Overview
A guide written for anyone starting out on the European servers, veterans and newcomers alike.
Introduction
Ragnarok Online has originally been released in 2002. If you’re reading this, there’s a good chance you’ve played the game in the past and nostalgia made you seek it out again. If you’re new, stay for a bit, maybe you’ll get hooked. It’s free to play, so what do you have to lose? I mean, apart from your time which you could spend doing something that isn’t video games, but let’s be real here.
For veterans:
If you’ve played on the old EuRO servers, you can actually transfer your old characters to fRO. Look for “euRO Transfer”: Kafra Operations[www.ragnarokeurope.com]
However, it costs a bit, and a fresh start might be the more attractive option.
For newcomers: Why Play This Game?
The world has been built upon for more than a decade, and as a result, the world of Ragnarok Online is huge. When you open the world map screen, you’ll get a good idea, but that’s really not even remotely all the game has to offer – there’s a lot of separate islands and a good amount of dungeons, and each area feels like the developers put a lot of love and thought into it. Just discovering the world can be pretty fun.
It’s the same thing with classes – over the years, the class system has become just insane. Following one of the standard class paths, you will change your class six times, each class in the game having a large amount of skills to take, with a lot of possible different builds for every class.
The art style is beautfiul, and even to this day, it is unique – I haven’t really seen anything like it yet. The world is modelled in 3D and the camera is freely movable, but the character and monster graphics are all 2D sprites, which vary depending on how the camera is facing them. The sprites have a hand-drawn look to them and are all beautifully animated.
The music is also just great, and there’s a lot of variety; there are currently 155 wholly different music tracks in the game.
There’s only one server available for fRO and there’s always only about 1000-1800 people playing at the same time, but don’t be fooled – there’s a strong player base thanks to the game’s cult status. Some areas may seem abandoned, but that’s because there’s a huge amount of maps and areas to go, and also because most people gather in the main towns, like Prontera. In Prontera, you’ll find that the town has essentially been turned into a gigantic bazaar of player-created stores. Eventually, every item you equip will have been bought there, most of them having been improved by other items you’ve bought there.
It may even seem overwhelming, but don’t fear – there’s a website which allows you to quickly search the marketplace for whatever item you need. Information management can be tough with this game currently, but if you follow my guide, it should all become much more manageable.
For veterans: What’s new?
The game is mostly free to play, now. fRO is a Renewal server, which means a lot of old mechanics and data values have been redone – maybe most importantly, experience. Grinding is a lot faster now. You will advance to your 1st class of choice in almost no time and grinding the first 99 Levels is much more reasonable now. This means that you can get to the maximum Level for the Ninja, Gunslinger and Taekwon classes in shorter time than in many other MMORPGs. On the other hand, the other classes will take a lot longer – but they also have much more development to offer.
There’s the iShop now, and while you may just ignore it if you’re only out for PvM, I fear it’s probably made WoE very much into ‘pay to win’. Even if you’re just playing PvM, you’ll probably eventually buy one or the other item in the iShop – there’s a lot of useful stuff there, and there’s a lot of pretty strong headgear. Also, you can make a lot of Zeny by reselling the stuff.
Of course, there’s also a lot of new additions to the world and some pretty neat improvements to general game quality. There’s an ingame world map, MVPs leave behind timers, etc. The new third classes are all pretty neat, they all have a huge skill pool to choose from and offer some crazy new gimmicks, like the Mechanic who can have a mech suit.
Quickstart Guide
Assuming you already downloaded the game and have created an account, you do the following:
1. Start the Setup client.
2. Configure your resolution and sound settings.
3. Under the “Options” tab, you will probably want to tick all the checkboxes under “Effects”. For some reason, these will be unchecked by default, which means you wouldn’t see any of the effects in the game, including spells and ambient effects. Some specific effects may get distracting later on, but don’t worry about that.
4. Save, and start the game.
5. Choose the language (note that you aren’t choosing Server as the text implies, but only ingame language). I very much recommend you to pick English; item values may be outdated in other languages’ item texts.
6. Login, create character. By this point, you should know which class you want that character to be for stat optimisation; however, if you’re completely new, you probably don’t know yet, and that’s not a problem. In that case, just follow the Swordsman’s starting stats. You should probably follow a specific guide, but here are some standard starting stats for each class:
Swordsman/Thief/Merchant/Ninja/Taekwon Kid:
– STR 9
– VIT 9
– AGI 9
Mage/Acolyte/Archer/Gunslinger:
– INT 9
– AGI 9
– DEX 9
7. Open your skill bar with F12.
8. Follow the beginning area’s questline. It will introduce you to the game mechanics and also tell you about the classes in the game. You may want to create a new character after deciding what class you want to play (STR is mostly useless on Mage classes, Int is useless on most other classes in the early game). If you don’t want to start over, that’s not much of a problem; fRO grants you two free stat and skill resets for each character[www.frowiki.org].
9. If you follow the beginning questline, you will get to the point where you may advance to your 1st class in no time; additionally, you will be able to choose what class you want to be, and will instantly be teleported to the corresponding NPC.
10. Welcome to the world of Ragnarok Online.
11. Extend your message window by clicking on the upper edge and dragging it up.
A quick look at classes
As you can see above, there’s a good number of different classes in the game. The game’s beginning area will tell you about the basics of the different class paths and you can find that type of info almost anywhere else on the internet.
If you want more information on a specific class, such as builds to take, it’s best to consult Google. Note that, since Ragnarok has gone through a lot of changes and there’s a lot of different servers around, it can be kinda tricky to find right information for your particular class and build. Most importantly, look for guides which were written for Renewal and aren’t older than 2010. However, even if a guide is outdated, it can be a help to you – staple equipment choices should remain the same and mechanics shouldn’t be too different.
Since there are so many classes and different builds to choose, I just want to give you some tips and advise for a starting account.
When you’re starting out, you should choose a class that can PvM efficiently and follow a build which is focused on PvM; that way, you won’t need super strong gear for leveling and you’ll quickly find lots of loot and treasure, therefore making a lot of money. In the early game, Knight is probably the best option for that – he can take a beating, regenerates quickly, moves faster than any other class thanks to his Peco mount and has two major possible builds, both of which are very capable of quickly dealing strong single-target damage: the spear build, which also gives you strong AoE for killing multiple opponents at once, while the sword build focuses on single-target DPS.
Hunters, Assassins and Taekwon Masters are also very viable PvM champs. Monk, Rogue, Gunslinger and Wizard should all be able to PvM somewhat efficiently, as well.
I’m sure though that, no matter what class you pick for your first class, you will be able to advance to the point where your character becomes moderately powerful/useful without problems if you know where to grind and what to buy. Heck, for practicality’s sake, you might as well start off with a Merchant, because…
You will make a Merchant eventually. They have a skill which gives them a good discount when buying from NPCs, and they also have a skill which nets you more money when you sell stuff to NPCs (such as loot, which you will in most cases sell to NPCs). But even more importantly, only Merchants can create a store – that’s something that is vital once you find real treasure from monsters, as NPCs will never give you the kind of money that will make you rich enough to buy high level gear for yourself in turn.
You will probably want to advance your Merchant to another class eventually for added utility, and you have two ways to go – the Blacksmith which can craft equipment, or the Alchemist which can craft potions and can have a Homunculus pet monster that follows them.
I’d definitely go with the Alchemist if you don’t intend to advance the character into anything else anytime soon (that means you’d have to level that character to 99, which is pretty tough with a Merchant class on a new account). Smithing isn’t worth it at the time as there are much better weapons available than what the Blacksmith can make at the moment, and Smithing is very unviable in the first place because noone sells the raw materials needed, or it’s impossible to get them for reasonable money. You can realistically farm the materials yourself, but if your PvM character is at the point that he can do that, he won’t have any use for what the Blacksmith can craft anymore.
Potions on the other hand are always useful, and Alchemists can also have a Homunculus, by the way.
For newcomers: So what do I do in this game, now?
If you come from almost any other MMORPG in the world, you’ll probably ask yourself: “Where’s the quests?”
Ragnarok does have quests[irowiki.org], and you will have to do some quests in your time (mostly the Eden Group quests and Dungeon Access quests). However, the main bulk of the game is grinding. You kill monsters, hope for valuable loot, and watch your character become stronger and get new skills. Eventually, you’ll be able to compete with other players in the regular War of Emporium events, which I’ve heard are a lot of fun, or you go hunting boss-type MVP monsters, either alone or in a group.
Grinding is fairly fast post-Renewal, and if you’re playing one of the classes which cannot exceed Lvl 99 or rebirth (that is, Taekwon Master, Soul Linker, Ninja and Gunslinger), you will probably reach the Lvl cap faster than in many other MMORPGs.
Following is a list of classic and proven maps/dungeons for leveling, grouped in level ranges.
Until Job 40/50
– Prontera Culvert
– Byalan Island (Izlude Dungeon)
– Toy Factory (located in Al De Baran)
2nd Job-Base 85
Pretty much anywhere. There’s a huge selection of maps for this range of levels. You may want to grind monsters that have useful loot (such as Rough Elunium/Oridecon, Gemstones, etc.). Most of the islands you can get to from Alberta are in this Level range.
Base 85-Base 99
– Earth Petite
– Turtle Island
– Rachel (Roween, Hill Wind)
Third Class
You’re no beginner no more.
So, this is what you basically do:
1. Open Rode-R (or whatever monster database website you prefer).
2. Look for the monster level – Post-Renewal, monster level is very important to keep in mind; the monster level should be somewhere around your own level, it should only be up to 5 or 10 levels lower than your own level.
3. In Rode-R’s case, you click on “Monsters” and then tick whatever checkbox is appropriate in your case.
– For example, if you’re Level 24, check “21 ~ 40” (just ignore the ones which are too high).
4. You might also want to filter for other criteria – size plays a pretty important role[irowiki.org], and later on you might be able to effectively level in a certain area if you have an Elemental weapon that’s good against some or all of the monsters in that area.
5. Most importantly, the monster you find should be the most prominent monster in its area, or at least one of the most prominent ones.
6. Monster Density for the map and Behavior for each monster on the map are also very important to keep in mind.
– Going back to our previous example, you might want to choose the infamous Thief Bug[rode-r.doddlercon.com]. It appears most prominently in “prt_sewb2”[http//prt_sewb2], the second level of the Prontera Culvert dungeon, followed closely by Tarou, a Lvl 22 monster. But you will also find that there is a good amount of Plankton, a Lvl 40 monster – however, when you look at Plankton’s behavior, you’ll find that it is Passive. That means it won’t attack you if you just ignore it.
However, the “Monster Density” may be a problem – it’s “Incredibly Mobby”. If you combine that knowledge with the fact that Thief Bugs are Linked, you might know beforehand that you may run into problems on this map – Linked creatures will attack you if you attack one of its kind, meaning you’ll rarely fight a single Thief Bug at the same time on this map.
This is something you can’t know beforehand, and something that’s really cool about the game and distinguishes it from most other MMORPGs – a lot of monsters have their own behaviors and gimmicks.
Another thing to note is that Prontera Culvert is a dungeon which requires a short quest to be done to be allowed inside the dungeon – just google for “prontera dungeon quest”.
7. Later on, you will also have to worry about the monsters’ other stats; HP and Flee are probably most important for most classes. On Rode-R, you will find the monster’s Flee stat (evasion rate) next to “100% Hit” – the value given is the value your character’s Hit stat needs to be to be able to hit the monster without a chance of missing. If you’re playing an AGI char (such as the Thief classes), the monster’s Hit rate is also very important – on Rode-R, the value next to “95% Flee” is the Flee value your character needs to have to be able to dodge the monster’s attacks for a 95% chance. Most monster databases give you such values instead of giving you the monster’s actual Hit and Flee stats and letting you do the math yourself.
Read on under “General Gameplay Tips” for some more practical tips for leveling.
General Gameplay Tips
For lower levels, get Monster’s Feed[db.irowiki.org]. It’s very cheap, heals a lot of HP and can be bought from an NPC in Prontera – the linked iW Database entry will tell you where to find him, just click “Prontera Butcher” under “Purchasable At”. Only downside is that it’s quite heavy.
Always use Concentration Potion[db.irowiki.org] and its higher level equivalents, Awakening Potion[db.irowiki.org] and Berserk Potion[db.irowiki.org]. They increase your attacking speed, and therefore make you kill monsters faster and let you get experience points quicker. I can’t stress this enough – if your character has to rely on attacking at all, you really should have one of these potions active at all time while grinding.
Fly Wings[db.irowiki.org] and Butterfly Wings[db.irowiki.org] are also very handy items, of which you should always have a few in inventory. Fly Wings are useful when you’re grinding and you find yourself in an empty spot, they can help you get to your destination faster and they can help you escape when you’re surrounded by enemies. Butterfly Wings instantly get you back to your save point, so you can save a lot of time using them, but you might also have to use them to escape.
You should always max out a skill first before starting to level another skill. It’s better to have one skill that’s strong and efficient rather than several that are weak, especially when they’re active skills which cost SP to use. Leveling is all about damage optimisation, you want to do as much damage as possible with as few skills used / SP consumed / attacks done as possible.
If you play anything but the Ninja and Gunslinger classes, you can advance to your 2nd class at Job Level 40, but you should really wait until you’re at Job Level 50 to do that. If you advance early, you’ll be missing up to 10 skill points which you’ll never get back (until you rebirth). Pre-Renewal, it was kinda tough and tedious to level to Job 50 as a 1st class, but now there’s really no reason not to do that. Your character will be stronger for it.
Sometimes, loot items can be quite valuable – if sold to other players. Often, if that is the case, you will find a player offering to buy that item if you look around. They’re often somewhere around the entrance to the map where the monster is located which drops that item, or maybe even on the same map. They’ll have a vending window which works similarly to the ones you’ll find in Prontera, only that you can sell them items, instead. You’re able to see how much they’ll give you and how many of that item they’ll need at maximum.
Possibly the most common item you can sell that way is Orcish Voucher, dropped by Orcish Warrior (Lvl 44) at a chance of 90%. You can sell them for about 2-2.5k each, and there is almost always a player buying them. They’re usually inside the entrance to Orc Dungeon, or right outside. The Kafra in Prontera can teleport you there.
A Guide to the Internet
In general, most stuff you find on the internet which applies to the iRO servers and/or the Renewal patch version of Ragnarok should be correct for fRO, but still, getting all the right info for the fRO servers can be quite a considerable act of information management. That’s what originally motivated me to write this guide, to give others a hand managing the information necessary for playing this game.
Following are some of the most important and reliable websites for fRO:
iW Database[db.irowiki.org]
Has all the correct weapon and armor values, and is also useful for finding out what loot items are useful for and where they can be found. Also, obviously, very handy for finding the best weapon and armor for your character.
However, we already meet our first potential pitfall here: the map/monster data is incorrect for fRO. Mostly, the maps will have incorrect monster distributions. That means you might encounter a different amount of monsters on a specific map, or even different monsters altogether.
Also, doesn’t have the iShop gear – I don’t think any website has a complete list of them.
RODE-R[rode-r.doddlercon.com]
Despite some missing data, my favorite website for monster and map data. Also has a helpful chart for the exp and drop adjustments according to difference in player to monster level.
This site should find most of the monsters available in the game, but for some of the newer ones, it will tell you that they can’t be found anywhere. That’s because the newer maps are currently missing on this site – so, if you find a monster which would be perfect for grinding but Rode-R tells you it isn’t anywhere in the game, make sure to check other sites in those cases.
Sadly, it appears some of the very new monsters are completely missing from this page – for instance, monsters from the cat island Malangdo. iW Database should have a complete list of monsters, including those.
Ragnarok no Seishi[rns.gamona.de]
Has a lot of data for fRO. It seems to have most of the newer maps and monsters, but some of the older monsters appear to be inexplicably missing. Also, is in German.
Is kinda weirdly designed for some reason. Although a German, I very much prefer Rode-R.
Rate My Server[ratemyserver.net]
Probably the best website for searching cards. Has some neat functions for filtering cards.
Amity Market Watch[www.amity-guild.de]
Allows you to quickly search Prontera for whatever item you need, giving you the price it’s currently being offered at, the average price and the name and exact position of the player offering it. Using this website is vital for finding high level gear, and also making money.
If an item doesn’t appear, click on “Advanced Options” and tick the checkbox next to “Offline”. It will show you for how much the item has been offered in the past, which is helpful if you want to know what an item you’ve found is worth.
fRO Wiki[www.frowiki.org]
It’s the fRO Wiki. Pretty self-explanatory. Has a lot of useful stuff to know and also a list of useful websites (some of which appear on this list, too).
iRO Wiki[irowiki.org]
The iRO Wiki. While the fRO wiki is useful, it doesn’t have much information on the mechanics of the game; refer to iRO Wiki for that kind of stuff. Most of the data on this Wiki should be correct for fRO.
iRO Wiki entry on the Refinement System[irowiki.org]
This Wiki page will tell you how the Refinement System works, and what the chances are to successfully refine an item.
Note that, even though the article will tell you that most F2P servers use the abysmal Success Chances of the tables under “Non-iRO/F2P Server Success Chances”, fRO luckily uses the iRO tables under “iRO/Subscription Server Success Chances”. That means that upgrading armor and Lvl. 4 weapons up to +4 with normal ore is 100% safe on fRO. In either case, the upgrading NPC will always tell you if there’s a chance to destroy an item.
iRO Wiki Entry on Eden Group Quests[irowiki.org]
Information and walkthrough of the Eden Group Quests, which will provide you with very strong equipment. If you’re new, you absolutely have to do these quests as soon as you can.
Note that the Eden Expansion Quests (Instructor Ur) are currently not available on fRO.
RO Future Wiki on Renewal Changes[ro.doddlercon.com]
An entry on the RO Future Wiki detailing the Renewal changes. Note that the “Stats” section is missing information; the rest should be all correct, though.
This page is very handy if you want to use an outdated guide. If, say, Cast Time (as in, Instant Cast) is an important part for the class build you want to follow, make sure to check this page first. For instance, in that particular case you’ll find that the infamous Instant Cast is no longer attainable.
AzzyAI[drazzy.com]
Custom AI for homunculi and mercenaries. If you plan to get a homunculus (which is the main appeal of the Alchemist classes if you ask me) or a mercenary, you will have to get a custom AI (something that is completely supported by the game). If you don’t, the default AI will steal other players’ kills and be all kinds of dumb. I highly recommend AzzyAI among the custom AIs available. It’s the most practically available of all custom AIs I’ve come across, is very easy to configure and has a lot of functions.
Class Color Variations[forum.ragnarokeurope.com]
A forum thread for the fRO class color variations. You can color your armor and this thread will show you what your armor will look like afterwards. Pretty useful if you’re a shallow creature which is fixated on looks, like I am.
Contact
If you have any questions on the game or the European servers, don’t be afraid to ask me via Steam message. I almost always reply to questions eventually even if I’ve stopped playing the game in question (I still respond to comments on my Skyrim mods even though I haven’t touched that game in like a year). Or you can just ask in the comments section of this guide, that’d probably work too.
Credits
Class Roundup picture found at Ragnarok HQ[www.ragnarokhq.com]
Lots and lots of Ragnarok Online sprites and official artwork were used. All of them belong to Gravity.