Navibo posted the following on the official forums.

Hi all,

the servers will be down on Tusday morning at 12am PST for Patch 1827
They will be back up at around 4am. We will add Patch notes on Monday.

Thank you for your patience, and we apologize for any inconvenience.

Have Fun!

I've always felt that mini-games are a beneficial addition to any MMO. Whether you only have a few minutes to play or you just need a break from the grind, it's good to have a quick game to play that's not mandatory. Well, just such a game has been added to Runes of Magic with the Wind-Runner Races.

Head over to administrator Michelle Lang in Varanas to register for the cost of a few Phirius tokens and the horse race will begin once eight players are ready to go. Similar to Mario Kart or other go-cart games, you'll be avoiding traps and picking up items to help yourself or use against your opponents. The winner earns a pot full of Phirius tokens.

A trailer showcasing the Wind-Runner Races can be viewed on the game's official Web site. Keep reading below for the full press release.

Runes of Magic gets its first patch since launch today, which allows items to be sold in exchange for Diamonds on the auction house. For the uninitiated, Diamonds are RoM's micropayment currency, which means players can now sell items to each other via auction house for real-world money. It is still be possible to sell items for Gold on the AH (RoM's "normal" currency), but it'll be interesting to see how many people insist on having Diamonds as payment for the items they're selling.

Details of other changes contained in the patch can be found on the game's official forums.

Runes of Magic officially launched on Thursday, and while the 3D game is free to play, you can spend cash on diamonds, an in-game currency used to purchase various items. In celebration of the launch, Frogster is hosting "pimp your character week " until Friday at 10:50 p.m. GMT to entice players to purchase discounted items.

Each day this week, a different series of items will be offered at discounted prices under various themes. For example, today is "pimp your accessories" day. Tomorrow you can focus on your house; Wednesday is all about weapons; Thursday showcases experience and skill; and Friday offers armor discounts.

For more information on each item and its exact price, check out the calendar on the official Web site. And if you're still not sure if you want to check out Runes of Magic, read Editor Sam "azerian" Maxted's preview of the game.

UPDATE: According to a press release, nearly 700,000 players registered to play Runes of Magic on its launch day.

Runes of Magic, a 3D free-to-play fantasy MMORPG, has officially launched today! To play, all you need to do is head over to the official Web site, register and download the client. If you'd like more information first, our very own Sam "azerian" Maxted previewed the game before today's launch and wrote a detailed analysis of his experiences in the world. He says that while Runes of Magic is similar to World of Warcraft, the free price tag makes it worthwhile to try out. Of course, this is only one person's opinion, so feel free to leave your own in the comments section below.

As for the big launch day, Frogster has revamped the Web site, cleaned up the official forums and added an update to the game. Today's patch includes the Kalin Shrine dungeon, the Wind Wild instance, a new Epic quest line and other new quests. Experience and TP debt on all characters has been wiped to give everyone a fresh start, and a new German-language server named Riocht has been added to the list.

According to a press release, the population during open beta soared to more than 500,000 players with 725,000 created characters. Time will tell if today's official launch pushes these numbers even higher.

Free-to-play MMOs are a dime a dozen at the moment, with the lion's share of them being developed in the Far East. Runes of Magic is one such game, coming from Taiwanese developer Runewalker Entertainment. However, I'd been hearing that RoM isn't your typical free-to-play game, so I decided to give it a try before its official release on March 19th.

On first impressions, RoM seems to be very much "by the numbers", containing six fantasy-based classes (Warrior, Scout, Rogue, Mage, Priest and Knight), with some of the female classes struggling to stay fully clothed. However, once a character reaches level 10 it can travel to the city of Varanas to take on a second class. A character's secondary class gives a boost to its attributes and also enables the use of some of the class's skills. Even better, if you pick a secondary class that uses a different type of energy for its attacks, you'll end up with two separate energy bars on your character. In other words, if you run out of energy for one type of skill you still have your second energy bar to draw from.

Runes of Magic is set to launch on March 19, and Frogster has released a new trailer to get prospective players excited at the thought of entering Taborea. You can watch the trailer for the free-to-play 3D MMORPG here.

Frogster also released a list of features that will be added to the game both near launch and in the weeks following the release. For the launch you can expect to see the high-level Kalin Shrine dungeon, the Wind Wild and Ice Dwarf instances, a new epic quest line, level 35 Elite skills and new quests.

After release will come a new combat formula, guild castles, the Resource Battle System and a spring event.

Runes of Magic will be released later this month on March 19, and Frogster is continuing to release information on new content we can expect to see when the game goes live. The newest announcement is that "Kalin Shrine," a high level dungeon under the control of the dark mage Regin, will be implemented to pit players against some major challenges.

According to a press release, the dungeon is located in Dust Devil Canyon and can only be entered by players who have reached the level cap, which is set at 50. Frogster says the bosses will have numerous abilities to hinder adventurers, such as a crystal tortoise that can bind you in ice for 10 minutes. Regin, the end boss, will also bring the slain bosses back to life to aid him.

More information on "Kalin Shrine" can be found after the jump.

Runes of Magic, a free-to-play 3D MMORPG, may be launching on March 19, but that doesn't mean Frogster is done unveiling new content in the open beta. A new 1-on-1 arena system will be introduced into the test cycle in the beginning of March prior to the game's release. The best player at the end of every month will have the opportunity to win an exclusive mount.

To guarantee a balanced contest, players will need to register with the Arena Master, who will automatically assign opponents with similar statistics. The arena will act as a tool to teach players how to control their avatars. ... During every three minutes of combat, a magical seal will appear which when touched, will release a random effect – such as a healing or strength enhancing spell.

Players will eventually be able to earn items through the arena system. You can read more about it after the jump.

If you've been following Free-to-Play titles in development, chances are you've heard of Runes of Magic, a new F2P MMO that's being published by Frogster America, Inc. The game is currently in it's final stages of beta so we decided to load it up to see what it was all about. Turns out, it's a rather enjoyable game. So much so, we sat down with the President and CEO of Frogster, Sean Kauppinen, to talk about the games features and similarities to other popular mainstream MMO's.

If you'd like to give the game a try, head on over to the official Runes of Magic website and take advantage of the open beta!

Tamat : Thank you for agreeing to talk to us about Runes of Magic. How are things going in beta?

Sean Kauppinen : The beta has been excellent, with great feedback from the community. We're really pushing for our March 19th launch.

Tamat : What sets Runes of Magic apart from other MMOs on the market?