147921-the-truth-about-runes

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I've seen a lot of discussion about runes. The prices have dipped and spiked as the F2P launch happened, but things have settled now, and especially with the much improved drop rates from the Glory bags, the prices are very reasonable.
 
These are the things I really like about the new system:
 
The set bonuses only apply within an item. No longer does replacing an item mean reorganising runes across all your gear.
All the rune slots have equal value. No longer are you paying the highest prices to unlock the weakest slots.
All slots in new pieces of gear are unlocked bar one.
You can reroll slots indefinitely (Either RNG for gold or specific for Service Tokens)
Materials for making runes are easy to work out and consistent.
Planning your runing is now easy. (Don't get me wrong, I'd advise using RuneMaster, but it is no longer essential)
Only your 6 clothing slots and your weapon have runes (so there are less slots to fill)
Costs of runing is now affordable for (almost) all.
There isn't a lot to learn about the new system. Some important things are:
Rune level for slotting in an item cannot be more than 10 levels above the item level.
Endgame rune levels are High (50), Superb (80), Pure (100) and Divine (120)
Set bonuses only accumulate on a single piece of gear, but you can repeat a set on another piece of gear for another bonus.
Fusion runes can go in any slot and any rune can go in a Fusion slot.
There are no Fusion runes for your Shoulder slot, and the Legs slot Fusion runes are really for levelling.
You can stack the same Basic rune in a piece of gear, but not the same Set Rune. You can have a Major and Minor of the same set though.
Basic runes can be made with Rune Fragments (you need rune level divided by 10 of them) and the relevant Sign (you need twice as many signs as fragments)
Set Runes require Basic Rune materials plus ONE set focus (major or minor)
You have to make runes at a rune station
You can slot your runes in your gear or reroll them anywhere in the world
You can infintely re-roll rune slots until you get the one you want. (Higher cost for higher ilvl)
You can choose a rune slot type using service tokens (Higher cost for higher gear type, common/rare/exceptional/legendary)
The Rune Master addon will really help you understand runing. /rm to open it once installed.
 
One of the most frequent gripes is the cost of runing. While I accept that it used to be high, this is no longer the case for most runes. I've just looked at runecrafting materials on the CX, and these are the costs at the moment on Jabbit to craft your own. You might find the runes you want cheaper on the AH, but you can always get them for the price of the mats, so I'll list today's prices (7th Dec 2015):
 
Rune level    Rating gain     Basic     Minor Set     Major SetHigh             200          2.2g          3g           13.2gSuperb           269         11.5g        11.5g          12.3gPure             329         11.7g        13.7g         660gDivine           400         12.5g        15.7g         862g 
Note 1: Each rank of set bouns (from 2 up) is worth around 70-110 stat rating equivalent. It is on the high end for the later bonuses and the higher tier sets.
Note 2: For the DPS sets, only the Havoc set has 3 viable rune options. All the others include a Life rune, which cannot be slotted for DPS, so only have 2 viable options.
 
Lets consider an ilvl 100 DPS armour piece with four spare slots (one with a Fusion rune in the 5th). There are a number of ways to do this.
 
Cheapest: 4x Pure Minor Set runes from two different sets. Either 2 + 2 or 3 + 1. Either way you get 2 set bonus ranks (around 150 rating)  and 1316 rating from the runes for a total of 1466 rating (ish).
 
Most expensive: 4x Pure Major Set runes from two sets. Either 2 + 2 or 3 + 1. Either way you get at most 6 set bonus ranks (around 500 rating), because if you go 3 + 1, you need Havoc, and the 2 set bonus is health, so doesn't count as DPS. This and the 1316 gives a total of 1816 rating (ish).
 
So there's about 20% more secondary stats from runes, for around 50x the cost. For gear that you're likely to replace, this isn't easy to justify. It certainly doesn't translate into 20% more DPS due to various scaling factors, and the fact that a lot of your DPS comes from the Assault Power on an item.
 
I get that the prices of Pure and Divine Focuses are high, but that's because the guilds producing the tokens are still using them, the price of these things will only drop. So just be patient and rune affordable runes for now. Certainly for people in Dungeon gear, where you need Superb runes, even the Majors aren't a problem. If you can't afford 50g to rune a new item, then you are probably struggling with repair costs anyway.
 
So on balance I like the new rune system, and with a bit of time, the Pure and Divine Majors should drop in price too. However there are a few things I think could still be tweaked:
 
Empty slots in new gear. Please at least put basic runes in, even if it's the tier below the gear level. new players simply don't realise that runes are where a lot of DPS comes from. One of my ilvl 90 items has 500 stat rating from the item, and 1316 from runes. 160% more stat rating is a *lot*. Especially over 7 bits of gear.
Slot unlock cost. This costs way more than the rune you'll (generally) put in it. It just seems odd.
 
 	
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This thread should be pinned tbh, very well explained :)
Also, for people who aren't in a rush you can in bgs get all mats needed to craft the runes you want, I bet it's about same in pve?
Anyway, I only have two gear pieces left to rune and I don't play bgs all day long, and I've created all runes from dropped mats so for free, so if you know you will be playing a lot mats will drop fast enough. If not, enough plat will drop so those costs mentioned in post above are next to nothing. 	
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			Agree, this should be pinned. It clarifies perfectly everything you need to know.	
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*snip*
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All good obervations.  I only have a few big issues with the new rune system.
 
1. Major Foci are required, but also very difficult to get.  We are now in the exact opposite position we were a few weeks ago, and have way more fragments than focus. The drop rate on major foci from bags and salvaging is just too low, and I think it will take a very long time for prices to drop naturally.
 
2. Service Token costs are too high. It's just not practical by any stretch to pay 45 service tokens to recover a rune. Not when it has to be done up to 5 times per item. 
 
3. Plat Costs for rerolling/removing/adding are just a bit too pricey.  Even with current costs of crafting runes, it sometimes ends up being better to just craft a new one rather than removing the old one. Seems like it should be the other way around.	
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{| class="blockquote"
All good obervations.  I only have a few big issues with the new rune system.
 
1. Major Foci are required, but also very difficult to get.  We are now in the exact opposite position we were a few weeks ago, and have way more fragments than focus. The drop rate on major foci from bags and salvaging is just too low, and I think it will take a very long time for prices to drop naturally.
 
2. Service Token costs are too high. It's just not practical by any stretch to pay 45 service tokens to recover a rune. Not when it has to be done up to 5 times per item. 
 
3. Plat Costs for rerolling/removing/adding are just a bit too pricey.  Even with current costs of crafting runes, it sometimes ends up being better to just craft a new one rather than removing the old one. Seems like it should be the other way around.
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good post by OP but this information is already out there for weeks.
People are just too lazy to inform themselves (prolly not the ones who will read this thread anyway) and its easier to cry cry cry.	
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Entity is not that affordable when it comes to majors they are 8p pure and 15p divine? Sometimes 6-8 and 12-15
 
BUT I can easily farm over 100p a week with my eyes closed in yolo dungeons so that is fine folks.
			
				
	Edited December 8, 2015 by Chronic7	
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