Runes feel very underwhelming currently

PTR Feedback
1

I expected runes to have a bigger oomph factor but so far they seem very meh. First I leveled normally without the boosting npc and barely got any runes at all (not even magic) and I honestly really love that, I desperately want something to hunt for (btw, please let the pet pick up runes). Bonus points if we eventually get an endgame area with better/easier rune drop chances like cow level in D2 or something like that. So for leveling runes are pretty irrelevant, maybe for an alt but 100% not for your first char.

But the big issues is that even after I then boosted to get all of them, they are so underwhelming. The generating ones are fine, different conditions to meet allow you to tailor it to your build a bit better, I really like that. But the actual rune effects are either a generic damage/crit increase you don’t see at all or a skill like meteorite that does absolutely 0 damage (and some of them aren’t even visible because of visual clutter).

Please give us more crazy effects not yet in the game. Personally I feel like the unique items are still pretty tame in some aspects, I actually really like stuff like Spear of Lycander that gives you a completely wacky effect. Do more of that. Why not make a rune that takes 5000 offering to give you a shrine effect? Or 10000 offering to summon a loot goblin or butcher? 100 offering cost to have a 1% lucky hit chance to execute any enemy? Or do even crazier stuff, I really love when arpgs get wacky because I just wanna blast and have fun, right now runes just feel super sanitized and like everyone will just run the exact same two runes because damage multiplier yippie

3 Likes
2

Runic words are an exciting new addition for character enhancement and will certainly help in progressing content. However, they currently lack the “wow” factor that players crave. For the upcoming in-game features—uniques, aspects, and more—we need more mechanics that truly shake up gameplay, not just increase damage numbers.

What would really stand out are effects that transform how abilities function. For example, Necromancer skeletons could consume 5 corpses to morph into zombies with entirely new abilities. Sorcerer spells could change elemental types mid-combat. This concept works brilliantly for the Druid, who already has a versatile toolkit—imagine earth spells shifting into bear form abilities, opening up new playstyles. These are the kinds of enhancements that make gameplay more dynamic and exciting.

3

Biggest problem with the runes atm is that they ware very limited and except for safe stuff like buffs or raw stats or CD reductions other elements just dont scale with most builds and do either no dmg or is not working or triggering at all.

Im very very disappointed as most of runes are not working with minions well.

1 Like
4

Not going to bother with them. Last thing I want is yet again more cool downs and more generator/spender mechanics.