What Renewal is
Renewal is a revamp of the whole game: stats, skills, EXP, level limits, monster placement and many other mechanics were changed, and the third classes were added, letting characters go past the Base Level 99 limit that had existed since launch. According to the fandom wiki, the Korean developers felt the game had hit its limit against newer MMORPGs, started work in 2008 and went live after about 10 months of tests. Everything the game had before is now called Pre-Renewal, or Classic.
Main changes
| Topic | Pre-Renewal (Classic) | Renewal |
|---|---|---|
| EXP needed per level | Grew exponentially | Grows linearly |
| Cards | Boosted attack directly, so 4-slot level 1 weapons beat level 4 weapons | Only boost weapon attack, so level 4 weapons became more desirable |
| Casting | Instant cast possible with high DEX and cards | Fixed plus variable cast time; stats cannot remove the fixed part |
| Class balance | Magic users very strong | Magic weakened, melee strengthened |
| Defense | Gear DEF cut damage a lot | Gear DEF matters little |
| What decides power | Mostly stats | Mostly gear |
| Skill hotkeys | One hotkey bar | Fully custom keys, 4 visible rows |
| Monsters | Each one unique in stats and difficulty | More uniform and much easier |
| EXP penalty by level gap | None | For monsters 15+ levels above or 5+ below you |
| Drop penalty by level gap | None | For monsters 5+ levels above or 10+ below you |
Other changes in the Korean update list: the level cap went from 99 to 150, less EXP needed to level, new formulas for attack, defense, hit, flee, attack speed and critical hits, a quest alert, tutorial leveling quests, buff timers and skill delay display on screen, party system improvements, the over-refine system, smarter monsters with new levels and spawns, and rebalanced skills and quest rewards. For the details see Stats, Experience and Refinement.
When each server got Renewal
Renewal did not arrive everywhere at once, and the sources even disagree on the start: the fandom wiki puts the Korean launch on 17 June 2009, while Wikipedia says the official servers changed in 2010. The per-server dates below come from the iRO wiki's Renewal page, which was last edited in 2013.
| Server | Renewal date | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| jRO (Japan) | 6 Jul 2010 | Players disliked it; it was withdrawn and later brought back with jRO-specific changes |
| pRO (Philippines) | 13 Oct 2010 | Tested on Sakray from early September 2010 |
| iRO (International) | 7, 14 and 21 Oct 2010 | New server Yggdrasil opened 7 Oct (tested from early September); Ymir 14 Oct; Valkyrie 21 Oct |
| idRO (Indonesia) | 15 Dec 2010 | Came with episode 13.3, El Dicastes |
| bRO (Brazil) | Feb 2011 | Announced 18 Feb after a two-day delay |
| aRO | 21 Sep 2011 | Jumped to Renewal from episode 9 |
| ruRO (Russia) | 5 Oct 2011 | New Renewal server Phoenix; the Chaos server was not updated |
| fRO | 27 Jun 2012 | Main server updated |
Pre-Renewal (Classic) and mixed servers
The iRO Classic wiki notes that every official service moved to Renewal except iRO's Classic server Loki. Since episodes from 13.3 onward need Renewal, Loki could not take any later episode updates.
- Revo-Classic (from June 2016, first opened in Thailand; on iRO called RE:START): mixes the two versions. No EXP penalty and no fixed cast time, Renewal attack, defense and skill formulas, Pre-Renewal monster spawns, EXP needs between the two, and Prontera, Izlude, Alberta and Morroc as they were before Episode 12.
- Ragnarok Online: Zero (Korea, 27 December 2017; on iRO called Ragnarok Transcendence): a modernized version with an EXP table close to Pre-Renewal, no level-gap EXP penalty, a 10% EXP loss on death, a modern quest log and character creation, highlighted rare drops, and different skills and episode updates.
Sources
- iRO Wiki: Renewal
- iRO Wiki Classic: Renewal
- Ragnarok Wiki (fandom): Episode Updates (RO)
- Wikipedia: Ragnarok Online
Game pictures: © Gravity Co., Ltd. · playragnarok.com
