Today I had the chance to take part of the Midgard Congress since pRO was openly inviting bloggers and gms / guild reps to take part of it. We had a small conference with players from other servers (guildmasters and bloggers) concerning some issues and future patches in pRO at LU! Conference room. GM Aeon started it out with introductions and a briefing on the topics to be discussed on the meeting.
I. Future Patches:
Episode 25: Port Malaya
As we all know, Gravity has already released previews of the Port Malaya map. GM Aeon basically gave us a walkthrough and showed us what we haven’t seen yet.
The Port Malaya map is based on the Philippines and the country’s culture. It is known as the biggest map ever made in Ragnarok Online which consists of 8 maps, 11 monsters, 17 new NPCs, 15 new quests and 15 new items. According to GM Aeon, the map was based from different tourist spots in the country such as Tagaytay, Corregidor, Taal Lake, Intramuros and Pagsanhan Falls. To show our diverse culture and identity, it was designed after Pre-Hispanic era, showcasing Hispanic style buildings, nipa huts, local legends and even a piece of what we see today: Luneta Park, jeeps; which deviates a lot from the story of the game.
The map is actually a good hang-out place for players since it holds all the NPCs found in Prontera as well.
GM Aeon also presented facts behind the dungeons in this patch, which actually portray the route to the Taal Lake.
More photos here
More screenies here
Episode 26: Samurai’s Era
You might have seen the preview of the ninja’s 3rd jobs: the Kagerou and Oboro which was presented at the live blog of the RWC 2011 at Korea. Kagerou and Oboro, though belong to the same class, withholds different skills (most of which are AOE skills) that resembles the wanderer – minstrel tandem.
The said classes will appear on the summer of 2012, latest would be June 2012.
Ragnarok Ninjas: Kagerou and Oboro
Oboro
Kagerou
*Kagerou and Oboro images from iRO Wiki Forums
Episode 27: Bifrost
This is said to be the biggest patch ever to come in the game. It consists of the Malang Island where much like Bossnia, players get to access the area via cash entrance map system.
Also, following the story of the spirits of Lighthalzen (the infamous Biolabs) comes another additional to the spirit pack on the Lighthalzen Dungeon B3 where it targets the 2-2 job class. The monster AI will also be improved based on the characteristics of the job classes. It features the strength of monsters in party form, whereas in B2, it highlights the strength of each monster.
art of the Lighthalzen Dungeon B3 monsters (taken from fckyeahRO.tumblr.com)
Aside from that, for the convenience of players (whether leveling or WoE), players can now access the whole hypermarket anywhere! Items are categorized from the weekly featured ones to the usual needs of players.
There will also be an implementation of NPC Space Cushion system wherein players cannot vend, create a pub nor stay near any NPC to give way to players who are in need of accessing the said NPC. The area (aura) of each NPC ranges from 3 x 3 cells.
Skill changes or the nerfing of imbalanced skills will also take place on this episode. iRO already presented the details about it. But pRO will still wait for the finalized skill changes list/ details to avoid bugs and errors.
And lastly for this patch, the yggdrasil berry will now have a cool down time of consumption (better get yar siege potions ready).
Episode 28: Eclage
The Hunt for Satan Morroc
This follows the story of Satan Morroc, wherein Satan Morroc got hold of the holy orb and caused the destruction of Prontera (minor destruction though, unlike in Morroc). It actually is the continuation of the Ash Vacuum episode.
II. RWC 2012
The RWC 2012 will still follow the same system as last time with a few changes.
- New Loki Server Champion
- Valkyrie Server Champion
- Valhalla Server Champion
- New Chaos Server Champion
- Ultimate Wild Card
- Regionals (overall) – there will only be 1 this year
- RPC 2011 Champions – Harabas (New Loki)
- RWC 2011 Champions – Naked Na Naman (give way to the Team Naked Na Naman since they didn’t get the chance to compete in the RWC 2011 with the complete team).
It is highly imperative that final contestants (of all games, not just pRO) already possess passports by June to avoid the same issue as RWC 2011.
As for Agit Lords, agit points will decrease while Honor agits will increase and will follow a rotation system.
Schedule:
Agit Lords – January – April 2012
Wild Card – February – April 2012
Regionals – March – April 2012
PH Leg – June 2012
RWC PH Leg – January – June 2012
Meanwhile, for the classes: transcendant classes + 1 3rd job will be used (I’m not really sure about this since I was busy taking notes that time xD). pRO will later release anyway the mechanics on the facebook page/ website anytime soon, so stay tuned for that.
III. Other updates/ Future Updates:
1. Nightmare Dungeon System
It focuses on recycling of old popular dungeons such as Glast Heim and Morroc dungeons (Pyramids and Sphinx) but expect different monsters and a new level of difficulty. This will first take effect on the Port Malaya patch/ episode, wherein the dungeons of Port Malaya itself follow this rule.
2. Raid System (PvE)
Much like to WoW, it includes raid monster and is possible in Port Malaya.
3. WoE for Low Levels
Limited WoE for first and second class jobs. Transcendant classes can also participate as far as I remember.
4. New Guild System
- Improved Guild System
-When creating characters, users will get to choose one of common guild like A,B,C.
-This will allow each guilds to have their own chatting channel.
-Each guilds will also have their own passive skills and their own unique quests with rewards.
e.g.) A Guild (Agi+9, Luk+9) and Quest reward item (+X weapon)
B Guild (Int+9, Vit+9) and Quest reward item (+X armor)
C Guild (Str+9, Dex+9) and Quest reward item (materials)
5. New Race Update
- Rise of the Helters
-concept for the new race (Helters)
-Update plan for the new race (Helter) – will take place gradually, class after class.
IV. Expansion:
1. pRO soon to be on Facebook!
No installer needed. Though you can only access Prontera from the browser. Currently under development.
2. Mobile Apps
Ragnarok Online on iPhone
Disclaimer:
I do not own the images nor the information in this blog post except for my shots from the Midgard Congress. The information presented on this post are edited, to uphold the confidentiality of the information and some upcoming events.
Credits:
- Slide Presentation in Midgard Congress
- iRO Wiki Forums
- Otakultura
- Rich Kid Herbert
- Google Images
- FckyeahRO! (Tumblr)
Everyday I'm Shufflin 