Okay, I am going to start off by saying I ABSOLUTELY LOVE this game from when it came out to now. I still continue to play the game, and will continue to play it.

The problem I have with Ragnarok is that the BOT problem has hit some sort of critical art. BOTs outnumber players 10:1, and thats being VERY GENEROUS. So when you see 10000 people on, 9000 are bots and 1000 are people. That number is most likely much much lower on the player side. I would even be so bold as to say its <400 real people online and 9600+ bots.

Either way, I have never let the BOTTERs really bug me, they do them and I do me; it is how it has always been with Ragnarok for me. BUT now the BOTTERs are all Kill Stealing.... This makes it very difficult for me to want to continue playing. On Chaos, most BOTs just do their thing, you tap a target, they go away or teleport to somewhere else. Now, theres a group of BOTs and wether you tap'd the target or not, they will attack it and take the loot. AND since there is such an insane amount of BOTs around, it makes it quite difficult to compete with them while leveling and for loots.

I obviously never expect myself to level faster than a BOTTer, unless hes one of those people whose bot gets stuck when trying to go down a level when a Hydra is behind the portal, but even then.... The fact that the new generation of BOTTers all have Kill Steal on is strongly affecting my Review. Theres always going to be a cheat, or a bot, or someway to gimmic an online game, thats fine. But the BOTs are legit affecting my game in a very negative way now because I am not only competing with them for mobs and loot, im also trying to do more damage than they do so I dont lose the mob I tapd.

I do NOT recommend this game to anyone right now in this stage of it's release. I will continue to play Ragnarok until the BOTs bring my favorite game to a point where it's no longer fun. But I do NOT suggest it for anyone else as of right now. The actual player base is small, youre competing with bots, people who bot, and even spammers in town that just sit there all day long without a GM doing anything about it. Like really... They sit in the SAME SPOT ON THE SAME NAME IN THE SAME TOWN FOR AN ENTIRE DAY AND YOU DONT SILENCE THEM? Sure, theyll make a new account and do it again, but Dev's or GM's.... Cmon... Show you care for your game in the slightest.... At least if you silence them it shows you care....

All the Dev's and GMs claim they play this game, and that they love this game. Do they never go to Pront? or Izlude? or ANY of the major cities where these guys spam all day and night? In reality, they dont play the game and they dont care. 6 New Costumes coming out this week, but not a single patch note in 2 months about addressing the BOT issue... FeelsBadMan....

TLDR;
BOTS run the game; Devs only care about making money; I do not recommend, but play it if you want.

Bot infested server and if you do happen to trade with bots(which you will) because there are about 5k bots in the server out of the 7k population, youll get blocked out of the game for as long as it takes them to "investigate" the issue. Dont waste your time/money on this server.

Ragnarok RE:START, a version of a game (released in 2002) that has withstood the test of time. Millions of people have entered the world of Rune Midgard through officially sanctuned servers and the multitude (and never ending supply) of private servers. It has inspiried mini-games, sequels, and inspired other games. (Ragnarok Online, to Ragnarok 2 (after it's second attempt at life), Tree of Life, Journey, etc.) It's a game that has been released in many different languages.



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The question remains, what is Ragnarok RE:START and why is it different than Ragnarok Online?
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Well, I can answer that for you. The style of server that RE:START operates is one that is a mix of the original mechanics and the revised "Renewal" mechanics. It is a mesh of two different worlds of game mechanics and content. This is known as "Revo-Classic." While keeping some of the Renewal content, such as Achievements, and mixing it with classic EXP Tables and monster HP pools. This mesh of "old and new" has brought to light a healthy and cohesive version of the game that players (old and new) can enjoy together. Be prepared though. You have difficult challenges laid out before you that you must endure to be at the top of the food chain, be it PVP, MVP, or WoE.

ALSO! It's a restart of the story. We are starting the game over with Episode 1, the beginning. Through monthly updates that will progress the game up to the latest episode, we as players will be granted the opportunity to experience the evolution of this time-tested game from the start. The Re:start.

What this also includes is class releases. Endgame classes upon launch are currently Knight, Hunter, Blacksmith, Priest, Assassin, and Wizard. We currently do not know the release dates for the secondary classes to the starting line-up, but what we do know is that the third tier classes won't be available any time soon (High Priest, Creator, etc.). Nor will the Renewal classes (Rune Knight, Warlock, etc.). We have no ETA for the other classes, either (Gunslinger, Ninja, or Taekwon.). But, we can expect to see them as time passes.



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So, what's my review?
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I've been playing this for almost two weeks now(Headstart and pre-Steam launch), and being someone that has played Ragnarok Online from the early days where the game was actually a subscription based title, I can confidently say that this version of the game has rekindled my love for it. I have never hated Ragnarok Online, nor it's grindy /GRINDY/ gameplay. I'm probably in a minority when I say that I thoroughly enjoy the grind. It's brought a new outlook upon the game as a whole. You level faster than you did back in the old days, but slower than you would on Renewal (or so it feels to me). There's a rebalance of experience where you can hit job 50 relatively quickly. The flipside of making it easier to obtain is that the grind to 99 slows at the highest of levels. Drop rates are similar to classic, where you can spend several days farming a (for example) a Pupa Card and only see one.

The grind is a turnoff for a lot of players, as most gamers these days typically want to be rewarded for their efforts early one. There's nothing wrong with that, and I can relate to it. However, when you get involved with Ragnarok Online Classic and Re:start, you have to expect the grind and understand how challenging it can be.

If you can make it passed the extensive grind, Ragnarok Re:start is a lot of fun. Partying with up to 11 other people (for a total of 12 person parties) and sharing experience amongst everyone is one of the things that I throroughly enjoy. You don't have to be apart of an expert team to succeed either. There are challenges at the higher levels that do require some coordination, but if you party with people through the first half of your experience, you learn tricks and skills that will help you succeed. No doubt you will also meet people who share similar interests and others who quickly become friends.

The community in Ragnarok has always been a big draw for me. In hindsight, RO has always been a social game. Guilds, groups of friends, parties. They are all vital aspects when you enter the world of Rune Midgard.

While some things that I particularly enjoy are currently not available, like War of Emperium (Guild vs Guild castle seige gameplay) and classes like Rogue, I am able to find other ways to find delight in my day-to-day routine. Preparing for WoE (which is soon to come out) isn't a bad way to play.



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Pros
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+ A new way to experience an ever-evolving game.
+ Social Gameplay
+ Challenging & Rewarding. (Nothin' feels as good as when that card drops, man.)
+ Class Diversity
+ Re-balancing
+ Non-gamebreaking Cash shop
+ Story Progression
+ Active Support Staff, whom respond and take into consideration the playerbase's voice/opinions.
+ Excellent Community.
+ Potato Computers can run it.
+ Graphics. (Yes, this is in both Pros and Cons.)



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Cons
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+ Bots. They're forever going to be an issue.
+ Lag. I personally don't experience it a lot, but it is there.
+ Learning Curve. This is fixed with tools like, Ragi.al, Re:Start Spawn locations map, and Ratemyserver.net
+ Grindy. /VERY/ grindy. Be prepared. You've been warned.
+ /CURRENT/ End-Game limited to MVP Farming. This will be fixed as WoE and new Episodes roll out.
+ Graphics. I put this here tenatively, as I enjoy the 2D/3D style. However, it's very early 2000 design and the game has never experienced a graphical overhaul. If you don't mind sprites and stylized 3D enviroments, you're good.

It seem like 14 years of experience wasn't enough to learn how to manage a damn RO server

Let me first start by saying that I'm a long time RO player since Open Beta 2 back in 2003. I absolutely love this game.

I don't think it's fair that so many people give it negative reviews based on latency. While it is a problem at times, I find that I haven't been effected by it much at all. I guess it just depends on what maps you are on.

Revistting a game that I've been playing since childhood brings back a flurry of nostalgia. Seeing how the game once was when only 2-1 classes where out, and expericing leveling all over again with a fresh start has been a truely fun experience with my friends.

There are about six of us that play at once, and it's a blast.

Glad to see Gravity is trying to keep this game alive, and hope the population grows to what it once was at it's prime.

Without management it can never work.

The other reviews complaining about bots aren't kidding - but they're off by several orders of magnitude. Back in the heyday of iRO, there were sometimes like 15,000 players on Chaos (server), but the novice training area would have like 5-10 people in it because that's just people starting who aren't allowed into the main game yet...

In here there are like 30 players PER SCREEN there. You literally can't even play the game because you'll never make it out of the tutorial because there are swarms of bots so thick you can't even see what is going on. I've never seen such a total meltdown in an MMO.

I can't recommend this game because I can't even reach the game part.

This game is great and nostalgic, however, with over 5,000 players playing on the same server it can become quite laggy. Over populated maps and leveling areas, and too many shops and players in town that it's hard to locate the NPCs on the map in the cities/towns. It can lagspike to a point where it can cause a death in a middle of a fight or when you are kiting mobs. There is currently one server running at the moment. I'm unwilling to return to this game until it has been addressed.

this game is for the nostalgia of players who started around 15 years back on ragnarok online. It is fun and you will love the game. As part of the bots they were always there and will be there. but the GM team has worked hard and banned a lot of them the population went down from 8k to 4k within a week thanks to the constant bot hunt!

the game is very much playable and enjoyable.

The thought of covering all of the old ground in this game in the "good ole days" was very appealing to me as I've probably sunk 3000~4000 hours in this game over the years (started with the xmas dungeon getting added and quit shortly after renewal)

I would love to recommend this game but, there's very little insentive to play with how overly hacked this game is. The amount of bots strip mining areas of everything makes getting to level 50 difficult. Maybe in a few months when the launch hype dies down there'll be more reason to play as I imagine the bots will have found higher level niche content to strip mine that will hopefully be less intrusive... granted if you want to bot and you want to buy zenny, you'll have everything you need in a rather broken game :)

I think this RE:START needs to restart :p

Some of these negative reviews seem to just have more of a vendetta than anything. I have played RO off and on for years having had a pretty large hiatus recently. This version of the game gives a lot of players the chance to start playing at a time where there are not incredibly OP concepts.

The starter area is pretty helpful but easy. To the guy complaining about chon chons in the first area, no idea if he even played. If you equip your weapon you will kill them. It starts you with a really good weapon to help get new players going... so yea. Not sure what hes talking about.

I also have not experienced any lag or server issues. I am in Kentucky.

The game is less pay to win than the main servers which is nice, but still has a VIP which can help level.

Overall if you like dungeon crawlers and "grindy" games then this is a really good game. I happen to love grinding in open world, non theme park. Hunt in an area that drops a rare item and you might get lucky and find yourself ahead.

Give it a shot.