Runes of Magic -My Initial Thoughts & Review

Over the past few days, I’ve downloaded Frogster Interactive’s Runes of Magic and have spent a few hours finding out exactly what makes this one of the best Free-to-Play MMOs out these days.

I’ve played to level 10, and I think I’m starting to see what those 4 million players are seeing in this little beauty.

Before we get into the game itself, one thing worthy of note is that, during the otherwise pretty standard account creation process, you are required to set up two log-ins for access into game. I’m not entirely sure of its exact purpose, as any Trojans you may have on your system would likely pick up both of your passwords anyway, but it’s still a nice attempt at extra security whether it's effective or not.

Once my account was created, I was ready to dive in and see what all the fuss was about...

So, starting from the beginning, let's look first at Character Creation.

There are only two races you can play: Humans and Elves. Elves are slightly taller, have pointy ears, etc., and Humans look … well, human. Class-wise, both races have a pretty similar set of choices: Plate Armour-clad warriors, mystical spell-slinging mages, nimble scouts and archers, nothing that would come as any great surprise for those that have played any RPG in the past 20-30 years. In most cases, both Humans and  Elves can play the same classes, with the exception of Druids and Wardens (which only Elves can play) and Priests and Knights (which only Humans can play). I chose a Human Warrior. It seemed like a pretty easy choice: nothing like wading through seas of enemies with a large two-handed sword. (Nothing Freudian about that, I’m sure.)

There are a number of options that enable you to personalise your character's looks a little more. What the game lacks in racial diversity, it more than makes up for with the variety of aesthetic options: different faces, hairstyles, skin colours, as well as a whole bunch of slider bars that allow you to change the size of various parts of your character. (Yes, for those female toons, there is also a slider bar for breast size.)

So after fussing with a few slider bars, my manga-esque male warrior with a purple mohawk was ready to go.

Upon entering, I was given the option of playing through the tutorial first. I always feel compelled check out the tutorial on any game, even ones I may have played many times. In this case, it being a new game and all, I figured it was probably a bit more relevant than usual. I learned how to move and how to attack, which, weirdly enough, relied on a series of buttons stationed on an action bar.

Graphically, everything looked well presented. The graphics aren’t going to blow you away, but they do get the job done. Everything has a familiar cartoon look about it, not too dissimilar from another certain MMO you may have heard of.

My first steps took me to a town where I picked up a few quests from people with yellow exclamation marks above their head, which turned to yellow question marks when completed or blue for daily quests (anything sound familiar?). These quests involved killing so many of something or looting enemies for X number of objects. I also managed to get myself some new gear, which is colour coordinated white for common items, green for uncommon, blue for rare, etc. Through a series of quests, I was introduced to the gathering professions: Mining, Woodcutting and Herbalism, which pretty much explain themselves.

At this point, I wasn’t exactly champing at the bit for more. In fact, apart from the severely reduced class and race options, I could have been playing World of Warcraft albeit with slightly less intuitive controls and lower quality graphics.

By the time I reached level 10, though, I had started to experience what makes this such a playable game and what pushes this beyond the boundaries of "just another Fantasy MMO."

My questing took me to a larger town, where I started to work on my Blacksmithing skills and picked up disenchanting. I had been given my own house with a  treasure chest in it, and a little growing plant of my very own. Not to mention a whole host of new floating exclamation marks to investigate.

“Take two characters into an MMO? Not me. I just Dual-Class and play.”

The biggest change you encounter at level 10 is that you have the option of taking on a secondary class. I say option, but only a fool wouldn’t take a secondary class. In essence, you are able to use this second class to further diversify your original class. If you want your warrior to have healing capabilities, have a priest as a secondary spec. If you want your mage to have more skill in combat, mix them with a knight. You do not have access to all of the skills of your primary class, but, with the ability to switch between primary and secondary at will, this isn’t really an issue in the bigger sense.

This is as far as I've played in the game, so I apologize if my description is a little vague, but I found a brilliant article fully explaining the dual-class system here on Mystic Worlds, which you should read. Some things may have changed since it was written, but the fundamentals are still there.

(I know Rift does a similar class-merging idea, but Runes of Magic was there first, all the way back in 2009.)

So, apart from your now-standard questing, crafting, guilds, dungeons, etc., there’s more still out there waiting for me, like:

• Plants and Planting
• Personal housing
• Collectible card games (as in inside the game, you don’t have to actually purchase any physical cards)
• Treasure hunts
• Musical Instruments

And that doesn’t even touch the stuff I haven’t found yet.

So, with my adventures only just beginning, what did I actually think of the game so far?

Honestly, at first, I was dubious about Runes of Magic. Anyone playing through the tutorial and a few of the first levels would probably find themselves looking at a World of Warcraft clone with nothing to really to distinguish it, and probably making the per-month subscription fee for WoW seem like a better alternative, but you have to stick with it through level 10. By then, the bug is likely to have bitten.

By level 10, you'll have begun to see everything that makes this game a contender for even some of the big-name pay-to-play games.

If you’re bored of Warcraft, or, more importantly, if you don’t like paying for computer games, this little baby is worth a try. I’ve only reached level 10 myself, but, rest assured, this is a game I can see myself pouring many more free hours into.

If you fancy a go yourself, you can download it for free from here.

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