Not too long ago, iRO shut down for about ten hours. When it came back up, it introduced its own "paid item shop." This thing has been abuzz since--I can't remember if it was jRO or kRO--first created their own.

And now it's here.

I renewed my subscription soon after it was introduced, and I'm just now seeing its impacts on iRO.

To be honest, I was apprehensive about the paid item shop. I'm sure there's some readers out there who have seen how paid items can either be gamebreaking or economy breaking if the developers do not put trade/vend restrictions on items.

Talien played FlyFF for instance, and when they introduced their own paid item shop, he stopped. He's had a few disgruntled tales about it.

The iRO GMs seem to have some responsibility with managing the paid shop; they even removed two paid items that are on the kRO and jRO servers; an item that lets to broadcast server messages, and a MVP radar.

Talien was pretty happy to hear that, considering what happened with FlyFF and its own Fullshout item.

Most of the items seem okay--and if they're not that okay, they do cost a considerable amount of money. The flapping angel wings, f'instance, that had everyone up in arms at RagnaInfo (save for those who are ... well, like Kawaii-chan) cost almost as much as a subscrption to RO itself. Or maybe a little more than such.
I know someone who plunked down nearly fourty dollars to spend on paid items, too. And it seems they weren't alone; everyone's gone crazy.
It's moments like these you just have to sit back and go "... you sly bastards!"

Oh, one bit of trivia. This comic is actually PARTIALLY a ressurection of an old RW idea I had years ago, but felt wasn't suitable for readership. The joke is different, but up until this point with Sniff's appearance, the comic is fairly close to that original idea.

And this seems to've been much better recieved by my taste testers.

Speaking of trivia, Nth Power's line earlier.

"... you can put things in bags."

That's a reference to one of his own IAQs. If you know of Nth Power's literary works, try figuring out which one it references!

Speaking of references, RO has made ton of them ... And not just with the Chobits ears.
I hear there's a Book weapon that is a reference to Death Note, the whole city of Niflheim referencing A Nightmare Before Christmas, and this Neuralizer that Zelse is using is obviously from the Men in Black movies.

As far as "what you've learned," the Neuralizer is essentially a skill reset you pay money for. Now, if only they had one for stats ...

It's something that this game could've used for a long time--most of the MMOs I've played either are not reliant on permanent stats (PSU/PSO, save for materials), or they are easily changable (Armada Online, Anarchy Online) to some extent. I don't know about WoW, EQ, UO, or any of the other MMOs out there, but I would assume they had some sort of reset system.

Just ... I'm glad things like this don't REALLY happen, but you gotta wonder! Novices have to learn how to freaking SIT and how to express themselves. We might as well forget some other "basic skills" when neuralizing and come out feeling euphorically stoned.