Ragnarok Online

     Ragnarok Online is the very first MMORPG that I have ever played and I'm still playing this game to think that it was released more than 10 years ago. Up until now I'm still trying to think what got me so hooked into this game. Is it because of the cute 2.5D avatars? The engaging quests? Epic items? The War of Emperium? I don't know but one thing is for sure, I will still play this game be it from the official or private servers.

     While I still ponder what made this game number 1 in my own personal list, let me just give a rundown on what I really loved about this gem.

A variety of Classes and Builds

     Job classes are the things that you'll likely find in an MMORPG. You have your usual swordsman, archer, mage, thief and acolyte or healer. Then sooner or later you get to choose from one of their advance class: A knight, crusader, hunter, bard, dancer, wizard, sage , assassin, rouge, champion or a priest. But nobody said that a priest should only stick to healing. If my memory serves me right, my very first character is a battle priest. I did deviate from the usual Int+Vit+Dex build, instead I focused on Agi+Str+Luk. That's one thing that I liked about this game. It's like thinking outside the box, be a pioneer and try something new. And before long, I see other players making their own experiment as to what kind of character build will work for different situation and roles. 

It defines "Massively Multiplayer" in MMORPG

     I guess you guys have tried some other MMORPGs on the net and encountered what I describe as a "Ghost Town". When you try a new game it's fun at first but as you go along you wonder where are the other players at? Then it gets to a point where doing quests feels like as if it's a routine job that you need to do every time you log in--it's getting boring. Not in this game. I remember we got around 14,000 players on a single server at one point (I think it was the Chaos Server). The lag and delay is there but seeing 5-10 novices gank on a single Rocker or Hode is hilarious. 

Let's Party!

     Tired of chatting with other players? Then organize a party and do dungeon runs or hunt MVP monsters. Or you guys can visit the Endless Tower and see if your party can clear all 100 floors--and share epic loots afterwards. I find it easier to look for a party in this game and it doesn't matter if you're a total stranger. As long as you're nice and helpful and can carry your own weight, you're good to go. Your group can even participate on PVP arenas like the Battlegrounds to earn badges that you can later exchange for gears.

Items for Bragging rights

     Who doesn't want to show off that +10 Very Very Strong Fire Knife and the infamous +7 Triple Vital Falchion that Pritong Kandule uses? OK, just kidding. But seriously every once in a while, you feel like flaunting your hard-earned gears right? I noticed that female players of this game usually has a huge collection of headgear and other vanity-related stuff. This adds some sort of a "replay value" for this game and gets other players stared on doing headgear quests. For those tough and strong players, they showcase their collection of rare cards from all sorts of monsters and some parade their rare pets along with them.

Look at all those goodies!

Talk about a rare card!

The War of Emperium

     Oh yeah! I still remember logging in every Wednesday and Saturday for this in-game event. This is where we get to clash against other guilds and try to get an Agit (a Guild Castle of sorts) of our own. I believe this is one of the major reasons why players are hooked into this game. They even have a World Championship event that pits top guilds of several countries against each other for the prized title of being the strongest and the best. Ah, nostalgia. The good-old-days of Ragnarok Online.

     I think I could go on and on talking about my experiences from this game but If you haven't played Ragnarok Online yet, I definitely suggest you give it a try. They have a number of servers all over the globe so it's your choice if you want to play on the official and private servers. If you don't have much time to spare then I would suggest you try the private servers where exp and item drop rate are modified to save yourself from grinding. Well, that's it for now. Rock on, people!