DivinityRO

[jZen]

Server Ratings

Stability [ 8.5/10 ]

Map is sometimes randomly down [e.g. ~1hour ago since I post this]. Generally up, stable, lag-free. However, the fact that I notice any lag  whether it be due to Invasions or because a giant @refresh, that keeps it from a 9. Also, the admin once did @size? or something to make all characters in the server large size which super lagged the game and as a result kicked off over  50 merchants.

Availability [ 9.5/10 ]

Server is generally on with slight downtimes not lasting longer than an hour. The fact that there are random down times keep me from giving it a 10. However, its up almost [ALMOST] 24/7 hence the rating 9.5.

Community Ratings

Friendliness [ 9/10 ]

There are no rules against KSing [even regular monsters] nor are there rules against dead branch spawning in hot leveling spots. This gets taken advantage of. I tried using @request on this and there is nothing a "Trial GM" can do because they are only trial GMs. Bonus, there is no rule or penalty against KSing or even looting from players who forget to use @autoloot. Other than that, a lot of players are helpful. You can use #main to talk to people. WoE-afterhours, the community bickers at each other. I look at it as fun and competitive nature of players so I wouldn't say that they are unfriendly.  If you ask for buffs, you can get it. If you are looking for a leveling party, within 5-10min you'll find one. Guildmembers of the top guilds are nice enough to respond to your questions whether it be item suggestions or recommendations. Generally very nice community.

Eventfulness [ 10/10 ]

There are automated events everyday. Winners get tokens which can be used to get enriched elunium, bloody branches or etc. This makes events worth attending so its fun to compete against other players. The admin just hired/assigned a GM to be the leader? of events in dRO. Should be seeing more [non-automated] events soon.

Game Master Ratings

Friendliness [ 9/10 ]

Staff are always there to help. Some are AFK? or sitting in town with no response. Easy to approach a GM to talk to. Half of the GMs online are usually hidden so you have to use @request to get their attention. I want to say they are friendly but I can't determine if their "friendliness" is due to the rules they have to follow. Also, one time I was hunting for an item and another player constantly KS'd me. I used @request to get support. The GM said to me that theres nothing that I can do and that its tough luck we are both hunting the same monster. I was a crit SinX, he was a Sniper. The GM that approached me said that I have to deal with getting KS'd and indirectly said that it is my fault for not playing an easy farming class like a sniper. f*** you [the GM that talked to me]. I forgot your name, but f*** you.


Availability [ 9/10 ]

Almost a 10, but not. Every hour of the day there is always at least one GM online [though you must use @request to contact them]. The admin has a teamspeak server with the information on the website. You can PM them via teamspeak if you wish. They have forums filled with suggestions and other topics by the players that are left unanswered [I am talking DOZENS of suggestion and bug report threads]. You would think with ~15 GMs/Admins/Trial GMs that someone would be assigned to sorting out the forums, but no, that has yet to happen. I am looking at availability as access to a GM and their responses to players on the forums.

Helpfulness [ 8/10 ]

Not going to sugar coat anything, a ton of GMs [Trial GMs or even Head GMs] are incompetent in their RO knowledge. If you ask for the script to an item, most GMs won't know how to answer you. If you ask about a quest, most won't know how to answer you. When I say quest, I mean an official quest, not a custom one. If you ask about how damage calculation occurs and how much more ATK you get per over upgrade or which item is the best for your build/class, most GMs are clueless. As a result, when you use @request, the GMs in teamspeak talk to each other and you get PM'd by one GM who has a better understanding. This is not optimum most of the time for complicated questions. If you ask for basic questions such as "where is x NPC?" or "how do I get x ? " or "are there any x items/equips/card on the server" then the GMs are useful. Basically, if you don't know how to play RO or know RO's basics, the GMs are usesful. If you have a question regarding mechanics or mathematical calculations for optimal builds or etc, GMs aren't for you. Also, if you get KS'd or grief'd, GMs won't assist you.There are no rule against KSing or looting or griefing.I have experienced this twice first hand. I have used @request about it and got no help besides a "tough luck" essentially. Not going to lie, I feel that the GMs circlejerk with each other sometimes in their teamspeak when I try getting help via @request.

Game Play Ratings

Economy [ 8/10 ]

Its a mid-rate server. Economy can't be a 10/10. If you have 5mil, you can buy low-end/basic equips such as zerom, thara, marc, glove[1], AoA, hydra, skeleton worker, and other low-end gear. If you have 70mil, you can buy equips such as Horn of the Bufallo/Bison Horn, +7 Valk Shield, +10 Luna Kaleet, +9 Lich's Bone Wand. If you have 250mil, you can get Proxy Skin/Nidhoggur's Shadow Garb, Ice Pick, Donation items, +6 Valk Armor, Variant Shoes, Diablos Shoes, etc. Zeny can actually BUY you equips you need. There is no need to hoard zeny because you can buy armors your need and people are willing to sell them. Also, the server has NPCs that sell grape juice, royal jelly, honey, blue potions. These are major zeny sinkers in the server. It allows for players to actively PvP/KoE/BG/WoE without having to spend hours hunting for SP items. Basically, your zeny can buy you many many things.

Guild Competition [ 7.5/10 ]

Active KoE/BG/WoE. Right now there are two guilds that are in alliance that make it so they outnumber the other guilds. I am not sure if that alliance is dominating KoE/WoE because of the numbers or because of the player's skill/equips. Regardless, there are quite a few active warring guilds. It is pretty fun. 7.5 because the war is entertaining but it could be a lot better.

Class Balance [ 10/10 ]

I feel that there are no OP classes because there is class diversity in this server. A character cannot take down an entire guild but that should be obvious. If you QQ and think SinX are OP because if EDP, Soul Link and SB then... you'll QQ about anything. RO is not a solo game.

Total: 88.5/100


How long have you been playing on this server?

~5 weeks.

Based on your observation, what is the average online population?

200-350. If you disregard 50 or so merchants... 150-300. Thats pretty good still.

Donation Level [ Balanced ]

All/if not all donation items are community voted.

Customization Level: [ Occasional ]

You can use @storage in WoE. You can use @gstorage in WoE. You can use them both anywhere. Reseter is 9k. Autoloot is available. You can warp to any map via NPC [field warp]. You can warp to any dungeon via NPC [abusable via Champs and MvP luring]. You can edit your sprite colors.


I might edit this review later as time goes on.

ign: jZen
guild: Trinity Force

[Cawliflower]

"Not going to sugar coat anything, a ton of GMs [Trial GMs or even Head GMs] are incompetent in their RO knowledge."

I agree 100%. It's something I am working on myself. Inny and I are training our staff to be able to competently answer and respond to questions they don't know. We aren't perfect but we sure try to be as professional as possible. We're hiring based on strict standards now, I can guarantee that. I also will guarantee I won't ever hold back from reprimanding staff. I've always got the communities back where it's necessary.

Thank you for the review, overall. I appreciate it. And with that, after all the dust settles, you will see me back completely focused into rolling out large weekly updates as done before. It has been a rough roller coaster with the staff changes. But I miss doing updates and development. Its surely been hectic, however. I'll see you in-game, jZen.

[jZen]

Update on rating


Server Ratings

Stability [8.5-> 9.5/10 ]

Server is a lot more stable now. Rarely lags, rarely crashes. Not sure if GM used refreshed the server or if the server crashed for a moment sometimes.

Availability [ 9.5->10/10 ]

Downtimes are rare. Fixed prompty.

Community Ratings

Friendliness [ 9->9/10 ]

Lately there are a lot of beggers. As I said before, new people can ask seasoned players for tips and help via #main or through PMs and get an answer. Overall helpful community. Theres a lot of elitist garbage and smack talking though from WoE guilds that are restless and/or pompous.


Eventfulness [10-> 10/10 ]

Nothing new, automated events still running. Random GM events here and there. Forum events exist as well. Floating rates are nice.

Game Master Ratings

Friendliness [ 9->10/10 ]

Friendly and helpful. @request is an amazing idea. Basically all the GMs are on a teamspeak server [info to server on website], they talk about the @request with each other and one will approach you to resolve your issue or answer your question.


Availability [ 9->9.5/10 ]

There needs moar euro and GMT+8 timezone GMs. Overall, GMs are always online except in the dead of night in the US [like 4a.m GMT-8 which is PST]. Theres usually one or two GMs on that late, which is good enough I suppose. GMs dont talk much on forums.

Helpfulness [ 8->8/10 ]

When I said in the previous review that GMs had s*** RO mechanic knowledge, I was not kidding. I had an issue with two GMs because they didn't understand how AS worked. Still same ol' same ol'. GMs lack RO knowledge, sometimes it is better to ask a player because the GMs don't know the answer. Again, they are helpful in other areas but they suck at RO basically. MvPs are free-for-all. Looting is A-OK. KSing is allowed. Griefing is fine too. If you can deal with this s***, then you should be fine.

Game Play Ratings

Economy [ 8->6/10 ]

The economy is in a super s*** mode right now. This has to do with basically a month of Double-Donation. The market is now flooded with donation items which lowered the price on all of them significantly and at the same time f*** the rest of the market up. Items that were 200mil a week ago are now 75mil. I don't know if you want to view this as a good thing or as a bad thing. Equips and cards are volatile. You have to sell your mvp drops or overupgrades or cards ASAP because zeny is more useful/valuable than holding onto equips. Like I said, equips drop in price every hour in this server. Your best bet is to hoard zeny. The KoE is also a problem. The winning team acquires 50 event tokens [which sell for 700-900k each]. They basically get 35-45mil everyday . They also get OCAs. This kind of sounds like a QQ but the event tokens are used to get Bloody Branches. Randomly spawn Valk Randgris and Beelz. This super influx of mvp drops made valk armor from 120mil a month ago to less than 20mil today. I don't like this peronsally. Like I said, the longer you hold onto your equips, the cheaper they get. I don't mind the winning guild getting a prize, but the prize is "too much"

Guild Competition [ 7.5->6/10 ]

Guild competition is kinda dead. Guilds are working on it though. Battlegrounds is usually one-sided. Admin is working on a randomizer for BG i believe.

Class Balance [10-> 8/10 ]

Professors [full support] are retarded. but thats RO. Makes playing WS or LK useless. However, the admin removed the majority of battleground "Glorious" set because the gear and weapon are imbalanced.

Total: 88.5->86/100a "B" rated server is about right. The admin fixed up the stability issues and some GM issues. However, in-game economy and guild competition is being thrown down the toilet due to the admin's KoE and donation event system. I feel that the latter is more crucial to a strong, well-populate surviving server. Admin always comments about how they are working on it , but there has been no results so far.


How long have you been playing on this server?

~2 months

Based on your observation, what is the average online population?

300-400. About 100 merchants, so.. 200-300 is pretty good.

Donation Level [ Balanced ]

Not all donations are voted for. I now realize that it is more the admins throws in random headgears and etc as donation items.  I do not see community involvment in it.

Customization Level: [ Occasional ]


Admin allows auto-potting programs and modified/edited GRFs.


I will be adding reviews as time goes on

ign: j Zen [champion]
guild: Cryptic Dissent [i think]

[jZen]

2nd updated rating [only 9 days apart is a bit short but this update feels necessary]
Server Ratings

Stability [8.5-> 9.5 -> 9/10 ]

Recent string of DDoS attacks have kept the server offline for about a day now. Also previous DDoS has shut down the map server or website a few times. Before the DDoS, the server was up 24/7. Good connection, no lag, but the attacks affect the rating.

Availability [ 9.5->10 -> 9/10 ]

There has been a few DDoS attacks lately. Server goes down because of it. Forums are up for people see status updates

Community Ratings

Friendliness [ 9->9/10 ]

People are generally nice.


Eventfulness [10-> 10/10 ]

Nothing new, automated events still running. Random GM events here and there. Forum events exist as well. Floating rates are nice.

Game Master Ratings

Friendliness [ 9->10 -> 9.5/10 ]

Some trial GMs are quick to punish and seem power-hungry. The rest of the GMs [main ones, not the trial ones] are nice and approachable. 


Availability [ 9->9.5 -> 9.5/10 ]

As stated previously, moar EU GMs would be nice. To be honest this server has the most GMs for its population size I have ever seen. Not sure if its a good thing. Too many cooks spoil the broth. Some GMs feel useless just because there are so many of them you never see what x GM does for the server.

Helpfulness [ 8->8 ->9/10 ]

Overall helpful.  A few bad apples spoil the bunch though. Theres one GM that is "proficient" in RO game mechanics according to an Admin but a lot of players can point out he doesn't know s***. If I exclude this god awful trial GM [Kira], then the rating is a 9. Very helpful GM team indeed.

Game Play Ratings

Economy [ 8->6 -> 6/10 ]

The market is finally stabilizing. However, those with huge amounts of zeny are ahead. Two or three different guilds abuse a custom NPC that allowed party warp. This made them able to lock down on Wounded Morroc and control the drops price.  Basically, strong guilds control the economy for any item 50mil and above. Anything cheaper, regular players dictate price normally. Although things have improved from my previous rating, the damage is done. Those who profited by overpricing items such as ice picks super profited because the price went from 250m to ~170m. Those who hoarded zeny are the winners in the end.

Guild Competition [ 7.5->6 ->6/10 ]

More guilds have joined the server but have yet to woe. Right now there are ~4 active woe guilds : High Society [currently #1 and the biggest], Squirtle Squad [allies of HS], Show no Love, and Battle Mode. SNL and BM have no allies. HS and SS ally together. They stagnate WoE by making it more of a one guild server. SS says they fight against HS unless they are in trouble and HS needs help. So basically SS will WoE against HS for some fun but when guilds start threatening HS, SS will back them up. Kind of saying that this will stay a one guild dominant server unless other guilds ally up. Alliances are not good for guild competition in a small server.

Class Balance [10-> 8 -> 8/10 ]

Some classes feel useless in BG/PvP/WoE, but thats RO for you.

Total: 88.5->86 ->85/100
Pretty much a B server still. There are tons of suggestions on the forums about improvements or solutions to problems. Not sure what the admins will do though.


How long have you been playing on this server?

~2 months

Based on your observation, what is the average online population?

300-400. About 100 merchants, so.. 200-300 is pretty good.

Donation Level [ Balanced ]

Donations are balanced for their cost. Players with zeny can buy donations off other players too.


Customization Level: [ Occasional ]


Admin allows any 3rd party program unless it is a hunting bot or a WPE. That means if you make a 3rd party program to have bard + dancer skill bots, that is totally allowed. If you make a bot to auto-hide if asura is targeted on you, also totally allowed. Basically no WPE/RPE or hunting bots. I say thats a bad thing but the admin refuses to use harmony or anything that prevents 3rd party programs. His reasoning is that if he bans ROmedic, guilds would leave. This causes GvG, WoE, PvP, and BG problems because of autopotting that people explain on forums.


I will be adding more reviews as time goes on

ign: j Zen [champion]
guild: Battle Mode

[jZen]

Server Ratings

Stability [8.5-> 9.5 -> 9-->3/10 ]

Two week period where server was consistently down. There would be random times it was up but maybe 5 out of 7 days the in the past week the server was down. It just got up now. Before this period of DDoS, server was generally always up. Now its up for a brief moment and crashes. Admin says hes working hard on it and doing all he can but I still feel this is a correct score, a 3 out of 10.

Availability [ 9.5->10 -> 9 -> 3/10 ]

Like I said earlier,server has generally been down, and if its up, half the time it was laggy.

Community Ratings

Friendliness [ 9->9-> 9/10 ]

Community is awesome. Lots of friendly helpful players.


Eventfulness [10-> 10 ->9/10 ]

Some forum events here and there. There was an easter event that got interrupted two times because of DDoS. Admin extended the easter event but it got DDoS'd again. Admin calls for a 2x EXP event for a week or something to compensate for the DDoS and downtime.

Game Master Ratings

Friendliness [ 9->10 -> 9.5 ->8.5/10 ]

The thing with the GM team is that you either 1. love them, 2. hate them, 3. are okay with them. The more I play dRO, the more I avoid the GMs. Most of my problems I have in RO are bug related so I ask for help via @request or try posting on forums in their "tracker" section. Bugs get identified but I have yet to see the bug I reported a month ago get fixed. Violation reports either against the GM or against other players are usually deleted or locked on the forums. They don't take kindly constructive criticism.


Availability [ 9->9.5 -> 9.5->7/10 ]

Well with the server downtime, there was not really a need for GMs right? Well people want to know whats happening to the server, updates on the DDoS and host situation. The host is slow to respond and the admin is the only one that can give updates. So since the admin is always gone due to whatever reason, the community gets left in the dark for half a day or more with no updates on when the server is going back up.


Helpfulness [ 8->8 ->9-> 7/10 ]

If you get KS'd, instead of getting an explanation of what to do next, they simply say "type @noks". If you get griefed, they won't do much as well. If its anything in-game related, you are usually s*** out of luck, whether it be getting harassed or getting spammed, or etc. If its a question regarding gameplay such as mechanics or etc, you are generally out of luck as well by asking the GMs. Most are incompetent in RO gameplay experience [as mentioned earlier in previous reviews]. If your question is"where is x NPC" and  x =custom NPC and not kRO/iRO official NPC, then you got some help. The GMs are generally not helpful. They DO however, stalk #main and#vending to kick anyone out of the channel if you talk about selling items in #main or if you talk about anyhting BESIDES selling items in #vending. Its totally unnecessary but I guess it gives GMs something to do since they can't do much anyways.

Game Play Ratings

Economy [ 8->6 -> 6 -> 6/10 ]

Market is up in the air because of the downtime.  Some prices stayed the same but others have either raised up dramatically or are no longer in the market. This is due to the2 week break where the market is fuzzy. The constant disconnects and map server/login/character server downtime kicks off all those @autotrade ing. This makes it so new players cant gauge the market properly and causes a lot of grief to players just trying to get into the market. The 2% tax also is chipping away at the economy [as a zeny sink, which IMO is good]. Overall, item prices cant adjust because the server hasn't been up lately.

Guild Competition [ 7.5->6 ->6 ->7/10 ]

It is now 4 solid guilds at WoE, with a 5th guild getting stronger. WoE:SE is where all the action is at, but FE woe is also entertaining. I mean, FE woe has portal camping and etc, so most guilds if not all prefer SE woe.


Class Balance [10-> 8 -> 8/10 ]

There were some bug fixes like Kaizel? or Kaitte? was usable in Woe. It took the Admin maybe 3 weeks or a month of fix it [that skill where you auto revive]. Guilds abused that s*** to no tomorrow. Other than that.... not much to balance? Theres no KvM equips because those are imba. So I guess thats indirect balancing for you.

Total: 88.5->86 ->85-> 67.5/100
Server has dramatically dropped mainly due to 2 weeks of downtime. A solid D+ right now if we go by RMS standards.


How long have you been playing on this server?

~2 months

Based on your observation, what is the average online population?

200-300. About 70 merchants, so.. 130-230 is... bad. Server population dropped dramatically due to the long downtime.

Donation Level [ Balanced ]

Donations are balanced for their cost. Players with zeny can buy donations off other players too.


Customization Level: [ Occasional ]


"Admin allows any 3rd party program unless it is a hunting bot or a WPE. That means if you make a 3rd party program to have bard + dancer skill bots, that is totally allowed. If you make a bot to auto-hide if asura is targeted on you, also totally allowed. Basically no WPE/RPE or hunting bots. I say thats a bad thing but the admin refuses to use harmony or anything that prevents 3rd party programs. His reasoning is that if he bans ROmedic, guilds would leave. This causes GvG, WoE, PvP, and BG problems because of autopotting that people explain on forums."


I will be adding more reviews as time goes on

ign: j Zen [champion]
guild: Battle Mode

[yC]

So I see the recent downtime and instability is hurting much of your experience.  I can understand that, otherwise it would have been a good place like it started out great for you.  But is there no end to this problem?

[jZen]

So I see the recent downtime and instability is hurting much of your experience.  I can understand that, otherwise it would have been a good place like it started out great for you.  But is there no end to this problem?

Pretty much. The server was fine before the half month of downtime/lag/disconnects. Right now the server is finally up, first time in days and is not crashing every 4minutes. So... pretty much fix the stability problems adn I'd probably give the server a B-  to  B ranking.

[Cawliflower]

Thanks for the reviews, jZen.

Nothing really to say in regards to the scores. The stability has, without a doubt, sucked due to the 3+ Gbit DDoS attacks. Either way, I'll stand by the server and do what I can.

See you around,
-Cookie

[jZen]

Server Ratings

Stability [8.5-> 9.5 -> 9->3 ->8.5 ]

Server has some serious lag issues during WoE. Theres only about 40-70 people on mass casting spells and skills too. I don't see how a server can lag so bad that half the players currently GvGing can lag so hard they cant move for 3+ seconds. Outside of WoE, theres barely any lag.

Availability [ 9.5->10 -> 9 -> 3 -> 10/10 ]

Server is always up now

Community Ratings

Friendliness [ 9->9-> 9 ->8 ]

Community is less awesome. Its a mix of pinoy, french, USA, EU, Malaysia and etc players. People will answer questions on #main. People promote in #bg and theres constant spamming to sell s*** via #vending. GMs need to add a 10s delay [currently 1s delay] on #vending to be honest. Its becoming ridiculous


Eventfulness [10-> 10 ->9/10 ]

Many automated events. Recently they are trying out a new trial GM that hosts in-game hide and seek events. There hasnt been a new automated event in a long time. Sometimes the admin turns on 3x or 4x bg rates which causes 20+v 20+ bg. Theres some recent forum events that require ingame activity to complete where everyone gets prizes. GMs are trying to promote this new RO championship s*** that may or may not work [ has not begun yet ]. Outside of automated events, I would say theres about 1 event a day at least, which is usually the hide and seek one [short, lasting briefly 5minutes].

Game Master Ratings

Friendliness [ 9->10 -> 9.5 ->8.5 -> 8.5 ]

Overall, the GMs are alright. Some of them talk harshly/bluntly and express their opinions on forums. Some of them are kind and easy to talk to. Recently a large number of staff left [which you can find out why on these forums in the Hall of Shame]. Some of those GMs were awesome, some were so-so. Right now the GMs you see online - that answer your pleas via @request - are nice. The ones that Cookie talks to concerning BG, WoE, PvP, KoE and anything balance related don't log on their GMs aside from watching over BG and kicking the afkers.


Availability [ 9->9.5 -> 9.5->7-> 8.5 ]

GMs are on forums or online. There are rare moments where no GM is online at all such as obscure hours [5am server time] or etc. Generally gms are findable. Forums may be the best way to go to contact a GM. You could always enter teamspeak and reach them if necessary. Most GMs available are lower end GMs. When you want to talk to a specific admin, you may wait 1/3 to 1/2 your day. The admins can resolve big issues but their are not always available.


Helpfulness [ 8->8 ->9-> 7 -> 9]

GMs are improving their PR and helping out more. The thing about the GMs is that if you are a moderately famous/active/recognizable player, you'll get more attention from higher up GMs than other players. Is that bad for me? No. I am a recognizable player. Is that bad for other players? Probably but I wouldn't know. From my experience after dro re-opened and i started playing again, the GMs have been very helpful. Will it stay like this? I don't know. It may also be due to the fact that I rarely need GM help. BUT when I do need GM help, it usually happens.

Game Play Ratings

Economy [ 8->6 -> 6 -> 6 -> 8 ]

Market has stabilized since server is not crashing all the time. Prices are solidifying for many items [e.g. +7 valk shields at 24mil, Diab rings at 10mil, Ice Picks at 100-110mil, Combat Knifes at 110-125mil, Valk Armor at 19mil, +3dex armors at 15mil, variants at 35mil, dboots at 60mil, many donates at 120mil ish]. The prices have largely dropped and are becoming very managable to upcoming players. Its easy to farm zeny to get donates from other players. Theres a large influx of hunting PvM players that will have certain cards you need. In the past it was a pain in the donkey to buy a green ferus card [sold at 15mil] but now its available for ~6mil. Other cards such as stalactic golem that once sold for 12mil are now about 3.5mil. Basically the prices are not so ridiculous anymore and many players can afford to be competitive in BG at least. To be competitive in WoE, you'll need more money. At least Orleans Gloves aren't over 100mil like they used to be [currently 60-70mil]. Oh yeah, MvPs are banned in WoE and BG, so the top tier mvp cards such as Orc Hero prices dropped dramatically from 4bil to maybe 1-2bil. MvPs still work in pvm and pvp.

Guild Competition [ 7.5->6 ->6 ->7 ->8 ]

WoE SE is what guilds are all about right now. Theres 3 guilds that GvG in WoE SE. Most of the time it is 2 guilds GvGing. More guilds are coming in though. WoE is funner now but I don't know how long that will last.


Class Balance [10-> 8 -> 7/10 ]

No changes  really to f*** up balancing. Item imbalance is there. If you have a Soul of Umbala [slotted lower headgear], you can use a RWC 2008 Gold Dragon Helm [has a slot, upper] with Sunnies [slotted]. You can be a creator with stun immune that receives +3 all stats and +10% aspd. Thats some f*** up s***. The RWC in generally is pretty imbalanced. But I guess since a good chunk of players have RWC, its becoming a norm.

Total: 88.5->86 ->85-> 67.5 -> 84.5

Server has picked up since the s*** crashing.


How long have you been playing on this server?

~4 months

Based on your observation, what is the average online population?

330-440. About 100-150merchants. That leads to an average population of 180~230 to 290~340 online at all times. So... server pop has doubled since the crashing.

Donation Level [ Balanced ]


You need donation headgears to stay competitive in BG and WoE. There isnt a single WoEing player that does not use some sort of donation level headgear, albeit Holy Marcher Hat/Parade Hat, Sunglasses [1], Large Bapho Horns, RWC Gold, Soul of Umbala [broken], I Love China, Gentlemen's Pipe, or even Well Chewed Pencil. You basically need to buy donates from other players or donate yourself to be competitive in WoE. In BG, you see the top BGers use donates as well.


Customization Level: [ Occasional ]


Server is becoming heavily customized imo. Is that a bad thing ? Well, all private servers are customized. You take it for what it is. @partywarp is broken and should have never been made. @r removes delay, can you say sonic blow spamming anyone?


I will be adding more reviews as time goes on

[jZen]

I recently started playing again after I quit. Heres a recent review


Server Ratings

Stability [8.5-> 9.5 -> 9->3 ->8.5 ->9 ]

Server has some random lag. Not often but makes people upset as it can occur during bg/woe.

Availability [ 9.5->10 -> 9 -> 3 -> 10 -> 10]

Server up 24/7

Community Ratings

Friendliness [ 9->9-> 9 ->8 ->7 ]

Delays in #main, #vending help reduce player spam. Most players are unresponsive to new players. If you've been around for awhile or in a decent guild, you get help when needed. If you are new player, its hit or miss when asking for help. A lot of price checking occurs in #vending channel, its so-so. The forums are active but theres a lot of s*** talk and calling each other out [e.g. LKs are underpowered !buff them ! NO YOU SUCK LK IS FINE! ]. Basically, if you are a new player and are playing alone, best bet is to join a guild asap. Some people are awesome in dro, but the majority are doing their own thing, not interested in helping other random people. Oh and... leveling parties are almost non-existant.


Eventfulness [10-> 10 ->9 ->10 ]

Automated events ever few hours. Forum events constantly. Random GM hosted events every few days. Pretty eventful, though I don't participate in any. Prizes are pretty good for new players, its worth the time joining in on events. Some events are unique to DRO while the majority can be seen in most pservers.

Game Master Ratings

Friendliness [ 9->10 -> 9.5 ->8.5 -> 8.5 ->8.5 ]

I'd would say all GMs are friendly but not 10/10. The GMs have favorites and its all very obvious. They won't talk/treat newer people the same way as someone whose been on the server for a year [as in a HEY HOW YOU DOING? IM SWELL ETCETC]. Sometimes the GMs talking in #main but half the time they are arguing/explaining/resolving complaints from proactive players. Some trial GMs are super friendly but that may be because they are trial GMs. The forum mods have a mind of their own. 


Availability [ 9->9.5 -> 9.5->7-> 8.5 ->9 ]

Well... theres like 10+ people on the GM team now so theres usually someone online via forums, in-game, skype, ts3. They may not be in game on their GM account but they are there somewhere.


Helpfulness [ 8->8 ->9-> 7 -> 9]

If you have a vending overlapping problem, you @request a GM and you get helped usually within 5minutes. If you have a technical problem on the forums, you get a response within 24h. If you submit a support ticket on the control panel, it may take up to 48hours to get a response. Overall, the GMs have been helpful 9/10 times I needed it and the other 1/10 they were frustrating to deal with over technicalities.

Game Play Ratings

Economy [ 8->6 -> 6 -> 6 -> 8 ->9 ]

Donation cred to zeny ration right now fluctuates between 15m:1cred to 17m:1cred. A good portion of donation items are available in game via other options [chests, events, koe, woe, bg, raffle, lottery, claw machine, etc]. A good chunk of high end items have dropped significantly in price [d. armor is 40-50m, dboots 60-70m, d robe 50-60m, orlean glove 55-70m, salamander card 25m, gemni s58 55m, valk shield 7m, +3dex drobe 300m, I love china 75m, bapho horn atk 100m, proxy skin 35m, variant shoes 15m, gym passes 16-17m]. A lot of money can be made as new players if you hunt the right cards [cards used in woe/bg]. Deviling is allowed in BG so that card price shot up. GR got banned so it dropped in price. MvPs are banned in WoE and BG so theres that. I would say market improved since the last time I played. High upgraded items dropped significantly in price due to indestructible refine tickets and safe refine tickets.


Guild Competition [ 7.5->6 ->6 ->7 ->8 -> 6 ]

Saturday morning/1st WoE is the best one. Everything else is one guild [8-12 people] dominating over other guilds. Basically, need more woe guilds/better comp. FE woe is fun s***.


Class Balance [10-> 8 -> 7 ->8]

GMs trying to push a new idea [Insignia System], I don't like it. Yo ucan read more about it on the suggestion tracker section of the forums. Soul of Umbala/ Umbala Spirit got banned in WoE so that reduces the s*** builds you could make. However, its still allowed in BG. Then again, only ~12-15 SoU exist, and some people horde theirs. So in total ~9 people have SoU  to use in BG. There was a thread complaining about LK being underpowered but I think they are fine.  Class balance is never 10/10 because RO pvp mechanics are not balanced.

Total: 88.5->86 ->85-> 67.5 -> 84.5 -> 85.5

BG is fun when its active. WoE is a joke so far, needs work but thats a player issue.

Some aspects of the server improved, but WoE is pretty meh right now aside from 1 out of the 4 WoE times.


How long have you been playing on this server?

I forget, i recently started playing again after ~6month hiatus/leave when the server s*** on itself.

Based on your observation, what is the average online population?

300-400. About 150-200merchants.

Donation Level [ So-so ]


" You need donation headgears to stay competitive in BG and WoE. There isnt a single WoEing player that does not use some sort of donation level headgear, albeit Holy Marcher Hat/Parade Hat, Sunglasses [1], Large Bapho Horns, RWC Gold, I Love China, Gentlemen's Pipe, or even Well Chewed Pencil. You basically need to buy donates from other players or donate yourself to be competitive in WoE. In BG, you see the top BGers use donates as well. "

to add to this.... Indestructible refine tickets (donation item that does what it sounds like it would do) were introduced and dropped prices on +9/10 equips dramatically [which I guess is good for the economy].


Customization Level: [ Occasional ]


"Server is becoming heavily customized imo. " If this Insignia System s*** passes, I'd say the server will become heavily customized. thank god there are no wings though .



I will be adding more reviews as time goes on

[Cawliflower]

jZen,

Thank you for reviewing the server yet again. I appreciate your review and I will be directing the team to this post as we can use this as a tool to turnaround the areas we're not doing our best in as much as possible.

I would like to inquire about the specific Game Masters & favorites. Personally, I don't tolerate favoritism, and I'll be quick to fire Euphemia (my RL best friend whom co-founded Divinity), as I've done in the past, if necessary (at one point she decided to go inactive so that's when I fired her). Quite frankly, if you can give me a specific name and the player you've seen this happening with or an idea of whom, I'd really appreciate it a lot. At the end of the day, being a Game Master is a serious position and with the history of staff issues we've had in the past (which are cleaned up now) I'd rather not take 10 steps back or risk the integrity of our team on petty favoritism. It's not worth it for me as I put a lot of my time into this server. Personally, when I sign-in to Divinity this is my business and personal relationships don't matter. The staff may cut up in private (in TS 3) and joke around occasionally, but we're a staff team and professionalism is EXPECTED.

Thanks a lot,
-Cookie

P.S. - Feel free to reply here or on the Divinity forums. Look forward to hearing from you!

[jZen]

First off, I would like to say, server is dead and I would like a mod to close this topic. Sorry for the necrobump but this will be my last update.

Server Ratings

Stability [8.5-> 9.5 -> 9->3 ->8.5 ->9 -> 1 ]

Server is unstable.

Availability [ 9.5->10 -> 9 -> 3 -> 10 -> 10 -> 2]

Server has been crashing a lot. It does not stay up for long

Community Ratings

Friendliness [ 9->9-> 9 ->8 ->7 ->3]

The community is almost non-existent. Server barely goes beyond 50 players now. Even then, a chunk are merchants.

Eventfulness [10-> 10 ->9 ->10 -> 0 ][/b]

No updates from GM team. Nothing has happened since DRO has been taken off RMS listing.

Game Master Ratings

Friendliness [ 9->10 -> 9.5 ->8.5 -> 8.5 ->8.5 -> 0-? ]

This is difficult to rate because, I would need to see GMs online beyond the forums to even give a rating.


Availability [ 9->9.5 -> 9.5->7-> 8.5 ->9 -> 2 ]

I guess theres forums. GMs check the forums daily, thats about it. Do they comment daily? ehh.


Helpfulness [ 8->8 ->9-> 7 -> 9 -> 0-?]

There needs to be 1. a population to help 2. GMs online to help. Since there is neither, I'll give it a ?.
Game Play Ratings

Economy [ 8->6 -> 6 -> 6 -> 8 ->9 -> 0 ]

For an economy to exist, there needs to be players to fuel the economy. I would say, you hunt everything you need if the server was online for you to do so.

Guild Competition [ 7.5->6 ->6 ->7 ->8 -> 6 -> 0 ]

No competition. No guilds bigger than 8 people exist now. No activity during WoE.


Class Balance [10-> 8 -> 7 ->8 -> ? ]

No changes really. But no one to fight against to see if there is a class imbalance.
Total: 88.5->86 ->85-> 67.5 -> 84.5 -> 85.5 -> 8 & Three

BG and WoE WERE fun. were. oh well. every server dies eventually.

How long have you been playing on this server?

For a long time. Not anymore though.
Based on your observation, what is the average online population?

20-40 people. Half merchants.

Donation Level [ So-so ]


Recently, donation items being implemented are all cosmetic hats.

Customization Level: [ Occasional ]



Yeap. Was a little fun while it lasted. Time to find a new server.