Perhaps this game will start a revolution, or maybe not... It really depends, but for a free game, it's pretty good!
You start out creating a character, choosing from two races, humans and elves, and a total of 8 classes. The customization is deep and nice, but can sometimes be very overwhelming, not to mention the fact that you'll have to pay real money to change your look, if you don't like how you look now. There is a nice tutorial offered, which is brief and genuine, and afterwards, you get a sense of direction of where to go and what to do. You are offered many quests to minimize grinding, but the quests eventually feel like a grind itself.
You see, these quests are all very similar, if not killing a certain amount of numbers, your sent to go play fetch. You feel pressured to simply level through questing if you do not want to grind, and though the quests are honestly satasfyingly fun, you also feel as if the game is based off of nothing but questing.
At level 10, you get to choose a secondary class. You have to level that secondary class to gain its abilities, and many people see it as a chore, and find it simply tiring to level it. Other people find it fun, but either way, it's nothing new and unique, (a feature borrowed from GW) and can pose as extra work. The good thing however, is that you can more skill customizaility if you choose to level that secondary class, and you'll find yourself having more fun with combat.
Speaking of combat, it never feels like a grind. The skills are cleverly designed to involve some thinking and short term stratedgy, and you feel like you'll need to use all your gained spells and skills at some point, instead of mashing the same button over and over, like many free to play games. Though this is nothing new, it is always something good.
The graphics are decent, though many computers will lag on the too much detail, and you might be dissapointed to have to reduce the quality to better enjoy the game. For even my 1 year old computer that processes things pretty quick, lags, even on the log in screen.
The music is not new, and is nothing more than a genuine symphonic background music to keep things going. I'd rank it at about average.
I also find the polishing a little amateur feeling, as some of the models and designs feel too scratchy, and looks like it needs some working on. But the gameplay is most important, and I found the game positively attractive and easy to play.
In conclusion, though Runes of Magic is very genuine and doesn't introduce anything of its own new to its genre, it copies other games well and may provide you with the same fun other polished games do. And in the end, this game is free, though funded from a cash shop system where you can pay real money for cosmetic reasons. This system doesn't overpower anyone, but does have nice appeal. Hey, you can try this game, and quit it if you don't like it, with nothing to lose.