99% of the time there are more autotraders then players online - i played on this server for a few months, but there was no increase, more likely a decrease in population.
The Server admins refuse to push for important updates like trans classes, even if most of the players quit because of being bored beside WoE if it takes place.
As shadylookin said, there are more autotraders because there's no limits to how many autotraders a player can set. So you can easily have a single person with three or four autotraders set up at all times. Also, the server hasn't seen a population decrease since May 2016. It's steadily been growing since then, except for maybe the post-Christmas lull, but even then, the population itself didn't decrease, just mildly stagnated.
Regarding Rebirth, yeah, it's a tricky issue, since there's a part of the playerbase that does
not want Rebirth implemented. I do agree that they should probably speed it up a bit, since the time between episodes sometimes gets too long.
WoE is in no way shape or form competitive outside the circle of friends I mentioned. You're either in this big guild or you're out. Trying to manage your own guild for WoE is more than a hassle due to that said two guilds can and will shove players on their side of the battle instead of letting guilds grow. Trying to point this out sparks quite the denial of such events happening. It takes to be an outsider to see these things.
Interestingly enough, there's now four guilds in the scene, with a fifth one growing. Also I'm yet to see any guild actively poach people. I guess it takes an insider to know these things, huh.

Im def going to second ryuka post here, couldn't have said it better as someone who has tried several times to play on the server over a course of several years.
One thing that i have found disturbing is the progression of updates.
I believe the community,or a part of it at least,has let the gm team know it is time to progress and add updates but every time this happens the end result is always the same.
Origins will never grow so long as the gm team continues to cater towards that dominate "core" that has been on that server for years.
I mean seriously,how long does it take to add trans? i understand the server is called "origins" and thus would like to fulfill this view to the maximum,but 3 years of pre trans is just plain idiotic to a new player or guilds point of view that is looking to join a server with a gm team that actually listens or at least considers the community's point of view,and not those super influential people with a million forum posts or the longest tenure.
I still feel like origins can be the #1 low rate server,but the gm team i feel is not doing justice on their part and average server population is really more like 30-60 maximum compared to what it says in game (100+).
I would not recommend this server if you are a lone player looking to make some new friends and perhaps woe.It is always a 2 way street the woe scene and the last time i saw a 3rd guild,well it was embarrassing part of the servers history to say the least on how/why they went out.Which reminds of their mvp card situation.Iv asked numerous amount of people if they would like to join me on originsro and woe there in the future-a lot have rejected based solely on the number of mvp cards floating around the server.
Originsro has its positives,but there is just too much drawbacks as well
I agree that updates could come at a faster pace, but it's not like there haven't been any in the past year, which is what you're making it sound like. Also claiming that the GM team caters to the "core" people is an outright lie. A couple of ToS changes and new features (such as the Bonus Exp system when no multiclients are used) actually benefit the newer non-established players a lot more than it does the core people, to the point were some core people complained about the ToS changes.
Also maybe those people you asked should learn how to deal with MVP cards instead of chickening out? While I personally would prefer MVP cards disabled in WoE, the current castle holder has beaten the guild with MVP cards multiple times.
Well Slaw, for a big part I can understand the post of Ryaka. Are you willing to explain how you could max out a char in 3 week on Origins and get decent gears at the same time.
I know it is possible but you have to explain how because a casual player joining out of curiosity will meet his doom for sure because it isn't so easy as you presume it is.
So make my day, how do you max a char to 99/50 in 3 weeks on Origins? I know the answer already and it is where Ryaka is talking about, the control of a certain group. It's present and very obvious how it works. You have to go back in history and find out about the unbalanced char choice during this episode to understand it. It's a reason why I would avoid this episode, it's unbalanced crap.
For some groups and chars it was their last moment of control so it's cool that there are such servers around. But Origins isn't brought to stay there. I am curious what tensions it will cause and if they will stick to the original when episode 10.2 will come. I will not return sooner.
By playing? I mean, an experienced player that knows what they're doing can get a character geared and to 99 in 3 weeks easily. I'm not gonna write you a walkthrough class by class because it's irrelevant to this post. And a casual player joining out of curiosity won't be doing such a thing anyway, that's not what casual players care about. There's no control of a certain group, maybe one guild that likes doing Seals a bit too much if you ask me. If it's so obvious how such "control" works, then please go ahead and explain and provide proof.
If you'd avoid this episode and claim it's "unbalanced crap" then why are you even posting on a review of a clearly Pre-Rebirth server? You're obviously going to have a bias against it.
You don't have to explain me how it works. It is possible even in one week to get 99/50, the problem is you need a group for power-leveling using the Tap bonus to max.
Funny enough, we had someone make it from 1 to 99 in
one day,
solo. I've yet to see any of the veteran and most established guilds on the server do that. As for the rest of your post, I already countered your arguments on oRO forums months ago, which you conveniently decided to ignore.
Lately I was on origins and there weren't efficient party's around. That's the problem with those party's the pop is too low and when a group comes they will only leech their own chars. I will not complain about this, I am used to it, in general they only will allow a damage-dealer or mobber. I learned not to put efforts in it anymore, it's just a waste of time.
Mind giving an actual timeframe? Because for the past weeks there have been parties going on almost every day. Also, yet here you are, complaining about it. Which isn't true either considering that we've done parties with potting alchemists, battle priests, Thundersaders, AGI INT Sins, and a whole range of suboptimal classes/builds.
Well you know its less likely a "conspiracy theory" (lol) when 3 people have expressed similar experiences
You cant deny there is a feature or two being exploited to exponentially increase leveling speed on the server,which i totally understand and back styx on because is it really falling back to the servers real roots of experiencing the "origins" of what ro was,or more like deluding one self and others into thinking they are.Oh mind you,im sure the gm is aware of this too,astonishing they did nothing about it.
(and also taxing a person because of their preference of play,i.e solo leveling, was not part of ro at all.choosing to be a lone wolf instead of joining a party is part of what ro is/was meant to be,but apparently its possible on this server to be taxed and end up losing a percentage of exp if you want duel client with a priest or whatever.go figure)
Considering that the three people seem to be focusing about different things overall, I wouldn't call it "similar experiences". Once again, mind explaining which feature is being exploited and how? Because multiclienting allows solo players to level more easily, I see that as good, and Styx would see that as good too considering what his posts consist of. The Exp Bonus system on no multiclient makes partying with other people and socialising be rewarded, which kinda goes in line with the idea of a Massively
Multiplayer Online RPG. And tap bonus is just something that comes from RO itself. The oldest most established guild levels at seals with the typical Steel Body/Mental Strength and exp song method that's been in use for over a decade. As I said before, we had a player level to 99 in one day solo, making use of only dualclient. And parties of new people tend to use the Exp Bonus feature because it helps a lot. So... where's the exploit? You're right, I can't deny it, because there's no exploit to deny in the first place

Also considering that in officials you couldn't really multiclient without going through a bunch of hurdles, whereas here you have a whole system dedicated to making multiclient a lot easier, your last point, once again, is flat out false.
Well, solo leveling isn't faster or preferable I did explain this already, nothing can beat an efficient group using the Tap bonus to max.
It's not a specific choice to be a lone wolf, you are more or less forced to this choice because they will not let you join such party's easy and that problem becomes worse if there are just a few of those party's happening on occasion. Also small groups can't use this Tap bonus and often are lost in a shared EXP. They did something for those groups with an extra bonus if the IP addresses are different but it is just marginal and it's nothing compared to the Tap bonus.
I refer to my previous point regarding the player that went 99 in one day solo, as it kinda proves you wrong. Again. Also how about we do some math regarding that last part of your post?
So tap bonus is 10%, whereas the Exp Bonus system gives 20% per player,
and you get taps on top of that. So assuming you have a 5 person party with no multiclients, you'd get minimum 200%, potentially 240% experience. You'd need those 5 people to be using 3 characters each, all dealing one tap, in order to reach that amount of potential experience when multiclienting or at least 11 different taps to reach the minimum 200%. Please do explain to me how that is "nothing compared to the Tap bonus", because numbers don't lie, and here they're clearly refuting you.
Origins could have done more about in this early episode because they could know it is a problem and there would be a large gap between an efficient group and average players. They didn't do anything to enable a catch up except making the conditions for an efficient group even better with the extra IP bonus and enlarge the gap even more. Then it becomes as you said, it's designed for those groups only.
As I stated above (and on oRO forums long ago), the system
does help average players a lot more than it does established ones that know how to and have the capabilities of setting up something like a Seal party. It narrows the gap, it doesn't widen it. But please feel free to ignore all my counterarguments as you did before.
Now, having dealt with most of the misinformation, my opinion on oRO is that it provides a mix of good and bad stuff. The server isn't 100% classic, since skills work like they do after Rebirth (Bowling Bash dealing two 500% hits, Cloaking being able to be used away from walls, etc), some equipment that shouldn't be available is (for example Undershirt, which functions in combo with Pantie, giving a big boost to AGI characters), and some monsters have the newer stats (Wolves for example, which give insane exp compared to what they gave back in the day). I'd prefer if it were completely pre-2005 classic personally, but already having no rebirth is a huge difference. Also as some people have said before, the updates do come unfortunately at a slow pace, and sometimes it feels like the GM team is a bit unresponsive. For instance, Christmas mobs weren't removed until a week ago, which... yeah, is silly.
However, they do have probably the most stable server I've played in, with pretty much zero downtime except for updates/patches (yeah yeah, as infrequent as they might be). They have zero donation options, no P2W stuff whatsoever, and no vote-for-points nonsense. Also they do keep adding features, like the so-oft-discussed Exp Bonus for no multiclienting or the Costume Headgear NPC. And the Master Account system is also a unique and extremely appealing system that makes life so much easier. The playerbase has been on the rise, especially compared to last year, WoE still rages on, with a couple more guilds forming to compete in these recent days.
So is the server perfect? Not by any means, it has its flaws, like any other, some not as bad, some a bit more worrisome. But all the doomsaying here is ridiculous.
Now, to deal with one last thing.
Slaw just proved what I just said. There's super denial about these things happening. I experienced it first hand from the very circle itself and I never noticed that such a thing was real until I got tossed out of it. The Ant Queen is very good with their moves to make it seem like nothing is happening when infact, it is happening. But what they do isn't breaking the rules so there is nothing to be done about it. I can be loud as possible about this but it gets me nowhere so all I can do is give a warning for future players.
I was talking about the toxicity in said circle. They are nice to you if they like you. If not then you are out. Period. No ifs and buts. Unless they need you then it's like walking in a barren desert. You'll see it in time.
What I said wasn't about trans update. It never was anything close to that topic. I have my own opinions about the so called Taekwon update they did but that's irrelevant to this debate.
PS: If your every argument is that I'm too negative and uptight for being vocal and dismissing everything I say as heresy, lies and scandalous propeganda then my statement still stands. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ OriginsRO could do better but as long as the attitude of "I don't give a s*** unless it's a reputation of someone I like is at a critical state" is there then Origins will have a slow growth and eventually die out. Ant Queen is already ahead of all of you on that.
What things happening? You weren't tossed out of anywhere, you walked out by yourself and happily locked the door behind you without hesitation, blocking all contact with people instead of having an actual adult conversation. I wouldn't call everything you say "lies and scandalous propeganda (sic)" as much as I'd call it bringing your own personal issues with
one person (and not even in a sensible way. Really, "Ant Queen"?) and using it to criticise an entire server, when in reality, choosing to be friends or not with someone will barely affect your experience in the server. Unless this person somehow has mind control and can prevent people from having free will, self-thought and rationale.

You talk about the server dying out, yet the server is the healthiest I've seen it since I started almost 20 months ago. If you want to stay away from a server because someone you clearly dislike happens to play there and can't seem to let go of a childish grudge, be my guest. Just do me a favour and spare the server and its players this doomsaying nonsense that has no factual base.