I’m basically late to this party, but I didn’t want to be left out! A few other bloggers have been playing around in the Runes of Magic open beta as of late, and I wanted to give it a try to see what the buzz was about. I played for a couple hours on Sunday before logging off.
For those who like to know the opinion before the wall of text: I was pleasantly surprised.
For those who don’t spend much time in free-to-play MMOs or Asian MMOs, this game won’t feel all that special. If you spend your money on AAA MMOs and avoid the indie titles and the obscure – you will probably be disappointed. But for anyone with a more open mind who wants free/inexpensive alternatives to the bigwigs, definitely try out Runes of Magic.
Here is what I really liked about the game:
- Familiar Interface – So familiar in fact, that some of the UI elements are basically ripped off from WoW. I’m not saying that’s a bad thing – the learning curve to jump right in was a flat line. I think they ‘borrowed’ some of the best things they could from World of Warcraft, and I’m not complaining.
- Avatars – I’m going to go as far here as to say that my avatar in Runes of Magic is probably the best looking character I have in any MMO in the last 2 years. Asian-influenced, but a lot more realistic than stylized. They did realism right, with adjustable proportions, any RGB color hair you want, tons of races and hair styles, and decent animations.
- Graphics – Color me impressed. I think it was Saylah who said that the graphics were “somewhere between WoW and EQ2″ and I think that’s spot on. Granted, I didn’t make it far in, but the environments I’ve seen have been really pleasant to look at. It ran well on both my desktop XPS gaming machine and Luke’s couple-year-old laptop.
- Point system – I really liked the skill points system. Being only level 5, I haven’t gotten to the dual class stuff yet..but I like spending my points wherever I want to.
- The business model – It’s free. Lots of call outs to upsells, but I’m fine with that. As long as you let me play I’m happy. I even got a horse right away that lasts 24 hours, and it was fun to ride.
- The polish level – This is a big one for Runes of Magic, because it does have a lot of polish. It’s not WoW-polished, but it is definitely Vanguard-at-launch polished. A big difference between it and a lot of other lesser-known MMOs I’ve played.
Will I keep playing? Honestly, I don’t know. I have a monthly subscription to WoW, and an SOE Station Pass. I have a lot of options, and I’m not sure Runes of Magic fits in my gaming schedule. I am intrigued by it for sure though, and may keep exploring it for awhile to try out the dual-class system. I worry about myself with microtransactions games though – I generally get sucked in.
