When you say that Kado is wrong simply because she was banned and hasn't played for a long time, you're right and wrong yourself. She was banned, and she hasn't played a long time, but everything else seems pretty much right in her posts. Calling it a "caste" system is kinda paranoid, I'll admit, but it doesn't sound any better the other ways you can explain it. I was in favor for "a large group of friends who will blatantly disregard anyone else's problems and do each other favors not available to people outside their group" system, but I don't think anyone else would accept that. I give everything second chances, and Aeon hasn't been struck by a fairy godmother and turned a princess yet... or lost its warts... or improved in any way possible.
Rebirth: Rebirth costumes seem to be limited to people who get the class as opposed to just GMs, their friends, and anyone in the "a large group of friends who blatantly disregard anyone else's problems and do each other favors not available to people outside their group" group. To get to the level, you need a good deal of farming. Now, getting to level 99 on an improved rate server isn't even near impossible, but when you look at the skill list you have to take into account that every monster has those bonuses to them as well. Bash? Reflect shield? Take a look at the mobs you'll meet down in Thor's dungeon and match their skills with the ones buffed. To put it one way, you Star Gladiators won't be farming there anymore... ever... the game was redesigned to fit a large party, and to get a large party you have to be part of the "a large group of friends who blatantly disregard anyone else's problems and do each other favors not availabe to people outside their group" group.
Their "celestial" amulets are pretty much the same way. Custom items that fit snugly in your lower headgear slot give better bonuses than you'll find pretty much anywhere else, and to get them you need to be rebirth and have items available only in one of the custom dungeons. If you've read anything about the custom dungeons before, you'll know you aren't soloing them.
As far as the economy goes? One person owns most of the good items, and his personal philosophy is, "If I'm the only one with white potions and people are desperate enough to buy them at 1 million zeny a piece, then they're worth 1 million zeny a piece." Don't feel like you're going to be able to farm money to get your equipment...
Aeon tokens, you can get them once a week unless you go to a custom dungeon and get about 4 per run. They're used for any custom items you'll want (hatboxes, pet tames, enriched ore), skill resets, or dungeon warp unlocks. A useful system if you're planning on grinding for weeks on end to climb slightly out of the wastes that being new to this server put you in.
The community. "Caste system" aside, people aren't quite helpful. Older members have others tank for them, exchange items between each other, share equipment, and party up often. Newer members solo. This wouldn't be such a slap in the face if the older members didn't also give bad leveling info. "Go kill sidewinders until you're trans," was the advice I jokingly (hopefully, he wasn't laughing) received when asking for a party for my level 60 alchemist.
Custom content: You may think custom content is meant to be fun and amusing with challenge attached, but it's not. It's meant to put more power into the people who can afford to get it. One custom dungeon requires codes to enter a door. Those codes are hidden around the dungeon through riddles and the like, but it has been a long, long time since anyone's actually solved them. If you find yourself lucky enough to be in one of these dungeons, do what everyone else does and just copy down the number of the code and the number the veteran running it shouts out to you. If you get to a good enough level to run it (as it's the only low level(ish) custom dungeon) and try asking for the code, I've personally experienced a wait of 45 minutes before someone slipped it to the waiting party. After that, the code either didn't work or it changed, and we ended up finding the solution ourselves after another 20 minutes.
RP: Most popular room is the Out of Character Room. Don't even listen to what people say about the pub... people's legs seem to be broken and asking for any if you're not in the "screw over everyone who's not one of us" group, which is just a step below the "a large group of friends who blatantly disregard anyone else's problems and do each other favors not availabe to people outside their group" group only because the "screw over everyone who's not one of us" group doesn't have the power to grant favors to each other, then you're not likely to get any RPs started by yourself, have anyone move to interact with you in a group RP, or even be told that there's RP going on if you're out of earshot.
Would I recommend this server? Not really. I don't enjoy it. I'm not enjoying it as I sit in the OOC room right now writing this. If I get booted for writing a review, I'll end up laughing, put a few screenshots here for what i get for speaking my mind, and then move on.
To you who said the opinions were old and therefore invalid, I'm playing right now. Kado may have a longer, much more passionate opinion, but I can validate everything she had to say with the only problem you found in her post. I was never banned, I never have had a personal problem with anyone on the server, and I don't have any long standing grudges to cloud my view.
I've hosted multiple types of RP servers in the past. I've been an active element in multiple RORP servers, and never before have I received this amount of scorn and hatred for asking for a party or occasional RP. I'm not angry, remorseful, or even hopeful for a better Aeon in the future. Honestly? There's no other way to put it other than "depressed" if that wasn't so... depressing?
Oh, and my forum account was deleted. I've never heard of that happening before, but it could be common. Just something to add because I recall using it just weeks before this review was written.
