OathRO - A fresh 1x server with cool rebalancing and qol features. [Episodic]

[euphoria]

Positives
This server is awesome and nostalgic. I've been playing like 15 years ago.
Donation
NO cash shop. They don't accept any kind of financial support the server.

Mechanics
100% authentic. Light skills rebalance.

Stability
Absolutely NO LAG. Maintenance is usually 10 minutes only.

Cons
Low advertising. I think staff could promote the server in others websites beyond RMS like topragnarok and others.

[Nova]

I should update my review on OathRO sometime. A lot has happened during these past 5 months. The server has grown quite a bit in population and the customizations are pretty much done for the classes that they currently have. There's a lot more as well, but that deserves a more in-depth write up. WoE just started and from what I've seen the first one was pretty good. There's a lot of unique stuff to look forward to as well. There are some small things that I don't like, but those are more of a personal thing and aren't really worth mentioning. But long story short, I still absolutely recommend this server for anyone that is even remotely interested in lowrates.

[skyeang3l]

WoE started on the server. At the moment there are 2 castles open and guilds are limited to 16-man rosters. So far there are about 5 active guilds participating and the competition seems good for strategic play for those who enjoy that aspect of RO.

[Butt Force]

Amazing server.  I can't recommend it enough to anyone who enjoys lowrate.  Oath actually manages to improve on the original's class design without distorting its spirit or disrupting a single classes' expected role or balance by making subtle changes to underused abilities.  I reconnected with quite a lot of old friends here, too! 

And, if you're a Talon refugee, we've got a guild for you with some familiar faces. 

[Celesss]

I've developed some opinions but overall I love the server, here's my thoughts on it as a week old newbie .

Pros
- Great class rebalancing, allowing for build diversity and some of the weaker classes are stronger now. The ones that aren't are planned to receive buffs.
- Partying has been incentivized with tap bonuses and other bonuses, meaning you'll find parties from 11 to 99 and never have to go it alone if you don't want to.
- Population is growing, most are American but it's slowly becoming more of a melting pot.
- WoE scene is still growing and guild competition is good due to the roster system.
- Server still feels like it's in the Spring of it's life, it's early episodically and trans isn't for another year so it's a comfortable start and I don't feel rushed. There isn't this huge looming pressure over you that you're late to the party, you feel right on time.
- Quite a lot of QoL changes while still keeping a classic feel, and for 1x it really doesn't feel that slow.... however you will absolutely notice the 1x drops.
- GMs and CMs are very active.
- Events, while sparse, are GM hosted and seem to be a lot of fun. I've only seen one in the week I've been here but it was a good time, and there seems to be a Summer event coming soon.
- Quite a bit of custom content, including a few new maps and mobs to fight.
- Old Payon is the main town, and I love Old Payon.

Mixed
- Server has no costumes aside from a few promotional ones and gear that can turn into costumes, making it look very bland. Good for the classic feel but really not my taste.
- An excessive amount of zeny sinks, even the stylist costs money. Good for the economy but as a new player I feel very discouraged by how costly it is to do... really anything. The phrase "Nothing in life is free" really holds true here.
- Soloing is extremely discouraged. No dual clienting + no real access to AB buffs(I'd kill for a 30 minute inn AB buff, this server has every other zeny sink in the world but that one), so you can't really solo how you usually would. Isn't a big problem for me but might be for some people who don't want to be forced to socialize, party, etc. I outright would discourage you from playing on this server if you prefer playing solo.
- Day/Night cycle. I personally hate Day as it's very bright and hurts my eyes, I wish it'd be permanent night, but some people probably like this.

Cons
- Somewhat Unfriendly community. If you enable #main you'll notice a good chunk of what's said there is insults/arguing, and a good amount of parties devolve into petty arguments. If you make a mistake, don't be surprised if you're kicked from the party for it. There are definitely a lot of kindhearted people, but after a week I've seen enough vitriolic behavior to at least acknowledge it.
- Just a personal gripe, The stylist costing tons of money and it being separated into 3 NPCs is awful. Nothing like spending 99k on a Stylist Coupon only to realize the hairstyle you wanted has a bugged palette with the hair color you have. Pretty soul-crushing.
- No scaled chat/UI. I don't have super good sight and everything is very small and difficult to read. Only a few servers have this QoL change but it's definitely a negative for me that Oath doesn't.

Closing Thoughts
I really like the server, I think the new player experience could use some work and I definitely think Inn Buffs (30 Minute AB) would allow for soloists to still play the server due to the dual-client ban, but I don't solo much so it doesn't bother me. Overall if you like party content, like WoE, want a pretty fresh server with lots of QoL and balance changes, I can't recommend it enough.

[Oathkeeper]

Closing Thoughts
I really like the server, I think the new player experience could use some work and I definitely think Inn Buffs (30 Minute AB) would allow for soloists to still play the server due to the dual-client ban, but I don't solo much so it doesn't bother me. Overall if you like party content, like WoE, want a pretty fresh server with lots of QoL and balance changes, I can't recommend it enough.

Thank you for all of your feedback, we will try to review some of the things you said about solo play and see what we can do to make the experience more enjoyable.

[Kompinho]

Inn Buffs (30 Minute AB)

I think this is a terrible idea against support mains on a no-multi server, I know RO is painful to play without AB but 30 minutes is definitely overkill, maybe a daily 30 minutes would be "fair".

[Celesss]

I think this is a terrible idea against support mains on a no-multi server, I know RO is painful to play without AB but 30 minutes is definitely overkill, maybe a daily 30 minutes would be "fair".

You sorta proved my point here with why it would be necessary for solo play. Priests and other supports will always have a place, but you will no longer have to beg a priest to come along with you just to reasonably farm. Even doing small farming like Giearths for Elven Ears or Creamys for Creamy Card is incredibly unfun without AB and you can't just beg a Priest to come along with you to do that, nobody will be willing.

[Shuchou]

You sorta proved my point here with why it would be necessary for solo play. Priests and other supports will always have a place, but you will no longer have to beg a priest to come along with you just to reasonably farm. Even doing small farming like Giearths for Elven Ears or Creamys for Creamy Card is incredibly unfun without AB and you can't just beg a Priest to come along with you to do that, nobody will be willing.

I mean sure if you are farming naked with an npc weapon it will take much longer but if you have a +9 comp with 4 Archer skele's or +7abl/gukk with 2 AS cards you'll be one hitting most things you would need to farm once you are 80+ if you're using the right arrows. Otherwise make friends, help each other hunt for what you need. The INN HP and SP recover is pretty abused by monks as is for min max combo spam. A 30minute AB would make it more abuse able by every class, even allow monks to drop getting agi and bless for other skills, not to mention how often it'll be used for MvP's as hunters really only need a priest for AB and a heal every now and then seeing as ankle snares are OP.

[Kompinho]

You sorta proved my point here with why it would be necessary for solo play.

I did not, because
a, You got used to playing the game with constant AB from blatant multiclient usage
b, You played on servers that had NPCs for AB and HP/SP

Both take credit away from certain classes and a lot of people like to play supports and feel neglected because of such features but a server where these classes were fully utilized is extremely rare. (Bragi, HP, Brewing...)
It's not impossible to play without AB and a warper / healer and such, we just got used to the good stuff over the years and now we consider it fundamental. It's not impossible, just annoying a little. If people choose a classic 1x server with no multis, they also have to sign up for this ride.

[Celesss]

I guess I just don't like to be forced to beg for help from others but I can see that some people have a lot of friends on speed dial who are willing to help them.

You absolutely need AB to farm at a higher level if you're farming anything above a low level mob, I can't really think of a class that doesn't need this unless you're a wildly geared. You kind of proved my point again by saying if you have this wildly overupgraded overcarded bow with the correct arrows you won't need it, but the reality is a newer player like myself who hasn't got a guild or an endless line of friends to back them up won't have access to that OR AB buffs, and it makes farming very difficult.

It's great to think that there will be someone to always help but the reality is that's not the case. The new player experience for going at it alone is very hard and punishing here and it feels bad.

[Shuchou]

I guess I just don't like to be forced to beg for help from others but I can see that some people have a lot of friends on speed dial who are willing to help them.

You absolutely need AB to farm at a higher level if you're farming anything above a low level mob, I can't really think of a class that doesn't need this unless you're a wildly geared. You kind of proved my point again by saying if you have this wildly overupgraded overcarded bow with the correct arrows you won't need it, but the reality is a newer player like myself who hasn't got a guild or an endless line of friends to back them up won't have access to that OR AB buffs, and it makes farming very difficult.

It's great to think that there will be someone to always help but the reality is that's not the case. The new player experience for going at it alone is very hard and punishing here and it feels bad.

Archer skeletons are level 31 in pay_dun01 not hard to get plus normally sells for about 500k each after a servers been alive for a few months. GC saders with npc gear and one andre card in the Haedonggum [1] can farm Raydric and Khalitzburg pretty easily at level 75+ both being a higher end mob. A hunter with nothing but a hunter bow[NPC] and fire arrows can farm Stings for glove[1] at level 60+, a knight with poo poo hat, thara card, and 3 orc lady cards can start leveling on high orcs at level 75+. A priest with nothing but a rod can farm evil druids and wraiths for their drops, there is plenty of good farming areas for npc to naked characters to farm to make some zeny on a server.

Now if you are talking about Thanatos Tower, Abyss Lakes, Niff where they were meant for geared up end game or party play of course you're not going to solo them anytime soon with a mind set you have. The buff heal NPC is better off left on 20x+ servers where you really never need to join a party in the first place. OathRO is great without such game unbalancing add ons. If you are living off having AB all the time you are honestly farming/grinding slower then a person that stays in the area the whole time unbuffed. As the 2-3 seconds you gain per 20kills is wasted getting rebuffed, so honestly only real need to be buffed is during party play against end game mobs[where you need the "over upgraded over carded gear"  ] not the remaining 90% of the game.

[Playtester]

I'm also against buffer NPCs. The whole reason to disallow multiclienting is to make people actually want to party up with priests and other support classes rather than just making slaves themselves. And I prefer granting Agi and Bless is left to the people who decided to main a Priest.

[Gravi_]

I've been playing MR / HR all my life so switching to OathRO was tough but I don't regret it! OahtRO is great, everything is wonderful. It feels like I'm playing a brand new game. The community is very nice, people taught me how to party, nobody was mad at me. Whenever I ask for something, I get a detailed answer. The administration is very active and helpful. It's great that the server is not P2W at all. I feel great satisfaction playing on this server. I have not noticed any lags so far, I play on EU proxy. To all those who are looking for a server for these difficult times, I highly recommend OathRO.

[plarr]

 

 for attraction rating, I love the lowered rates, I play on those servers quite often and because of the fact that there will be transcended class I would sign up. People kind of like the grind i feel like when you find 20+ people trying to kill sleepers, so I wanna download the game just for that