As a point of comparison, saying that you should know what type of rune it is sounds awfully similar to saying "i should know if that small charm gives life before i pick it up."
I don't think that's a valid complaint.
Try viewing the "socketing" process as simply using a scroll of identify on the item. Lets go with unique rings as another example, if a unique ring drops and it doesn't turn out to be an SoJ, you don't complain "goddamnit! WHY DIDN'T THEY LET ME KNOW IT WASN'T AN SOJ AHEAD OF TIME!!!1!`" You have a moment of anticipation when you pick it up and right before you identify it, then its "goddamned nagelring" or "oh nice, its a 'ravenfrost,' i needed one for this char" or hell, it might be a BK ring. YOU DON'T KNOW. and when you find out its either trash, useful, trade fodder, or amazing. The same will apply to runes. Except now they can also be cash-money.
getting a (lets say) lvl 5 rune of the type you want would be similar to getting a skiller with a not-great affix attached, lets say like mana (did gc's give mana? i haven't played d2 in a whiiiiile). It gets the job done, but there are upgrades that you will continue looking for (and playing the game for).
lvl 6 and 7 runes will of course be harder to find, but who's to say that they even give THAT much more power. Maybe a lvl 5 magic missile rune lets you hit 6 targets and a lvl 7 lets you hit 8. I think you can get by without those extra 2 hits, but they would certainly help out. it gives you something to play for while not being completely absolutely necessary (opinions will differ on that).
And I hope that runes are re-blank-able. That will be a fantastic gold sink, which will be good for the game's economy.
And you don't just need 1 lvl 7 rune, you'd need anywhere from 6-100, depending on how flexible you plan to be with your character. That makes MASSIVE demand, which makes for healthy trading.
Some people seem to be arguing that there will be no gradient between lvl 1 and 7 rune drops. You'll get a taste of what a run does real early via candy-runes, and then you'll get hell-functional runes probably by the time you get to hell difficulty, with the absolutely best runes being an item hunt similar to an anni charm or hellfire torch or a windforce or whatever.
I don't see how any of that is bad.
There is a key difference between charms and runes though. Runes define how you play your character. An example I could take out of the press conferance is the battle mage. A rune for arcane orb, a spell you generally wouldn't use as a battle mage, made it swirl protectively around you (mario kart?). My point is that you would never replace your level 6 indigo (just a guess, I don't know what color it is) for a level 7 crimson if you're trying to build a battle mage. I should know what I'm socketing, and I shouldn't have to spend tons of gold if I'm unlucky, since it's a playstyle change, not just a stat change.
This is why I think that unattuned runes should still have a color. The random affixes is what should be random. You would still use a level 7 indigo rune if it had slightly optimal stats over a level 6 indigo rune that has more optimal stats (but less of them). I would feel a lot better about min/maxing by rerolling repeatedly on something that isn't a playstyle choice. Even though I would almost advocate for a complete removal of the affix if you unlock a rune through the mystic, to give your runes more of a sense of investment when you use them. Just my thought though.
Most of this system is sound. Specifically, locking runes to your skills, and the random affixes. These both force the players to specialize by forcing players to choose the skills to place their best runes in.
The issue I have is with the whole "unknown until socketed" system. Here are two scenarios that explain why:
New Player:
"Yay I found a rune! It says that I can socket it into an ability to make it do new things! <sockets magic missiles> Wow! It shoots two shots now! <Players a little more> Wait, another rune! This one is level two though, must make my magic missiles shoot 3 shots! <sockets the rune> WHAT!?! IT DOES SOMETHING DIFFERENT NOW!?! WTH!!!!! <goes on general chat channels and spams>
Not Good.
Veteran Player:
"Awesome, I found another level 7 rune. I'll just socket it into my magic missil...DAMNIT! IT'S ANOTHER OBSIDIAN RUNE! I wanted crimson in my magic missiles! And to top it off, I wanted obsidian in my arcane orb instead. This sucks, now I wasted a rune."
Give runes random stats and lock them to my skills, but show me the color first.
This system would cause an inventory issue though, since you could potentially have 5 runes per ability in your stash. The solution? Allow the mystic to "unlock" a rune, costing gold and/or crafting materials (based on rune level), so you can keep runes for common skills, and a few "unattuned" runes around for general purpose at the end game. How would this affect the affixes? Honestly I think that unlocking the rune should lose the affix, so that you're discouraged from just swapping runes every time you want to.
1
There is a key difference between charms and runes though. Runes define how you play your character. An example I could take out of the press conferance is the battle mage. A rune for arcane orb, a spell you generally wouldn't use as a battle mage, made it swirl protectively around you (mario kart?). My point is that you would never replace your level 6 indigo (just a guess, I don't know what color it is) for a level 7 crimson if you're trying to build a battle mage. I should know what I'm socketing, and I shouldn't have to spend tons of gold if I'm unlucky, since it's a playstyle change, not just a stat change.
This is why I think that unattuned runes should still have a color. The random affixes is what should be random. You would still use a level 7 indigo rune if it had slightly optimal stats over a level 6 indigo rune that has more optimal stats (but less of them). I would feel a lot better about min/maxing by rerolling repeatedly on something that isn't a playstyle choice. Even though I would almost advocate for a complete removal of the affix if you unlock a rune through the mystic, to give your runes more of a sense of investment when you use them. Just my thought though.
1
Most of this system is sound. Specifically, locking runes to your skills, and the random affixes. These both force the players to specialize by forcing players to choose the skills to place their best runes in.
The issue I have is with the whole "unknown until socketed" system. Here are two scenarios that explain why:
New Player:
"Yay I found a rune! It says that I can socket it into an ability to make it do new things! <sockets magic missiles> Wow! It shoots two shots now! <Players a little more> Wait, another rune! This one is level two though, must make my magic missiles shoot 3 shots! <sockets the rune> WHAT!?! IT DOES SOMETHING DIFFERENT NOW!?! WTH!!!!! <goes on general chat channels and spams>
Not Good.
Veteran Player:
"Awesome, I found another level 7 rune. I'll just socket it into my magic missil...DAMNIT! IT'S ANOTHER OBSIDIAN RUNE! I wanted crimson in my magic missiles! And to top it off, I wanted obsidian in my arcane orb instead. This sucks, now I wasted a rune."
Give runes random stats and lock them to my skills, but show me the color first.
This system would cause an inventory issue though, since you could potentially have 5 runes per ability in your stash. The solution? Allow the mystic to "unlock" a rune, costing gold and/or crafting materials (based on rune level), so you can keep runes for common skills, and a few "unattuned" runes around for general purpose at the end game. How would this affect the affixes? Honestly I think that unlocking the rune should lose the affix, so that you're discouraged from just swapping runes every time you want to.