As the game was growing, Rook was constantly suffering overcrowding and players complained on the forum about the slow progress to get level 8 and leave the island. A decision was made for Knightmare to expand his island, doubling the amount of land. The only changes to the original island were the Mill which was pushed more south to allow for another major shop to be added, NPC Aldees who bought and sold equipment and items like Ropes. I don't believe he exchanged a Small Axe for a Pickaxe at this time, but this has been difficult to confirm or not. Keep in mind that NPCs would only talk to one player at a time so you could hold up an NPC if you took too long. Having multiple NPCs on the island was critical as CIP didn't want players waiting around. Other then this small change, almost all the new content was focused on providing more hunting spots which was the number one bottleneck on the island.
Players could now head west to see new sights after leaving the city gates and challenge fearsome Rook foes like the Wasp and the new Orc Spearman. Despite the care and painstaking effort put into balancing the original island, the addition was a drastically more challenging place for new players and even traversing the surface could result in a fast death. The surface was dense with creatures like wolves which would mob you while you navigated the tight spaces around trees. Players learned to carefully navigate the area by hugging the edges of areas or moving slowly.
Many new dungeons were added to this area like the bug dungeon which connected the two continents right outside the city gate. This dungeon was very popular as the bugs seemed balanced to be overly easy compared to the experience they granted, and they provided reasonable amounts of gold. Players would need a shovel to open the lose stone pile before jumping down to clear the short cave. Once everything was dead, they would rope themselves up the other side to kill the wolves on the surface for food while they waited for the spawn to reset. Bugs also dropped a few cherries, but very rarely, which was a favorite drop of mine and some players like Rannie collected these juicy items though they didn't have much value. This was one of my favorite dungeons as it was simple and killing bugs felt cathartic and worthy of a true hero.
For those who didn't have a shovel to enter the cave, there was an alternative way to the other continent. A large two square footbridge over the water allowed you to cross, which was located just below the mountain with the Blind Orc to the north. One of the early problems with this design was it was too easy to lure creatures towards the lower-level side of Rook and you could easily become trapped on the bridge if other players stood behind you while on it as you couldn't walk through players.
Unfortunately, some players liked to watch the world burn and this was true on Rook. Players with malicious intent often lured the Orc Spearman and other difficult creatures near the bridge. Anything lured would stay put until you killed it or lured it elsewhere. The new Orc Spearman was very deadly and would always keep his distance, so chasing him led you into more monsters. This new creature resided in the far west of the map in a stone circle like place which also spawned normal Orcs. You might think this far off spot wouldn't cause problems close to the town, and the very narrow choke point in the west mountain pass might let you believe it, but this was not true. The Orc Spearman and sometimes Skeletons, would be lured from their far-off spots all the way to the starting bridge and were either left there or roped up. Once up they would be brought towards town and pushed down the ladder which would allow them to wander and destroy everyone they encountered. There was no PZ in the temple so new players would be easily obliterated by the hard-hitting monsters. The carnage from the Orc Spearman was too much, and a change would come to include a safety switch which would prevent level 1s, who were the cause of most of the luring, from leaving town. This change likely occurred at the same time NPC Norma's was added, at the launch of Beta 6.4. Players circumvented this fix by using higher level characters to lure which prompted KM to change the ladders with staircases at both ends, permanently fixing the issue with the Beta 6.6 update.
The new piece of land had a very expansive swamp to the south which had many Snakes which were excellent to level off. Once I realized how many Snakes were there, I never hunted anywhere else when creating new characters. Snakes were very easy to kill but dropped no loot. Perhaps due to how many there was, these would respawn very quickly and the 10exp per Snake added up fast.
Tucked away in the corner of this swampy area near the original island was a Troll tower which offered two stories of Trolls to kill which I remember as a nice spot to hunt if other locations were taken. Ladders made this dungeon a good place to go to find a rope to avoid paying the outrageous 60gp for one from the store.
North of the swamp was the choak point mentioned earlier which was two mountainous ranges with trees in the middle. You could only walk diagonally through the trees which also provided some distance between you and perhaps the Orc Spearman if he were lured. On the west side was a the Wasp which was a new addition to rook and would annoyingly attack and poison you, weaking you for the harder area ahead. The famous Wasp tower was located as part of this area, sitting to the north and accessible by rope. Each of the four floors had increasing amounts of Wasps which were quite tough to fight at once. Poison hit very hard, and it was easy to become trapped. Previously poisonous creatures only did damage and were not poisonous, but now they would deal poison over time, which would be powerful in the beginning and gradually get less and fade over time. If you fled in terror after being poisoned, you would now be able to heal your condition at the temple, but only if you made it in time. This change was made to Snakes, Poison Spiders, Wasps, and Scorpions.
A few brave souls would try to hunt the tower but being mobbed at once by many creatures and the high poison damage left many dead or fleeing to the temple for an emergency heal. If you made it to the top of the tower, you would find a signpost that said: "Feeling ill? Are you poisoned? This does not have to happen to you again! Buy quality armor at Al Dee's!" Not quite the reward you had in mind?
Behind the tower was a bear spawn named West Bears. You could challenge the brown foe though you ran a high chance of facing other monsters from the surface as it wasn't blocked in like it is now. The Wasp made a frequent appearance and if you were really unlikely the menacing Orc Spearman might be lured.
On the far west of the island, close to the swamp, was a high stonewalled area which led into an extensive dungeon below. This dungeon was mostly filled with spiders which would become increasingly difficult the deeper down you went. The very bottom floor had a single Rot down a ladder in a pit which you could see from a path overlooking the area. One of the issues with this dungeon was it could be blocked off by players and turned into a private hunting ground. Originally, the path on -3 was strait for three squares so a player would MC a junk char on the narrow north path one square in and put something behind them that wouldn't allow them to be pushed upwards, like a flower pot. The dungeon would remain blocked until the char would be banned or logged out as you couldn't walk through them or move them in any way. Luring a Poison Spider to them was tough as they didn't like to retarget and was more likely to just be killed by the MC char.
Above this dungeon was Orc Tower which had three floors with Orcs, and an Orc Spearman in the middle. This was a tough tower as you had to face multiple Orcs at once and the Spearman with an Orc. It was generally not worth hunting but players liked the challenge and tried anyway. Though you might think killing the spearman was a waste of time, doing so could sometimes grand you the rare Studded Legs which was the best legs on Rook.
Just north of this was an interesting skeleton dungeon that was a very good spot to level. The dungeon was hidden just west of the Orc Spearman stone circle which required a shovel to open the lose stonepile. Upon entry there was a ladder leading out so if you forgot a rope that wasn't a problem. You might immediately run into problems if the Spearman had been pushed down the hole! On this dirt floor area was a single Skeleton on the first floor which would lead to a broken floor like room which made it look like the floor had caved in. A ladder on a small south section of the floor would take you to a larger room below which had I think two Skeletons. This room opened below where you could see a small underground crypt and a staircase took you to this level which had a row of seven graves (unwritten) and four skeletons. I think I recall three skulls spawning in this room which was rare for Rook. The crypt room was very tough, and you would likely only be able to clear it at level 6 or 7. Once you went down the stairs you would be immediately mobbed and moving away from the staircase could be fatal. Heading back up would not provide much safety as there would likely be back spawn that would block you in. Heading out of the dungeon was also risky as it put you uncomfortably close to the Orc Spearman spawn. I really enjoyed leveling in this dungeon despite the risks and it was an interesting design.
The upper portion of the island was a little safer as there was a heavier tree line which protected the north from getting lured on too badly. A four-story Troll dungeon in a mountain existed just north of the tree line which I recall as reasonable as you could travel up and down by the ladder and wouldn't get mobbed. Just northwest of this was a three-story house with spiders which had ladders leading up and down. The path below now connected to the ruined house dungeon and Blind Orc on the original side of the island. Also added below the house was a new Poison Spider dungeon which was difficult as you were far from the surface and there were no food sources nearby to help heal. At its deepest point you would again encounter a sign strangely placed which pronounced: "Feeling lost? Would you give all your gold for a rope now? Al Dee's shop - come to where the ropes are!" By this point though it would be unlikely you'd be patronizing Al Dee's with your gold as you'd likely die without the rope.
Strangely there was a single Minotaur on a hill by the coast which could be accessed by stacking crates or other objects. Only the one spawned, and it was very easy to become trapped by nefarious players. According to a scroll nearby him, (which could be edited unfortunately), his reason for being here was as follows:
"Still no sign of a ship yet.
Even though I am looking out since days, now.
Never again will I swear in the presence of the holy mage, in order to avoid such duties in the future."
Who could forget the island's greatest mystery, the legendary Sword of Furry which was located on an island of stones surrounded by fire near the Mino on the mountain. The hallmark signpost nearby stated "Only the humble may touch the Sword of Furry" which sparked a never-ending discussion and deep interest in how to obtain this very powerful Rook weapon. Though I don't know if this was true at the time, a secret floor switch somewhere would make the weapon disappear, making it appear as though the sword had been claimed. Its legend has only been slightly diminished by the introduction of other, more powerful rare items, which came to the island during several bugs over the years.
I used to have a Rookstayer, Lord Chaos, in these days and remember how crowded every single dungeon was. Even with the expansion you would have to fight over every single monster that spawned. Getting enough experience to go to main was not a quick process like today where I can hammer out a new char in 8 minutes. Back then it took around a week to slowly level a character by grinding out experience alongside other players. You would certainly be killed at one point or another by the Spearman or become trapped by a poison spider somewhere. I accidentally forgot a rope and spent several days stuck in one of the new dungeons and ended up just making a new character. Playing on Rook was hard which is likely why CIP worked to improve the island to make it more player friendly and in later updates replace it with a much more newbie friendly place.
Though this expansion was designed to get players off Rook as quickly as possible, and hopefully in the process push them towards buying premium, many elected to stay as permanent characters on the island which CIP disliked. The initial reason for players staying was to help new players but soon became a completion instead for highest level on Rook.
Ealy Rookstayers didn't have as large a jump so were not as powerful as they later would become. Most people who stayed were not counted as a Rookstayer until they got past level 15. By the end of 2002 according to the Rookgaard Census there was almost 700 players over level 8 on the island which would seem like a lot, but only 38 were over level 20 with the highest being Dokkoise at level 34. Most of the high levels took to hunting the very challenging areas of the map, places which most new characters would unlikely tread. Even still these players had to travel across the map so you would bump into them often and see them quickly demolish creatures that gave you trouble.
Not all Rookstayers were respectful of others, and I even encountered a few cases of high levels pushing me out of a low-level spawn like the Bug spawn or even using push macros to kill me with creatures. These bad players unfortunately spoiled it for everyone, and the community slowly grew to resent high level players, viewing them as troublemakers rather than helpers. Part of the reason for this was that the new island addition also provided a massive boost to player's exp so characters were leaving Rook at a faster rate, which meant new players didn't need as much help as they had when the island was smaller.
I only managed to get level 13 on the Rook, but the main reason why I stayed was to solve some of the mysteries of the island and explore areas I had been unable to go as a lower level. I also spent a large amount of time helping new players and some of that time was spent farming equipment to resell back in town for a light profit. I know from experience that higher leveled characters were constantly harassed to help block or deal with a lured creature and it was difficult to figure out who was genuine and who was wasting your time. Part of the reason I left the island behind was that it was becoming too toxic to play there as players would constantly yell at me to "go to main".
It was around this time that the community had begun to change from its close-knit nature into everyone for themselves. As the game grew players only wanted to hurry to main so they could get on with their adventuring, preferring to gain tangibles like money or experience over helping others. Despite this change the diehards of the island stuck together in their small clicks and continued to level.
