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Runes of Magic: Review
Stradden
Managing EditorMember CommonPosts: 6,696
MMORPG.com reviewer Sean Bulger takes a look at Frogster's recently released free 2 play MMORPG, Runes of Magic.
Free-to-play games have a certain stigma attached to them by most people, at least in the West. They tend to have less content, fairly simplistic gameplay, and are often little more than mindless-grind fests. I've played a number of these types of games in the past, and every time I do, I question why I haven't learned my lesson yet. Runes of Magic has shown me why: because there's always the exception to the rule, and hopefully one that will be a trend-setter. It is far from being a perfect game, but many gamers out there may find that Runes of Magic has enough to it to hold their interest.
;)
Read the Runes of Magic Review
Cheers,
Jon Wood
Managing Editor
MMORPG.com
Comments
A decent review. Seems balanced enough.
One little note to the editors who review this stuff prior to publication - "exceptions" is not a synonym of "expectations."
("When it comes to quests in free to play games, my exceptions are pretty low.")
Hmm, If you do go to this website and play this game a few things you should know. Either you better like dumb quests or like to grind out levels. Good luck trying to get a party together for any early quests as most players have moved on and there are not enough new people coming into the game. Also do not buy anything from this company!
How do I know these things? I just left there last week after getting 2 characters to lvl 25+ and one to lvl 18.
One of the main issues is there are not enough new people coming into the game and most players have moved onto 35+ lvl so when facing any boss( a certain death solo) you will not be able to complete the quest.In fact, all of the bosses are beat by forming a party. Before leaving I spent 3 says trying to get a party together for Forsaken abby runs(think time sink).Nobody was around to get it done. You have to make 30 abby runs to get the elite skills for lvl 25 or spend alot of in-game gold(which you do not really have due to repairs on equipment) for the crystals needed to get the elite skills and you have to do it for each class(remember that cool dual class system).
When you hit lvl 20, you get to a new area called Aslan and the quests seem to slow down here and by lvl 25 they become almost none existant. Kinda hard to lvl 2 classes without quests and hence the grindage begins. By lvl 25 I was forced into deleting characters because I could not find people to do quests with or even enough of them to lvl one character. By lvl 28(think 6 lvls of grinding) I was forced to conclude they did not want people to stay.
Grinding and lack of quests aside, there was also another factor that made me leave and that was Frogster. They lied about their features and would not issue a refund or even a credit. Instead they ran off to change their webpage to make it appear as though they did not mislead people into a belief a certain feature would be there. That feature was supposed to be a shared treasure chest that all your characters could use. Items could be placed into the treasure chest and then used by each of your characters.The treasure chest was located within the house every character you create shares.
So knowing this feature was supposed to be implimented into the game, I purchased a permanent mount($22.00) and was going to place it into the chest for all my characters to use.This feature never came to be and growing frustrated with this fact, I sent feedback to them about it.They replied that they never intended to implement this feature and even went so far as to admit they made a mistake and then ran off to change the page to avoid any possible legal problems. I asked for a refund or at least a credit for the mount, to which they replied they would do NEITHER of those.
Once Frogster has your money, they no longer care about you.
So there you have it, my entire gaming experience with Runes of magic,still think this game ranks as a 7.7 good? Not even close in my book.
Btw, I have a pdf copy of the webpage I spoke of, from before they changed it should anyone think I am making this up. If I could just figure out how to post it....
Axe
If we fail to change the things of today, they will become the lucid nighmares of tommorrow.
Sorry to hear that Axe. I was about to put 50$ into the game 2 months ago, when it hit me just the morning i was going to pay; this game doesn't deserve it.
They're currently milking the game pretty bad, 50%-off dias, Ruby crap-shop, a patch every 4 weeks, ... etc. I think they're getting what they can, and bailing. Who knows!
Egyptian, 27
Former EQ2, Guild Wars player
Waiting on the next decent MMO
Currently playing ... nothing.
I suspect that was what they had in mind from the beginning(grab cash and run). Seeing as I asked for a credit and they were not even willing to do that. That speaks volumes of what they had in mind. What harn comes from a credit? You still have my cash!
Glad to hear you did not give them any of your money.They certainly don't deserve it and they would never have gotten mine had I known they were outright liars. Guess I learned a valueable lesson though.:(
Axe
If we fail to change the things of today, they will become the lucid nighmares of tommorrow.
I started playing the 1st week it was out and nobody knew exactly how bad it was then.:( That is why I posted here.To make sure people were fully informed of this game and its business practices.
Cannot believe it was given a review from here of 7.7! Unbelievable!
Axe
If we fail to change the things of today, they will become the lucid nighmares of tommorrow.
I think that the reviewer's usage of the word "subscribers" tends to be rather disingenuous as the word -- at least within the MMO community -- often connotes a paid subscription. A more accurate term would have been "registered accounts," which is precisely what Frogster was describing when they announced those numbers in this article, which is even titled "One Million Registered Users!"
Aside from that, I basically agree with the reviewer's perception of RoM; it's decent for a subscription-free game, although it contains very few innovations and continues to spoon-feed us more of the banal mediocrity that we, as MMO-players, have become accustomed to in recent years.
Axe i dont't know what have you done, but i have a 50/50 and i did little grind, there were plenty of quests, if you did all aslan you should have gone to sascillia stepes or dragonfang to lvl your second class. In fact after i was 50/50 they added some more quests to ystra and ravenfell, so now it should be even easier.
As for the review, the person that did it could not understand the basic concept of this game, you can get any equip, but an equip here it's not like a wow equip, here you have to put stats on it or it's worthless, and guesss how you put stats and upgrade the equipments -> Cash shop
As for the crafting, im lvl 40 armor smith, it's completely worthless. Other missing aspect here is the huge class imbalance as well as some skills completely wrong, -> a scout can lasso an enemy for ever with a macro for example :S
Overall it's a fun game to lvl, there are about 8-10 quests completely fun to do, the others not xD, when you reach max lvl then it starts the boredom. Instances are not that bad, but after some runs, its always the same thing.
Whoops, thanks for pointing that out. I didn't intend on being disingenuous with that statment. Rather, I'm just so use to talking about account statistics at "subscribers" that I didn't even notice that I used the word in that context. That is very correct, though: they do not have a million people giving them money on a monthly basis, but rather just have a million people who've signed up at some point or another. Quite a different scenario.
Review updated to say registered users
Dana Massey
Formerly of MMORPG.com
Currently Lead Designer for Bit Trap Studios
Then you obviously either got in before the membership started trickling down to nothing or you joined a guild and became a "guildie" to get your quests done for you..err, I mean to have help in the quests. Either way you can have tons of quests but if they require a party to complete and nobody is around to join your party. then the quest might as well not exist.
When I quit at lvl 28 I had only 3 quests to do.2 of them were epics(requiring parties to complete and one of them was a boss,requiring a party. I was too low in lvl to do NOM and Ystra quests, most I could not even get because I was not high enough lvl. I suppose sitting around for days on end trying to get parties for Fa runs(time sink) together did not help either.
Is it my fault not enough new players were coming in to fill the parties up? I was not aware that I had the power to change that and it seems you are implying I did something wrong.
I suppose it is my fault that Frogster would not issue me a credit also.I notice you did not even broach this subject. I wonder why that is??? Perhaps it is just easier to point a finger at the poster rather than at your beloved game,fanboy.
My position and feelings stand true to the experience I recieved. Therefore, there is NOTHING you can say to change it.The truth is the truth and you can either accept what is or live in denial all you like.I am not the only person who sees this game for what it is.
Axe
If we fail to change the things of today, they will become the lucid nighmares of tommorrow.
Yes i'm in a guild, one of the bigger ones, though i did most of my quest with the help of other people through zone chat, i played near the open beta release date, that's why there was a lot of people i guess, i think you still are not aware that you have a teleport for sascillia another zone that starts with quests from lvl 1 + ideal for your second class development, not to mention daily quests.
As of calling me a fanboy, have you read my post, i just pointed out tons of bugs and fails, i just think through my experience quests are not a problem, there are plenty. I didn't comment the credits thing cause i've never spent a dolar in rom, though i absolutely agree that theres only one interest in frogster, and thats in making money as quickly as possible, before people leave.
"True friends stab you in the front." | Oscar Wilde
"I need to finish" - Christian Wolff: The Accountant
Just trying to live long enough to play a new, released MMORPG, playing New Worlds atm
Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions. Pvbs 18:2, NIV
Don't just play games, inhabit virtual worlds™
"This is the most intelligent, well qualified and articulate response to a post I have ever seen on these forums. It's a shame most people here won't have the attention span to read past the second line." - Anon
To the person that lost money over the housing thing, that really sucks and I'm sorry that happened to you. I haven't played since beta, but I thought horses were bound to the character that bought it? I think I may be really wrong, though.
Also, the game just came out of beta and I didn't expect alot of the things to be the same. For example, there were normal mounts and a bunch of people bough permanant ones. A short while later War Mounts (or whatever they are called) came up and most of the normal mount buyers were mad.
My point is, I can kinda see why Frogster didn't grant your request. I think its terrible from a customer service point of view, but from a business point of view I wouldn't granted it either. If they gave you a refund or credit, they would have had to grant the same request for everyone else who just missed the newest mounts or who acted on a beta feature that was changed or removed, etc. *But*, if you did it after the game offically went live, you may have a better case since the game wasn't in beta any more. But, I don't know.
But back on topic, from what I've played I do like the game. Its a good time waster. I was trying to get in to those diamond contests that were held during beta, but I just didn't have time to write an add-on (or learn how to, that is) and I *just* missed the deadline for the interior design contest. I really wanted a second level to my home, too!
I really wish the crafting system was better. Right now its boring as ever, but for some reason I still tried to level my gathering skills.
It's amazing how many of the complaints about this game also apply (to me) to LOTRO.
Of course, to help combat the grinding, they tweaked the XP tables to make it quicker. (Rather than adding more quests to the dead areas)
R.I.P. City of Heroes and my 17 characters there
You still get a house, you still get mounts, you still get tons of equipment drops... You'll be comparable to someone who has spent money. You just won't likely look as stylish, is all. Plus, you won't have the bag space, but you should be able to get along fine without it, too.
Great review but going to have to disagree with you on this point. Being a level 50 in a rather huge guild on Osha, the statement in bold is simply wrong. You will not be comparable to someone who spends cash. Yes you can get equipment without cash. Yes you can upgrade this basic equipment without cash. But there is no way this equipment will compare in stats to someone who spends cash. You can't upgrade to tier8 gear without money or many months of dedicated time and gold per peice of equipment. You cannot upgrade past +4 or even get to +4 without cash. You can get to +4 but you have a better chance of winning your state lottery persay. Simply put, this game at 50, pvp and pve wise, is nothing without money. Most guilds won't even ask you to group with them in instances post 50 unless your paying cash. I know plenty of guilds that only recruit people who pay money because of the fact they balance instances towards people who pay and have incredible gear. There is nothing wrong with this, just thought you should point this out in your review.
Yes, i leveled 3 characters and knew nothing about dailies(sarcasm) LOL! Did you really think this actually occurred? I mean really? OMG! You must really think the worst of everyone even someone who posts clearly and consisely you assume is stupid enough to not know the basics.
I did not know about the bind of purchase factor of purchased items because frankly I had never purchased anything from any online game company and obviously won't make that mistake again.
Yep, tried the steppes but if you start on the steppes at high lvl,you really get almost nothing for the quests and kills.
Not sure giving a credit for a bound item so I can apply toward another bound item effects anyone else other than me.
But,hey apprently,everyone here knows more about my experiences than me and is pretty much telling me to shut up as I do not know what happened to me. So it all musta been someone else's mightmare I was living and I will not discuss it any further.
Laterz!
Axe
If we fail to change the things of today, they will become the lucid nighmares of tommorrow.
Leveling three characters in any game you hate would be a nightmare.
I'm sorry you're too stupid to stop playing a game when you realize it's not for you, and force yourself to continue until you become bitter against the game itself, it's developers, and it's playerbase.
Unfortunately for the rest of the world, we can't do anything but sit here and watch you behave like an idiot. Carry on
I got my toon to lvl 45/40 using a Knight / Mage before I layed it down with the rest of the F2P mmos I had lost intrest in. The grind isn't terrible for the most part. The biggest issues I have with the game is the unbalanced classes, the complete inability to tier or add keepable stats to equipment without going to the cash shop and the horrible horrible lag.
Plus I know everyone wants varity in their equipment. But this game just went off the deep end with what armor or weapons gets what stats. ANything could drop with any stat. Heavy armor with pointless intel and wisdom stats. Cloth armor with stamina and strength stats. If it was crappy then dismantle it or sell it to an npc. But sometime you would get rare drops that had 2 rune slots and the like three pointless stats that you had to find some way to get rid of that would take hours and hours or grinding for crap drops to get gold to go to the upgrade NPC and gamble to see if got the fusion stones you needed. Which could cost you from anywhere to 50K-200K easy. Just to much grind for something you will ditch in 10-15 lvls.
But all in all I liked it for what it was and the folks in the guild I was with were top notch. Might even pick it up again some day. They just need to work on some issues first
There is a Madness that has grown in the Light. And it is coming to burn you a cinder
You never mentioned pvp in this game.
You never even used the word "pvp".
Is pvp in this game?
"Microtransactions are a tricky thing to use when targeting a Western audience, as there's a lot of pre-existing baggage that comes with it that turns people off. Simply put, a lot of people aren't willing to try a microtransaction-based game. However, I think Runewalker (and Frogster depending on how much was localized) did a pretty good job of it. If you don't want to spend a dime, you never have to do so, and you aren't actually barred from anything by choosing to keep your money. You still get a house, you still get mounts, you still get tons of equipment drops... You'll be comparable to someone who has spent money. You just won't likely look as stylish, is all. Plus, you won't have the bag space, but you should be able to get along fine without it, too."
A couple of points I'd like to highlight are that the game has been systematically engineered to make money, this has been done by way of several mechanisms, but the overall impression I got from playing is that up until 35/35 you can enjoy the game very much without the cash shop.
Once you get past that however the lay of the land starts to shift quite a lot & the way the game works starts to not just mean the cash shop is a convenience but it becomes more & more necessary as you continue to level up, sure the cash shop remains optional, in the very loosest sense of the word optional, but the actual praticalities of playing post 35 mean you will find the game starts to work against you in many ways, repair costs ramp up, especially with better gear, more you spend the more you need to spend to maintain what you bought, TP & XP debt escalates very badly, the need for very highly transmuted gear increases exponentially, because you could simply outlevel the content earlier on & you cannot do that later & you have to face dungeons tuned purely around highly transmuted characters, in fact all the dungeons are, meaning the low level dungeoins don't get done at the level they are designed for at all.
So rather than the stated aim of the cash shop providing conveniences, the game is designed to make everyday gameplay unbearably inconvenient as a way to get you buying things to make the gameplay bearable, the end result being that in order to play this game at a similar level of convenience to a subscription game you're going to actually be forking over a hell of a lot more cash to do it, & with this medicore a game it's just not worth it (in my opinion at least), in short they got the cost & convenience equations too heavily biased to making money & to lightly balanced to providing an enjoyable game, the item shop ruins the game ultimately.
Levelling past 35/35 is awkward, it's easy enough to go to 50 on one class once you hit 35/35 but levelling your secondary at that point takes away from levelling your primary due to a lack of a secondary chain of quests that was present earlier in the game, so it looks like you can get to 35/35 just fine then you have to choose which class to be your primary, level that up on quests & then slowly eek out levels on your secondary via xp/tp orbs & daily quests.
So my advice is play to 35/35 then re-roll, past 35 the game is ALL about the cash shop & how much you can bear to put up with an increasingly restricive game or how much cash youinject in order to offset that.
My other complaints others have covered, the unfinished/useless crafting system, class imbalances, upgrade jewel fail rates, the list goes on & on & they slowly become more & more of a grating thorn in your side the more you play.
The game does become increasingly difficult as you level past 35. Therefore without some work on your equipments, you will have a tough time. But non-paying players can still get cash shop items without ever paying cash.
1. Some players will be selling diamonds for gold, therefore non-paying players can actually obtain diamonds!
2. Most cash shop items are actually on sale in the token shop were tokens are free to obtain through daily quests.
Yes, it will take alot of time for non-paying players to get what they want, but the bottum line is that they CAN without paying money!! There are players in game right now that have not spend a cent but yet have diamonds and cash shop items!
Some players will spend money to save time, and other will not~ Its a simple choice but atleast everyone CAN get the same items.
Nicely done on the review Sean. I agree with many of your points.
I've been around a long time and played dozens of MMOs over the past 12 years, so I'm actually a little surprised by all the hate this game is generating. I have a few characters in their 20's and 1 in their 30's, and while I agree that the game has some shortcomings, I feel that the hate is a little melodramatic. If you go on ANY MMO's forums, the majority of the posts you are going to read are complaints. By this logic, take a trip over to WoW's forums and you'll assume the game is going to shut down a week from next Tuesday. This is by far the best F2P game I've ever played (not saying much I know, but still). If you don't want to pay real money you don't have to. Sure, it'll take you much longer to do and get the things you want to, but it's not a race. I would recommend at least purchasing a mount for your character. You can buy them for a week, a month, or perm.
A saw someone mention that they ran out of quests at 29...I'm not sure how that happened. If you are doing dailies, as well as levelling in BOTH level 1-50 maps (Yes, there are 2. You get access to the second map with a spell called Teleport: Reifort when you pick your secondary class at lvl 10), you should be hard pressed to run out of quests. The game's quest and combat systems are VERY simple, but it's the number-crunchy dual-class system that I enjoy playing around with. The class system is very complex for such an otherwise easy to play game.
Maybe the game will be no fun at 50/50. If that's the case, I'll simply move on with nothing but a $20 loss for a couple of permanent mounts for my characters (yay weekend specials!). Maybe it's just because I started with the older MMOs where everything took forever, so I'm not looking for that "go go go hurry up and cap" game design that came about around 5 years ago, but I'm having fun. For me, that's all that matters.
It's early, I'm rambling, so I'll end with this: It costs nothing to sign up and give the game a go. So, if you're looking for something to kill some time, then give RoM a try. You might find it as fun and addictive as I have.
Take care gang.
Joined - July 2004
From my experience with F2P games (Atlantica Online, Perfect World) if you don't plan to spend cash then you better don't start playing it. The thing that Alex described of course sucks. But spending money in F2P game is what they want you there for. They don't care about you going there playing for free and then being all frustrated that you can't have something and market is flooded blah blah. While I was playing Atlantica Online I've probably spent few hundred bucks in that game and I don't really regret. I do hate their gamble system but with all that money spent I was able to get to 98 very easy without any special grind.
In Perfect World things are a bit different. Item mall items cost a bit more but it takes a bit longer to level. I bet that RoM is not much different. If you have few hundred bucks to spend in there - you will enjoy it. Don't think that Asian devs are stupid and will release the game without opportunity to make money on those who likes to waste cash in Item Mall. Thats what these games are about. Its just funny how some of you guys 'review' these games like some sort of counterpart to European and US gaming market. They are NOT. They are being released at least 3-4 a year to attract people with cash. Thats what they live of off. Those who come to play for free, they don't care much about you.
I just looked through this game features. I am gonna try it I think.
Dual Class
Housing
Mannequins
Arcane Transmutors
PvP
These features are well wanted in many games that they don't have them. Looks like this time Asian developers did some research on what people want the most in their MMO and created one. Of course its still F2P with Item Mall game. So either prepare to spend cash or be unsatisfied with a "free" play.