Runes of Magic US / AU

Quoted from "mnkmurphy885;533070"

Hi Genus.

This is exactly the right place to post these questions, and I'll try and answer them in as unbiased a way as possible.

1) Is the game balanced between pay-to-play and free-to-play?

- Not really. It used to be far more so. While this game is indeed free-to-play, use of the cash shop is necessary for gear modification, and some gear modding must be done to reach level cap. A massive amount of gear modding is required for raiding. Cash shop users (especially heavy spenders) have a much easier time leveling past 55, and raiding. You can trade in-game gold to players for gifted cash shop items, but the economy in game fluctuates, and this can be difficult to do at times, as the cash shop is quite expensive. Heavy cash shop users typically spend much more than the cost of the average subscription game per month.

You can mitigate some of this pain by choosing a highly-populated server like Artemis, where the economy tends to be more stable. However, this game requires a large investment in either time (for farming gold) or money. Costs in the item shop have risen lately, since the publishing company (Frogster) was bought out by Gameforge, a German company which also manages the European RoM servers, which have a much larger population. More cost rises may occur. While you can play this game completely free, the rising costs have made it more difficult for all.

2. Is the community friendly? Are the GM's helpful?

- To the first question, yes, very. While people do occasionally grumble about meanies, in general the RoM population is very helpful and friendly. Compared to *that 600lb gorilla MMO* RoM is an oasis of maturity and kindness. Choosing a server with a high population (Artemis, Reni, Govinda) will make it easier for you to find and make friends. All servers (and mmo's for that matter) have trolls and meanies, but the meanie to nice-person ratio is pretty low in RoM.

To the second question, not really, compared to other games. While the GM's are friendly, there are nowhere near enough of them to go around. The ticket system is fairly impersonal, and while ticket turnaround times have improved, you will rarely (or never) see a GM on your server outside of an event. If you have a customer service issue, you will have to use the ticket system and wait 24 to 36 hours for a response. There is no live chat or in-game customer service.

Our GM's do their absolute best, but they are overworked (and we all suspect they are underpaid). When you do get to meet one in game, you will be amazed by their friendliness. They are all wonderful people, but the ticket system is fairly impersonal and automated. Due to the lack of live support and lack of GM presence on the servers, I would rate RoM's customer service as Fair. The actual GM's themselves I would rate as Excellent- they just have too much to do.

3. What classes are best for PvP and party leader?

-Well, that's two different questions. Party lead can be any class in RoM; however, it generally falls to the tank. Tanking classes are Knight/anything, Warden/Warrior and Warrior/Knight. Tanks are natural leaders in parties, as they direct pulls etc. However, I have never actually been in a guild or group that insisted on this. Dps and healer classes lead parties all the time.

Many many many class combos excel at PvP. The current Flavor of the Month combo is Rogue/Scout. Rogues are naturally built for PvP, the sneaky bastidges. However, wardens, mages, priests (especially the dreaded priest/scout), warriors, scouts and even druids can excel at PvP. Knight is about the only class that struggles with PvP, but the niche combo of Knight/Mage is legendary for PvP utility.

Keep in mind that RoM is a dual-class game that allows you to have three classes (but you can only play two at a time). This means that while you may tank in raids as Knight/Scout, you can play Scout/Knight in PvP, or even Priest/Scout (assuming you are Knight/Priest/Scout)... provided you gear all those combos appropriately. RoM's multi-class system allows a great deal of flexibility and utility.

4) What is the economy like?

-This varies some from server to server. We are coming out of a period of great inflation, in fact you could even say that RoM is in the middle of a recession. There is less gold and fewer diamonds available on the market, so prices are unusually high. The diamond to gold exchange rate varies from day to day and server to server, but on average you'll pay about 40k gold per diamond.

Typically, unbound gear is inexpensive, but bound purple (rare) gear can be insanely expensive. Endgame weapons sell for anywhere from 150-300mil a piece. Endgame armor can sell from 10mil-300mil depending on durability and whether it is modded or not.

The economy in RoM right now is pretty awful. Between the terrible inflation that occurred at the beginning of the last expansion (Chapter 4) and the rising cash shop prices, the population on the US servers has declined, and that has caused even more inflation and scarcity of resources. Illegal overseas goldselling companies have only contributed to the bad economy, but the GM's do catch goldbuyers. Buying gold is the fastest way in RoM to get a long vacation courtesy of the GM's.

5) What is Max Level?

-This month, max level is 70. Next month, with the release of Chapter 5, the level cap will increase to either 72 or 75. We're not sure yet, but most expect it to rise to 72, with 75 following mid-chapter.

Despite the tough economy and rising costs, RoM is worth trying out. The multi-class system is more versatile than any other MMO I have ever played, and you get addicted to the amount of customization you can do. With all the class combos to choose from, and the different builds and modding you can do- the sky's the limit. Questing is fairly fast and fun, and raiding is excellent. If you find a server and a guild you like, you'll have a great time. Reality will set in around level 55, when you start to realize the crushing costs to progress, but it may be worth it to you.

RoM has tons of flaws, but it has a community that loves it, and that's for a good reason- no other MMO is really like it. It has so much potential. Mismanagement by the publishing company makes the community crazy at times, and may yet kill the game in the end- but that's true of most MMO's. RoM is absolutely worth checking out, despite its warts.