Frogster America, Inc. today announced that it has again expanded Runes of Magic, the Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game (MMORPG) that is redefining the standard for free-to-play titles, with a new public encounter feature that introduces dynamic combat where players can fight it out with increasingly powerful waves of computer controlled attackers. Public encounters have now been activated on the live servers, giving players new ways to play the rapidly growing free-to-play online game.

Public encounters are made up of three phases and take place around the Sergarth Outpost, which has long been afflicted by Cyclops and their minions. Their leader is battlewolf Axis and it’s he who personally commands the attacks. The supreme goal of all players in this area is to defend the outpost against three waves of attackers and to hunt down the leader of the pack. The Attack on the Sergarth Outpost marks the first time this new feature appears in Runes of Magic, with additional scenarios currently in development.

Players have to defend against opponents who grow more powerful over two phases, until in the third phase the commander steps onto the battlefield. The allied garrison troops all cry out at the sight of Axis. Only by standing together and by uniting will the heroes be able to overcome the fearsome leader and his troops. He enters the battlefield for exactly ten minutes. If he’s defeated within this time period, the leader will leave behind him some very valuable rewards as he leaves this public encounter. If the players fail, he will also leave, but without leaving anything. Following a half-hour pause for rest, the first phase resets. With this type of scenario, the interesting part that every player can jump in to the scenario anytime and take part in the encounter.

“We envision introducing the top villain, the Demon Lord, or one of his vassals in a public encounter in a new zone,” commented developer Tony Tang while discussing the implementation of the new feature.