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@UedaMost people coming from an MMO background naturally expect this (though I understand the limitations historically). It's an extension of the village missions that give you one of the starter jutsu for free. A string of village exclusive missions from the NPCs around the village as the primary driver for leveling; with grinding, dailies (which are usually grinding missions) and RP missions coming in between level requirement intervals. Quest Arcs coming online as they usually do and dailies finally taking over as the primary leveling mechanism at around 28-30, just before Toad Arc. By then the player is fully equipped for a lowbie, and in groups of 3-4 stand a chance in DZs. Players might not even get Genin until they complete the village help quests, earning their title by helping the village. Exp rates can be nerfed to account for the new options but the variety alone will help retention. Leveling right now is easier than ever but it requires already having knowledge, help and a willingness to switch off your brain and grind 5-10 levels at a time (and also pop blessings). Players doing this can hit 35+ in 2 days (even 1 if they full send). If you pace the proposed quests, dailies and RP to get you to 30 in 3 days of reasonable playing hours I think that's a much more sane alternative that doesn't really hurt the game. From there, the harass of DZ dailies can begin.

Warning: This is going to be a long review, because well. - There is a lot to go through. I'm also not an easy person so.. it could be.. annoying? sorry in advance. The review is separated in two parts, good and bad, classic. each got their own points, you can scroll through and find them easily. Positives: The Community -My perspective The World The Content -Arcs -Bosses -Designs The Endgame -My perspective Negatives: The overall Gameplay -Daily Routine -Road to 50 -Balance Conclusion follows in the end. The Community I can't tell how much I love the community of NinOnline. It doesn't matter if veteran or fresh Player, the vibes are the same. (Have fun, enjoy the game and improve) This leads to the experience, that the game keeps staying lively even with a low amount of players being around at times. Kageship, Organizations, Chunin Exams, RP Sessions/Missions, PvP or Boss Fights are unique in their own, everytime! Every generation passing has it's own story shaped by the community being around at that time, which is why the game is amazing even with it's down sides. It's amazing. The World The Game offers a world with an environment that is simply breath taking. I remember the old days when Rory created Leaf on Stream before the public Alpha, everything is handmade and felt like a lot of work. Which reflects in the detail of the villages, I mean even now after so many years, tweaks are taken to improve the experience to walk inside that world. For a 2D game, the experience is great. You can feel walking a long a forest, over an ocean, through a desert, ontop of a Mountain or plains, mystical frog villages or harsh environments. Everyone who played Nin, can tell, what I'm talking about. Running from Leaf to Sand, Sand to Mist, Takumi to Tanzaku it always feels like a journey to an actual different country and you can tell, by just crossing the maps. I don't think that experience can be easily recreated. The Content I like how much the content has improved in Nin over the years, it is pretty fun to follow the Story in the Arcs, because it actually allows you to experience the life as a beginner, trying to help workers to finish their task in a fair environment, to more challenging and rewarding tasks. The environment grows with you and actually grants you something to look back to. The Bosses across the World are well designed as well, you don't feel too overwhelmed or too bored fighting them. The drops they share just make them even more interesting and turn them into a goal to chase for. (At least for some) They're also a fun skillcheck, to see if you are good enough to challenge them yourself or, if you have to come back and bring some friends. Even better, if PvP is involved. The design of character sprites, cosmetics and masteries are just perfectly designed to help you create the base of a Ninja you love to play and appear with. It doesn't feel like just a character, its actually some kind of "OC" no matter how you design it. (if you ignore the names given and beginner phase that is) The Endgame The endgame is by far the best experience of NinOnline. It has multiple layers depending on the type of player you are, but doesn't really get you bored, if the population is fair. You try to improve with your masteries to get better in PvP or to slay Bosses you aim for. You try to reach your goals, no matter if you want to be a leader, a villain, a guardian, a tutor or rich trader. The foundation is given for everything. PvP is the best part of the endgame in my opinion. It's fun to fight solo against one or multiple enemies, in group fights or even raids. If my friends are around and the population is fair, I could do it for countless hours. The overall Gameplay Daily Routine Even if you are a new player, curious for all the things the game has to offer, it gets dry quickly. Depending on the mastery you select, your rotation most likely looks like this: Ninjutsu User = You select a target, attack it, hold c and repeat. Melee User = You select a target, you attack it until your hp drops low, stay semi afk - repeat. This isn't too bad if you have people to do it with, because it can distract you from it, but after hours of the same routine, it will haunt you. It really does. As I keep saying, the dynamic is destroyed by exactly that routine. Monotone Gameplay up to 50 At first, the daily tasks seem super fun and are quite the challenge, but in most cases, the tasks are nothing but a bother. Now, with the recent update, even more. It doesn't matter if you're a level 13, told to slay 65 highly agressive Tigers with a single Jutsu and a cooldown of 18seconds, or a level 35, told to slay other players far above your skill level. In the end, you look at the clock, the reward and ask yourself "was it worth it?" - The joy of progression is lacking. It might be there, but it shatters over time. The same goes for grinding monsters for leveling. - You can do it for hours over hours and get small rewards such as scrolls, drops for a few ryo and some exp. - But, if you do it for days and you barely made any progress. - You really start questioning a lot of things. - Especially the purpose of it. Is the game trying to teach you something or is it just stretching the gameplay to make up for something? - In my opinion, NinOnline does not need hundreds of hours, grinding monsters with a boring routine to give you a journey. Because Nin's identity is found in Level 50. - The way to 50 should prepare you to it. Not make you quit before you actually did see it's glory. Indecisive Balance I know, a lot of people say, I don't have a word for it, because I don't PvP as much as they do. But! I actually love PvP just as much as PvE. - And I loved Nin for the freedom it offers to player in creation of their Ninja. Sadly, that kind of freedom is long gone. - And it does feel like, the freedom is being taken away more and more. I don't expect everyone to relate, but I try to explain my thought about it. The best example, is Medic. Since 9 years, I'm mostly focusing on Medic because it is what I love to do, support but still be a part of the action. (I'm not talking about hybrids) You had 3 roads to choose from. Be a fully supportive NInja that keeps your allies alive and maybe changes the outcoming of a battle. Be a fully offensive Ninja with a focus on poison, cc's and an incredible cool cursed seal that boosts yourself for a little while. Or, be a mix of both. Now, the balance forces you entirely into the "Be a free alternative for existing item's which can additionaly revive people or, be an offensive medic with 1-2 Jutsus" decision. I tried so many times to adjust to the changes, but.. the charme I felt in the mastery all the years, is completly dried out. I don't enjoy being a simple replacement of items that can revive on top of it. - I can't reset, because of the dry monotone gameplay that comes with it. I'm pretty sure, Medic is not the only mastery that experienced a similar change. After years of a break, I hoped it has changed, but with the balance team changes in the past month, it just proved, it didn't. Which is sad. Conclusion: I'm forced to quit the game, I love more than any other game & enjoyed to come back to every time. The game got a wonderful environment, but the road to 50 feels more draining than a full time job with overtime. - If it would be easier to reach level 50 and take part of the actual game, it would be a simple masterpiece. But in it's current state, it is simply blocking it's own potential by trying to be something, it can't be. Not in 2022. If one would tell me to pay 50$ to get a token to boost an alt from 1 to 50, with the basic requirement to have at least 1 main at level 50. I'd throw my money at the screen and scream "take it!". - Because the way to 50 for the first time is priceless. But only wonderful in the first time. I will have a look at the game on Steam release just to see how much it changed until then (since it was delayed again), and I'm very sorry if I offended anyone with this review. Best wishes, Konahri

This is the kind of stuff that needs to stop...

Trade Requests can now be accepted as long as you are on the same map Previously, you were required to stand next to the person who sent the request. This could get confusing because you wouldn't be able to accept it again when it failed. Now you still need to stand next to the person to send the request, but you can accept it from any position on the same map. Increased Daily Missions to 4 per day We are going to rework missions to be shorter, give slightly less XP but increase how many you can do. This is so you don't end up doing the same thing for too long. Added Daily Mission Counter in Mission Log Now will show above your mission list "Daily Missions Completed: X/4" Added feature to make items drop on death only in arenas, and not drop in arenas We can stop having people drop Corp items when they join tournaments. Added small Pickup animation to show an "attempt" to pick up items Items will do a small hop when you press the Pick Up key on them, to show some feedback, that something is indeed happening. Hover Map Items (Drops) for Item Name and Item Owner Use your mouse to hover items dropped by players and mobs to see who has the ownership/priority of the item or who dropped it, as well as the item name. Lots of improvements to ESC to close windows We now don't close windows like inventory when you press ESC key to close Alert Boxes / Confirmation Prompts. We also only close the focused window (like Friends window) versus closing all of them. Moved HP Bars & certain Animations to render above Day/night HP Bars would be covered by the cloak of midnight and you would need to squint hard to see it. Certain Animations like "Mission Complete" would be hard to see at night, this has been improved. Fixed Mobs Spells attacking other Mobs Fixed Summons being able to attack Friendly NPCs Fixed Alert Box sizing being extremely thin Optimizations to weather Fixed Resizing Window (Regression in last update) Fixed a potential crash with removing two friends at quick succession

Its simple, with this system of PvP matters. People that joins will play the game like 20-30 minutes and leave cause they don't enjoy getting killed everytime and wait BI.