Today is the official opening of Philippine Ragnarok Online (pRO) Valkyrie server. It’s the latest server and it’s free to play. Let me repeat that for you ok? It’s FREE TO PLAY. It’s been the buzz of the month since it was announced at Level Up Games‘ (LUG) .

There are many so speculations as to why LUG made such a move as this. Read the player speculations after the jump!

Is pRO finally losing it’s appeal even to veteran players? Is this some sort of desperate promotional campaign to once again popularize the Philippines’ first online game? Is this LUG’s replacement for Ragnarok Online 2’s delayed release? Are they doing this to counter all those private servers that are seriously costing them profits? And also, will this new server revitalize player interest in the once behemoth Ragnarok Online? We have yet to see what happens next.

I’ve been ignoring the announcements and Yahoo mass messages about Valkyrie since it was first buzzed about by the RO community. I was too busy minding things in the real world I couldn’t pay much attention to gaming, less a new server in RO. But here I was, “trying” it out to test the waters.

I downloaded the Valkyrie client and created a character. I got so pissed off because the name Master Diwa was already taken so I settled for an ascii version, [ Master Diwa ]. It’s been a while since I logged on in pRO for more than 5 minutes, but Valkyrie echoes some nostalgic beta moments and it was enticing to me. I recreated my taekwon from Baldur server with exact hairstyle, I plan to play casually here as another ranker type.

While I was levelling up, I was quite flattered when people still recognize my name even if I haven’t been able to play for a while. Hehehe kaka-touch! Mabuhay kayo!

Also tomorrow, I’ve been given the privilege to attend an exclusive press conference about the launch of Valkyrie server. I will be going to LUG’s office at 10am to meet with LUG personnel as I go with them to the presscon. It will be an exciting day! I hope they air it on television! Hehehe! Wish me luck!

If you have more questions about Valkyrie server you can check out my friend Carlo Ople’s blog. Here are some screenies I took while I trekked around Valkyrie. Enjoy!

Recruitment area, LOL!

Siege daw! Haha!

Novice VS GM generated Poison Spores

Valkyrie invasion!

Buti na lang matibay ang tulay!

Oooops! Deads!

Egghead army!

I almost made it out!