Runes of Magic US / AU

Quoted from "bleedingblak"

Gameforge did the right thing, a few times. Let's just say they had a thread with replies on what should be in the itemshop.

We got what we always wanted. 5x driller packs. Amazing. So they are asking as what we want (which may make the game more enjoyable for everyone) and just not reading / wanting to put it in. At no expense to them, at that.

It doesn't make sense. If we don't criticize, they won't get better. If they don't get better, they won't attract new players. We can't give them cuddles and love without criticism. Once the criticism goes unheard for months and months, people get upset. Once people get upset and we are told to stfu, we just leave.

I NEVER said we shouldn't criticize Gameforge. When they do something stupid, you can bet I'll be there screaming at them too. What I'm saying is that the few players that do come, we should encourage them to stay, not tell them to go. This game's population would probably be double of what it is now if we didn't send so many packing before they even downloaded this game.

Criticism is one thing. Doing the best you can to prevent game population from increasing is another thing entirely.

And again i agree with Ruisen ;-) stop scaring people away and let them try it to see if they like it first.

Quoted from "zidlef"

And again i agree with Ruisen ;-) stop scaring people away and let them try it to see if they like it first.

Tell that to Gameforge when a new player sees the price of diamonds and that its gonna cost a grand to make gear.

hence another reason they could make the game more attractive my making content easier... especially for smaller groups.


The requirements to run endgame instances is just as much to blame as the cost for each piece of gear. Look at all the other successful games, they make it so pug groups are easy to get and possible to actually clear instances without needing to be experts.


Sorry as I have said in the past, Easy mode should be for quests, require minimal gear, or quest gear for a group of 4 to clear, or well geared players to solo. Normal should drop 1 piece of gear per boss and be doable by a group of decent geared group of 4-6, or maybe soloed/duoed by OP players and hard should drop the same gear but 2 pieces and doable by a group of 4-6 OP players or 6-12 meh geared players.

That would not only reduce prices of gear since more would be out there, it would also drop the price of diamonds and more people would be interested in spending money cause with content being done that way they don't NEED the OP gear. The people that wanna go nuts to solo through hard mode... ... let em.

After all siege is more of a reason for people to gear than instances already, and the sheer Epeen of rankings vs other players.


If a player were to find out that for 60 bucks they could gear up enough that when they are max level they could participate and contribute to a normal run and get gear/stats on their own... They would probably want to put more into the game. If gear/stats are more achievable, the entire game flourishes. Look back to chapter 3, Runes of Scouts. TONS of guilds able to run through RT diamond and gear flooding the market, people were statting up archers of their own cause it wasn't going to cost them a fortune to be able to participate. For some reason the idea of "lets make it harder so that the 1% at the top has a challenge" merely isolates medium to lower players. Hey though... I guess that system has been working fine the last 2 years right? I mean look at how many people are running the newest content and spending money.... right?

The average player, whether F2P or P2P, or P2Win, or F2Win... the harder the game, the more time REQUIRED to succeed at running things, the more people leave cause they don't think it is worth it. The gear system in the game has gotten outta hand. As long as they design content that requires +20, T12 weapons... the more people will have to spend. They could keep prices on diamonds the same and just reduce instance requirements.... Or just put in a better level vs mob level system. If you are 10 levels higher than an easy mode... you should be able to solo it. Right now being 5 levels higher means... nothing. Only your gear.

Incorporate 18man raids.

Lessen the supposed "difficulty" of other 12mans.

I'll say this again about the "difficult" of hard mode instances:

Quoted from "bleedingblak"

People can't do foods in GC. People can't do last boss GC. There are strats all over the internet. People can't do Tosh first boss. Strats all over. People cannot do KBN... strats all over the internet. People cannot even do first boss of bethomia. Strats all over the internet. These are guilds that have endgame gear. There are players around, in those endgame guilds, that have gear that is on the edge of insanity. clean t9 gear and t12 weapons. Still... unable to do simple raids or strategies unless pulled through an instance. This means that...

People either:

1.) Cannot play their class
2.) Cannot organize a raid
3.) Cannot do strats.

I have been in multiple guild runs (helping other guilds, etc) and they were extremely disorganized. No music, no siege war buffs, no raid organization. I've been in too many parties where melee dps stand back and do NO dps in melee range. Tons of w/m and r/m who decided to stand far away and DPS. If it takes this long for new content to come out because people can't be organized, then I see why so few guilds are JUST NOW completing beth, or attempting belathis (afaik, only 1 guild on artemis has been attempting belathis first).

yeah cause allowing MORE people in an instance fixes things.... the lack of players would be fixed by allowing more to go in the instance..... *rolls eyes* yeah.. .the problem we have is there are too many players that 12 man raids aren't large enough....

Now you said:


People either:

1.) Cannot play their class
2.) Cannot organize a raid
3.) Cannot do strats.


Well if this is the case are you willing to 1) wait and hope people will learn their class instead of quitting? 2) Hope that they learn to organize a raid instead of quitting? 3) hope people will push to learn the strats more than in the past... instead of quitting?

If your Average player, which you defined by those 3 things (since we can all agree the AVERAGE player isn't running the hardest instances), has those issues.... keeping the game the same will NOT change the AVERAGE player. Now we can also say that population is not getting larger... So the old system DOESNT WORK! To continue to think that the players need to change and not the game will keep us in the state that we are in... now wont it?

I mean I could say that people crying about diamond prices is a PLAYER fault... Just like you are claiming that content isn't cleared based on a player fault.


Maybe you would be happy with players continuing to quit cause they cant clear instances or content. Or maybe you are happy with people leaving because they cant muster a group large enough/powerful enough/experienced enough to do these things. Maybe you are happy with how hard it is to run these things... because you are a part of a small group of people that can. That way you can hold a monopoly on the gear to support your F2Win playstyle. How many guilds can (after MONTHS of no level increase) clear the newest instance? Would you say ... less than 1%? Less than 5%? Lets say 5%... leaving 95% NOT able to clear it.

That means you are allowing 95% of your population not do something cause they haven't put enough time/money into the game... Isnt that one of the major concerns about why new players wont stay or even try the game at all?

I mean you cant have it both ways. Content for 5% of the population merely drives the other 95% away. That is ok though... I know you have an agenda. How many new players does your guild have in it? How many do you personally take through runs? How many do you talk with? How in touch are you with the AVERAGE player? Or do you just sit on high and judge others and fight to keep yourself on top? I take newbs through runs for gear in RT, and easy modes.. Why cause it is better than letting them get scalped by the likes of you. Just cause YOU think content should be harder doesn't mean the average... or NEW player thinks the same. We want people to stay... the status Quo has to change. Plain and simple.

Wall o' text incoming, but it does have punctuation and paragraph breaks. Read or don't read.


I have nothing against F2P players, in general. I do resent players who started out buying diamonds and eventually became F2P once they amassed brazillions of gold across 4-5 toons and/or accounts, and then have used that "buying power" to manipulate a given server economy. Do not fool yourselves about this for a single second. It HAS happened and it CONTINUES to happen. In addition, they come here and consistently argue against those of us who continue to buy diamonds in order to better ourselves AND support a game which we thoroughly enjoy.

People who complain about instance difficulties tend to forget that with each content addition which has improved both the gear (accessories, armor, and weapons) AND the yellow stats on that gear, the POWER that a given character has is bound to increase. Make no mistake about that, friends. Raksha Temple is one of the best examples of this, for its time and level. Armor from that instance was excellent, including the Item Set Skills that were made available, and when properly modified, that gear is good enough to take a character up to and through level 70-75. If you doubt me on this, run CharPlan and equip a character with RT armor, mod it with "modern" XI or XII bag stats, enhance to +12/+16, and Tier VII or VIII runes. It's quite good. Add level 72-75 accessories, equally statted, enhanced, and rune drilled. Then add a level 75 T9 or T10 weapon to the mix. (I recently "retired" the last of my Lekani rogue gear, and will be passing the earring along to a guildie. He has the other three pieces. At level 72 he should become that much more effective in his questing.)

As the power that characters gain increases, Runewaker HAS to increase instance and zone difficulty, simply to keep the game interesting enough for the now-overpowered endgamers and near-endgamers playing the game. It might take a week or three for the truly OP players to figure out the strats of new instance content. But eventually, they will gain the knowledge, new gear, new stats, become more powerful, and acquire the ability to blow through, for the most part, the most difficult instance content. Then complain that they're bored.

They then scream they need MOAR POWAH and demand that RW/GF provide that POWAH through the Item Shop. Tier X runes. Puri pack sales. Permanent addition of the top level enhancement stones (regular, advanced, and enhanced) to the IS. ABLs (so they can sell the top level gear to other players for brazillions of gold, and thus gain their own little slice of economy manipulation). And so on. Then complain they're bored.

Then there are the forum trolls who publicly state they no longer play RoM but, "I'm gonna tell ya what I think about [insert subject here]." If you're no longer playing and you have no intention of coming back to play, kindly go away and play whatever game happens to be tickling your naughty bits at the moment. Leave us alone. You're really not wanted or needed here.

I think that removing diamonds from the Auction House was probably a good move by GF. How many goldseller world shouts have you seen lately? Remember, goldsellers already have gold. Buying diamonds from the AH with that gold allowed them to...wait for it...buy Megaphones from the IS and irritate the crap out of us with their "advertising". Along with enticing weak-minded fools to go to their websites, buy 3rd-party gold, then get their accounts hijacked (social engineering and drive-by malware injection FTL) and turned into yet more goldseller toons. In that respect, I'm ECSTATIC that diamonds are no longer available on the AH.

Whiners who complain about what it costs to modify gear for endgame or near-endgame: Just shut up about it. You have made the choice to spend your disposable income to modify that gear, boost its tier 2 or 3 times above its base, to tier your weapons to T10, T11, or even T12, have 4 rune slots and fill them with Tier X runes, enhance everything to +16, and so on. And yeah, you spend hours and hours farming EoJs or PoMs so you can put the best stats on that Tier 8 armor and accessories. You've done this to get MOAH POWAH. If you don't like the expense, go play something else. Please. Just. Go. Away.

Some players are running botting programs (a violation of the ToS) in order to gain massive amounts of EoJs. Don't even try to deny it's been and is being done. Some of you know PRECISELY who has been doing this. You say nothing because they're your "friends". Or they're your guildies. You might secretly hope they'll give or sell you some of that gear. And you don't want them to get their cheating [censored] permabanned.

Lastly, I resent players and non-players who come to threads like this one, where someone has asked if it's worthwhile to come back and start playing again, and who tell them, "No, don't bother, the game is too broken and too expensive to be worth your time." Sit down and shut up. I don't expect or insist that everyone try to put the "best face" on it, but for Bog's sake, don't drive someone away. RoM has its warts. But it is also a great game that can be both challenging and fun. If YOU don't like the game, why in hell are you still here? GO AWAY, [censored]. YOU. ARE. NOT. WANTED. OR. NEEDED.

If I've offended anyone...good. My work here is complete.

/end wall of text

If bigger raids, guilds would have to bring outsiders into the runs and they could learn that way.

I fail to see where I said, if they can't learn, they should quit.

I wasn't implying that.

I'm saying bethomia is a joke of an instance, and if people are saying it is difficult, they need to evaluate what they are doing incorrectly. I know they could have ToSH gear statted with bag stats and do bethomia just fine. Organization and research is key.

Also those "trolls" that you speak of have been very helpful to rom, and its community. Have you seen borella's guide to healing? I forget how he was supposed to post that because he was forced to. He obviously has good intentions if he's coming back to say things about rom (of which, most of them were serious and pretty well said posts). I forgot the reason why we should hate people that quit, and still post here. It's not hurting anyone, and most of the time they are right. They went through it once, and now they don't want to see it happen to other people.

Good read, and I agree with .... about everything you said.

The one point I wanna expand on is this: My stance on Dungeon Difficulty comes from opinions I have heard from newer players. My GF and I know that with only two players we are going to be limited just due to our lack of extra bodies. We can however, clear a good amount of Beth-Normal with just the two of us. We think that is GREAT! I can run all the new easy instances for stats/gear/mems just by myself, so I am good there too. However, here is where I take these two things and put it together:

For the new players, seeing how much money/time/effort I have put in the game and the fact that we are limited on what we can do. They then wonder just how much they would need to do to even run stuff like RT Bronze, and even that... to be able to solo it, is NOT a small amount of work/time/money. We had 5 new players we took on in our guild, 5!!. Helped them level, took them through runs, etc. 2 made it to max level (this was during the exp event). The other 3 thought that the leveling process took too long to get caught up, which I think was ridiculous... cause it was 4x exp..... The two that hit the max level then started on gearing. Showing them how to cheap stat some pieces while taking through runs for other stats. etc. They stayed around a while and the two of them tried to duo DoD and failed. Which I cant say I understand.... But one asked a HUGE question "why do I have to do KBN-Hard Mode to do my quests!?! Why cant I do these quests, I am X levels higher!?!" This I COMPLETELY agree with.

Now they eventually quit after spending some money and realizing that the money they spent didn't really get them anywhere. So while I personally know that I am limited by my choice of guild... others still have a large way to go.

What I think the main thing is that the hard mode should NOT be the only place to get the best gear. Heck I would be ok with them selling the gear for diamonds like other F2P games that let you buy gear either with IG ways or through currency.

I do think there are changes that can be made to make it more alluring to new players. Having spent a lot of time with these new players, they TOLD me what would make them spend more money. Instance difficulty, diamond prices, and not being able to buy stats/gear directly for diamonds were their MAIN reasons they didn't want to keep playing or spend more money. I am not saying what *I* think but what newer players have TOLD ME.


BB, you didn't say it. But which do you think has happened in the past? Do the majority of players fix those 3 issues, or quit? What do you think has been happening? I mean you think the people spending more and more money and not getting anywhere are continuing to spend money and keep trying? Nope! Standing hard on the "learn2Play" that is the problem, is just a way to guarantee that nothing changes. Or do you think the current way the game is so great that it shouldn't change?

I think people are leaving because:

no new content. makes it feel like a dead game.
random bans to innocent people. Friends leave, other leave.
can't get to max level. The grind is disturbing for new players, and it gets worse the higher you go.
Also, the vicious circle. Newbies join, seen no other people in low level zone. Looks empty, leave.

Last reason is why I didn't stay on certain servers when I started, and currently, other MMO's

From what I see from your arguments, Jester, you want RoM to cater to the lowest common denominator instead of the top 1%. I just don't see that as a viable way to run a game. How are they going to make money if the game makes it so easy that you can run the best content in subpar gear? Don't cater to the extreme top, perhaps, but instances should not be runnable by any random level capped player either.

BB has a good point. Many people can't do Annelia, even at level 82. That's not even a gear problem anymore, because of the overabundance of X and XI stats (Which I think were great additions to the game, really, and help to address my point below.). The average fresh 82 that stats some shell gear with X and XI stats is a million times more powerful than we ever were at that point in the game. If they can't do the strat, or are not willing to learn, then we should NOT be making it easier.

There isn't really a problem with the idea behind gear progression. The logic behind it works. The idea is that you start in easier instances and work your way up. The problem lies in how expensive that is. You CAN'T afford to restat and replus and rerune every piece of gear every 5 levels. It's simply impossible to spend that much money. This causes us to go into the state we are now, where every fresh level capped player wants to go straight into the best hard mode gear because it is NOT cost effective to progress your way up. They see how expensive that gear is to get, because we endgamers have to make gold somehow, and they quit. Who's fault is that? We could argue for days whether it's our fault, or the developers fault, or the diamond sellers fault, or the endgamers fault, but the fact of the matter is that the game is too expensive.

We shouldn't be making instances any easier, they're honestly pretty easy as it is. The strats for these instances are not THAT difficult, and there are video's and guides out there that you can read all day long if you are so inclined. We took a step in the right direction with the new XI stats that give new players a cheaper way to get started, but we're still a long way from what it should be. Stats are not enough. Plussing is probably the biggest thing holding RoM gearing back. It's too random, too expensive, and too necessary. You will NOT do any sort of respectable damage without at least a plussed weapon, necklace, and rings. We took a nice step forward with the easy to get clean yellows in KBN easy, and then promptly got them taken away. It's one step forward and two steps back with this game.

Tl;dr? Instances don't need to be made easier, the cost of gearing needs to be lowered and people need to take more time to learn strats. We need to fix the fact that it's too expensive to gear slowly causing people to want to shoot straight to endgame hard mode gear. And telling people to shut up and deal with it instead of trying to warn people before they invest months or years in something only to find out that it's futile is not a good strategy. I refuse to put on the rose colored glasses.

ill structure my response to Borella first:

First paragraph: Many other MMOs do exactly this, and they succeed for long periods of time. One such game that went F2P last summer, you can buy almost all gear obtainable through in game means for RL cash. This game also has it so with basic quest gear you can run the "instances"... it is completely successful. Another game that has been going 14+ years as a sub based game, makes sure to keep their casual gamers just as happy as their diehard players. Other newer games in beta/etc are not geared toward the top 1% but towards the average player. All of these games are perfectly successful. They don't rely on the "1% of players pay for 95% of the game", but a "50% of the players pay for 95% of the servers and pay a smaller amount". So if you cant see that as a viable way to run a game... just go look at those games... cause the are already doing it. I didn't say however, that a quest gear only character should be running Hard mode... no where did I say that should be possible.

Second/third paragraph: I completely agree with you all on this. Never did I say people weren't a problem. Merely that it may be a little too hard in its current form. Just cause some people can do it, doesn't mean it is a good system. The game is too expensive, hence why a lot of us pushed for no more +16 gems. More bang for your buck is needed. However, the fact you cant go from quest gear to farming for instance gear is the hump a lot of players don't get over. (I don't even quest without made gear anymore... so I don't know how they manage in quest gear, but that is me)

Fourth Paragraph: They aren't easy enough. Or else more people would be succeeding. I am forced to learn the strats... cause other wise I couldnt run anything. I just don't do enough DPS by myself to farm much and with our two people only.. one tanks, one dpses.... gotta learn strats. That isn't the problem. They don't need to be made... "easy" but they should be possible for the top 20% of the players to succeed. They aren't at this point. I am NOT saying any noob at level 82 should be able to run Beth Hard mode. They should be able to run easy for quests with a few friends though... which is NOT how it is now. I mean how many people at level 82 cant run DoD... 25 levels higher... One of the games I referred too I could solo the instances 10 levels higher. That keeps players around cause at least they can do SOMETHING.

Fifth paragraph: new players coming into a game late expect it to be easier to get to do stuff then when it first came out. This game is the one that caters to this idea the least. Other games make instances easier as time goes on. So that people that weren't able to do it before now can. Most do some analysis like this"

(Ones Clearing/Average player base)< 20% readjust instance. How many patches were done to Infernal Dawn, etc in "another game" to make the instance easier cause the the amount clearing it was a way to small of a % of the average max level cap players? I think there has been like 15 adjustments to it. Other games have raids adjusted also. It is to keep the average player with a chance of succeeding. This game .. I don't trust them to adjust things so just make it easier out of the gate.

ok BB:
1) no new content. makes it feel like a dead game. -Maybe some and I agree, but I can wait in hopes it will be done right.
2) random bans to innocent people. Friends leave, other leave.-- Edited this to not be attacking his guild. People are banned, and the ones that are "innocent" get it overturned. I did, very successfully once. Some of the "innocent people" weren't as innocent as you like to think.
3) can't get to max level. The grind is disturbing for new players, and it gets worse the higher you go.--- I agree 100%
4) the vicious circle. Newbies join, seen no other people in low level zone. Looks empty, leave.--- ehh maybe...

These though don't bring up:
The people that pay hundreds of dollars, don't make it to end game, get fed up and leave
The people that continue to put money in the game and feel they are spinning their wheels
The people that get tired of a gear treadmill
The people that get tired of technical issues that make the game unenjoyable

Dollars to donuts my list encompasses more players leaving than yours.

Well Mal and DK once again i am impressed how eloquentely put your point of vue out there and hit the mark once more. For those who talk about this game is better, this game is awesome, btw i am retired of ROM, well BYE BYE!!!! We want fresh players, we want people to have fun and find a home. People who aren't spoiled and F2W and just talk badly about the game. There are a lot more good things going on this game than all the rest of them, but endgamers can't see or want to see it, they just want : WTB diamonds for dirt cheap, loll.

Bad attitude on Reni is making players leave or not wanting to start playing. People leave endgame guilds, then go to smaller ones and go : WTH??? why are you people so nice? how much i owe you for that? NOTHING, have fun, it is all about the interaction with the people you play with, not hard to figure out who not to associate with.

Malignatus, i know the botting you are talking about at EOJ's, many have and are still doing it, some got banned for sure, but some others hopefully will get banned soon too. I do the EOJ event, i am there when it starts and when it ends, i don't do it 24/7 like some. But like you said, their friends do not want to turn them in, lol.

Any new players on Reni can look up Disturbed, TSF, Clockwork, Casterica, etc, a lot of small guilds that can help and have good people in them, not perfect, but they try at least The more guilds, the more fun we can have.

They need to look at WHO the majority of their playerbase is. Its valid for Endgamers to argue endgame content is too easy - for them, it really is. Its equally valid for the remaining 95% of the players to argue that its too hard - because it is.

If 95% of your playerbase are casual players who, after a long day, just want to just joke and relax and get a nice loot or 2, RoM needs to make instances easier. If 95% are those crazy teenagers who like to spend 24 hours a day trying to figure out strats for an instance, make instances harder. There's no correct or incorrect playstyle, its simply up to preference.

Most of the people I know aren't interested in doing research on every aspect of an instance like its a second job and than stay up till 6 in the morning hammering that down. That's not how we like to play, and there's nothing wrong with that.

Imo, in hardmode, the first half should be simple in strat, like Beth-H, and the second half extremely difficult, for the endgamers. The strat's aren't difficult individually for most instances, but when you have 4 things happening at the same time and making one tiny mistake wipes your party... that's where it gets difficult for most people. So by simple in strat, I mean 1 thing happening at a time. For example, in Beth-H boss 3, you see black orbs on the ground... you move away. Easy. In boss 4, you see Life Leech, you silence, easy. Just one thing happening at a time.

i'm sorry, i don't have a point to make, but i would like to just say that there are very good points on both sides, and this forum actually looks like there are adults here for once...

in all seriousness, this conversation is great!

Quoted from "Cike"

i'm sorry, i don't have a point to make, but i would like to just say that there are very good points on both sides, and this forum actually looks like there are adults here for once...

in all seriousness, this conversation is great!

I just realized that this wasn't even supposed to be a discussion thread lol.

I guess, my question is, if you don't want the challenge of endgame, why do you want the gear so badly? What are you going to do with it if you don't want to move on to the next instance for, again, a challenge? What is the point? Epeen? If you want to stroke your epeen, overcome the challenge. That or pay out the arse for it.

If it's siege that you want it so bad for, there's PvP gear now, no? Stat that up even with IX and XII stats and you'll be better off than someone in full pve instance gear.

What do you need hardmode gear for if all you want it for is to stand around in Varanas doing minigames?

Do whatever floats your boat. If you like crafting, craft. If you like PvP, pvp. If you like minigames, do minigames. If you like to farm, farm. We like to challenge ourselves in endgame instances. That's what we, as endgamers, enjoy. Pushing ourselves to the bleeding edge. If that's not what you want, stick to easy modes and dip your toe into normals. I'm all for them making easy and normal easier if that's what it takes, but leave our hard mode challenge intact.

Quoted from "Borella"

Do whatever floats your boat.

agreed. just don't hate on people because their boat floats different than yours...


is it just me, or am i agreeing with bor an aweful lot lately? weird...

Quoted from "Borella"

I guess, my question is, if you don't want the challenge of endgame, why do you want the gear so badly? What are you going to do with it if you don't want to move on to the next instance for, again, a challenge? What is the point? Epeen? If you want to stroke your epeen, overcome the challenge. That or pay out the arse for it.

If it's siege that you want it so bad for, there's PvP gear now, no? Stat that up even with IX and XII stats and you'll be better off than someone in full pve instance gear.

What do you need hardmode gear for if all you want it for is to stand around in Varanas doing minigames?

Do whatever floats your boat. If you like crafting, craft. If you like PvP, pvp. If you like minigames, do minigames. If you like to farm, farm. We like to challenge ourselves in endgame instances. That's what we, as endgamers, enjoy. Pushing ourselves to the bleeding edge. If that's not what you want, stick to easy modes and dip your toe into normals. I'm all for them making easy and normal easier if that's what it takes, but leave our hard mode challenge intact.

The things that drop in normal mode is junk... and more junk... Only the last boss has like a 10% chance to drop anything worthwhile.

We want the challange of endgame. But for us, stuff like Beth-H is as hard as we can handle while everyone's giggling all over the place and falling off their chair. We define "hard" differently...

Or maybe a 12 man normal mode instead, basically Beth-H v2.0. Easier than what hardmodes usually are and less strat intensive. Ghost stats on gear would be 10% less?

They definitely need to change normal mode to drop alright stuff, help out those that can't/not interested in the 'bleeding edge' end-game....just not as good as HM of course. As for less strat intensive...the only strat that was even vaguely difficult was Annelia, since then strats have all been 'meh'.

Oh, and piss off this whole Int/Ma and stam/def ONLY from easy mode, god thats annoying.