Runes of Magic Publisher Blackmailed

As the Escapist Magazine reports today, Frogster (publisher of Runes of Magic) is currently threatened by some hacker. It’s not clear if this one is real, a disgruntled (ex-)employee or just some angry kid. Nevertheless, I hope that…

• there are no connections of this case to the global password change done back in november
• the Frogster support really did properly delete my account (as they confirmed two month ago)
• the hacker does not have older data and all the payment data were properly secured
• last but not least Frogster and the German police will pin down the guy and kick his ass

Frogster – Overall Password Reset

When having a quick eye on my spam folder for possible false positives, I found a mail obviously from Frogster Online. It told me to klick a link to get a new password. As I did not play Runes of Magic for a long time, I did need about 30min to check if this mail was real (yes, it was announced on their website).

Nevertheless, the frogster servers were broken down, assuming under the load of every player changig his password. When I by chance reached the account server I should confirm that the new password was sent by email?! Woot? Waited 5 minutes, got nothing, read the original email and the forum post: It meant, I shall click to get the password sent…

Later I could not change the password due to some “The passwords dont match” error… They where copy&pasted and must have matched. But yeah, I did not fill in those “playtoo”-password. What the hell again is this?

Dear Frogster team – you did a great job with Runes of Magic. But your account system is a real pain. And having ALL players change their passwords at the same time is kind of a selfmade DoS attack.

(At least this incident had reminded me about my old RoM-account. I’ll check and secure it on the weekend – hope the servers are working then.)

Phishing Spam – How Not To Do

Dear phishing spammers, surely you cannot know that I do no longer play WoW and thus any WoW-related phishing will fail. Further: I’ve running a catch all mail server and I use individual registration email adresses for any service I subscribe to. So it’s mega fail to send WoW-spam to my Runes-of-Magic-address (which also I dont play anymore). Thank you for your attention.

New York Times about Gold Farmers

I just remembered, searched for and found again the link below and will memorize it here for future use. And maybe for someone other to read it too

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/17/magazine/17lootfarmers-t.html

The Magic is Over

Today I just checked, what updates I had missed in RoM. Then I started it up, looked shortly at one of my toons and then deinstalled the client. After the recent hardware upgrade (i.e. change) I would have to readjust the game keyboard layout to my playstyle, newly setup my G13 for RoM and last but not least: with the highest toon a lvl34 I can’t close up to the interesting content just by casual play. On the other hand, in Eve:

• I’m reaching the usual skill point range for 0.0-sec-corps applications
• I am close to the required jump clone standing on two NPC corps so I could more easily go out for PvP.
• I could start Lvl4 missions when I’ve fitted my Domi
• And I’m still thinking about my asset evaluator tool

So, even if I’m not very active in Eve it seems more rewarding to me. When I thought about it I occurs to me that games like WoW or RoM are end game centered. Every expansion brings a new level cap, new end game dungeons and raid content. In Eve on the other hand you get new “mid” game content: overhauled probing, wormholes, etc … And last but not least: planetary interaction in the upcoming Tyrannis expansion. I surely will have a look into it.

Bigger isn’t always better

Today I’ve started Runes of Magic once again after a long time. I’ll have a look into the game because of their first anniversary. While it is installing the patches of at least half a year, I’ll note down some recent Eve thoughts.

Four weeks ago I had lost my mission Myrm and I decided to go back to mining to first get a Hulk and then as fast as possible a new Myrm so I could go again mission running to get the required standing for a jump clone. About a week later I had the ISK for the Hulk.

Then the first impulse was to fit T2 Strip Miner. Although it was logical by numbers, something felt not comfortable. On the paper, you get 16% more yield per miner. You pay for it with the restriction to one ore type, the crystal damage hassle and thus the desire to run full cycles at all costs.

When I’m mining I am normally motivated enough for 3 or 4 runs with my 20,800m3 Hulk (approx. 1hour). The 16%-T2-bonus would save me ca. 10min which is not such a big deal. The T1 miners instead allow me to mine the roid field left over by the T2 miners. I can switch between the two or three most valuable ores and pick out the named +10% version.

Even with T1 miners I mad enough profit to buy some more toys: an Ishkur (let’s see what Assault Frigates are good for) and a new mission Myrm and a Dominix is quite in reach.

A wardens visit to Varanas (and around)

Back in september, Frogster released chapter two of Runes of Magic. It brought a new race (Elven) and two new classes (druid & warden). Short after release I had tried a druid to level 10 (pro: it heals, contra: it heals). Still on my todo list was the warden. Now I found the time to log on again and add the warden as a secondary to the druid. Soon I realised that the warden should be the main class and that the warden/druid combo burns mana. Further: the warden had no ranged attack. But I knew, that the scout as secondary adds a nice ranged DoT (vampire arrow). So I deleted the warden/druid and instead created a warden/scout.

This combination resembles the WoW-warlock as well as the WoW-hunter. Like the warlock, he has strong DoTs (vampire arrow & thorne vine). The oak pet is as good a tank as the the blue garbage bag aka voidwalker. Like the hunter, the W/S uses bows and wears chain, the oak pet may be comparable to a bear pet in WoW. Anyone having played a necromancer in Age of Conan knows, how valuable a real tanking pet is (In AoC, pet aggro added to your aggro – your pets attacked a mob, mob sees pets, thinks “There must be some necromancer, I’ll kick him!” and attacks you instead of the pets).

I tried the warden/scout on my default low level bosses:

• Hungry Greyce (Things that go bump in the night): with other combos I had soloed this with level 9 or 10 (Greyce at level 8). The W/S can do it on level 8.
• Anglie (Final clue): This was done at level 12 or 13. Unfortunately, when clearing the area from the kobolds, I aggroed Anglie and the fight started with some nasty kobolds around. The combined dmg of vampire arrow, thorne vine and the pet killed Anglie fast enough so I survived with about 25% health – enough to clean up the remaining kobolds.
• Redeye night bear (Blood sacrifice): Quite easy, just let the pet take the aggro and then double DoT.
• Yuri (Scheming Yuri): Now confident of my powers, I tried Yuri (lvl 15) when I myself still was level 14. Unfortunately I was too fast with nuking so I got aggro and had a hard time running around and drinking healing potions. Nevertheless, pet and nukes killed him finally.

The W/S can usually pull 3 mobs of the same level: attack one with the pet, pull a second with vampire arrow, pull the third with a normal shot and dot it with thorne vine.

Little hint: Other than in WoW, your pets don’t remember their active skills. You must remind yourself to activate them whenever you summon your companion.

Conclusion: for the friends of pet classes, the warden is a good choice. I’d guess it shall be a good solo class and some kind of (off-)tank in group play. In the forums, there are voices stating, that it becomes weaker in the end game – but I’ve no patience to try it to that point.

RMT vs. subscription: hard(er) numbers

Over at TAGN I stumbled into an discussion on pro and contra RMT. I don’t know, if someone had noticed, but I promised to collect some harder numbers. So I took out the credit card records of the last half year. Here we go:

	WoW	AoC	Eve	RoM	theHunter
month played	12	3	3 (*1	4	1
Fix	55€ (*2	50€	5€
RMT				82€ (*4	19€
credit left				17€ (*4	3€
subscription p. m.	12€	14€	15€		(*3
total	199€	92€	50€	65€	16€
avg. per month	16,58€	30,67€	16,67€	16,25€	16€

Footnotes:

1. After some pause I’m back in with a different subscription interval, so I only count the current subscription.
2. 20€ WoW-Classic + later 35€ BC.
3. I have no subscription but play as a guest player.
4. This includes one (already abandoned) toon I started in open beta and two current toons which both have a horse and some enhancement stuff. I do not plan to consume up the remaining diamonds in the near future.

I’m surprised… …how much I’ve spent into digital puppets And how close all the games are (with exception of AoC due to expensive launch day price and short play time).

Observation 1: The monthly total of subscription based games (WoW, AoC, Eve) will converge to the subscription fee. On the long term you have very constant costs.

Observation 2: The RMT-games will be more expensive, if you play often and extensive, consuming a lot of item mall goodies. They are cheaper if you play irregularly. As long as you have some self-discipline and as long as the RMT-game is a bit balanced, they are not more expensive as the subscription games. In my opinion, RoM and theHunter do a good job, RMT-wise.

To all the discussions: As Tobold, Saylah and other said: every price is relative. For instance, I do not cook myself, because the pizza at the italian restaurant is cheaper than the time I need for shopping and cooking multiplied with my net wage. Plus, I can read a book while waiting and the food in restaurants is better than my own

Ten dollar or euro for a horse may sound a lot. But remember your first WoW mount? Guess you played 6-8 weeks for it (unless you have rich friends), making it worth around 15-20€. And as I wrote some days ago, the skill to fly a Covetor in Eve Online costs about 20€ subscription time. Maliciously said, Eve is a RMT-game disguised as a subscription game. You buy time as the item shop currency and exchange it for skills (conspiracy theory: did you note, that time and item are anagrams?). Nothing else you do with diamonds in RoM, but you have not to wait like in Eve.

I think of RMT as a way of deciding deliberately and of my own, how much and what (money or time) I invest into a game. In an subscription system I personally feel pressed to “make the most of the paid time”. A good RMT-system gives you the freedom to play like you want, but also the obligation to use that freedom wisely.

Hot topic in MMO chats – Michael Jackson

Today I shortly was in RoM to do the dailies. The zone chat was busy about Michael Jackson. When I was done there, I switched over to Eve to do some mining. Here too, the chat was talking mostly one topic: M. Jackson. That shows, gamers are not generally indifferent about the world outside. And it shows how and what news spread in times of the internet.

RoM dual classes

One of the unique features of Runes of Magic is dual classing. There are already a lot of good articles e.g. the one over at Saylah. But perhaps I can add some useful things. For that, I’ll answer questions – some rhetorical, some really frequently asked ingame.

1. What is dual classing?
   Every class in RoM has two skill sets: a “general” and a “specific”. Once you get your secondary class, you play with three skill sets: both “general” and the “specific” of your current primary class. You can and must switch your classes to level up both classes. Each class has its own action bar assignment and you have two gear sets to switch between.
2. How do I get my secondary class?
   Simple answer: by carefully reading what pops up on your screen
   If you missed the onscreen message, here’s the long answer. When you reach level 10, a message pops up saying that you shall go to Varanas and consult your class trainer. So just head over to Varanas and talk to the teleporter lady on the bridge. She offer you a transport to “Varanas class hall”. Go in there and talk with the class trainers (standing in a circle). Then pick a class you want to learn. Warning: what you choose here is final.
3. How do I switch my classes?
   Look further around in the class hall: in the center stands the class administrator. Talk to her and switch your classes. You can also switch the classes in your house.
4. What class combination is the best?
   This is obviously the most asked question in RoM (Saylahs answer). Like in most “what is the best”-questions: there is no best (although there is some conspiracy crafting on the forums, claiming mage/priest to be the über-class.)
   Just lean back and play what you like. It takes around 1-2, maybe 3 afternoons to get both classes to lvl12-15. I suggest playing up to level 15 to see the how the classes feel with their first elite skill (see below).

   When choosing your classes consider the following points:

   • Energy reservoir – good to combine classes with different sources
     • Warrior: rage
     • Scout: concentration
     • Rogue: rogue energy
     • Knight, Mage, Priest: mana
   • Usual fighting distance – combine a distance fighter with a melée fighter for versatility or two melée fighters for better DPS
     • Warrior, Rogue, Knight: close combat
     • Mage, Priest, Scout: ranged combat
   • Survivability
     • Knight: highest defense values, chain and plate armor
     • Warrior: high defense values, chain armor
     • Rogue, Scout: moderate defense values, leather armor
     • Priest: low defense values, cloth armor, healing
     • Mage: low defense values, cloth armor
   • Elite skills – beginning with level 15 every 5 levels you can acquire a so called elite skill. It enhanced your active primary class by means of your current secondary class. There are lists in the forums and the web where you can get detailed information about those elite skills. To get the skills, you go to the one of the elite skill trainer and buy an elite skill certificate. Then talk again to the skill trainer and exchange your certificate against the actual skill.
5. How do I level up my classes?
   Technically: by switching between your classes and playing both. Keep the levels of your classes close at each other to:
   • have your secondary class skills at a reasonable level to be useful for your main class
   • pick up and do quests of an area with either class
   • enter an area with both classes without being easy prey to the mobs

   A key element in leveling are the talent points. You will soon realise that you do not get enough TP to max out every skill. On some classes it is even hard to get enough points to max even the core skills. So you may try the following:

   • If you have one class solely as a secondary class and do not intend to play it as primary, you will never use its specific skills. So just concentrate on its general tab.
   • Basically you get 10% of every XP as TP, from quests and from combat. Gaining XP means gaining levels means gaining TP consuming skills. So you must increase the TP/XP-ratio. You can do this for the points gained while fighting: cash shop items like skill potions, furniture with skill bonus and TP charms can increase the gained TP to something around 40% of the XP. Then get as many quest as possible for an area, go out and finish the quest goals using your main class for fighting. Then switch to your secondary class and hand in the quests giving you enough TP for its general skills.
   • If you wont spend money on this, you must live with the 10% ratio and max out your skills at lvl 50 (as said on the forums you continue to get TP then).

So, enough at this point. In a later post I’ll explain some class combination I play(ed).