Runes of Magic's milestone numbers
by Eliot Lefebvre 
Nov 13th 2009 at 3:00PM
Filed under: Fantasy, Business models, Game mechanics, Crafting, Quests, Free-to-play, Runes of Magic
Free-to-play MMOs have been staking out an impressive share of the gaming audience, and one of their poster children is Runes of Magic. Frogster Interactive, is understandably pleased with the success that the game has enjoyed, so they've taken the time to share some interesting figures of the game's popularity.
The most recent chapter of the game, The Elven Prophecy, was released only a couple of months ago. Since then, over fifteen million quests have been completed (even more staggering when one considers that the game has recently cleared the two million mark for registered players). A quarter of a million bosses have been brought down in that span of time, as well as over sixteen million items crafted. Even allowing that some of those were likely craft grind fodder, those are impressive numbers.
Of course, one of the wonderful parts about any sort of free-to-play game is that any curiosity about the game can be satisfied by playing right away, which has no doubt contributed to the success Runes of Magic has enjoyed thus far. While it's not the biggest name in the industry, it's experiencing a groundswell of popularity, good news both for fans of the game and the business model alike.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
JP said on 3:09PM 11-13-2009
It's a decent game for F2P. I wasn't totally taken w/ it, but for something I payed nothing for, it's pretty sweet. It's got more depth then a lot of the P2P gmaes out there. I'm a RoM fan, even though it's not nessearily my main game.
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Dan said on 4:15PM 11-13-2009
I know people who ended up quiting this "free to play" MMO because they were spending close to $100 per month at end game. This company is making a killing!
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Andrew said on 5:41PM 11-13-2009
Like all MMO developers, Frogster goes out of their way to share any meaningful numbers. Peak concurrent users, number of user accounts with activity in the past 30 days, or average profit per player per month would all be interesting.
These current numbers are simply beyond useless and are probably selected because they are intentionally misleading.
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Andrew said on 5:42PM 11-13-2009
* correction:
"Like all MMO developers, Frogster goes out of their way to AVOID SHARING any meaningful numbers. "
Sorry.
Jeremy S. said on 10:39PM 11-13-2009
if you look at mmocharts.com, you'll see that he has no charts for free games, as he has all charts for sub games.
This is because there is no way, yet, to track those stats.
The only(unreliable) stat you can track is how many people register on a free games website to get an account.
and right now, RoM just passed the 2 million mark.
Andrew said on 7:20AM 11-14-2009
That's exactly what I'm saying - there is no way for the public to track those numbers. But you'd better believe that Frogster has piles of info on usage that they are unwilling to share. (Just like every other MMO company.)
Bigwig said on 6:25PM 11-13-2009
you could spend a fortune on this game and the end game could still be out of reach. theres 5 or 6 dungeons out of reach of anyone who doesnt want to spend loads and loads of money.
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Henry said on 6:43PM 11-13-2009
Aw, now you guys are scaring me away from the game. I've been meaning to try it for quite a while now, but just never got around to it. Is it worth the time? I'd only be interested in PvE.
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Jeremy S. said on 10:44PM 11-13-2009
I'm a huge RoM fanboy, so take my opinion for what you want.
But, look through massively's past RoM posts, they love it, and I agree with them that it is one of the best(I think it is the best) free to play MMO out right now.
Henry said on 6:44PM 11-13-2009
Aw, now you guys are scaring me away from the game. I've been meaning to try it for quite a while now, but just never got around to it. Is it worth the time? I'd only be interested in PvE.
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Blythe said on 8:16PM 11-13-2009
I played it a few months and got to 54/52 on my priest/knight, and can tell you the end game is quite expensive to play. Anyone tells you different there lying. Several of the end game dungeons can not be done without spending some real money to gear up.
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Jeremy S. said on 10:39PM 11-13-2009
There are literally hundreds of free-to-play games that offer cash shop. It's a huge business model. RoM is no where near the first.
Every game that's come out for years now has people that have ended up paying hundreds of dollars.
They do make a killing:)
And @Blythe, it's a free game. Anyone that tells YOU, that you HAVE to pay, is lying. There's 3 of us on a server that are in the top ten of all players with the best gear, and we never spent a dime, and got there in under 2 months. It depends on normal everyday things just like sub games do(time you can devote to it, your playing style, etc...)
Out of the 30+free games I've played, RoM has been the absolutely most congenial game when it comes to in-game only vs. paying.
And, there is no gear in the cash shop, only jewels and stones that let you enhance that gear, which are also available in-game. Sure it will take you longer to get it, but not infinitely long, everything is well within tolerance as far as how long it takes to get. There are no complaints about it on the forums(besides people who may THINK they have to pay.
Through my travels around the blogosphere, it seems that many people are constantly confused or misinformed about just how F2P works, even in the game that I really think are overcharging and selling gear enhancements only in cash shop, effectively putting a lot of pressure on players to buy.
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Blythe said on 7:57AM 11-14-2009
@ Jeremy S.
True its a free to play game. You dont have to spend a dime. I agree with that. But to get the best gear and gear it all the way up with the best purified stones and the best stats you got to spend some money. I played it with several family members one of which was the top player on our server and he would say also you have to spend money. If you got the best gear in under 2 months, quite frankly I dont believe you. But hey, I dont really care. After the expansion came out and you had to restart gearing for better stats all over again, the family members and I quit. Too many better games out there to spend any more money on this.
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