Ragnarok Online 2: The Gate of the World (Korean: 라그나로크 온라인 2: The Gate of the World; alternatively subtitled Epic of the Light) was a massively multiplayer online role-playing game created by Gravity Corp. of South Korea and is the sequel to Ragnarok Online. Most of the game's universe is based on Norse mythology. After entering a closed beta testing phase in 2006 and continuing through 2010 in Korean open beta testing, the game was reworked multiple times due to its poor initial reception. In July 2010 it was announced the entire game had been scrapped, and a new version, Ragnarok Online 2: Legend of the Second, would be developed in its stead. The new iteration of Ragnarok Online 2 returns to the systems and mechanics of the original Ragnarok Online while keeping the 3D engine.

• Ragnarok Online II is a free-to-play fantasy MMORPG from Gravity and the sequel to the original Ragnarok Online. It allows players to choose from five classes and take on quests and instanced.
• Ragnarok Online 2 Media. Ragnarok Online 2 (Legend of the Second) has some other media types for it other than just the game. Other than its list of official Trailers, Fansite kits,there is also Wallpapers for you to download and enjoy.
• Please check out the rest of our Ragnarok Online 2 guides for more helpful information. Mjollnir Monster locations and spread: Angry Flip (14) 467, 291 Baby Poring (29) 235, 237 Big Fabre (14) 702, 534 Eclipse (4) 538, 291 Fabre Bebe 14) 684, 528 Flip (16) 377, 338 Hornet (13) 659, 306 Leisurely Flip (34) 296.

Ragnarok Online 2#freetoplay #pc #ro.

Development[edit]

Announcement[edit]

The game was first announced at KAMEX (Korea Amuse World Expo) in November 2004.^[1] The first trailer of the game was shown during the expo, in which a novice boy and novice girl were running toward each other in an undisclosed 3D city environment.

In September 2005, Gravity Corp. launched a major campaign to promote the game at the annual Tokyo Game Show.^[2] Attendees had the opportunity to play the game for the very first time at Gravity-hosted booths during the three-day event (September 16 to September 18). Gravity released multiple Ragnarok Online II gameplay videos to the public, as well as an animation video, during this time frame.

In July 2010, Gravity Corp. launched the remake version of Ragnarok Online 2 and change their slogan to Ragnarok Online 2: Legend of the Second. The Closed-beta test will launch in August 2010 and current version of Ragnarok Online 2 will terminate when the remake version launch in close-beta test.

Beta phases[edit]

In December 2006, Gravity finally began accepting applications for the first closed beta test in South Korea. The first closed beta officially ended on December 29, 2006. Application to participate in this beta was made available for a week (during the second week of December, 2006). Over 190,000 applications were submitted but only 2000 were chosen to participate for a period of three days (from December 27 to December 29). Due to several technical issues and server tweaking, the total testing time was only about 10 hours.^[3] According to an interview between the Korean newspaper Chosun Ilbo and developer Team Mercury, the main goal for the first closed beta was to test characters. They wanted to see how gamers would react to the overall feel of the game as well as whether character designs were accepted by them.

For the second phase of the Korean closed beta, 3,000 users were automatically accepted upon registration and login via the website, with another 5,000 being selected before and on February 22, 2007. The original closed beta testers were also given access to phase two. Towards the end of this phase, a special event invited 10,000 additional players to join testing, leading to a total of 20,000 selected accounts.^[4]

The third phase of the Korean closed beta ran from April 26 to May 5, 2007. It was open for 100,000 registered users as well as those players from the previous closed beta. In order to balance the large amounts of traffic, Gravity opened a second server at the start of the third phase.

The final phase of testing was the Korean Open Beta running from May 28, 2007 to an unannounced date, where the final release of the game is expected right after. It is open to all Korean citizens with a Korean resident registration number and during the first week, the servers went through severe maintenance as each server quickly filled up. Several more servers were opened shortly after to fit the demand, including several age 18 and up only servers to accommodate those who wish to participate in a player versus player environment. The focus during open beta was game balance and mechanics. The game content is similar to the previous closed betas and it is expected to see a greater release of content in the near future, but most likely after the game is released.

In 2008, the Korean Open Beta had condensed its number of servers to just two. By this point, the game's population had also seen a dramatic decrease since it first opened in May 2007 - many areas in the game such as Hodemines and Prontera were usually found to be empty.

Current Status[edit]

Changes in Gravity's leadership along with the game being poorly received in Korea during the open beta slowed development on Ragnarok Online II. Gravity since reworked the entire game. Global Business Manager Yunghun Lee said “We launched Ragnarok II in 2007. That version wasn’t really enough for the market, so we tried to revise all the systems, but it takes time. We changed the engine and everything, it’s like a totally new game. The engine changed several times, but now we’re using Gamebryo.”^[5]

The schedule for the launch of Ragnarok Online II was delayed to the fourth quarter of 2010, having originally been scheduled to launch in the first half of the year. However, Gravity decided to postpone the launch in order to improve the game further. The company planned to start commercial service of Ragnarok Online II in Korea in the fourth quarter of 2010 followed later by the other territories where Gravity has already entered into license and distribution agreements.

“The launch of Ragnarok Online II has been delayed on a number of occasions but we don’t want to launch it before it is ready and want to ensure that it meets the expectations of our players as well as those of our own. We will continue to refine Ragnarok Online II and look forward to providing our users with a high-quality experience.”- Mr. Toshiro Ohno, the President and CEO of Gravity.

The game had been in beta testing since May 2007 and was consistently delayed until the announcement was made that the entire game would be rebuilt from the ground up as a true Ragnarok Online sequel.^[6] The remake has been named Ragnarok Online 2: Legend of the Second and Ragnarok Online 2: The Gate of the World's service will be terminated on August 2, 2010. The Closed Beta Test for Legend of the Second will start on August 31, and current testers of The Gate of the World will be able to use their beta accounts to gain access to the CBT.

Plot[edit]

The year 1000 L.C is approaching. One thousand years prior, a terrible destruction took place, and the world was saved by St. Lif. Roughly twenty years earlier, a destructive war took place between Normans of the east and west, but there has recently been peace. Strange things have begun happening, however; the dark wanderers Dimago have awoken, and the Ellr have left their land of Alfheim to investigate the Mother Tree's silence.

Gameplay[edit]

Specialty Job System[edit]

Normans have the ability to freely change jobs out of combat and level each of the jobs independently; progress on a certain job is not lost when switching between jobs. This is accompanied by a flexible stat system where a majority of the stats are based on job so that players are not forced select few jobs by their stat selection. The original Ragnarok Online had only a small amount of stats from jobs with most of them being decided by the player, forcing them along a certain build/playing style.

In The Gate of the World, certain abilities can be converted into a block and put onto that character's skill grid. This may allow Sword Mastery, a swordsman skill which increases damage dealt with blades to be used to help level another class with a sword. Different abilities have different block shapes and sizes and not all abilities can be shared. Special abilities can be gained by leveling a character's job class, giving them the ability to create useful and original class combinations, such as battle mages and wares-selling thieves.

There is a limit to how many special abilities one can employ at a time. Characters start with fewer than 16 blocks, but will gradually gain additional blocks as they level.

Complex Job Change system[edit]

The first Ragnarok Online featured a unique leveling system in which a character's base level and job level were leveled separately. However, once a job was chosen, it could not be changed.

Equipment Leveling[edit]

RO2 has implemented a new system in which equipment itself levels up. This system allows people to keep their favorite pieces of equipment because they continue being useful instead of tossing them out when they become outdated. When an item has reached enough experience to level up it does not instantly level. It must first be taken to a smith in a town which will then upgrade the weapon for a fee. While the class of weapon will not change, its attributes might. For instance a sword which is suited to combat classes may favor spell-casting classes once it has leveled up.

Equipment in RO2 is separated into two categories: Leveling-type and non-leveling type. The leveling equipment types can gain experience and levels like the player, whereas the non-leveling type doesn't acquire any experience and doesn't level at all.

Races[edit]

Ragnarok Online 2 introduces 2 new races The Ellr and the Dimago. Each race has advantages to it that make it a viable choice when a new player is creating their character.

Norman[edit]

The Norman race has a human appearance and is the race that was played in RO1. They use the Job System, allowing them to switch their job at will and take advantage of specialty skills. The original appearance of the Norman, a very childish look, was re-designed for a more mature look. The race's name may likely be a reference to the historical Normans or Norsemen, given the game's focus on Norse mythology. It could also be a portmanteau of the words 'normal' and 'human.'

Ellr[edit]

The Ellr are a half-breed, born between an interracial relationship between the Normans and the Elves. They inhabit their own land known as 'Alfheim'. After participating in the war between the eastern and western Normans, they returned to Alfheim, but have recently returned to Midgard to investigate why their 'Mother Tree' fell silent. The power of an Ellr comes from the magical stones they possess, called 'Stones of Ancestors'. These stones influence their skills, and as such the Ellr has no professions or classes. They may only equip two stones at a time, however. The original model of the concept Ellr appeared as a super deformed art style. It was later redesigned to appear more normal in proportions, although still very childlike.

Dimago[edit]

The Dimago are the rejected offspring of a relationship between the Colossus and Norman. They have apparently been under an enchanted sleep, and have no memory of their previous lives. They 'fight with style' and are able to make use of dynamic skill trees. The characters are designed to be 7-8 heads tall in height (that of an average human). This, compared to the Ellr, which are 2~3 heads tall, or the Normans, which are 4~6 heads tall, means that the Dimago will be the tallest playable race in the game.

References[edit]

1. ^'Ragnarok Online 2 set for TGS debut'. GameSpot.com. 2005-07-19. Retrieved 2012-07-07.
2. ^'Tokyo Game Show 2005 Blog - Day 1 & 2'. RPGamer. 2005-09-20. Retrieved 2012-07-07.
3. ^'라그나로크 온라인2, 첫 비공개 시범 서비스 12월 27일 실시 - GG게임'. Ggemguide.com. 2006-12-15. Retrieved 2012-07-07.
4. ^'::Happy Game Community!! GnJoy::'. Ragnarok2.co.kr. Archived from the original on 2009-07-08. Retrieved 2012-07-07.
5. ^'News - Gravity Reveals Ragnarok Social Details, Ragnarok II for 2010'. Gamasutra. Retrieved 2012-07-07.
6. ^'Patience Is Key for Gravity Investors'. Seeking Alpha. 2010-04-01. Retrieved 2012-07-07.

External links[edit]

Ragnarök Online II (Korean: 라그나로크 온라인 2) is the sequel to the popular MMORPG, Ragnarok Online, created by Gravity Corp. of South Korea. It was originally announced in November of 2004 and has gone through two iterations before finally having development handed over to Gravity Interactive in 2016.

• 2Story
• 6Official Ragnarok Online II Servers
• 7Development
• 8Reception

Features[edit edit source]

Player characters are 3D that interact in a 3D environment. Unlike RO1, RO2 will allow players to have characters of multiple races. So far, the races available in the game are Normans and Noels.^[1] Split job classes will also make a return to RO2. There will also be a Khara System that determines how each player character will develop.

The major types of server-supported gameplay are Player vs Environment, Guild vs Guild, Player vs Player. Also supported by the game server are Arena Combat, Player vs Monster, Player vs All, and various other specific scenarios at designated instance locations in the game world.

Cards will make a return in RO2, although in a much different light. Whereas cards in RO are slotted to weapons and armor, in RO2 the cards are slotted to the player's character directly. In addition, RO2 cards can be synthesized to make better cards.

See Unimplemented RO2 Features

Story[edit edit source]

The story of RO2 has gone through many revisions, but generally the story takes place after the Ragnarök cataclysm destroyed the world of RO as we know it.

Ragnarok Online 2020

The Gate of the World iteration of RO2 diverted vastly from the story of Ragnarök, making little to no connection to either the manhwa or RO. The intention was to allow the developers to have more creative freedom with the narrative of RO2 without having to worry about adhering to the continuity of Ragnarök or RO. This was eventually abandoned in favor of connecting more with the prequels for the second iteration of RO2.

In the original Ragnarök work, it depicted Chaos as fighting the goddess Freyja. In RO, Chaos won and sealed Freyja away, but Chaos took a lot of damage and disappeared, so you were left with a world without either Chaos or Freyja. The awakening of Freyja is the basis for the scenario of Legend of the Second. While RO2's story takes place well after the scenario of RO, there are points where the scenario will cross paths. Developers have indicated that the story of RO2 will take place hundreds of years after RO. ^[2]

The Gate of the World[edit edit source]

The year 1000 L.C is approaching. One thousand years prior, a terrible destruction took place, and the world was saved by St. Lif. Roughly twenty years earlier, a destructive war took place between Normans of the east and west, but there has recently been peace. Strange things have begun happening, however; the dark wanderers Dimago have awoken, and the Ellr have left their land of Alfheim to investigate the Mother Tree's silence.

Legend of the Second[edit edit source]

Freyja was once a beautiful and kind goddess who loved all life. But because of her beloved Odin's betrayal, she became the goddess of destruction, burning with revenge. To destroy everything that Odin created, she began the great catastrophe, later to be called the 'Day of Despair'.

When Midgard fell into the brink of extinction, young heroes rose to save the land. Thanks to their endless courage and wisdom, Freyja was sealed and Midgard found peace once again.

A long time passed and the world became as it was before. In the age where the Day of Despair and Freyja both became merely legends, the official successor of the Rune-Midgarts' royal family, Ignatz Gaebolg, constructs a new Rune-Midgarts kingdom.

The peaceful days continued, but one day, at the Almin ridge, near the Kingdom's capital Prontera, a dimensional gap appeared, emitting strange energy that changed the environment.

After great effort, the Kingdom's magicians were able to seal it. The Kingdom decided that there was a deep connection between the incidents all over the land and the dimensional gap, and created a special investigation team to further investigate.

Recruitment notices were announced all over the land. After reading the announcement, adventurers from all over the land began to gather in Prontera with their own dreams and ambitions...

List of Episodes[edit edit source]

See Episode Updates (RO2)

Major changes in the features and history of the world take place as Episodes in the RO2 timeline.

Opening Cinematic[edit edit source]

Upon starting the game with a new character, players are introduced to a brief synopsis of the game and the origins of their character. It can be skipped by pressing Esc.

Music of Ragnarok Online II[edit edit source]

Only a couple of soundtracks for RO2 has been released and they're mostly centered around the old version of the game, The Gate of the World. A soundtrack for the current version of RO2 has yet to be released.

Official Ragnarok Online II Servers[edit edit source]

Active Official Servers[edit edit source]

To help support the longevity of RO2 and its developers, here is a list of official servers players should play on:

Inactive Official Servers[edit edit source]

This is a list of official servers that have ceased operation.

• Official Korea (kRO2) - The developers' home server shut down on 2013 December 23rd due to lack of players. In response, iRO2 became open to the Korean region.^[3]
• Official Southeast Asia (seaRO2) (Malaysia, Vietnam, & Singapore) - Due to poor management, seaRO2 was announced to shut down on 2014 October 4th. Players of seaRO2 were given the option to transfer over to iRO2.
• Official Taiwan (twRO2) - Excessive botting and overall lack of interest led to the downfall of the Taiwan servers. Shut down 2015 March 30 with players given the option to transfer to iRO2.
• Official Thailand (thRO2) - Shut down 2015 July 28. Players were given the option to transfer to iRO2.
• Official Indonesia (idRO2) - Shut down 2016 May 17. Player data was merged into iRO2.
• Official Europe (euRO2) - iRO2 service to the Europe region was halted due to the GDPR.^[4]

Development[edit edit source]

The Gate of the World[edit edit source]

Ragnarok Online II: The Gate of the World (Korean: 라그나로크 온라인 2: 세계의 문) was first announced at KAMEX (Korea Amuse World Expo) in November 2004.^[5] The first trailer of the game was shown during the expo, in which a Novice boy and Novice girl were running toward each other in an undisclosed 3D city environment.

In September 2005, GRAVITY launched a major campaign to promote the game at the annual Tokyo Game Show.^[6] Attendees had the opportunity to play the game for the very first time at GRAVITY-hosted booths during the three-day event (September 16 to September 18). GRAVITY released multiple RO2 gameplay videos to the public, as well as an animation video, during this time frame. Famed anime composer Yoko Kanno was also announced to be on the project around this time.

In December 2006, GRAVITY finally began accepting applications for the first closed beta test in South Korea. Due to several technical issues and server tweaking, the total testing time was only about 10 hours.^[7] According to an interview between the Korean newspaper Chosun Ilbo and developer Team Mercury, the main goal for the first closed beta was to test characters. They wanted to see how gamers would react to the overall feel of the game as well as whether character designs were accepted by them.

In 2008, the Korean Open Beta had condensed its number of servers to just two. By this point, the game's population had seen a dramatic decline since it first opened in May 2007—many areas in the game such as Hode Mines and Prontera were usually found to be empty. Changes in GRAVITY's leadership along with the game being poorly received in Korea during the open beta slowed development on RO2. GRAVITY since reworked the entire game. Global Business Manager Yunghun Lee said “We launched Ragnarok II in 2007. That version wasn’t really enough for the market, so we tried to revise all the systems, but it takes time. We changed the engine and everything, it’s like a totally new game. The engine changed several times, but now we’re using Gamebryo.”^[8] By this time, only the Korea and Japan regions had functioning servers for the original RO2. This version of the game received its last update on 2008 March 26.^[9]

Legend of the Second[edit edit source]

Ragnarok Online 2 Legend Of The Second

In July 2010 it was announced that the first iteration of the game had been scrapped and a new version, Ragnarok Online II: Legend of the Second (Korean: 라그나로크 온라인 2: 레전드 오브 세컨드), would be developed in its stead. The new iteration of RO2 returns to the systems and mechanics of the original Ragnarok Online while keeping the 3D engine. The game engine was changed several times since its predecessor opened its long running closed beta in 2007. It was mentioned that the new version of RO2 will be using the Gamebryo engine.^[10] The previous iteration used Unreal Engine 2.5.

The new art style of RO2 hearkened back to RO's anime look but still had its own individuality from its predecessor. Developers raised expectations with many planned features such as a tailoring system that would allow players to upload textures for their characters' outfits, spirit forging, and an actual alignment system in addition to a return of the the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Classes from RO.^[11] Beta testers experienced a wide explorable world that had the potential to rival that of World of Warcraft with mounts and a flight system.^[12] Because of the new change in art direction, several tracks that Yoko Kanno composed for the original version of the game was scrapped in the new version.

After 4 years of failure by GRAVITY's development team to improve the game, they decided to hand over developmental rights of Ragnarok Online II to their subsidiary Gravity Interactive in March of 2016.^[13] Under Gravity Interactive, RO2 saw the implementation of a goddess update that introduced quest-based factions, a Cute Pet system that is a copy-paste of the existing Monster Summoning system, an MVP system that's a recycle of the existing elite monster system, and an in-game barbershop feature. Niflheim, which was the next major update before GRAVITY dropped development on RO2, was left unfinished despite Gravity Interactive teasing its future implementation. In January of 2019, Gravity Interactive announced that development on RO2 would cease as the remaining development team was dissolved, although the game will remain up for players to play despite no further support.^[14] Strangely enough, this comes about a month after beta testing for a Philippines version of the game had ended.^[15]

Reception[edit edit source]

The Gate of the World[edit edit source]

The first iteration of RO2 was only available to players in Korea and Japan. Reactions were mixed as some players liked the fresh look of the game while others felt it digressed too far away from the anime aesthetics established by RO. The weapon system, which allowed players to level up their weapon along with their characters, contributed to a lackluster market since players had little incentive to switch to better weapons. The amount of content in the game was excruciatingly sparse with only three towns and a handful of maps to explore. As a result, activity in the game dropped dramatically in a matter of months, with many maps empty by the time the game was scrapped for the remake.

Legend of the Second[edit edit source]

When the game finally launched in 2012, players were dismayed to find many of the features promised by the developers were either half-done or missing from the game. Players expecting a 3D version of the open world experience of RO were disappointed with a linear questing system to take them from town to town. The criticism was so bad that the developers' server in Korea shut down not even 2 years after it opened due to extremely low player populations.^[16]

However, in other areas of the world, players were mildly positive towards the game, believing that the developers will eventually implement the features that were promised in beta. Unfortunately, dissatisfaction with the game's management led to a steady decline in population with the seaRO2 publisher AsiaSoft ceasing service to players in the Singapore and Malaysia regions about a year after it opened.^[17] They eventually ceased service to Thailand players as well and shut down their RO2 server entirely, having only serviced RO2 in their contracted regions for about 3 years.^[18] The Taiwan RO2 server is the shortest-lived of the RO2 servers thus far, having been in service for only 7 months before shutting down in 2015.^[19]

After the 'Advent of Valkyrie' update was implemented on iRO2, the game went into further decline as many RO2 players rejected the wide range of changes made to the game from the mechanics to the job classes. Upon concluding their evaluation of the game, Kunlun Games terminated their contract to host cRO2 in 2013 and then Level Up! Games followed suit, terminating their contract to host pRO2 in 2014.^[20] In January of 2016, GungHo Online Entertainment terminated their contract with GRAVITY to host a jRO2 server.^[21] RO2's global performance so far has cost GRAVITY millions in server shut downs and terminated contracts.

Ragnarok Online 2020

See Also[edit edit source]

• Ragnarok Online, an MMORPG
• Ragnarok the manhwa

References[edit edit source]

1. ↑Exclusive Developer Interview
2. ↑The Old and New in RO2 Developer Interview 2012 Dec.
3. ↑MMO Culture 2013 Nov. 20
4. ↑WarpPortal Forums 2019 Oct. 27
5. ↑Ragnarok Online 2 set for TGS debut 2012 Jul. 07
6. ↑Tokyo Game Show 2005 Blog - Day 1 & 2 2012 Jul. 07
7. ↑라그나로크 온라인2, 첫 비공개 시범 서비스 12월 27일 실시 - GG게임 2012 Jul. 07
8. ↑News - Gravity Reveals Ragnarok Social Details, Ragnarok II for 2010 2012 Jul. 07
9. ↑kRO2 Website
10. ↑RO2 Engine Change
11. ↑Unimplemented RO2 Features
12. ↑YouTube 2011 Jul. 17
13. ↑Ragnarok Wiki Forums 2016 Mar. 23
14. ↑RO2 Development Halted 2019 Jan. 16
15. ↑Official RO2 Philippines Facebook 2019 Feb. 05
16. ↑MMO Culture 2013 Nov. 20
17. ↑PlayPark Website 2014 Sept. 11
18. ↑PlayPark Website 2015 Jul. 11
19. ↑WarpPortal Forums 2015 Feb. 27
20. ↑SEC Report 2014 Jun. 04
21. ↑SEC Report 2016 Feb. 22

Ragnarok Online 2 Download

Ragnarok Online 2 Private Server

External Links[edit edit source]

• Ragnarok Online II (Official Gate of the World site)
• Ragnarok Online II (Official Korea site)
• Ragnarok Online II (Official North American site)
• Ragnarok Online II at GameFAQs
• Ragnarök Online II at Metacritic
• Ragnarök Online II at MobyGames
• Ragnarok Online II at RPG Site