So you want to join Valkyrie, the latest server of Philippine Ragnarok Online. It’s quite a revolutionary concept of a server too. The gametime is free, but there is also a Hypermart which sells basic stuff and some unique items not available elsewhere in the game. You can purchase Hypermart items by trading Rok points which can be acquired by topping up a corresponding amount of Level Up gamecards. There are rental items too such as Elven ears that last for several days only.

But that’s just tip of the iceberg. I haven’t discussed the details yet. So how can you survive in Valkyrie server? Find out after the jump.

There are three major paths you can take when starting in Valkyrie, one is called The Way of the Grind, the second is called The Way of the PHP, and the third is a mixture of both. It’s actually quite self-explanatory, I just coined some fancy names for the sake of this guide. But before we go there, here are some very basic facts you have to know about Valkyrie server.

I. BASIC FACTS
1. Valkyrie is FREE TO PLAY! This is the most basic of all basics that you should. You don’t pay for game time, but you still use Level Up Cards for Rok points to purchase Hypermart items.

2. TELEPORT SKILL IS TOTALLY DISABLED. That means all acolyte classes cannot use said skill, flywings and butterfly wings don’t work too. However, WARP PORTAL skill and KAFRA TELEPORT service are available in Valkyrie.

3. ITEM DROP RATES are the same as the main servers. So if a Poring Card has a drop rate of 0.2% the main worlds, the same goes with Valkyrie.

4. MONSTER DROPS have been jumbled. In order to discourage harvesting via bots, popular loots and rare items have been jumbled within the monsters. Level Up won’t say which items went to which monster, though they did cite an example: The item Muffler[1] which is normally dropped by Sohees of Payon Dungeon have been transfered to the Ferrus of Abbys Lake Dungeon. You get the idea. Also, monsters that used to drop ELUNIUMS will all drop ROUGH ELUNIUMS instead.

5. CARDS are still dropped by all monsters that have cards drops at normal drop rate.

6. WAR of EMPERIUM is enabled. As of this post, sieges are scheduled Saturdays 2-4pm and Wednesdays 7-9pm.

II. THE WAY OF THE GRIND
This survival method is the traditional approach to an online role-playing game. You hunt all the items and gears that you want and level up along the way. This is purely an “in-game” approach in which you do not resort to external sources of funding (i.e. Hypermart) to get your items and equipment.

Equips
You start with your basic novice items, a knife and cotton shirt. But if you sign up for the Novice Academy, you will be given a full ensemble of novice armors which you can bring outside the Academy. However, as soon as you job change, you cannot wear the novice armors anymore. As you level up and acquire money, make it your goal to buy the best armor and weapon for your class at the Armor NPCs and Weapon NPCs. Stick with NPC armors for now until such time that you’ve hunted slotted versions of armors or you have enough money to purchase from other players.

Potions
When you start as a novice, you get free red potions if you sign up for training at the Novice Academy. These potions will serve you well on your early levels even outside the Academy. If you run out of potions and you still don’t have enough zeny to purchase at the NPC, a creative way is to create several novices (it’s free anyway) and make them get more red potions from the Novice Academy, and transfer them to your main character. If you do have some money, CARROTS are the most economical healing item for your starting levels.

Levelling
Repeatedly kill and kill the monsters that can match your level and skills until you accumulate enough experience points to level up. Rinse and repeat. This is the main essence of the Way of the Grind. Also join friends and party together, it’s great fun levelling when you’re with friends. You can consult various RO Monster databases scattered at the internet. Google it.

III. THE WAY OF THE PHP
This survival method is more favorable to those with real money as you will be purchasing almost all your items in the Hypermart. The Hypermart comes in the form of a triumvirate of NPCs located in all major towns and they look like this:

Equips
As soon exit the Novice Academy you can proceed straight to the Hypermart NPCs and buy the gears you want with your Rok points. All the common slotted armors and weapons for each class are available for corresponding amount of Rok points. Feel free to buy what your own pockets can afford. You can also purchase pure eluniums here and go straight to the upgrade NPCs for your instant +7s or +8s. Upgrade success rates are the same as the main servers.

Potions
My favorite Hypermart potions and buffs are the Big Bun (restores full HP) and Pill Box (restores full SP). Or if you’re looking something in between the Fish Slice Box restores both HP and SP to a certain amount. Also one of my favorites is the Magnificat scroll which costs only 5 ROK points and it casts level 5 Magnificat. But if you’re still more comfortable with traditional potions, you can only acquire via the in-game NPCs. My vote still goes to CARROTS for early levels.

Levelling
If you complete all your gears before you start on your real adventures, levelling will be of course a bit easier because you already have proper equipment and upgrade. Still, you have to grind your way to levelling as you cannot purchase experience points from the Hypermart.

IV. MIXED WAY
This method is a combination of the two survival methods discussed above. Use your personal judgment and common sense to balance the two methods in your own way.

V. ACQUIRING ZENY
RULE number one: LOOT every drop from a monster that you kill. Sell the items to the NPC afterwards. This is the only you will earn self-acquired income from a young server such as Valkyrie. If you have a merchant with level 10 OVERCHARGE, use the merchant to sell the loots at a higher profit.

Well that about sums up about my basic survival guide for all Valkyrie server wannabees, newbies or old timers alike. I hope helped you with my tips.

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About the Author
Master Diwa is a musician and gamer rolled into one. He plays as a Taekwon Ranker in Valkyrie server. Ragnaboarders jeer at him as a look alike of April Boy Regino, but little do they know that he finds if very funny too.