Woon Renewal

[The Cat]

I've made a regular review months ago, but it seems there just isn't enough space there to really put a server out there.  With that said and having played for 6 months now, I have decided to post a more 'detailed' review here.

Server Stability and Availability: 

In the beginning, the server had a lot of bugs and kinks to get out.  I guess that is normal so to say with any new server.  Over the past two months, the server has been very stable, usually only going down during maintenance time.  Maintenance usually doesn't seem to have a 'schedule', so there usually isn't more than a few hours of a heads up before it's taken down for fixes and such.  This does not seem to affect the attitude of players.  Most major bugs seem to have been taken care of by this point in time.

Community Friendliness:

For the most part I have to say, a lot of the players on this server have been great.  They are very approachable and don't mind to help out or give you some words of advice for playing.  This comes in very handy for incoming new players who are not familiar with Renewal mechanics.  As with any community, you have a few trolls, but even they don't seem to mind being friendly from time to time.  The #main chat channel was recently fixed within the past month, and it seems to really help in bringing players together as a form of communiation, and is helpful in making new friends.

Eventfulness:

Depending on who is available at the time, the GM and Councils in this community usually host an event (or more!) everyday.  They're also no stranger to holding forum and facebook events.  There are a few automated events in game, but I'd honestly like to see more.  Most prizes for events are Cash Points (1 each round, usually) so there isn't an overflow of points being rewarded that could cause an imbalance.

Staff Ratings:

I'd like to give their staff some credit for actually being AVAILABLE.  You can almost always find a GM or Council in game if you need assistance.  The one exception being during the evening/night hours in the US time zone (usually between 5pm to 10pm US time).  They could use a little more coverage during those hours.  GM and Council do not act like they are bothered if you need to ask them more than one question and seem willing to take time out of their day to assist you.

Gameplay:

Server rates are 100/100/75, with MVP and Miniboss card rates being 1x.  Leveling at these rates isn't too fast, nor too slow.  Most drops can be obtained with a little bit of patience, though there are a few custom drop rate adjustments that were made to help balance out the ecomony (a big thumbs up for this, btw).  There is usually a new in game 'theme' event every month, so you always have something new to look forward to.  They also have a custom Fishing NPC, that is actually a lot of fun!  Updates and fixes come out often, so they're kept up to date with things.  Cash Points are also made obtainable through Missions, so you can still earn Donation items with a little time and dedication.  The Hat Maker could use some more variety of hats in my honest opinion, because who doesn't love hats?  Hunting Missions and Questboard also help players in leveling, and the Hunting Missions also give zeny rewards.  The only bad thing I will say about the game play is that BG needs to be more active.  Maybe a revamp will help.

Ecomony:

Eh, the ecomony is alright.  With any server, it fluctuates depending on what kind of players are currently playing and what kind of sesonal events just happened.  I will say that the ecomony is much more balanced than it was when the server began in the first few months.  You can usually find a good handful of vends at any time of day.

War of Emperium:

War of Emperium didn't actually open on the server until late October, and it was very slow to start off.  Over time, the competition seems to be gaining momentum and it's nice to see players actually participating.  No guild seems to dominate for too long, keeping things interesting and exciting.

Donation:

Donation items are pretty balance, and they do rotational Costume headgears each month in their Cash Shop.    Custom pets can be obtained by purchasing Universal Taming Scrolls from the Cash Shop (and there are TONS of pets!)  I've not seen any type of Donation Promotion happen yet, though this could draw in some attention.


In the end, I'd like to give Woon Renewal an 8.5 out of 10.  I honestly don't believe any server deserves a perfect score, because there is ALWAYS room for improvement.  With a dedicated playerbase and lots of fun activities going on in game, I can safely say I think this is a server that could be around for a while (their sister server, Woon Reloaded, has already been around for a few years).  I'd recommend anyone who is looking for a Renewal server to play, to give this one a shot.

[Zia]

Thank you for your review. I'm sure you know how much this is appreciated.