10 things you need to know about Ragnarok Online 2

10 things you should know about Ragnarok Online 2 :

(1) Ragnarok Online 2 has been remaked multiple times due to poor initial receptions, and poor judgement and imagination by the team. Sadly this official title is still the problem now, and it opens only to Singapore, Malaysia, Vietnam, and Thailand.

(2) Unique card system from Ragnarok Online 1 has been totally reworked into a generic and lazy bonus stats system. Works pretty similiar to the Heraldry Plate in Dragon Nest. Every character got a total of 5 slots to insert their card, and pretty much most of the card gives you stats, and nothing else. You can combine those card into a stronger card. No more card slots in weapons, armor, or accessories. Pretty simple and lazy.

(3) The freedom to fully customize your stats has been removed in Ragnarok Online 2. Well, you can still pump some stats in the "Bonus stats" window, but that doesn't mean that you're able to fully customize your stats like you wanted in Ragnarok Online 1. A very generic approach to this that you've probably seen it in several hundreds MMO.

(4) A simplified version in combat with regards to stats. Stats in Ragnarok Online 2 only affect how much you damage, chances for you to parry, maximum hp, and maximum mp, and nothing else. You're not able to attack faster if you've high agi. You're not able to attack accurately with high dex because there isn't a stat call dex in the first place. You're not able to dodge everything with luck because there isn't a stat call luck as well.

(5) You're now able to enter instances or dungeon with a party in Ragnarok Online 2. With that, everybody got equal chance to kill strong bosses and gain rare items in instances or dungeon since every instances or dungeon is a private place for each team. There is pros and cons to this system. The good thing about this is pretty obvious, whereby everybody got equal chance to kill and gain good items. The bad thing about this is that, the intensity of hunting down and competiting with other players for that very rare boss is totally demolished in this game. There are still rare and high level monsters roaming around the open field without entering any dungeons, and they do drop good items, but their spawn rate is so fast that you will not see anybody camping for that rare boss out in the field. Longest spawn rate I've seen is probably 5 mins?

(6) A total rework in the skill system mechanic in Ragnarok Online 2. Every spell has been totally simplified. Take Blessing and Agility Up from acolyte for example. Blessing in Ragnarok Online 2 now only gives additional hp through percentages, and Agility Up only inreases you and your teammate's movement speed by around 30% for 10-15 seconds, with an insane cooldown of around 250 seconds. Both of these skills have turned into pretty much a ultility spells rather than a combat spells. This shows that this entire game had been following a totally different battle mechanic and philosophy. Not to mention that once you've changed job to a monk, you're not able to learn any of the skill in the acolyte skill tree.

(7) Teleport system has been removed in Ragnarok Online 2. Now, they uses the Kafra flying system which is rather cliche and old style MMORPG. You can't just teleport to a certain area now, and you'll have to jump from one flying system to another, which could be rather annoying and creates overhead in a long run. You can use butterfly wing however to instantly teleport to your last save point in town.

(8) The mounting system, whereby every player, every classes, are able to ride a mount, the peco peco for starters if you pay a small amount of in-game zeny for the mount. Pretty handy when you've to travel from one point to another.

(9) The 2nd job system, unlike Ragnarok Online 1 whereby your 2nd job is your 2nd experience bar for skill points, your 2nd job is actually really a 2nd job now. You're now able to choose whether your 2nd job is a chef, an artisan, blacksmith, or an alchemist. Pretty intuitive what each job does, and works pretty much like any other MMOs out there that provides a 2nd job system, whereby you need to harvest plants and monsters to gain food ingredient for chef, mining the rock for ore materials for blacksmith and etc.

(10) And the last thing you need to know about Ragnarok Online 2 is that, it is not the Ragnarok Online 1 that you've known and grown up with anymore. Its pretty much a very generic and completely different game if not for the name of Ragnarok Online. I've played Ragnarok Online 2 for a few weeks and have gain access to high level content in order to prove to myself that I'm right that this game s*cks and in order not to be bias in my review.

In a nutshell, this generic experience in Ragnarok Online 2 will attracts new casual players within the 5 to 13 range, but it will certainly shuns veteran and hardcore players in Ragnarok Online 1. With so many upcoming AAA MMO titles coming in 2013, I don't see how Ragnarok Online 2 is able to outshine and survive in the long run. Ragnarok Online 1 appears to have 10 times more of the survivability than Ragnarok Online 2., due to its unique systems, and timeless graphic.