RO zeny, Ragnarok online zeny

This is a serious thread, created in hope that a GM may take some, if not all, of these ideas into consideration. We have kicked this can around before, but separately and individually. Let this be the thread where we take all the pieces and put them together, creating a course of action to be presented to the GMs by us, the customers and loyal fans of the game.

[Updates are displayed below The Game Plan]

The Game Plan

Lets face it, the game is in bad shape. Population is at the lowest point I've ever seen in my history of the game. Service for the game has diminished to a poor standard to say lightly. And the once loyal customers are now questioning the game they love dear...

Do not get me wrong... other MMOs offer better graphics, better support, 3D environments, and a list of other things that are appealing. However, Ragnarok Online has something charming about it. It has a great job system, fun atmosphere, smaller world, more connected player base, fun WoE concept and great PvP, unique 2D animation in a 3D world, and etc. So the choice to play RO rather than a flashy new MMO is really because the game itself is just, at it's heart, a great game. I'm sure that is something we can all agree on, no? So, here is what really needs to happen for Ragnarok Online to survive in my opinion...

1) Merger

No, Not just Iris into Loki or Chaos... ONE COMPLETE and TOTAL merger to form ONE Premium server. I know... there is resentment about that... let me explain... Lets first talk about Iris. Why doesn't Iris "want" a merger? They have commonly said they enjoy the "small" community feel to it... they like the smallness of it. Well, here is my feedback for that... the way things are continuing... your going to be playing single player pretty soon. If you want to play a single player RPG, then go buy yourself a copy of Dragon Age. You need to sacrifice your "small" world in order to save the larger world as a whole, we are ALL going to make sacrifices, so just agree to disagree and know it must be done.

So now that Iris is settled, what is the big deal about Loki and Chaos? God items? That has been the only real reason I've heard as to not merge the two servers. Let me say this... yes, god items will increase if the servers merge together, but so will the population. If you have a 10 gallon fish tank and you pour 1 gallon of apple juice into the tank (lets say apple juice represents god items) then you have a 10 gallon tank, 9 gallons of water and 1 gallon of apple juice. Ok? That is one server. Now lets say that the servers merge together, lets see what happens... So now you take the one gallon of apple juice from one 'server' and pour it into the other server. So now there is more apple juice in the one tank right? Wrong! yes, there is now 2 gallons of apple juice in the one tank... but you need to remember that that is no longer a 10 gallon tank either, it is now a 20 gallon tank! So the amount of apple juice is still the same in each tank! 10% in this case. So yes, there will be more god items... but there will also be double the population so does it really matter? No, it does not. yes its more complicated than that, but remember Iris is giving up their smallness to save the game so Loki and Chaos have to give up a little of their "power" in order to save the game as well.

In Summary: Now that we have settled all the hard aches surrounding mergers... Boom! Iris, Loki, and Chaos combined forces to form... Odin Server! We have ONE OFFICIAL PREMIUM server. It will be easier for the GMs the handle with there only being one server now instead of three. Which means perhaps we'd see them in game more often and maybe they'd even host events. I mean hey, they are not balancing between three servers anymore, they just have one now. Which should also make maintenance easier in theory... no? since you are only fixing or updating one server rather than all three? You guys still with me? Just hang on... So Odin server is great, population is decent (a little above the target population that Doddler posted), things seem to be going good. GMs make a few appearances since they only have the one server to take care of meaning they can actually be on it all the time instead of moving around and changing servers... Prontera looks great, venders are up and down the whole strip like the good old days, parties are being sought out, new guilds and alliances and being formed... a new era in RO is beginning... and a bright one too!

2) Valkyrie Server

Valkyrie needs to be redone. First of all, the bot problem really does need to be taken care of. But more importantly, Valk should not be a permanent home as it is for most people now. Valkyrie should literally be a free trial to the game upon which the player must then decided to move to the premium server or continue with no ability to move forward. Here is how it can work, every new person wanting to try the game out will register an account and will be sent to Valkyrie. Each new recruit will be able to play on the Valk server until he/she reaches level 50 (BoBs not sold!). This will allow the new recruit the experience more of the game and maybe meet a few people and this is better than the previous 15 days or 24 hours trials (which ever came first) because then you're not racing against the clock and instead can just enjoy the game and see what it has to offer and really get a feel for it. of course their will be NPCs saying how premium servers unlock pvp and woe and such to let the nooby know that there is even more beyond this small sample world he/she is in. There will not be high level dungeons or WoE or pvp or any such "premium" events. Instead, the new player is just introduced to the basic, noob RO. Which is how it should be and how most of us old players (loyal) were brought up in and isn't that the type of player we want to be creating? Long lasting supporters and not Troy babies? Anyway... Once the nooby hits level 50, he will be granted some type of item which will allow him to transfer over to the Premium servers and give his account 1 month of prepaid game time. IF the nooby decides to stay on valk, he can. However, the level cap is say 80, and all the end game content does not exist as mentioned above. This would create REAL incentive to move to the premium servers unlike the joke incentives we have now.

In Summary: Valk is redone to where a newbie registers an account and is sent to valk server. He/she has all the time in the world to explore the vast noob land of Pront and Geffen and Payon and OLD Morroc... include that too... remember, new players don't want to come into a game that's already half way into the story... so give them the old Morroc to explore... anyway, they do this and kill and quest and such until they are lvl 50 (in whatever job they choose). They are then instructed to see a certain NPC to revive their "diploma" or whatever item that will change their account, once used, into a premium account with 1 month of paid game time. The diploma will also grant the nooby a special item of some sort for transferring over. If the nooby doesn't want to pay or doesn't have the money yet or wants to see more of the game, he/she can still explore the world of valk for as long as they want but they will not be able to proceed past lvl 80.

3) Advertisement

Get the game on the shelves at WalMart... BestBuy... Target... make a commercial, if MapleStory can do it... I know you can too Gravity! Advertise on Facebook, Myspace, etc. Host events around the country, and such. Make more media coverage... Have a referral program, if I can get 5 new people to come the the premium servers using a code I give them, I get X item or X amount of zeny. There is a billion ways to advertise, some cost alot of money, some are free.

Conclusion:

So, my plan as a full circle and it can work. Advertise so people will be interested and join. They join on the new valk and see how cool it is and want to see the extra content and level more so they join the premium Odin server, which now has a good population. Oh snap, since premium is having fun again, we are happy and saying good things about it making people want to join which loops around back into advertising... and so the process goes untill Odin becomes full and a new server is made... and then another... and then another... but this can only really work if the three steps and followed. I know not everything will be agreed on and something you might flat out hate, but think about the over all picture, does this not seem like it would be feasible?

*edit*

Also, I realize there are more 'reasons' to not merge, I just listed the most commonly said ones. But seriously, if your going to cling to your server identity that your worth seeing the game nosedive into the ground... then... idunno. maybe before the merge everyone will get a unique hat to tell what server they came from. Only people from Loki with get X hat and people from Chaos will get X hat and people from old valk will get X hat and iris will recieve X hat. This way you can tell the old members from the new member when new recruits start showing up but also you can have something to say "hey, I used to be on loki! this is my history! " while your enjoying a fully populated Odin server... that's fair no?

*edit**edit*

to clarify, Valk as it is now will also merge into Odin Server before it is revamped.