Is there a trick to getting higher level runes?

[manollette]

I've bought two levels of the runic horizons upgrade in the soul shop, made it all the way to the final biome, unlocked at least one point in every single castle upgrade, and I am still only using base level runes. I have all of them, and an insane amount of aether at this point.

[Omegatherion]

You have to progress to higher NG+ cycles (threads). Some things only drop when you progress further into the game. Like additional copies of runes or higher tier gear.

[Gnodab]

You need to go to NG+ to get those to drop. It's the same with equipment. Every room has a Room Level to it(same level as the enemies in it), and if the level isn't high enough, the blueprint or rune won't drop.

[manollette]

Ah, gotcha. Thanks for the clarification, kinda sad I dropped the souls on that upgrade now.