Why not iRO?

[minhe]

So, I was thinking of coming back after probably a 2 year break and I wanted to find the 'best' private server to play on. I used to play on XileRO and I enjoyed it quite a bit but now things have changed and I wasn't sure where to go. I took a look at IntenseRO and figured I would try it out, but then I remembered about iRO. I never had played iRO, but after just taking a look at it, it looks like a completely polished private server with the Kafra Shop being == Donation, and quite a bit more players. (Also more English-Speaking, which I prefer).

I just wanted more input on iRO; if I enjoyed XileRO (level cap doesn't bother me, and yeah I realize it's high rate vs. low rate) will I enjoy iRO?

[minhe]

I was also looking at TalonRO. Just wondering out of the 3 which I should go with in your guys' opinion.

[Tom~]

iRO is okay but it's full of bots. Like, you see 30 novices walking in a straight line named abc1 abc2 abc3 abc4 etc etc..

TalonRO is actually pretty good. I'd recommend it if you're looking for a LR.

[Astraeos]

iRO recently merged it's renewal servers, so bots included both have 1500 active right now. You're also more likely to find more quality WoE competition on the official servers as everytime there's a big change with the game all the strongest guilds either come back or become more active. There's also no reason why you can't play on multiple servers.

[Tom~]

There's also no reason why you can't play on multiple servers.

Pretty much this. You can always give the servers you mentioned a try and decide for yourself =P Afterall, your opinion is the one that matters.

[Meta]

The bots on iRO make the lower levels harder, but you can find almost every item you need in the bot shops. I think it's a good tradeoff.

[minhe]

Is iRO p2p? I thought it was free..

[Tom~]

It went free a long time ago IIRC.

[yC]

I just hate the chat spam 'buy zeny' bots in town.  Got to right click reject whisper/chat from those novices as soon as they fill your chat window, why are they not auto muted. 

Well other than that, if you are okay with super low-rate just give it a try.  Nothing to lose.  Xile RO isn't a high-rate?

[Soulman]

Rates are probably a factor too. 1/1/1 is pretty harsh on kids nowadays. It's mainly why people resort to botting, the game's a grindfest when it comes to leveling and hunting.

Bot's are a huge problem too. I played iRO for about two weeks, and I quit simply because I noticed at least half of the active population consisted of bots. Pretty disgusting if you ask me. Botting has also screwed over the economy, if you don't bot, you have to rely on hunting MVP loot all day for zeny.

Most private servers have at least Harmony, which is a decent form of bot prevention. Then again, as many of you know, Harmony is no longer effective against a certain method of botting.

[Playtester]

iRO

Pros:
- close to official (even still a bit custom compared to kRO unfortunately)
- most private servers these days are horribly managed, have too many customs or too high rates, the worse private servers get, the better iRO gets in comparison

Cons:
- no main chat, makes it very hard to find a party
- no autotrade, not enough shops to browse through
- 80% of the population are bots, at least out of WoE times (population count is 2000 at peak times outside WoE, I'd assume 400 of it are actually actively playing players)
- incredibly ruined economy due to bots (botted items are ultra cheap while MVP drops are so expensive you'll never afford them if you don't bot yourself)
- you can't job change for free (either pay real money or be lucky and buy cash shop items off other players)
- 1x rates and death penalty 3% without paying
- low storage size (300) without paying
- management isn't the best as basically only one person is maintaining it; at least better than most private servers, though

[misterj]

You're also more likely to find more quality WoE competition on the official servers

hasn't been true for nearly 7 years now

[fluidin]

The core of good guilds on iRO are also pserver players =_=

[Strudel]

makes sense considering you can test your build stats and everything else there, check where the best place is to level and what not. It's basically a test field for them, woe, pvp and other stuff is more common there so they can improve their skills there, considering zeny is easier to come by as well as items.

[Triper]

iRO WoEs haven't been that good lately as misterj said[specially after renewal imo]. I remember to see Afrikan with his guild in a couple of pservers with the excuse of - "iRO WoEs are always the same with same people, we need some better and new challenges".
If it's the case that you don't know who is Afrikan, just search for it at youtube lol

And it's not just him/his guild, a ton more does that too and some even made WoE at the multi-servers of iRO in the past[Ygg+Valk+Ymir]. When the game changed to who one-shots first wins, it lost a bit of his "special star" and a ton of MOBA games around doesn't help too when RO is a bit stagnated on his "unique MOBA style". Yeah, it's cool but we see it all the time/day and after a while it gets boring.