Runes: Only usefull in pvp??

I've done some reading about runes and after looking at them in the runesection I wonder how usefull runes really are:
-They dont stack, so at most it gives a 3 skill boost with a -75 life penalty.
-You can only use them for your pirmary profession, meaning for max. 5 skills (but since many players only develope 1 primary skill, it means just 1 skill extra strong)
Sounds to me it could make some difference in pvp, but hardly in pvm: strategy and tactics in battling a majority of monsters wont change much in teamplay, in fact I bet it wont make any difference at all...

My +3 healing rune allows me to go from 8 health regen to 10.

My heals get +9 more healing. All 4 of them . My enchantments last 12.5% longer. My healing seed now heals 33 points instead of 24 when someone gets hit.

Worth every gold piece.


Jana

Every little bit helps. Especially on my warrior who fell just 1-2 points shy of the requirments for some of the gear I got him. Couple of runes and instant gear goodness.

I don't see what else to spend my money on.

Hmmm ok. Sigh, I dont want to sound negative, but after 3 weeks of playing and leveling my monk/warrior to 16 I hardly notice any difference in the gear I use, the spells I cast, the skills I use... The rewards are so tiny. +1 to this or that and next I dont feel that I'm any stronger. Of course I'm much stronger than at the start of the game, but it simply does not feel so because without a party I'm nothing...
How I wish to Whirlwind though a group of monsters, crushing them completely without help, to teleport over and over casting circles of icy frost, freezing everyone within range and finish it off with thunder and lightning

But it wont be. I understand that the game balance highly is tuned for pvp, but I dont care about pvp. I play this game for the adventure, and I would like to RULE over the monsters lol! Just found out that even a signet of capture costs 1 skillpoint. So its only usefull for capturing skills that are not for sale. Sigh, it all feels so tight. The fun of rpg is to be rewarded.

Lol, women.

Just like C-Tzar said, every little bit helps. Why wouldnt you want extra life, higher attributes, or bust out more damage?

Lol, I just went back for a little experiment, from Bergen Hot Springs to Piken Square. Guess what? I could not even wipe out a 4-monster group on my own. Allright, this is a team game but by playing in a team I dont have the feeling those little bonusses make much difference. And thats whats bothering me: I dont FEEL stronger!

This is why we have balance AND why this is the most balanced PvP game on the market.


Jana

Well, firstoff, you shouldnt be trying to take anything in PVE thats your level or higher out on your own unless you have too, or its for a challenge. So, doing an experiment like that to see if your "stronger" (I think your testing out your idiocy more than your strength.) is flat out stupid. Second, read Jana's post .

When I was level 10 I would die so easily against drakes... but now that I'm lvl 20 with my decked out Armor and Runes and weapons, I solo them all the time. It's called Drake Farming. And those guys are lvl 18 and lvl 20. So you definately get stronger.. thats why they have arenas separated by level. Change something in your build to allow you to solo better. If you solo, you need to be sure that you can heal yourself, and dish out damage when they try to heal themselves, also having a sprint doesnt hurt anything.

Heh i know we've all played diablo 2. Yes, it's hard to come to grips with the fact that your cahracter deosn't become UBER stong, able to wipe though hundereds of enimes at a time. Gear gets better, but on a much smaller scale then we're used to. Hell I got to the 8th round of the Tournment with just the armour and wepons I'd used to ascend. And that was before i worked out how to use runes .
However there is one thing that Defintly gets stronger as you level up. Your atribute points. What's that? But everyone will have the sme amount as me? That's BALANCE. And where you put them, and what skills you use them for? That's Stratagy. Look on the box. Players are rewarded with skill, not hours played. Sure a character that's farmed into oblivion is going to have an advantage, but only a slight one. It's a teams ability to work together and compliment one another that rules in this game.
And I love that.

Actually, it's probably because you play a Mo/Wa.

My E/W specialises in running headfirst into crowds and spamming lavafont and healing signet. Occasionally starting with Meteor storm to soften them up, and Earth Armor if they're tough. Anything I can survive, I can wipe out large groups of easily. Anything much tougher than me, I die like a piece of tissue paper. So it's quite fun, walking on the razor's edge between total carnage and instant death :P

Thats exactly what I stated above. Only thing is: I'm not interested in pvp, and I think for adventuring the game is NOT in balance. Yes, it may be my mo/wa build, and sure I'll test out differend builds. But a level 16 monk not being able to cut through a group of level 10 creatures like a knive through hot butter... Thats just plain silly. Given the 20-level limit 6 levels differenece is HUGE!. Its like a level 80 chr in D2 vs a group of level 50's. Should be no problem.

I thank you all for your contributions. Still I think this game is heavily focussed on the balance in pvp and guild v guild, but the pvm part has been neglected.

NOTE: Its a misunderstanding to think that the strategy part of the game means: finding ways to slay a majority. One of the best strategy games ever, Warhammer, has been spoiled completely when computer games tried to simulate the table game. On the table game its mostly equal armies fighting each other, the computer games changed this concept in: how are you going to win against a majority. But thats not the meaning of a strategy game...

Actually, strategy is the use of combined tactical knowledge to develope an overall plan of conflict. Any conflict, be it one vs. one or one thousand vs. one hundred. Look at Thermopole and the Spartans... that was -good- strategy.

Rarely are two armies equal. Even the US has recently used strategy to find ways to "slay the majority" and we have, arguably, some of the best military organizations in the world.

I personally enjoy having to rely on a balanced group of people to take on mobs and mobs of enemies. It's much more realistic that way (of course, then, we get into realism in video games, so I'm not going to continue that line any further ).

^-^


Exactly. Given a choice between one-on-one balance, and team / PvP balance... I would take the later every time.

But I do see your point. It's not like CoH, where you can solo 10 mobs 5 levels below you. You do not get stronger in terms of weakening the opposition in this game. It's just your skills get better, and so does your play.


Jana