heRO 2.0

[noah18cars]

Hello heRO!
I have been playing on and off on this server for about 6 years, and let me just start by saying that I absolutely love this server. I really think the hatter was a great idea, I love the wing system, and I can confidently say that ToH and LW vs LoA vs Apoc vs etc WoE during the server's heyday were some of the best experiences of my life. I love heRO, it has a unique feeling that doesn't exist anywhere else, on any other game or server.

Undeniably the quality of ToH, WoE, and the general size of the community has slowly but steadily waned to where it is today. This isn't a blame post. It's expected that the player-base will shrink over time in a game like this as the server becomes over-saturated with cards, gears, and zeny. The GMs are wonderful and no part of the community is to blame. Still, I think it would be a shame for us to resign ourselves to the slow death of RO just yet. I believe there is a real chance we can give heRO the jolt it needs to be the true leader of modern RO. We can start a new chapter for this server where new and great memories like the old ToH ones can be born.

Let me preface my idea by saying I have no idea how the financing behind this server works. I don't know how much it costs Pandora to run this server or how much she gets in donations. Leaving money aside for the time being, I believe that the opening of a new server identical to heRO, but with all zeny and characters erased would provide a huge jolt in player interest and solve most of the problems currently plaguing this server. I'm not talking about a wipe of the server that exists, I understand that's impractical. However, if we were able to finance an experimental project where we launched a brand new heRO separate from the one that exists, that would motivate (at least me as a veteran) many people to really start playing here again seriously. I've seen a few launch projects for RO in the past, and they were all huge when they started but pretty quickly tapered off. However, I believe that the features heRO offers are great enough that this jolt could keep the community alive for a long time to come.

Now, if money is the biggest factor holding my idea back, then couldn't we start some kind of community donation pot to fund it? A pot for donations specifically to this end? This is not meant to be a whining thread so please keep any flaming and "RO ded gaem" to yourself. This is merely meant to be a discussion over the practicality of an idea that I would really really really really like to see happen.
Think about it!

[The Legendary Joe]

I don't know about this. I've seen a lot of servers attempt to have multiple servers, (like having a high rate, and a low rate), and those tend to have people side with one or the other.

In addition, it may boost it for a while, but those servers often fail later on. People tend to be fiercely loyal to the one they're on, and any suggestions on the new one would be, well like the US Congress, as people would scream favoritism for anything unique done to one side or the other.

A lot of the people who are still playing (myself included) have spent years gearing themselves up on this server, and I myself wouldn't want to part with all of that. (So many cards, so many shattered gears at the refiner, Countless number of monsters destroyed). With a new server, you'd have to do all of that yourselves. There would be NOONE to buy from, seeing as how the economy would have to restart as well.


Though, it would be nice to get the /taekwon, /blacksmith, and /alchemist lists updated so we're not swamped with inactives, who still dominate the leaderboards. I feel overall, it just wouldn't be worth it.

[GM-Pandora]

I can see this suggestion stems from good intention and anything suggested to help heRO is welcome.

Without commenting directly for now, I just wanna share a personal experience and add some tech details.

Before we started heRO, we were playing on another server and getting quite good on it (we had a guild composed of a core group that knew each other in real life). They decided to open a "new" server, same rate, custom gear a bit more balanced. They stopped working on the older server, most people moved to the new one and the old died. We decided not to move to the new one but to start our own instead.

As someone who frequents rms and lurks around, in the past I've seen server wipe, for some it helped, for others it killed them. heRO having a lot of loyal veteran players I don't think it would suit us.

I've thought about opening a mid rate before (Casual heRO) but opted not to as I didn't wanna spread the community thin into 2 servers.

The computer/connection heRO is on could support more servers if needed. The ressources are not shared, the whole computer is ours.

Donations currently don't fully cover the server costs, I pay the rest myself.

Feedback welcome, it never hurts to discuss as long as it's civilised.

[Menace651]

I agree with Joe and Pandora. RO is an old game. People who are well established on a server usually dont want to start all over again on another. Although, I wouldn't be opposed to a high rate renewal HeRO server just for people to mess around with 3rd classes and renewal mechanics.

[noah18cars]

The Legendary Joe Wrote:A lot??of the people who are still playing (myself included) have spent years gearing themselves up on this server,??and I myself wouldn't want to part with all of that. (So many cards, so many shattered gears at the refiner, Countless number of monsters destroyed). With a new server, you'd have to do all of that yourselves.

This part genuinely surprises me. Considering how small the WoE is here right now, doesn't it feel kind of like the items that you've gathered for so long aren't serving any purpose anyway? Or are you a person who enjoys mostly PvM? If so, wouldn't the old server staying up still allow you to enjoy PvM with your old gears? I was thinking that veterans, especially ones who like WoE, would jump at the opportunity to start all over again and have a real challenge. Isn't that why the biggest guilds decided just defending a castle forever was boring and went to break all the other castles ecos a while back? I've never been as filthy rich as you though so I guess I can't really speak on this as well as you can.

The Legendary Joe Wrote:There would??be NOONE to buy from, seeing as how the economy would have to restart as well.

On every new server I've played on this was the most trilling part! I think one of the most beautiful parts of Ragnarok is the purely player-run economy, and bartering for items and the rapidly changing supply and demand is what makes RO for RO to me. In fact, the stagnant economy is one of the most frustrating things about current heRO for me. Am I the only one who feels like this?

GM-Pandora Wrote:They decided to open a "new" server, same rate, custom gear a bit more balanced. They stopped working on the older server, most people moved to the new one and the old died.

This was my main concern honestly. I have no idea how you would balance the appeal of the two servers without dividing the economy. I myself would be all in favor of a total wipe, but I'm also poor so I'm very biased in that regard. I understand that approach is completely impractical for people like Joe. I was hoping to start a discussion here just to toss around a few ideas amongst ourselves to see if something like heRO 2.0 was even possible.

GM-Pandora Wrote:The computer/connection heRO is on could support more servers if needed. The ressources are not shared, the whole computer is ours.

Donations currently don't fully cover the server costs, I pay the rest myself.

Do you have a rough estimate on how much money exactly it would take to run a relatively large ad campaign on some kind of 'renewal', and then just run the new server as an experiment for like 2 months? Do you think a lot of people would come back if you sent out an email to everybody registered to the forum about it? I know it's not possible right now but I'm still thinking about if it could work somehow.. so I'll keep thinking and posting here for a bit I suppose.

[Aaronock]

I'd play the crap out of a renewal based heRO server. :<

[The Legendary Joe]

noah18cars Wrote:

The Legendary Joe Wrote:A lot??of the people who are still playing (myself included) have spent years gearing themselves up on this server,??and I myself wouldn't want to part with all of that. (So many cards, so many shattered gears at the refiner, Countless number of monsters destroyed). With a new server, you'd have to do all of that yourselves.

This part genuinely surprises me. Considering how small the WoE is here right now, doesn't it feel kind of like the items that you've gathered for so long aren't serving any purpose anyway? Or are you a person who enjoys mostly PvM? If so, wouldn't the old server staying up still allow you to enjoy PvM with your old gears? I was thinking that veterans, especially ones who like WoE, would jump at the opportunity to start all over again and have a real challenge. Isn't that why the biggest guilds decided just defending a castle forever was boring and went to break all the other castles ecos a while back? I've never been as filthy rich as you though so I guess I can't really speak on this as well as you can.

My wealth has never been monetary. In fact, I usually spend what money I got trying to upgrade my things and get replacements for all the gears/ores I waste in the process.??I rarely have more than 2m on any one account in zeny.

But yea, I've never been a big fan of woe, or pvp, though a lot of the updates I've seen with WoE points does seem to make it a lot more accessible than the days I did woe. But with the WoE people jumping the ship to go to the shiny new server,??all of the oldies who want to party and have fun with all the gears would get left all alone.??Even fewer bragi's and SP batteries, and wizards and priests to go to those parties with the hax loots and exp everyone wants.

Basically one of the fun points (the parties) of PVM would basically mean??stay here and rot or burn your home and family and start again.

noah18cars Wrote:

The Legendary Joe Wrote:There would??be NOONE to buy from, seeing as how the economy would have to restart as well.

On every new server I've played on this was the most trilling part! I think one of the most beautiful parts of Ragnarok is the purely player-run economy, and bartering for items and the rapidly changing supply and demand is what makes RO for RO to me. In fact, the stagnant economy is one of the most frustrating things about current heRO for me. Am I the only one who feels like this?

Stagnant economy is one thing,??lack of supply for a demand is another. =x I don't mind paying for something, but it does get frustrating??when you kill like 18 k of something and still don't get a card. It's even more frustrating when you're advertising that you're buying it the whole time and noone has any.

Aaronock Wrote:I'd play the crap out of a renewal based heRO server. :<

Renewal does interest me, but all the new stuff confuses me. Though I would want an Amistr based Eleanor~

[noah18cars]

As far as I can tell the party scene here is already pretty dead. The only parties I ever see happening are DG parties where everybody just sits in a corner and waits for their lure to bring them exp. Is that really a great PvM experience? Perhaps if the playerbase for the new server spiked the older one would benefit from old players coming back and wanting to play with their old accounts a bit?

As far as supply meeting demand, that's just something that takes a bit of time. Considering how hardcore a lot of RO players are I'd say supply would rise pretty quickly, no?

[Cat-Alin]

Quote:Renewal does interest me, but all the new stuff confuses me. Though I would want an Amistr based Eleanor~

Renewal has its problems. Coming from iRO and playing on that server, I do like the fact of 3rd Jobs and their sprites, but the leveling - while easier with the Eden Quests - is bit "boring".

The player is somewhat forced down a line of certain monster they have to, or simply just can, fight at certain levels before moving on. That's a nice thing I liked about heRO and the pre-renewal server. If I kill, like, a Muka with my mage that is rather new, I get about 20% EXP from it, rather than just 1 - 3 % or maybe 5% EXP I'd get from a renewal Muka. And that only if I'm within 15 Levels of its level.

I have nothing against renewal, it does have nice points to it. But the leveling can get very boring. And the forced monster maps end up heavily used, making it harder for players to maybe even find a monster that is currently not being attacked by another player.
And in iRO, parties aren't that big happening outside of TIs.

C-A

[ChaosPrince]

no wipes, it's against HeRO's values.
If the time and effort people put in simply gets erased, why would they start from the scratch here and not on somewhere else?

I can be certain HeRO will loose more players if this ever happened.