I've only played Runescape for about five months total (current active subscription), but judging from other games I've played, Runescape may have the deepest magic system I've encountered so far.

Not only are there the large variety of combat spells (which other games have), but there is an entire crafting aspect to magic with enchantments that tie it into Runescape's huge economy.  It's also part of the travel system through teleports.  Casting spells requires the management of different runes as raw material (most game just use a simple mana bar system). 

(And these are just from the basic spellbook.  I haven't played long enough to get to the higher books).

Has anyone encountered a more complex system than Runescapes? 

It is tedious, lackluster and often a pain in the ass.

Yes it is complex. But it is not elaborate. There is a lack of spells when compared to other MMORPG games.

The fact that RS doesn't have WEAPON ENCHANTMENT adds insult to the injury.

The word "unique" better fits the current RS casting system.

As much as it was somewhat 'unique' or 'deep', it was a royal pain in the backside to use in my opinion.

This game is far from finished - I don't find it playable yet - and it'll be a fairly modest free (no cash shop) game when it's done, but I like Planeshift's magic system.

Players acquire runes and mix the runes to create different spell effects.

It's effectively no different to just getting a bunch of predefined spells, but I really like it. It has the potential to be really interesting.

Ryzom's magic is also customisable like this, but it's much, much more limited in its effects (you basically just have healing and damage, and a few rarely used crowd control abilities).

dont know about the part op speak but in my book this game deserves a thumbs up because it run on firefox 64 with java 64 in a browser .i could be wrong but i thinks its the only game to do that .and it makes runescape so mutch smoother.

i might give it serious whirl since million of player cant be all wrong!

Originally posted by Blissey

It is tedious, lackluster and often a pain in the ass.

Yes it is complex. But it is not elaborate. There is a lack of spells when compared to other MMORPG games.

The fact that RS doesn't have WEAPON ENCHANTMENT adds insult to the injury.

I don't know.  I counted over 100+ spells in all spellbooks going through the RS wiki.  Also, all types of combat spells other MMO's have are here:  roots, AoEs, debuffs, buffs etc.  (That is besides the deep synergy of magic, crafting and the economy).

I haven't tried it yet, but isn't there a whole 'enchant crossbow bolt' tree of spells?

i'd say darkfall has the deepest magic system

Originally posted by green13

This game is far from finished - I don't find it playable yet - and it'll be a fairly modest free (no cash shop) game when it's done, but I like Planeshift's magic system.

Players acquire runes and mix the runes to create different spell effects.

It's effectively no different to just getting a bunch of predefined spells, but I really like it. It has the potential to be really interesting.

Ryzom's magic is also customisable like this, but it's much, much more limited in its effects (you basically just have healing and damage, and a few rarely used crowd control abilities).

 Considering Jagex has been working on this game for over a decade.. don't you think it should be a bit more " developed? LOL

I disagree with Runescape's magic system being " deep" in any way. Time consuming yes, mindless repetition.. but no, not deep. There is nothing on Runescape that I even find challenging, or difficult, just time consuming.