Runes of Magic is a free massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) developed by the Taiwanese developer Runewaker Entertainment and adapted for the English and German speaking market by German company Frogster Interactive. After going through an open beta phase, the game was launched on 19 March, 2009 and Chapter II - The Elven Prophecy was launched on 15 September, 2009 in the US. The game client is free to download.
Players create a character from one of eight character classes, such as warrior, rogue or priest, and explore the fantasy world of Taborea while undertaking quests and fighting enemies. Characters can create items by practicing their crafting skills, avoiding combat altogether if the player wishes to play non-violently. Upon reaching character level 10 players are able to choose a secondary character class to increase their character's abilities. Core abilities from the secondary class are usable when the player remains in their primary class and vice versa, for instance a warrior with a mage secondary class is able to cast attack magic while still equipped with warriors' more effective armor. Runes of Magic currently features more than 2000 quests for players to attempt. Players may swap between classes by speaking with the housekeeper which lives in their accommodation, each player has their own private dwelling. Each character's home functions as a meeting place where other players can be invited. Additionally it serves as a visual demonstration of their progress within the game since it increases in size as character levels are gained.
Runes of Magic has been compared to World of Warcraft and also referred to as a clone, but Eurogamer's Daniel Etherington discounted this and stated the view "misses the point." Etherington stated that World of Warcraft "was a success because of how well it built on MMO conventions, how it refined them", adding it was unsurprising that World of Warcraft is so influential "but conversely it's got no great claim on gameworlds defined by cod-medievalism and pick-and-mix mythology". Wesley Yin-Poole of Videogamer.com stated "The guys at Runewaker have clearly constructed Runes of Magic with World of Warcraft running in the background." He stated that despite being "somewhat of a WoW clone" and free-to-play, Runes of Magic contains elements which World of Warcraft does not, and that the latter's developers "would do well to consider." Online gaming website Massively's Shawn Schuster highlighted the range of crafting abilities in the game, as well as the ability to gain proficiency in them all without penalties.
Or is it really a clone to WoW?
