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Lost Pages of Taborea: Tinkering with standard classes and my Priest/Rogue
Aside from some ancillary problems, one of the things I love so much about Runes of Magic is that it gives me ability to augment weapons and equipment via the arcane transmutor. When that is coupled with a dual-class system, players are given a lot of room to bend traditional classes to their wills. I've been running a Priest/Rogue for a while now and loving it. The selection of offensive spells, the Rogue's skills, and the weapons I can wield have me wanting to push the boundaries of typical class specifications. I'm building a hammer-wielding Priest that's specced much like I'd spec a Mage, but the class can also pump out adequate melee damage. In this week's Lost Pages of Taborea, I want to give you a run-down of the gear, weapons, and stats I'm choosing. It should serve as a good guide to some unique possibilities for classes in RoM.
Lost Pages of Taborea: Balancing vs. viable vs. fun
Thoughts of class-balancing, class-viability and triple-class combinations have been swimming in my head lately. In the wake of RIFT's open beta, Frogster announced that Runes of Magic will be moving to a triple-class system in early April. Along with a lot of speculation on how this will change RoM, there's talk of how badly three-class combos will upset class-balancing where some already feel classes are skewed. Viable and balanced are pretty subjective terms in the MMO genre that make it hard for any two players to be on the same page. I find it even more confusing when some make it sound like there's a mass exodus to RIFT because of -- in part -- the idea that RoM's classes are more out of tune than yours truly trying to sing Zombie. These ideas are highly speculative. I'd like to throw my own opinions in about what makes a class in RoM viable, what not to look for when trying to find balance, and why we may not want to squeeze every possible class combination into the holy trinity of healer, DPS and tank.
Triple the class coming for Runes of Magic
If you're a Runes of Magic player, you've got something big to look forward to in about a month and a half. The latest official podcast not only dates Chapter IV for an April 6th release (barring unforeseen technical issues) but discusses in more detail what can be found within the update. A new starting area for the game is certainly a nice piece of news, but it's not the centerpiece of the announcement -- that would be the fact that the update will be moving the game from its current dual-class system to a triple-class system. The change might sound a bit subtle, but it's actually a rather large shift. Unlike the current system, which allows players to have a primary class active and a second class "in reserve," this system will give you two classes with full access to all abilities, with a third class in reserve. That means access to a much wider range of abilities -- rather than only having access to the general skills of a secondary class, players will have all the skills of two classes, with a third class of general skills on top. Runes of Magic players will want to listen to the announcement, starting at about 10 minutes into the podcast.
The Game Archaeologist and the Nights of Old Winter
Here's a question for you: How much do you really, really have to love a game to pay $8.00 an hour to play it? Considering how much we tend to whine about a flat $15/month fee, I'm guessing the answer is, "Only if it loved me long time." And yet, in 1991 this wasn't considered crazy extortionist practices -- it was dubbed "Being a pioneer." While online RPGs were nothing new by then, nobody had tackled the jump from text-based RPGs (MUDs and BBS doors) to graphical games due to the technology (limited modem speeds and access) and funding involved. It took the efforts of a Superfriends-style team to make this happen with Neverwinter Nights: Stormfront Studios developed the game, TSR provided the Dungeons & Dragons license, SSI published it under its Gold Box series, and Aol handled the online operations. Thus, 19 years ago -- six years before Ultima Online and 13 before World of Warcraft -- the first multiplayer graphical RPG went online and helped forge a path that would lead to where we are today. With only 50 to 500 players per server, Neverwinter Nights may not have been "massively," but it deserves a spot of honor as one of the key ancestors to the modern MMO.
Runes of Magic: Picking the best class combo
One of the big features in Runes of Magic is its dual class system. You choose two classes, swapping either as your primary or secondary class. You level each class independantly (only primary classes gain XP), however, you will have access to some of your secondary class abilities as well. With six class options to choose from, it begs the question: What class combo is the best for me!?"The best" and "the best for your gaming preferences and goals" should be treated as two completely different things because everyone enjoys a unique style of play and recommendations of "the best" will always be subjective. Saylah of Mystic Worlds shows us her own unique thought process that went in to making the decision of primary and secondary class choices.There are several questions you should ask yourself before choosing primary and secondary classes because you can't change your mind once you've picked them. Do you enjoy soloing or grouping? If grouping is your thing, what role do you wish to play in the "holy trinity?" Do you prefer high survivability with low DPS or moderate survivability with moderate DPS? Do you feel the best defense is a good offense? Perhaps the biggest thing you should ask yourself is what will provide the best fun-factor?
The Daily Grind: Single or dual classes?
As more and more of the Massively staff jump in and check out Runes of Magic, we're having a ball playing around with different dual class combinations. Shawn Schuster, our Managing Editor, is running a Warrior/Mage combination he says is a lot of fun. Kyle Horner has a shiny new Mage he's thinking about what he wants to add to the mix. I've opted for a Rogue/Priest combination since I'll run the Rogue solo, and will be keeping the Priest to run with friends who are several levels lower. That way, I figure so long as I keep the Rogue's level well above the Priest, I can level the second class along with my friends who don't play as often. Of course, this system really isn't anything new - it falls in line with Final Fantasy XI's job system, offering players the chance to combine a couple of different things on the same character without requiring you to keep an alt to see a second class. This morning, though, we thought we'd ask what you thought. Do you think that more games should introduce a dual class system, allowing you to play two completely different classes (or a hybrid of them) at the same time? Or do you prefer to focus on one class at a time so you're not split in terms of trying to gear it up, or having to spend too much time to level two classes at the same time?
A guide to the Runes of Magic dual-class system
Runes of Magic is launching in March, and the information we're getting from current players in beta is overwhelmingly positive. To highlight one of the most predominant features in the game, a dual-class system, MMORPG has written a guide for choosing your second class.This guide is extremely helpful as it describes the step-by-step procedure for not only the "whens" and the "wheres" of completing your second-class quests, but the "hows" as well. Once you reach level 10, you can begin the quest for a second class, and the decision is permanent. Although the six current classes (with more to come!) in RoM are pretty straightforward, it's helpful to know how the combinations of classes can be advantageous to your play style.
