What do you do in a MMORPG when you hit max level? Only a few things.
1) PVP
2) Raiding top level dungeons with guild
3) Exploring unopened areas
3 is my personal favourite. Can't explain why, but going into areas that are supposed to be closed off, even if I'm using an online video guide from Youtube, gives me a sense of excitement and exhilaration.
After finding out that the unopened areas, Weeping Coast and the Elven Island, are actually accessible, I decided to find out how to get in. Youtube, the Fount of Unnecessary Knowledge, showed me how.
To explain why I don't find a way in the game on my own, it is incredibly time consuming. The search for a usable path into illegal territories often makes it necessary for me to walk/swim in areas not meant for characters to travel on. There are frequently pits and such that cannot be jumped out of because of the steep slopes all around, or high cliffs that I could accidentally fall off and die.
The only way of escaping from the pits is to use my teleportation spell to teleport to my preset destination. The main problem here is that it has a 1-hour cooldown time. There is nothing to prevent death from a fatal fall. Death in this type of situation means revival at the resurrection point somewhere very, very far away.
So I found a video guide made by a player in a german server a month ago and decided to try it out.
My first attempt was a failure. At 0.55 of this video is a warning about falling into the pit here. I missed it and fell into it. Time to teleport and wait for an hour (it's always useful to have the spell ready during such a journey).
After another 2 tries, I finally decided that this pit was impossible to leap across without a mount. With a rented mount, success!
I apologize for the image-density of the following tale of my epic journey into the unopened territories of Runes of Magic (as of 1st Aug). Prepare for a long loading time.
The first step begins in Ravenfell, at the north of the Throne of Winds.
Hello, incomplete textures.
Getting further from legal terrain, entering the illegal zone.
Illegal? Fuck yeah!
Facing the inescapable pit I mentioned before.
Now with more horsepower! 60% increased movement speed = 60% extra leaping power!
Will I be able to avoid falling this time?
SUCCESS!
I am in unknown territory now.
Civilization sighted!
Now I'm officially in one of the unopened zone, the Weeping Coast.
Scenery that the public will not see for another month or two.
More scenery. I'm beginning to feel like I'm starring in the RoM version of I Am Legend.
Let's see if I can enter what I'm guessing to be a dungeon, the Throne of Water.
Ooooooooooh! Nope, no entrance.
You know what? According to the system I'm still in Ravenfell.
My name is Senor Hybrido. I am a survivor living in the Weeping Coast. I am broadcasting on all chat channels. I will be at the Ayal Outpost everyday at mid-day, when the sun is highest in the sky. If you are out there... if anyone is out there... I can provide food, I can provide shelter, I can provide security. If there's anybody out there... anybody... please. You are not alone.
I feel like I own the place.
Running out of the Weeping Coast, entering new uncharted lands.
It's so new, it's not even named yet!
Look! Untextured models! They haven't even finished designing them!
Now, let's try to go further east into the truly unknown land past the eastern mountain range.
Hey! Big statues!
Must be the entrance to an alternate dimension.
Bah! It's so incomplete they haven't even drilled a hole through the mountains.
Time to turn around and try the symbol further north. Looks like it may be a secondary entrance, like the Tuas Second Link.
.... Sigh... more running...
Voila! I'm here!
Gah! I see no hope of climbing those mountains! They're so unnaturally steep!
Back to the snake tunnel then.
Run run run run run. The best feature of this game is the auto-run key. I don't even need to hold W for 95% of this triathlon.
The Heart of the Ocean. Sounds like an interesting dungeon. Unfortunately it's sealed by a boring wall deep inside that I'm not going to show here.
Nothing more to see. Let's try to swim to the edge of the world! Or the Elven Island! (For reference check out one of the maps in previous screenshots)
According to the minimap on the upper right corner, I'm swimming into the truly uncharted terrain.
The edge of the world is scary. Look at all the sharp edges!
Here's a new concept: the edge of the sea. If I move further right, I fall freely. If I stay here, I swim. Yeah I tested this. Good thing I can adjust the direction of my fall so that halfway down I shifted back into the water. This must be what sailors in ancient times had envisioned to be at the end of the seas.
According to the map...
Looks like I have to walk.
Of course I'm not going to drop myself down like that. This game has fall damage, you know. I can die from falling from too high. Anyway, the vertical edge of the water is invisible. Look at my coordinates. Here I am swimming.
Here I am standing on land and breathing air.
More running.
Holy crap this is scary. I really don't know if I would fall forever if I take one more step. It feels as if I'm standing near a black hole. If I fall, I'd probably have to ask for help from a GM (for the noobs, they're the God-like employees of the game company hired to keep the peace and etc). If they find out I'm here, the best I can hope for is a 5-day suspension of this account... The worst thing that can happen is a permanent ban.
Oh shit! Nowhere else to go!
Yep, no way to go above this evil-looking black zone.
WOW! It's as if I've finally stepped onto a black hole and found that it was not fatal after all.
More water ahead. Swimming is more interesting and less scary.
Woohoo! The last of the unopened area, the Elven Island! Seriously, I cannot find a single guide out there that explains how I can get here! All I know is that it was done before, but no one seems to know how. NOW I KNOW!
Alright! Time to leave the water.
MUAHAHAHAHA! I OWN THE ISLAND NAO!
woot
I've a vague idea now how Christopher Columbus must have felt when he discovered "India".
Cool elven architecture.
This area is supposed to be the starting zone for the upcoming new race, the Elves.
This is me in all my gear, posing for this pic.
C'est moi! C'est le Senor Hybrido! Am I the greatest explorer ever? Oui oui...
Just chillin'.
Who the heck chills with their clothes on anyway?
Just chillin' at the lake.
What am I supposed to do after the epic journey? Just what all other fictional heroes did after the stories ended - go home. So here I am, back in my boring house, where my buxom maid ignores me, my table floats near the ceiling and my chest is standing like a cupboard.
Fin.
