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

It seems Frogster is not one to keep a secret, at least not for very long. After dropping only a few hints and cryptically posting a new piece of concept art on the official site, Frogster officially announced that it is indeed from the newest chapter in the Runes of Magic saga which will allow players to explore the land of Dalanis. From the information that's been made public thus far, Chapter III: The Elder Kingdoms has the look and feel of a full blown expansion. Let's take a closer look at the details and see what we have to look forward to.

Raised Level Cap and Hundreds of New Quests

As is typical of many expansions, Runes will be seeing an increase to the level cap from 55 to 60. This will not only give new players something to strive for but also give the old vets something to do for a bit before hitting end game content hard again.

I would normally think this would go without saying, but perhaps Frogster actually means not only have they added new quests to help those players get from 55-60 but they have also added new quest lines for those not quite there yet.

Expanded Skill System

This will give you new ways to customize your class and expand your tactical options to master even the toughest fights. I see this having two varied possibilities. The first would be a system where you can change your tactics for each major fight based on skill selection ala Guild Wars. Or maybe this is simply another attempt at allowing players to customize their characters when all most players really end up doing is mimicking the person on your realm who has the highest numbers you are trying to achieve yourself.

In other words, while this type of thing is perfect for retaining the interest of the min-maxers out there, once the general player population collectively decides that Option A is superior to Option B, you can expect to see a good number of people playing “follow the leader” with the expanded system. Mind you this is pure speculation until more details on the system are known, but it will be interesting to see if Runes of Magic goes in a completely different direction than the industry standard of creating new iterations on EverQuest's tried and true AA point system.

PvP Love

On the PvP front Runes is going to get a new battlefield called Tyrefen Mountain Range, a PvP ranking system, and a battlefield ranking system.  All this seems great but with PvP currently so sparse within the land of Taborea Frogster is going to have to do more than just add some new stuff to fix it.  There is evidence on the official site's forums that they are at least aware of the lackluster PvP in the current game, so perhaps the inclusion of ranking systems will encourage more players to participate in the battlefields moving forward.

Guilds

Guilds in Runes of Magic are getting lots and lots of love with the new expansion. With new guild quests, new guild drill grounds, and upgrades for the guild castles in this expansion there is reason to be farming up those guild runes again. I am excited about the guild quests. Not sure why but I am.

Marriage system

I am really hoping that’s not what it appears to be, but if it is then Runes is taking this game to a whole new level.  The next expansion might just as well be called Chapter III: Runes of Sims.  Okay so that doesn't really work out too well but you get the point.

New Runes

We are getting new runes. This can mean one of two things. The obvious one is that since the game is getting 5 more levels then the runes are getting stat increases as well. The not so obvious possibility is that this could also mean they are diversifying some of the other types of runes in the game such as the guild runes or maybe even adding professions. Then again, I do doubt the inclusion of new professions due to the fact that is a big enough deal I think they would mention it separately which the Frogster team did not.

Card Stats System

Is Frogster finally doing something with their monster cards? Its either that or they are implementing another trinket style card with some kind of stats or stat enhancer on it.

New Cities

Who doesn't love a new city? I guess it stands to reason that if you are going to a new land then you are going to have new places to relax and spend your money right?  Plus this will also mean new and exciting factions and titles.

Mini Games

That is right, we'll be getting even more ways to pass the time in game. I do have to say at least these mini games have a point. I have always referred to them as side quests but, mini games works too.

Two Player Mounts

This will be a good thing as long as they don't do anything weird like put a level restriction on them to be used. Now you can escort your friend that you just talked into playing the game all around the land of Taborea. Or maybe this is just an offshoot of the Marriage System, in which case the concept of two player mounts might earn the game a shiny new M rating.

New Dungeons and Dungeon difficulties

The new dungeons are a given if you ask me.  When you expand content by increasing the level cap,you always add at the very least new end game dungeon content. The cool thing here to me is the dungeon difficulty addition. This is going to hopefully open up more content to those players who cannot either spend tons of time grinding out gear or purchase the diamonds to do so.

Music Festival

This has the sound of a new holiday in Runes of Magic. I'm always excited when there is a new in-game holiday event to check out. While I've not necessarily been a fan of in-game holidays in a more general sense, they usually come with a fair amount of not so serious gaming, gold and titles so I am all for it.

I am very excited about some of the changes and where they are taking the game. Runes of Magic is very successful in creating a game that feels and plays nothing like a free-to-play game yet you really do not have to play to play. I say that if Runes of Magic can keep up with this pace and continue to put out solid content while making sure they don't neglect bugs they have a long and very prosperous future ahead of them.