Here are the servers in the review so that people interested in hearing about them can see outright:
PONDERA, LMFRO, MOONLIGHT, DREAMER, SIEGE, OBLIVION, BRIGHTSIDE
So I spent about a month trying to find a good server, after not playing RO for a couple of years. It took way too long, but now that I've finally found home, I thought I could use my journey to help others who might be curious about some of the (mostly high-rate) servers around RO. I probably looked through about a dozen servers, these are the ones that I spent more than only a day or two testing out. I hope a review list like this is allowed, I don't see what's wrong with it, but I could imagine a mod being like "This is unorganized >:C There is only my definition of organized, nothing else >:C". Jusstryin' to be helpful without spamming seven review threads.
I'll talk about the features, the communities, and the technical parts/economies of each server. It is set in the order I have tested them in, BrightsideRO being the one I eventually chose to stick with.
~For tl;dr people, assuming you trust me for some reason outright, I'll rate them as "good", "playable" or "awful" at the beginning~
PonderaRO
playable
~Features~
Not very customized at all. Sometimes it's that a server is trying to stick as close to the original game as possible, but I don't get that impression from this server at all. I just think they are lazy and don't want to work too hard at adding cool features. Mage style classes run PvP relentlessly. Plenty of fancy item bundles if you feel like donating, but most donation items are obtainable through quests in the game, however boring the quests may be. It's still cool though.
~Community~
Awful. One of the worst communities I have ever seen. Oh my god. This server would be pretty good if it had a half decent community. There's an elite group of people who have donated money to the server and TERRIBLE GMs, who will not talk to you even if you ask them direct, polite, nice, even relevant questions of interest. Since this is like, 75% of the server, and the other 25% are generally solo players, there's not really any community here unless you give cash. This is an amazing server if you feel like playing alone, which some people like and I would recommend it in that sense. If you want friends, don't even try this server.
~Technical/Economy~
Lots of bugs. GMs don't even care, like I said, just try talking to them. It's a new server, so bugs are expected, but I am not sure if they are being fixed. A lot of NPC options don't work remotely, and the @commands leave something to be desired for a custom server. The Economy is completely messed up, and all of the wealth and item control is with the elite group of people hanging out with the GMs, either because they donate or because the GMs are more corrupt than the server claims, which I would believe in a second. Good luck finishing a good deal of the quests, you would have to be a friend of the GMs to do so.
LMFRO
playable
~Features~
No third jobs. This is alright, since third jobs are kind of goofy at the moment, but it feels a bit retro I must say. Boss monsters are made ubertuff, which makes sense due to the high base levels, THEORETICALLY. You can't really solo an MVP Boss monster on this server, which is just too bad because not enough people actually play it to form parties. The main town is actually pretty cool, one of the better custom towns I've seen. Not really anything much to do.
~Community~
...where? It's there, they don't completely ignore you but they are not friendly. The server is a bit ghostly. There is a somewhat active forum, so you could probably use that to make buddies on the game.
~Technical/Economy~
Always down, all the time. More than any other server I've tested, I had trouble testing it because of this. Game crashed a lot for me when it was up, couldn't even tell you why, it would just sometimes happen at seemingly random moments for unknown reasons. There isn't really an economy to speak of, or if there is it's like, between ten people somewhere off in ghost town. It's a new server though, and I'm not too hating on it.
MoonlightRO
Awful
~Features~
Oh my god, features. 999 base level, and you can make a character 999 outright if you want to, at the very beginning of the game the first NPC you talk to offers this. Then you show up in a customized town that's spread out annoyingly, with a mall where you can buy EVERYTHING, including MVP cards, turning all characters into cookie-cutter beings. Oh, not to mention you can pay nothingmoney to get anything you want +100 and quadruple slotted. Where is the game? Everyone's doing PvP but with these features it's not PvP. Has a huge pokemon area that only GMs and friends of GMs get to see because you have to get like, 250+ mithril coins, a bunch of PvP skulls and s*** from ridiculous respawns to get there. You can go kill porings for money, but I did the math and it will take you over 30 hours of nothing but killing these porings until you have enough money to finish said quest, which is the only real attractive quest on the server, since you can just buy anything you want anyway. God I could rant more.
~Community~
a******. Elite a******. GMs and friends are the only people who play on this server. There was one GM who would talk to me and was nice, but they spent all of their time trying to give me stuff to finish quests in like ten seconds meaning there literally WAS NO GAME. I could tell in a second that GMs have nerfed skills whenever they were killed by it in PvP, Nearly everything was nerfed, even things like Brandish Spear. Seriously, what? These people are so annoying that nobody but them uses this server. The server is unplayable because of these people. These people are definitely the sort to start a huge argument in this thread.
~Technical/Economy~
I didn't really notice any technical problems, but the economy is obviously completely messed up, I shouldn't have to tell you that after you've read the first two sections. There's nothing to buy, and even if you wanted to, all of the money's with the elites. ALL of it. I actually recommend anyone to try out this server just because of how obscenely retarded it is. It's worth the laugh.
DreamerRO
Good
~Features~
I can't even tell exactly. What is going on on this server? even if it didn't have 700 people on it at any given moment, most of them twelve, everything is spread out and generally confusing, nothing is sensible. Events aren't even playable because they are single victor events on a 700 player server. If you start out being next to the objective, you win. Events over in three seconds, every time. This server is super based on Voting, Reviewing and Donating. That's why it's so high up on lists, it rewards you s*** even though it's a silly server. That aside, It has good quests and custom maps & monsters, better than most servers.
~Community~
Lots of people. It may be hard to find your group but it's possible. Most of what I can see is a lot of twelve year olds and people who beg for zeny and do other silly stuff. It's pretty difficult to talk to people though, I get the impression that there is a serious spread of language going on.
~Technical/Economy~
Not really any problems with bugs and downtime, at all. Pretty nice. The server's player commands are completely screwed though, it's almost like I'm playing the real game or something(not really, but you get the picture). Economy is pretty good, has a lot of tiers for sure, which isn't bad or anything. You have to try hard for better stuff and compete. This server is good but it's not my cup of tea whatsoever. I drink unsweeteend loose green tea, and this is like arizona peach sugar black tea.
SiegeRO
Good
~Features~
Lots. Play this server if you're into a lot of custom features. Has tooooons of custom quests, some are even interesting quests. Actually has some decent storyline to it, which is rare for a server like this. I would recommend this server for people who are in guilds, and have a good 4-6 people to play with. I didn't get too much of a chance to explore the custom features, but it seems interesting.
~Community~
Eh. Could be a lot better. At least they answered a couple questions I had, I was mostly cold shouldered, and I test this well. Has quite a few stray soloers and the typical community of elites that hangs out fifteen blocks below the spawn. Seriously, people need to not be dicks, it loses members, this goes for every server. I just don't understand. It's always the GMs and their friends.
~Technical/Economy~
I had a lot of technical problems with this server, and that's part of the reason I'm including it in this review, even though I didn't have as much time with it. It was difficult to get to work correctly, and I constantly had crashes, sometimes got stuck in crashloops and had to take weird measures. The economy is very normal for a private server: slightly imbalanced but good enough, you can spend a couple days to get a rarer item that you want, through quests or gaining s*** of zeny.
OblivionRO
playable
~Features~
Not many, but it's more okay with this server than others. It's a bit more centered around keeping a more true RO experience and actually succeeds at it a bit. Unfortunately, it as an exponential increase in experience rates, and it's just too easy to level up and do stuff. Fortunately, it doesn't do vote for points, which makes it more honest whether or not it gets voted for. I hate the whole vote for points thing, personally. It says in this site: "We don't like rewarding you for doing nothing.". Spoken like a true god. Has very few custom features but the ones it does have are kind of gay.
~Community~
Main reason I didn't stick around. I would compare this community to a pile of dog poop. It's doesn't do anything, and if it did do something you wouldn't like what it did because it's dog poop. That or they just don't/refuse to speak english.
~Technical/economy~
Had a few technical problems, this one needs bug fixes and some evolutionary customized changes. Has really, really annoying commands for getting around the game, just uselessly annoying. Like, too easy to care but too hard to do anything with ease. The economy looks pretty hollow, like, there isn't one or something. I don't think there is one. I don't really know what this server does in that sense.
BrightsideRO
Good, the one I play now
~Features~
Lacking some in quests, but has cool custom weapons and armors that aren't overpowered, but are just cool enough to want. Events that seem to happen not entirely often enough because they are fun. There is Fishing, which is used to collect various items and to gain Crystals, which seems to be the main form of currency. Cooking exists but I don't really know anything about it yet, other than it's supposed to kick butt for healing/status stuff and be challenging at the same time. It's a new server, and needs a lot of work for features, but the GMs seem extremely interested in constantly working to make the server more appealing and aren't the type to say "It's perfect you're gay for thinking there should be more >:C". Could definitely use more in the way of features, but the features it has aren't confusing at all.
~Community~
Best GMs I have ever seen. They keep their head with obnoxious people, run fun events sometimes(not enough XD), and are generally open to tomfoolery. The Community is also the best I've seen, everyone seems to be nice or getalongable, aside from a few of the pinoys I've met >.> but they are just funny anyway. Fishing is a really good way to gain friends, there's always a few people sitting around the fishing hole chatting about whatever. I am completely confused as to why there aren't more people on this server, it's great.
~Technical/Economy~
I haven't ran into any technical problems, other than some trouble with opening my pet's status, which I think might be the fact that I haven't completed one of the patchers in my kRO this time around XD but if it isn't, everything related to it is achievable through @commands, which are extensive. I also have some trouble with the rental NPC, but everything it does can be done through a kafra NPC as well. The Economy is really good, if you're dealing in crystals. Crystals are the main form of currency, and are achievable through events and fishing. They buy most headgears, including a lot of customized ones, some random neat accessories and useful armor sets for PvP. Unfortunately, zeny is kind of obselete, but that could probably be fixed pretty easily, as the GMs are extremely open to suggestion, and I imagine it will be soon, just needs a way to connect zeny to crystals.
So there you have it! let the flame war from seven different servers begin.
