Runemage FAQ

This page contains information which dive into common questions and problems about the Runemage class in OrbusVR. You don't have to read this page to start playing Runemage, but it may be worth your time to do so if you are running into problems getting the casting to work.

Becoming a Runemage
Talk to the Beginner Weapons Vendor in the Guardian Tree in Highsteppe. The rest of this information is outdated by several years and no longer valid.

Unlike the other classes in the game, you do not start off with the ability to play a Runemage right off the bat. Instead, you must seek out the Witch of Mulbirth and complete a series of tasks for her to convince her to teach you the basics of the class, and give you your first Runemage wand.

The witch can be found in a cave to the Northeast of HighSteppe. From HighSteppe, descend the stairs near the airship launch pad. Follow the waterline, past the Fishing Hut towards the bridge. Before crossing the bridge, approach the waterfall. The Witches Hut is located at the base of the waterfall.

Warnings
The Runemage is a difficult, advanced class! This is by far the most important thing you should take away from this page. There's a reason that the Runemage isn't given to you when you first log into the game, and instead requires a quest to obtain. It's highly recommended that if you are playing the game for the first time, you spend time playing one of the other classes such as Warrior, Ranger, or Musketeer until you are very comfortable with the game and its systems. Starting off with the Runemage right off the bat is like trying to learn to drive a car by starting with a Porsche -- it can be done, but obviously you're likely to end up crashing your car.

The difficulty of the class and requiring you to spend significant time learning it is by design -- we want you to feel true accomplishment when you master casting spells. It may not be a class that everyone enjoys playing, and that's okay!

The Runemage spell recognition is math. By that we mean, it is simply a function of inputs and outputs. If you can hypothetically draw the exact same rune every time, you will get the exact same result every time. Like any computer function, it cannot make a mistake. If you are getting different results then you are drawing the rune differently.

Becoming a Runemage takes a lot of time and practice. Our general rule of thumb is that it should take you around 10-20 hours of practice to be able to consistently cast the "basic" spells (e.g. Fireball, Frostbolt, Ice Lance). If you have been practicing for a couple of hours and only have a successful cast rate of 20%, that's normal and expected. The Runemage requires actual, real skill. That's very different for a video game. In most games, your in-game character becomes better and more powerful just because you play longer or acquire a more powerful piece of gear which unlocks an ability. But your actual real skill is just pushing a button, or timing an attack, and stays the same. The Runemage requires you to develop the actual skill of drawing the runes quickly and precisely. Since it's a real skill, it will take time to master, just like learning to play a guitar. This is one of the main reasons we do not recommend starting off with the Runemage, unless you are very dedicated to practicing a lot before you are even able to play the main game. Our general rule of thumb is that it takes around 100 hours of practice to become good enough that you can cast most of the spells in the game at an 80%+ success rate. Some of the players who have been playing since the Alpha/Beta can cast multiple spells at once and chain them together, but they have put in 200-300 hours of practice to become that good.

Don't go it alone. Although we provide solo-friendly tools to help you practice your spell casting such as the Runemage Spell pages in your journal, it's really advantageous to seek out other more experienced mages to help teach you. There's simply no substitute for a tutor who can tell you what you're doing wrong.

Tips and Tricks
Here are some handy tips and tricks that have been collected by the community to help you be a better Mage.

Mind all three dimensions!
Although the basic spells such as Fireball are only "2D", in that they don't have a Z-Plane component to them, you are still drawing in 3D all the time! The spell that you draw should be "flat". So be sure to examine your spell casting from the side by actually walking around it after you draw it but before you submit it. It shouldn't be sticking out away from you at odd angles. This is a very common pitfall that many new mages run into!

When practicing with your Journal, make sure it's vertical
If you are trying to trace spells out of your Journal to practice, make sure that the journal is "straight up and down." It should be at a 90-degree angle relative to the ground, not tilted like you would normally read a book. This is to help make sure that you are drawing on a flat plane.

Proportion is more important than size
You can draw the spell larger or smaller than it appears in your Journal, but the proportions are extremely important! So if a loop is about twice the size of a vertical line, pay attention to that. If the stem of an "F-shape" is twice as long as the "arms" at the top, pay attention to that.

Use multiple strokes, don't overlap your lines
For example, when drawing the Fireball spell, don't just do one "stroke" and go down to the base of the stem, then go back up and make the "h" arm. Draw one stroke going down, then release the Trigger and draw another stroke for the "h". In general, you should never be going back over and overlapping your previous strokes.

Muscle memory is your friend
The goal of becoming a good Runemage is to acquire good muscle memory -- you want to be able to cast the spell without even really thinking about it. So practice each spell until you can draw it with your eyes closed!

Fatigue is real
If you find that you are becoming less and less accurate in your spell casting over a couple of hours, keep in mind that you are actually doing a physical action! It's hard work to draw in mid-air, and especially at first your arm will get tired quickly. Take frequent breaks and if you find yourself become less accurate, consider switching to a different class for a while or taking a break from the game to give your arm and hand time to rest.

Draw with your arm extended
A good way to get results early on and prevent yourself from not drawing "flat" is to extend your arm while drawing. It makes it easier to draw on the same "plane."

Shortcuts are nice, but for experts.
You may have seen people sharing shortcuts for the spells where you can draw only part of a rune or a different shape that still triggers the spell. This is fine to do, but keep in mind that it's best when you're beginning to practice the full and complete rune until you can cast it reliably. Shortcuts may work, but they also may have a higher failure rate since they're "barely" crossing the threshold into "success."

Network Latency does not affect spell recognition, but graphical lag does
The Runemage recognition works by sampling the movement of your controller to capture "points" that you are drawing. Having network latency will not affect this, because that just means the points are captured a little after you draw them, but they're still captured in-order. However, graphical lag (especially "spikes" of your CPU which freeze the game and cause it to stutter) can affect your casting because it interrupts the capture of your controller's movement. However, when this happens it should be very obvious, as you will see lines go crazy in your drawing and shoot way off from where you actually were drawing. But if you're running into this issue, try lowering your Graphics settings in the Player Menu.