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Leonidus0
Member Posts: 97
Runes of Magic Review/Concept Guide
version 1.0
I've been playing for about two days now, and I have somewhat of a good grasp about the different concepts of this game. This will be a mini-review/concept guide that will focus on my experiences with the initial setup, game play, graphics and sound, and community of the game. You don't have to read from the beginning to end because of its length, but feel free to skip to the area that you want. If you were wondering, I am Excaliber, and I play on Krynn, the only PvP server available as of this writing.
Initial Setup
I got word of this game's open beta on Kotaku, and I figured I might as well give it a shot while I wait for another upcoming mmorpg. So I sign up and proceed to download the files necessary to run the game. I encountered my first problem when many of the download mirrors were not functional. The ones that were functional either required registration or gave a very slow download speed. After a bit, I finally find an okay mirror and download the game.I stumbled upon more problems when I received an invalid password/username error on the in-game login screen.
After passing this nonsense, I picked my server, created my character and laughed at the "breast slider" that was available. Apparently females can enhance their features but males can't. Sexist! However, I was glad to have pass the frustrations of trying to actually get in the game.
Game Play
The first thing that I noticed was the graphics and UI. It was, dare I say it, very identical to WoW. I know, I know.. I shouldn't compare things to WoW but it really does look a lot like WoW. I went through the tutorial quickly and the controls seem pretty intuitive, WASD movement and all.
As far as skills go, you have a set path of skills that are laid out before you that are only accessable once you reach certain levels. You can customize your skills be assigning TP (skill points) to them to increase their potency. TP points are permanent once applied so apply them carefully. You can save your TP points like I did and only apply them to the most useful skills. While the linear pathing of the skills is a turn-off, they did redeem by allowing you to invest TP into the skills that you want.
I noticed that you get these blue gift bags just for leveling up. Think of these are newbie gift packs. The items that I got from them were mostly junk and only served to fill up inventory space, which I soon found to be very valuable. You can, however, access the extra space in your inventory but it requires cash shop usage as far as I know. One of the items that comes with the gift bags is a mount that will only last 24 hours, but it does help you travel around faster. I like this idea because it helps newer players better transition into the game, but I feel like they are spoon feeding me with so many bags. There are tons! (I'm still getting a new bag at level 13).
Crafting consists of harvesting materials and recipes. It seems rather easy and straightforward. I haven't done that much crafting, but certain quests do require that you harvest materials to turn in.
I finally leveled to 10 and I'm now ready for my subclass. This is a feature unique to most MMOs. The subclass is technically a second class that compliments your first one. Don't think of this as your primary and secondary class because that will lead you to some confusion like it did me. Rather, think of it as Class A and Class B. You can switch between the two classes in your home or another way but I forgot how. To pick a subclass, you have to go to Varanas, which is in the next map, and talk to a couple of NPCs. What I didn't like about this is the fact that once you're level 10, you're still in the first area with a large list of quests to do. Most people won't know that they can run to the next map area and pick a subclass.
The subclass NPC should be in Logar, but that's just a nitpick really. I don't like the fact that you have to run to Varanas, then pick up the quests there, and run back. I had 30/30 quests by the time I did all that. This was an inconvenience because I would always get a "full quest log" error while trying to pick up new quests for my subclass.
Anyway, to go a little more in depth, every class has a general skill set and a class-specific skill set. You can ONLY use the class-specific skillset if that class is currently your main (Class A). However, you can use the general skills regardless if it is your main (A) or secondary (B). For instance, my Knight is my main and I picked Priest as the subclass. My knight will only be able to use the "general set" from the Priest and the knight's own skills when it is Knight/Priest and then vice versa when I switch it to Priest/Knight. Note that the only way to level your subclass is to switch it to your main. When you do, your equipment might not work with it. My knight wore mostly chain and had a higher level armor and so most of it were not compatible with my level one priest who could only wear cloth. Basically, you have to keep two sets of equipment with you, and I really don't like that idea very much.
Another inconvenience I didn't like was that I had to run back to the starting area to level up my new subclass, being level one. Also, I ran around naked for a while because my priest didn't meet the requirements of my knight's equipment. Here's a tip: Don't unequip your stuff until you buy new ones. Also, you can complete quests with your higher-leveled class and then once you switch to Class B, just turn in the quests and you will reap the benefits. This makes leveling your subclass easier.
In Logar, the first major town, you will be given the opportunity to own a house. You are given a free house, and an empty chest storage as your first piece of furniture. As an added bonus, you will have a maid in your home to fulfill your every wish. Ahem. Now don't imagine that you get your own land somewhere because you really don't as far as I know. You enter/exit your house through an NPC and you can also visit someone else's house provided that you know their house information. In the house, you can switch your classes as mentioned. You can also place and arrange furniture wherever you like. Setting up furniture is not hard as it just involves placing your furniture where you want it and then rotating it, which is all done by your mouse. I thought it was kind of fun, actually. It's a neat idea since you can invite your friends over for tea or just to hang out and admire your beautiful home filled with chandeliers, rugs and other homely things.
Upon review of the cash shop, it seems like the items aren't really that game changing. However, I think that you can only obtain a permanent mount through spending cash. Although you migiht not be able to own a permanent mount through normal means, you are given the opportunity to rent mounts using gold, the main in-game currency. This may be a put-off to some people that don't intend to spend any money on the cash shop.
Speaking of a shop, the Auction House in this game is much like that of World of Warcaft's. Although the interface is similar, I did happen upon some bugs with the AH. It is very confusing to use the search function in the AH. For example, when I search for bows, staves would show up. I feel like this is only a minor bug that will hopefully be patched up in time.
The in-game filter serves as a source of frustration as you will quickly find. Words like "class" are censored because it partially contains a swear word. This makes talking about game features very difficult because you never know when one of your words will be censored for no apparent reason. Also, more offensive words which I will not mention here, are not censored. Players could easily bypass this censor with placing a space in their curse words. The filter is a good idea on paper, but atleast have an option for players to turn off the filter if they wish. If the filter really upsets you, you can always take it out on unsuspecting strangers.
Fans of PVP will appreciate the effort that RoM put into the PvP aspect of the game. To be eligible for pvp, you must reach level 15 and then complete quests in Varanas. Don't be turn away if you aren't 15, however, as you can still participate in duels with other characters by right clicking on them and requesting a duel. You can even flag yourself for pvp if you wish to join the fray early. Keep in mind that while going on a killing spree is fun, you will undoubtedly accumulate negative reputation points for killing other players. This works much like it sounds: If you kill a player in red, you will lose no points and even earn points added to your reputation. However, if a really evil player kills a really good player, that good player will also lose points. If you are the default status, which is white, you will not lose any points from being killed by anyone. Finally, becareful when you are red because one item from your entire inventory (even equipped) will have a chance of dropping upon death.
Graphics and Sound
The graphics are nothing spectacular and mind-blowing but they did create very believable environments. I recall a particularly interesting place where you have to run around and catch little mushrooms for a quest. Everything was very well done and you actually believed that you were in a mystical mushroom land. I got scared when I thought I was the only one left in there. Those things might swarm me! Addditonally, monsters don't stick out like a sore thumb. You'll find goblin miners near a cave, and wild wolves in the plains in their natural environments. Bloom effects are used liberally (too liberally?) like in WoW, and the graphics do appear cartoony. That is one aspect of WoW that I did not like. However, I play with max settings at 1280x800, and that is much more pleasing to the eyes than the lower settings. Shadows are done correctly, but water effects are too artificial. You'll just see the same pattern of waves over and over. If you are a graphics fanatic and only play a game for good, realistic graphics, then this game probably isn't for you.
You'll see less of any twins running around the game because of the character creation's customizability. It is true that it isn't as in-depth as say City of Heroes or Perfect Wold, but you are open plenty of options to choose from. Keep in mind that the cash shop provides more ways to customize your character's looks if you aren't satisfied with what the characte creation process gives you.
Casting animations are well done and your character will not just stand rigid if you are not doing anything. It will move around. However, harvesting materials seems to not have been so carefully designed. I stand about five feet away from what I'm harvesting. For example, when gathering herbs, I don't kneel down but instead I stand five feet away and pretend like I'm harvesting. That takes away from the immersion of the game.
The game runs very stable, and I have not crashed nor seen strange things due to graphical errors. Aside from it being most of what you have seen before, there isn't much to say about the game's graphics.
I really like the background music of this game. It fits with the environment of the game and really gives me that "epic" feel when I'm adventuring from place to place. The music doesn't blare all the time because it only plays at certain intervals. Though some say the randomness might be a bad thing, I feel pleasantly surprised every time it plays. The sound effects, however, are quite lacking. Footsteps sound too generic. I think it sounds the same everywhere I walk. You will not hear the sound of horses galloping if you ride around. Things like this detract from the overall atmosphere of the game.
Community
The community is what will keep me coming back for more as it seems to have some very well mannered and friendly people. I never fail to have a good laugh when I participate in the zone chat of the game. If you have a question to ask, someone will bound to reply and help you out. Two days in and I already have some friends and a guild due to the heavy social interaction. I'm not sure if the community is like this because of its stages of beta, but if it stays like this, people will have at least one reason to return. With this being said, don't think that their are zero immature players in this game. There will exist players like that in every game, but there just isn't as many as other games that I've noticed.
The GM team is really involved in their community. Just from looking at the front page, they keep us updated regularly with anything new that pops up. From what I've seen, questions are responded to helpfully.
Overall, I am enjoying this game very much. For it to be free, it sure competes with the top pay to play MMORPGs. I would currently consider this the best free to play MMO, aside from maybe Atlantis. Don't let others fool you into thinking that this is just another clone. Although it may look like WoW and despite its initial setup problems, I feel that the game play and community more than makes up for it. It is more fun than WoW, too. This is coming from a Blizzard fan boy. I currently give this game an 8/10.
Comments
As you quote earlier im having the same problem...downloading the game is a big issue right now...i was very excited to play it and see how it is, but so far have failed to download it...i think they should work that out...not everyone has a perfect pc...me for example i have a 7 year old pc..that runs well...but its not like the new ones ofcourse.
They shouldnt do mirrors.., they should put the download on their oficial website...not put up mirror website for you to go to and try downloading it...its harder that way in my opinion..me and my friend are having almost the same problem, difference is he downaloded it..installed it...and didnt get to play it cause the game came with errors, so after 14hrs of downaloding the game it was useless cause he couldnt play it anyways...
So yea until they fix that i dont see myself being able to play ROM.
Seems like such a good game tho...
great review dude!
I haven't been playing any mmo lately but I figured I would try this one out. I've only played a couple hours but it's good enough to keep playing. It's not a quick uninstall.
One thing I'm trying to understand with the second class. Does every character has to be leveled twice basically? If there's anything I hate it's grind, and to think I have to go back and level 2 characters in one is not cool. That's my only issue right now.
And by the way, I have an ancient p4, 1gb ram, 9600 radeon 256mb card. game runs fine when I turn some things down like shadows.
very good review. The only thing I might add, is all characters are humans. This really isn't that big of a deal, and I have heard of talk of them releasing a couple more races (I miss my gnome
), but overall a well done review. 9.5/10 review, 10/10 game (I LOVE IT 
)
As for the dual class system, this game sort of reminds me of WoW meets FFXI. in FFXI you could mix match classes, but could change at anytime. This game you're stuck with the 2 classes you choose. And you have to level up both classes seperately, like in FFXI.
The biggest thing I don't like about this game (and it's rather just personal), is the lack of a nature-type/druid class. I've always played druid/shaman or something of the sort in mmos. I find the Knight to be a nice change however.
First off, thank you for the replies. I thought that no one would read it at first because of its length, but now I feel encouraged and glad that I did write it.
Yes, every character basically has to level individually. A great way to level your other class is to do quests (like the daily ones) on your main, then switch to the other class and turn in your quests. This way, it is much easier to gain experience and the class isn't too far behind.
Don't worry about the grind. At this point, I really don't feel the grind at all. There are tons of quests (over 1000, I believe) that will keep you busy all the time.