Runes of Magic (now in Open Beta)

[Mrbloodworth]

Actually, it was a great experience, for other reasons.  I played for an hour or two before I logged and uninstalled.  It finally made me come to the conclusion that RMT games are not for me.  By there being no monthly fee, there's nothing holding me to the world.  And because there's an unlimited supply of dumb shit I can spend my money on while drunk, I'm much better off not playing the game. 

WHAT?

[Lantyssa]

Maybe he's just drunk a lot and doesn't trust himself to not have too much fun.

[Nija]

I'm going to fill out one of those Amazon wish lists now. Hawkbit, message me the next time you're drinking.

[sam, an eggplant]

You only have a car for a car payment?

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think he's saying that since he has nothing tangible invested he doesn't feel the need to play to justify his investment when the game itself is more distraction than actual fun.  It's the "treadmill syndrome". As in when you buy a treadmill all jazzed up about getting in shape, convinced that spending all that money will guilt yourself into working out at home. Obviously, the treadmill syndrome is not all that effective, which is why MMOs leverage operant conditioning and lewt that is phat.

[Hawkbit]

You only have a car for a car payment?

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think he's saying that since he has nothing tangible invested he doesn't feel the need to play to justify his investment when the game itself is more distraction than actual fun.  It's the "treadmill syndrome". As in when you buy a treadmill all jazzed up about getting in shape, convinced that spending all that money will guilt yourself into working out at home. Obviously, the treadmill syndrome is not all that effective, which is why MMOs leverage operant conditioning and lewt that is phat.

That's a pretty good way of saying it.  Another would be:  I do dumb shit when I drink and I like to drink a lot.  Ergo, I do dumb shit a lot.  Damn, haven't any of you bought something you really don't need when you're drunk and woke up the next day and say to yourself "Dammit, what the hell happened?  I can remember being in a bookstore last night, I have fuzzy images of it in my memory.  But why in the hell did I buy a $33 40-year old book about Eskimos?  And why is my underwear in my pocket?  Fuuuuck... where's my wallet?"  That's why I can't do RMT games.   

Also, buying items/cash makes me feel icky, yet a monthly fee doesn't.  Figure that one out.  There's a mental disconnect there I can't figure out.  They say RMT is the wave of the future, but I'm not going there. 

EDIT:  It's almost as if I think I'll run myself broke through item envy.  If I'm running around with a sword +3 and some douche kills me with a sword +5, I'm going to buy a sword +5 (or better) just to make sure I've got the upper hand.  Then I log on and see the sword +5 is $75.00.  <--- that's the issue.  I'd start considering actually spending $75.00 on a bunch of 1s and 0s just to be better than some guy on the internet. 

It's a personal problem, and I likely need counseling.   

[tazelbain]

I get the part where you don't trust yourself not to waste money on virtual goods, just not the part where paying a monthly fee makes the game more sticky.  It's the exactly the opposite for me.  I quit games often because I can't justify the monthly fee for a game I just want to play a couple hours per month.  I would love CoH to have a sensible microtransaction system so I could play the game as infrequently as I want.

[Hawkbit]

Yeah, no question about it:  We're exact opposites on this one.  It's easier for me to allocate the $15 a month in one chunk and know I can log into that game for as much as I want for the next month. 

Maybe it's a feeling of ownership I get for that month.  With an item shop, I can never feel as if I own the game because there's always more to buy.  I don't know.  I'm fucking weird, I suppose. 

[raydeen]

I equate it to a buffet. I like paying one price for all I can eat. Sometimes it's a little. Sometimes it's a lot.

Now if I could just find a bar that operated like that...

[tmp]

I do dumb shit when I drink and I like to drink a lot.  Ergo, I do dumb shit a lot.  Damn, haven't any of you bought something you really don't need when you're drunk and woke up the next day and say to yourself "Dammit, what the hell happened?  I can remember being in a bookstore last night, I have fuzzy images of it in my memory.  But why in the hell did I buy a $33 40-year old book about Eskimos?  And why is my underwear in my pocket?  Fuuuuck... where's my wallet?"  That's why I can't do RMT games.   

Also, buying items/cash makes me feel icky, yet a monthly fee doesn't.  Figure that one out.  There's a mental disconnect there I can't figure out.  They say RMT is the wave of the future, but I'm not going there.

Sounds simple to me. Need to be drunk even more often, won't feel icky about buying dumb shit, then.

[Lantyssa]

Damn, haven't any of you bought something you really don't need when you're drunk and woke up the next day and say to yourself "Dammit, what the hell happened?

Yeah, I hate when that happens.  Seriously, you'd think I'd learn after waking up with all those hookers.  That's money I could spend on a new game!

[Hawkbit]

See?  Someone else gets it!

[Venkman]

It's not about the drunk. It's that the pricepoints compel impulse buys in the same way iPhone apps do. People used to equate MTX with SMS messages, but that's incorrect because the cost of an SMS message never occurs to you whereas you're making an actual purchase with MTX (or an iPhone app).

This is really the sole reason these types of games can be successful. They get just enough gottahaveitalls to drive most of the revenue in a game they didn't really spend a whole lot on making in the first place.

And that ultimately is why they aren't for me. I just haven't seen an MTX game come close to the level of immersion or playable quality as a subs-based one.

But then, I want to immerse myself in a game for a period of time. Today's kids are even more flighty than we all were when we banging on the game store for the latest Colecovision hit while our Depression-era parents wondered how that shit mattered more than a good liberal arts education.

[tazelbain]

> I just haven't seen an MTX game come close to the level of immersion or playable quality as a subs-based one.
Has there even been one to make the attempt?  There is your WoW Killer.

[Draegan]

RoM so far is just as immersive as WOW 1.0 and 2.0.  There are storylines, quests chains etc. 

The diamond shop thing is really not a big deal imo.  You can level and do content without ever buying anything.  You just can't the most powerful items in the game because they come from enchanting and transmuting stuff.  So it's like you can get everything in the game except the top tier raiding equipment for free.

Not bad.

Things you'd probably spend money on:
Extra Bank/Bag space.
Mount.

You can make diamonds in the game.  I see trends for selling blues and purples for diamonds in the AH.  I also see crafting mats and other stuff being sold as well for them so if you really want you can get everything you want without spending a dime if you farm for it. 

For twenty bucks I bought 500 diamonds, but a mount, enchant one piece of gear and I spent about $4.00.

[squirrel]

"Dammit, what the hell happened?  I can remember being in a bookstore last night, I have fuzzy images of it in my memory.  But why in the hell did I buy a $33 40-year old book about Eskimos?  And why is my underwear in my pocket?  Fuuuuck... where's my purse?" 

OMG. Mom?

Yeah, I hate when that happens.  Seriously, you'd think I'd learn after waking up with all those hookers.  That's money I could spend on a new game!

Ahem. You're doing it wrong.

[tmp]

Has there even been one to make the attempt?  There is your WoW Killer.

Runes of Magic looks basically like free to play WoW, yah. Didn't actually play it so don't know if that impression is accurate. But they have systems in it (housing and whatnot) that go beyond what popular subscribtion-based games offer at the moment.

[sam, an eggplant]

From what I can tell, everybody will pay $15 per character to get the permanent mount, but beyond that the cash shop is largely optional.

[tazelbain]

Has there even been one to make the attempt?  There is your WoW Killer.

Runes of Magic looks basically like free to play WoW, yah. Didn't actually play it so don't know if that impression is accurate. But they have systems in it (housing and whatnot) that go beyond what popular subscribtion-based games offer at the moment.

The issue is quality as well.  People earlier were saying it was a bland WoW.

[Signe]

It's way more bland than WoW.  The quests, dialog, etc. aren't very clever.  I'm not the sort who gets completely immersed in a game for the most part, but RoM seems extra, special non-immersing.  I enjoyed playing WoW for a bit but I found RoM to be a complete snooze-fest after playing for a very short while, in spite of multi-classing and some of the other unusual bits and bobs it has.

[Valmorian]

RoM is indeed INCREDIBLY bland.  When I tried it I actually laughed at one of the area maps it was so constructed.  There was a path down the middle and off of each side was a series of "setpieces" like a haunted bridge, forest, whatever.  It was like I was walking through main street in Disneyland picking which ride I wanted to go to.

[Mrbloodworth]

From what I can tell, everybody will pay $15 per character to get the permanent mount, but beyond that the cash shop is largely optional.

Bah, i have been doing just fine renting them and getting them as loot drops. Not to say i have not been temped to rent some bag space...but i don't play this game that seriously.

[Merusk]

Ahem. You're doing it wrong.

Maybe, but the hookers are doing it even more wrong.  They should be long gone with any pills, cash and easily pawned valuables by morning.

[Zhiroc]

Here's the solution to the "drunk" thing:

• Keep your diamond account low
• Put an extremely long and hard-to-type password (using numbers, shifted chars, even accented ones if it allows) on your account
• Commit the password to memory, and most importantly, don't have it in a file for copy and paste.

There--instant password-alyzer-protected bank account

[Fraeg]

I get a little puzzled when people say it is bland in comparison to WoW, which I find to be anything but immersive and with the notable exception of a few zones, I find WoW to be extremely bland...  /shrug.

been playing RoM it for a bit, probably coughed up $30 bucks for perma mount, storage space.  As for quest dialog being bland, last game I think I ever got into questing was Baldurs Gate.... so generic quests don't exactly bother me.

What I am enjoying is their class system, the brief pvp I have experienced, and very little self-pressure to keep up with the Joneses.  Normally in an MMO I am frantically leveling as fast as I can for the first few months.  But with this, who fucking cares, it is *free*.  Self-deception or not, it has made all the difference for me,  and my WoW characters are pretty much rotting these days.

I am running around with a Priest/Rogue on a pve server, and a Mage/Priest on the pvp server and am enjoying it.  I think it is a nice diversion, don't see myself playing it beyond a few months.

Now with all that said, I can definitely see the risk for Drunken Diamond Binges.

[AcidCat]

Well I broke down and got the game. It is suprisingly competent and feature-complete for a free game. This may scratch my diku itch until Aion.

[Draegan]

Well I broke down and got the game. It is suprisingly competent and feature-complete for a free game. This may scratch my diku itch until Aion.

This is exactly what ROM is to me.  Free game until I get to try AION which is going through open beta in China.  Downloading the client now!

[sam, an eggplant]

I get to try AION which is going through open beta in China.  Downloading the client now!

Ni hao, fuckers! It payback time la! <;-]*

[FatuousTwat]

Ok... Does anyone know of a place where I can download this that allows me to pause and restart the download other than the official downloader (which sucks ass)?

[Draegan]

Look for a torrent.

[tazelbain]

The torrent sucked ass as well

[FatuousTwat]

Yeah, I haven't been able to find anything other than the official torrent that isn't months out of date. Shrug. I'm slowly getting it from filefront.

[Merusk]

It ran fine for me overnight. Sure, the patcher sucked but it didn't crap out all the time like the one for Aion.

[DLRiley]

RMT is the future of the industry not because they can compete with WoW, but because they can coexist with WoW. Fact is the sub based model while convenient in the minds of the average mmo gamer is ultimately a "shop once and for all" model. You either playing the fuck out of that sub game or your playing the fuck out of another sub game, but your not paying 15 dollars a month for both WoW and LotR or WoW and AoC or LotR and FF11. I even bet there are more players wiling to pay for 2 or more accounts in WoW than pay a sub for two different games.

Games like ROM, Maple Story, Silk Road, Runescape, these games CAN and ARE being played along with a WoW or a LoTR or a AoC. People are more than willing to play WoW and Runescape, or WoW and Runes of Magic, or WoW and Maple Story and Runes of Magic and Conquer vs doing the same thing for a list of sub games. Its not a matter of playing one or the other when it comes to f2p games, you can literally play them all, although because of the micro transactions you might end up spending say 20 dollars every 2 month on the f2p games alone.

[Fraeg]

RMT is the future of the industry not because they can compete with WoW, but because they can coexist with WoW. Fact is the sub based model while convenient in the minds of the average mmo gamer is ultimately a "shop once and for all" model. You either playing the fuck out of that sub game or your playing the fuck out of another sub game, but your not paying 15 dollars a month for both WoW and LotR or WoW and AoC or LotR and FF11. I even bet there are more players wiling to pay for 2 or more accounts in WoW than pay a sub for two different games.

Games like ROM, Maple Story, Silk Road, Runescape, these games CAN and ARE being played along with a WoW or a LoTR or a AoC. People are more than willing to play WoW and Runescape, or WoW and Runes of Magic, or WoW and Maple Story and Runes of Magic and Conquer vs doing the same thing for a list of sub games. Its not a matter of playing one or the other when it comes to f2p games, you can literally play them all, although because of the micro transactions you might end up spending say 20 dollars every 2 month on the f2p games alone.

and you have me right there in a nutshell.  No way in hell was I going to pay for WoW and WAR (when I played).  But I don't seem to mind paying for WoW while I mainly play RoM.

[jakonovski]

I tried this game. 18 levels in so far and I'm loving it! 

There's still life left in the old EQ/diku MMO, just as long as it's smooth and polished. Which this is, kind of like WoW. The dual class system is also totally sweet.