Ragnarok Online, can one truly stop?

As some might know which have been reading this blog for a longer time or simply know me personally I am quite an avid gamer, even though there’s been times in the past couple of years I haven’t touched a game for weeks you can pretty much conclude that in the overall majority it’s [...]

As some might know which have been reading this blog for a longer time or simply know me personally I am quite an avid gamer, even though there’s been times in the past couple of years I haven’t touched a game for weeks you can pretty much conclude that in the overall majority it’s been the way around.

These days in which gaming is being shoved into some little negative corner a lot for me it still is and will always be a great way of relaxation. Even though it can be hard to tell at times how certain stressful moments within the game can be relaxing I suppose it has to do with the fact that I pretty much grew up surrounded by games everywhere and at as good as any time.

Recently one game which I began playing again after having stopped for well over a year is Ragnarok Online. Me and my girlfriend decided to join up with our former guild of New Order again which currently is playing on the ParadiseRO server.

For those which aren’t really aware of what sort of game Ragnarok Online is I guess it can be best described as an RPG game in anime style which just like World of Warcraft is played in a massive multiplayer style. You can’t really compare it to World of Warcraft though, the games simply differ too much asides from the fact that it’s played with many other people upon the same server.

Just like any other MMORPG there isn’t really any set objective within the game, you’re pretty much free to do what you want. That’s definitely something I enjoy since it gives a form of freedom, in most single player games this isn’t the case since they tend to limit you to a fixed storyline. Of course there are exceptions like the sims, sim city, flight simulator, etctera but the pattern there can be recognized; being it are all simulation games.

What I personally enjoy within Ragnarok Online is to MVP and WOE. Two terms which might sound absolutely ridiculous to those which don’t play the game but in essence MVP stands for Most Valuable Player, it’s a reward which you get for killing a boss monster. I’m not sure when it actually happened but it was pretty much in the beginning of the game already that that term was sort of declared to be the action of killing the boss monster as well.

WOE stands for War of Emperium, this basically is the moment in which different guilds (groups of players) fight each other and try to conquer the available castles. Personally I consider this to be one of the best assets Ragnarok Online has to offer, it’s a great thing to train your character for and see how not only you but also your friends are improving along leading to possibly taking hold of a castle.

Managing to keep a castle isn’t all for nothing, it comes with rewards to the occupying guild in the forms of items and access to special maps. This is what makes WOE well worth the time to fight for if you aren’t really fond of the killing and dying at the time.

Currently I’m in the level 9x range as a wizard, I must say leveling goes quite easily still so it probably won’t take long before I will be able to advance to the next class as transcendent.

If I look back in history I think it’s back in 2000 or something already that I first began playing this game, not exactly sure on the year but it was the early days from international Ragnarok Online. Within that time period I have played on the official server for quite some times and on private servers for multiple times as well, I don’t think I can even count on two hands anymore the amount of times I’ve stopped let stand how many characters I’ve made. I doubt I’ll ever truly be able to stop for real, unless it simply dies off completely.