LeikaRO Renewal Server Review

[Salad]

About Myself

Hi, I have played RO private servers on and off for about 10 years now. Starting with 3/3/2 low rates like the original EuphRO, and eventually settling on mid rates years later, focusing then on PvP. Like many other long-term players, Renewal looked like a giant mistake to me and no longer Ragnarok Online, thus I stayed on pre-renewal servers for years after 3rd classes came out. It seemed that there was no server worth playing on for over 4 years now. It's hard to justify spending the time grinding on low rate servers with low population, and trans mid rate servers have been largely the same for 5+ years save for more and more 3rd party programs. Despite that, I would find myself looking at kRO updates every so often.

This is when I realized Renewal has been out for over 7 years now. In those 7 years, a lot of content has come out that appeals a lot to old time players like me. New Byalan map, pre-ruins Glast Heim as an endgame story/gear instance, 3rd classes reviving old, obsolete builds to be relevant. For players that loved Ragnarok Online, Renewal sure introduced a lot of content in acknowledgement of old-school players. At the same time, Renewal also introduced Renewal, with its mechanics, shameless cash shop systems & content that seriously alienated those same players. As much as I wanted to like Renewal, it was hard to watch videos of new instance bosses, as Renewal seems to have deteriorated into a Super High Rate with little interaction.

Then on a whim while searching the RMS server listings, I looked into LeikaRO.
Having been on the server for around a month now, I understand LeikaRO is an ambitious Renewal low-rate server that separates itself through customized official content. This means a massive span of customized content, like:

• Heavily customizing and implementing new Episode endgame content, ex: Old Glast Heim, Verus, Nightmare Clock Tower to be comparable to pre-renewal Biolabs/Thor Volcano/Nameless Abbey in terms of difficulty, party play, and reward, removing Pay-Wall restriction on content such as Malangdo Island
• Massively increased MvP boss experience rewards, & bonus item rewards from MvPs such as Enriched Elunium/Oridecon.
• Updating Skills that have been made completely useless in Renewal after Player Input(ex: Removing Fixed Cast Times on certain skills, esp. Sniper) and also buffing Skills for lesser played/overshadowed trees (eg. Shadow Chaser's Triangle Shot Cast Time Removed)
• Many Quality of Life & Balance tweaks such as Aqua Benedicta having no cast time, Shadow Chasers being able to equip Elven Bows, small bumps in equipment to make them an alternative (Valkyrja Shoes giving more HP/SP) all with the intention of encouraging build and playstyle diversity.
• Prompt Bug fixes to poor eA/Hercules implementations of official Quests, such as nonfunctional scripts, and even typo/legibility issues
• Huge amount of customized/non-vanilla content like jRO exclusives available through monster drops & MvP Rewards. The massive scale of content added in makes it too time consuming to list comprehensively on forums as of now.

Stability/Availability
LeikaRO is consistently up with no server side lag and scheduled maintenance/downtime every two weeks. In the month I have played there was only one server crash in February when WoE was implemented due to a script issue, which was promptly fixed less than five minutes later.
Rates
Base/Job EXP and Quest EXP are all 15x. The server has extensive custom Eden Group Turn-Ins for Level 140+, and Renewal EXP penalty is completely removed, bringing the game closer to Pre-Renewal. What this means is any monster 10+ levels above you is giving you 150% EXP, and there are a variety of unique to server customized official content that will be rewarding with a party. Drop rate is 10x, but with customized drops to common midrate loot such as Gold Rings and Witherless Roses. Certain drops have been customized to be far above 10x such as Geneticist Food Materials. Normal cards are 0.10% while Boss cards are 0.01%. The customized EXP options on this server makes leveling feel much closer to a mid-rate server, which makes gear and card drops especially important.
Bug Fixes
LeikaRO has many Renewal and emulation fixes that are apparently uncommon on other Renewal servers. This includes significant (official) game mechanic changes such as Ranger's Unlimit halving certain Skill Modifiers, matching Renewal EDP behavior. Admins are diligent and respond to bug reports within hours, and are usually fixed server side less than a day later, or even minutes later depending on complexity if they are online in-game.
Population
The server was at roughly ~120 players online count just a week or two ago, but due to misinterpretations of server intent & direction, larger guilds left starting a chain reaction of remaining guilds following them. These server intent issues have since been addressed and re-evaluated. There are maybe 15 actual players at peak time as of this writing, but there seems to be a large chunk of the existing playerbase inactive waiting for an upcoming, giant update.
Community
When I first joined the server, I assumed I made a huge mistake after reading @main and wondering if I stumbled upon a 4chan /vg/ hellhole with f*** faggot" filling up my chat box. There is absolutely no trace of this anymore however after an apt "Don't be a moron in @main" rule, meaning the community is actually very friendly and does not alienate large groups of people with hateful speech, etc. At the same time, the Admins value Free Speech and are very open to criticism, and encourage their players to speak their mind. GM NiHZ hosts events that are refreshing while also having a positive presence in game. Admin Terpsichore is insanely passionate about both RO and the well-being of LeikaRO, always listening to player input and quickly implementing in server if reasonable.
Competition/PvP
The server does not currently have a population to support heavy specialization into PvP or WoE right now. However, LeikaRO is fairly unique nowadays in prohibiting all 3rd party programs aside from simple macros for Brewing and not using BGs 2.0. What this means is existing gear in game is not immediately outclassed by Battlegrounds and Glorious equipment trivializing the game. Bellum/Vellum equipment is also not implemented for the same reasons, but may come in eventually modified to be reasonable. What this all means is the server sets the stage for a healthy, competitive game at nothing's expense. Hydra cards are actually valuable here.
Kafra Shop/Cash Shop
While donation gear does exist on this server, the currency and items are freely trade-able. Cash points can be obtained by voting, and the items available are reasonable, mainly focusing on convenience (ex: Rideword Hat, All in One Ring). At roughly $5 USD for a Rideword Hat, this puts LeikaRO above other servers which can be blatantly p2w (ie "Donation Promos", $20-100 donations, Large Baphomet Horns, Cat Ear Beret, Lord Kaho Horns ...)

Conclusion

If you are a veteran English speaking RO player that is curious about Renewal but turned off by what it did to the game, there is no better server than LeikaRO. If you are looking for a stable & carefully balanced server to call a home or eventually PvP/WoE on, this is the server. If you want to drop in on RO to do storyline quests, this server improves your experience by fixing long-time typo-ridden or erroneous scripts. If you are a Pre-Trans, or Pre-Renewal player that has held out all this time, there is no better server. The Admins care deeply about the game, and as a player, I cannot stress just how quickly bugfixes and suggestions are implemented in game when they are applicable. The LeikaRO staff started as players originally, and understand the game on a higher level than any other Admin or GM I have ever seen in my entire time playing RO. This means they are confident in implementing quality of life and balance updates that have so far  proven to me that this is the server I have wanted to play on for these 4+ years. This is honestly the only, comprehensive Renewal experience there is.

And last of all,
For those who remember and desire the mystique and wonder surrounding Ragnarok Online when they first started playing, LeikaRO successfully rekindles that feeling.

[Andora]

-

[tezushi]

Ah ha, I already know those LeikaRO staff has edit and change Ranger class's skill Unlimit at 3 months ago. How could their LeikaRO staff are idiot and foolish? I saw, now LeikaRO is very fail server, that know why?

Now LeikaRO has very less players is -50, I'm laugh....

This is Ranger class's skill Unlimit, should not edit them

Oh look, it's Andora. The scrub who can't play a Lolnger without Unlimit being nerfed.

[Andora]

----

[tezushi]

@Andora

Bully you? But yet here you are, you're the one started slinging s*** again.

Plus, I don't even understand what you're saying.   

[Andora]

---

[tezushi]

I don't matter my english isn't good or not?

Don't lies if i know you are....

I feel sad about myself
- sarrow
- envy
- lonely and alone
- people hateful me

I really VERY HATE CookieRO and LeikaRO. That why did they think and hate me?

Andora, how many times are you going to say you hate Cookie, Leika, etc?? It's like you're a broken record.

I never even played on CookieRO, I never associated myself with that group of players that you hate so much. I'm just tired of you repeating yourself over and over again.

If you really want people to know how much you hate Cookie, Leika, etc. Put a huge sign on your forehead saying how much you hate them, and make damn sure you hammer that nail through that thick skull of yours.

[ggwp]

While donation gear does exist on this server, the currency and items are freely trade-able. Cash points can be obtained by voting, and the items available are reasonable, mainly focusing on convenience (ex: Rideword Hat, All in One Ring). At roughly $5 USD for a Rideword Hat, this puts LeikaRO above other servers which can be blatantly p2w (ie "Donation Promos", $20-100 donations, Large Baphomet Horns, Cat Ear Beret, Lord Kaho Horns ...)

Did you forget to list OP donation gear like this ?
Gyges Ring
Recovery Ring
2 best in slot accessory (because god item disabled) should be enough , or should we list it all ?

[Terpsichore]

Thanks for the review, it helps to have loyal players during hard times.


Andora, whatever is happening to you, has been only getting worse as the years pass. You should seek professional help if you care about your own well-being.

[Triper]

I don't matter my english isn't good or not?

Don't lies if i know you are....

I feel sad about myself
- sarrow
- envy
- lonely and alone
- people hateful me

I really VERY HATE CookieRO and LeikaRO. That why did they think and hate me?

Point #1 - Your claiming of not needing to have a decent level of understanding of a language to be able to to type, write, talk, etc it isn't true, you really need something decent or it just makes it harder to communicate [this reminds me a game that I play where someone told "come donjon" whose meaning was "come to this dungeon"... 15 minutes of pure pain to try to help that player with a random party to kill stuff in the map until I tried saying it and found the meaning] what could be actually simple.
Point #2 - If you hate the server, it's your opinion but posting the hate once is more than enough. Posting more than that is just making you looking bad.

To the others: Bashing an user just because of his/her repeated opinion doesn't make you any better.

[Andora]

---

[Salad]

This was my first review on RMS and so I'm not sure if it's standard practice for the discussion to get thrown so off-topic so ...

Point #1 - Your claiming of not needing to have a decent level of understanding of a language to be able to to type, write, talk, etc it isn't true, you really need something decent or it just makes it harder to communicate [this reminds me a game that I play where someone told "come donjon" whose meaning was "come to this dungeon"... 15 minutes of pure pain to try to help that player with a random party to kill stuff in the map until I tried saying it and found the meaning] what could be actually simple.

While it's understandable to be confused by incorrect spelling, this sounds like a case of Monolingualism. Unclear English obviously can lead to miscommunication, but people that are bilingual often learn the skills to figure out meaning in cases like this, for example. When it's obvious English isn't someone's first language it's pretty silly to expect them to type perfectly when you're the one with firm grasp of the language. Like you mentioned, you figured out what they meant to communicate, after simply sounding it out. Unless you are against international players in a game experience you're in, expecting those players to speak perfectly is rather close-minded.

That being said, "come donjon" is an adorably hilarious misspelling. 

Andora, if you are still around, I am sorry to hear about your painful experiences on Ragnarok Online these past few years. It looks like you might be Chinese, and Chinese culture is terrible at handling and treating mental illness. Don't give up on yourself, I wish you the best.

[tezushi]

I'm very apologize you and all peoples because they know i was autism, this is end.

This letter - http://andora-wrong.blogspot.com/

I quit and leave RO game, people won't me come back again 

Goodbye, Andora, take care of yourself.

[Andora]

----

[Neffletics]

I give up, i feel already useless now.

I REALLY END UP!!!!!

I'm tired of crying, I feel bad thinking of RO.

I feel so bad about myself. I hate these ro game, these players, the place itself and the people who live there to surroundings.

I just want to get away from this s*** ...

... never to return ...


forget them...

Another next months, I could not... I hate school, working and business. I'll still drawing anime and bawl me out with my parents...

Andora, you're kinda 'emo'. Cheer up, man! This is just a pixel game and there's no need to be depressed.

[zecexe]

Andora, you're kinda 'emo'. Cheer up, man! This is just a pixel game and there's no need to be depressed.