An In-Depth Review of CardCaptor RO (CC-RO)

Started by Mr_F, Aug 31, 2022, 08:06 PM

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Mr_F

Hey everyone, and thanks for reading. I wanted to write a more in-depth review on CardCaptor RO since I can barely find any reviews or discussions on it despite being >3 years old at this point. After the great RO reckoning a few months back I remember someone said in my old server that now would be the best time to play RO servers with "unique" features since they'll be the most unreplicatable if the private server ban does eventually get enforced. I've been playing this server for about 3 months now. The main draw of CCRO will definitely be in the card collecting aspect; cards don't traditionally drop on the server, instead they get added to an album that passively grants stats and abilities accountwide to your account.

Some more background info on the server: CCRO is a pre-trans server split into 2 servers, legacy and seasonal. The legacy server is the permanent server where nothing gets wiped, I think the rates are 5/5/5. The seasonal server is the more popular of the two, with some unique features. Firstly the seasonal server gets wiped every 3 months, and the amount of cards you collect per season will determine the amount of rewards and perks you start with during the next season. Rates on the seasonal server are doubled (10/10/10) compared to the legacy server with a further 50% boost (15/15/15) during the last month. I think the last month of this season is slated to start on 9/5. The main draw of the seasonal server, and what I believe makes it more popular than the legacy server, is that once you reach 400 cards in a season your account will be granted a guaranteed non-duplicate "trans class" costume. The costume will grant trans-class visuals and additional bonuses to whichever pre-trans class of that costume you get, and will be permanently carried through to your legacy account and any subsequent seasonal server resets. For example the Whitesmith outfit will allow your Blacksmith to crit with mammo and boost stats from forged weapons.

Another important detail about the server is their alternate form of currency in repeated cards and card coins. Any subsequent dupe card that drops will be converted into a repeated card, which can be used as currency to buy a few certain other cards from non-spawnable mobs, OCAs, or converted into another currency called card coins, at a 2:1 ratio. Card coins are an important aspect of the server since they can be used to buy restat/reskills, enriched elu/ori, bubblegum/battle manuals, and other useful consumables. Since cards don't "exist" on the server to slot into gear, there instead is a rune system where you can purchase rune boxes that will grant you random runes. These runes are essentially the same as cards and you can slot them into gear by using an npc in town.

The rest of this review will be my subjective opinion.

Pros:

  • Emphasis on world map exploration.
    This is THE biggest draw of the server to me. I think RO has some amazing map designs and some extremely unique maps with pretty BGMs. Unfortunately a lot of that is wasted since after 20 years we all know which maps to farm on to optimize gear/material drops and exp. I won't say CCRO completely mitigates this issue but they at least encourage players to go on weird maps like Yuno Field 7 to hunt Drillers or Umbala Field 2 to hunt Chocos once per season. There are also daily events where treasure chests spawn randomly throughout the overworld that grant extra card coins and potentially OBB/OPB/OCAs as well as a "Map of the Day" feature where exp and drop rate on 4 random maps are doubled per day.
  • Account Progression.
    For a low rate, it doesn't feel like a low rate because you can level and test builds fairly quickly. Several cards grant additional exp bonuses so the rates are a little deceptive. Furthermore passive card effects are extremely balanced and not overpowered at all, i.e. GTB card won't grant you magic immunity, but boost magic res by 10%. You can feel your account slowly become stronger after collecting cards and after reaching 400 cards your characters can feel comparable to trans-classes in terms of stats.
  • Staff availability.
    Staff are pretty online on discord and are very helpful and unbiased. I always see them answering questions and helping new players troubleshoot software issues. No complaints.
  • Inconsequential/Nonexistent donation system.
    While there is an option to donate for card coins in game, the server doesn't really incentivize or push you to do so, since card coins are readily available or easily obtained in game. This means with just effort and time you can easily catch up to anybody on the server.

Cons:

  • Playerbase/playerbase count.
    Not a fault of the server, but having a low playerbase means not-so-great in game economy and difficulty organizing parties to tackle difficult content. This is also compounded by the fact that there is a fair split of NA/SA players as well as European players from my experience. This forces you to hunt everything you need by yourself or dual client and organize parties way in advance to tackle difficult mvps/content i.e. ET, Randgris, Ifrit, Bio3. This can be somewhat mitigated with dual clienting which I will mention in a later point.
  • Server stagnation.
    I think this is the biggest con about this server for me. If you have hunted a difficult mvp in previous seasons there is little incentive to do so ever again, since the effort is not worth the miniscule impermanent stat gains. For server vets, that means they'll be less inclined to join newer players in hunting mvps. Furthermore the past several seasons has had nothing change between seasons, so the mechanics have stayed the same the past 2 years. I believe the server definitely has potential and and the ideas to make some really unique events or seasons. For example there seemed to be an event during the first season where players were forced to only play 1st class characters with limited bonuses. There has been a lot of great feedback on discord that I haven't seen acknowledged and I hope the staff/devs take some of the suggestions to heart.

Caveats:

  • Limited dual-clienting allowed.
    I think this rule limits players to 2 instances of the game opened at a time and no more. Even so if you're a purist this may be a dealbreaker. There are a lot of in-game priest/sage slaves in town.
  • KS, Autoloot and other QOL features.
    I know a lot of low rate fans prefer the more hardcore grind aspect of RO. The server does enable @autoloot and other conveniences like @checkboss so be aware of that. KSing is also allowed on the server, but from my experience unless you're farming something unique you likely won't get KSed.

If I think of anything else to comment on I may include it later. Thanks again if you read this far, and if you guys have any questions I'd be happy to answer them! I really do enjoy the server and I think it has a lot of potential, so I hope this review encourages some new players to give the server a whirl.