Runes of Magic

Our favorite birthdays are the ones when the guests get gifts instead of giving them. Apparently Runes of Magic feels the same, as Gameforge is pulling out the stops to make the 4th anniversary of the game one for the history books.

Runes of Magic's 4th anniversary page has the scoop on all of the gifts, contests, events, and bonuses to be enjoyed over the next week. Players will get a lot of goodies just for logging in and leveling up, although there are additional quests if you want to reap all of the rewards. Players will also enjoy buffs to XP, talent points, and drop rates through the 25th.

Finally, Gameforge released a special video that shows the progress of Runes of Magic from beta to today, ending with several impressive statistics. If you don't watch it, you'll go mad always wondering what it might have been. We'd hate to see that.

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First of all, thank you guys so much for responding to our One Shots rallying cry and absolutely flooding us with screenshots! My cup overfloweth, and that's a delightful change of pace for this column. Even though we're quite literally set for months now, please keep sending in your favorite old or new screencaps!

To kick us off this week is Jerry, who's showing off how Anarchy Online can party down with the best of them: "This is Yardsale, a level 220 Trader, dancing with his trader pets in Borealis."

At first glance, I almost thought we were in the Matrix. But even with polygons so sharp that you can cut yourself on them, this title definitely has a style all its own. Hit the jump to see this and other wonders of the screenshotted world.

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Few people are without opinions on minigames in MMOs. Some love 'em, some hate 'em, and some just ignore 'em. Some even despise that I won't type "th." Takes all types, really. Personally, I'm all for including new types of enjoyable systems that can be repeated, particularly if it benefits my character in some way.

There's also this perception that minigames are just for kids. It's true that more kid-centric titles like Free Realms and Clone Wars Adventures thrive on minigames like you thrive on deep-fried butter balls, but these little diversions exist all over the place in "grownup" titles too. Holidays are a favorite time to trot them out, although there are plenty that exist year-round.

Today we're going to look at 10 creative minigames that have tickled my fancy over the year. Yes, I used the word "fancy." Whatcha gonna do about it?

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With Thanksgiving almost under wraps in the states (Canada got an earlier patch of Thanksgiving because the devs love that country), the starter pistol is about to go off for the busiest shopping season of the year. Black Friday, Cyber Monday, and oh-crap-it's-Christmas-Eve-and-only-a-gas-station-is-open are all shopping experiences ahead on the calendar, but perhaps the most challenging experience is that of buying the perfect gift for an MMO gamer.

Sure, you could just phone it in and buy a time card, some cash shop points, a subscription or two, or even a Prima strategy guide if you really hated the person, but a proper MMO gift goes beyond that. For a great gift, you need to put in some effort and actually research the field... or just be lazy and use my following guide. We both know which option you're going to choose.

So while you slowly digest that turkey and moan about having to waddle your butt down to Best Buy at 3:00 a.m., why not allow me to help you with a few shopping suggestions? For this list, I wanted to focus on game-specific merchandise that isn't t-shirts, game cards, or CafePress coffee mugs. I mean, this shirt is the bomb and all, but we can do better!

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I first played Runes of Magic a long time ago, as in years. In fact, I played it a bit during beta and right after release. I have a fond memory of being on a voice program with our very own Shawn Schuster and a few other podcasters and bloggers as we ran around playing. I named my character something to do with Slayer, or perhaps that was Shawn, and we had a pretty good time. It was, at the time, one of the higher-quality free-to-play titles out there.

Since then the game has undergone many, many changes -- too many changes to recap here. If you really want a summary of the game over the past few years, check out our own Jeremy Stratton's former column, Lost Pages of Taborea. I had Jeremy join me for my last night of gameplay before writing this piece to help clear up some confusion I had about the game.

And for some powerelveling. Oh yes, powerleveling.

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Dubbed the "Mysterious Land of the Elements," Chrysalia will be the next step for Runes of Magic adventurers. This strange region is set to open on September 25th, but Gameforge has a preview video to whet your appetite for the journey to come.

Chrysalia is dominated by strong elemental features, such as waterfalls and lava, and looks to be populated by many intelligent insect species. Some of these, like the Garon, are friendly, but others, like the Kulech, will spit acid in your face and slurp your insides for dinner. Or so we've heard.

Next Tuesday's patch will also introduce a new challenging instance to the game. Check out the flyby video after the jump and let us know what you think!

[Source: Gameforge press release]

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Runes of Magic was a F2P game before the cool kids joined the F2P party, but it's been a little neglected by MMO players. Massively reader Andrew wants us to know that it's got some spark left in it:

While Runes of Magic may be three years old, the graphics are still looking great. There's some awesome vistas in RoM that appear when you take the time to control+z your interface and look around. This shot is from Southern Janost Forest.

In fact, Andrew sent us two pics, and they're both behind the break along with a few more of your One Shots!

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Welcome back to Jukebox Heroes, the column that dares you to close your eyes and unplug your ears. Well, after you're done reading this opening, of course. So what's the greatest tragedy in modern musical history? Everyone has an answer to that, but mine will be, "How much Runes of Magic's score is overlooked because it's a free-to-play title."

Sure, the game shares enough DNA with World of Warcraft that the two titles can never marry or else they'll have inbred children, but RoM's soundtrack is anything but a clone of WoW's. Runes of Magic actually goes toe to toe with some of the greatest music I've ever heard in MMOs, and that's no exaggeration. I have to thank Massively's Jeremy Stratton for turning me on to this particular score.

According to a few accounts I've read, Runes of Magic's music is both cobbled together from tracks of other video games as well as original pieces composed specifically for this. I honestly don't care where the music comes from; I just care to turn my speakers all the way up and feel epic when it's playing.

So here we go with my absolute favorite tracks from Runes of Magic, minus a couple that I've shared on Massively before!

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Disclaimer: The Soapbox column is entirely the opinion of this week's writer and does not necessarily reflect the views of Massively as a whole. If you're afraid of opinions other than your own, you might want to skip this column.

I'm amazed how often I still hear the phrase "learn to play." It's become a nasty term that makes me suspect those saying it just don't want other gamers around at all. And I can hardly blame them when the MMO market is pushing a markedly single-player agenda.

MMOs tout our ability to play with friends and interact with others, but in the end, they are selfish games that breed and attract selfish gamers. In modern MMOs, interaction barely rises above single-player co-op. Guild Wars 2 exemplifies this by dropping you in a world with the potential for thousands of players to be all around you, but its alienating mechanics often make you feel like a lonely ghost who wants nothing more than to hug someone.

L2P and other stock insults are rooted in something ugly: the literally antisocial nature of many MMOs.

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It might be your time up there, but it's my time -- my time -- down here! For this latest edition of Choose My Adventure, I get to hand out a selection of odd little games for you to vote on, and then for the next month and change, I will stumble my way through the title. At your direction and with your help, of course. The trouble is that I have already played darn near everything. I've downloaded and tried so many games that I simply can't remember them all. So, what to do?

Well, I decided to give a mix of games a chance at several weeks coverage here on Massively. I picked out an assortment of browser games, independent titles, and lesser-known client-based MMOs. Hopefully you will steer me the right way, and if I am lucky, I won't even have a horrible time. I chose games that I know have a robust community in the hopes that plenty of voters will turn out. The key is to get the word out there, so if you have a favorite, go tell your community!

But first, click past the cut and vote on the game you would like to see me tackle for the next several weeks. Just don't expect to see triple-A games on the list!

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Have you ever wished MMO developers could put away their checkbooks, pluck out the best bits of their respective MMOs, and weld them together to construct the megalopolis of MMOs? We do too! So today, we're launching a brand-new opinion column, MMO Blender, in which the Massively writers will mix and match their favorite features from existing MMOs for your amusement. But do our choices create a perfectly honed machine or a lumbering, speechless frankenstein of an MMO that deserves to be put out of its misery?

First up: Livestreamer extraordinaire and Contributing Editor Jeremy Stratton with a potent, sandboxy blend of Fallen Earth, EVE Online, Lord of the Rings Online, and more. Wet your whistle after the break and look for more MMO Blenders from the rest of our staff in the coming weeks!

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Earlier this year, I got to expose my musically nerdy side to you all in a one-two shot of MMO theme song countdowns. The truth is that I'm just a huge sucker for video game music, and as such, I've collected a wide range of MMO scores to bolster my MP3 player.

I know that we players tend to be pretty vocal about turning off MMO music at some point, usually due to extreme repetition. Unfortunately, that seems to leave a bad association with this music in our minds, and I don't feel that reputation is deserved. MMO scores can be just as good -- if not better -- than their counterparts in film or other video games.

So I've decided that every so often I'm going to devote a full Perfect Ten to sharing my favorite MMO music. I'm always open to suggestions, of course, so if you know of a track that you feel really should be in the next list, send me an email or leave it in the comments!

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Last week we got a preview of Runes of Magic's new Chapter V update at E3. Today you can join in the fun, as Runewaker and Frogster have officially released Fires of Shadowforge to the live servers.

The update raises the level cap to 72 and adds a new race (the Shadowforge Dwarves), two new classes (Champion and Warlock), and a new continent filled with quest and dungeon content. That's just the tip of the iceberg for Chapter V, too. The devs are planning to add new guild instances and buildings, new battlegrounds, dungeons, elite skills, world bosses, and more over the life of the update. Read all about it at the official Runes of Magic site.

[Source: Frogster press release]

Runes of Magic is only three years old, but the game has added an impressive amount of content for a free-to-play title. As we've reported previously, it's happening again on June 12th, when Frogster will add the Dwarven race, Warlock and Champion classes, and a few other goodies.

We had the opportunity to sit down with Frogster to talk about the new content at this year's E3. Will it be attractive to veteran players? Is it made specifically to attract new players? Read on to find out.

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Saying that it's on the "home stretch" leading up to the launch of Runes of Magic's next great content update, Frogster released a trailer highlighting the Shadowforge Dwarves from Chapter V. The trailer takes us through an abbreviated tale of how a fallen cadre of dwarves were set in stone for eons, only to come back to life once their curse was lifted.

The Shadowforge Dwarves are set to become the first new playable race in the game since its launch, and the third overall. Chapter V will also incorporate two additional classes, a new starting area, and several high-level zones and dungeons.

Excited about the Chapter V update? Set the following trailer on repeat and count down the hours until it releases on June 12th!

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