href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/77375" target="_blank"> style="width: 200px; float: right;" alt="RoM Impressions"
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When I first
started out in this game it was full of wonder and
excitement.  I have, however, learned over the course of the
last 4 months that things are not always as they seem.  Runes
of Magic does a wonderful job of bringing you into the title. It has
wonderful scenery a good tutorial that is just enough to get your
bearings.  But unfortunately after the initial draw RoM loses
a lot of its appeal.  This is not to say it’s a bad game by
any stretch of the imagination; and perhaps I am spoiled by a lot of
the other games I play being a pay-to-play model and having a large
development team and thousands or even millions of subscribers to back
them up depending on the title.



~~What
I am
not a fan of


Crafting
– At first there seems to be only 3 professions and 3
materials to gather.  If you take a look at our crafting guide
here you will see how wrong I really was.  There is so much
more that you can do with crafting than I ever thought
possible.  And just the amount of time you spend doing it… wow.
 

Adventuring
– The starting areas are nice, simple and give you the quest
mark ups.  This changed quickly as soon as level 5 but was not
really touched upon in the beginner guides as the game was still new
and exciting and it didn’t bother me as much.  Now perhaps I
am feeling this more due to playing every class at least a little bit
and really only through the starting levels but it has become a major
headache for me. 
 

The Grind
– This is probably the number one reason I have not gone much
past where my Rogue is today.  The grind is killer once you
get past level 10.  There are days I don’t log in because I
cannot face another grind fest

~~What I do
like


Community
– Runes of Magic seems to have a very helpful community for
the most part.  Just like every game that has been created and
every game that will ever be created they have their fair share of
trolls and elitists who think they know all and you are crap if you
don’t play the game just like them but for the most part they are a
very nice and friendly bunch.
 

Equipping
– This one is interesting.  It’s a love hate kind of
thing.  I love the customization that is available through the
Runes system in the game but it can be very time consuming. 
Especially for the new kid that loves to get in and do all kinds of odd
things.
 

Character
Customization
– I was a fan of this from the first
time I
loaded the game and it has not changed.  The amount of time
that you can spend just making the character your own is amazing to
me.  I love it.  Even with all of the characters that
I have created, played, and deleted it is still a joy for me every time
I get to create a new one.
 

~~Overall mid
way impressions


Runes of Magic
is an amazing game for anybody looking for a free-to-play
option.  It has a lot of features that you don’t find on some
pay-to-play games and it does them well.  I think that perhaps
some areas of the game are over complicated and there is a lot of
emphasis on crafting when maybe there could be more on questing and
other things.  Runes being Frogsters’ first release into the
US’s very competitive and often overflowing MMOG market I would have to
say that it has proven two things.  One, you do not need a
multibillion dollar budget to produce a good game. Two, it does not
have to have a monthly pay model to be successful.
 

If I were to
grade Runes of Magic based on my experiences so far leveling through
the mid-game I would have to give it two grades.
 

Compared to
other free-to-play games that I have played I would give RoM an A-:

    • I give it
      this grade because compared to other free-to-play offerings its head a
      shoulders above the crowd.  I will have to say the system
      requirements are really the only thing that is disappointing compared
      to other free-to-play games as Runes of Magic requires more from your
      system than the average free-to-play title does.

Compared to
other MMOG monthly pay games I have to give RoM a B:

    • Some of
      this grade does stem from the fact that it is a free-to-play model that
      can at least qualify to run with the “big” MMOGs. I also dub it with
      this grade because it is fairly smooth and in a world where the larger
      free-to-play market seems to only be able to create a grind fest Runes
      makes a decent attempt at mixing it up a bit.

At the end of
the day there is no question at this point to me that Runes of Magic is
worth looking into.  It’s decently polished and does really
good in a lot of areas. This is not  style="font-weight: bold;">the game for me as
the grind gets so mundane at the end.  For me once I reached
level 20 it really became the same act recycled over and over again.
 I have not gotten a character to end game yet so it may
change once I get there.

So, to me
Runes of Magic has a major lull in the middle but what do you say?
Leave a comment and we will do lunch!


To read the latest guides, news, and features you can visit our Runes of Magic Game Page.

Last Updated: Mar 29, 2016

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