Closed Beta Test Experience

Overview:
Closed Beta Testing (CBT) was scheduled between June 20, 2017 to June 26, 2017 for the re-launch of Philippine Ragnarok Online. To complement the said opening of servers, there are several events that were launched with rewards that can be claimed during the Open Beta Testing (OBT). The well participated event was the  Prontera's Chivalry - Leveling Challenge where in the rewards received depends on the highest level attained during the CBT period.

Personal Experience:
A lot of players is anticipating this game since the announcement last May 7, 2017. True enough during the CBT the training grounds was flooded with novices. I was a bit late to create my character but I still see a lot of new players kept on coming in. During the CBT I was planning to test damage and explore but I changed my mind because I of my new CBT Tactics.

The first day was a terrible experience but understandable. The lag is somewhat tolerable, the random screen freezes is bad and the constant disconnection is the worst. Even if there are major issues encountered, I was able to make it to the first milestone which is level 35. The free 30k hypermart points helped a lot on providing us gears, supplies and boost our experience. And would you believe that there are players who reached second job on the first day.

The next days had the same problems but this does not stop players from playing the game. I noticed that more players are now flooding common leveling areas such as Payon Cave, Geographers, Byalan Island and Glast Heim. The market and warp areas are also slowly flourishing. I was able to reach level 45 by solo leveling on the geographers.

Just when I'm planning to have a gaming weekend, my laptop gave up on me. I had no choice but to ask favor to a friend to let me borrow his PC to boost my milestone a little further. At this point there is already an emergency maintenance to address the day 1 issues. When I played the game it was smooth and was able to continuously concentrate on leveling. Most areas I went through are now crowded so most of my experience were "sawsaw" experience.

After my weekend grind, I was able to reach level 55. I already stopped at this level because I need to bring my laptop to a repair center in preparation for OBT. My overall assessment of my experience is that the CBT was successful. The word of mouth of the launch is very helpful that it was able to bring back previous players and new bloods as well. The events and the 30k hypermart points is a strong marketing strategy to let players have a sneak peak of what is being offered as extras to the game. I hope the same success will be replicated during the OBT. Can't wait to play the game again. See you all in OBT.