Runes of Magic Review (Full - Long^3)

Cor4x

Forward: The following is my opinion. If you don't like it, feel free to dispute any points I make. These observations are made from my experience.

However, out of common courtesy, if you're going to rebut a point, do so intelligently. I admit I could have a false impression as I haven't had time (or inclination) to test every aspect of the game. My snark is greater than your snark.

I'm a veteran gamer with 10+ years of MMORPGs & > 30 years of game playing experience. I'm a senior system admin (Mac, Linux, PC, blah blah blah) and a programmer/developer (C++, C#, Java, Assembler, VB (1+ to .NET), blah blah blah.

This isn't my first F2P micro-transaction game to review. I highly dislike the entire nickle'n'dime premise that comes with F2P games and this review will reflect that. Nothing has changed my mind.

This isn't my first Asian "grind-fest" game to review. Ryl was one other popular game. This game differed from Ryl, however, in many ways. The content is better. The classes, controls, graphics, and pricing schemes are worse.

Asian "grind-fest" games are games that are set up along certain lines. They have (compared to western mmorpgs and WoW in particular) massive grind curves requiring orders of magnitude more kills to level. They incorporate massive amounts of clicking to achieve basic ends (such as crafting). Some have a "micro-transaction" system, forcing the shelling out of serious money to advance your character.

This game seems to fall victim to all of them.

The good:

The game seems deep enough to hold general interest as a 'light' MMORPG. They utterly copied WoW's daily grind system. (Which I hate.) This lengthens the quest chains without it seeming like such a grind fest. Note, however, that you will have to buy daily reset tickets to be competitive. This costs real dollars. It is a theme we will see repeated throughout this review.

The graphics seem decent enough, though nothing spectacular, they hold interest. The characters are cookie cutter and less than WoW cartoonish, but hold enough interest. There is very minimal character customization.

A positive point here are the spell effects. They are awesome and well done. Sparklerific!

The movement seems decent while swinging weapons and such. Your character will "tron-turn" when you use a combination of mouse and keys, which can be jarring.

Moving from place to place on the map is a nice feature. It is fairly buggy though and will happily run you through mobs that will kill you, being a straight-line function. It also constantly gets hung up on buildings and such, so you have to stay and nurse it.

Sadly, it also doesn't turn the camera, so you find yourself running into mobs without being able to see them. You have to stay and constantly swing the camera around.

The dual-class system is ... interesting. I'm not certain about it yet, but that seems to be an interesting plus. A big dent is how uneven the classes and/or balance seems to be at first and second glances.

The bad:

There is a breast-size slider. *groan*

On the website they mention how to "pimp out" your character. *sigh*

There is only one race.

It is a chinese to english game, so misspellings and mistranslations are noticeable. For the not-so-literate among us, it will be difficult to understand what they're talking about. They spelled "vendor" as "vender" and often make such little mistakes. It is easy to do and they, obviously, do a much better job than I would translating english to chinese! They do, at least, a decent job.

The controls are horrible. I had to redefine the keys 1 minute after beginning so I could move. There is no turn rate control, so turning without using the mouse is sssssssssssssllllllllloooooooooowwwww.

It has click to move turned on by default. Turn it off, (which anyone sane would do) and it stops you from running to the mob to attack them. This is not all bad (not having autorun to the mob, that is), as the camera refuses to swivel, meaning you're going to have to do all the work anyway.

Also, you will stop running to attack the mob at weird intervals, requiring repeated clicks to move to the target. You or the mob will lag around too, causing you to not be facing a mob that is kicking your butt.

I had to fight the controls the entire time I played. The interface is annoying. Swapping things from 1 page of the inventory to the other takes forever. You have to click to pick up an item, click on the page tab, and then click on a blank slot. Sorting your inventory is painful.

The default UI fails on selection of sub-items as well. Most of the controls mirror WoW (exactly), but they are not at all polished. You will, at times (such as buying recipes) have to speak with the NPC each.single.time.you.buy.something. Hello. Click. I would like to buy recipes. Click. I want this one. Click. Repeat. You can't buy more than 1 at a time. Lots of NPCs are like that.

There is absolutely NO customization to characters. You get a laundry list of skills to pick with skill points. I assume everyone will pick the exact same thing. You can (of course) buy reset tickets to reset your skills should you wish to change them. Picking a pair of classes is about the only customization I see. That leaves us with around 6 likely character types and several non-probables.

Gathering anything is irritating since you have to click.each.time.you.want.to.harvest.a.single.item. Trust me, it is much less annoying to read that last sentence than to do that. See the following section on crafting as to why this is so bad.

The game play feels highly unpolished, such as no camera follow, so the character constantly has to be re-faced when fighting mobs. Mobs warp around some. Lag is almost impossible in the one city I've visited. Gold spamming is constant and pervasive.

The classes feel very, very rough. I have no idea, looking at all the abilities, why anyone would chose a warrior over a knight. Many of the warrior's & knight's skills require several hits to chain, but none of the fights last that long. I didn't buy any of the warrior's abilities in its specailty class and wouldn't until later. I bought 2 of the ones in the primary class. There are some abilities later that are obviously good buys, but the warrior will probably spam 1 attack button until levels later. I played over 20 levels with 3 buttons on the warrior and 4 on the knight.

The game is set up for you to either sit down after every fight or guzzle magic and HP potions like no tomorrow. (Yes, you are supposed to BUY potions.)

Lots and lots of server-side and client-side bugs. It is in beta though. Some of these bugs may make the game unplayable for you. I had the game lock me out (blue-screening XP, I might add) until I had created a character on another server, logged in, changed the video settings, logged out, switched to the other server, and logged in again. I wound up playing in windowed mode because the game wasn't stable in full-screen. No speed lost though.

Customer service isn't. Don't bother.

(As a note to the above: I'm aware there is a text file that could be edited to do this, but I wanted to see if I could log into another server to eliminate some problems and though about the solution after.)

The constant shilling for $s. This game will be much more expensive to play than normal games. (You need $ to keep renting your inventory, insuring a constant stream of money. You need money to keep your house going. You need money to keep your bank inventory running. You are going to need gear upgrades, a horse, housing objects, potions for XP, TP, reset tickets, and a hundred other things. In essence, you need a constant stream of money to play. Pretty much any way you look at it, it is going to be more than you would spend on any P2P game. You could spend less and just have less to work with.

It is true that you don't HAVE to spend money to play. It is also true, in the same vein, that you don't ever have to pick up a weapon in Doom in order to finish the game. You can also play WoW to cap with your newbie equipment too. You can play pro football without any kind of pads or practice. Most people, I think, will agree that those explanations are disingenuous and facetious.

The classes aren't interesting and of the test classes I played, almost none of the powers are worth using. Many are highly situational and/or have long refresh times. Such as a 20 second boost to something with a 10 minute refresh. Why would I bother to use that?

Many of the others are extremely short stuns or other situational items that are so limited so as to not be of use. (At least until the end-game, that I've not gotten close to.)

The fights are over very quickly and you will need hundreds of kills to level even at the lower levels. The game is designed to force you to buy xp potions to gain at a meaningful level.

The game is constructed like Asian games, with everything set out in orderly layers and fields full of almost instant spawning mobs. 99% of these mobs won't drop anything. Because... the game is designed to force you to buy potions to increase the drop rate. If you want to find mobs of X level, just wander down the linear path until you come upon them. They will be right between (X-1) mobs and (X+1) mobs.

The crafting is a nightmare of collect 3 of these to make 1 of those of which you need 6 to make the basic tool. Looking at the recipes that have dropped has convinced me that crafting is far too painful to do. (Mostly cooking I looked at because these are the recepies that dropped. You need to farm at least 30 different drops to make 1 level 1 food. It'd take longer to make the food than level past it.)

For instance: You need 2 balsa wood to make balsa tender. You need 6 balsa tender to make a single balsa lumber, which is used to make stuff to level. Hence, you are going to be clicking on the harvest nodes HUNDREDS of times. Click.Click.Click.Click.Click. Uggg.

The rune system is a failure, since there are lots of runes that each take up inventory slots and can't be unsocketed from equipment. They are only worth 1 gold as well, so you will find yourself deleting them.

Want to increase them or use them in a meaningful manner? That's right. More money. (Or as someone has mentioned, you can grind daily quests for days and days.)

The dual system also has significant problems in that you have to wait until level 10 to select the second class and... go back to level 1. This means you have to keep a dual set of equipment that is level 1, and know this ahead of time, in order to be able to use ANYTHING once you switch.

There seems to be something in the UI that is set up for dual equipment swapping, but I can't find any help on anything for the game. There is a complete lack of documentation.

The mobs are uninspired. Some are radically tougher than others at the same level and aren't balanced. The classes aren't in any way balanced. It is easy to see why my knight is so much more powerful than my warrior.

The quests are the most basic: "kill x", "kill x for n", "pick up x of which each is guarded by an n", "harvest x", and post-office. That is a complete list (so far as I've seen) for the game.

It is a f2p game, so expect the very worst in people. You will see "harrynutsack" and "igotbigones" on every corner. Gold farmers and others will be rampant.

It is also my understanding that there are already bots for the game and that a lot of control stuff (unlike modern wester mmorpgs since UO) is client-side. This means bots, cheats, and hacks will be rampant.

In essence, the game as it stands is too painful to warrant playing, even if it were free. With the addition of massive forced spending, I'm going to pass. Nothing they could put in the game makes it worth that.

However, should you feel the need to play, here are some basic suggestions on how to play a micro-transaction game:

1) Set up a set amount to spend per month and buy this many widgets. (In this case, diamonds.) In many cases (this one included), the widgets are cheaper in bulk. So, if you're going to play with friends, have someone shell out for the big package and split them up.

2) Buy only permanent things first. In this game, for example, never buy the expendable horse, only the permanent one.

3) Buy things that increase your character and are permanent. In this game, for example, buy some of the custom furinture for your house that increases storage and such before upgrading your bank vault or your house. Fill your house with storage chests FIRST.

4) Next buy things that advance your character in the fastest possible manner: calculate the effectiveness of a pet (temporary) for example vs XP and TP potions. Which one gives you the better effectiveness?

5) Realize that no matter what you do, a MT game is a rip-off. Pure and simple. This is gambling at a casino. You won't come out ahead. You are ALWAYS better off playing a pay-to-play game.

6) The only exception to 5 is when you have absolutely no money and infinite time. In that case, play away. It doesn't cost anything.

I notice, in closing, that the furniture and some of the other "permanent" items have an expiration and rental time set far into the future. Be aware of this. They will likely change it to ramp up the money they're siponing off of you. Once you've bought it with real money, they can change the rules and BLAM! You're screwed as your investment suddenly changed from "I bought" to now "I'm renting."

"I'm altering the deal. Pray I don't alter it any further." -- Darth Vader; Empire Strikes Back.

 

flood950

I just recently started playing and most of your negatives I have not really observed, BUT, I am still low level.  Just to try to guage what I have in store for me moving forward, what level is your primary character where you based on lot of these aspects on?

I am most interested in the grinding portion.   I have yet to see any substantial(*1) grinding at least in the early levels.  At what approximate point/level does the mob grinding kick in or does working the dailies become more necessary to progress? 

*1 Substantial being killing hordes of monsters for low drop rate items.   There were a couple quests where I maybe had to kill for 10 minutes, but that has been the max thus far. 

 

 

 

Taram

Interesting perspective but what exactly is your definition of a grind? I've played the game to moderately high level and have even dual classed and have not noticed any significant 'grind' to the game at all. Quests, while not particularly imaginative, are just as good as any other average MMORPG on the market and will level you quite satisfactorily.

Mind you... when someone says Grind the first thing that jumps to my mind is the old EQ level 45-50 grind... then the level 53-60 grind... then the 60-70 grind.... then there's the whole Lineage II grind...

This game is by NO MEANS grindy... at least in my experience. I'm trying to get my head around your claim that it is... based on what comparison are you claiming it's a grindfest?

You also bring up 'massive forced spending'? Be specific please. I've played the game to moderately high levels without spending a dime on it.

You bring up some 'need' for diamonds... I honestly haven't experienced any need for them whatsoever.

And, yeah, it's gonna have it's share of jacktards in the game. Clue: ALL MMO's have these. If you can't stand them, don't play games in the genre... hell even EVE has it's share of jackwads and it's got one of the better communities out there.

DoomsDay01

Very interesting read. I have been playing MMO's for even longer than 10 years. I go all the way back to Meridian 59 and have many many years of gaming before that. I have been in Local/IT and scripting work for over 15 years. Not sure why you wanted to put in what you do as unless your an actual game designer, I feel its pretty irrelivent to your post but I went ahead and threw my credits in to. I have played most, not all, mainstream MMO's at one point or another. I have played many ftp games as well and I can agree on one thing. Most FTP games are huge grindfests. I dont think anyone minds a quest that says go kill me 10 or even 20 of these mobs, but in most korean based ftp games, its usually go kill me 100 of these mobs. That is where the real grindfest comes in and frankly, at 36, I have yet to see that type of quest in this game.

 

I agree with some of the bad.... Crafting is a huge pain due to its requirements in gathering and other professions. With that said, the ones that dedicate their time to do it, are going to be rich in this game if the company starts making the crafted items better and worth having.

 

Dailey quests. They are starting to become a must after around level 30. You can get by fine without buying daily reset tickets but if you do buy them, you simply level faster. However, the downside to that is that you have to have the mats to turn in and that means your going to be doing a lot of grinding to turn in multiple daily tickets. if your willing to do that, then your not going to mind grinding in general. There are a couple of acceptions to this and that is, there are a few quests that are simply runs. you get item A and take it to NPC B and boom your done. Those give less exp than the other quests so its your choice in how you want to work the system.

 

Controls in this game are lacking yet better than most FTP games. most FTP games dont give you the option to even use the wasd keys and you are forced to the point and click so props to them for that. I would like to see controls more polished but that would be on the lower end of the things that I would like to see in the game.

 

Lag. Ok, this is a toughy cause I am betting its completely dependant on the server your on and your location to the server. I am on the east coast and I believe all the servers are on the west coast. My pings range wildly from 100 to 500. I have a rock solid connection and have never really had this type of ping issues. I have had a couple deaths due to this, but not because it was so laggy that I couldnt do anything but because I was pushing the envelope on how many things I could kill at once and if I mistimed anything, I could die. Having a 500 ping spike can cause you to be off on your timing and die due to that. CTRL X. Learn it, love it, keep it up. thats the fps and ping meter.

 

I cringe everytime I see someone do an emote. I really dislike the translations and for the life of me, can't figure out why they can't hire someone from the west to correct these bad translations. But hey, they are by no means a show stopper. Just a personal preference of mine.

 

Sounds. I am more a visual guy and sounds usually dont bother me to much but in this game they are lacking to much in sounds. Every single fight sounds exactly the same, no matter who you are, if you swing a weapon, the sounds of fighting are all the same. Along with spell effects, some of them could really use a rework on how they sound when casting. Some are just really annoying.

 

Now, lets get to the things that I do like.

Spell effects. Some are bland and boring but most are pretty dang nice and could hang right up there with the big boys of the MMO world.

Visuals in this game are actually pretty decent. The shadows really need a lot of work as they are reallly really jagged but other than that, I actually dont mind this style of graphics in MMO's. It makes them run smoother and better for everyone. I like my bling though, and wouldnt mind to see a lot more particle effects in the game. Let us

"pimp out" our character with some cool particle effects.

Quests are standard MMO quests. I really dont see why people even want to harp on this. Its part of the genre and your just going to have to live with it if you plan on playing MMO's.

On the other hand, there are TONS of quests in this game for the lower levels. I am shocked at just how many there are. However, around level 30. they start drying up. as you gain each level, a few more become open again and by 36 you will have a ton of quests to do again. Most of them, however will require a group (Which is a GOOD thing). As the OP stated about needing polish. This is where you can tell they have spent a great deal of time getting 1-30 right. Just like EQ did with their 1-30 at its start (not so much quests but more about the overall feel of leveling). Post 30, however, seems to still need a lot more work. The exp curve is starting to go up significantly and the rewards from general solo quests are not giving the same ratio as they did prior due to this curve.

 

Micro transactions are very subjective. I personally dont mind this type of system but I know many that can't stand it and will refuse to play a game because it has it. Oh well, their loss. The big money for them is in daily reset tickets and item upgrading. I see no problems with that. If someone wants to do it, great but it does not force anyone to have to do it. Your arguement here is flawed and I will tell you why. Your thinking of the fastest way possible to level by any means and that its a must. Only power levelers feel that way and frankly I could care less about them. I consider myself a partial power leveler as in, I like to level quickly but I dont dedicated my life to it and dont mind running behind the pack as this is not a race, its a game. So, with that said, nothing from the CS is needed to level but it doesnt hurt if you dont mind to spend a few bucks here and there.

 

Powers and specials. I can partially agree that the specials are not special enough to warrant the long recast times. However, a lot of them are meant as a "save your ass" type of spell and therefore are only used when you REALLY need it. I have to question your judgement on this one as they are worth having but many do need to be reworked so to speak.

 

As for it being F2P. I have found, at least on my server, the community to be absolutely wonderful. People at all levels are willing to help each other out and are very generous in offering their knowledge of the game. The thing I find interesting about your post is you are acting like gold spammers only happen in F2P games. My god man, have you not played an MMO in the last 5 years? They are everywhere. Look at DDO (Dungeons and Dragons online). Gold is what I consider worthless in that game, its easy to get and not a lot to spend it on yet they are there. Vanguard, SWG, DDO,COH, DAOC, EQ2, EQ1,TR, LOTR, the list is endless. You can not go to any of these games and not get spammed. Vanguard who started out being the end all to getting rid of gold spammers, very shortly after release, created a spam channel.

Gold farmers/spammers are in every game. Botters are in every game. There are botters in most MMO games also. You act like the client side thing is bad, guess what, it doesn't matter, they still figure out a way to cheat. The only thing that I think could be a good thing is that there are several macro commands that they need to remove from the game to keep from automating a bot IN game.

 

As for stability. I have only had one issue in this game and it has never been a big problem. On my duel core system, sometimes when I go in, the sounds can have a popping to them in battle. If I alt tab out and set affinity on the client then all is well.

 

There are a lot more things I can disagree about but this is getting way to long for my tastes. I appreciate your review as harsh as it may have been. Everyones tastes differ and it sounds like this game really isnt for you.

 

My Final thoughts (Jerry Springer style).

 

The game is fun. Its not perfect, we are not perfect. I expect that the company will continue to improve and polish the game and in turn make several mistakes along the way just as every MMO company has done in the past. I will continue to play the game until such time as I see that I am not having fun with and will then continue on to something else.

 

Peace.. Love.. and goodnight!

 

As a side note, Im sure there are a lot of spelling and grammer errors in here. I don't care.

 

flood950

I want to comment about the community also as I agree with Doomsday completely.   I am playing on Artemis, and sure, there are some nuckleheads, but compared to any other FTP, and even some fee games, I have found the overall community great.  

Last night I was trying out "Things That Go Bump..", went into the mine area and got a bit lost, I ended up going the wrong way and got to an instance gate I couldnt enter...  I asked in the zone chat and immediately people offered help.  None of that "you noob, learn to play!", no, replies were friendly but more than that, a rather high level individual invited me into a party, led me to where I should have been, and helped with the boss.

Nothing that should be out of the ordinary in MMO's, but it was at least nice to see in a FTP one.

moarfuzz

Bugger... I've just spent the morning downloading it and it's currently patching as we speak. Bah! Screenie as proof!

[Edit] Love the boob slider!

Tyroki

Oh no, there IS character customisation... buuuuut, you know the drill.

 

7 diamonds to change a colour, 135 diamonds to change your hair or face style. Aka: Big $$'s for the RoM team, major loss for stupid players. Oh, and you can change the colour of your horse for a large sum of diamonds; If you spend diamonds to buy a permanent horse first. And as we all know, diamonds are pretty damn pricey as it is.