pRO Valhalla meets inRO

A sudden announcement made by LU India, inRO will be merged with pRO. As the news spread, another shocking announcement was shown to the public. inRO would be merged in pRO Valhalla.

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As a pioneer in India and braving its challenges, Level Up! is committed to providing a good gaming experience to all, and sometimes we need to take some difficult choices to ensure that the quality of experience does not suffer.

In keeping with this we are going to merge our India Ragnarok players with the Philippine Ragnarok server so that our players have a bigger community, and more advanced updates compared to the one available right now.

Effective 20th May 08, Level Up will be start the activities for the migration of inRO players to pRO server, during which time the inRO game services will not be available.

We are still finalizing the nitty gritties of the merger process and will announce the full details in the coming days but overall:

Players can look forward to tons of new game features like

- New jobs like Taekwon Kid, Taekwon Master, Ninjas & more
- New features like Auction System, Mailbox
- all new War of Emperium SE
- and load of new monsters, items & quests

- A new start with the ‘Nameless’ Episode

We will also be moving our message boards to ragnaboards.levelupgames.ph … we look forward to seeing you online in pRO!

When does the server migration start?
The server migration starts from 10:30 am India Time on 20th May 2008.

Which server will the inRO players be shifted to?
The inRO players will be shifted to the Free2Play Valhalla server.

Source Link

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Looking at the move that they had made, I was wondering of why was inRO aware of it and the pRO population was left in shock with the news. Yes, it did shock me at first but then again, more people playing in the server, the merrier, I hope.

Going back, why didn't LU Philippines make an announcement of it where the pRO players got the news from a inRO player in Ragnaboards PH? Is there something LU PH wants to hide or did LU India advanced too much with the announcement that it left players of both countries in shock and much anticipation? But researching for more news about the merge, I found an article that could answer my question.

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We have learned from a very reliable source that the negotiations for the merger are still not final. The necessary contracts have not been signed and inRO’s initiative to post the details in their website have jumped the gun. Our source has confirmed that if there WILL be a merger it will be a long long way away. This will explain why Level Up! Philippines still has not made any announcements regarding the matter.

Source Link

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So the question is, when will the merge begin and how will inRO players cope up with such advancements in Ragnarok Episodes (they are currently on Lighthalzen episode while pRO is in for the Nameless Episode) and how would pRO players cope with the overwhelming equipment, items, and zenny from inRO players, and even include the Godly items.

Probably an imbalanced economy at the beginning but after that, things may stabilize and surely prices will then become a norm to all.

Here's what my other fears for the merge would be. Racial discrimination and cultural shock. Racial discrimination cannot be prevented, since these are two countries under one server. If they can't settle their differences in-game, then this would turn out to be a virtual Gaza Strip, but hopefully, inRO players are mannered and well-behaved, suited to the friendly aura of Pinoy Valhallians.

Culture shock. Why did I mention it? Well, Indians and Filipinos are two different cultures yet they have been put together into an area where they have no choice but to mingle and live together. Many may be saying, "That's a wierd build" but for the others, it would be "Dude, that's an awesome build." Another example would be a fad in their country and then discuss it in-game, where the other group would just think of them as wierd since they don't know anything about it. But since this is Ragnarok Online, it may not be that bad after all, since RO is somewhat a good medium between the two populations.

Language barrier can be a minor part of the game, unless they try to talk to each other using their own native language. Or even start a fight or an all-out grudge against each other due to a misunderstanding. But then again, looking at Ragnaboards PH, it seems that English may become the universal language Valhallians would use.

My view of this merge, it sounds great. Short term, probably people should start to get into the flow and stop resisting change. Long term, and who knows what may happen, there might be another merge from another RO country and then probably have an continental RO. Just a thought, no official news leakage from here. /heh RoK oN!