Runes of Magic US / AU

So, if any of you are looking for actual insightful commentary on the state of the game, i'll stop you right here. this is just more the rantings of a loony than coherent arguments. you've been warned.


A bit of background about me that is relevant to this post: I'm in my early 20's, go to college (borderline dead-end field, but it's what i really enjoy), work part time to pay off college (like it's gonna make a dent lol), and live in a cramped apartment with 2 other people. so your typical current college student. I don't really have much disposable income, but what I do have, i enjoy putting towards my hobbies, mainly music and videogames. now, i usually only spare ~10-15USD (sometimes a bit more) a month on "fun" stuff, and if i want something more expensive, i save my pennies for a while (just bought a wet-suit. if you have one, you know how expensive they are >.<). i digress.

since i am both a full time student as well as working part time, i only have a couple hours a day for ALL my "fun" stuff, this includes gaming, hanging with friends, procuring food, or apartment maintenance (pretty average amount of free time, not trying to write a sob story here).

since i also have limited free time, i have to pick and choose with the "time or cash" debate. for me, it's usually a little of both (mainly what i value my time at, but that's another story). with my discretionary income, if i think i require something in RoM, i'll put down some money and buy dias (never buy when no dia sale, etc), and like most people, i am disappointed with the amount of jewels, drillers, and other mods that i get with my (small) lump of cash. not only does a, for example, 15USD dia purchase not get you a good way towards gearing, depending on what you need, it barely gets you a good way towards a single piece of gear. obviously this is quite frustrating, and really lessens my inclination to buy again, as i look at other f2p w/ CS games that i have spent money on, and for the most part, either i didn't spend the money directly on gear improvement (i got bank space, char slots, visuals, etc), or got mods for at least one new piece of gear for my money, substantially boosting my character. looking at p2p games, there are some mmo's (usually the older ones), that i drop 50-60 bucks on the game, and never have to pay again, as i have access to all content, and the CS is not required. both of these options i am liable to spend more money on than RoM. for a college student with limited time and limited (but not nonexistent) discretionary income, i am more liable to spend on whatever gets me the best bang for my buck in terms of entertainment value, which, unfortunately, is not RoM (by a long shot), especially since in RoM the bang for my buck isn't even guaranteed (plussers anybody?).

by now you are asking "what's your point, and whats with the weird title cike?"

a while ago, trying to understand what GF was doing with my beloved game, i realized: I am not the target demographic for this game. I am not the person that some suit at GF says "we need to cater to this guy. he is the ticket to profits". i don't have large pockets or tons of time to spend on the game. I don't have hundreds in discretionary income. I am of practically no financial benefit to GF as a customer compared to the cash they could milk out of somebody who HAS hundreds to drop and are bored.

I am irrelevant as a customer. it doesn't matter if i decide to get all ragey and quit, because i never brought anything to the game in the first place. hell, GF would probably be /glad/ if a player like me, who spends close to nothing on the game but runs his mouth all around the forums and irc, quit.

in short, by not being the current target demographic, the game has gradually shifted away from something that i enjoy playing. as many on erebos know, i barely log in anymore. this isn't trying to lay blame, nor am i trying to justify anything. I am merely communicating what my perception of the current game situation is.