Welcome to Taborea, where endless adventure awaits all takers. The game was all the hype and anticipation during its development and closed beta stages. However, many players were also appalled at the rumors of being a clone of the hugely-successful World of Warcraft. Upon its release, have these rumors quelled? Or did it pave the way for Runes of Magic to succeed?

Runes of Magic has an extensive plot in their website. It talks about the goddess Aywenas creating a book and recorded about the origin of life. The world inside the book is known to be Taborea. The inhabitants of Taborea, created by the goddess, experienced many changes as millennia passed. The current chapter of the book speaks about Taborea filled with mysteries of the past. And it’s up to the players to find the answers.

The world of Taborea is filled with lush environments and amazingly detailed towns. Characters, NPCs and monsters are also amazingly detailed, although not as par with the more recent MMOs. Runes of Magic shows signs of its age, being a game previously released (as Radiant Arcana). Despite that, Runes of Magic still flaunts its ambience and aesthetics. Day and night effects shine in a realistic sense. Weather effects complement the lands you walk on. Skills and other effects are detailed and beautifully rendered. Sounds blend in with the environment, and appropriately tone well with the skills and other effects too.

Character creation has limited options, having archetypes of androgynous, eastern and medieval looks. Your character can be styled with different highly-detailed fashions and equipment. Character growth is also fairly easy to manage. Your stats are automatically distributed and arranged similar to World of Warcraft. Skill points are gained as you level. Leveling skills require you diffe

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ent skill point values, and becomes more expensive as your skill gains higher levels. Once you’ve reached the appropriate level, your character will have access to the Dual Class system. This is similar to Holic Online, with a slight difference in ease of switching jobs. Players are required to talk to an NPC to switch jobs. Just like in Holic Online, players will be required to level their second chosen job from scratch. Thankfully, there are skills from either primary or secondary class that are accessible at any given time. The stat distribution also automatically shifts from one build to the other as you change jobs.

The tradeskills in this game is also fairly reminiscent of World of Warcraft. Runes of Magic offers different crafting and farming skills, all of each can be learned by the character in one go. However, only one tradeskill can reach master level. Players can use and abuse the trade skills to earn more money, without being limited by the learning restrictions imposed from World of Warcraft. Thankfully, aside from the tradeskills, money is fairly easy to come by in Taborea through loots, rewards and the auction house. And to point out, the monetary division is the same as World of Warcraft too, in the form of copper, silver, and gold.

Character equipment is upgradeable and socketable with runes. Weapons and armors are color-coded according to rarity, and may come in sets. Slots for runes vary with rarity and equipment type. Runes give different stat-modifying bonuses, depending on the slot it fits in. Runes are acquired from quest rewards and monster loots, while some are sold in the auction house as well.

The world of Taborea is an enormous place to explore. Maps are seamless, and dungeons are instanced. Mounts are also a staple implementation in Runes of Magic due to the spacious size of every map. Quests in Taborea are plentiful enough to keep you busy in exploring every nook and cranny of the map. All quests have generous rewards to give, and also integrate a huge chunk of the plot in every dialogue. Players can also disturb the peace by engaging in PvP battles. Runes of Magic offers PvP through the following: a PvP-dedicated server, and a PK mode toggle on normal servers.

On a final note, this game is a gem on its own. Despite its close reference to World of Warcraft, Runes of Magic shines bright with its amazing gameplay and lush appearance. The game has the makings of a top contender in the MMO market. It’s free to play option will also definitely entice a huge population of gamers looking for a nice alternative to World of Warcraft or other P2P games. Take this game for a spin, Runes of Magic comes highly recommended.

The Good: Dual Class system, numerous quests, lush visuals

The Bad: heavy grind on second chosen job, many World of Warcraft references,