Runes of Magic

Runes of Magic.

Runes of Magic, the free-2-play fantasy MMORPG from Frogster Interactive launched recently with 1,000,000 registered accounts and our very own Ryan Plas sat down to review the game.

The first time that you log into Frogster Interactive’s Runes of Magic, you’re probably going to scoff and say “Hey, I’ve seen this before!” You’re probably going to spend the first hour or two telling yourself how it’s just a rip off of the 8,000 pound gorilla. But do yourself a favor and keep on truckin’, because once you do, you are going to find one of the best Free2Play titles on the market today. And in my opinion, one of the better titles on the market today, period. I promise that if you give Runes of Magic a chance, that you will be not only pleasantly surprised, but genuinely hooked.

Runes of Magic has just about everything you could want in an MMO title. Housing, a dual class system, daily quests, instances and dungeons, you name it. And on top of that, the absolute best go to market strategy in their item shop than I have ever seen in a Free2Play titles. And I want to focus on that and get it out of the way, because one of the biggest barriers around to the Free2Play genre are their cash shops. And while yes, Runes of Magic does have the requisite cash shop, not shopping there isn’t going to put you at a huge disadvantage compared to those that do. The reason for that? Because even if you don’t spend a dime in real life cash on diamonds for the shop, you can still earn them in game. Runes of Magic Auction House system is set up so that you can still earn diamonds in game without spending your hard earned cash in this resecession-tastic time. You can put items up to sell that you find in game for either in game gold, or diamonds that you can use on cash shop items, as well as purchase in game items with said diamonds, right through the auction house. And they even instituted a way to add legal in game gold purchasing. Because on top of selling items for diamonds, you can straight up trade in game gold for diamonds, right through the auction house.

It is an ingenious way to monetize the title for the developers, while not creating a huge disadvantage for players not willing to shell out real life dollars. It’s the most down to earth and sensible way to run a cash shop I have ever seen, and I hope that other developers in the Free2Play genre take some ideas from it and implement it in their titles, so that we can see the Free2Play subgenre dig it self out of the black hole that accompanies the name “cash shop” and get some more recognition.

Runes of Magic Screenshots

Genre: Adventure, Fantasy Game

Type: MMORPG

Graphics: 3D Platform