Runes of Magic

[Silverblade]

Anyone trying out the open beta? It's supposed to go full launch in March.

Among F2P MMOs, this seems pretty decent. It has a dual class system, kinda like Guild Wars (big difference is, you have to level each class independently) and generally plays like WoW. Looks good. Again kinda like WoW or Perfect World.

I'm pretty engrossed in WoW at the moment but I can see myself playing RoM every once in awhile for fun. Hey, it's free so no loss there.

 

[HJ-Diviana]

(big difference is, you have to level each class independently)

Like FFXI?

 

[Silverblade]

I'm not sure how FFXI works because I never played it although I did hear FFXI has dual classes as well.

In RoM, at level 10, you can choose a secondary class which you can switch back and forth with your original/primary class by going to a trainer. You can only level your primary class but you get to use certain "non-specific" powers of your secondary class.

 

[Gate]

I downloaded and tried it out. Honestly it doesn't seem to have much to distinguish it from all the other monotonous and bland free MMOs out there. It has a few nice features to it but overall shows the same lack of creativity that has driven me away from all the others.

 

[Jaraeth]

Interesting game so far... I'm still playing at the moment, but have a Level 7 scout I'm working on. It's a bit wonky, but it IS still in beta technically.

I agree with Gate, it IS a lot like other free MMO's... but, I've seen many free MMO's be a lot worse off too. I can't give a good opinion of this game until I've attempted to play another day or two.

 

[Gate]

I agree Jar, it's alot better than some of what's out there. Alot better.
Unfortunately that just means it falls in the category of "sucks less" and isn't an incentive to play it. I tried out a lvl 9 scout and a lvl 8 mage.

I also immediately hopped on my rent-a-horse and rode/jumped up the nearest mountain just for fun. Did you know if you ride south/east from the starting area for a little while, there is a mountain you can climb and from the top you can see numbered grids strewn across the landscape outside the valley, just painted on the terrain. You don't take fall damage (-12 for a fall of several hundred feet) so I hopped down and went exploring for a while far off the map.

 

[Valendros]

I'm not sure how FFXI works because I never played it although I did hear FFXI has dual classes as well.

In RoM, at level 10, you can choose a secondary class which you can switch back and forth with your original/primary class by going to a trainer. You can only level your primary class but you get to use certain "non-specific" powers of your secondary class.

FFXI - There are 20 total jobs - 6 to start, and 14 unlockable.
You choose 1 of 6 to start. At level 18 you can do a quest so you can have a sub job. Your subjob is lowered to 1/2 the level of your main job. You gain all the abilities of the sub job, and stat bonuses based on the subjob (warrior would get a little more strength, white mage would give a bit more mana, etc).

So if you start off with a warrior, get it to 18. Then you do the quest for your subjob, you can now have a level 18 warrior/1 thief. You are "gimped" you need to now switch to the thief to level it to at least 9 so you are no longer "gimped".

You can play any job at any time (provided if it's an expansion job, it's unlocked). You need to just go to your house (mog houses are in any town, and a few 'outpost' towns), and switch your job. Therefor, you have 20 jobs of experience to get through.

You literally can play the same single character from the time you start the game, til the time you stop playing. The only thing that's unchangeable is race and sex. However, there is gear to overcome any racial shortcomings, and every race can be very excellent at every job (taru paladin FTW).

There are people with all 20 at level 75, but those people have no lives. The only real reason to have a 2nd character is poor game design. They didn't give enough locker space for all your 20 jobs worth of gear. Worse than that, you have to go into capped areas occasionally, so you need the capped levels gear too: level 30 gear, level 40 gear, etc for each job... (I actually think they've changed this since I stopped playing, your gear just adjusts down to the level of the cap, but still).

I really wish a lot more games would offer this kind of job system (Read: I really wish HJ would offer this kind of system). I really really hate having to switch characters. I want people to know Valendros, not Valendros, and Volendros, and Vilendros, etc.

 

[Silverblade]

There was a time long long ago when I really considered playing FFXI. I liked how it looked and I liked the idea of having multiple classes on one character. But I also did my research and knew how much it was to grind in that game and soloing was basically impossible. Because I knew my life would not allow me to log for hours upon hours, I didn't try it. If I were in college and had ridiculous freetime, I probably would have played it.

I love the idea of having multiple classes (or skill based) for characters. It was one of the reasons I was intrigued by HJ.

On a sidenote, WoW is going to implement dual specing which is in a way, creating multiple classes on hybrid characters. So classes like paladins and druids can effectively be two of three "trinity" classes. Too bad I play a rogue...

 

[Silverblade]

There are people with all 20 at level 75, but those people have no lives. The only real reason to have a 2nd character is poor game design. They didn't give enough locker space for all your 20 jobs worth of gear. Worse than that, you have to go into capped areas occasionally, so you need the capped levels gear too: level 30 gear, level 40 gear, etc for each job... (I actually think they've changed this since I stopped playing, your gear just adjusts down to the level of the cap, but still).

I really wish a lot more games would offer this kind of job system (Read: I really wish HJ would offer this kind of system). I really really hate having to switch characters. I want people to know Valendros, not Valendros, and Volendros, and Vilendros, etc.

I'm like you and like to stick with one character if I can but I do know lots of others who enjoy rolling alts. And from an RP perspective, they like alts because they can explore different types of personalities and can change things up when they get worn out by their main.

 

[Gate]

And from an RP perspective, they like alts because they can explore different types of personalities and can change things up when they get worn out by their main.

That's my take on things. I have a very distinct personality for each character I create even if I'm not out and out roleplaying. I play each of my characters very differently from the others- even if it means going back and leveling a whole new character when I could have just switched the class of the old one.

 

[HJ-Pinnelipe]

I for one am an rper that tends to get altaholic problems...

Of course, when this happens, it usually means I'm too bored with the game to keep going for long anyhow.

Other reasons to make new characters...

Looks! Doesn't anyone else out there just love nice character creations? FFXI certainly did NOT have this, although it was a good game, but even stuff like playing with WoW looks... As long as we don't get to the point of Oblivion. Oh, how it vexed me...

 

[Valendros]

That's my take on things. I have a very distinct personality for each character I create even if I'm not out and out roleplaying. I play each of my characters very differently from the others- even if it means going back and leveling a whole new character when I could have just switched the class of the old one.

I enjoy getting to RP a new character as well.

How does having a system like FFXI prevent you from making a new character? (You know... Other than MMOs in general pretty much killing all RPing in the first place.)

 

[Silverblade]

I enjoy getting to RP a new character as well.

How does having a system like FFXI prevent you from making a new character? (You know... Other than MMOs in general pretty much killing all RPing in the first place.)

You're right, a person can create alts but the FFXI system as you describe discourages alts. Why create multiple characters when one can do the job? It is much easier to just have one character and switch job training as you wish than to log in and out different characters.

Ease of use. That's very important. No matter what people say, the general population will ALWAYS seek the path of least resistance. When a game guides you to a certain path (in this case just roll one character) then that's what people will gravitate to. This applies to basically any game design or implementation.

Here's another question although it's a tangent that's being addressed in one of your other threads: How does solo content in a MMO prevent players from grouping? Answer: it doesn't, just like FFXIs system doesn't prevent the creation of alts. But certain game mechanics can discourage certain habits which can be good or bad depending upon your perspective.