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Runes of Magic, however, is one of the many, smaller fantasy adventures that has struggled to push past the competition. Set in the magical world of Taborea, this forgotten Steam MMO is back to celebrate its 15th anniversary
The game is Runes of Magic. To save you a click.
More details in the article
From the top-rated review on Steam (and it's positive)
This game is definitely pay to win. The microtransactions aren't just cosmetics. The items in the cash shop are a necessity for all players in endgame. There are ways to get them outside of paying real life money. You can get them gifted by other players for ingame currency or you can buy them with another currency you get from doing daily quests, but both of those options require a lot of in game effort (either grinding and selling stuff for money or creating a bunch of accounts and doing the dailies on all of them, respectively).
Sounds like a winner.
The best WoW clone I've played was RIFT, hands down. That game was surprisingly well-polished. But unfortunately the last time I had returned to play it, they followed suit with other popular MMOs and nerfed the overworld content into oblivion, effectively ruining the experience.
I did appreciate their angle on the class system, though. By combining Pyromancer and Elementalist, I was able effectively mimic a Fire Wizard from DAoC, but with a bad-ass greater earth elemental as a tank pet. One of the most satisfying characters I've ever played in an MMO.
Still, Classic/Vanilla WoW was a better experience overall.
My first real MMORPG was Dark Age of Camelot, and it was fantastic until they decided to protect cheaters who paid. After that was Guild Wars, which was almost as great. I bounced around between a handful of smaller ones until I came across RIFT, and instantly loved it. So much borrowed from the previous games, but the idea of rifts was really damned cool.
About once a year I log in, and realize that it's turned into an unplayable disaster. Then I log out, feeling sad.
Same with DAoC. I have so many vivid memories from playing that in my adolescence. It was extemely influential, and the way it made me feel was unmatched. The various town jingles still pop into my head regularly. Especially Cotswold and some of the little Hibernian villages.
I miss sitting out in Salisbury plains during the night cycle with a group of random people, casually chatting and listening to the chattering of insects. Game had great ambience.
Those are some magic runes, for sure.