Looks like the end of the road ;-)

[Post]

To all those that wish to flame: press back page or “ctrl w” if not please read.

My story:

I started playing iSRO back in November 2006 and joined a guild, with people from my multi-gaming community. It was fun running around jangan, testing my character and dieing a few to many times due to higher level mobs over powering him. Seeing a strong earth ghost from a party scroll and thinking its small I can take it, lol I was level 9 and lasted 1 hit. I enjoyed the quests, killing mobs then getting my first SOS drop a level 21 garment chest that I could use and a guild member loaned me a +3 SOS spear times were good.

Leaving jangan behind I was ready for donwhang and more death at the hands of mobs and PVP! Log-in started to get harder due to the botters, at the time I didn’t really know much about them at all nor did I really care. I just want to play and enjoy the game with other real players. Grinding with friends in donwhang was good to me most of the time; I got 3 SOS drops from earth ghost to the frustrations of friends that were guild members. Reaching the last levels of D4 I found out that I needed more gold for better items and pimping. I started a stall character (on a second PC) and focused on making or buying (and or pimping) then reselling items, stones, elements etc. This meant I started to level slower than some friends as I explored the market aspect iSRO. Another area of the game I enjoyed, being a market player, making deals and a profit (even Quark would be pleased with my skills).

I now had a full D5 SOS set and weapon pimped and ready I only needed to level my character to 37. Running around with my weapon caused a few problems with scammers, trying numerous tricks to get the items that I worked hard for. Then I got lucky my first SUN a level 24+4 (br 19) shield that some one stalled for 2.5m. I sold it for 45m and brought a LV42 SOS pimped glaive and D6 SOM talisman. Selling that shield educated me with the tricks, scams and bad attitudes of some players had in-game in relation to the market and stalling. I started to harden my attitude in game because of it. I was not going to let a few players steal my fun.

So with a stall character set up and working the market I when back to the grind, most of my friends in game (people I knew and have met in real life) were nearing the end of grinding in donwhang. Some of the other guild members I knew were still grinding in donwhang so we partied and levelled together when we on @ the same time. From level 37 I started to grind by my self to close the gap between me and my friends. This is when I started noticing the gold/players bots. They would always grind in the same place for hours attacking mobs much lower than them, never speaking or responding to actions, like pm’s or attacks on them (ice fireball).

Having done most of the quests in donwhang, I took the chance and moved to hotan to kill mujigi and ujigi. Which my friends were grinding on (10 levels above me at that time) my SOS set and weapon helped a lot. I started to level using the early hotan quests and brought 300 silk for 2 gold tickets (long before a PT’s was available). And started to farm with a 9 gap grinding on yeti, devil yeti and “dune worms” (yes indeed I think they took it that from the film), this sucked big time. I was levelling so slowly but needed the SP and watched my friends gaining any think from 5 to 9 levels in the time I gained 1.

After I farmed I when to the caves, and got called a low level noob a few times early on. lol I would reply with SOX noob to you and would happily show them my set to shut them up (followed a few time with offers or begging request for gold) . I had great fun in the caves doing the quests kill 1500 –1800 mobs get claws, books etc depending on the quest, to some friends they couldn’t stand it. For me I enjoyed meeting new players to party and grind with. A few of us levelled together in parties as we worked are way though the caves. We would pick a room and control it the botter’s couldn’t KS us on party (or most normal) mobs so we had the upper hand which was a very satisfying. Now nearly suited in D8 SOS with a SOS 64+5 glaive I took a 2 month break to work on a my fathers newly built house abroad.

After coming back I started a new job doing 12 hour shifts 4 days on - 4 days off, so I could only really find time to grind on my days off with a PT and a pet. The euro update was here but I spent too much time and effort to even start thinking about a new character. I was finishing off the last 2 quests in the caves when. I found my guild master AFK being power levelled over night via botter’s in a union he signed up to and I seen him face down for hours 2 nights in a row. Some mite state “so what” or “that happens often in silk road”. He also started acting like a complete NOB (yes NOB not noob the Brits reading this will understand). Scamming guild and union members and he got to power hungry. We were both part a gaming community I joined back in 2000, he joined then left (after breaking rules) and joined again 4 years later. He started playing iSRO and made a guild for the gaming community members and few of us joined.

A little history of the community (I’m part of):
Over the years we seen many people, clans and games come and go but are still here playing 8+ years on and have had 300+ members in that time.

We have 8 simple rules (not going to list all of them) that we agree to when signing up.

Not cheating in game.

Being kind, courteous and respectful to others, unless attacked unjustly.

Member need to be active in game or on the forums. With this in mind member’s sign a role call and non active members are removed.

All members will use the community TAG in game even if they play as part of another clan or guild; they still represent the community and can recruit.

Issues, rules, membership applications etc are reviewed and voted on by a council and I ‘am 1 member of the council there are 19 in total. So no 1 person has over all power and all members have to abide by the vote (1 vote per council member) or rulings of the council.

I tried to talk with the guild master about his actions; scamming SOM weapons, SOS items, GDF’s and gold from guild and union members. His response was to try and have me removed from the community by lying about me. When he didn’t get his own way he quit and said some things that were too personal and totally disrespectful to members of the community. He proceeds to kick most members of the community from the guild then started very personal attack on community members (real life issue not gaming) and getting the botter in the union members to PK us. That didn’t last long because the old union kicked his guild and he moved on to perfect world, taking some union members with him. He didn’t last long there, after 2 months he and his members were on a KOS (kill on site) list because of his actions. Some of the old union members came back to iSRO after seeing what he was really like.

We in the community work hard on our reputation and friendship and people like him never last with us. I ‘am still a member of the council and only 2 votes stated I did any wrong (his vote and his wife) in relation to lies. It just goes to show that this game can bring out the bad elements in people. A few friends had lost the love and stopped playing iSRO @ that time, manly because of the silly login times, cheaters, the never ending grind and how sick they were of it all.

Guild-less I levelled to 75 and moved on to Roc Mountain, this added more mobs and new items. D9 SOS didn’t go far so I gave up on SOX and continue to pimp NPC, drops and stall network items for my set. I destroyed several items when trying to +6 or +7 (not cheap but part of the fun).

I had some family from abroad coming to stay with me and some others relatives that lived 1 hour away. So I need prepare my home for them to stay and left iSRO for about 6+ weeks with out playing. With most of my friends gone and the bad state of the game, I had lost love for iSRO and started playing other games. As I work 4 on 4 off time does fly and I need to use some of my holiday allocation, or lose it (paid days off, if only that was the case all year round lol). I didn’t feel like leaving the country and after looking after 5 other people and spending out on doing DIY I needed the rest and the money.


So I brought some silk and decided to give iSRO another chance with my time off and started the grind hoping to cap my character. Parting on roc mountain on different mobs, some people would moan about “other item” the pet would pick up. I like the element bags and tabs after all why buy it when a pet can pick it up (it’s what I paid silk for). I some times would turn it off and back on to piss off the botters SUN arrows anyone? I then moved on to level 82-83 mobs and found a guild and a few non-guild players that partied @ the same spot. I started talking with some and found out that 1 of the guild was an 0X33 member and had 1 PC running 6+ bots @ that spot. Some of the non-guild members there would baby sit their bots; some were mothers and fathers and ranged in age from 20s to 40s with and without full time jobs.

I moved on to a different grind spot and watched the botters day in day out as I grind my ticket time, until I was pissed off by a euro wizard or witch (female) that always was around the same mobs I chose to grind @ on roc mountain. She often would insult players using global chat. For a week + I had been grinding the same spot hardly ever seeing another real player. I can’t count the amount of times I was purple, using ice or then vital spot moves on the botters and never even getting attacked back for it. One day I chose to PK the witch (after freezing her day in day out) and then work off the PK status. BANG 2 moves and she dead, level 1 (PK) I lose 5 PK points per kill 1200 to work off. It’s going nicely until a real player turns up and PK me. I lose a nicely pimped item (from my set) his pet pick its up and he res me. I ask for the item back after stating I just PK a botter and follow him for a short time. BANG he PK me again, 1 more pimped item is gone. Up to this point he not said a word to me, now my PK status is gone. He res me again, I then proceed to try and PK him as he running away, with flying dragon spear but he uses invisible or stealth to get away.

This made me click:

Since first starting this game back in November 2006:

I’ve never botted or had my character power levelled. All my levels have been made by hours of hand grinding. I won’t cheat levels to get ahead in iSRO. I’ve never needed to cheat online or vs. other players in game. I prefer skill, knowledge, team work, fair play, ethics and luck.

All my sets, jewels and weapons (D1 to D8 SOX, D9 non-SOX) I had dropped from mobs and pimped or brought with gold made in game. I spent time and effort getting the sets.

I never needed to buy GOLD or considered it to get and advantage in this game. I made it all from, drops, buying items with in the market, pimping, reselling and luck.


This game is a grind and people need to understand the FACT! Too many take the easy route, via botting or buying characters. They never really understand what it means to play and level up in the game.

No matter how much money people spend with joymax (buying silk) there is no real customer support. You can get your account(s) hacked, bugged, exploited, banned and never have any feed back in to joxmax or a response from them. As paying customers we deserve MORE than they offer. Just looking at there “operation policy” and “user agreement” you sign away any real support when you agree even as silk buyers. The bot bans are pointless if they don’t stop accounts being remade, which just replaces a bot with another bot thus not allowing new players to try the game.

They need to actively update the code to the stop or limit exploitation of the game via bot programmers. They never fix the game code or web site unless it directly effects payment from customers that buy silk or stop silk users, using silk items. They only seem to listen if it makes them a quick buck ($) PT, limited avatar suits any one? Joxmax need to fix the real issue’s and it will lead to more players and more silk sales that’s a win/win


Saying that it not all joymax fault, the users that happily use and or buy exploits as are much to blame for that state of the game, as joxmax lack of action to police and fix (or control) the issues. User’s that bot and or buy/produce gold only prove that they don’t have the skills, abilities, self-respect, equality and ethics. To really understand what it is to play and experience the game “the way it’s meant to be played”. They just wish to profit at the expense of others not understanding the real cost of their actions.


There’s is no real justice or balance in this game anymore, take a stand play with-in the rules or try and affect those that cheat them and you lose. Join the cheats and the abusers; you gain nothing apart from a faster downfall of iSRO and ultimately you lose.


Real hand grinders will never out level a 24/7 botter and if botters can’t level faster than each other where the advantage of botting? They may as well just burn their money or come back months later because what have they gained in the battle of 010101010101010010101010101010

People are willing to spend $100 if not $1000 of real money to buy items or produce gold to get ahead in this game. They can have fun buying and selling, when prices are so high only the limited few can buy or available to buy virtual pixels.



As for me I ‘am enjoying life with out iSRO.

[Verfo]

Good luck in RL, ^_^

[Argonaut]

You made me press Ctrl W.

[Kirkaldi]

Good Luck, read the first 2 paragraphs only. lol

[Doppleganger]

Good luck do0OoD

[ninshad]

I can't believe I read all of that

[Blurred]

*looks at sig* OOOO

[MyraSchr]

Thanks for sharing your feelings.

There are many legit players in EACH server. I believe many players hand grind all the characters, and I believe there are ones out there who loves to hand grind as if the road never ends.

See you in 6 months! I believe that you'll return because knowing someone wrote that much on forum is one heart that loves, cares for, and once a believer of Silkroad ONLINE. Let see this thread reactivated with "Hi I'm back!"

(Xian)Mishika

[Verfo]

You made me press Ctrl W.

all you needed to read was first and last sentence >_<

[speeble]

I read it all. Hope you have fun in RL. Very nice story you put together . Reminded me of the old days so much

[alZen]

good luck!

[BloodyBlade]

You made me press Ctrl W.

Aah, farg you x)

[OTG]

Great Story, good luck in real life.

[Crowley]

Great story. It really reminded me of the old times and how bad this game has gotten. Good luck in RL.

[frankaslt1]

[Ricooo]

I totally understand you. My character is actually very old, I've played before the euro update.
I would hand-grind in a PT and would just talk to people for HOURS.. Time would fly.
I had no idea botterx exist until not too long ago, infact.
I've never purchased silk, as much as I wanted to.. I realized that this is a f2p game, and if I wanted a p2p game I'd play world of warcraft.
And even though I understand you, I don't play SRO for botters, or for anyone else. I play for myself.
That's why there ARE legit guilds and there ARE legit players who you can play with, you just have to look real carefully

[hits98]

make your real ROAD great.... rememeber dont bot on your road lol..

[LillDev!l]

Read it all
im the same kinda player you were.
making money by buying pimping reselling etc.
always had the best gear but everyone leveling faster then me.
always had nice friends that helped me ^^ Grinded with 1 guy from level 42 till around 68 basicly, and had the best GuildMaster ever ^^ always fun, always helped me with everything.
i even remember she used to come back to town from takla, to ress poor little me at mujigi's when i died again ^^
now im level 80, dont really like grinding anymore, as you said.. i remember the times when i was grinding at Devil/ghost bugs and when i saw a player, it was a PLAYER who would respond/talk/help.

ah well, good old days

goodluck in real life ^__^

[Teddybeer]

Good story i read it all
very intresting and good luck in
RL

[MissLe2]

it is interesting to read a story with so much feeling in it
like you my main char is hand ground to lvl 65
it was only taxi'd one time

yes there is so much wrong with this game
yes there are so many that dont care anymore that make this game suck(sometimes)
yes there are too many that bot and cheat others
yes our game runners (Joymax) only cares for $$$ not players
yes there is bugs in game that are not fixed

but for what its worth
this game has some good points too
it is still free to play
there are good people that still love to play (yes they are hard to find)
and it is fun to play

the key for us players, is to play for fun when you want to
play when and where you want, play the way you want
enjoy the game for the good, and try to ignore the bad

hope you decide to come back to sro after a break (we need good people)
if not thanks for your contribution to the game,
i am sure you did help some in game to develop in some good way

thanks for your good history of yourself, (and the game too)
and may you find what you need

[agentcool5]

thats is a one long thread
good luck in ur life
i hope to quit sro

[nightbloom]

I sarted to read but then I knew my inevitable answer would have been, "You should have come to venus." and I figured Id just let you quit.

[HolyPure]

I sarted to read but then I knew my inevitable answer would have been, "You should have come to venus." and I figured Id just let you quit.

how lol is that

anyway, realy nice story, i did read it all as well, make me think of old times 2

GL

[Argonaut]

I sarted to read but then I knew my inevitable answer would have been, "You should have come to venus." and I figured Id just let you quit.

how lol is that

anyway, realy nice story, i did read it all as well, make me think of old times 2

GL

Anti-legit people will come in with the "bla bla, dont bring up Venus in every thread bla bla".


On-topic: Iz guud post mens.

[Toasty]

I liked that post, and for some reason its made me wish i was still playing SRO.

[CloudStrider]

I sarted to read but then I knew my inevitable answer would have been, "You should have come to venus." and I figured Id just let you quit.

how lol is that

anyway, realy nice story, i did read it all as well, make me think of old times 2

GL

Anti-legit people will come in with the "bla bla, dont bring up Venus in every thread bla bla".


On-topic: Iz guud post mens.

Just because people dislike Venus and its restrictions doesn't make them anti-legit, fark.

[EwwBabel]

lol gl

[speeble]

I sarted to read but then I knew my inevitable answer would have been, "You should have come to venus." and I figured Id just let you quit.

bla bla, dont bring up Venus in every thread bla bla

[IDontPlaySRO]

I didn't read it. Big walls of text about SRO that I didn't write or don't pertain to me are usually uninteresting anyway.

I do agree with nightbloom though. Since I started playing on Venus I've started to enjoy the game more than ever before. I've quit before but Venus is something I think people should try before they give up completely. Still, I see people quitting from Venus too so it isn't for everyone I guess.

[loskaos]

you are pretty much the same player i was.

discovering the dark side of sro (i started by buying shitloads of elements and stones from bots at stupidly low prices, then chased the bot/gold seller stallers for low priced items for huge profit, finally i bought silk from the ccfers )all of this just made me think about how boring the game was getting the 80 cap raise didnt seem to be near , and me having so much gold.
It came to my mind how boring it was and how easy it would be just have a single drop bot would make me get access to so many items.
I had a fully farmed str glavier, and had used som/sun weps from lvl 1 to 58 (i had a sos 52+5 glavie untill 53 when i got the first som 52 glavie on the server )
At that time the servers were already infested with bots and it seemed pointless to keep going.
i stopped when school sucked me in and i decided to donate my items and gold to the guild and quit sro.

i have visited this forums for a long time and honestly i have not found a similar game since.

Sometimes i wish i wouldnt have missed so many of the good things this game has to offer but then again i rather not play this, than cheating, i have better things to do than having my computer playing a game for me.
the closest thing to botting i have ever done is jamming my res key to help a friend delevel...