Just saying - Comparison between RS and other MMORPG

[Kashi]

Hey, I'm back after three months hiatus and I've got a story to tell.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The story begins with a server crash in the world of RuneScape, about three months ago.

 

 

 

The server I was playing on went down while I was PK'ing, leading to the loss of several

 

 

 

mildly valuable items due to Dragons. Now I am not, and never have been, a serious

 

 

 

PK'er, so when I venture into the wild I bring only what I can afford (and expect) to lose.

 

 

 

In this case I was testing out my ranging skills with the help of a Ranging Potion and the 15% prayer.

 

 

 

I was very pleased with the results, having PKed another PKer, leaving me with a full set

 

 

 

of Rune Armor and a D Longsword. In search of new targets, I ran across the dragon pit

 

 

 

located in Lv 13-17 wild, just as the server crashed. A person without a Dragonfire shield can

 

 

 

last only so long against vicious, fire breathing dragons, so when I logged back on (after the

 

 

 

servers had been fixed) I found myself in Lumbridge. Now like I said, the things I'd brought with

 

 

 

me were things I could afford to lose, but if you're like me, losing -anything-, -ever-

 

 

 

really puts you in a bad mood, to the point where you don't want to play for the rest of the day.

 

 

 

So I closed down RuneScape and looked around the internet for some other MMORPGs.

 

 

 

The name I found was 'Ragnarok Online'. This was a game I'd come across before, before

 

 

 

I'd even started playing RuneScape, but the long download time for the game client

 

 

 

meant I couldn't play it, since as the time I was on dial-up internet.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Well, when I found 'Ragnarok Online' the second time I had the fastest internet

 

 

 

money could buy, so the download took less than half an hour. After creating an account

 

 

 

and locating a few databases and fansites for the game to get me started,

 

 

 

I started playing.

 

 

 

Now, since this is a RuneScape forum I wont give you all the details of RO, but you are able

 

 

 

to make more than one character. It's not like in RuneScape where one character can do

 

 

 

everything and anything. In RO, only Mage characters can use Magic. Only Archers can

 

 

 

shoot arrows. Only Knights can use swords. It's very class specific. I started with an Archer,

 

 

 

since Ranging was always my favorite thing in RuneScape, even if I was never very good

 

 

 

at it. I started on the tutorial and met another person almost immediately. This person was an

 

 

 

experienced player just making a new character, and he helped me learn the basics

 

 

 

of the game. Soooo ...

 

 

 

~~~

 

 

 

Difference #1:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In RuneScape, players can't talk to each other in the tutorial, so new players

 

 

 

can get no helpful advice from experienced players, and likewise new players

 

 

 

can't meet other new players in a closed environment with only other newbs, so when

 

 

 

they try to make friends in the real world there are tons of other more experienced

 

 

 

players making fun of them for no apparent reason.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In Ragnarok, players can communicate in the tutorial, meaning a newbie can get help

 

 

 

from veteran players, and newbs can make friends with each other and train together.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Advantage: Ragnarok

 

 

 

~~~

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

When I finished the tutorial and reached the mainland, I noticed there were no people

 

 

 

shouting at each other trying to buy and sell goods.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

~~~

 

 

 

Difference #2

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In RuneScape, the only way to buy or sell anything is to take your money and your items

 

 

 

into a crowded area, shout for hours what you want to buy/sell, and hope somebody can help you out.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

RO has a buying/selling system that can only be used by Merchant class characters,

 

 

 

where players can put items in a shop with a brief description of the shop and set item prices.

 

 

 

This puts a little window over your head where you're standing, and other players can enter

 

 

 

your shop and view your wares just by clicking. This system is so secure to the point of being

 

 

 

practically scam-proof, which means virtually no item scamming goes on in the world of RO.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Advantage: Ragnarok

 

 

 

~~~

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I was sitting in town for a few minutes when another person, around the same level

 

 

 

as me judging by the appearance, walked up and asked if I 'Want to party?'.

 

 

 

No, this person was not offering me drugs as I first thought ...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

~~~

 

 

 

Difference #3

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

RuneScape's idea of a party system is a cape which changes the dots on your minimap

 

 

 

different colors.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ragnarok Online has a very detailed, yet also very simple party system which allows characters

 

 

 

to join a group of people with the option to share XP as long as all party members are within

 

 

 

10 levels of each other. There is an integrated party chat system, which allows party members

 

 

 

to communicate with each other no matter where they are. You can address the party

 

 

 

all at once, or open a private chat room with another member.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Advantage: Ragnarok

 

 

 

~~~

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I was in the party for a short while, going through a dungeon of undead monsters

 

 

 

with a group of 4-5 other people, when a monster labeled 'Succubus' ran up at a high

 

 

 

speed and promptly killed the entire party.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

~~~

 

 

 

Difference #4

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In RuneScape, monsters stay where they belong ... if you want to fight something, you

 

 

 

go to the monsters habitat and fight it. They don't come to you. If you want to fight a boss,

 

 

 

you go to the boss' lair and fight it. It's always going to be there, and if someone

 

 

 

else is fighting it you can switch to a different world.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In Ragnarok, there is an item called a 'Dead Branch', which summons a random monster

 

 

 

(anything from a lv1 monster with 45 HP to a Lv99 monster with 1,000's of HP)

 

 

 

next to the person who uses it. These items can be used anywhere you wish,

 

 

 

except inside a town. Extremely rich players can buy hundreds of them and summon

 

 

 

a veritable swarm of monsters anywhere they want, killing anyone they want, except

 

 

 

the very strong and experienced. Popular training spots are often filled with

 

 

 

extremely powerful monsters, which can put a stop to your training for hours, and

 

 

 

since there are only three servers, and each character can only play on the server

 

 

 

in which it was created, there is nothing you can do about it. Likewise, boss

 

 

 

monsters have very long respawn times, anywhere between 30 minutes to 24 hours for some,

 

 

 

so if you want to fight a boss you have to camp out on the map where it appears and wait.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Advantage: RuneScape

 

 

 

~~~

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As soon as I was killed, I got a sinking feeling in my stomach, but then I realized that hey ..

 

 

 

I hadn't dropped all my items! And I hadn't respawned somewhere else! A Priest character

 

 

 

came along and brought our whole party back to life, after one of his friends had

 

 

 

dispatched the monster which had killed us in the first place.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

~~~

 

 

 

Difference #5

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In RuneScape, if you die you lose all but three of your items. This means you can

 

 

 

save up money for months to buy an item, and lose it as soon as you try to use it due

 

 

 

to a stupid mistake or whatever.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In Ragnarok, if you die all you lose is some XP. Nothing else to say about that. Since you

 

 

 

wont be losing your items, you are willing to take more risks, which leads to more exploration

 

 

 

and whatnot.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Advantage: Ragnarok

 

 

 

~~~

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Anyway, those five differences tell you enough about the game.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In RuneScape, players benefit off the death of their fellow players, which leads

 

 

 

to things like luring, backstabbing, and general scamming. Item scamming is

 

 

 

not only profitablle, it's positively easy, and any noob can learn to scam effectively.

 

 

 

Without a party/clan system, 90% of all would-be clans fall apart in days, so most people

 

 

 

just play alone with the odd friend or two.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In Ragnarok, since scamming is all but impossible, and there is nothing to be gained

 

 

 

by leading other players to their death, all the would-be scammers leave the game early on,

 

 

 

after realizing they wont be able to get rich quick, without any work. This leads to a community

 

 

 

of kind, helpful players who are more than willing to give a newbie to the game a helping hand.

 

 

 

The people are so nice it's ridiculous. I used to think the community was a minor part of the game,

 

 

 

but after a few months playing RO I realize it makes -all- the difference.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

That's exactly why I came back to RuneScape. Since Ragnarok is based on Players against

 

 

 

The Game, instead of Players against Other Players, it lacks the cut-throat viciousness

 

 

 

and cold hearted ruthlesness that drew me to RuneScape in the first place. If I

 

 

 

want to have a good time with my friends, playing a game and taking out monsters and

 

 

 

all that jazz, I'd play Ragnarok. If I want cold blooded, backstabbing, heartless players

 

 

 

doing whatever it takes to hurt everyone around them, I'd play RuneScape.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Anyway see you later.

[123neopet]

Meh. I've seen other mmorpgs, and they're fun. Most more fun then runescape. But they're also more expensive. I prefer good ole runescape for my mindless timewasting. Most good games are just getting too expensive. But other than that i agree. My current favorite f2p game is Eternal Lands which is amazingly fun and has a nice community.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The only problem is there isn't as much to do. You yourself said you're restricting to very specific weapons/skills. That would kill me, not being able to suddenly go from to mining/smithing. Sorry, but for variety and cheapness, I'll stick with RS.

[Kenshinjapan]

You basically summed up every other rpg except runescape in that paragraph... :? Runescape isn't like every other rpg out there which makes it fun.

[a7xpure]

I use to play on ragnarok private servers...I quit a few months back though...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I still know my pass and such though lol

[Kashi]

But like I said, you can make multiple characters (in fact, the update on Tuesday

 

 

 

brings maximum # of characters up to 7), and there are 18 different classes to choose from.

 

 

 

And! When you reach Lv99 you have the option to 'Transcend', where you start over

 

 

 

at Lv1, but as you develop you get more powerful skills than normal characters.

 

 

 

(As in, if you are a Wizard and you reach Lv99, you can Transcend into a High Wizard,

 

 

 

giving you wider skill options and higher stats.)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I'll admit though ... the price isn't very high, but it's higher than RS. That was one of the

 

 

 

differences between the two that I chose not to list, since price doesn't really affect

 

 

 

gameplay.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Also, I'd like to change comparison #5 to a draw between RS and RO. True, it's nice to

 

 

 

not lose items when you die, but fighting bosses in RO doesn't really get my heart

 

 

 

pumping because there's really nothing to lose. When I go up against the KQ, my adrenaline

 

 

 

is flowing, I break out in a cold sweat, and my heart is going 100 beats a minute, because there's

 

 

 

some rick involved. So yeah, that's a tie on comparison #5.

[jamelseyek]

Sounds interesting...too bad that so far it is anime style, wich I don't like.

 

 

 

But is only 7 U$s and in my country (Argentina) there are shops to buy

 

 

 

playing time, unlike Runescape while I need to pay via Western Union (each

 

 

 

dollar is worth 3,1 $ here, so I end paying more than 3 times the normal, add

 

 

 

the W.Union fee....oh hell). I might try it when my membership on RS runs

 

 

 

out, on April.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edit: Aaahh :-# !!! a 785 MB download!! :shock:

[Sharane]

Difference #6:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In RunEscape, players have over a hundred things to do with over 15 skills that don't involve combat and dozens of quests leaving gameplay very open to the player.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In Ragnarok, there isn't much anything else to do than fight and grind long hours (even days) just to get to a reasonably high level. It took me a month of nonstop play at double experience rate in one week to reach level 68 for my secondary job change.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Advantage: RunEscape.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

PS. What RS doesn't have over RO is another thing: Monks. ^^

[mikehild]

I'd choose to lose items over experience any day.

[Sal VJ]

Interesting.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The general principles you numbered there for RO is identical to FlyFF (Fly For Fun). RO & FlyFF are just a long line of generic MMORPG where you basically do the same boring stuff.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

RS largest advantage is it's open-ended style gameplay.

[Kashi]

I think the reason RO was so appealing when I first started playing was that it was -new-.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

You say RuneScape has alot of variety, but after three years it gets a little old.

[Nazgul740]

Meh its sorta the same with me...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I started my brother on maplestory (sidescrolling p.o.s. mmorpg) when i stopped playing runescape (i've been clean over a month now :D - was way too addicted) i started helping my bro out some by reading some guides getting some neat armor for him...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

basically i enjoy the changes from rs... The community is the biggest change with people actually being quite helpful in many areas... Of all the mmorpg's i have tried runescape has the worst community... its pretty terrible...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I think the reason RO was so appealing when I first started playing was that it was -new-.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

You say RuneScape has alot of variety, but after three years it gets a little old.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Same thing here... I have played runescape since a month after rs2 was released... it just got so boreing... I never had the patience to lvl past 81 in a single skill... I spent all my time money making and such... it was much more exiciteing then training waiting for some stupid drop i could get in an hour merching or barrowing...

[/code]

[badlilmonkey]

sounds no difference from maplestory...mostly the same thing everywhere

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

EDIT: OMG my baddd!! those people are seriously serious game players, extremely good community and just :shock: their fan art page! all anime/manga fans

[Luke]

Interesting read, but its things like some of those that give Runescape is charachter, some good, some bad.

[Fred_S]

Well i like the way it works about pking here, can you even pk in that game and what do you earn?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Loosing items is one part of rs that makes it fun to play. Without that i doubt that pking would be fun.

[eias]

Difference #4

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In RuneScape, monsters stay where they belong ... if you want to fight something, you

 

 

 

go to the monsters habitat and fight it. They don't come to you. If you want to fight a boss,

 

 

 

you go to the boss' lair and fight it. It's always going to be there, and if someone

 

 

 

else is fighting it you can switch to a different world.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In Ragnarok, there is an item called a 'Dead Branch', which summons a random monster

 

 

 

(anything from a lv1 monster with 45 HP to a Lv99 monster with 1,000's of HP)

 

 

 

next to the person who uses it. These items can be used anywhere you wish,

 

 

 

except inside a town. Extremely rich players can buy hundreds of them and summon

 

 

 

a veritable swarm of monsters anywhere they want, killing anyone they want, except

 

 

 

the very strong and experienced. Popular training spots are often filled with

 

 

 

extremely powerful monsters, which can put a stop to your training for hours, and

 

 

 

since there are only three servers, and each character can only play on the server

 

 

 

in which it was created, there is nothing you can do about it. Likewise, boss

 

 

 

monsters have very long respawn times, anywhere between 30 minutes to 24 hours for some,

 

 

 

so if you want to fight a boss you have to camp out on the map where it appears and wait.

 

 

 

 

 

 

as in guildwars game when you go to wild and fite monsters for xp the game auto. makes you a copy of the wild and your the only one who will be in the wild unless you take a party some people with you then you and your party only in the whole world..

[miracleman58]

lol, rs got owned but hey rs owns :