RetRO a server that I considered the best but can't recommend anymore (review)

[Neffletics]

About the fast leveling bit, when you have a full party semi geared right for the area you are farming/grinding you can gain massive amount of XP. Also there is a 25% mob tap bonus on retRO, so the more AoE damage dealers your party has the more xp the party gets. However I'm pretty sure they were there for more then an hour as even with 175% tap bonus(8players hitting) that would be 5,028 Majoruro to gain 75mil xp. With there only being 40 of them on a map that would be 100% impossible to do in an hour, as you would need to be killing 83-84 Majoruros a minute which the map doesn't support. Have to remember most players don't pay attention to how long they spent grinding when they are having fun, what felt like an hour could of been 4 to 8 hours, plus there are players that like to falsely brag about things they accomplished to make themselves seem cool/special/hardcore to those around them.

Just as a side note 6 to 8 hours with a full semi geared for the area party could pull off 75mil exp from Majoruros. RO was never meant to be a fast grind as a solo, not even official pre-trans servers. You were always going to level slower then a group of players no matter how much gear you have for that one character. Old MMORPG's like RO were aimed at team work, renewal changed RO to solo online due to players wanting easy mode gameplay as years past.

Even so, that should have been addressed, or at the very least a temporary experience boost implemented to compensate those who did not take advantage of it. Server owners should know how to recognize and reward those who play honestly. 

[lungo]

Even so, that should have been addressed, or at the very least a temporary experience boost implemented to compensate those who did not take advantage of it. Server owners should know how to recognize and reward those who play honestly. 

Indeed but this basically rewards the abusers, I'm not saying they are doing this intentionally to screw us the legit honest players but their fear to punish this players is making this injustice happen.

They would need to ban the people that abused the bug during the entire EXP boost event to compensate for it to be acceptable, otherwise this people get double benefit, they abused an exploit to get tons of exp and then they get rewarded with the EXP event.

[Mistral]

You are a member of one of the guilds that abused bugs and exploits so how do I know you didn't participated? I don't. it is safe to assume you did.

You're throwing accusations without any proof whatsoever. Likewise what you consider a "bug abuse" is something the staff itself condoned. In fact they were informed very early on that all consequent rounds of mino slaves were dropping loot, and corrected that while keeping their EXP values.
My bard hasn't gotten any experience from that map either.

The magic defense bug affected me and the staff corrected it, was I supposed to make a tantrum to not get it fixed or I would quit? you are receiving a PRIVILEGE that a lot of us are not, why do you get to have a bug enabled just so you don't leave and many like me have to shut up and endure it?, the mature thing was to accept the fix, you can not talk to me with your tone pretending you are better than me when you are not, you engaged in shameful behavior to get away with having your class to stay bugged.

There's a big difference between doing slightly less damage due to a fix, and having your high level character no longer being able to fulfill the purpose it was created for, even if you were offered a full reset. I have played for months in a bard+priest duo precisely because of the great synergy that duo has, which is entirely enabled by lingering songs.

Also u forgot to mention that by giving tantrum and making quit threats, he received a stat reset to remake his monk into vit/int MS, and that will last thru endgame for MVP content, kappa.

I never had a monk, you don't even know which tree you're barking at.

Yeah that was IF you kill the majos. Basically theyre just cheesing it by putting sanc to heal majos while majos just respawn minorous which gives exp.

What you call cheesing are the game's mechanics, we like it or not. It seems like people optimized the strats over the months and leveled slave priests with level 10 sanctuary just for that purpose. Sanctuary also has a low charge limit so it has to be spammed on the mob since a single one will only heal half of the mob once, for 777. Most of this was largely enabled by the tap EXP bonus.

Anybody who played on the server for a long time will remember that THE spot before people figured out majos, was anolians, and that map required zero setup or organization of any kind, just dragging the whole map on any character. Thanks to anolians and the x2 EXP event, the biggest guild on the server was able to leech a whole WoE roster to around level 90 and gain an even bigger advantage. The first level 99 on the server, soloed anolians. Nobody brings this up now though.
There will be another "cheese" spot in the future, and then another, it's a constant cycle.


You have to realize that the game is full of holes and is hardly balanced. Dealing with future issues requires both foresight and the willingness to do "custom changes" from the staff, in a timely manner. Players will always find out the most efficient ways to get things done.

[lungo]

You're throwing accusations without any proof whatsoever. Likewise what you consider a "bug abuse" is something the staff itself condoned. In fact they were informed very early on that all consequent rounds of mino slaves were dropping loot, and corrected that while keeping their EXP values.
My bard hasn't gotten any experience from that map either.

There's a big difference between doing slightly less damage due to a fix, and having your high level character no longer being able to fulfill the purpose it was created for, even if you were offered a full reset. I have played for months in a bard+priest duo precisely because of the great synergy that duo has, which is entirely enabled by lingering songs.


I never had a monk, you don't even know which tree you're barking at.

What you call cheesing are the game's mechanics, we like it or not. It seems like people optimized the strats over the months and leveled slave priests with level 10 sanctuary just for that purpose. Sanctuary also has a low charge limit so it has to be spammed on the mob since a single one will only heal half of the mob once, for 777. Most of this was largely enabled by the tap EXP bonus.

Anybody who played on the server for a long time will remember that THE spot before people figured out majos, was anolians, and that map required zero setup or organization of any kind, just dragging the whole map on any character. Thanks to anolians and the x2 EXP event, the biggest guild on the server was able to leech a whole WoE roster to around level 90 and gain an even bigger advantage. The first level 99 on the server, soloed anolians. Nobody brings this up now though.
There will be another "cheese" spot in the future, and then another, it's a constant cycle.


You have to realize that the game is full of holes and is hardly balanced. Dealing with future issues requires both foresight and the willingness to do "custom changes" from the staff, in a timely manner. Players will always find out the most efficient ways to get things done.

• You are member of a guild that abuses exploits and bugs
• You defend their abuses and exploits
• You yourself have a character that is basically bugged but you are allowed to keep it because it benefits you (you threatened the staff about leaving if you didn't got your way), you are receiving a PRIVILEGE that most of us don't

You should stop talking seriously.

[Mistral]

I guess there's no use trying to reason with somebody like you.

I'm not even playing anymore, I just saw this slander of my guild and wanted to interject.

I'm out.

[lungo]

I guess there's no use trying to reason with somebody like you.

I'm not even playing anymore, I just saw this slander of my guild and wanted to interject.

I'm out.

Is not "Slander", this are actual facts, and you had left already because you know that you have no real arguments to defend "your guild" behavior (if you are not playing anymore how are they still your guild?) or defend your shameful behavior that sadly the GM's enabled and allowed you to keep a bugged character.

"Somebody like you"

LMAO yes, someone that gives you facts, that has moral values, exposes people without scruples like you and your guild (which to be fair are not the only ones that abused the Majorous exploit and there is probably more stuff that we all don't even know that other big guilds did etc) and someone that wants fair play for everyone and punishments for people that clearly are destroying a server with their abuses.

But yeah this is also on the GM's... they are just too afraid to lose players that they just don't act like they should on this cases. They think that being responsible means: "well we screwed up now we let the guys take advantage of the bug and make blind eye on it" nope because that has no consequences to them, to be responsible they should punish this players, most will leave but that is what being a responsible person means, you actually accept the consequences of your actions, in your case they should have let you leave the server and corrected the Bard skills because that was the responsible thing to do, not just "well let's keep this class bugged then because we screwed up".

[Raïner]

You're throwing accusations without any proof whatsoever. Likewise what you consider a "bug abuse" is something the staff itself condoned. In fact they were informed very early on that all consequent rounds of mino slaves were dropping loot, and corrected that while keeping their EXP values.
My bard hasn't gotten any experience from that map either.

There's a big difference between doing slightly less damage due to a fix, and having your high level character no longer being able to fulfill the purpose it was created for, even if you were offered a full reset. I have played for months in a bard+priest duo precisely because of the great synergy that duo has, which is entirely enabled by lingering songs.


I never had a monk, you don't even know which tree you're barking at.

What you call cheesing are the game's mechanics, we like it or not. It seems like people optimized the strats over the months and leveled slave priests with level 10 sanctuary just for that purpose. Sanctuary also has a low charge limit so it has to be spammed on the mob since a single one will only heal half of the mob once, for 777. Most of this was largely enabled by the tap EXP bonus.

Anybody who played on the server for a long time will remember that THE spot before people figured out majos, was anolians, and that map required zero setup or organization of any kind, just dragging the whole map on any character. Thanks to anolians and the x2 EXP event, the biggest guild on the server was able to leech a whole WoE roster to around level 90 and gain an even bigger advantage. The first level 99 on the server, soloed anolians. Nobody brings this up now though.
There will be another "cheese" spot in the future, and then another, it's a constant cycle.


You have to realize that the game is full of holes and is hardly balanced. Dealing with future issues requires both foresight and the willingness to do "custom changes" from the staff, in a timely manner. Players will always find out the most efficient ways to get things done.

I never said it was you who is the monk, are u brainless or what lol? Since when i accuse you of? o.o?
Also sorry for frankly talk, but i never see such behavior of gameplay mechanic happen anywhere else but retRO specifically, even in Majos if u do stuff like that either the admins will warn you for cheesing the game or else u get ban, end of story.

[neethree]

lungo did you play Ragnarok Roleplay by any chance? Your postings sound very familiar.

[lungo]

lungo did you play Ragnarok Roleplay by any chance? Your postings sound very familiar.

No and this post is about RetRO.

[Bullet]

thanks for sharing such positive criticism reviews.
you could've ripped apart with hostile review, but i love the constructive tone for the well deserved administation.

I've recently re-joined after quitting due to noticing some very fast huge level gaps with players. Being casual player and beaten by level by hardcore players is one thing. But being beaten by un-remediated "bug" abusers is totally another big turn off thing. I couldn't even call it a bug given that it seems to be an official behaviour which admins had to intervene and customize for the sake of game balance.

but, demoralizing it is. I find less purpose and incentive for casual amidst my busier schedule.

the ugly undeniable fact is: you can never implement 100% official x1 server with official gameplay behaviour now and in future.
alot of customization and changes has to be made mostly in the aspect of expected population.

[lungo]

thanks for sharing such positive criticism reviews.
you could've ripped apart with hostile review, but i love the constructive tone for the well deserved administation.

I've recently re-joined after quitting due to noticing some very fast huge level gaps with players. Being casual player and beaten by level by hardcore players is one thing. But being beaten by un-remediated "bug" abusers is totally another big turn off thing. I couldn't even call it a bug given that it seems to be an official behaviour which admins had to intervene and customize for the sake of game balance.

but, demoralizing it is. I find less purpose and incentive for casual amidst my busier schedule.

the ugly undeniable fact is: you can never implement 100% official x1 server with official gameplay behaviour now and in future.
alot of customization and changes has to be made mostly in the aspect of expected population.

Thank you, I did my best to point out why I can't continue playing, without bashing the GM's, that doesn't mean they haven't done anything wrong and they could have done things better but I mean I firstly wanted this to be listened to so they do something about it but alas they won't, like I said it is not in my hands now, I can only communicate my feelings and hope they do something and I did what I could.

It is very tempting to fall into bashing or worse because it does feel really wrong that I played for months there, giving my time that I could have used for something else but I invested it in their server because I had faith in them... on x1 server so it is not a little amount of time, I was hopeful and looking forward to one day rebirth my character etc. It feels almost like a betrayal, months of my life that won't come back and I could still play but I can't. How can I do it knowing all of this abuses happened and nothing is going to be done? I just can't. It's too bad because I know also that this situations will end the server one way or the other.

This is the changelog for the maintenance of today:



Not even the Defense bug corrected (I have sent the main admin tons of info and sources for this), just patched the Minorous exploit that should have been corrected from day 1.

So as you can see, this is falling into deaf ears.

I won't lie though, with each passing day my symphaties for them get weaker.

[InsomniacTV]

Can confirm that everything in this review is true. For me Retro was a terrible experience and should be avoided mostly due to the well known guild favoritism you mentioned and all of the bugs

• MDEF bug- this hit me hard as a magic class. Turns out mobs had their magic defense not working all this time since the server launch... I just can't fathom how a bug like this gets overlooked, I just don't understand and this to me shows that the staff is really inexperienced with how ragnarok works... I just accepted this fix because I couldn't go like the previous example and pitifully ask the staff to not fix this because it affected me so I took it like a man and accepted that this had to be fixed with no complaints, I liked the server so I was willing to tolerate this situation
• The mobbing problem and Defence stat not being reduced when attacked by multiple mobs-This is actually a pretty big one, Defense is not being reduced while being attacked by multiple mobs, many sources state that BOTH hard and soft defence are reduced the more mobs hit you, I have gathered many sources and I am 100% sure that this is not working correctly on RetRO, you can see a mere swordman gathering the entire anthell dungeon only receiving 1 damage per mob, that is something I never saw when playing ragnarok in my life, this just only gets worse because when that swordman becomes Knight or Crusader they just keep mobbing without any penalties, this means that if you are a FLEE character you are screwed because FLEE does reduce when being attacked by multiple mobs, mobbing has been rampant the entire server life and most mobbers are rude, gather the entire map and barelly leave anything for the other people on the map, I tried explaining to the staff that if it feels that way to a mage class that has Creamy card and thus I can basically infinitely teleport until I find something to kill then it must be HORRIBLE to other people, specially new people that rely on fly wings or can't even aford flywings to find their mobs, they do have a rule about over mobbing but it feels inconsistent in the way they apply it to people and no wonder this is happening, if Defence is not working correctly you see this knights and crusaders not even needing a priest to mob at all, they receive really low damage and can do it constantly. The staff insist this is working as intended no matter ho much sources I brought to them so this really pisses me off.
• The MAJOROUS EXPLOIT- This is the last straw, the last drop. I just can't... for months many BIG GUILDS have abused this exploit to power level multiple characters and get characters to lvl 99, they have an "strat" to basically abuse slave spawning, they kill the slaves and heal the "boss" one so he keeps spawning minions, I don't exactly know how they did it but it was 100% an exploit and the staff said "it was ok" and now they changed their mind when they actually realized how bad it was but they will not punish anyone for doing this and this whole situation feels like a middle finger to players like me that play legit that never try to find ways to exploit the game ot ways to get advantage illegally over others, we are screwed while this people go and search for the next new exploit only for the gms to allow it and not punish anyone. I just can't condone this, I'm sorry but this is way too much for me.

This is why I dont play low rate servers running on emulators anymore. Monster MDEF not working since the server started for that long is just lol. And the last one you mentioned is grounds for a wipe. They said it was ok while the players close to them were secretly abusing it for so long and of course they wont punish their favorites now that it got out

the owner of Travels banned multiple people for telling him that firewall didn't worked correctly something that later he admitted and ninja corrected himself, and that to me showed someone that was basically a tyrant also Travels even emulates "fake lag" meaning if you get hit even once you get stun locked to death

Made-up stuff I was there for that convo and that never happened. Some player got banned for calling the admin a name not talking about firewall. Firewall on Travels has worked fine since since the beginning and has never been changed. Its running Aegis. And stun lock is normal there. On some servers stun lock is weaker because of using an emulator but this is wrong and just makes mobbing overpowered on some classes and makes the endure effect weaker

[lungo]

Can confirm that everything in this review is true. For me Retro was a terrible experience and should be avoided mostly due to the well known guild favoritism you mentioned and all of the bugs

This is why I dont play low rate servers running on emulators anymore. Monster MDEF not working since the server started for that long is just lol. And the last one you mentioned is grounds for a wipe

Made-up stuff I was there for that convo and that never happened. Some player got banned for calling the admin a name not talking about firewall. Firewall on Travels has worked fine since since the beginning and has never been changed. Its running Aegis. And stun lock is normal there. On some servers stun lock is weaker because of using an emulator but this is wrong and just makes mobbing overpowered on some classes and makes the endure effect weaker

This Is what one of the people that came from Travels to RetRO told me:



Does the Defense (hard and soft) is reduced in Travels correctly?

But yeah I agree with everything you said.

[Bullet]

This is why I dont play low rate servers running on emulators anymore....

And the last one you mentioned is grounds for a wipe.

The fact its running on Aegis or emulator is the least concern if youre going to play a server, especially if its going to be 100sp type of changes implemented and reverted management decision making type. No Aegis is going to help you play that kind of environment thus its the least factor to consider to join a stable game provider.

alot of servers has to be wiped with this logic. including the 100sp teleport server 

[Imperial Regalia]

This Is what one of the people that came from Travels told me

We've never changed firewall. This is likely him noticing the improved performance from our server upgrade. Official servers (and Ragnarok Travels) are much more sensitive to CPU performance than Hercules and rAthena, because the game loop updates much more frequently.