ScytheRO

[jumiofdiamonds]

I've been a member of ScytheRO for about a year now, and even before this BETA and wipe I was pretty displeased with the overall server. But I kept playing with friends who I didn't meet on the server, ignoring those problems because overall I did enjoy playing it. I guess it's like no matter what you want to believe it's good or can get better.

Before the BETA, things were very bad when is came to characters and stats. Everything was unbalanced.  Monsters were either too overpowered or characters were too underpowered. I had a very high level character with well passed maxed stats for AGI and DEX and yet I couldn't hit anything. Even lower monsters were a pain for me. Leveling became a very big hardship. But it was still fun.

The GMs, as I never once saw the administrator online, were the least bit helpful and very rude. Occasionally I'd come up with a problem, or encounter a problem with another player(s), and I'd report it or go to them for help either encountering silence or "so?" as help to a report of anything.

The players themselves weren't very nice either. KSing happened a lot. It was a very big problem, and it didn't look like it was going to be taken care of at all, so you just had to deal with it. Especially in the Newbie Dungeon this was something to complain about. As a level 1-1, the only thing you can really fight and survive would be porings in this dungeon. Yet high level mages with instant casting, would go in and cast Lord of Vermillion and Storm Gust over the large about of porings, wiping them all out with on attack. And when more spawned, the same thing happened again. It's not like they were getting experience from it, but rather just laughing it up when the lower levels couldn't level in the dungeon.

I've never actually done so myself, but I've heard on a few accounts PvP was unfair when in came to levels and custom items.

While it did have things like that, the server was decent when it came to other things.

Events were one of the best things ScytheRO had to offer. They were pretty unique and fun, even if you lost. They typically handed out good prizes, but in the end that never mattered. Level 1-1 events dealed with running away from a bomb, and I'd say the best event that didn't deal with level was the 123 event. Awesome.

Money was no problem, easy to come by, easy to earn or get. It made for very high merchant prices in the sellers room, but with such a high rate server it made merchants pretty much useless as well. You could just go get the card or item you wanted in seconds and still keep your billions. I guess this made the economy way off, though, I did enjoy it being so easy.

And, if you were with friends, it made the overall environment and server very enjoyable. Partying was very fun to do, chasing after MvPs and clearing out dungeons together. Or even just plain leveling, even sitting together talking. It was great.

Then ScytheRO wiped out all accounts and presented us with a beta. While it's easy to get back what we lost, I don't think I'd ever have the patience to do it or work as hard to win back every rare item I lost. While the beta is helping the administrator fix things such as i've already pointed out, it also gave me an insight on what's in store. ScytheRO is molding into something, in my opinion, something worse then it originally was.

The beta was pretty good at first. Then things started becoming introduced that has turned my taste bitter for this server, even more then it was.

At first, leveling was normal becoming difficult and slow as you get into the hundreds. But everywhere my character went I dominated. MvPs stood no chance, and neither did most common monsters. But, now, monsters and MvPs have becoming overpowered once again. You may think, oh this is a good thing. Not as easy, plus it'll help me get my level up with tougher monsters. Wrong. The monsters may be tougher, but EXP rates for them are the same. You will not be getting anything extra from then other then a headache. I've seen a level 999 have trouble with MvPs and while you can always reset your level, I don't think a level 999 should die within a few hits from a weaker MvP.

To help "balance" the server out things have been completely removed all-together from the server. Cards, items, etc. This is what irked me a lot. With the tougher monsters and MvPs most of the cards I've won from them, actually just as I did win one, it was/were deemed useless or gone. This includes cards that allow you to cast spells you wouldn't normally have. Now I'm not sure what the motivation for this was. As I've been and are currently on high rate and low rate servers that didn't need to do this at all. And all factors of their server run smoothly. Nothing is over powered and everything is very balanced. So I'm not sure why those items are gone. I mean, I think if it was a PvP problem you could disable these items for the PvP arena but leave them open to everyone else that would wish to use them. Even leave them for Dueling incase maybe someone doesn't really care about these cards/items.

The gold room, is no longer really a gold room. It's filled with over powered MvPs, 4 Baphos, and you rarely get gold from the chests. So this feature isn't available to you lower levels, medium levels, or even you high levels. Sure this might balance out the economy a bit, giving merchants back their use. But then, why even have it if you get one gold bar per visit and then die, losing a bit of exp you had earned?

People do seem nicer, and the KSing has seemed to have lowered a lot. But then again, I haven't seen as many people on as I did before. But staff seems much stricter, not in the good way, and a little ban-happy. But maybe it'll sort out the KSing and other problems completely.

I suppose this is a negative review, but I feel I needed to say something to others about this server. I will continue to log on every so often to see what's changed, especially out of beta testing, but as of right now the server is not for me anymore. I've opened my eyes to see the flaws there and enjoying the server has become a hard thing to do.

[Omg Onoes]

But I kept playing with friends who I didn't meet on the server

[Scars]

I am guessing his real life friends or friends he met beforehand...

[Amukai]

I couldn't play Scythe for more then a week.

Horrible it is.

A conversation I had with a kind person who helped me ingame went like this.
"How are you enjoying the server?"
Me - "Its alright."
"You're lucky, there aren't many kind people here other then me."
Me - "Oh?"

Fail.

[~~T~~]

I couldn't play Scythe for more then a week.

Horrible it is.

A conversation I had with a kind person who helped me ingame went like this.
"How are you enjoying the server?"
Me - "Its alright."
"You're lucky, there aren't many kind people here other then me."
Me - "Oh?"

Fail.

You're judging a whole server by one person, it doesn't seems too fair.

[Zone]

Zairik is just trying to balance the server right now, trying to make everything fair because of the new updates that he has to handle, had a certain bug been properly removed from the bugtracker from eA boards, he wouldn't have to deal with this.
He is doing all of this on his own so certain changes will take a while, but he has a list of what is done and what needs to be done. As for not being able to hit anything with max dex, that is why you have a luk stat, that is what you need to get upped after dex and agi.
As for mvps, I used to kill every mvp quite quickly, the only mvps that would kill me were in lhz_dun03, I could take out Randgris solo in 30 minutes or less, without ever dying.
You have to find out what gears are best for what you are trying to accomplish.

From what you are saying, it looks like Zairik is trying to give more competition to the game, which is a good thing, cause after a month, you get bored with stuff, and then you leave anyways, if goals are harder to accomplish, and you are motivated, you will stay until you accomplish everything. That's what I believe he is trying to do and I think he is right for doing so.

Like I said, he is only 1 person, and the only person who is working on Scythe. Why? Because he knows how he wants the game to work, no one else knows how he wants it to work.

Keep it up Zairik.

[asdfqwerty123]

Sorry but this review says a whole lot of nothing for at least half of the content.  When you say Game Masters, I want names specifically, not "omg I don't like the GM's, yet I never see them on" because that statement doesn't even make sense because you can't call a GM rude if you never see them in the first place.  I want to know specifically who said "so?" and what it was in response to if you're going to make that statement.  This sounds exactly like many of the vague reviews I've seen before.

If you haven't noticed, I posted a TO-DO list of things not yet complete if you're complaining about something not edited just perfect yet.
http://www.scythero.com/forums/showpost.php?p=29034&postcount=1
Currently the server is beta testing, one of the new commands is @noks.

MVP's are not for EXP, they're too powerful in the first place to be used for leveling.

The gold room is temp, for beta only, just like nearly everything, especially everything npc labeled "BETA" something.

Typically those who don't speak English break the rules more so than those who do speak English enough to read the rules.  I've created a whole new chat filter to disable many commonly used non-English words (as well as profanity) as well as a more effective English test at the beginners area, you only have to answer 5 random questions about English grammar but it has really helped the number of English speaking players even if they do speak other languages.

I've never actually done so myself, but I've heard on a few accounts PvP was unfair when in came to levels and custom items.

So you're willing to put that in your review for what reason?
Unfair to get custom items available to anyone?
Unfair to have a leveling system period?
And the fact that you've never been in PVP, strange in itself for a SHR.

I don't know how anyone could take this as a serious review.

[Hutchy]

While there are a lot of contradictory claims in the review, it's possible that he just may not have seen any notices explaining the reasoning behind the beta, or the to-do list posted. Might have just taken him by surprise :3


PS - I don't understand how things can be considered rares on a super high rate server. :x XD

[jumiofdiamonds]

Zairik, the beginning was before the wipe and BETA. And while it may seem to be pointless to have added, I felt that since I'm expressing my opinion and experiences in the server I'd add it. I do not know the name of the GM that had told me such, but I'm not sure that even matters because I think you hired new staff? Either way I was comparing the old Scythe to the BETA. While I do know it's a BETA, I didn't enjoy my time on it. To me it didn't show me enough to make me want to start over on the new server.

Also, about the GM I was talking about, I'd report something, because the report option was there correct? And afterwards, the "so?" was right away. Other things went without a message or anything. But then again, as I said this was the old Scythe.

As for the MVPs, I was using them for exp as everything else seemed to be too easy and lacking that way. So when you did the update to buff them it made things very difficult to accomplish. So, old, normal, monsters became harder but I recieved almost the same exp from then as I had before. So I became stuck in a no-leveling cycle.

Now, the Gold room I didn't know was just beta only.

The bot checker is a tad annoying for every character I make but it wasn't something that really drilled me. And I understand that the server is American based, and basically only has American members/GMs/Admins, but I didn't know about the language filter. Is that because of mis-communication in the past?

And I put the PvP part in my review because it fits. I've never myself PvPed in the PvP room in the past, but in the beta I have. I have dueled and found empty PvP rooms so me and my outside gaming friends could play, but neither of us had any customs or extremely high levels. But again this is me comparing the past to the present. I'm not sure why you didn't understand that.

I want to say this is my opinion on the server, I didn't like it. Not everything is for everyone. I stated my reasons why for the past and now for the present. Not everything was bad, sure there were good points and I admit I did have fun. But fun doesn't necessarily make a server a good one. 

[asdfqwerty123]

I can't really reply to a comment about a non-specific GM that you claim isn't even on staff anymore, but I can say that if there was a problem and they were removed from the staff, doesn't it mean the right decision was made in removing them instead of leaving them on?  Of course, I still have no idea who you're talking about because I don't even have a name or gender or anything from you yet on who it was, and the only think you can say is that they said "so?" in a non-specific situation.

I'm actually thinking of removing exp from MVP's entirely, MVP's are for the cards and items on a SHR, not the EXP.

Filter:

Some things you'll see though, and I'm sorry if you had friends who just absolutely couldn't speak any English at all, but we're doing a lot of chat filtering on non-English words so we don't get overcrowded with a bunch of people who can't communicate with players or understand the rules or understand the GM's.

PVP:
Don't go to the empty PVP rooms, it tells you how many players are in each one of the five total.

In beta you can get customs from the beta NPC's in the Black Market while we're still testing, but after beta ends those NPC's will be removed.

Some of this follows the same logic as someone who dislikes pizza judging a pizza contest.

It would help to realize this is still a beta server, and not to be seen as a final product.

[mickiedeez]

I can't really reply to a comment about a non-specific GM that you claim isn't even on staff anymore, but I can say that if there was a problem and they were removed from the staff, doesn't it mean the right decision was made in removing them instead of leaving them on?  Of course, I still have no idea who you're talking about because I don't even have a name or gender or anything from you yet on who it was, and the only think you can say is that they said "so?" in a non-specific situation.

I'm actually thinking of removing exp from MVP's entirely, MVP's are for the cards and items on a SHR, not the EXP.

Filter:

Some things you'll see though, and I'm sorry if you had friends who just absolutely couldn't speak any English at all, but we're doing a lot of chat filtering on non-English words so we don't get overcrowded with a bunch of people who can't communicate with players or understand the rules or understand the GM's.

PVP:
Don't go to the empty PVP rooms, it tells you how many players are in each one of the five total.

In beta you can get customs from the beta NPC's in the Black Market while we're still testing, but after beta ends those NPC's will be removed.

Some of this follows the same logic as someone who dislikes pizza judging a pizza contest.

It would help to realize this is still a beta server, and not to be seen as a final product.

It's against the rules to have a server in beta on RMS, plus it's likely to change peoples opinions after its back up, which means all those reviews from before the beta and wipe would not be fair, since the server would be rather different with the new items etc.

[S h o]

I miss the old days of ScytheRO, when it was in Beta for the first time.

From Beta 1, until it got to the peak of its player count (700+).. Thats was Scythes golden Era

was one of the most popular and most played servers, and they made a fortune in donations, which kept them alive for so long.

now days i hear theres only an average of 30 people online, which is sad to hear

[asdfqwerty123]

ScytheRO is still in beta, but at the latest it'll be back to a "finalized" version by late October or before.

In the past couple days it has been 30-50, a couple days before that it was 40-70.

The reason being, after beta ends there will be a wipe.  Since it's getting closer and closer to the end of beta, newer players are just waiting it out and all of the old players who've continued to say they'll wait until beta is over are still waiting.

Here is the TO-DO list before beta ends:
http://www.scythero.com/forums/showthread.php?t=4452

Really it's not much left, it's just finding time to do it.

As far as having 700, 50% of that was fluff population as in non-English speaking players and auto traders.  There are new language tests, language rules, and chat filters blocking non-English words in place now.  There are also scripts that boot off auto traders after 24 hours.  We could certainly have a higher number with all of those fluff population numbers, but they don't mean anything in-game.

Language:
Players are only allowed to speak in English (this rule only applies to language). Speaking any non-English language is not allowed since this is an English-only server. This is to retain player (and staff) communication/interaction with our target audience without difficult and frustrating language barriers.

It's not even possible to get 700 people on a SHR because it doesn't take as long to level grind meaning people log on and off a lot without worrying about being in the middle of a level grind.  We don't have as much constant population all at one time as low rates, but we do have a lot of players from all around the world encompassing nearly all timezones.

[S h o]

chat filters blocking non-English words.

oooh, never thought of that, mind if i nab that idea =P

im glad that your gonna stick the the "This is an english server" thing. it got really silly last time lol

as for the 700 players thing, yeah, i was just going by the "users online" count. not the actual players lol.

i hope you've changed the vending map aswell... the last one got a little too crowded on scythe last time lol.

exuse all the "lol"'s, its like 4am, and im typing in pitch black (all the bulbs have gone >.<)

[Johnsu89]

Yet high level mages with instant casting, would go in and cast Lord of Vermillion and Storm Gust over the large about of porings, wiping them all out with on attack. And when more spawned, the same thing happened again. It's not like they were getting experience from it, but rather just laughing it up when the lower levels couldn't level in the dungeon.

I spent at least 2 hours sitting in the newbie dungeon Land protecting everything I could. Oh the joys of mad wizzies.

Leveling became a very big hardship. But it was still fun.

Leveling in lh3 got me 1 level per monster. Mobbing them got me even more. Amatsu dungeon 2 was mobby enough for 4-10 levels with a blast clip.

[Descent]

I can't really reply to a comment about a non-specific GM that you claim isn't even on staff anymore, but I can say that if there was a problem and they were removed from the staff, doesn't it mean the right decision was made in removing them instead of leaving them on?  Of course, I still have no idea who you're talking about because I don't even have a name or gender or anything from you yet on who it was, and the only think you can say is that they said "so?" in a non-specific situation.

I'm actually thinking of removing exp from MVP's entirely, MVP's are for the cards and items on a SHR, not the EXP.

Filter:

Some things you'll see though, and I'm sorry if you had friends who just absolutely couldn't speak any English at all, but we're doing a lot of chat filtering on non-English words so we don't get overcrowded with a bunch of people who can't communicate with players or understand the rules or understand the GM's.

PVP:
Don't go to the empty PVP rooms, it tells you how many players are in each one of the five total.

In beta you can get customs from the beta NPC's in the Black Market while we're still testing, but after beta ends those NPC's will be removed.

Some of this follows the same logic as someone who dislikes pizza judging a pizza contest.

It would help to realize this is still a beta server, and not to be seen as a final product.

I'm not going to pick a fight here, but I have to ask:

Why is it anytime you get a review that's not perfect, you have to nitpick it?

You run an RO server. Not everybody is going to like it. You WILL get bad reviews, as has everybody else here. I'm sure Pandora's server has great marks just like yours and still gets the bad review here and there.

I just really fail to understand how as an admin, who should be well accustomed to this by now, you still, time and time again, go out of your way to counter a bad review. Deal with it, these things happen.