MMOsite: Is there a cash shop in the game? What can players buy? Some players think items will ruin the gaming fun, what do you think? How do you keep the balance between the players who choose to buy virtual items and those who buy nothing?

Daniel: Right, there is a "cash shop" in Runes of Magic. However, we have been very careful not to allow it to cause any kind of imbalance. We will focus the item shop on fun items and helpful services. We'll announce further information later but there is nothing that one must buy from the shop in order to advance or compete in the game. With the game being free-to-play, players have the choice how much they want to invest, if at all. And since there is no monthly fee, one doesn't feel that they must play as much as possible to get their money's worth. Players can play whenever they want and services they have previously paid for in other games will be there waiting to be used everytime you login into Runes of Magic.

MMOsite: Is there any sort of rough schedule for when CB and OB will be available for the players? When are you looking to launch the game? How often can players expect a massive update?

Daniel: The closed beta started on August, 28th with the first two waves of community members. We are going to invite much more players in further invitation waves and via contests and giveaways like that on your site. We will invite larger player numbers within the next weeks. The open beta is going to start in December while the final launch date is not fixed yet. But Runewaker is already experimenting with large updates for post release. Two new classes, one new race, new regions and new features will be part of the first big add-on. These large update packages are scheduled for every three months ?C and like the game itself they will always be free to download and play.

MMOsite: Do you have anything more we didn't involve in this interview about Runes of Magic that you'd like to tell our readers?

Daniel: Actually, my last statement is one of the most important points. Runes of Magic is a completely free game without any costs for the client nor any subscription fees. So why would anyone not want to try it out? The game combines some of the most popular features of traditional and current MMO technologies, strategies and concepts, adds some very original ideas and transfers them into a really impressive and fresh setting with a very solid performance. Therefore we are treating Runes of Magic like a full price Triple A title in our business as a publisher, because it does not need to hide from other big names in the genre at all.