The only thing they don't seem to share is the price tag and monthly subscription costs. And as I mentioned above, this is a very good thing. It allows those of us that have never played WoW to finally take a peek at what all the fuss was about, those of us that stopped playing WoW to give it another shot for free, and those of us still playing WoW to start all over with a new community, and a hell of a lot of new features too. Copy, Paste, Upgrade! The reason I use the term WoW clone so loosely, and also with such enthusiasm, is because Runes of Magic isn't just a WoW clone,' instead of a simple copy and paste method, RoM has copied the framework of Blizzards' winning formula, and added their own flair to the design. 

RoM comes packed with both simple improvements and changes to some of the systems - and some entirely new features and additions too. Mix and Match The first of the more noticeable additions players will find throughout the lands of Taboria is in the character creation. Here, players are given the choice of over twenty different face and hairstyles, and can choose from almost any color imaginable. Then, players are able to choose the size of each and every individual body part on their character, and their height too. Coupled with the later ability to choose a Primary and Secondary color for each piece of armor you equip, you should have a hard time finding another player that looks even remotely like you do. If you should however find another character that resembles yours, RoM has a solution for that too,' and it lies in the totally awesome multi-class system. While to begin with players are only able to select one class, upon reaching level 10 they are given the choice of a second,' and will have access to certain skills from their arsenal. This however comes at a price - time - as in order to gain access to these skills players must first designate their secondary class as their primary,' and begin again from level 1. 

At present, 6 classes are available (Rogue, Warrior, Knight, Priest, Scout and Mage) - however when you factor in Secondary Classes, you'll find that number to be closer to 30. Home is where I hang my +6 Sword of Searing Flame Straying bravely into the land of innovation, RoM offers every player their very own home,' and the tools to fully furnish and decorate it too. In addition, each account will share the same house, no matter the character they choose to play with. Inside, players can add trunks and beds, cabinets and wall units,' and every other home-like feature one can think of. It's also a great place to keep your crafting supplies, of which you will undoubtedly have plenty. Crafting in RoM is also unique,' but at the same time quite familiar too. While the systems used to craft are very much the same as those found in World of Warcraft, they have added several changes,' all of them fantastic. To begin with, each player will have the opportunity to learn every craft,' both the Professions required to create, and the gathering skills too. 

However, not all of them can be fully progressed. Of all the available crafts (Carpentry, Armorsmith, Weaponsmith, Alchemist, Cooking, and Tailoring), players will only be able to advance three of them to their second stage, two of them to the third, and only one to the final, master stage. The gathering skills (Herbailsm, Woodcutting and Mining) however can all be learned and advanced fully. A Familiar Feeling Questing, as it's called, is once again very much like that found in World of Warcraft,' both in style and in quantity. There are currently over 600 quests in RoM, with many more on the horizon, and although they will feel quite familiar to those of you that have player WoW, there are several key differences that you will notice upon completing them. Firstly, the Mini-Map has been used to its fullest advantage, as both enemies and items that can be used in quests are displayed. Secondly, all available quests are shown on the Full Map, saving much time otherwise spent searching for something to do all over the world. Thirdly, an Auto-Run feature has been implemented and can be accessed via either the Full Map or the Quest Log to make traveling less of a Burden. And finally, enemies that are required for active quests will show information in the tool-tip displayed when you hover your mouse over them. 

Alone, all of these features are nothing out of the ordinary,' but combined,' they amount to a much more enjoyable playing experience. Diamonds are Forever As with all F2P games, and especially so in the case of those with a high-production value such as RoM,' a cash shop has been implemented for those of you that wish to spend a little coin to gain the upper hand. In RoM, this is done with the purchase of Diamonds from the main website. Diamonds have many uses throughout the world of Taboria, such as purchasing mounts to increase movement speed or upgrading weapons and armor to give you the the edge in a PvP battle. Just be warned,' RoM will frequently tempt you to purchase diamonds with offers that you may sometimes find hard to refuse. Whether or not the Diamond system will have a major effect on game balance yet is still unknown. Too good to be true? "Okay, Okay." I hear you say. "That's all well and good, but what about the bad stuff?" Well, as enjoyable as Runes of Magic indeed is, no game is perfect, and this is no exception. At present, much of the game is still poorly translated,' with some sections missing translation entirely, and as such appearing in Korean. The language filter implemented has been set to the maximum amount with no option to alter or remove. 

This frequently results in common words such as 'class' to be filtered out due to the word 'ass' fitting in nicely at the end. Many of the sound effects such as the 'chink' of a mining pick hitting stone or the hoofs of a horse as it gallops by have been left out entirely breaking the immersion quite significantly, and from an overall standpoint there is noticeable lack of polish, one that will be more noticeable still to people that have spent time playing World of Warcraft. With any luck, these issues should be addressed in the very near future. So, what's the verdict? As with all games of this size and magnitude, there are many features that have not been covered in this review' like the ability to upgrade weapons and armor with runes that suit your play-style, or the different locations that one can expect when traversing the great land that is Taboria, and the PvP options you may encounter as you do. As much as I would like to, there simply isn't enough time to explain such things here today. 

But you can easily find the answers to these questions yourself by playing,' hence the reason why you are here, reading this now. Is Runes of Magic worth playing? The bottom line is yes,' while Runes of Magic is an obvious clone of the mammoth MMO World of Warcraft, it is also a fantastic F2P MMORPG that includes many of its own unique features. Sure, because of its clone-style development many of you will soon be crying Bloody Mary and waving your arms around like lunatics in your total outrage of the situation. But while you do, know this,' the rest of us will be immersed in an all-new free-to-play fantasy adventure that for the most part is unmatched in brilliance by the majority of the F2P MMORPGs out there. And we'll be having having a blast. To sum this up (in fear that I will never stop rambling), currently Runes of Magic is an easy 4/5,' and in a few months, I have no doubt that it will be a damn near perfect 5/5 that should warrant the time of any soul that calls himself a gamer. After all, it's only been out for a day, and it's already pretty damn good.

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