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Runes of Magic drops more info about Elves as a playable race
Runes of Magic is the game some view as a free-to-play successor to World of Warcraft. Our own Krystalle Voecks gave us a preview of what's to come in RoM from E3 2009 but Frogster has released a little more info about the next major patch, Chapter II - The Elven Prophecy. Frogster states: "In the upcoming 'Chapter II - The Elven Prophecy', the name giving elven will find their way into the game world Taborea. A widely branching background story entwines about the fairylike race with many new challenges that are going to be told in lots of new quests and new quest lines. Thus, 'Chapter II - The Elven Prophecy' will lead players into new game regions characterized by elven lore like an elven island at the shore of Ravenfell."Frogster really seems to be on a roll the release of content updates on a regular basis since launch; Return to the Ice Dwarf Kingdom (Patch 1.7) dropped earlier this month, bringing guild castles, permanent pets, and high level content with it. Chapter II - The Elven Prophecy will be released in September 2009. For a first glimpse at screens and concept art for The Elven Prophecy, check out our gallery after the jump.
E3 2009: A taste of what's to come in Runes of Magic
We had the chance to sit down and catch up with the guys from Frogster Interactive as well as a few of the Runewaker Entertainment developers at E3. While we knew Elves were coming to Runes of Magic, we didn't have too many details of just precisely how they'd be implemented into the game. As part of our talk, they let me check out the never-before-seen area that the elves will be a part of, as well as showing off some of the new instance content and guild buildings that they're adding to the game. This next chapter - The Elven Prophecy - will give players the option of playing the elven race (surprise) which starts out in a strange and wonderous new area. Beyond that, they're also working on PvP arenas, destructible guild buildings, and some new epic powers. Along with this sweeping update, the game is being updated with several graphic improvements including updates to things like water, and adding in some incidental sounds and music to start to help close the gap in regards to the dearth of sound issue many have decried Runes of Magic for. If you'd like a preview into some of these areas, be sure to check the gallery below, as well as the newly-released trailer showing off the Elven Prophecy, coming to Runes of Magic this September!%Gallery-65389% Massively was on the ground in Los Angeles last week and covering all the latest E3 MMO news coming from the convention. Check out our breaking coverage (or all the Joystiq network E3 reporting) and keep your eye on Massively's front page for the latest developments.
Runes of Magic update 'Return of the Ice Dwarf Kingdom' coming in June
Frogster Interactive seems to be off to a good start with their free-to-play MMO Runes of Magic, having exceeded 1 million registered users in under two months since launch. Frogster dropped some info today about the summer content they plan to release: Patch 1.7, "Return of the Ice Dwarf Kingdom" is scheduled to deploy on June 3rd. A key feature of the patch will be new expansion potential of guild castles. Guilds will be able to collect resources and build structures in their castle yard, unlocking more and improved buildings over time. Frogster Interactive states, "All buildings grant the guild special bonuses, from enhanced riding speed through the potential to mine resources up to powerful defensive works, which are in turn tactical elements in the planned guild vs. guild wars." They've also revisited the "Ruins of the Ice Dwarf Kingdom", a dungeon intended for players between level 35-40, adding a new area more suitable for level 50 players. In addition, Patch 1.7 will introduce Elite skills for players at level 40 and 45 and the update will also bring permanent pets to Runes of Magic. This is Frogster's pre-E3 announcement, but we expect to learn more next week when we meet them at the E3 Expo.%Gallery-64504%%Gallery-48065%
Frogster announces plan to stream Runes of Magic
IGN is reporting that Runes of Magic's publisher Frogster America have today announced plans to partner with BitRaider in order to steam the game and make it more accessible to players. The announcement was made at LOGIN '09 and means gamers will no longer have to wait hours for a game client to be downloaded and patched. Streaming will allow them to start enjoying the game while additional content downloads in the background. The BitRaider version of the game client will be made available in a few weeks time."The biggest barrier to even wider adoption of free-to-play online games is the time it takes from when you start downloading the game, to when you get in and play," Lars Koschin, CEO of Frogster America, Inc. explained. "We understand that people want to be able to get into a game as quickly as possible, and that is why we are working with BitRaider to make Runes of Magic the first free-to-play title to use the technology. We believe that by reducing the download and installation process to less than five minutes on most systems, we'll see a rapid increase in players coming to the game."
Runes of Magic reaches 1 million registered users
Here we are, not even two full months after the release of Frogster's Runes of Magic, and they're already announcing that they've hit the one million registered user milestone. Not only has this announcement come so soon after launch, but the EU and NA public hasn't even known about the game for a year yet, according to the Berlin-based publisher.Frogster plans to release the free-to-play MMO in at least four further localized versions later this year, including a Russian version in a cooperative partnership with Game Factory Interactive. "We are convinced that with the up-coming offering of additional language versions we will achieve further strong growth in Europe," stated Andreas Weidenhaupt, Chief Licensing Officer of Frogster Interactive Pictures AG and CEO of Frogster Online Gaming GmbH. We wish Frogster, Runewaker and the entire Runes of Magic team continued success with their game.
Runes of Magic joins the blogosphere
Free-to-play MMO Runes of Magic has got in on the blogging lark with a new bi-monthly blog where devs will get the chance to give readers the inside scoop on how the game runs. First up in the hot seat is Sean Kauppinen, Frogster's founding CEO.Kauppinen starts by telling readers to expect upcoming posts to feature Daniel Ullrich, Director of Product Management at Frogster and Tony Tang, VP of Business Development at Runewaker Entertainment. He also teases some kind of reveal in the next blog post, what could it be I wonder? The rest of the blog describes his working day and its an interesting look into the processes behind the game's creation.
Runes of Magic new dungeon is a Treasure Trove of pirate fun
Since the official launch of Runes of Magic in March, the team at Frogster Interactve and Runewaker Entertainment have been incredibly busy developing more and more tasty content for players to enjoy - for free! With more than 1,600 quests in the world so far and counting, Runes of Magic is proving to be a really solid, feature-rich free-to-play title. Now we've received word that the RoM team is at it again, this time including more piratey content based on the recently introduced Black Sail Pirates. This new dungeon for players to explore is called the Secret of the Treasure Trove, and it will offer lots of swashbucklin' adventure for those scurvy dogs brave enough to step foot in there. This new area, a cave located off the new area Ravenfell, will be home to a bevy of new monsters - from undead pirates and skeletal warriors, to weird mutated part-squid monsters. Players will also have the chance to test their skills against a variety of named mobs from a giant octopus named 'Will's Curse' to the missing pirate leader, 'Snow Blake', and her fearsome phantasmagorical crew. So if ye be lookin' for a Treasure Trove of adventure, this sounds like it may just be your Runes of Magic ticket, mateys. %Gallery-24476%
Plants mean power in Runes of Magic
Free-to-play MMO Runes of Magic is prompting players to get green-fingered with their brand new plant system. While currently being tested, it is due to be implemented in an upcoming patch. Basically, players will be able to plant seeds in colourful pots (no boring visit to the garden centre required). Seeds can be purchased from the Item Shop or found left behind after slaughtering your foes, we assume some enemies must be stashing seeds in their pockets which fall out when they expire.The plants must be watered regularly -- they will shrivel up and die if you forget -- and can take up to a week to grow. You can fertilise them with magical runes which will help determine what the plant will yield. This can be anything from more seeds and runes to the rarest of crafting items.It's certainly an interesting mechanic and the range of plants and pots seems quite impressive, as does the detail involved. We're sure Runes of Magic fans will be pleased with this new system. Plus, we think the plants work really well as their secondary purpose: ornamental objects.
Anti-Aliased: Five free to play MMOs that are ahead of the class pt. 2
#3 -- MabinogiYes, Mabinogi is one of our all time favorite free to play MMOs. This is probably obvious by now, but we're fans of the game. The design of Mabinogi really stands out when compared to all of the other free to play MMOs because it's so open. You can take up day jobs, gossip with townsfolk, make NPC friends, engage in a wide variety of crafting, go exploring for monuments, and even terraform the land to find buried treasures. And I haven't even mentioned combat once!It's this wealth of options that makes Mabinogi a gem for the free to play market. Certainly there is an amount of grind to the game, but the grind is not focused in just one area. This is a game where you will find yourself doing a wide variety of activities if you should choose. It's not all about going out and beating on the nearest snow wolf so you can gain access to the next dungeon (though you can if you want to.) If you don't want to do it, Mabinogi doesn't force you to do it. That's the beauty of it.Our downside to Mabinogi? The spam. Gold farmers like to infest this game for some reason, and it just gets to the point over overwhelming your chat box at times. We love the game, we're just not that keen about the farmers.#2 - Runes of MagicIt's a game that steals all the best aspects of every other game! And if you think I'm kidding, I'm totally not!No, really, Runes of Magic has gone around and pulled the best of the best and smashed it into a form of their original game. While this sounds kind of offensive at first, it actually comes out pretty nicely, especially as the game is free to play. RoM features very polished features similar to World of Warcraft. The game plays through completing questlines and killing monsters as you level up from 1 to 50. But, the game also features player housing, a dual-class system so you can have two classes instead of one, some awesome choices for character and weapon customization, and Warhammer-esque public quests. If you're looking for something to take the edge off of your WoW addiction for cheap, then you certainly want to check out Runes of Magic.#1 -- Free Realms If you didn't see this coming, then you need to drive your browser to the Free Realms site right now. Yeah, sure, it's targeted at kids. Yeah, sure, it's a little overly cartoony. But if you want a game that's going to hold your attention and provide more than an endless grind all for the low price of free, then this is the one. It has kart racing, mini-games, silly quests, and an enjoyable atmosphere. You can grab a variety of professions from brawler to cook and find quests for all of them. Yet, most of all, it's an enjoyable game. You don't have to worry about racing to endgame or drilling for the best items or trying to find someplace to have some fun. In Free Realms, you literally trip over fun at every corner. Inventive gameplay, a wide variety of fun activities, great graphics that run well on most machines, and it's free. You just can't argue with that. Colin Brennan is the weekly writer of Anti-Aliased who doesn't want money to get in the way of good games. When he's not writing here for Massively, he's rambling on his personal blog, The Experience Curve. If you want to message him, send him an e-mail at colin.brennan AT weblogsinc DOT com. You can also follow him on Twitter through Massively, or through his personal feed.
Runes of Magic takes up the warhammer with their version of public quests
When dealing with a game that's already known for incorporating the best features of many different MMOs into its core design, it was only a matter of time until some aspect of Warhammer Online showed up inside of Runes of Magic. And now, that piece of design has revealed itself -- public quests in the form of new "public encounters." Runes of Magic has announced their first encounter, "Attack on Segarth Outpost," as a battle between the defenders of Segarth Outpost and the wolves of the forest. The setup for the encounter is a classic public quest setup featuring 3 waves of wolf attackers that concludes with the appearance of Axis, the wolf king. If players should be successful in destroying Axis, he will leave behind a treasure box filled with all sorts of goodies for players to collect.This is only the first of the public encounters, and Runewaker Entertainment's Tony Tang has hinted at more coming in the future, possibly even involving the Demon Lord himself!
Runes of Magic adds spring festival, region event and more
Frogster have released their latest patch for Runes of Magic, their recently released free to play MMO. This patch brought the first seasonal event, the Spring Rain Festival, which introduced an abundance of Easter Egg and Wabbit related quests.Game play changes include an equipment switch system, which allows you to maintain two sets of equipment slots once your secondary class is selected, and new PvP arena equipment sets. A new region event called Attack on Sergarth Outpost was also added, although not to unanimous approval. There are numerous bug fixes and changes to quests and abilities, including the Windrunner race having its entry fee reduced and the rewards adjusted accordingly. The full list of changes can be found on the Runes of Magic forum.
Runes of Magic Spring Rain Festival underway
Everyone else had their Easter or Spring-themed festivals last week, but the folks at Frogster's Runes of Magic dare to be different with their own Spring Rain Festival happening right now. This event brings with it more quests, special drops and all the wabbits (yes, I said wabbits) you would care to see in your lifetime. These wabbits will be handing out gift parcels to reward special tasks. One of these rewards will actually turn your character into a wabbit themselves."The Spring Rain festival is rooted in ancient legend and is a symbol of the Earth's rebirth," the official press release states. "Legend tells of a traveler named Castor, who, a long time ago, appeared in a village where the inhabitants were suffering from hunger and were in great need since their harvest had failed that year. So, the traveler gave them a gift which was a special rainbow egg. The following spring, the seeds from this brightly colored egg sprouted with lots of trees with leaves and blossoms in the most beautiful rainbow colors and the time of misery came to an end. From this time onward, it then became the custom in Taborea to exchange brightly colored rainbow eggs between adventurers in honor of Castor during the Spring Rain Festival."
Runes of Magic: Picking the best class combo
One of the big features in Runes of Magic is its dual class system. You choose two classes, swapping either as your primary or secondary class. You level each class independantly (only primary classes gain XP), however, you will have access to some of your secondary class abilities as well. With six class options to choose from, it begs the question: What class combo is the best for me!?"The best" and "the best for your gaming preferences and goals" should be treated as two completely different things because everyone enjoys a unique style of play and recommendations of "the best" will always be subjective. Saylah of Mystic Worlds shows us her own unique thought process that went in to making the decision of primary and secondary class choices.There are several questions you should ask yourself before choosing primary and secondary classes because you can't change your mind once you've picked them. Do you enjoy soloing or grouping? If grouping is your thing, what role do you wish to play in the "holy trinity?" Do you prefer high survivability with low DPS or moderate survivability with moderate DPS? Do you feel the best defense is a good offense? Perhaps the biggest thing you should ask yourself is what will provide the best fun-factor?
Runes of Magic introduces horse racing
Frogster America has announced today the implementation of an all-new horse race minigame in Runes of Magic entitled Windrunner, allowing players to compete against seven others in an obstacle course on horseback. For the price of a few Phirius tokens (obtainable through the completion of daily quests), players will face "treacherous traps full of magic" such as slow-down effects, spider webs or even speed boosters. Winners will receive a pot full of Phirius tokens that can be used both in the game world and in the item shop. To enter, simply talk to the NPC Michelle Lang in Varanas City for complete instructions. Also be sure to check out the promotional video for the race over at the Runes of Magic main site. Best of luck!
GDC09: Runes of Magic has lots more in store
We had the opportunity to sit down with the Runes of Magic team at GDC last week. As one of the strongest free-to-play entrants in the MMO genre in the last little while, we've been very curious as to some of the things they have in store for the future. Luckily the guys from Frogster didn't disappoint as they sat down and gave us some hints of the many things that players can look forward to in upcoming months. Unlike many MMO publishers, the Frogster team is actually maintaining a fairly large live team; 65 people are currently working on Runes of Magic. Normally when an MMO launches, you'll see the teams cut down to about 20 or 30 people. That said they have a fairly ambitious schedule of things they want to release, so maintaining a full live team was something they said they felt was important to do. The Runes of Magic live team are looking to publish new content approximately every four months.%Gallery-24476%
The Ice Dwarf King comes to Runes of Magic
The teams at Frogster Interactive and Runewaker Entertainment are hard at work, continuing to develop more content for Runes of Magic, not content to rest after the hard work that went in up to the recent launch. Players wandering into Taborea for the first time are greeted by a world that will remind them of many of their favorite MMOs. By the mid-teens, Runes of Magic will begin to break away and stand on its own feet as an interesting free-to-play title with its own culture. For those of you who have been playing for a while (or just play a lot) you may well be up into the 30's or 40's, looking for new challenges to overcome. Luckily, there's some good news coming for you.Today, there was an announcement of a new instance being added to Runes of Magic. Called the "Ruins of the Ice Dwarf Kingdom", the new area will offer adventurers all new quest arcs needed to unlock access to explore the ruins atop the Dragonfang Ridge. Meant for players around level 35 to 40, this new dungeon boasts several 'middle-bosses' that you'll have to defeat in order to get to the central part of the labyrinthine complex. Of course, once you've made it there, the fire giant Thynos will be waiting to greet you, set to guard the Font of Power with his life. %Gallery-26824%
Runes of Magic nabs 700,000 players at launch
In the free-to-play market, the competition is fierce. It seems like we hear about a new game being ported and launching just about every week, and have for the last while. That said, Runes of Magic, the recent entry into the market by Runewaker Entertainment in partnership with Frogster Interactive has definitely caught our attention in playing through the game recently. That's why we were glad to hear that they've announced 700,000 players are checking out this interesting new world. According to their press release, response has been so good that they've been required to add another European server to their line-up for a total of nine launch servers altogether. They've also had to lock down character creation on the Laoch and Aotacht servers due to population, and state that if any other servers reach max, they've got the infrastructure in place to open more servers should the demand become greater. With mechanics cribbed from everything from World of Warcraft to EverQuest II and even a bit of Warhammer Online and Final Fantasy XI for good measure, this is definitely one of the strongest new titles to hit the F2P market in the last while. Just how large the game will continue to grow, considering it reintroduces some less popular mechanics like death penalties and a fairly involved tradeskill system remains to be seen. Still, it's a good sign for Runes of Magic, and we wish them all the best luck on the future of their game! Gallery: First Impressions: Runes of Magic
The Daily Grind: Single or dual classes?
As more and more of the Massively staff jump in and check out Runes of Magic, we're having a ball playing around with different dual class combinations. Shawn Schuster, our Managing Editor, is running a Warrior/Mage combination he says is a lot of fun. Kyle Horner has a shiny new Mage he's thinking about what he wants to add to the mix. I've opted for a Rogue/Priest combination since I'll run the Rogue solo, and will be keeping the Priest to run with friends who are several levels lower. That way, I figure so long as I keep the Rogue's level well above the Priest, I can level the second class along with my friends who don't play as often. Of course, this system really isn't anything new - it falls in line with Final Fantasy XI's job system, offering players the chance to combine a couple of different things on the same character without requiring you to keep an alt to see a second class. This morning, though, we thought we'd ask what you thought. Do you think that more games should introduce a dual class system, allowing you to play two completely different classes (or a hybrid of them) at the same time? Or do you prefer to focus on one class at a time so you're not split in terms of trying to gear it up, or having to spend too much time to level two classes at the same time?
Runes of Magic unleashes guild castles
Here we are nine days before Runes of Magic is set to officially launch, and the new features just keep popping up. Case in point: today's announcement from Frogster concerning the activation of guild castles in the game. Starting today, your guild can have their very own guild castle to furnish to their likings. This gets us one step closer to the long-awaited guild battles where guilds can fight over thrones. Plus, guild castle just sounds so much cooler than guild hall or guild house, amirite?How can you get your very own guild castle? All members of the guild must be level seven and the guild's community coffers must be stocked with enough wood, ore and gold to accommodate. The instanced castles will contain a guild bank, full furniture availability plus teleporters and gates to make travel times quicker. Once guilds obtain their own thrones, they can battle it out with other throne-holding castles for domination and loot. The complete guild battle functionality will be introduced to the game at a later date. Follow along after the cut below for the complete press release and more images of the guild castle.
An in-depth look at the dual class system in Runes of Magic
One of the trademark features of free-to-play Runes of Magic is the dual class system. There are six primary classes in RoM, including the warrior, rogue, priest, mage, knight, and ranger. Once you reach level 10 you can choose a secondary class option, which means there are up to 30 possible class combinations. For a full description of how the system works, visit the RoM website.Obviously a system like this leaves you wondering what primary and secondary classes work best together. Well fear not, MMORPG.com just did a bunch of dual-speccing on your behalf and wrote a guide on which combinations work and which don't work. The guide is a two-parter, and this week's takes a look at the priest, mage, and knight as secondaries. According to the article, each primary class will benefit from a priest secondary, which makes perfect sense. Mage secondaries are suggested for priests and scouts, but not so much for knights due to issues with aggro, mana management, and gear stats. Apparently rogue-knights are amazing too.Next week they will discuss the remaining three secondary class options. You can experiment for yourself in the RoM open beta currently underway. The game is set to officially launch March 19.
