I started playing Runes of Magic on the beta, and at the time the Comunity Managers told us that the cash shop would be mostly about cosmetic items and exp boots, and other stuff like that. However, they didn't seem to stick to this. I played on the PvP server (Smatch), and I know you need to spend a lot on this game if you want to compete. There's no way you're going to win  a 1vs1 against a cash shop user. The PvP is  a joke, it's not a matter of strategy or skill, or anything, it's a matter of who spends the most on the game, and in my opinion that's not how things should be. You should spend money on  a game if you enjoy it and if you think it's a good game to pass the time, not to be forced to compete...

This type of system didn't make their loyal players happy, who have been following that game since CB, and I saw entire guilds quit this game ( e.g. Aetherea guild, If anyone that was a member of that guild and reads this, Yo it's 'Lord' here ! ).

In PvE it doesn't matter that much, but on PvP , if you want to compete with the big guys, prepare to spend all your pay check on this game, and not to mention the lvl cap raises, wich means you have to create your set all over again...

Most games, despite of what people say, are fine with cash shop, most of them are games with a cash shop that you can play!  But this one was my biggest disappointment, it doesn't matter how long and how well you use your skills, it's how wealthy your opponent is.

P.S.: I hope this isn't a seen as "necropost" ? The last reply was still from this month, just like a week difference.

Runes of Magic only offers items that will speed up your progression of game play.

If a person wants to compete in PvP, they can.  Nothing will stop you from gearing up or tweaking gear purely in-game.

I think the complaints are really that players want things faster, and that is a subject that has been around since the first MMORPG and will probably still be around years from now.

Players come and go from RoM and all MMORPGs daily.  Today there are high levels, tomorrow there will be other high levels, and maybe, the day after that, you will be the next high level.

I suppose if you really want to compete with a certain player, like a real life friend who is playing the game with you, there may be some problems(if he/she pays and you don't).

Apart from that, it's becoming an outdated argument to say cash shops imbalance game play.  Today, most arguments in any F2P MMORPG usually boil down to time.

Just build up your gear in-game, through trading for diamonds, and the other methods provided to you, and you will eventually have a nicely geared character that you can use to compete with other highly geared players.

There is not one thing that you cannot get solely in-game, that players can get in the Item Mall.  Sure it will take you longer but that just means you can enjoy the game longer.  Most MMORPGs cater to never ending game play anyways.

Even if it doesn't botter to you on 1 VS 1(wich does to me because I like to at least have a chance to win a duel), you will reach a point where the result of the Clan/Guild war is determined by the side who has most CS users. And it's also not the amount of time involved that you must spend on the game if you want to have a fair competition (wich will never be fair but anyway), the fact that you can 'seal' ALL your items from your equipment (with cash shop of course) so they will never drop when you die, makes pk/pvp only fun for some.

Anyway I'm done with CS, why would I spend 20-50 euros on item mall every month to play at the highest lvl and still don't think it's enough, when I can 'just' pay 10euros a month and enjoy the game with full service? I did try to use item mall before, once or twice, when I liked to play a certain game before, but I don't anymore, especially because most cash shops are soooo expensive, you will end up spending more than you would on a subscription game.

'Free to play' is just an advertising strategy. Don't get me wrong, the game is excelent, I never played so much a game since i left WoW, but some people don't like to do dungeons all day, so they turn to PvP, and as far as I remember, the PvP/PK system was completely broke, the devs were always changing it , but they couldn't get it right, punishing people for doing PvP on PvP server, hilarious... Priest/Knight dominating everything and everyone, Knights doing more damage than Mages, Mages being just a punch bag for everyone...

Well, all this is to answer the OP, if you want to be better player in player versus player battles, this game is very cash shop dependant.

Originally posted by Thegoodlol

Even if it doesn't botter to you on 1 VS 1(wich does to me because I like to at least have a chance to win a duel), you will reach a point where the result of the Clan/Guild war is determined by the side who has most CS users. And it's also not the amount of time involved that you must spend on the game if you want to have a fair competition (wich will never be fair but anyway), the fact that you can 'seal' ALL your items from your equipment (with cash shop of course) so they will never drop when you die, makes pk/pvp only fun for some.

Anyway I'm done with CS, why would I spend 20-50 euros on item mall every month to play at the highest lvl and still don't think it's enough, when I can 'just' pay 10euros a month and enjoy the game with full service? I did try to use item mall before, once or twice, when I liked to play a certain game before, but I don't anymore, especially because most cash shops are soooo expensive, you will end up spending more than you would on a subscription game.

'Free to play' is just an advertising strategy. Don't get me wrong, the game is excelent, I never played so much a game since i left WoW, but some people don't like to do dungeons all day, so they turn to PvP, and as far as I remember, the PvP/PK system was completely broke, the devs were always changing it , but they couldn't get it right, punishing people for doing PvP on PvP server, hilarious... Priest/Knight dominating everything and everyone, Knights doing more damage than Mages, Mages being just a punch bag for everyone...

 

Well, all this is to answer the OP, if you want to be better player in player versus player battles, this game is very cash shop dependant.

 

 

There is nothing about the game that is cash shop dependent.  It's all optional.

You would have to make a strict time line budget for it to be dependent.  For instance: if you say within 1 month you want to be fully geared and competing with the other current toughest players.

Otherwise you will eventually get there in-game only.

Anyone can seal their equipment.  It's available to anyone. You can't seal all items either.  You can seal a maximum of 8.  That leaves some wearable slots left unsealed. Trade gold for diamonds then buy the sealers. You're spending period(whether it's 1 dollar or 50 dollars) because you choose to.  That is completely your personal choice.  The game doesn't pressure you to buy.  You pressure yourself to spend, if you want to get high level faster, as opposed to doing it in-game only.

Massively did a post showing statistics on how many people actually spend money in micro-transaction based MMORPGs and only 11%, from their study, showed that they spend any money at all.  The reality of who, of the high geared and high level players, is spending is probably quite out of balance.  There are probably quite a number of really highly geared players in the game, at any given time, and they're no doubt mixed in with the spenders throughout many guilds, that never spent real money to get there.  They simply took the time that was needed to get where they are now.

Since closed beta, the PvP was the same into open beta.  A few weeks after that, there was an outcry from the EU community and they changed PvP to help make the players happy.  Since then there is still the normal complaints that you see and will see until the day everyone dies about things being broken(no one will ever be happy about everything...ever), but there is no outcry to change PvP anymore.  The only thing the devs haven't implemented yet is the arena level restrictions.  Nobody was ever punished for PvP(I'm not even clear on what you mean by that exactly).

I wanted to add about your class comment: I have honestly been flabbergasted by you.  No one has ever complained that mages were punching bags.  Ever since open beta, and still to this day, there is mention from devs(responding to players) about the past over balanced mages.  Knight/priest is actually the least talked about.  No one ever has a complaint about it.  Most complaints are between rogue/mage or mage/priest(when talking in the forums about overpowered classes).  But, then again, class balance is another never-ending argument.

K/P dominating everyone? i f***ing wish.

Cash Shop dependant? no. time dependant.

Mage=Punching Bag? fail.

Mage/Priest or Mage/Druid are some of the most OP classes, cause Druid gives a wisdom boosts and a powerful heal to the mage, resulting in very high damage and effective life, and the priest secondary gives the mage a direct Magic Attack buff and a 5 second "you-cant-hurt-me" shield, not to mention more heals.

R/M is apparently a heavy DPS to the point of OP, but i think R/S is more likely. fricking Vampire Arrows is a 2 sec tick DPS over 10 seconds, dealing 416 HP damage every tick(at level 50). which means 2080 damage over the entire DPS. level 18 rogues could, iirc, fire from extreme range, then quickly enter "hide mode" before the arrow hits and triggers combat. this would result in basically a "Ghost Attack" type of situation, where the target is completely helpless until the attacker reveals his or her self.

Well of course I made a review in the time I played... Of course it's probabbly different now, mmo's go trough changes all the time, and unfortunately I'm not a wizard to know the state of the game today, but you don't have to go too far in the forums to see how much "balance" this game had in the past. On the present? I don't know, but I know they turned it from "exp boosts, 1-hour buffs, cosmetics, house deco, travel mounts and inventory increases" to "special seals that protects ALL your equipment" and what else... I don't blame them, it's a business, but they won't lure me to that type of CS anymore!!

No matter how much time you spent in that game, you won't be as powerfull as someone who spends 50 euros every week, and I don't know about you, but one of the reasons I play mmo's is to escape from the reality I live, so that type of system doesn't work on me.

Edit: you dont even have to go too far, people on this thread seem to agree. Well even on this page you have someone agreeing with me, e.g.  drbaltazar.

I'd like to make to comments:

Forums for any game or anything on the internet are ripe with the "loud minority".  That's not to say you can't get an accurate review or opinion, or answer to a question.

I quit using RoM's forums months ago.  In my opinion you cannot base anything about any part of the game on what the majority in the forums are saying.  RoM forums are best for finding specific answers like where does X drop, and so on.

Most of my friends told me they avoid WoW, EQ2 and Vanguards forums like the plague.

Secondly no one knows if or when someone is spending money on the game.  This is not just in defense of Runes of Magic but many free-to-play MMORPGs.

There is no way to tell if you are even competing to any extent with cash shop users.  I've run into just as many super geared players, who pay, and don't pay.

Even if you pay, how do you know that player you think you need to hurry up and spend money to compete with, hasn't played the game for 5 months longer than you?

The fact that people pay to get gear and other things in-game is such a smaller percentage of overall gameplay experience.

You don't know how they play.  Maybe they only do a few quests a day, then spend all day chatting while sitting on a log.

The only way to feel the need to compete in a sub game is that you feel you need to hurry up and play more, faster, longer.  That alone isn't true either.

You really have to step back and say, what is it I want to get out of this game?  If you simply love min/maxing level and gear, that's fine, but people who spend months simply decorating there house are just as important and meaningful to the game.  The game is meant for fun.  If you have fun competing and feel the need to get the gear so you can compete with high level and high geared players, it just goes back to taking the time.

I do admit, that some players love to eat up parts of the game as fast as they can.  The ones who are paying use this to move from one raid to the next at a much faster rate of speed than someone not paying.  But that doesn't make them top of the server or better ranked at anything.  And you will still be able to do any raid you want, get any gear you want, do anything you want, without paying.

But that is only with players who want to do the highest raid as soon as it comes out, and can't bare to work too long to get the gear in-game.

There are just too many things to think about.

The bottom line is nothing is more important than knowing the game let's you achieve, not just get, but "do" anything in the game you want.

You want to raid the highest dungeons? You can do it, you want to be a top PvPer? you can do it?  and you don't have to pay.

I've played with players who never paid, and achieved everything they wanted, and burnt through all the raids fast.

A couple weeks from now, I will be stronger and have better gear than most, because I worked for it.  Who won't I be able to compete with? and why?

Many F2P games are starting to come out with better run cash shops.  It is becoming an old saying to say that cash shop puts people always above non-payers.  That may have been true in the past, but it isn't anymore.

Many F2P games are not cash shop dependent at all these days.

 You say "No matter how much time you spent in that game, you won't be as powerfull as someone who spends 50 euros every week"  But that isn't true.

You can get and do everything in the game that a payer can.  I'm not sure what you mean.  Do you mean that someone will be able to make a weapon faster? Because that is true, but you can still make that exact same weapon...or armor.

There is a limit to the weapons and other items in game.  There is no magic new weapon above the current best in game, and non-payers and payers alike can get those.

I'm surprised people aren't arguing about the amount people spend.  There's going to be some who can pay more than others, but no ones comparing that.  Why not? if paying matters, wouldn't the amount you pay matter?  But that isn't true.  Anyone could tell, by how the game works, that someone who spent less could be more powerful than someone who spent more. 

 As another note: I've had 2 players in my guild at open beta, and knew others in top guild during that time, that went PvP and PKing people a lot, and they always get swear words and people yelling at them in zone chat "F'ing cash user" and similar.  They laugh it off, because they and I all knew they never spent a dime on the game.  Just food for thought.

Excellent point. i've been playing the game for like 5 months, and the only thing i ever paid for was a mount, and some misc. accessories to make the game easier/less travel intensive.

the only benefit to using the Cash Shop is that it all happens faster.

Originally posted by metruler1990

Excellent point. i've been playing the game for like 5 months, and the only thing i ever paid for was a mount, and some misc. accessories to make the game easier/less travel intensive.

the only benefit to using the Cash Shop is that it all happens faster.

hah!, just  wait until you hit ~L52 & visit the weeping coast for the first time!

You will be "WTF!?!?! how am i supposed to be able to kill that/those"

i've already been there. looks hard.

Not sure why so many ppl talk about PVP. I could care less about PVP, I'm all about PVE!!! Battling others holds no allure for me whatsoever. I'm also a female player which is nothing special since I knew loads of female players on ROM last summer and hope to find some more this time around.

I played ROM last June of '09 and only played a few weeks. I have downloaded Allods Online which some say is even better than ROM and I'm considering re-downloading ROM to try it again. I don't like games with greedy CS systems but I know they must make money somehow. I thought ROM was fun the first time and I wonder how much it's progressed since last summer.

Also, if I choose to buy those diamond thingies with a Credit card to get a mount, will my in game money/diamonds be available immediately so I can get it from the CS?

Originally posted by CandyCaneNJ

Not sure why so many ppl talk about PVP. I could care less about PVP, I'm all about PVE!!! Battling others holds no allure for me whatsoever. I'm also a female player which is nothing special since I knew loads of female players on ROM last summer and hope to find some more this time around.

I played ROM last June of '09 and only played a few weeks. I have downloaded Allods Online which some say is even better than ROM and I'm considering re-downloading ROM to try it again. I don't like games with greedy CS systems but I know they must make money somehow. I thought ROM was fun the first time and I wonder how much it's progressed since last summer.

Also, if I choose to buy those diamond thingies with a Credit card to get a mount, will my in game money/diamonds be available immediately so I can get it from the CS?

Well just in PvE the jumps they make in between areas is huge later in the game. In weeping coast the L52 characters are 6k-8k hps, not to bad vs same level characters. But the next area, savage lands, the L53 enemies have ~20k hp & hit harder too. You on the other hand might(maybe) have an extra 500 - 1,000 hp over your 3k-8k you had last level.

This basically forces you to buy cs items.

Yes your diamonds can be used in the CS immediately.