Iāve been playing ROM for about 2 days now on the Nox android emulator (for that PC gaming feel, and my phone is too medieval) and Iāve found some interesting things and canāt resist to compare it with TOS.
No, I canāt understand Chinese but the game is so suprisingly well-made that as long as youāve played the original RO, you actually can figure your way through the game (e.g. if a quest says kill X number of monster Y, use the auto-track function to specifically kill only monster Y).
Now maybe these wonāt actually be good if implemented in TOS as they may make the game too ācasualā (if TOS isnāt already), but itās the first time Iāve enjoyed an MMO in quite a while, perhaps even more if everything was in English.
The purpose of this post is not to belittle TOS nor try to convince TOS players to pack up and go to this new game, but to perhaps - maybe - give IMC and the remaining playerbase ideas of what might be possible for TOS that could make the game more enjoyable, especially to new players.
Here it goes:
1.) Monsters no longer drops loots if youāre no longer getting exp from it - If thereās an item from it that you need (e.g. for crafting), you can get it from another higher level monster thatās within your leveling range so you leave that lowbie area for lowbie players to enjoy and not be annoyed by you. Totally makes sense! No more forever AFK/macro farmers right?
2.) Gear upgrades (the +damage and + armor) is character bound, not item bound - say your current level is 25, you can upgrade your gear to up to +25 (donāt know yet what the max is) but that is character bound which means if you swap gear, you retain the upgrade and it applies to the new gear. No more needing to hack/exploit to get that uber+ and sell the gear like pancakes. Neat, no?
3.) Auto-farm function - Yes, basically a bot/macro built-in. You can go in a map/area, click the button and can choose to either only find and attack a specific monster or attack everything in the area. The catch though as Iāve been informed is that youāll only have 3 hours of normal exp and loot drop in that area; after 3 hours, those values are reduced (resets daily, doesnāt count when youāre not attacking or when youāre in cities), perhaps to allow newly logged in players to get more and prevent camping. Finally, swordsmen can bot! What a time to be alive!
4.) Click on an area in the map to automatically travel - Not sure if TOS has this already (I never tried nor thought of trying).
5.) Hundreds of channels per map, whole world in a single server - I guess thatās self-explanatory Thereās still some lag during peak hours, but thatās expected in a beta (why overspend on infrastructure when you havenāt even started earning yet?)
6.) Dailies that are quick to do so you can resume on doing whatever you want to do in the game
7.) Decent compensation even for a 5-minute emergency maintenance (while still in beta) - emergency maintenance are expected since the game is still in beta, but the compensations arenāt. Really surprising! Old Blue Box and stat foods, yeah?
8.) Skill quickslots for auto-cast - works with the auto-farm function. Can only put 2 skills for now. It seems you can unlock 2 more for 4 slots.
9.) Auto-follow party mate - #8 works here (e.g. if you have Heal and Blessing, your char will automatically use those when appropriate). If the partymate youāre following is in another map, you character will auto-travel there, even auto-using warps and NPC services if needed.
10.) You never run out of monsters on the screen
11.) All RNG, no DPK
12.) Game runs smooth as butter for what it requires minimally hardware-wise
13.) As soon as you level, game informs you what new things you can do at that level (e.g. at lv.25, you can join/create? a guild I think, etc.) as well make available new quests
14.) Already has events even if still in beta (and they donāt break the game, holy siete!) - Itās Chinese new year so weāre getting chicken hats as well and monsters randomly drop those red envelopes that you can open for a chance to get zeny from 1-500.
15.) Still grindy like the old RO, but you can also do quests for that level boost - of course, if you have someone to boost/help you (especially a cleric or any highlevel that can take aggro and tank), you can opt to go for monsters that are levels above you for more exp! Just like the old days!
16.) Speaking of quests, the quests actually makes sense - no more digging for days! So far there were harvesting but only 5 to harvest, and very quick to do! None of those stupid long 20-30 seconds loading animations with a chance of failure or getting stunned (Plant: āBecause f*ck you, thatās why!ā)! A daily quest that asks you to take a screenshot of a nice scenery? Why not?! Finally, you get rewarded for taking screenshots lol
17.) Almost everything in the UI makes sense in terms of positioning and use especially for a mobile game - no more obnoxious TP button that constantly reminds you that thereās always that option, some are even forced to install an addon just to get rid of it or move it somewhere else
19.) More coming!
These are just whatās on the top of my head right now so Iāll add more when I can.
If you donāt like not understanding quests (especially for those who likes a game for its story), I suggest not to pick up the game for now as you might prematurely hate it and forget about it.
If youāre into getting shots of nostalgia in your veins, trust me this remake is the most faithful ever to the original RO game we loved and lived for years. The art (now in 3d!), the bgm, the sfx, the maps (although some were changed a bit for mobile UX), the classes/jobs ā almost everything!
As for the game being ācasualizedā, I think it makes sense. Original RO players are now adults mostly living adult lives (married, w/ children, working, always on the go, etc.) so the QoL and convenience the game provides actually allows the old players to still enjoy it in their free time. The slight simplification also gives players new to the title easy grasp. A win-win for both generations!
Also, I think thereās no such thing as āhardcoreā mobile gaming.
###Monetization
Hereās what I think (so far) on how theyāll monetize the game:
You can pay for some sort of premium subscription that extends the normal exp/drop or temporarily remove the reduction.
Pay to unlock the 2 other slots for a total of 4.
Being F2P, thereās always chance that this game will become P2W at some point like every mobile game out there, but I think with a premium subscription approach they can more than make enough to profit and pay for gameās upkeep and continued development.
They can also just add QoL or P4C options like the additional auto-cast skill slots above or perhaps additional character slots (right now max is 3) for additional income. Thereās the option to sell statless costumes too!
###RMT?
With player-to-player trading currently not available (not sure if it will be implemented), the only way to do RMT is via auction house.
Now if theyāll just closely monitor the market and dynamically set price ceiling/floor for items based on supply, demand, and how easy/hard they are to acquire, then RMT wonāt be a problem, nor overpricing/undercutting.
If you want to play the game on your PC, thereās a guide here: