Similar to the original Diablo series, to Dungeon Runners is a grinder's paradise!

I finally got into the Dungeon Runners beta last evening and I have to say that I'm pretty impressed with what you get for the "free game" as well as what you get for the paid version. Beside a few glitches and bugs here and there, overall the game plays really well. Free accounts let you enjoy a large portion of the game's features but the paid subscription unlocks alot of additional little benefits -- like being able to use better stackable potions, bank usage, and access to the games randomly generated artifacts, and the use of the purchasable special items with special King's Coins from quest rewards. All this should more than make it worth $5/month ($54/year) for hard-core action fans and those who prefer to skip the running around and head right for the high action fun.

The current character choices include the Fighter, Ranger, and Mage of either female or male gender. You can also customize your character's face and hair to your liking. Each of the three characters also starts with two special abilities to get them through the early parts of the game and although they have certain benefits that make them stronger in their 'primary focus', they can also learn the spells and abilities of any other character. For example, your Fighter can throw fireballs if you learn the spell, but the the Mage gets a 20% damage bonus with all spells. In addition to purchasing new abilities, you will be able to increase the level of power of your current ones (e.g. a level 2 firebolt), which will increase the damage it does even further.

Unfortunately experimenting with different characters can be a little frustrating because you can only create one per account right now; but you can use them on any server. To do this, you login to PlayNC account. Then click Manage > Account Details > Make another account. From there you can just pick a new login and password. I used username, username2, and username3 with the same password for my accounts so they are easy to remember. Then you can choose a different character type for each account so you can try the Fighter, Ranger, and Mage! Unfortunately, if you decide to purchase a membership, it only applies to your main account and not the secondary ones.

Fighters gets a 25% increased speed with all melee weapons and 9 Mana per Intellect point and 38 Health per Endurance point. Rangers get a 25% increased speed with all ranged weapons, 12 Mana per Intellect point, and 25 Health per Endurance point. Mages get 20% damage increase from all spells (yes, that includes Ranger and Fighter spells) and 24 Mana per Intellect point and 19 Health per Endurance point. Character levels are handled just like Diablo; where you get 5 points to spend per level in any of the four stats. I believe they are Strength, Agility, Intellect, and Endurance. Strength increases your Melee Damage and Defensive Rating; Agility increases your Missile Damage and I think your chance to hit with missiles, Intellect increases your spell skill damage (fireball, poison arrows, fighter stomp), and the amount of Mana you have, and Endurance increases your HP.

Although different in some ways, the game's graphics are very comprable to the stylized cartoony look of World of Warcraft. In fact, at times I felt like I was exploring a WOW instance, except that the action is much more fast-paced and doesn't require as much strategy. The game sound effects and music are really enjoyable but the game environment does lack that overwhelming feeling of a big bad world. This may be due to the game being a number of instanced dungeons, or because players can not usually see the sky. But it still doesn't detract from the game's primary focus.

Grouping and communication are super easy to figure out. Right click a player and invite him to your group. Or you can go through the logged in player menu and grab someone who is LFG as long as they are within 5 levels of your character. Adding friends to your buddy list is super easy also and the game lets you know when you're buddies are online. Group chat is as simple as typing one message with /g and then it stays within group chat and you can hit R to reply to whispers. It was all a little too easy to understand in my opinion; but again, it reinforces the "get in there and kill stuff" concept behind the game.

When your inventory fills up, you can use a teleport scroll to go back to the last town you were in, sell, and then jump right back into the action. There's no death penalty that I noticed and no item wear and tear, so you can focus on getting blood on your hands. I didn't see a crafting system, and one would probably go against the overall concept, however the game is still in beta and I would imagine that adding things like slotted items and gems from Diablo II should be pretty easy to implement. The random item generation has a sense of humor in the naming that is largely unfound in most RPG games--one item I found was a Devestating Maul of the Ghetto. And the drops appear to be overly generous at times as you tend to get several different colored magic items (ala Diablo 2's and years later WOW's system) pretty early on. The only thing that sucks is when you find a really awesome item, it's likely that you won't be able to use it unless you have a membership--which of course is what this business model is all about.

Finally, the action is where it's at. There's no running from city to city to unlock stables. There's no traveling for several real-time hours to get to your destination. Instead, Dungeon Runners immediately places you in the center of the action and lets you take breaks only when you want to. You can do quests if you like for extra cash and special rewards, but they are all optional. The dungeons are all instanced for you and your group and the enemies don't respawn--that is until you right click your character info and elect to reset your instances. Then the next time you enter the monsters and treasure will be adjusted to your player level. Sell the junk, upgrade your items and spells, and then jump back in and kill some more!