cares with people that loses too much on unstabilities of the server and provide some retrieval of major losses (most of times).
   
Cons: Have been lacking a bit on stability, since i am a bit new here, i cant say this with 100% sure but the server needs to tighten its defenses. It may be the best time for that since the server has been receiving new players, when i started here, i saw 200 on mostly, now it has increased to 250, despite the recent attacks to the server.; Since it doesnt have its own wiki for everything, several inofrmation of loots and some refine process or quests need attention cuz sometimes they dont match anyone else database resulting sometimes(again ) in some zenny loss... dunno yet which database i should search to go smothly with most of things . Maybe choosing one type of database and following it can actually help in these.
   
Even though I may not play Ragnarok for the next few months i can say this server is pretty worthwhile, and I will be playing here for the next month probably. I dont think I should say more than this for the time being, i think another RMS in the near future may fit a lot better what the server has accquired with both PROS and CONS.

Hope to have helped .