Berlin, Dec. 11th 2008: The closed beta phase of Runes of Magic ended on December 10th with a bang. Hundreds of players fought against the conjured up darkness, but it was all in vain: the server went offline until the start of the open beta with the death of all player characters.

Controlled by the community managers Mike Kiefer and Jörg Koonen, the final event of several days duration started on Sunday with the first signs of imminence. In the following days constantly growing hordes of monsters brought mischief over the world of Taborea. Hundreds of adventurers formed battle groups to defend their game world.

In a long and final battle against the community manager’s evil twin avatars in the Ystra Highlands, the decision fell late Wednesday night in favor of the forces of darkness. “We are pleased how well the event was accepted by our community”, Mike Kiefer resumed following the event. “The high attendance confirmed, that relying on special ingame events in the future is the way to go.”

Even though the forces of evil were victorious for the time being, the chance for revenge is soon to come: The servers that went offline directly following the end of the event will be back online at the open beta start on Monday, December 15th. From Monday on all interested players are invited to participate in the final phase before the release in the first quarter of 2009.