I have made multiple arguments about why RotMG is dying before. Pets, overpowered items, a failing economy, permadeath, massive amounts of people insta killing bosses, and an incredibly grind based game all come up to mind. However, recently while arguing over the sun phase of Oryx 2, I think I have finally came up with a good reason for why the game is dying.
The game is dying because there is no randomness, nothing new, to the game. Every time a new dungeon comes out, there’s a period of excitement. Even if the dungeon is not difficult, it is new and exciting, offering something that no other dungeons offer. For example, when the hive first came out, I found it intriguing, and even difficult, on unmaxed low level characters. When halls came out, I was excited by the prospect of a new endgame dungeon that would be difficult and exciting. But now, after a while of playing, I have reached a conclusion. Dungeons, with no to low levels of randomness, simply cannot entertain for long. The problem with our current dungeons is there is no need to know how to dodge, how to actually play the game once you know how to “do it right”. Dungeons that were once difficult are quite easy if you have a small group of 5-ish and know the layout. Dungeons that were once considered endgame can now be seen as jokes. And, when everything is trivial, when you see little to no risk of death, the game loses meaning. You’re no longer risking your life at the chance of a new rare item. Instead, you’re simply grinding until you get the item.
A common complaint I hear about hackers is “how can hackers enjoy the game”. But the truth is, the hackers are enjoying the game about as much as you are once you learn the tricks of a dungeon. There’s no fun because the only reason you were willing to enter in the first place is because you knew that it was unlikely you would die. Hackers just take the short route around.
And this is the problem with realm. It offers nothing new except a repetitive grind that continues and continues. Every new dungeon offers slightly more, something else, but that just slowly dies away as you learn the new pattern. And so what is the solution? That is where we hit a problem. The solution would be DECA continuously releasing new dungeons but even that isn’t a solution as soon RotMG would be filled with too many dungeons. Realm is only really fun at the beginning as you learn and get excited but after a while, we hit the stage where the majority of us likely are already at. The majority of us stay only because we don’t want to believe that we spent so much of our time wasted. We don’t want to believe that the items we grinded for truly mean nothing and show nothing and we are left hoping that we can impress others with what we wasted our life on. But over time, we will begin to see the problems, we will get bored, and we will all eventually leave Realm.