The Future of Ragnarok Exploration of New Content for the Next Year.
Doddler.
There seems to be some confusion about what all is in store for Ragnarok Online in the future. I hope to clarify that for you!
Localized Map - Brasilis
Implemented on kRO Main Servers on August 19th, 2009
A localized map based on Brazil, with . Includes the town of Brasilis, a field map, two dungeon maps, 6 new monsters, 5 new quests, and some consumable items. The dungeon is accessible after a short quest, both dungeon and field cointain monsters roughly level 70-80. Some players may look forward to the icecream vendor on the Brazilis beach.
The MVP boss monster, Boitata, is a desirable target for adventurer's for his rare drops of both the Hurricane Fury and Hunting Spear.
Brasilis is accessible from the docks of Alberta.
Episode 13.3 - El Dicastes
Implemented on kRO Main Servers on December 23rd, 2009
The next major update to Ragnarok Online, episode 13.3 brings you to El Dicastes, the capital city of the Sapha. Continuing off from the story of 13.2, you continue on the trail of Satan Morroc and his influence on the New World, bringing you to the Sapha Capital. Players will have to complete at least the Ring of Wise King quest to access the new content. Players completing the quest to reach El Dicastes will be given an accessory, Light of El Dicastes, which allows players to teleport directly to the city no matter where they are in the game world.
The field of El Dicastes and the dungeon below the Kamidal mountain are intended to high level players Level 130 ~ 140. The Scarab dungeon, in particular floor 2 is very mobby consisting of all earth property insect monsters. The MVP boss, the Scarab Queen, drops the Alcabringer, a powerful two handed sword that increases attack speed. Korea recently added the Scarab 'Nightmare' mode, which is an alternate version of floor 2 with stronger monsters, but much higher rewards. It is possible we will receive the Nightmare dungeon with episode 13.3, or may have to wait until a future patch. Nightmare Scarab Dungeon may come to iRO as a premium dungeon.
Many new gears are added with the update. The Dragon Manteau[1] is given as a reward for the El Dicastes quest and combo's with the Dragon Vest[1] and provides higher flee bonus than the slotted panty/undershirt combo. Bradium Earing, Bradium Ring and Bradium Brooch are obtainable, as well as a variety of other weapons and equipment.
The New World cat hand service's are expanded. One such service is a cat hand NPC added to the Eden Group that allows quick transportation to the new world. The second of which is the 3-stage enhancement. In the town of El Dicastes players can perform daily collection and kill quests to get 'Proof of Sapha's Honor' tokens. These tokens can be exchanged for a special garment/shoes/accessory that can be upgraded. You can enchant an item up to 3 separate times with separate bonuses, including bonuses to MATK, CRIT, FLEE, Attack, and other stats.
Episode 14.1 - Bifrost
Implemented on kRO Main Servers on June 30th, 2010.
An all new chapter in the story of Ragnarok Online. The guardian of the Yggdrasil tree has gone missing, and the tracks lead you to the twilight bridge Bifrost, that connects the new world of Jottunheim to a world unknown. Meet up with the Assassin Cross Loki and help track down the guardian's whereabouts through the forest of mists.
The bifrost bridge connects to the north side of Splendide, and contains two field maps, the town of Mora, and an instanced dungeon for the Forest of Mists. Only players level 100 and above can access Bifrost, with it's monsters ranging from level 135 to 145. The instance is not that difficult, and has the boss 'Lost Dragon', who behaves similarly to the boss Nidhoggur, but a bit easier. The boss drops the Alchemy Gloves[1], an accessory that boosts your fire magic damage by 10%, and the Ancient Dagger, a powerful magic attack dagger.
The town of Mora, like the town of El Dicastes, has a unique item that allows you to warp directly to the city. Mora provides a series of repeatable collection and hunting quests that provide Mora coins, which can be exchanged for specific gears. While some generic equipment exists, the majority of the gear is designed to improve Warlocks and Arch Bishops.
Four elemental equipment sets composed of Armor/Shoes/Garment/Accessory are available exclusive to warlock characters. Equipping the elemental set will give you a 40% damage bonus with all magic skills of that element, but make you weak with the opposite element. Arch Bishop have two armor sets, one of which greatly improves their offensive magic, and a set that boosts their supportive and healing magic.
Other equipment and weapons are available from new monsters. This update adds cards for the following monsters: Tendrillion, Aunoe, Fanat, Beholder Master, Naga, Nepenthes, Draco Egg, Bradium Golem, Ancient Tree, Zakudam, Cobalt Mineral, Pingicula, Hell Appocalypse, Nidhoggur's Shadow, Naght Seiger, Hardrock Mammoth, Duneyrr, Rata, Ryncho, Philla, Dark Shadow, and Heavy Metaling.
Episode 14.1 also provides an expansion in the rewards for the Eden Group. New eden group equipment quests are available for level 60, 80, and 100 characters. New eden group weapons are available that are unique to jobs that were not available before, such as Eden Spear, Eden Katar, and Eden Huuma Shuriken. Better eden armor/shoes/garment are available, and the higher level eden quests allow you to enchant your eden gears for additional bonuses.
Localized Map - Dewata
Implemented on kRO Main Servers on September 29th, 2010
The volcanic island of Dewata is the localized map for Dewata. Modeled after indonesian landmarks and folklore, Dewata provides a variety of quests, item rewards, and a leveling zone with monsters level 80 to 85. Dewata is accessible from the docks of Alberta.
Intermission - Malangdo Island
Implemented on kRO Main Servers on November 24th, 2010
Malangdo is the home base of operations of the Cat Hand, the band of feline helpers that provide warping and enchanting services in the new world. The Malangdo update is packed with content, including the Island of Malangdo, countless quests, a dungeon map, a premium dungeon map, and two instanced dungeons.
Malangdo island has many quests that are repeatable on a daily basis. Quests commonly give coins, usually E Rank coins as a reward. These coins can be traded up for higher rank coins and traded in for a variety of cool things. Rewards include high attack arrows, shurikens, bullets, powerful rental weapons, and the special 'Malangdo Weapon Enchant' service.
The weapon enchant service allows you to exchange coins of various ranks to enchant any level 4 weapon (and some level 2-3 weapons) available. The bonuses you can get vary depending on what type of coins you elect to spend. There's a chance of failure of course, but the bonuses vary from bonus stats, hit, critical, physical/magical/ranged damage, and more. Very powerful equipment can come from the refining. AGI+10 icepick? CRIT+20 slotted infiltrator? MATK + 50 staff of destruction? +20% ranged attack power on a Krasnaya? These kinds of things are possible with the Malangdo enchant service.
Malangdo also offers a completely new type of service: decarding. While risky, and you can't decard all types of equipment, it allows you to separate a card from equipment. You can have him try with just zeny, 1m zeny for an attempt. Two special items exist which improve your success, available either through quests or the new instances. Lubricant greatly increases the chance of successfully removing the card, but it is still risky to the equipment. High Quality lubricant greatly increases the success rate of both removing the card and chance of not damaging your armor. It's still a risk, but there are many uses for card extracting.
The two instances added are the Octopus Cave and the Pumping Station. The Octopus Cave is a short octopus themed instance with a boss, the Giant Octopus at the end. It is not too difficult, and could be solo'd with the right type of character. The Octopus cave on kRO is only available to premium subscribers. The Pumping Station is an instance designed for either level 99 or 150 parties. Players must hold off monsters while activating a series of pumps in a small area.
The Malangdo update also expanded the Bailand Dungeon. The new floor 6 is accessible from an NPC at the center of bailand floor 5, and contains monsters level 110-115 and a MVP boss monster, the Kraken. The dungeon is themed like an underwater palace. On the Korean servers, Bailand 6f is available only to premium subscribers.
Other enhancements were also added in the Malangdo update. One of these enhancements is the MVP Grave system. Shortly after an MVP boss dies, a tombstone appears at the site that the MVP monster died. Players can click the tombstone to learn which boss was killed, when it was killed, and the name of the player who killed it.
Another update is the vend search feature. Two types of vend search tickets are available. Silver search tickets allow you to search for an item on the same map. Simply type in the name of the item you're looking for, and it will provide a list of shops on the map with that item. You can double click a shop and it will show you on the minimap where that vendor is located. The tickets are quite cheap (200z if I remember correctly) and available in the Eden Group building. A gold search ticket is also available through the Kafra Shop. The difference between silver and gold is that a gold ticket allows you to open the shop and buy directly from the search screen without physically going to the player who is selling the item.
Lastly, the update expands the Eden Group quests. Quests are for the level 86 ~ 94, and 95 ~ 99 range. These quests help provide direction, and lots of experience, to those leveling to 99.
Other Updates
kRO has other minor updates that may make it to our servers in the future. These include:
* Second set of clothing dyes.
* Cash shop mounts for all jobs.
* Updated cash shop system. An interface icon is added which allows you to browse the cash shop and make purchases from anywhere in game rather than from specialized NPCs in town.
* NPC Notification system. NPCs that have quests available to you will announce their availability to you on the minimap and a bubble over their head.
* Costume system. This allows characters to wear headgears and costumes over their regular gears. Sprites are changed to be layered, which allows for more complex headgears and accessories to be created. Currently only costumes available on kRO are headgears through the cash shop, but more are planned in the future.
Korea has currently mentioned the following features are in development for the following year:
* Episode 14.2 - Travel to the Laphine home of Alfheim.
* Episode 15 - A castle in the sky. Not much info is given about this.
* Biolabs update- AI adjustments to make the monsters work together, and addition of 2-2 trans bio monsters.
* New job for Super Novice which allows them to go above level 99.
* New job for Gunslinger, Ninja, and eventually Taekwon Master and Soul Linker.
