The folks at Runes of Magic have announced that more than 95,000 players have signed up for closed beta, and that their closed beta part II will begin on October 9th.

Berlin, Oct. 3rd 2008: The success of Fantasy Massively Multiplayer Online Roleplaying Games is unbroken. Now Frogster is proud to present the first success message regarding the highly anticipated Runes of Magic. Within the first three month since release of the website and the start of the game's closed beta registration, more than 95,000 players have registered for Runes of Magic. The Berlin publisher takes this event as an opportunity to announce the start of the closed beta test II (CBT II) for Oct. 9th and the start of the open beta for Dec. 9th. For the CBT II stage, there will only be a small number of new invitations. In the upcoming beta phases an additional 30,000 players will be invited to take a look at the world of Taborea and its inhabitants.

Furthermore, by reaching the 100,000 player mark at such an early date, all expectations of the publisher were exceeded. The combination of high quality and Free2play without monthly subscription is received very well by the players and is considered a key factor of the title's success.

Until the launch of the game in December 2008 Frogster aims for 250,000 registrations as the next milestone. For this reason, Runes of Magic has evolved into one of the most promising titles on the MMOG market in such a short time.

Read more here.

 It looks like it might be the first sucessful F2P 3d MMO inside the US in recent years.... There are many Free To Play games that are just overlooked massively.... Like Atlantica for instance is prolly one of te most unique. 250k is a good mark to shoot for by launch really lets jsut  ope they get stuff sorted for that many people before release

This game is fantastic, it is IMO the best F2P MMO out & probably will be for a long time - not to mention it beats some P2P out there.

If Frogster keeps up the good work i'm sure they will hit the 250K mark for registration, i reccomend everyone who hasn't yet signed up to head over to the site & register for the CB - with CBII on the way & many invites coming in waves there's a good chance to get in & help test the game.

Good luck everyone, thanks!

/Salute.

 I watched the "dungeons" video and out of that clip I managed to spot a few very familiar animations I have encountered in WoW

" I watched the "dungeons" video and out of that clip I managed to spot a few very familiar animations I have encountered in WoW"

It wouldn't be MMORPG.com without at least one.

every mmorpg incoming is wow-like, everything it has, wow already has. But wtf is with wow ? This isn't the 1st mmorpg, so why don't u compare it to Lineage2 or other games which exist longer ?

wowfailers <_<

ontopic: I wonder how many accounts from those 95k were unique, not multiaccounts made to get to beta tests.

I hope I get into beta...it really does look like it could be the first F2P MMO actually worth playing.

Just signed up, game look ok.
But I don't like the Micro transaction system, I prefer paying a montly fee instead, so not sure if I am gonna play it after all.

The problem with micro transactions games.  They slow down the leveling process a lot for those that don't pay.   It is so easy to start telling yourself that you are only going to buy a few things, but the next thing you know, you have spent far more than a normal monthly fee.  You get to the end game with others that did the same thing, find there is not much to do and then it is on to the next game.  It is a vicious cycle.  This game may differ in degrees from others, but in the end, it is the same.

I really question the 95,000 number. Runes of magic is randomly handing out keys to access the closed beta and I think the people that really want to get in are making multiple accounts in the hopes of increasing their chances.

As far as the game being a WoW clone, I think the game resembles WoW a lot visually (among other things) but it looks like there's quite a few other differences too (like multiclassing). If they could even make a decent f2p WoW clone I'd be happy.

Originally posted by linadragon

 It looks like it might be the first sucessful F2P 3d MMO inside the US in recent years.... There are many Free To Play games that are just overlooked massively.... Like Atlantica for instance is prolly one of te most unique. 250k is a good mark to shoot for by launch really lets jsut  ope they get stuff sorted for that many people before release

Atlantica isn't overlooked. People try it, uninstall, and never look again.

Looking forward to Runes of Magic as long as it doesn't turn out to be yet another asian grinder.

Belive it or not i already  tried th earlier version CB not Final Product. and what can i say is have alot of potential, you dont need grind major times, there is alot of quests and maps,  the programmers said they inspired in wow, but this game, have alot features, nothing new or original, but tell me one game with all features in mmorpg ever known in one game like 2 in 1.

i think major players should judge the game, when he comes out in december ;)

Well, Runes Of Magic looks really nice!

It may have a lot of potential!

I'm sure I'll try it when it comes out!

OK first of all, please stopo comparing to WoW. That game copied many other MMOs & many MMos in the future will also copy them, that includes WoW. This is RoM NOT WoW.

As for the cash shop, i already gave a long-winded explanation on the matter in the general RoM forums. The CS will not give an advantage to players over those who don't use it, unless you call vanity items advantage.

This game has better graphics, gameplay & features then WoW FYI. It is generally better IMO in all aspects & it definately has it's own flavour.

/Salute.

Just say no to supposedly free to play asian item shop grinders.

but you are paying 12 bucks to play a game? And if this game is for free you wont play and pay for items?

I feel that if i have to pay for items then to enjoy the game because the free part is just a catch.

Guild Wars has been the best free MMO out because they really meant free. The only thing in their mall are more char slots, the expansion packs and skill unlocks for those who dont want to spend the time farming balt points or capturing elites for them.

If a game un-instanced and with a mall similar to this one with above average gameplay thats smooth ,that can maintain and contain a population like WoW's or Guild Wars. then that is truly breath taking for i haven't looked to P2P anymore to serve my hunger for a MMO..the free ones are starting to become better and more original.

I dont see RoM as a clone of WoW cause honestly WoW and every MMO before that one was a clone of the first MMO. I still plan on tryin WAR but im holding my breathe for CO and RoM is quickly becoming my possible choice until CO and hopefully CO will hold me over till GW2.

I think and hope and pray RoM lives up to what it says and i feel everyone should keep an eye on this game.