You can try out spells against players in rated or unrated games. A game is created by one player creating a lobby. Arcanists is very popular, so it doesn’t take long to find a game, or to be invited into a game by another player. Each game can have up to six other players, and you all fight each other. Games are run by an Admin, who decides all the administrative functions (thus the name) such as who can join, how long turns are, what map will be used, and whether or not other people can watch the game

If you want to gain new spells and change your rank beyond the standard rank of 1000, you have to play rated games. If you win a rated game it will improve your rank. Losing a rated game will take points away. Whether you win or lose, however, you will still gain wands. You get considerably more wands if you win than if you lose.

Setting up a rated game is substantially different from setting up a non-rated game. You can’t choose your opponent in a rated game. You go to the menu screen and enter in whatever preferences you have, if you have any, and the game will set you up with someone looking for a similar game. Finding a rated game may take longer than finding an unrated game. I haven’t waited more than 30 or 40 seconds though. As I said before, Arcanists is a very popular game. The more specific your preferences are, the longer you will have to wait to be matched up. If you’re in a hurry choose no preferences.

The graphics, sound and game play are smooth and crisp. Online multiplayer gaming is exciting, fun and addictive, even if you suck like I do and your rating plummets from your baseline 1000 to something below 500 like I have done. The sandbox and unrated games can help you develop new strategies and get better. You will also be able to learn strategy by being a spectator of these games. With the right strategy, you can destroy your opponent and the map at the same time.

There is really nothing to fault the game for aside from some minor tweaks that would improve it. There are always matches going on, and it is always fun. This is one of the better games you will find online. As of April 2008, Arcanists got a major update. Free players were allowed to play in unrated games. The flood of new players playing for free changed the game forever.

Arcanists was, and still remains, the most popular game on FunOrb, and has blown away the other online games on FunOrb by a wide margin. In an attempt to grow a member-base, Jagex released the unrated game of the game to free players, in the hopes that this taste would give them more incentive to join as full members.

At first, the forums were quiet for a few days after the release of the update, but then the free players started swamping the unrated games, and often showing really poor attitudes.

One disadvantage of being a nonmember in Arcanists is that you can only play unrated games. This keeps you from obtaining of wands, and does not allow free players to obtain new spells, either. The base spell book can do almost nothing against a battle-hardened member with a great many kinds of new spells and spell books. Members also are the only players who can gain or lose rank, making them very easy to spot when online.

Everyone knows that anything on the Internet that is freely accessible by anyone will attract less well-behaved players, and the likelihood of flame wars becomes more and more imminent. That’s exactly what happened. Anything from the presence of members, to unbalanced games, to just losing the game will set off what can only be considered a smoking stink bomb. When people get angry, every once in a while on Arcanists you’ll see a random person that spams quickly, and then leaves The problem is plaguing everyone, and the result is that Arcanists members should be segregated and have their own servers. Still, the game is great fun and highly recommended to all online gamers of all ages.

October 12, 2009