I'm just curious what people think makes a server "good." I personally prefer a decent GM team, limited drama, and players who use public chat when in towns to chatter. It gives the server a more friendly feeling :]
- An economy that actually works;
- friendly players, GMs and active community;
- a staff that knows what it's doing;
- team work;
- competition that isn't too serious nor too light;
- hard work involved;
- stability/availability;
- customization may be added, and it should, but keeping the balance between classes;
- nothing overpowered, no matter how much you have to work for it;
- lack of donation rewards or very few of them.
/personal opinion
Oh, and I forgot:
- The exact opposite of laziness. Kafras are cheap, Creamy card is not hard to get. Learn to walk and make minimum effort to take job change tests, they are easy and kinda add to the game.
Airship is fun, adds to the realism of the game much more than Kafra warps.
If you don't want realism, then it's your preference to join servers with @warp. Not mine and she knows that, not to mention it's clearly stated in the post.
Quote from: ReturnofYou on May 23, 2010, 12:27 AM
Quote from: Mathy on May 23, 2010, 12:14 AM
Airship is fun, adds to the realism of the game much more than Kafra warps.
I love being bored in my FANTASY, MAGIC-FILLED video games, realistically!
Summary:
Walking across maps is not fun.
Killing things is fun.
I like to have fun in my video games.
I like realism. I like leveling slowly, not instant 99. I like paying for warping services. If the game was supposed to be unrealistic, why bothering with killing things? If a monster holds X sword, it should drop 100%, eh?
You're the kind of lazy person I cannot stand. Not only that, you also disrespect opinions that don't match yours. Wanna have fun? Go to a test server where there's 0 effort. I heard you can kill stuff there too.
This is a hypothetical thread. I personally think there are a few good servers, but none to my personal liking rate-wise.
Hypothetically, and imaginatively, what qualities does a server / server team / whatever need to be deemed "good" in your opinion?
Thanks for the extensive answer, Mathy :D
Hmm...
- Good economy.
- Friendly community staff!
- Balance.
- A professional staff that actually knows scripting, src etc.
- No OP items or donations!
- Either tons or barely any customization
I realized most of these are similar to what Mathy said lol but...still
Quote from: ReturnofYou on May 23, 2010, 12:27 AM
Quote from: Mathy on May 23, 2010, 12:14 AM
Airship is fun, adds to the realism of the game much more than Kafra warps.
I love being bored in my FANTASY, MAGIC-FILLED video games, realistically!
Summary:
Walking across maps is not fun.
Killing things is fun.
I like to have fun in my video games.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Verisimilitude
The concept of verisimilitude says that a world/universe can be have as much fantasy as you want, but whatever happens inside it must be inside it's own set of rules.
Why would Kafras be added to this world if you are not even supposed to move in a map where your target doesn't spawn? Also, why not being able to spawn whatever you want?
- Omnipotent staff. There should be no staff members that work on a single aspect of the server; all should be able to work on anything that is neccesary, at any given moment in time.
- Competent server owners that know what they have in mind for their server and refuse to bend to popular demand, against their will.
- Literal server stability, naturally. Certain things are out of a person's control, but if they're getting hosted by FranTech... yeah, incompetent admin.
- Innovation. People laugh at full server conversion mods, but at least they're attempting to be different. Every single RO server right now is basically the same.
- This is utter fantasy, but; A playerbase that's just as smart and as capable as the staff themselves, able to comprehend things and contribute in a constructive manner.
There isnt any stupid people.
-I could play a server with OP donation, no economy, etc. As long as the people are alright and they help eachother (Including the admin) I could play for hours.
Quote from: ReturnofYouhaving telepathy is optional.
'kay, if you're trying to troll the topic by saying that, then gtfo.
If it's a "joke", stop joking. It's not funny >> You've said what you like in servers. Stop debating.
----
I think I see a staff/community pattern lol
my personal opinion
- no op donations or obtainable by quest
- active staff that works hard
- awesome woe, noone mentioned this but I do believe its one of the most important things of the server
- neither 0 neither 100000000000 customizations
- people
ReturnofYou trying to go all whupass on this thread is funny to watch.
As for what makes a good RO server...
Faithfulness, because we are trying to play RO here, so f*** off with your customs. If you're bored with RO simply find yourself another MMO to play - there are thousands of them out there - and don't s*** in mine, kthxbai.
Persistency, both in the fact that people are putting a lot of time into their characters and the last thing they want is all that hard work gone because someone decided it's time to woo some whore with an iPad instead of paying the host, and in the fact that once a server is set you should stick with it and not change it halfway through in some stupid attempt to please players or even stupider attempt to get more of them.
Moderation, that is enforcing the server rules which mostly comes down to hunting down bots and fixing dangerous/abuseable eAthena bugs, but also stepping in when the drama gets out of hand.
Counter-strike ftw.
There are as many different versions of a good server as their are players looking for their own idea of what a Ro server should be. We all like different things or dislike other things that might seem amazing to someone else.
I think the basis of a good server is a knowledgable and dedicated administration with a positive attitude who know how to be professionals and keep things running smoothly/progressively in the direction they want their server to go (and know where they want it to go). If the administration is not up to the job, can't handle it or doesn't have a vision of what they want then the server will show the effects no matter what content it has usually I believe. This definitely isn't a recipie for success though lol. This is what I attempt in my own server and the results aren't always what I hope. I still believe it though and am happy/enjoy what I do. :D
My own personal idea of a great server is one that allows the player to make a real impact and feel a stake in the server itself. Of course there needs to be plenty to do and features that appeal to a wide range of players so that the entire population can be satisfied in one way or another. That's nothing to do with rates or custom content, people will look for what they want but within the rates and the content, that's what I would look for. That's just my oppinion. ;)
- Competent and mature staff that actually knows what they're doing.
- No scripts from the eAthena script release forum that have not been completely rewritten.
- Preferably up longer than 1 year.
- Not hosted by RO hosts like Frantech.
Quote from: Habuka on May 23, 2010, 10:54 AM
There isnt any stupid people.
-I could play a server with OP donation, no economy, etc. As long as the people are alright and they help eachother (Including the admin) I could play for hours.
I actually agree, as long as I like the people enough and they are helpful to everyone.
Good Kaine.
I guess you never played a copy pasta SHR server before huh?
LOLHELM:
1 DEF
2 Slot
+ 100 to ALL stats.
Gives you Soul Breaker skill level 10.
~ that's OP.
I dont care, bud. If the server has a crazy communitie, I will stick around.
Quote from: DeePee on May 23, 2010, 05:02 PM
- No default eAthena scripts.
Who in their right mind would re-write every single eAthena script when the base scripts provided are practically the highest quality you can already get?
I assume you meant something like 'not just a default eAthena install', but you should have made that a little bit more clear.
Using the eAthena scripts as a core starting point is great, but in saying that, you should provide your own touches to things to differentiate your server from the many others out there.
Eh you're right, lemme rephrase.
- No scripts from the eAthena script release forum that have not been completely rewritten.
90% of the scripts in that forum are bugged and plain ugly scripted (GOTO's, ew.). Apart from that, I hate seeing the same lame scripts on every server out there. I prefer servers coming up with their own stuff.
As for the official eA scripts, yes, they're usually just fine. Although a lot of them can also be scripted way more efficiently and some have exploits, too.
Quote from: DeePee on May 24, 2010, 04:24 AM
Eh you're right, lemme rephrase.
- No scripts from the eAthena script release forum that have not been completely rewritten.
Oh I agree, especially when people claim to have 'custom content' they have just copy/pasted from some random.
I love seeing my Broadcaster on diff servers :)
Example: TheoryRO's Admin called me ignorant then used my Broadcasting script (LOLZ!)
@Topic:
-RO Servers with a Vision: The admin(s) have to have goals of what they want to accomplish, what type of server do they want theres to be? What features are they going to work to implement? These are very important questions.
-Approachable, friendly, uncorrupted, knowledgable staff: Staff members are an important part of an RO server's community, as they are the faces that are seen by most people. The better the staff, the better chances of a good RO community you have.
-Customization: There has to be something to set you apart from the other RO servers. Whether it be your a 99/70 server with no customizations or your like Chosen and your heavily customized, you need something to set you apart and make you different.
-Organization: The server and it's info should be organized: if your a first time player, everything you need to download should be in 1 place. If you are looking for guides on how to install or manually patch, it should be organized. The forums should feel clean and organized. The emphasis is on the server, everything else is just supplemental.
And all the other crap that makes a good server good.
Here's what I think is important in a server.
-A good server has a staff that takes what they have and works with it.
It's a 10-year-or-so-old-game. The staff tries to modify it into something fresh or fun for old and new players.
-A good server learns from the previous mistakes/good things another server had and tweaks them to perfection.
"Let's have all items purchasable via donations!" "Let's mod some skills!" Some of these are good, some are bad. Obviously, a server will try to strike a perfect balance.
-A good server has players who aren't completely isolated.
I've seen many servers fall just because the community was extremely quiet or people were completely isolated from others due to extremely tight cliques who don't associate with other people. Elitists can either help or hinder a server's appearance.
-A good server has rates proportional to the max level of the server.
All right, this is more of a personal one. I can't stand servers with lower rates with ridiculously hard to reach max levels. Maybe it's because I'm lazy, but I kinda just want to hit 99 or whatever in a reasonable amount of time and PvP or WoE or just, you know, chill.
In my oppinion.
What makes a server good.
- A good server has a way from keeping you on the game. Not something that is repatative like grinding. Grinding is neccesary, personally I love grinding, but not everyone does.
- No Customs that change the way RO is played. This is personal, I played a High Priest for the first time on a custom server, then went to one closer to the original and found out I was strait garbage. I think you should be able to use your same build in terms of equips and stats on any RO server because well << its Ragnarok. Adapting to that servers way of doing things won't help you if you go somewhere else.
- No GM's interfering with guild drama,WoE,PvP really any disputes anything that is player on player. Put up a rule that says if you bring pvp drama into main you will be banned, or something.
- No GM's interfering with MvP battles let it be full scale crazy ness on the MvP's. If a new guild comes up and wants to kill the mvp they have to fight it just like everyone else does and if its camped, be smarter if its camped hard, get stronger.
- A team of people that helps the community out. Kind of like Moderators, but they are the same as players and have no rights to anything that the player doesn't have rights to. Like a guild that is designed to help newcomers and that guild is really a team of people the GM's personally picked. People like this instead of woeing, can design a service that helps smaller guilds get up quicker (leveling days, set up a self made vender system) because a GM has a lot to do, and some can't be on that much.
Basically a system of players that help out other players (but those players are the same EXACTLY the same as the other players)
- A good server needs to have a good forum. I personally don't care for people who flame, but other people do. I love finding servers that have amazing forums, but a bad server. Forum needs to have a way of keeping flamers all in one spot while the others do whatever there going to do. Thats called woe discussion threads lol (not really) more like a moderator examining people's posts (actually I don't know how you would do that) but a way to track flamers and mark them, so you know what to do with them.
- Community is really based on opinion. Not everyone has the same values, same morals, same life as everyone else. To one person, flaming might be just the way they talk in a game to another, it might annoying flaming. And to me there is no having a good community. Cause your going to have your English nazi's, your egomaniacs and your white supremacists whether you like it or not. You can put on 2 faces and activate ones at certain times.
So a server that realizes that, and utilizes that whether they have a ranking system in WoE / PvP, or whether they do video / screenshot contests to not only promote their server, but promote the players creativity.
- A good server points out at its community, does something random with the community like randomly pop up in nameless and interviews a player, then posts it on the forums (after asking them and telling them their going to do this) Even if they GM can't be on all the time, the GM needs to be interactive with the community, PERSONALLY, mono to mono, having events with a group of players isn't enough.
- A good server, as hard as it is to do this, is one that gives players everywhere the ability to do something that everyone can do. Whether that be WoE in different time zones or a PvP tourney in different time zones. Make a poll on the forums and if you don't get everyone there THEN @JUMP TO EVERYPLAYER YOU KNOW WOULD WANT TO GO TO THAT EVENT and either tell them about the poll on the forums, or ask them strait up what time would they like WoE to be normally held at. Even if that doesn't work, do it anyway cause it shows you personally tried.
Ultimantly, A good server is a server that does not take pride in its customization, its uniqueness, or the pro players that are on the server. A good server is one that anyone of all origins can go download and then go on msn and grab 4593058034 people to play on because its that damn good.
Sorry if this isn't "official" but im just a competitive HP player that loves RO.
Sorry for the wall of texts, I have a habit of doing that.
- Corruptness
- Overpowered custom and donation items
- At least one unbalanced class that dominates everything
- A population consisting of 20% germans and 80% pinoys
- A population of at least 100
- Childish admins that don't know how to make a server
Get all that, and you'll have lots of players.
I WISH this would be a joke, it is not, actually.
i'm thinking a decent player count, cz really, thats what matters most, and i don't mean auto vendors such, i mean actual ppl walking around and doing random stuff!
ive been to several servers with low player counts which ended up closing down, which is a real shame cz they were good ones with a decent GM team
I'd have to disagree with the player count making a server "good". Sure, the community can be nice (and in many cases it isn't), but the server can still be crap. I'd say at least 50% of the servers that have over 500 players are completely crap.
Player count is like money. It might be evil, but you need it to survive.
Wait... I don't think that analogy really holds up. But I am pretty sure the truth is somewhere in there, in one form or another.
Quote from: DeePeeSure, the community can be nice (and in many cases it isn't), but the server can still be crap. I'd say at least 50% of the servers that have over 500 players are completely crap.
I made similar experiences.
And that's the problem. As already said by DarkDevice, As long as the advertisement works and the community is big enough, the server can be a corrupt doomsday device with mvp cards / +100 stat wings and it'll still be successful. And on the other side, there's servers with brilliant balancing / interesting customizations / MouRo features and they'll most likely stay below 50 population for a long time.. due to lack of players o_O Irony?
What is it that draws people to a populated server? The high chances of competing with worse players? Party availability? I don't get it.
It's pretty easy to make a very popular server. Just make an awesome website or pay someone to do it. Announce that it's a completely new start and everyone will have equal chances. Build up a community before launching and advertise everywhere that your server is opening soon. Once it's up, pay RMS and Topsites to show your banner everywhere.
Make sure it's not too difficult to start on the server. Preferably a mid-rate. Add 3rd classes and that sorta stuff. Within a few months you'll have hundreds of players, maybe even reaching 1000+.
This obviously doesn't make your server good. It just means you advertise a lot and look good on the outside. Nice website, fresh start, easy to get rich, 3rd classes, that sorta stuff is what attracts players these days.
Lots of players all jump on the same new "promising" server and keep doing it over and over again even though most of these servers close down after a while. Be it due to admins running off with donation money or the admins being incompetent and getting hacked or getting database corruption/wipes.
Or you can be like us at Vision and have around 25-45 people on average then have a popular server close (VastRO in this case) and have at least 200 from said popular people come to the server in the span of a week. Then they spread the word around and you have your populated server
But yeah, imo advertising about a month or so before you open is always an excellent move since it allows players to come check it out, allow their suggestions to be heard, there is no worrying about whether the server has a huge amount of MvP cards or OP items. If they see something they dislike, they can just leave the server without having invested any in-game time. Probably the biggest factor is that it allows a community to grow and get a sense of how the server will be (how friendly, serious, etc.)
-Always speaks in english. Do an effort even if its isn't your own language. I'm French from Canada.
-More enemies spawning.
-Helpful peoples.
-a lot of events.
-a lot of quests.
-Priests doing their job of buffing other peoples in a full-time part job
-a good gms staff
-a good community.
-advertising peoples who sell their items too expansive..
I think it all comes down to proper staff. That's the 1 reason most RO servers go down.
Besides having a good looking website, advertisement, and all that technical stuff, I think an active and caring GM team is the most important element in helping a server stay alive and attract newer players.
There has been just too many examples of servers with a promising start, that failed to live up to its name just because the GMs started "disappearing" a while after the server opens. ._.
For some reason, GMs like to disappear....at least on the servers that I've played on /swt
In my personal opinion, I think the staff is what makes a server.
A proper, dedicated and reliable staff can moderate the community if it's full of bots and trolls, they can make wise and quick decisions that benefit the server, they can make changes quickly and answer questions within 24 hours and lastly they don't disappear once the server reaches peak.
My one pet peeve with RO is that once a server reaches it's apparent "peak" i.e for most owners it's usually at around 100 players, all the GM disappear and let the server run on its own. Dumb move in my opinion.
OP Donations is debatable since it's for incentive to donate and ultimately keep the server up, but then again it depends on how good the server is, leading back to my point on staff. Just my two cents.
For me a good server could be one with the following features:-
- Administrators that think practically and actually take the opinion of the crowd of the server.
- A server that does not have over powered items exclusively reserved for donators.
- A server that is stable and suites multiple time zones.
- A server that has amicable, social and friendly users.
Would this be considered necroposting? :[ I joined a few days ago and was going to post a topic like this, but since this is already here, I'd like to comment as well.
To me there are three basic things that make up a good server.. in order from most important to least important.. The Staff, The Community, and The Features.
A reliable staff can keep a server going for years even if the population is low. The staff ends up being the face of the server, the main representatives. No one wants to play on a server where the admin does under the table deals with players to get special equips or treatment (unless they're into that =.=). So long as the staff is active, caring, knowledgable, and just generally good people.. the server will benefit.
The community is based mostly on opinion I guess.. what different people look for in it, but to me so long as most of the pop is nice, I would definitely stay. From my experience, it is pretty hard to get player count up and takes a lot of time (if you're not corrupt :p). Even in a small community, so long as the people are friendly outside of woe (people change inside of woe xD) then what more could you ask for.
The features to me are important, but the least important of the three. People like to be entertained... and a default eA install wouldn't draw too much attention? Even on servers that like to stay as close to kro as possible still have little customizations here and there to draw attention. If its a default install.. why would someone choose to play your server over other people's?
Well thats it basically o.o great staff, good community, some customizations = good server.
What I think makes a server good, is a competitive environment that doesn't just say "whoever grinds the most wins". That by definition is not competitive, it's elitist, and there is a clearcut logical difference. Generally this means super-highrate servers with official caps and aspd limits, but I still believe this kind of environment can be cultivated on a LR or MR.
I might say ..
• Staffs.
• Features / Gameplay.
• Population.
• Advertisement. :)
Sounds weird but that mostly I see nowadays.
Overall I will agree with this as keys to success for a server. Longevity, less so, but those four simple things will get you the usual one-year shot.
What makes a server "Good"
-GM friendliness
-Gm availability
-server friendliness
-Server economy
-Eventfulness
These are just a few things that make a server "good" to make sure a server has most of these quality.
Seems like the main thing all of these have in common is the staff.. Seems harder and harder to find a good, stable staff nowadays.
Still don't know about population making a server good.. I can think of at least one server that is quite large and well... is not so good xD
From what I've seen, people feel 'bound' to a server if they have a lot of items, even moreso if they donated.. seems hard for people to be okay with starting over :[
1.if there's economy going on inside the community.like vending things trading and selling stuffs.
2.different players from different countries probably.
3.no imba items.a well balanced job creations.
4.friendly and fun game masters who seeks their players opinion about what stuffs to implement or not in the server.
5.players who are loyal to the game itself to provide population growth.
6.there should be npc events.
7.administrators who are always there to help the players and who thinks mature for the servers goodness.
just from my own point of view.hanya dari sudut pandang saya sendiri.^_^
For me what makes a good server is a dedicated team, a well put together server, and at least the Dev Team with the general knowledge to keep that server a-float, and even improve it to better the experience. To be honest, what I feel makes good servers fall though is the view that what makes a good server is the population. Generally when you make a server, the population will be pretty small, which usually doesn't help if people view as the population being the top (or near the top) thing to look at. XP
One thing I ought to mention. GMs need to learn which complaints to ignore, and which to think about. The incumbents are always going to be the loudest whiners. When you're fixing a bug a large group is benefiting from, you need to ignore them, not cringe at your whining and stop what you're doing.
See LuminaRO with MVP cards. What a mess. .-.;
A server that is good for me will have a friendly community, and a knowledgeable and dedicated staff. The most important part is the community, if there's no one to talk to then it's just not fun for me. :]
- The staff must not be incompetent.
- The staff must treat everyone equally.
- Some members of the community must take it upon themselves to do research and become as knowledgeable or more knowledgeable than the staff themselves and keep an eye on crucial changes or decisions that are made.
- The staff must be able to take criticism well from these said knowledgeable citizens. This is where most servers begin their downhill death IMO, most Admins get offended or just ignore people if they're being stood up to.
- No corruption should be present. Another leading cause of server death.
- Donations must be balanced and obtainable by everyone in game somehow.
- Proper advertisement is needed. It costs too much money you say? Don't make a bloody server then.
It mostly comes down to the Admin and staff, if they show a weakness, it will be exploited. That's just a way of humanity.
One word: Balance
That is all it take, everything should be balanced!
Lag Free
No/Minimal Corruption
Active Population
Friendly Population
Competitive WoE
Bot Free
Main Chat :D
The server should be unique. It must have a feature that other servers don't have. That will attract alot of players. You don't have to blend in with other RO servers. Also, your server should only be LR/HR. MR/SHR don't last long enough.
Quote from: Bizzaar423 on Sep 23, 2010, 12:24 PM
One word: Balance
That is all it take, everything should be balanced!
I completely agree with this. Balance should not only be present in items, but also in events, leveling difficulty, activeness of GM staff, economy, and donations. Basically every single aspect of the server :)
For me its
Minimal card/skill nerfs
Obtainable donations through quest etc.
Competitive PvP
No lag
Competitive community is a must because I'm sick of servers where everyone just sits in the main town all day and no one pvps.
50+ population
Reasonable staff/admins
No hp/sp healing items in pvp
Balanced custom items
Easy to max out and drop rate around 1-20% for mvp cards
Its so hard to find a server like this nowadays....
Hmm, I'd have to say:
.Friendly community: The few odd trolls and jerks can't be avoided, but as long as the majority are decent or helpful, it makes it feel comforting to be in
.Active Gm's: It's no good to feel like the people who keep the server in order are no where to be seen, the constant presence of authority figures helps keep rule breakers in check
.Skill, Not Money: If you can just buy a Thanatos card and uber items with real money, it ruins the game. It becomes more of who can spend the most rather than who can play the best
I agree with Flyingfingaz.
Competitive PvP and WoE (shows team work and knowledge of classes)
Active GMs that updates every now and then shows that they're dedicated.
No Yggs xD
Balanced customs and Minimal skill nerfs.
Fun community
Do-able quests that are enjoyable and non of those 2k soft feathers quests xD
High exp rate but has mid - low rate stat
for me that's a good server xD
Quote from: DeePee on May 23, 2010, 05:02 PM
- Not hosted by RO hosts like Frantech.
I din't get you at this. Someone please explain.
Quote from: Virtual RO on Nov 05, 2010, 04:03 PM
Quote from: DeePee on May 23, 2010, 05:02 PM
- Not hosted by RO hosts like Frantech.
I din't get you at this. Someone please explain.
He probably means that he want his Ragnarok Server to be hosted by a sturdy and stable Host, and by that was he stated his sentence it seems like he is unsatisfied with Frantech :D
A good server:
1. Has a stable connection (not lag as much as possible).
2. Has a good, active, friendly and approachable GMs.
3. Has a good economy (means that people are friendly and items/cards are worth hunting for).
4. Doesn't have an imbalanced/overpowered donation items.
5. As much as possible, NOT TOO CUSTOMIZED which make the server imbalanced (e.g: wings, level 200+, max stats 200+).
RoK on! ;D