Lineage 2 Servers - How to choose the best one?

So 2018 just ended and in 2019 you are looking for a Lineage II server to play?

Well, we have got the tea on the official servers that you might want to check.

We are dividing this topic in 2, GoD Servers and Classic servers, so we should begin to spill the tea on the GoD servers.

We have:

Innova’s Servers:

Core and Tiat

Servers with a long, not so cool trajectory. I used to play here tho, awesome experience.

NCSOFT NcWest:

Naia and Chronos, servers with more history than Jerusalem.

Before we start, if you are looking for a server that it's not pay to win, well you might as well stop reading here because there is not. Just play the way you have fun because if you are looking for this, maybe you want to get a PVP server where there are more chances for everyone to be equal in the matter of the time you spend playing.

So lets now start talking about the movie contact:

The NcWest servers for GoD are Chronos and Naia, they comprehend a long history of servers merged into them, such as Shilen, Magmeld, Lionna, Teon etc. You will find here players that have been playing for 13 years, to players that have been playing for 1 year and could be on the same gear/level.

In 2019 you can start on either Chronos or Naia, depends if you are based in Euro or the Americas. Anyway, I don't think it will matter gear wisely because farming for gear is kinda complicated,

GODDESS OF DESTRUCTI ON:

Innova (Core and Tiat) and NCWest (Chronos and Naia):

Well is it sad to announce that Core and Tiat are no more. I played here from 2013 to 2018 and till 2016 was super fun. But sadly, I logged before writing this and it’s a graveyard, it's simply empty. From my personal point of view i enjoy PvE with friends more than PvP tough there were many people it was impossible to avoid PvP with made it fun and unpredictable.

Moving from NCWest to Innova in 2012:

Played before GoD in the West servers tough this is not the point of the topic. I moved to Innova at late 2012 when it was impossible to a player that didn't put money in that time to play in Magmeld (First GoD Server destined to new players when Lineage 2 became F2P). Gameplay in this server went great, first months were crowded as you can imagine, the number of people, the launch of the GoD servers were a success, never looked better.

Well, this is not a recap neither a look back, so we start with the current status of the server, GoD ones. There is a LOT of Pay To Win in Innova and NcWest so if you want to be on top you might want to push some money on it, or be smart and make a way to generate adena.  In 2012 I found an awesome Server in Core. Sadly in 2018, it's nearly impossible to find the awesomeness of the PvP, PvE there once was, even for me in 2013 and I was a little late to see all of the goodness.

Here are some PvP Videos from a couple of years back:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FD4xSylg2l8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=acWFH9KE-nM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w6Gc06Nob6w

It is my recommendation tough that you go to the NCWest servers, both Innova and NCWest are full of Pay To Win (NCWest and Innova), at least in NCWest you will find a lot more people to share your spendings. It's necessary to say that this highly depends on your gameplay, but yeah who doesn't like more people in a server. So at this point just choose NCWest as that has more people.

LOOKING AT THE FORUMS:

Classic:

We have been checking the forums of the Classic Servers, NCWest and Innova and they seem healthy.  When we mean healthy, a big number of post is the indicator, even if they are negative posts, even though they are not many. The servers with most activities in forums and number in games are Talking Island and Giran (not a noticeable difference, only noticeable when their prime time varies), followed by Aden and then Gludio. Gludio is a critical case I would suggest not joining here if you like to play with people.

Last post in Gludio server forum.

Innova’s Skelth forum seems also healthy, and a good number of post in the market section, recruiting and general forum, remember that this server is way older than the NCWest ones so you know what to expect.

Giran Classic PvP: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r9IDv52JTgo&t=454s

Skelth Classic PvP: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XIpG4iDB3MM&t=139s

¿You know what else is dead?  Ughn it was born dead, Tiat server, good concept bad execution by Innova, and sadly Core is following. We are not going to mention Tiat as it was such fail is not worth talking about (Tiat is a server that was launched in the Orfen chronicle by Innova in October 2018)

GoD:

Core and Tiat forums are DEAD. I would suggest you not to play here as i stated before, only people that remains is that one with friends, and they even complain ;).

And as discussed before, Naia and Chronos are the way to go.

Looks like the key to future of Lineage 2 servers was looking back?

In many industries the key to success is about looking forward not looking back, but the case seems to be different for Lineage 2, demonstrated by the player influx in the opening of the Classic Servers in NCWest, more than 10.000 players and its international reach.

The opening of the Classic Server was at the right time, curiously at the same time, GoD came out as free to play. Basically, there can be a discussion on where you can start regarding classic server, not like in GoD where the number of people is the only factor I would say.

Innova’s Classic Server Skelth, is very much alive and kicking, but since it has a lot of time live, it has people that have progressed a lot, if you don't mind this, well I would suggest starting here as it has a healthy community and not a very toxic one. If we compare this Skelth server to the four servers of NCWest Classic (Aden, Giran, Talking Island), you will only see a difference on how advanced the server is in terms of level, gear, chronicle, and enchanted items. Nevertheless, if you are thinking to start on a classic server completely alone I would suggest you go to NCWest, Talking Island or Aden, if you are located in the Americas, just see what adjusts better. If you are in Europe go for Giran. I must say that Innova’s Skelth is awesome too, and I would go there only with friends, it would be complicated to catch up alone as the majority of people are high levels.

Private Servers

Interlude, Kamael, Gracia Final, Gracia Epilogue, Freya, High Five, and some Ertheia, Grand Crusade, Helios Servers still hold a lot of people, and I bet the 70% of casual L2 players are playing in private servers. The advantage of the private servers over the official servers. Servers like Lineage 2 Amerika, La2dream, L2 Global, L2 Eternal, L2Lionna, KetraWars, L2MAD, L2Toxic, L2 Exilium, Scryde, L2elite, L2Cosmos, L2mordor, L2devil L2raptor; host a lot of players as they close and open servers to give everyone a fair time playing and a fair time to enjoy the game. Another thing that motivates players to go to private servers is the different rates that they offer x20, x25, x50, or even x100 servers. This multiplier refers to the amount of the server rates has been multiplied to, for example, official servers are x1, if a server is x15 it means that the base rates have been multiplied for 15 times, meaning the same mob will give 15 times more exp than in official, same for adena, drop, spoil, raid boss, craft, safe enchant of armor and weapons, and max enchant. Many people like different things, high, mid and low rate servers are available for you to choose, also, private servers are known for custom events, ¡they are fun!. Just make sure you read the rules, term and conditions and privacy policy of the servers before playing as they are private for a reason.

You can always google, lineage2 hopzone, topzone, you can find many servers. And many on of them with a "grand opening", so the coming soon phrase will be always up, especially in the summer and winter in Lineage 2. In most cases, you will find a lot of private servers work way harder fighting bots, DDoS, as they have a premium SmartGuard protection, that basically adds custom protection vs third-party software with a lot of updates. Just a word of advice, I think you should look for something being l2off (L2 Official Files, known as "retail-like") or at least a custom l2j (L2 java files) as L2off tend to be more stable, and less bugged servers. Just make sure you register and join a server that is not about to wipe or that is on its last days, check info on their forum. There are also servers with a lot of customs, for example, faction server such as l2ovc that has two sides, you join one and fight in daily quest and daily event, epic raids, pvp.

You can test many in one day to find what you like as most of them require to download the system file only. So, download a client of your choice, system file, register an account, join and test!