Valkyrie: What not to like

When Level Up Games(LU) said they'll be releasing a free-to-play server in Philippine Ragnarok Online, the first question that popped into my mind was, "What's the catch?" For sure there'd be an Item Mall, wherein you can buy equipments and other stuff. But what else?

I have been playing in Valkyrie for almost a week now. I must say it is fun, and I enjoy it very much. However, there are still some things that got me turned off from the game. Game glitches and bugs are always present in a server with new client settings. This was evident during Day One, October 10, where the Kafras do not offer a Warp service. It was hard to move around towns (read: walk-a-thon). What made it even harder is that Teleportation is not allowed. The Hotkeys or Quickslots aren't save, which means players cannot directly nor easily access their skills and items right after they enter a Warp Portal or enter a different map. The main drawback to Valkyrie, for me, is that there are too many bots. Sooner of later they'd ruin Valkyrie's economy.

The Missing NPCs (Game bug) and Kafras Warps fixed after an emergency server maintenance. So far, things are running smoothly except for:

Disabled Teleportation- More of a feature than a bug, it is something really annoying. It's hard to slash your way to level up, especially if you're accustomed to the luxury of teleporting. It makes life harder, yes, but it is actually a challenge. Unless of course you come face to face with some really strong monsters (who, may I add, have been mysteriously appearing and wandering in places where they shouldn't be). It's also hard to get away from aggressive monster mobs you end up watching your life empty out to zero. It's really fun at first, but when you see your experience points empty out to zero, because you've been mobbed over and over, it's no longer hilarious. Better get used to it if you want to stay in Valkyrie!

Hotkeys - It's a big deal if you ask me, especially if the next map you'd walk int would be filled with aggressive monsters. You enter dungeons and places unprepared, which could mean monsters can pawn you even before you get to click a potion. No Teleportation? Then the next best thing to stay alive would be to run, and spam yourself with healing potions. Lol. Although LU claims that this week's maintenance should solve this problem.

Selected PK Maps - Some maps are PK enabled, and it's hard to walk into one if you're not strong enough. Some people are waiting on potential victims by waiting by the respawn area. You appear, you get killed, and you lose 5% of your exp. Wanna do it again? Some people abuse their strength and will not be merciful to innocent players who just want to "level up". My 2 cents: Don't enter a PK Map unless you could handle the warzone. PK is fun, it's like pvp minus limitations. But it's not fun if you're the one dying over (and over) again. If you want to level up, head over to safe zones.

Bot-free server - Haha, who are you kidding? LU (or Gravity, whomever you'd like to point your finger at) can't even make Thor, the supposedly bot-free server, free from 3rd party programs. It's shameful how Thor couldn't be true to its label. Of course, if Thor is infested with bots, then so would be Valkyrie. As expected, Valkyrie's population is rising, although I highly doubt it's because players are increasing. I, myself, can extract 3rd party program information over the web and create and configure my own bot. But I don't-at least I haven't. And I won't, as long as the economy stays fair for everybody.

So far, abusive players and bots turn us off (me and my friends who want to start over again in a fair game). If all these problems continue, I might as well go back to commercial servers. Or maybe I'd end up quitting RO.