Runes of Magic: Not just another pretty game

by Krystalle Voecks on Mar 3rd 2009 6:00PM

Betas, New titles, News items, Free-to-play, Runes of Magic

There's been more and more buzz about Runes of Magic as their release date of March 19th draws ever closer. From what we've seen, it looks like a pretty rich world, featuring lots of different things that MMO players love: PvP, lots of quests, player housing, cool-looking mounts, a dual-class system - and let's be blunt, it seems to remind everyone who touches it of Blizzard's 800 pound gorilla, World of Warcraft. Considering there are half a million people who have registered for the open beta of the game, it would seem that players are definitely curious about all that Runes of Magic has to offer.

To those who (like us) are curious about how this game is progressing, there's a great interview with Joerg Koonen of Frogster over on IGN. Among the juicy bits served up, we are treated to some interesting insights into how closely Frogster is working with the development company, Runewaker Entertainment, and just what kind of a role the community has been taking throughout the process. Also in the mix, we noted how the items in their cash shop are the same ones available in game for those who don't want to spend money - and how they feel this is the way it should be to keep the playing field level for all players. Also, be sure to check out our recent interview with Daniel Ullrich if you're hungry for more Runes of Magic information!

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Tags: free-to-play, frogster, interview, new-titles, open-beta, player-housing, pvp, runes-of-magic, runewaker-entertainment, upcoming

Reader Comments (20)

It felt to me to be a little unfinished, which is fine in a beta, and a little confused.

The two things that irked me somewhat were the idea of renting a mount, which felt a little like a back-door subscription model, and the lack of WINE support. I play WoW and GW on my Linux box and I dislike the idea of booting up Windows just for one game.

Well, to be honest, those are pretty minor complaints. Most free to play games get by with those sorts of repeated micropurchases. It is a gripe, but it's a gripe that applies to most 'free to play' games. And you can purchase a permanent mount (for more real money of course), or just go with out.. but they're counting on people wanting to buy all the cash shop items to support the game.

Most games don't offer Linux support, especially right out of the box like this. I'm sure if there was enough requests or demand for Linux support, they would probably at least consider it... But it's just a matter of time to develop going to things more people will find useful.

I've been trying it in beta, and I do like RoM a lot. One of the few cash shop games I would consider playing, and honestly it's a lot of what I wish Final Fantasy XI was like. With dual class system, player housing and kind-of cutesie enemies it does remind me as much of FFXI as it does WoW.

Oh, I agree that they are minor gripes. The lack of Linux support is the only real reason for giving it a miss right now. It really looks like it could be the WoW of the (western) free-to-play games; it is simple to pick up (especially for a WoW player) and different enough from WoW to make it seem new.

As to Linux support; I never expect a Linux client. It is nice, but unnecessary. It is just a shame that the networking code for RoM doesn't like to work with WINE...

That game's pretty terrible. Huge grindfest. Not much different from all the other F2P MMOs from Asia, 'cept for the misplaced hype.

I think the title of this article needs to remove the word 'Just'.

WINE support? Sorry, that isn't on the game developers. That is on the WINE community. The more popular a game, the more support it gets.

PvP in the game is broken with certain classes one-two shotting everybody. Rep system is ridiculous and group PvP on PvP servers boils down to nothing more than cash shop decked damage dealers being heal and buff spammed by their unflagged-for-PvP friends.

Instead of working to fix the current issues, Runewaker decides it's a good idea to release 1v1 arenas (worst idea ever, it should be 2v2 at least), which is -- big surprise -- broken. Plagued by lag and bad coding, characters jump all over the map and at times it's impossible to get in range of anyone to actually damage them. Players aren't matched by level so even a level 30 can get put up against a level 50... it makes me wonder if Runewaker even planned the system thoroughly before implementing it.

All in all, it just seems like Frogster and Runewaker are more interested in fine tuning their cash shop and releasing "exciting" new (broken) features than actually improving the existing game. It is just a beta, yes, but NA/International release is only a few short weeks away.

Ouch!
Thanks for that - saved me a 3gb download.
That sounds.. god awful.

Sadly, there's no leverage for 'constructive feedback' or complaints due to it being "free" - the devs can't be held responsible to your monthly fee.

I feared this might happen (just like 99% of all other F2P's) but I honestly thought RoM might be different/western.

From what you've said here Virlomi, I'm glad I'm not even bothering to risk becoming invested in it.
Tyvm!

This game is truly amazing. It's unlike anything I've ever played before. I transferred my lvl 80 palladin last night, but had trouble finding a group for HNaxx.

The game isn't bad. The people posting on here are just morons.

Obviously it isn't the scale of WoW, but this game is free, so really, it depends on what you can afford. It's actually a very high quality game for a free one.

Also for the mounts. You can permanently buy a mount, which I believe equates to around 15 USD, which isn't bad considering that's the only thing that would be even considered "required" to buy to play the game. You can just run.

Seriously, just try the game, it's free, don't let what people say on these forums/posts/etc tell you what to play. It's not like you have to buy anything.

I'd second Hardy's comments. It's free and doesn't take that long to download and install. Give it a try.

It wasn't my cup of tea, but if I was broke, had no other games to play and still wanted some MMO action, I'd play. They do, however, need to fix a couple of things to make it more Western-friendly.

Firstly, there's the fact that you can "click to move." That doesn't work in a 3D world and when you're used to playing games were clicking "dead" space deselects your target, it's annoying. Just add an option to disable click-to-move and it'll be fine.

Secondly, there's a lack of variety/imagination in the attack skills in the early levels. So rather than get a skill that does more damage, then one that opens armour or causes bleeds, your second skill is one that... does more damage. Again.

But considering it's free, I'd recommend people at least check it out.

Disabling click to move option was added in January I think, maybe before that.

Skills and class balance are needed and we should give feedback. The arena is sorta messed up and needs tweaked and we should give constructive feedback. Not some freaking rant and bitch complaint.

The people crying a pool of tears about being pummeled are mostly from the PvE servers. They just need to switch it up and try new tactics. They are use to playing a certain way and in their eyes it IS THE ONLY way to play hence they get the piss pounded out of them.

Some Mage/Priest (the norm on the server) is use to two shotting every damn thing finally goes up against a rogue/any class or some scout/ any class (basically a human) and the tide turns very quickly. A single class doesn't guarantee you a win vs every class.

This is something I see typicaly on the RoM forums
--------
Their is no way that someone can beat me! I am the shiat and I know alllll about my class! This spec is the best at everything!!

or

Help!, PlayerB keeps killing me over and over, nerf his class, he is cheating some how! Make him stop! Whaaaaaaabulance...

--------
/sarcasm off

Oh and every mmo is a grindfest, name one mainstream mmo that is not. Aside from eve that is just a time sink.

I'd say Planetside could be considered the only MMO without a grind.

And as for RoM -- it's worth a try. The game still needs some fixing and polish, but given a bit of time and some income -- we could see a pretty solid F2P MMO.

rofl i thought that picture was from WoW outside stormwind

Disabling click to move option was added in January I think, maybe before that.

---

That's good to know. I found that the most infuriating part of the beta.

Don't get me wrong, from what I played it was good, but just not good enough when (unfairly) compared to the games I would have to give-up time playing to spend playing RoM. As I say though, were I in a situation where I wanted a free to play game, this would be right up there.

For a casual PvE ... how is this game? Sounds like I may grab this after release.

This is actually slated to be the next First Impressions posting for me. I'll be running through the first few hours of playing it, with an overview of some of the things players can expect.

"That game's pretty terrible. Huge grindfest. Not much different from all the other F2P MMOs from Asia, 'cept for the misplaced hype."

Bissorok, you're crazy. There's over 1000 quests. And to all the Warcraft junkies out there, This game just got released, so lay off. WoW has been out for five or four years, so Of course RoM isn't going to be as complete. Your arguments are pathetic. I can't belive people waste their money on games like Warcraft, especially in this economy. The funny thing I noticed, is that everyone who hates this game happens to play Warcraft, and have flawed arguments. mere conincidence? I think not.

Unfortunately, the dreaded "players and devs are on totally different pages" scenario is pretty evident right now.

A majority of the players, as mentioned above, are simply asking for detailed attention to the existing content -- there's plenty of it, amazingly enough, but quite bit of it is nowhere near polished. Instead, the devs seem to be in a hurry to pump out even more haphazardly-constructed quests, mobs, instances, etc.

That said, my friends and I haven't given up on RoM yet, and I would recommend it to anyone who isn't caught up in another MMO right now. At the very least, it's not a bad place to meet other monthly-fee game refugees. Unlike some other F2P games, the general MMO-IQ of the players is reasonably high.

All of these comments are based on the Open Beta.

The game officialy goes live today and has had a lot of changes done to it.

Give it a try it is a good game.

Runes of Magic: Not just another pretty game

Reader Comments (20)

Posted: Mar 3rd 2009 6:20PM AnthonyHJ said

Posted: Mar 3rd 2009 6:38PM (Unverified) said

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Posted: Mar 4th 2009 9:49AM Krystalle Voecks said

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