Clarifications on Changes and Deviations for New and Old Players

Info

This page list the changes made by the Staff Team to oRO server mechanics and database, and the deviations this server has from other Classic/Pre-Renewal servers.

Why deviations?

First of all, it is important to address the fact that there is no such thing as "what it was like in official servers", because there was no consensus among them. Someone gave them some freedom to do as they please, and to introduce new towns in a different order, especially during the global project.

Also, some changes are introduced out of order. Why?
It is important to establish that there is progression, and there are balance changes.
We try to introduce all balance changes, and save the actual progression for new episodes. This is why you can use Cloaking away from walls. That was meant to balance the skill, not to be new content.
Add to that the fact that it is often very hard to find information on the state of official servers at that time, and to decide what was meant to fix a bug, balance the game, or properly add new content.

- Mathy, Game Master

Drop changes

Great Nature
Drop from Sleeper changed from 100% to 50%.
Royal Jelly
Drop from Enchanted Peach Tree changed from 50% to 20%.
Aloe Leaflet
Drop from Kappa changed from 100% to 69%. Drop from Grove changed from 75% to 45%.

Incubus

Mastela Fruit
Drop rate changed from 75% to 45%.
Diamond Ring
Drop rate changed from 7.5% to 4.5%.
Gold Ring
Drop rate changed from 25% to 10%.

Succubus

Mastela Fruit
Drop rate changed from 75% to 45%.
Diamond Ring
Drop rate changed from 12.5% to 5%.
Blue Potion
Drop rate from 50% to 30%.

Violy

Royal Jelly
Drop rate changed from 70% to 42%.
Violin[4]
Drop rate changed from 25% to 10%.

Fake Angel

Angel Wing
Drop rate changed from 70% to 42%.
False Angel Wing
Drop rate changed from 25% to 10%.
False Heaven Ring
Drop rate changed from 25% to 10%.

Reasoning

One of the praises we get on RMS is that, while our economy is far from being comparable to that of huge servers, it has reasonable prices on items. RO has an inherent inflation problem, because anyone can introduce zeny into the economy by selling stuff to NPCs, and we try our best to offer ways to sink that zeny. But still, sometimes we have to cut it at the source.

- Mathy, Game Master

Item changes

Censor Bar

Frog Hat

Old Card Album

Orc Archer Bow

Censor Bar
Its effects (Curse resistance +5%, MDEF +1, HIT -5) are deactivated in the current episode.

Reasoning

This item is implemented with the Lighthalzen episode and was introduced by mistake at Server Launch. Since we don't mind its visual usage, we removed its effects until it's officially implemented.

- Mathy, Game Master
Frog Hat
The damage bonus (Increases physical and magical damage againts Insect monster by 12%) was removed.

Reasoning

The item is part of Renewal and was introduced by mistake at Server Launch. Since we don't mind its visual usage, we removed its bonus.

- Kreuzbube, Developer
Old Card Album
This item doesn't give cards from the Poring Family Bosses .

Reasoning

Those cards were removed from the Old Card Album in official servers around mid-2008, before Renewal, and are thus seen as balance changes to pre-RE era.

- Haru, Admin
Orc Archer Bow
Not implemented yet.

Reasoning

We think this weapon is too strong for the current episode. But it will be implemented in the future.

- Mathy, Game Master

Experience deviations

Anubis

Anubis
Anubis have their EXP output limited at 3x.

Map deviations

Guild Dungeon Access

Dungeon Change

Guild Dungeon Access
Refer to Guild Dungeon Access for complete entry.
Non-contested castles' dungeons can be accessed by paying a 200,000z fee.

Reasoning

We enabled access to those maps to allow them to be farmed on, even when their realms are off. And also, to have more PvP action, as a by-product.

- Mathy, Game Master
Dungeon Change
- Thanatos Tower 12F (tha_t12) is not a safe map to log out on.
- Monsters in The Ruins of Juperos F1 (juperos_01) will teleport away from the platform of the warp to the second floor.
Reasoning
juperos_01

This is to prevent clogging this platform by players that were mobbing the entire map up there, which is not okay according the Terms of Service.

- Kreuzbube, Developer

Name changes

Alphabetical Order

ABDFHKLMNOPRSWOther

Old Name	New Name
Abyssmal Knight	Abyssal Knight
Anacondaq	Anaconda
Andre cards	Ant cards (Ant Egg, Ant Larva, Ant, Soldier Ant)
Arc Angeling, ArcAngeling	Archangeling

Old Name	New Name
Byeollungum	Byeol-ungeom

Old Name	New Name
Deleter variants	Earth Deleter and Sky Deleter
Demon Pungus	Demon Fungus
Dispell	Dispel

Old Name	New Name
Fireblend	Firebrand

Old Name	New Name
Hatii	Hati

Old Name	New Name
Kapha	Kappa

Old Name	New Name
Louyang	Luoyang

Old Name	New Name
Majoruros	Majouros
Minorous	Minouros
Morroc	Morocc
Mysteltainn	Mistilteinn

Old Name	New Name
Nifflheim	Niflheim

Old Name	New Name
Ogretooth	Tyrfing

Old Name	New Name
Peco Peco, PecoPeco	Pecopeco
Petite variants	Earth Petite and Sky Petite
Picky variant with an eggshell	Eggshell Picky

Old Name	New Name
Rachel	Rael

Old Name	New Name
Seal	Fur Seal

Old Name	New Name
Whisper variant that doesn't drop a card	Mutter

Old Name	New Name
Moskovia mobs	Correct Russian names

Reasoning

We look into the mythos behind RO, and fix what was broken in translation.
For instance, Hatii doesn't exist. kRO had a Hāti, which was named after the wolf Hati. Then jRO wrongly added it as Hatī, and iRO correctly adapted that made-up name into Hatii. We follow the correct name, which is Hati or Mánagarm (and not simply Garm, which is another wolf).

Also, Moskovia maps and mobs have been fixed to match the correct Russian names. Thanks Adela for the help!

Obvious typos and other minor mistakes have also been fixed:
There is no such thing as Dispell in the English language, the correct word is Dispel.
Kapha was actually meant to be Kappa. City names follow the ones in the original manhwa. The fan Wiki gives some insight on what the original idea behind the name was. For instance, Rachel was actually meant to be Rael, and Luoyang is simply fixing the misspelling that created Louyang, which has a different meaning.
Fireblend doesn't exist. It's obviously meant to be the item Firebrand, available in many games, and present in the dictionary.

- Mathy, Game Master

War of Emperium deviations

Castles

Multi-clienting

Costume Hats

Castles
During WoE, only TWO castle are active. The active castles are chosen at the beginning of every month by a rotation algorithm.

Reasoning

Official servers have about 20 castles open each WoE, but we obviously can't have that many (or they'd be too easy). We had to set the limit somewhere from 0 to that amount. Originally, it used to be 1 castle, but there was demand for more so we increased it to 2. The ideal number of castles given a population is a subjective thing and we don't have a formula to determine that number.

- Mathy, Game Master
Multi-clienting
Not possible in WoE.

Reasoning

We restrict the number of clients to one per person/Master Account to avoid that the guilds that hold a castle have an unfair advantage. For example, by keeping spare characters in the emp room that they can use when one dies, or having multiple Loki's Veil couples without anyone actually playing them.

- Haru, Admin
Costume Hats
In WoE maps, costume hats won't work.

Reasoning

Information is important, this is why we think it's necessary to know whether your enemy is wearing an ATK or reduction gear.

- Aloe, Game Master

Mechanics deviations

Monster aggro AI

Party EXP improvements

Same sex marriage

Rank points decay

Monster aggro AI
As soon as monsters miss aggro (because of hiding for example), they will try to split, so that there won't be 2 or more monsters on one cell (official behavior).

Reasoning

If this behavior wouldn't be like this, places like bio3 and other places would have big possibilities of exploiting the way Monsters stack on one cell. It doesn't only affect monsters but also other entities in the game. Meaning, that in general, if a cell is occupied, it shouldn't be possible to move there normally (let's not talk about Backsliding here).
In general, we ourselves would enjoy it, if we could walk to any cell, even if occupied, but there are just too many possible exploits of it, so we decided that it's better to keep this mechanism how it is at the moment.
Also we don't exactly know how Aegis (Official Server Software for the game) behaved back then, but we are trying to get a version of Aegis that gives us more insight on that, so that we can copy the original behavior.

- Kreuzbube, Developer
Party EXP improvements
Parties with members from different Master Accounts (meaning nobody in the party is "multi-clienting") get an additional EXP bonus, depending on the party size.

Reasoning

This is a custom feature of Arcadia Online, to encourage "legit" parties.

- Mathy, Game Master
Same sex marriage
Custom oRO feature that allows marrying 2 characters of the same sex.

Reasoning

I personally think that restricting same sex marriage was a way for publishers to stay away from the aims of certain parents, at the time RO was released.

- Mathy, Game Master
Rank points decay
Every first day of each month, blacksmith, alchemist and taekwon players (active or not) will have their rank points reduced by 2% or at least 1 point (unless the player has 0 points already).

Reasoning

This is to prevent the amount of points required to reach to the top from getting too high, and to prevent people from only logging in every month just to stay in the ranking, but not actually doing ranking activities.

- Mathy, Game Master

Skill changes

Blast Mine

Grand Cross

Kihop

Blast Mine and Claymore Trap
The "Number of stacked monsters" was removed from the damage formula (it's no longer multiplied by that).

Reasoning

This is an official bug fix, made by a person.

- Mathy, Game Master
Grand Cross
Cast time increased from 2 seconds to 3 seconds (official behavior).

Reasoning

A very good question is how it ended up as 2 seconds. It was always 3 seconds in pre-RE. The mistake was introduced in the emulator by someone else, and we fixed it. We are actually quite disappointed that a lot of people took advantage of this fact, but never reported it. We find it hard to believe that none of our Grand Cross Crusaders ever noticed this problem.

- Mathy, Game Master
Kihop
Characters belonging to the same Master Account do not count for the bonus.

Reasoning

We want to promote actual parties and not solo play.

- Kreuzbube, Developer

Features not planned to be introduced

God Items and Quests

iRO Repeatable Quests

Slotted Mid-Headgears

God Items and Quests

Reasoning

Those are broken/OP. Also, they would grant too much power for already dominating guilds. We get enough complaints from the fact that some Boss cards are already out there. God items would further complicate this issue.

- Mathy, Game Master
iRO Repeatable Quests

Reasoning

The staff collectively agree that repeatable quests are inherently unbalanced and easily abused. Additionally, they do not mesh with the server's vision.

- Lace, Game Master
Slotted Mid-Headgears

Reasoning

Slotted middle costumes are way overpowered, and we, as staff, think that it unfavorably affects the meta in PvM and PvP/WoE.

- Zulf, Developer

Quality of Life

Features not planned to be introduced

Quality of Life

Quality of Life
Some QoL was added regarding buff icons and some Ammunition Dealers.
The Encyclopedia Alt+V in-game also provides information about it.
Check Tab Epi > Interlude > Quality of Life.

Songs

Ammunition

Songs
All songs of Bard / Clown and Dancer / Gypsy have a unique buff icon now.
Ammunition
All ammunition, such as Arrows, Shurikens, Kunais and Bullets, will have a unique buff icon instead of the general one.

Ninja & Gunslingers Shops

Ninja & Gunslingers Shops
Changes

Bullet and Cartridge dealers will trade with characters of any class (not only Gunslingers).
Kunai can be directly bought from shops.
Kunai Maker was replaced by Ninja Ammo Box Maker.
Shops were added to Alberta's Tool dealer.
Ammunition can be turned into ammo boxes outside of Alberta's Tool dealer.

Location

Bullet Dealer Tony	Cartridge Box Dealer	Amatsu Trader	Trading Merchant

`(alberta 118, 160)`	`(alberta 118, 157)`	`(alberta_in 170, 80)`	`(alberta_in 176, 81)`

Venom Knife Seller

Venom Knife Seller
A Venom Knife seller has appeared next to the Assassin's Pub in Morocc.

Location

Sepulchral Merchant

(morocc 49, 110)

More Information

Sepulchral Merchant

`(morocc 49, 110)`