Ten Ton Hammer - Taking MMO Gamers to the Next Level!

Frogster Interactive describes the Dual Class System in Runes of Magic (RoM) as a chance to blend the skills of two classes to create “multi-functional all-rounders” and to express character interpretations for roleplayers. Of course Frogster couldn’t relay the full depth of the Dual Class System in the five paragraphs used to describe it on their site, so I still had a lot to learn when I started playing, and it took a little trial and error to understand how dual classing affects gear, skills, talent points, and experience. Eventually, I discovered some things on my own, and many members of the RoM community also did a terrific job of creating some guides. I’ll share my early experiences with leveling a 16 mage/10 knight.

Character Creation – The First Choice

Ralsu isn't the only gamer who went through an identity crisis during the holidays.

RoM has six classes at this point with two more rumored to be on the way. Players select their first class at character creation, and this initial class will always be a part of your character. The choice is permanent, so choose carefully.

The true tank of the bunch, and the only class that can wear plate, is the knight. Their skills include ways to generate hate and holy-themed damage abilities that consume mana. The warrior can wear up to chain armor and is a master of melee weaponry. Like knights, warriors can equip a shield. Rage accumulated during battle fuels warrior talents, most of which deal damage and debuff enemies at the same time. The class has a taunt, too, and makes a good off-tank in their chain armor.

Rogues greatly resemble standard D&D fare with their sneaky antics and love for wielding daggers. They use energy as their power source to slip into and out of stealth and deliver swift blows. They are not the major DPS force of other MMOGs based on their standard attacks. The weak rogues rely on their skill with poisons to deal continuous damage. By contrast, scouts output high damage with their ranged weapons. They use intense focus to activate crippling special attacks and establish themselves as kings of DPS. Both rogues and scouts wear up to leather armor.

The mage is the arcane caster that deals damage in bursts with fire, electricity, and wind. Mages use mana and can wear only cloth armor. The priest is the requisite healer. Priests are able to use shields but are restricted to cloth armor as part of the caster family. They expend mana to form water into shields and attack spells while their prayers heal allies.

I chose a mage for my starting class and enjoyed blowing through enemies for the first ten levels. I frequently could one-shot an enemy one level below me.

Level Ten – The Second Choice and Getting Equipped for the New Class

An early quest gave Ralsu a mount for the day.

When your character reaches level ten, you are able to select your second class by visiting the trainers in the city of Varanas in the Silverspring zone. Again, this is a permanent decision, so be sure you know what you want before you commit. You will never get a chance to try another class with this character. The first thing to do is to learn the ground rules.

When I chose my second class, I was level one again (a level one knight). I had none of the talents and attributes of the mage class, so the area around Silverspring was too dangerous for me. The first thing I did was head to the local house fairy. Once inside my house, I talked to the attendant and set mage as my secondary class. I next looked at my equipment. Even though knights can equip all types of armor, including the cloth my mage uses, gear has level requirements. As a result, none of my gear would work for my level one knight. It remained equipped, but it was highlighted in red to show that I was receiving none of its benefits. Knights can’t use a two-handed staff like the one my mage carried, so my weapon was useless, too.

After rummaging through my bank for some gear I stored earlier, I recalled to Logar and bought some more equipment from the merchants so I would not be naked. Someone in the official forums told me that players can trade 3,000 of the Bierdine tokens they collect from completing daily quests for a mannequin to place in their house. A mannequin can store a second set of gear so that a single click allows the player to swap gear when changing classes. This will be a must-have for any dual class combo that uses very different gear.

Continue to page two to find out more about dual classing in Runes of Magic.