Runes of Magic US / AU

This might not have been so bad if rubies had been increased instead of drastically reduced. This is nothing more than a thinly veiled attempt to create an even greater scarcity of rubies to force the sale of more diamonds. The timing just seems way off to me. A game that is struggling to retain its player population should be enacting measures to encourage more players participation and retention. An appeal to value would go much farther than yet another cash grab which has been driving away players for quite some time. I'm not advocating that everything in the game should be within reach of every player. There are some elements of the game that should be attainable only by those willing/able to put forth extra effort or investment IMO. That said, the difference between hardcore players and casual ones should be the gear and stats they have access to, not the ability to refine whatever gear the player has. It would be different if a guild in +12 crafted gear with 2 drillers and shell stats could actually clear normal mode content at level. Before someone chimes in with "xxx player or guild did it", that's all well and good but it should be the norm and not the exception that guilds are able to do this. If it were possible, we would see a lot more normal mode gear showing up in the AH instead of only HM and crafted. Just my 2 cents.