TalonRO

[xxstarlightxx]

The normal review space is kinda small so I thought I would write a longer one here. I'll just use the same categories as a normal review.

Server Stability
Apart from the time right after a reboot, the server never crashes.. When the GMs reboot, sometimes they quickly find a small bug which crashes the server but it's fixed right away.
But as the server is always stable after that, can't give anything but a 10.

10/10

Server Availability
Hmm, with the new host the server has really been lagfree and always available. On the previous host there were some problems with lag, but they are all solved now.
The gameserver is always online, apart from planned reboots. Reboots..usually dont take that long but sometimes they take longer than the GMs originally said. Probably encountered some problems?

9/10

Community Friendliness
Overall this is very friendly. The main chat is automatically enabled when logging in (can be disabled if you like) so usually theres a lot of chatter on there.
There is some shop advertisement on it, but not too much. There are a few bad apples, but especially on main chat there is a strict rule against bad language and trashtalking so thats good. I like too that main chat is English only.
During WoE things can heat up sometimes but I guess thats just part of the game.

There are usually around 200-300 players online with around 75-100 vendors (yes I counted them! ), which is way better than what it used to be.
In the end it's a nice, international community with a few bad apples, but that happens on any server, right? xD

9/10

Community Eventfulness
Uhm, not really sure what to think of this... it's mostly the GMs that hold events. I know that there are some events held by players from time to time and some GM-sponsored events made by players too...
Partying could probably improve a little more. Sometimes it's hard to find people who want to come along with you. It's best to find a guild I think. The server does have the new Party Booking feature recently which is pretty neat, but I don't think many people use it.

7/10

GM Friendliness
From my experience this is pretty good. I usually see a GM on every day and there are regular events, they chat with players in town, help to solve problems and such.
The higher GMs are not on that often, but are friendly enough. They are probably busy working on bigger updates and such so I forgive them =p Plus we can always reach them on the forums or by support ticket.

9/10

GM Availability
Pretty much like I said in the previous part, the event GMs are online very often and the high GMs a bit less. But they can always be contacted on the forums and in support tickets or forum if you really need them.

8/10

GM Helpfulness
If you have a problem they mostly help you out if they know how to fix it. Or if there is a bug, they usually fix it right away. Often it just needs to wait for a reboot which can take a while.
One thing thats a bit less is that item recoveries are not that common anymore... There is only one GM with access to do this and he often refuses it because it's the players fault for sharing gears or passwords. I suppose it's understandable and most servers don't do it either, but still... it used to be one of the nicer features on this server which is now mostly gone.

8/10

Economy
The economy is improving lately. It used to be not so great but more new players join lately so things sell more often.
It's still a bit difficult sometimes to sell things but usually it will sell after a while.
There are plenty of ways for newbies to make money too. Like cake farming, moscovia or farming from mobsters. I also like that when finishing the newbie grounds you get 250 reward points. This is like half a Talon Coin which usually sell for 1 mil or so. Imagine already getting the half of that as a newbie. That's pretty good.
You can also earn these with things like voting, minigames and events. It's like...a second kind of zeny in the game.

7/10

Guild Competition
We can probably use some more guilds... Each WoE there are 2 castles open: normal and vanilla WoE. Vanilla is like...without special gears such as MVP Cards so that newer players can enjoy it too.
WoEs are 1 hour each only, but I kinda like this.. it really makes it more filled with action. First 1 hour vanilla WoE and then 1 hour normal WoE. It's pretty good I think. There are often fights with like 70 people in a castle which is fun. Only thing is that it would be nice to have more guilds so they can open more castles. Smaller guilds now don't really have a good chance of joining unless they party with a bigger guild.

7/10

Class Balance
I think the class balance is really good. People often dont like "donation servers", but on here it's really not like that. Like I said on the Economy part, you can very easily earn reward points which can get you such items without ever donating. I've never donated before and I have everything I need.
Like on the weekly screenshot event you can win 5 talon coins which are worth a lot and there are a lot of other ways to get them.
There are many MVP cards ingame which some people dont like. But on other servers, it's usually one or two people who are lucky to get these cards and then are extremely powerful compared to others.
On here...everyone can get them, so in the end it all balances out... The MVP cards are often a bit different from the original effects too. It's a very fun type of gameplay.
But if you dont like this still, you can always join in vanilla woe or pvp where all these items are restricted. It's pretty much like any other server there.

9/10

Total

Overall...I give this server an 8.7 out of 10. It's really well-managed with quite some unique features. A few things could improve, but that's on any server

The server has some really cool features like the Dynamic Rates. The lowest it can get is 5/5/3, but by reaching the voting goal it can get up to 8/8/3. The Monster of the Week is great fun too and really helps new players. I've noticed that some servers have started using these things too and very similar, but none are as well-done as here
The Resting Bonus is really cool too. If you are not online for some days, this feature will give you a bonus EXP so you can catch up with your friends. And...! Homunculus are stronger here than on other servers. I think more HP and some bonus for WoE which really makes them more useful.

I also love how there are tons of hairstyles that I haven't seen on many other servers before and the server really has the MOST HEADGEARS I've ever seen. They even get headgears that are released by Gravity like...barely a week ago. Talk about being fast?

So yeah, this was my review. I think it's a really good server with a few things that can improve, but I have no doubt that it will happen in the future =D

[Usagimimi]

The only thing that bothers me about tRO is the fact Lord Kaho's Horns are given out every which way and that.

Otherwise, nice review, and the server is nice.

[xxstarlightxx]

Yes... not everyone likes those (even some GMs I think), but they work pretty well with all the other items xD And of course you can pvp or woe without them, it's called Vanilla style

[Johnsu]

Im sure they arent given out that frequently.

[Usagimimi]

Im sure they arent given out that frequently.

Well, even then:

Custom Items
Lord Kaho's Horn
Lord Kaho's Horn - Upper Headgear - Every Job
Exclusive head piece created for Lord Kaho. (Lord Kaho has never been identified)
STR + 20 , INT + 20, DEX + 20 , MDEF + 20, DEF + 6
Weight 10

This is a powerful headgear, and one that is available to every class and any level!

It is probably our most notable custom item, and one that changes several game mechanics. Perhaps most noticeably, in combination with other items, it allows any class to reach 150 DEX and thus achieve Instant Cast!

Allowing instant cast High Wizards? Instant cast Asura Strikes? Are we mad? Nay! Due to TalonRO's overall balance it all works out perfectly to create a fast-paced atmosphere and challenging play styles -- a Player versus Player battle between fully geared players is an awesome sight to behold, and even more awesome to participate in them!

And the best thing is, everyone can obtain one! You can join events, minigames or do achievements to gather Reward Points and buy it that way. Though, you can also decide to go on an epic quest to defeat Lord Kaho once and for all and obtain his precious headgear. If you don't want to do either of these, you can always decide to buy it from other players or by donating to the server. It's all up to you!

What's more, your Kahos can be customized to show any headgear sprite, even headgears your class can't normally wear!

Do you like the Majestic Goat headgear but don't play a swordsman or merchant class? No problem

Donating, questing, MVPing, and you get it. It's pretty often based on what's written on the webpage.

S'only reason I didn't consider the server myself, otherwise I'd have started playing there around 3 weeks ago.

[DeePee]

Mhmm, everyone is able to get one, which is a good thing, no? We have tried to make an extensive reward system to sort of counter the donation items which our server inherited from when we split off from AnimaRO.

That, however, does not mean it's easy to get one. It's still one of the best items you can acquire, so it will certainly take a regular player a while to get one. I can easily say that 70% of the players do not own that item. Most of them don't really need it anyway, since everything can be done without it. There is of course Vanilla WoE and PvP and we also design our events to support both the richer and the less-rich players.

Of course, we don't always like the items that we've inherited from the previous server, but that's just something we have to live with. We still have the no-wipes-ever policy, and just deleting the items or nerfing them to hell is something that's a no-no. Along the years we have attempted to make it obtainable for everyone, keep it fair and still make it difficult to obtain one. I think we've sorta succeeded in this, but there's still a lot of things that can be done to improve this.

We have also been editing such items along the years, though. MVP Cards have gone through some changes and Super Quest Items are next on the agenda. The thing is that changes to such game-impacting items have to be done very carefully. We obviously don't want 50% of the server to quit because we nerfed something to hell So yeah... things have changed along the years and they still will be changing. But the server will of course keep its current fast-paced action.