14 DAY TRIAL // Ever since World of Warcraft proved to be an overwhelming success, MMORPGs have become the one thing that every publisher must release. As such, the market was soon flooded with games of the genre, an over-saturation that forced the titles to mutate in order to survive. The free MMORPG is usually a somewhat downsized version of its founding father, sometime in gameplay, but most of the times just in graphics.
One of the more successful ones is Frogster's Runes of Magic, a free MMORPG developed by Runewaker that has amassed so far 2.5 million user accounts. The game's first chapter, Rise of the Demon Lord, was released on March 19, 2009, while the second one, The Elven Prophecy, came six months later, on September 15.
And now, the game's publisher has announced that a third content pack will be released for it, and that Runes of Magic The Elder Kingdoms will arrive this May. The pack will add new regions, dungeons, an increased level cap of up to 60, and a new skill system to go with it. The title will also add siege weapons, for those of us tired of banging on the front door. By the looks of it, these weapons will be available to both sides of a guild conflict, usable for attacks, as well as for defense.
As for the story and intrigue of the new add-on to Runes of Magic, the publisher revealed that, "Chapter III The Elder Kingdoms will take players to a newly rediscovered continent. Here the old kingdom of Dalanis lies in chaos and turmoil with plotters scheming behind the throne of the child-king Callaway. Little remains of the old glory of the ruling dynasty from the time of the legendary King Kalume."
Frogster has also announced that it will release a small portion of the content prior to the official May launch. A new zone from the new continent will be made available in April, allowing people to prepare for the full-scale war, opening up some of the castle upgrades and some new gear, to make sure that everyone is well outfitted to face the new challenge.