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Runes of Magic ~ A Free to Play Online Game

Updated on April 16, 2018
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Tracey has been writing online for over 10 years. She also is a graphical artist for social media sites. She loves writing about home life!

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Extraordinary Quality Online Game that is Free to Play !

Runes of Magic is a free fantasy MMORPG (Massively MultiplayerOnline Role-Playing Game). Its completely free to download and play ! The download is kind of long, but this game is worth it. If you have been looking for a WoW quality game, that doesn't cost you money every month, Runes of Magic is it !

This game has a rich and detailed back story, three factions, six classes, (including a revolutionary dual class system that lets your character be two entirely different classes) over 1000 quests, seamless zoning, a large selection of crafting professions, your own house, optional PVP with arena and guild wars, instance, tile based and persistant dungeons, map and radar system to find resources and quests, smooth mouse based character movement or point and click, regular updates with new content......I could go on and on, RoM has so many totally awesome features. Lets take a closer look at some of the big ones.

~ All graphics courtesy of a webmaster kit that was offered by Trion when the game was released, or taken from Jade's own account as a screen shot.

Character Creation - Lots Of Customization !

Character creation in Runes of Magic is fairly detailed, more so than in most of the top pay to play games. As you can see from the screenshot above, you have total control over the body of your character....tall, short, muscular, fat, thin, the choice is yours. You have the choice of 8 skin colors, 23 hairstyles, and 37 faces. Your haircolor choice is virtually limitless, as you have a circle of primary colors with a sliding cursor to chose any shade. There is even a separate sliding bar to lighten or darken the shade. Any way you look at it, the character creation in Runes of Magic is awesome !

Classes - Eight to Choose From !

Warriors wear chain mail and while they can be tanks, they are really aimed more at DPS. However, there are tanking talents that can be had, if protection is what you prefer.

Scouts are ranged DPS. They also track and trap and have many specialized attacks.

Rogues are sneaky, as always. They are melee DPS, with stealth capabilities and are very handy with a dagger.

Mages are the heavy DPS class. Talents and spells draw from fire, electricity, water and arcane power. Ranged spell DPS.

Priests are healers with many different types or spells to restore health, resurrect the dead and buff party members. They also have an ability much like soul stone, which allows a target to rez on the spot they died. Priests are the only class that can heal.

Knights are your basic tank. They are the only class that can train to wear plate. Their abilities are aimed toward the group....protection of others.

Druid and Warden are the two new classes recently introduced in the expansion the Elven Prophecy. For more detailed information, please see below, these new classes are detailed in the secition about the expansion.

Dual Class System

Your Character Can Be More Than One Class !

When making a new character, you can select to be a warrior, scout, cleric, knight, mage or rogue. When they reach level 10, they can add a secondary class, which augments the possible class combinations up to 30 individual combination types.

Generally, all classes in Runes of Magic can serve as primary or secondary class. To obtain your secondary class, level 10 players have to visit a special class trainer in the town of Varanas and train in the secondary class they want. Once obtained, you can switch classes and make your secondary class your primary class, in order to level it. Yep, you have to level your secondary class, just like it was another character, you start out at level 1. The good news is, there is another starter zone you can level in, (Sascilien Steppes) so you don't have to do the same quests you just got done doing to get to 10.

In order to level your character, in one of the classes you have chosen, you must make that class primary. Only primary classes, can get XP from quests and killing mobs. In order to make one of your two classes the primary one, go to your house and talk to your housekeeper. There is a choice on her menu to change your primary class. Choose the class you want to be primary, click on the drop down menu and select the one you want. You must select from the drop down menu on both classes and make the proper selection. Once you have changed your secondary class to primary, then you proceed to level it in the normal manner.

Regarding skills that you can use.....this is kind of complex (as if it hasn't been so far !)

Each class has two sets of skills, class specific and non specific (or general). When on your primary class, you can use both sets of skills for that class, but only use the nonspecific skills of your secondary class. In other words, you can only use the class specific skills of the class that you have as primary.

For example:

Say you have a Priest/Mage character.

If you have made the priest your primary class, you can use the priest specific skills and the priest non specific skills and the mage non specific skills.

But if on the same character you made the mage primary, then you can use the mage specific skills, the mage non specific skills, and the priest non specific skills.

I hope that makes it more clear. :) You can switch primary or secondary classes as often as you want and it does not cost anything.

Also, the character attributes of the secondary class add up to those of their primary class with 10 percent of their value. All experience, attributes and talent points gathered from the player accumulate only for the primary class. Therefore, only the skills of the primary class can be upgraded by spending talent points. In any case, the level of the secondary class cannot be higher than the level of the primary class.

Using the dual class system of Runes of Magic wisely, players can build up their characters as multi-functional. With a scout as secondary class, characters can use bows for example. With rogues as secondary they can use projectile weapons, warriors will give you axes. Combinations like melee fighters enhanced with several range combat skills as well as clerics that fight with axes become possible. The range of possibilities gives solo and group players many interesting tactical choices for PvE. RPG players will love the broad spectrum for character interpretation.

The skills of the six main classes make use of different energy types. Warriors use rage, scouts use focus, rogues need energy and mages, clerics and knights are fighting with mana. Players can apply those energy types independently from each other. Therefore, they can use the dual class system of Runes of Magic to build up dangerous specialists perfectly suited for group play also. For example, smart adventurers could create a mighty bombardier with the combination of scout and mage. If for example the character runs out of focus, he simply switches to mana and can immediately launch the skills of his secondary mage class. In contrast to that, a combined knight-warrior class will be the ultimate melee fighter. But players need to be careful with some combinations: mages and clerics use the same mana pool which can quickly dry out your resources.

Professions - Fun and Useful !

Herbalism - once this gathering profession is learned, you can pick any herb that is withing the level of skill you are presently at.

Woodcutting - once this gathering profession is learned, you can chop any tree stump that is within the level of skill you have.

Mining - once this gathering profession is learned, you can mine any ore node that is within the level of skill you presently have.

Carpentry - this profession allows you to process your newly gathered wood into items that other professions use as materials.

Tailoring - this profession teaches you to make armor for cloth wearing characters.

Blacksmithing - learning this profession will let you make weapons, such as swords and daggers.

Armorsmithing - this profession teaches you to make chain and plate armor.

Alchemy - this profession allows you to make potions for various purposes, like mana or health regeneration.

Cooking - allows you to make food that gives certain buffs.

To learn a profession, simply visit a trainer, usually available in larger towns and major cities. As you level your professions, you can also buy new recipes from the trainer, to make higher level items, however these recipes are increasingly expensive. (I mean VERY expensive) When you want to work on your profession, you must go to the trainer and stand in close proimity to the "tools" of that trade. If you are not by the tools, manufacturing will not work. Tools are marked by large green arrows and are easy to identify.

Character Housing - Free Home Sweet Home !

Your own home is available to you from the very beginning, and you can enter it for the first time in Logar. Setting up your interior is fairly simple: Just buy the items, "drag & drop" them into one of the available slots, click the button to place it and that's it. Players can turn, spin and move and place the object freely.

You can decorate your home however you wish, no matter what your taste. Currently there are over 130 available interior items giving players many different options on decor. A variety of tables, chairs, beds, rugs, fireplaces, wall decorations, screens......even potted plants and wall decorations. The possibilities are endless. All items for your home are available from the item mall.

Your house is shared by all the characters on your account. It doesn't matter how many characters you have, they all live in the same house. Therefore, it is easy to put the potions you just made into one of the chests and pick them up with the next character. No more of this annoying "One moment, got to switch my account"! A second password gives your home additional protection. You can pass it on to friends and family to give them access to your house.

A 20 slot storage chest comes with your house for you to store items. If you want additional chests, you can buy them. All chests can be moved around and placed wherever you like. Storage chests are not the same as your bank. A housekeeper also comes with your house. She has a menu of things she can do for you, including switching classes. The housekeeper is an NPC and you have no control over her.

For armor or clothing storage, you can buy mannequins. With one click the equipment screen appears where the players can dress up the mannequin with their own armor. Not only do they look great in your house, but if you are in a hurry and want to dress up for the next raid, with one click you can exchange the armor you are currently wearing with that which is on the mannequin. Mannequins are not the only things that can be used with a short click. Also the flames in the fireplace and on the candlestick can be lit and give the house a homely atmosphere.

You can also buy the tools necessary for your profession, to put in your house. There are anvils for blacksmiths, laboratories for alchemists or huge pots for chefs. For each profession the right equipment is available. You can avoid people bugging you to make items for them, at public tools and practice your profession at home where its quiet and comfortable.

What Do You Think of In Game Housing ? - Do you use it ?

Do you think its stupid or do you use in game housing ?

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Item Mall / Diamonds - Cool Stuff you can Buy for Your Characters!

The most important thing you need to know about the item shop is that to buy stuff takes real money. To those of you that have only played pay to play games, this is a new concept. (yep, you're a noob!) But any free to play game you play will have an item shop......it is how they make their money, instead of charging you a monthly fee.

The currency that Runes of Magic uses for you to be able to buy item mall stuff is called Diamonds. You must have Diamonds in your account, if you want to buy anything. How you get diamonds is pretty simple and they cost about $6.40 (USD) for 100. All you have to do is log into your account, open the item mall, click the "buy diamonds" icon in the top left corner, a small window will appear that will ask you to confirm that you want to go to the website where you can exchange real currency for diamonds. Click 'yes" and then fill in your name and password, choose your server, method of payment, etc. It's pretty self explanatory, and the diamonds are delivered to your account immediately.

Below is a step by step breakdown of how to use the item shop.

Opening the Item Shop

You can access the Item Shop by clicking on the red and white present Icon at the bottom left of your mini map or by opening the "Functions" menu and choosing "Item Shop"

Available Items

After opening the Item Shop, the main Item Shop window will appear. On the left hand side you can choose the different categories of items; simply click on one of those categories, the available items in that category will appear in the main frame of the Item Shop window. The categories in the item shop are as follows:

Consumables - potions, recall runes, ink, retalent runes, transmutor charges

Mounts - Mounts for 7 days, 30 days, or permanent

Upgrading - Items for use in upgrading your equipment, weapons or armor

Pets - Non combat pets that follow you around - rental only

Housing - Items to decorate your house or tools for professions so you can craft in your house.

Crafting - Runes for crafting

Encyclopedias - Books that teach advanced skills

Special Offers - Items that are on sale

The yellow numbers at the bottom of the middle part of the window show how many pages of items this category has - you can jump to other pages by clicking the numbers.

Item Information

If you are interested in an item or you'd like to have more information about it, you can left click on that item and its description will appear in a window on the right. If appropriate, you can also get a preview of what the item looks like, in a window on the right.....such as mounts or furniture.

Item Preview

Some Item Shop items like furniture or mounts are visible in game. If you left click these items to view their description, an additional window displaying a preview of that item will pop-up at the right side. You can look items in the preview box from lots of different angles and perspectives - simply left-click on the picture and drag your mouse around a little!

Buying an item

If you want to buy a specific item, left click the little gold bag next to the item in the middle window. To be able to buy the item, the gold bag item has to be displayed in color if it is greyed out, that means that you don't have enough diamonds to buy this item and would have to buy more or "top up" the amount of diamonds you have to have enough to buy the item.

As soon as you click the Icon, a password prompt will open, which asks you to enter your secondary password to continue with the transaction. Once you have done that and confirmed this by pressing the "Accept" button, the item will instantly be put into your Item Shop Bag. To view your Item Shop Bag simply click the red and white present icon at the bottom of your regular bag.

Receiving your Items

The cool thing about the item mall is that you get your stuff immediately, no waiting ! As soon as you've bought an item, it will be put into your Item Shop Backpack.

There is one other thing that people unfamiliar with free to play games need to know. In order to talk in world chat (so that everyone on the server can see what you say) you have to buy a megaphone from the item shop. The megaphone has charges and each time you say something, a charge is used. The cost is 25 charges for 50 diamonds. You can, however, talk in Zone chat (only the people in the zone you are in can hear you) for free.

Some of the items you can buy in the item mall you can get in game, but some you can't. Whether or not an item mall is a good thing is up to you. I really loved being able to get a mount at level 1, but some may severely dislike the idea of having to spend real money to have a mount at all, which you have to do. The most inexpensive mount is around $19 (USD). Still cheap when you remember there is no monthly fee AND you don't have to wait for a certain level to get your mount.

Dungeons - Many Different Types !

Taborea is a continuous persistent world even extending below ground. But there are also instanced dungeons, where parties of players meet to complete special tasks or just to explore. Once in the dungeon, players are on there own, meaning each dungeon is produced just for that party and no other players will be allowed in. In these dungeons, if the boss-mob has no level number, but displays a small crown instead, those special bosses are extremely difficult to defeat.

There are not only static dungeons, but players will also find dynamically generated dungeons, where new monsters and treasures are randomly generated every time a player enters (so called tile-based dungeons). The dynamic cave systems are randomly generated every time players reenter and therefore will be different every time you do it. Such as if a group of monsters were waiting for you in one place during your last visit, they will be somewhere else next time and will carry different loot as well. So you can do them over and over, without being bored - each time, they will be different.

This system of dungeons is different and superior to most online games that have only the same old dungeons available to their players !

Auction House - Your Place to Buy and Sell !

The Auction House in Runes of Magic is very easy to use, for both buying and selling. If you want to buy, you can enter what you are looking for specifically (level range too) and search that way, or if you prefer to browse, you can just pick a category and start looking.

If you want to sell, you click on the auction tab on the bottom right. Choose what you want to sell from your bag and drag it into the Auction House window. The game fills in a bid price, but I would not use that. On the left hand side, there is a button that says "History." Click on that and it will show you what other people are selling the same item for. Then you can determine what you want to sell yours for. You also should choose how long you want the auction to go on, one to four days. The longer the auction, the more the auction house fee is, to put the item up for sale.

If your auction is purchased, you will get the money in the mail. Unfortunately, it does not tell you in that mail what it was that sold, you just get the gold. If your item does not sell, the item will be returned to you in mail and you lose the fee.

Miscellaneous Info - Other Stuff You Might Want to Know !

PVP - RoM has both PVE (player versus environment) and PVP (player versus player) servers. You can choose if you want to be able to attack or be attacked by players at any time, by choosing the appropriate server to play on. The PVP rules are very complex and way too complicated for me to explain here, so if you want to get all the details, please visit the official page: http://www.runesofmagic.com/en/servertype.html.

Mail - the in game mail system has three parts: receive, compose, and group mail. Receive mail from anyone on the server, the Auction House, or from your other characters. Compose letters to anyone on the server, including your other toons, or send them an item, all totally free. Group mail allows you to send the same letter to multiple recipients.

Forum - The official forum of Runes of Magic can be found at: http://forum.runesofmagic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=4... It has many helpful categories and places for you to ask questions or discuss problems you are having.

The Lands of Despair

Rise to the Challenge

The people of the Lands of Despair need you! Only you can break Sismond's curse and get to the bottom of his diabolical plans. Prepare yourself for unknown dangers and explore dark and foreboding regions under the constant threat of war.

Features:

* Four breathtaking new regions

*Two exciting instances

* Multiple class system

* Brand new public encounter

* Cross-server battlefields

* And much more!

Elven Prophecy - Two New Races - Druid and Warden

In Chapter II - The Elven Prophecy, two new classes were introduced into Runes of Magic. These are Druids and the Wardens. Both are classes of the Elven folk and their abilities are derived from the forces of nature. Druids and Wardens are powerful warriors in their own right, but in a group they can use their abilities to support their teammates so they may defeat an even more dangerous adversary.

The Druid

Druids are the healers in Elven society. They are the custodians of the knowledge which the Elves have gathered about the forces of nature. Because of of this knowledge the abilities of the druid can resemble the destructive force of the mage for those that do not want to take on the role of healer. The Druid can be a powerful ally in either role.

Druids use the dormant powers within them to apply their abilities and use these powers to build up 'Nature's Power'. They can then use this to increase the action of their abilities, or to add effects to them. The amount of 'Nature's Power' that the Druid builds up is dependent upon which ability they use.

In the use of their power, the Druids can choose whether or not they wish to concentrate on supporting and healing their allies, or on directing the devastating force of nature at their enemy. And so in the course of their life-long education, they decide whether they wish to dedicate their powers more strongly toward healing and supportive functions, or more towards the destructive. Whereas the healing powers of the druids often achieve rapid effects, the damage that they can cause works over a longer period. As in nature the druid's power unfolds slowly but enduringly.

The Warden

The Wardens serve as guardians of nature. In times of peace it is their responsibility to ensure that the rules are abided to which in turn preserve the forests of Taborea, the Elves' natural habitat. Over time the wardens have learned to communicate with the plants in their surroundings and have entered into a kind of symbiosis with them. While they protect the plants and teach them how to specialise, the plants make their powers and abilities available to them. The intimate relationship with nature allows the wardens to summon nature spirits, which then accompany them on their way through the forests and protect them in combat. In the course of their lives wardens receive different companions, their appearance and abilities are dependent on the warden's experience and competence.

The wardens have a further duty upon them which is to defend the Elven folk from any danger which may threaten them. For this reason every warden passes through an excellent schooling in the use of various close combat weapons. In addition, wardens also have powers which strengthen both them and their comrades-in-arms and form a useful support in combined battles.

It is not uncommon that the tide of combat has been turned to the Elves' advantage by the wardens and when in large numbers, there's been barely an enemy which has not been put to flight as a consequence of the combat skill of the wardens and the natural force of their companions.

What Is The Best Online Game ? - Vote For Your Favorite

What is the most fun online game to play in 2012

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