TalonRO Worth the play? I think so!

[White Gold]

I've been playing TalonRO for about 2 months now and I figured I'd give it an honest review! I haven't played Ragnarok for about 4-5 years and I wanted to get back into the game. I looked for my standard requirements in a server:
Pre-renewal
Low/lower rates
Heavy population
Been around for years without wipes/problems

Eureka! I found my server, TalonRO. Now to be fair, I didn't read all the fine print of the server before I started downloading it so, I'll be very fair in my review of certain things.

PROS
CASH SHOP/DONATIONS

TalonRO does what I think is the best job of any server of balancing a "donor shop" without forcing players to donate. Their custom shop works off of TalonCoins and you can buy all sorts of things through this shop, including nearly all MVP cards and Lord Kaho Horns. Copper coins are reward coins that can be turned into these TalonCoins at an exchange rate based of reaching "voting" bonuses on the server or for participating in events, mini events, and custom instances on the server.

For being a donation shop and coming from other servers where it was either impossible to receive donation items without paying an arm and a leg in irl cash or zeny, its actually quiet easy and comfortable to obtain these TalonCoins.

Also, in terms of economy it creates a stable balance for these easily obtainable items/cards and because EVERYONE can get these powerful cards it does a good job of balancing out the game play.

Would I have chosen a server that had buyable MvP cards? No. Am I happy that I didn't read things and started to enjoy the game play after trying it out, yes. 😊

That brings me into my next topic

HIGH LEVEL GAMEPLAY

While things like ET and Nids Nest were supposed to a difficult task to complete with any party with the availability of these MvP cards/custom end game gear (called SQI gears). Parties have a much easier time breezing through these challenges. The server makes up for that with custom instances like GMC (guild master challenge) and TWC (timed wave challenge)

I have not TWC'ed yet, so I'll only discuss from a point of GMC'ing.

GMC is a instance where you traverse 4 floors of freaking hard hitting, boss-esk monsters. The rewards are less about zeny and money and more about the accomplishment of completing the instance. Also, as a reward you receive specific tokens that can eventually be traded in for boxes that have extremely interesting costumes in them.

I think it was a great idea that the server added a custom higher level game play as with current gear availability everything that was previously available seemed "easy."

GM ACTIVITY

I've never seen a more GM active forum ever. They have a suggestion section that gets quick responses to players desires and pretty quick implementation of certain requests. I've also seen GM's talking and answering questions within the main chat.

One small con: I do see a lack of GM live events however, I think it was addressed and there have been more in the past month I've played.

now onto

MY PERSONAL CONS

WOE/PVP

For a server with this large of a population I'm thoroughly surprised at the lack of interest/play of things like BG, WoE, and PvP. While I've started to find out the server is primarily PvE. The server does offer Vanilla style Woe and PvP however, my guess, is that because players have become accustomed to MvP cards and SQI (custom endgear) items the lack of thrill might not be there? I'm not sure but, its very weird for me personally to play on a server this large w/o a very active Woe/PvP.

CUSTOMIZATION

Be warned and a take a note from my book. Read up on the server before playing. It's my own fault and I am now enjoying this game play HOWEVER, in my opinion the server is heavily customized.

From many card changes, nerfing of specific classes/skills, and custom god weapons the entire feel of RO has changed for me. I am enjoying the game play as its almost like I'm brand new to RO but, players who don't like straying from the originals will more than likely not enjoy it. That being said, the custom elements add a new re-balancing to the game and create new "meta" for party play etc.

If you don't want these customization's , just look else where, a server of over 10 years isn't changing whats working for them.

MY LAST 2 ZENNY

Overall I've enjoyed my time on this server. The population is nothing but kind, guild play (at least in the one I'm in) is actually centered around group effort and sharing rather than the top people get all the good stuff and leave the crumbs for the lessers.

There is a weird absence of what I'd call "middle class" within the server, as the next step from newbie is into MvP gears.

Overall I'd rate the server 4/5 with my only true disappointment being a lack of PvP/WoE/BG.

If you don't enjoy this type of game play (access to MvP cards, low exp rates, a solid level of customization) it might not be right for you.