Shining Moon RO - A server worth supporting

[Deegs]

Hey everybody, my name is Deegs, I've been playing RO for literally a decade now. It's a game where I always leave and come back as it has a lot of charms in which I find very endearing and fun. While a lot of the games of today just want to streamline the gameplay and give hand me downs to everybody just to be "equal" RO is still this wonderful game that it keeps itself going with its many features of being able to customize your character and different approaches to doing so.

I did not think I'd be writing this review at all, as at first when I stumbled this server after taking a break from my previous one, my first impression from the Niflheim was that it just reminded me way too much of the super high rates and overly customizable servers with a bunch of wings, and all sorts of equipment from all over the place. HOWEVER! as of Feb 15, 2019 an additional "realm" was released called Helheim in which focuses on primarily only kro content alongside features that makes this server unique and very fun to play. I really do mean that it's been a very long time since I went out of my way to actually play and be motivated to grind, farm, explore and check the content of a server.

Shining Moon RO separates itself from every other renewal server out there simply by its own personality, it doesn't attempt to be a "1:1" copy of kro, that's boring, overdone, and that'd just cause a bunch of decisions to keep the server "pure" and avoid any heavy modifications just to pretend to be kro. This server, on the other hand, accepts that it's in no way shape or form kro and entices players to work together and play.

How you may ask? They have features such as
World Bosses - A very strong custom MVP which spawns on its own custom map at certain times of the day or after meeting a kill quota from the whole server. Every single player in the server is invited to hit this boss no matter how weak or strong, as everybody will get a treasure which has a chance to contain sought after equipment, or even mats for refines. Those who do put in the actual work to damaging the boss, they will get more of these boxes as there is a leaderboard for DPS. This event alone gave me flashbacks of my times raiding in WoW and FF, it's an amazing feature I love it, as every unique world boss contains a completely different set of loot tables so you're incentivized to part take in all.

Your very own loot! - It's no secret Ragnarok as it stands has always been about the loot, and how to progress through it, here it's no exception either. Except now, everybody in the party if they are close to the group of players that is killing a monster, the loot that it drops it'll also go to the people within the party. This does not apply to everything, however, such as MVP drops (they are still unique loots and will be dropped according to how the party is set up, or certain MVP drops in instances, such as Jitterbug, not everybody will get their own maelstrom pendant. This finally fixed the problem of a lot of player mentality of "less people = more rewards" as everybody will get their own set of loots parties on going in this server are ALWAYS full and everybody does not mind bringing anybody over because it'll enhance the experience and make any content a lot of fun as new faces are appearing every day.

Choose your own EXP rates - This is a feature I never even knew I wanted, a lot of server owners are all afraid on trying to give players a distinct advantage because they want their player base to be "on the same level" this is Ragnarok we're talking about, the fact that an MVP card can drop from simply killing an MVP just once destroys that facade of balance amongst players. This feature essentially allows the player to pick the way they want to grind/level as a renewal server max level is 185/65 and the players are free to level from 1x~100x for both job and exp. You don't have much time and are a busy person? no problem smack that 100x and get to max level and come join on going full-on parties, as you'll gain your own drops. What about those who want to grind 1x, is there even a reward? Indeed there is! By leveling a character with base exp of 1x, when you reach to 175 you'll unlock a permanent buff on your character that gives you 50% additional drops, and the original 99 aura. Everybody will immediately see from a glance who has leveled 1x and who hasn't. It's almost like a badge of honor honestly, due to this, the amount of leveling parties in the server are never-ending and are always alive with players thriving to play. You will also gain drop rate bonuses for playing wtih 10x/20x/30x but honestly, just go for 1x as the reward on itself is much better in all fronts.

That's just covering the surface of this server, there's so much more to delve into this server, it brings me back into my essenceRO days. Honestly, coming from my old server, it gave me the biggest realization that as a player, I was living in a bubble where the admins were feeding us bread crumbs, slowly making us think we were the best while shoving useless cash-shop content into our throats in the form of costume hats. In Shining Moon RO, right from the get-go, there's an insane amount of costume hats you can go out and hunt the specific monster for. The drop rate for these items have an incredibly low chance (0.03!). It makes the player want to farm all kinds of content with people/ or alone to find that look you've been wanting to get without having to swipe your credit card.

This brings me back to the most important part of a renewal server, refines. Refines in Ragnarok is how we know we're progressing in terms of being stronger and unlocking new abilities from our own equipment. Many servers take this approach of refining in renewal, and do so in such a toxic way and milk the player out of their money by selling overpriced ores on their cash shop. My last server has done this for a very long time, at roughly 1 dollar per ore, it's honestly sickening as there was also no way to feel as if there was progress to be made while in kro they had introduced safety refine tickets and blacksmith blessings to avoid equipment from meeting their doom as the goal for many items required +9 for them to be useful. While some servers intentionally don't add this content in the belief of their player base to "continue to grind" like brainless insane monkeys hoping to be doing the same thing, again and again, hoping for something new to change while their precious items break in front of them only to be filled with disappointment and grief.
Shining Moon RO won't let you experience that that disappointment, there are so many different ways to obtain ores in this server it, may it be through custom instances, world boss drops, slot machine drops (which you gain coins to play by simply loging daily, killing mobs, staying logged in or even getting even more from the machine itself), or even hugel racing (in forms of safety refine tickets) and trading in RWC weapon drops that you might gain from the slot machine. Bottom line is, ANYBODY, can progress without feeling as if they're restricted to their wallet to get anywhere. It's such an amazing new change of pace for me, that knowing my equipment won't break as I reach for better refines, it encourages me to look for more things to do rather than be hardstuck on refining 1 item if it were to break again. I used to hate renewal pvm because I believed that all it really was just grind for an item for it to break again. I'm very happy with the direction they took and it overall has made me such a happier player while playing here.

This is what I gotta say about this server after playing 130+ hours within this month alone. It's a server that doesn't try to be like anybody else, it's free to express itself and how to bring players fun through all kinds of events and experiences. It's honestly a very very exciting time to be in right now, I highly recommend everybody to give this server a try, even if you're new to renewal. This server is sure to change your mind!



TL;DR
Server Stability: 8 - lately stability has been a lot better, every time there is a downtime though, the admin rewards their player base with quite a bit of handful of items such as exp manuals, rewards from the slot machine and even a chance for a random costume headgear.
Availability: 9 - For the most part the server has been available for me to play every single day, very rarely have I had to wait to play.

Community
Friendliness: 10 the people here are amazing, I'm not only surrounded by the people that I know, but new faces that I get to meet every day and everyone is just a joy to party up with
Eventfulness: 10 although there are plenty of automatic player events for people to part take in, there are also a lot of custom events that the GMs host, and aren't restricted through just an NPC for people to part-take in. The server is not afraid to reward their players and  in return GM hosted events have usually always over 100+ people in them just because everyone is aware it'll be worth their time

Game Masters
Friendliness: 10 - I've yet to have any issues what so ever with the GM team here, they are always so helpful always looking to assist people, and any concerns that I've had were managed in a level headed manner and discussion that both parties could meet as a compromise
Availability: 10 - GM's are always in the game, you'll have no shortage of seeing them online no matter the time, but if you can't be in the game to see them discord also works
Helpfulness: 10  - any problem I've had thus far playing this server has always been fixed, so far all my concerns were taken care of!

Game-play
Economy: 10 - the economy is booming and players are putting up vendors left and right and I've had no problems what so ever finding the items that I'm looking for
Guild Competition: 5 - this one is still an undecided one, I see many guilds forming here already which gives me great hope for the future, but for now it's been a PVM focused with a very strong possibility for exciting WoEs!
Class Balance: 8 - This is new territory I'm covering ground, from what it looks like every single class has its own way of handling situations by the sheer amount of equipment available that can make any class strong, even Arch Bishops are dishing out insane damage while supporting, quite spooky

[ninekoki]

I agree. Deegs know his s***.   

[wakasushi97]

except Deegs forgot to mention that we can't use ahk or macros here 

[ninekoki]

my only complaint. also smart cast and turbo when

[Nithraniel]

It's a server that doesn't try to be like anybody else

I thought the main goal of that server was to bring the "real kRO experience" ? At least that's what was announced here.

[Deegs]

I thought the main goal of that server was to bring the "real kRO experience" ? At least that's what was announced here.

I personally never saw it as such, anybody claiming that a server is trying to be a "real kRO experience" is just plain lying to themselves and everybody around them, to me this server has its own identity alongside sticking to kro content while providing custom ways to tackle the cash shop issue that the official game brings. I'm surprised that's how that person described the server

[eflow]

As the person who wrote that reddit review... I want to point out that nowhere is the phrase "real kRO experience" used. I went back and reread my post to make sure haha. 

I think the relevant portion would be:
"The current "Realms" are Niflheim and Helheim:

Helheim is the new one that just opened on Feb 15 and follows strictly follows kRO in terms of items.
Niflheim is the older one that's been around for a year and half and has jRO and iRO items on top of kRO stuff. Plus, it has some custom content that affects character stats."

Also, I do agree with Deegs' thoughts on SMRO having an unique identity. The main aspects that I think make it unique include: the loot system, the Worldboss, and the special economy around MLCs,MCs,refining items.

Regardless, SMRO is amazingly fun!