Although during the European beta-test I played as a Warlock just so I could have a Voidwalker as a pet, World of Warcraft didn’t enthrall me enough to prolong my stay in Azeroth after the launch. Some will say this is a good thing, I had enough determination to reject this dangerous drug, others that I’m wasting my time as a game editor if I’m not part of the “best MMO in the world”.

What’s important to remember is that for me, MMORPGs are more of a way to spice things up a bit after the inevitable boredom settles in when you have to write tons of articles, rather than a purpose in life and “moar epix”. Enter City of Heroes, Auto Assault, Guild Wars, Lord of the Rings Online, Age of Conan… games which I enjoyed, but never played “hardcore” style.

Therefore, when Runes of Magic was finally released, my curiosity was mostly stirred by the fact that it was free and, if the rumors were true, its quality level was dangerously close to that of classic, monthly fee titles. And my office colleagues were more than interested to see this new-comer in action, the supreme incentive being, again, the lack of a monthly fee (therefore, I would like to thank Assassin, Azd, StRat0 and Tartoru, without which this review wouldn’t have been possible… may you all get wiped in Kalin, like the insane people you are).

That said, the game.

Some naysayers use “Poor man’s World of Warcraft” as a brief description for Runes of Magic and up to a point, they’re actually right. Because those who’ve come into contact with Blizzard’s behemoth will immediately notice a lot of similarities, from the interface to the cute yellow marker above the head of an NPC that has a quest to give.

In my opinion though, the notion of “innovation” has long lost its meaning, and the inevitable comparisons to WoW are meaningless. Because before we get into the thick of things, you have to understand that the purpose of this article isn’t to tell you whether or not you should quit {Insert favorite MMO here} for RoM, but present the content you receive for the meager sum of 0 dollars / euros… with the good and the bad.

Who are you, hero?

The character creation part won’t impress, but it has sufficient options to fill Taborea with a rather diverse range of adventurers, from dwarf-like assassins to shield wielding bouncers. When it comes to classes, there are six available, filling the usual fantasy roles: Warrior, diplomacy using a sword. Scout, throwing various things at enemies from a distance. Rogue, killing said enemies in their sleep. Mage, throwing more exotic things from a distance (fire, lighting and so on). Priest, healing those who think they’re Conan the Barbarian if they’re wielding a fork. Knight, an iron wall that’s longer than it is flat. Or vice-versa.

The interesting part is that once you reach level 10, you can choose a secondary class from the five remaining. So you can be a Knight/Priest, Mage/Warrior, Rogue/Knight, Scout/Priest, etc. However, they can’t both be active at the same time, so you can think of your avatar as having multiple personalities. And a lot of equipment, because barring certain combos (Mage/Priest or Warrior/Knight for instance), the two classes won’t be able to share all the items (a Priest can’t wear the plate of a Knight).

The good news is that each class has both generic and specific skills, and you can use the generic ones when you’re playing as the “alter-ego”. For instance, if you’re a Rogue/Priest, you’ll be able to use the priest’s Urgent Heal as a Rogue, but you won’t have access to Grace of Life and the other powers of a fully-fledged “padre”.

Moreover, the Talent Points that you’ll use to improve the skills, which you obtain from quests and killing various things in Taborea, aren’t inherited. So basically you’ll have to level up two characters at the same time if you want access to the best abilities of your combo, named in a feat of originality, Elite.

These in turn are specific to each combo and differ according to the primary class that you’re using. For those starring at the monitor with a blank, this means that a Rogue from the Rogue/Priest combo will have different Elite skills than the Priest from the same spec. The Rogue will have Quickness Aura, Wound Tear, Fearless, Kick, etc, while the Priest will get Snake Curse, Infectious Wound, Purge and so on.

Some skills are more useful than others, and some class mixes are suited for specific roles. The Mage/Priest is the ultimate damage dealer right now, the Priest/Knight is the toughest healer around, Warrior/Rogue or Warrior/Knight can hit like a train and so on. You have to be careful though when choosing your secondary class, because once you make up your mind, there’s no going back.