Ragnarok: The New World is an MMORPG that Steam lists as free to play, and it opens with eight starting classes, a promise of free respecs, and an open world the official site says you can climb, swim, and fly through. That's a lot to weigh before you've made a single character. This guide covers where the Windows client comes from, how to choose a class, and which resources the publisher's own pages list as free.
You can install in two ways: Get Ragnarok: The New World for Windows PC from the official site, or use Steam, covered in the next section. Download links in this guide are affiliate links: we may earn a commission at no cost to you.
Install Ragnarok: The New World and Plan for the Launcher
The Windows client comes from two places, the official website and Steam. GRAVITY Co., Ltd.'s July 16, 2026 press release says the PC version can be played by installing the client from the official website and that it can also be downloaded from Steam. You can use either route: Get Ragnarok: The New World for Windows PC from the official site, or install it through Steam.
As of November 2, 2026, Steam's store listing shows Windows as the only supported platform, and its minimum requirements list 12 GB of RAM and 30 GB of storage. Check your region on the game's official site before you download anything.
The Steam Launch Information & FAQ that the game's official account posted on August 17, 2026 says "The Southeast Asia server is currently available on Steam." It adds that the publisher plans to launch servers in other regions, but "The specific regions and launch dates have not yet been determined."
The Steam route doesn't skip the launcher. The Steam FAQ the game's official account posted on August 17, 2026 says a separate launcher is currently required and that you can't log in directly with your Steam account, because the game needs a unified account system for cross-platform data sharing and for its anti-cheat system. The same FAQ says character data is shared across all supported platforms.
Pick Your Starting Class by the Role You Want
Choose by the job you want in a fight. The official class showcase lists eight starting classes — Druid, Archer, Swordman, Mage, Merchant, Acolyte, Gunslinger, and Thief — and gives most of them a home area. Archers live in the Payon Forest and have the furthest attack range. Swordmen are raised in Prontera and the nearby town of Izlude, with high attack power, heavy armor, shields, and high HP.
Mages are raised in the Mjolnir Mountains west of Geffen and rely on magical skills as their primary source of damage. Druids shapeshift into Werewolf and Wereraptor forms that excel at physical combat, and they also cast mid-range spells. Merchants, who live in Alberta, are described as initially not as powerful as other classes, but they fight with axes and blunt weapons, use carts, and summon helpers.
Acolytes, raised in Prontera, bring reliable healing and holy magic. Gunslingers hail from Einbroch and choose between pistols and shotguns. Thieves, who the page says witnessed the destruction of Morroc, excel at swift combat with daggers, and the page calls them a significant threat to small isolated enemy groups.
If you're unsure, pick the class whose page matches the one thing you want to do — stay at range, take hits, heal, or strike quickly — and read the next section before you spend anything on gear for it.
Test the Respec Promise Before You Commit Gear to One Class
The publisher promises free resets, so check that promise in game before you invest in gear for a class you might drop. The Steam listing promises free skill and stat resets, and the official site adds that you can respec (reassign your skills and stats) and change jobs at zero cost and switch between builds instantly. If it works as described, your first class is a trial instead of a commitment.
The maintenance notice published on October 29, 2026 announced new 2nd Job Change branches, Rogue and Sage, for the October 30 update. It says Rogues excel in hiding, mobility, and debuffing and unlock three Builds: Assassination, Trick Shot, and Shadow Curse. Sages excel in elemental magic and battlefield control, can cast all skills while moving, and unlock two Builds: Elemental Storm and Magic Fist.
The same notice names more classes in its adjustment list, including Knight, Crusader, Hunter, and Priest, but this guide doesn't cover the full job tree or the requirements for changing jobs, because the sources it uses don't spell them out. Check those in game before you plan around a branch, and don't buy gear for a job you haven't confirmed you can reach.
Explore the Open World Before You Plan Your Refining
Exploration alone covers refining a full set of equipment to +10, according to the Steam FAQ the publisher posted on August 17, 2026. The FAQ says open-world exploration rewards were significantly increased and that resources obtained solely through exploration are sufficient for that +10. Refining is the equipment upgrade that raises an item's + level. The official site describes a world you can climb, swim, and fly through, with hidden chests and random encounters scattered across the map to reward exploring.
That gives you a concrete target: spend your early sessions exploring and see how far the resources you find take your gear before you plan anything past +10. The official site's refine claim goes further, promising safe refining to +15 without losing levels or breaking your gear, but that's the publisher's promise, so check it in game before you commit materials past +10.
The FAQ also says the Combat Power value was removed so progression can return to exploration instead of a numerical score, and that early-game instance guidance was improved with reduced difficulty. Keep an eye out for SSR pets as you explore: the FAQ says they can be captured directly in the open world instead of only through draws, and that pets were strengthened overall.
Check What Auto-Battle and Offline Rewards Cover
The official site says auto-battle frees up your hands while offline rewards accumulate continuously, and GRAVITY Co., Ltd.'s July 16, 2026 press release describes an offline auto-hunting system.
The publisher's Steam FAQ from August 2026 answers why the game has so many automatic features: players must complete a large number of routine monster-clearing and traversal quests, which it calls the parts of an MMORPG most likely to wear down a player's patience. It names boss strategies and PvP competition as the content players should reach without being exhausted by routine tasks, so plan around that split: automation for the routine, your own attention for those two.
Collect the Starstones, Cards, and Royal Gear the FAQ Lists as Free
The Steam FAQ the publisher posted on August 17, 2026 lists what it calls free resources for all players, starting with up to 6,580 Starstones a week from Hoppy Quiz and Guild Auction. Starstones are the currency the FAQ ties to the Starstone Shop, and the 6,580 figure is the publisher's own number, so treat it as a cap to aim for, not a guarantee. Steam's store listing shows the game as free to play with in-app purchases.
The same FAQ lists free trading through face-to-face trades, the Exchange, and player stalls, with transaction fees as low as 1%, which it ties to earning Zeny. It says Minorous Card, Hydra Card, and Skeleton Worker Card can be redeemed through the Assist Shop, Arena Shop, and Guild Shop, one of each, and that Purple Card drops guarantee a card once the progress bar is full.
Royal Gear, the FAQ says, drops from instances, MVPs (the monsters you can defeat for a mount or a card), open-world AFK combat, and Mimic Chests, and Royal Essence from the daily five-player instances can be exchanged for it in the Royal Gear Shop. Don't look for Advanced Dishes, Yggdrasil Leaves, or Concentration Potions in the Starstone Shop — the FAQ says they were removed from it and can be obtained through the Exchange, Gold Shop, or Adventure Coin Shop instead.
Read the Official Notices and Restart After Hot Updates
Read the official notices before you plan around any figure in a guide, including this one, because they're the dated record of what changed. The maintenance notice published on October 29, 2026, for example, scheduled maintenance for October 30, announced the Rogue and Sage branches and a new map, Juno, and listed a fix for auto-battle failing to attack under abnormal conditions.
A hot update announcement dated November 2, 2026 asks you to restart the game to fetch the latest updates so resources load properly, so restart before your next session whenever an announcement like that appears. It lists two fixes, one of them for Gunslinger characters that couldn't move in certain situations.
The official site's Guide tab showed no content on November 2, 2026, so this guide sticks to the class pages, notices, and Steam FAQ instead of an official walkthrough.
Steam's store page showed Mostly Negative overall on November 2, 2026, with 33% of 1,205 user reviews positive, and Mixed over the previous 30 days, with 54% of 68 reviews positive. Those numbers move, and so do the figures this guide cites from August 2026, so open the notices list before each session and check for anything newer than the October 29 and November 2 entries.
FAQ
Is Ragnarok: The New World free to play?
Yes, Steam's store listing shows it as free to play with in-app purchases. The publisher's August 2026 Steam FAQ also lists free Starstones, trading, card redemption, and several sources of Royal Gear, including up to 6,580 Starstones a week from Hoppy Quiz and Guild Auction.
Do you need a separate launcher on Steam?
Yes. The publisher's August 2026 Steam FAQ says a separate launcher is currently required and you can't log in directly with your Steam account. It gives cross-platform data sharing, including progress synchronization between mobile devices and PC, plus the anti-cheat system, as the reasons.
Are respecs free in Ragnarok: The New World?
Yes, according to the publisher, though that's promotional wording. The Steam listing promises free skill and stat resets, and the official site says you can respec and change jobs at zero cost, so confirm a reset in game before you invest in gear for a class you might drop.