If you're the type of player who likes jumping into the middle of a big battle at any time, you may want to check out the new public encounters feature in Runes of Magic. Frogster announced today that players will be able to join together to fight back wave after wave of enemies under this new system.

In the first scenario, players must protect Sergarth Outpost from three waves of attackers. The enemies get more powerful over the first two phases, and the commander comes out onto the field for 10 minutes in the third phase. If the players can defeat him, he'll drop some rewards. Whether the commander is defeated or not, the battle will respawn so players can continue the fight. You can enter or leave the battle at any time.

More public encounters are in development and will be added to the game, including one that may allow players to face the Demon Lord. Keep reading below for the full press release.

Berlin, 23.04.2009: Frogster today announced that it has expanded the world of Runes of Magic , the Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game (MMORPG) that is redefining the standard of free-to-play titles, with a brand new public encounter feature that introduces dynamic combat where players can fight it out with increasingly more 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 consist of three phases and takes place around the Sergarth Outpost, which has long been afflicted by the Cyclops and their minions. Their leader is battlewolf Axis and it’s he who personally commands these 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.

Players have to defend against opponents who grow more powerful over two phases, until the third phase when the commander himself steps on to the battlefield. The allied garrison troops all cry out at the sight of Axis. Only by standing together and with their powers united will the participating heroes be able to overcome the fearsome leader and his host. He enters the battlefield for exactly ten minutes. If he is defeated within this time period, the leader will leave behind him some highly valuable rewards in farewell to this public encounter. If the players fail, he will also leave. Following a half-hour pause for rest, the first phase begins again. With this type of scenario, any player can jump in and take part in the encounter.

The Attack on the Sergarth Outpost marks the first time this new feature appears in Runes of Magic and further scenarios are currently in development. “We can well envisage introducing the top villain 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.