ForsakenRO

[Luxie]

Intro
They say, that every path in our lives that's only part of us, ends in some way, and however it ends, it leaves a big impact on us. ForsakenRO didn't only provide me with amazing private server to play on, on the server I met people that partly made me who I am. I used to, and I still have a family there, that will stay in my memory even when I will be gone and even if I'm gone. I know this sounds so cheesy, but guys, I've played that server for five years, and I've met some of the best people in my life there. Last thing before I leave it behind, last favor I want to do them is this, detailed review, I will try to be as honest as I can, for the sake of those playing on the server, and for the ones that are maybe deciding to start playing on the server.

Server Stability & Availability
10/10 and 10/10
I've never really experienced any interruptions on the server itself. Only time that server's been down was doing the DDOS attack which happened months ago, and even while it was happening, community stayed strong, gamemasters didn't give in and close it up, but bear with others, and it was really nice to see how everyone was trying to be as calm as possible (ofcourse there's been people that were impatient, but you can't really go across those P:). So, for the past five years I've been playing ForsakenRO, that was the only interruption I came across. Other, minor interuptions were usually resolved quickly in like a span of 15 minutes to half an hour. Let me note out that, I'm comming from Europe and server is from US, so people would perhaps expect a little bit of a lag - I never really experienced any lag spikes, except if it was announced few moments before and it lasted for barely 30 seconds. I think I summed those two up already, right? (:

Game Masters
Friendliness/Availability/Helpfulness
10/10 and 8/10 and 10/10
Have you ever wanted a dedicated international staff who would care about their players and actually try to answer the questions they ask? Well, ForsakenRO has a wonderful staff members, who atleast try to answer every question a person gives. Only thing that would be a little bit of lacking is their availability - but as a former gamemaster myself I know that sometimes work or school can preoccupy you, or real life problems can eat up a lot of more time, or you have whatever reasons you cannot be on. But let's go one by one, I will add up former members that made a lot of impact on me, and I still remember them, but the ones that aren't in the team anymore will be put in italic, the ones who still are will be bolded so you guys know who still is in their team and who's not.
[GM]Genesis is the main admin and the person I never really got into an issue with. I don't know him that well, but I would like to thank him for the opportunities he gave me to be a Gamemaster. It was a great experience and I wish him and his server well in the future!
[GM]Veracity you are probably the most hardworking person I've ever met. She's a developer, she comes up with quests, and she deserved a place to be the admin - her personality is great aswell, so no wonder all of the community really loves her (:!
[GM]Justice ohai there <3. It's been fun. I want him to keep going, bring up the justice on the server now that I am gone. Catch all the bots you can, sir!
[GM]Wish was a GM mother of us all. She's had great personality, amazing ideas, and a lot of dedication to the server.

I could go on with everyone like this, but because I would probably write for everyone how great they are, I will scrap out the ones that were really important to me, even if they are gone now.

[GM]Bishop she is one of people that know a lot about technical issues and how to fix them, so you might aswell come up to her to check up on that and try to find a fix. She also has a very bright personality, and is one of the most helpful GMs I've known.
[GM]Decode is a great person, and amazing Gamemaster. I could go on like this, but I remember years back, he was one of the most active GMs in our team, hosting events wise.
[GM]Invoke I could call him my GM mentor. He was the first Gamemaster (aside from Wish) I've spoken to, when I started my GM path, and honestly, he was a lot of a help, made me less nervous aswell
[GM]Lyris I appreciated she was there. I appreciate how many things she's done and how many years she was sticking around the GM team, even when the server was lacking the events, she's been there to help and lift it up.
[GM]Tango is another very helpful person. She's come to the team recently, but I think her interaction with players and her very positive attitude towards everyone will just bring her more plus points.

As for others who are still staying in the team - Cappucino, Dallas, Dream, Echo, Frost, Oromis and Shino - they're all amazing aswell.
The ones who complain about any of the GMs are the ones that should, perhaps try other high rate server around  and try comparing their Gamemasters to ForsakenRO's. I am not saying they're all perfect, but they are perhaps one of the best staff you can find out there.

I think that sums up the Game Master section (:!

the Community friendliness
8/10
When you start here, you might find the community grouped up in different parts of the main town (forsaken city, @go 25), talking or being AFK, it all depends on when you actually log on. If you can, then perhaps you should bring some friends along the server and register on forums - that's how I met around half of the community, and that's how I became really good friends with some of them. Rule number one, however is, do not ask for items when you start on ForsakenRO from anyone that may come across and help you. It's not only rude, people won't like you aswell. It's better if you ask how to make something, or how to do this or that quest, than blatantly ask for items. Also, there's ForsakenRO Wikipedia on forums, which might help you a lot with your starting up on the server. My last tip would be to be nice to everyone, and be happy with little amount of friends you get - they usually do stick around you, and you might find them as your family, like I did. I would lie if I denied that some of the people I met there changed my life a little bit, and made me become who I am. It's true however, that I rarely talk to most of them now - which is kind of understandable. Everyone's moved on with their lives, and I think now it's time I move on with mine, aswell. Let me add on, that, don't let mean people you might come across discourage you - I mean, every server has their own "rich a******", am I right? (: So don't drop your head, lift it up, if somebody looks down on you, turn around and find people that actually think of you and care about you - if you dinf them on fRO, cling onto them, they're your friends and they will stay your friends.

the Community events
8/10
ForsakenRO only has two automated events, which are kind of not really popular anyway. However, there is a lot of events held by Gamemasters themselves, which is, in my opinion, a pretty positive point of the server. The events vary from PvP events like (Non-Donation)-Last Man Standing, to luck based events like Dice, Warp Portal, then there's Survival and Hide and Seek. Most of the events can be found and explained in ForsakenRO Wikipedia, which can be found on forums, and it should be number one thing a person who starts actually reads. You may find a lot of fun in Guess the Monster aswell, or try your luck in Mindbreaker. All of the stated events are held by Gamemasters. Only thing that might be lacking here is that Gamemasters may not be on at all times, so there might be times that there's no events at all, but I think I've explained my feelings towards Gamemaster availability in one of earlier points. Oh, there're also screenshot contests on forums, if you are a forum type of a person and PvP ladder through a week, which offers and gives you a lot of goodies if you come in the best of three PvPers of the week. I'm not sure if I missed something out, but if I did, I will edit it in future and add it on (:!

the Economy
7/10
Holy cow, this post is getting longer as I continue. I won't talk as much about the economy, because I never really had a very much need on buying and selling stuff, but I can say that, the main currency on the server is (donation) token. How to you obtain those tokens is on you actually. You might donate, which is the easiest way, or you can farm up the supplies (zeny, yggdrasil berries and seeds, edp bottles, speed potions, etc). As in real life, there're ups and downs in economy aswell. Some of the items from the past lost on value to the new ones, and so on. But, in all honesty, I do not really think it's that bad that you couldn't survive on the server. The gap between donation and non donation is closing up from update to update, which is a pretty bright point for a high rate server. The main forsaken king set, which most of people use can be now obtained by voting, so, as I've said, it's not so bad that you couldn't live, infact, it's not bad at all (:!

Guild competition and Class balance
6/10 and 8/10
I do think these two fall into the same bracket, at least I would put them together, so yeah. Guild competition on the server is falling, even though I think it's mostly the time or that the events such as Guild vs Guild became "the same" as for the past five years, or the time when it's been held is not the ideal time anymore. However, WoEs are still populated, there's a lot to smaller guilds, and one or two a little bigger ones, so guild competition still exists to some extent, while classes are really balanced, even though some may not really agree with me on here - every update strives to balance classes between each other more, latest one made Biochemist less expensive as it was, and now I can see some of them running around PvP areas and actually trying to PvP. Only class that might be a little abandoned is priest, but I might be a little biased here, since I've played support priest myself in most of European WoEs. Oh, not to forget to mention, there's two types of WoEs - one is American, other is European, both of those are placed at the timezones that benefit for American, people from the US parts, for European, people from the EU or Asian parts. There's also WoE 2.0, which is a little more about defending and a little less about just breaking the castles, so if you live around the timezone that you can attend WoE 2.0, I would definitely try it out! (:

Server Customization
Extensive
Are you a fan of custom items? If you are, ForsakenRO is the most amazing place for you. I've not seen such a customized server out there, aside from fRO. Visual items for the characters, such as wings, rucksacks, capes, hats, are probably the prettiest things I've ever seen. There's also a Storyline quest which will basically put a lot of challenge on you, make you MvP with your friends, and farm for the items you need to get some of the strongest gears on the server. It is fun, it looks good, and well, give it a try and check for yourself, alright?

Balance between Donation and Non-Donation
Balanced
I think I started about this topic already in one of other sections, but well, let's go through this again: comparing ForsakenRO 5 years ago, and now, I can say, a big step to balance donation and non donation things has been made. There's no more 'if I donate I will be a god between non-donators' anymore. The quest items you can get if you make Forsaken Knight Quest, are one of the best items you can come to ingame and they do contest the donation items pretty well. Some of the donation items actually became vote-able, so you can vote for the server, and get some pretty decen gears aswell. So yes, fRO did a big step to balance out and fill the gap between "rich" and "poor", and I will be proud they were able to do so even now, when I am gone.

the Conclusion
well, and here we go, some final words from the veteran that is leaving to move on, but leaving the last favor I can do for the server, because it's given me a lot as well. Goodluck to the ones who are still sticking around on it, and have fun to those that my review might pull into fRO to try it out. I had a lot of fun, I've learned a lot, and I grew up in these five years. Thank you. And to tge GM team - do not take anyone who works for you and under you for granted. Appreciate them, just as they appreciate the chance. You guys will be fine, I know that!

Noir/Irene/Luxie,

now signing off.