[Preview] Dragon's Prophet: First Impressions of Open Beta

SBFord

Dragon's Prophet has officially entered its North American open beta and is already generating a lot of buzz. We've spent some time in game and have some impressions to share. See what we think before leaving your thoughts in the comments.

The first thing that took me by surprise about Dragon’s Prophet was how in-depth the character customization is.  It’s quite like Aion in that just about every bit of your character’s looks and body shape and size can be altered.  It’s a welcome change of pace when you compare it to other MMOs which give you a few sliders and call it a day.  I will note however that you might not want to bother with worrying about armor dye colors, as you’ll wind up replacing those starting armors within minutes of beginning the game. You’re all humans though, no dwarves, elves, or anything like that here.  The variety is in how you can craft your look and your dragons, and that will be plenty I’d wager.

Read more of Bill Murphy's Dragon's Prophet: First Impressions of Open Beta.

The proper technique must involve no pants, apparently.

MyopicMoose

I found the left click right click combo attack system with the mouse off-putting.  This mechanic reminded me too much of the various button combos used in console games for executing different attacks or moves, and is probably one of the bigger reasons why I don't play console games.  Being such a core mechanic to game play, this alone prompts me to not continue playing Dragon's Prophet, though there are other reasons, and I am confident that the community here will very competently address those.  I agree that the character customization options were well done however.   

Battlerock

I really live in a hole. I should have had this downloaded and ready to go for when I get home. Oh well I will load it up take the wife out while its downloading and then get lost in dragons prophet later tonight.

That level 13 pick is pretty epic, when you look that awesome at level 13, I think you do just what you did, snap a picture, stand back and go holy crap I look awesome, people need to see me.

BillMurphy

Originally posted by KingofHartz
I really live in a hole. I should have had this downloaded and ready to go for when I get home. Oh well I will load it up take the wife out while its downloading and then get lost in dragons prophet later tonight.

That level 13 pick is pretty epic, when you look that awesome at level 13, I think you do just what you did, snap a picture, stand back and go holy crap I look awesome, people need to see me.

To be fair, that's cosmetic armor.  

Sanador

So far I am liking it.  The only problem I have is the dragon capture mini-game.  I was level 7 trying to get a level 9 dragon so I don't know if that made it harder.  But man I had no luck capturing at all.  Any tips?

arobi

There is a specific stat that makes taming way easier. I havent played since early closed beta but if you ask in chat what stat it is, simply increase that and taming will be much much easier.

UnrealRpg

If only the quest text was readable.

[Deleted User]

The user and all related content has been deleted.

Zen_Blade

Charisma helps in making taming easier.

Battlerock

Originally posted by BillMurphy

Originally posted by KingofHartz
I really live in a hole. I should have had this downloaded and ready to go for when I get home. Oh well I will load it up take the wife out while its downloading and then get lost in dragons prophet later tonight.

That level 13 pick is pretty epic, when you look that awesome at level 13, I think you do just what you did, snap a picture, stand back and go holy crap I look awesome, people need to see me.

To be fair, that's cosmetic armor.  :)

 

I thought so, armor like that just doesnt come that easy. Its pretty nice nowadays you can look awesome that early and so you focus more on just being awesome.

udon

One thing that bothers me a bit about the cash shop is repair hammers.  It appears that if you repair using in game money only your gear degrades over time with a cash shop option to repair without degrading.

Now it might not matter to much while your leveling and replacing gear every few levels but once you hit max level it could start to add up.  A 30 day hammer is about $10 or 2/3rds of a sub cost so depending on what else you need to buy to sustain a max level character the game could start to add up.

I'm not to happy about the crafting items either as at higher levels people who are willing to spend more are going to get better gear or the fact you need to buy items to convert items for equipping in the appearance slots.

Grakulen

I didn't have the heart to tell Bill that he was trying to tame a normal dragon and is just really bad.

Gormok

Originally posted by udon

One thing that bothers me a bit about the cash shop is repair hammers.  It appears that if you repair using in game money only your gear degrades over time with a cash shop option to repair without degrading.

Now it might not matter to much while your leveling and replacing gear every few levels but once you hit max level it could start to add up.  A 30 day hammer is about $10 or 2/3rds of a sub cost so depending on what else you need to buy to sustain a max level character the game could start to add up.

I'm not to happy about the crafting items either as at higher levels people who are willing to spend more are going to get better gear or the fact you need to buy items to convert items for equipping in the appearance slots.

You can buy those same items with in game currency. All you have to do is do the dailies to obtain said currency. Everything in the CS can be obtained by playing the game, it may take longer than someone who is spending cash however.

ElRenmazuo

Originally posted by MyopicMoose
I found the left click right click combo attack system with the mouse off-putting.  This mechanic reminded me too much of the various button combos used in console games for executing different attacks or moves, and is probably one of the bigger reasons why I don't play console games.  Being such a core mechanic to game play, this alone prompts me to not continue playing Dragon's Prophet, though there are other reasons, and I am confident that the community here will very competently address those.  I agree that the character customization options were well done however.   

You must not be very good at fighting games

darkhearts

I found the game boring and graphics didn't help lol....  Just not my cup of tea

Tavern

Originally posted by Gormok

You can buy those same items with in game currency. All you have to do is do the dailies to obtain said currency. Everything in the CS can be obtained by playing the game, it may take longer than someone who is spending cash however.

This is bullshit. You can only gain 100 of those dragon insignias each day, and it requires 1490 to get a 24 hour repair hammer. '

They really just need to get rid of this silly system.

 

Wighty

This game is no longer a beta because you can actively spend RL cash (SC) so this is in fact another "we can still make drastic and sweeping changes release" and "oops if the server melts down for a week - Heys it's beta" game...

 

To play this game you really need to choose between 2 paths... Character devlopment or taming dragons... you can't have both...  This is mainly due to the fact that as you level you get to spend stat points to develop your character.

 

Now most people are thinking great! I have total control over my character, if I want to do DPS I can pump STR... no wait I want to TANK! so I can pump VIT!!! when actually the only stat you are pigeonholed to increase is Charisma... (in order to tame dragons... BORING) In truth there should have been 2 separate pools, one for character development another for taming dragons... perhaps the later being skill based.

 

Now in Closed beta, you were able to create Charisma gear... a separate set of armor that was pumped up with nothing but charisma so you could tame some of the more difficult or "rare" dragons... however in Open Beta these dragon crystals were nerfed (or so I have been told in game)

 

Basically what this game boils down to is a dragon "pet battle" pokemon game...

Pump CHA

Tame Dragons

Sit back and watch them fight...

 

I really hope Sony can redeem themselves with EQNext as their last 2 releases (albeit publishing deals) with Wizardry Online and now this "could have been a contender in 2006" game, they really need to do something right...

 

I also can't see how on earth this game plans to compete with the likes of Wildstar, Archage, TESO, hell even FF14 all of which are supposed to release before the close of the year. It is WAYYYYYYYYYY to generic well except for the "tame a dragon" aspect.

LedoDreadlow

Originally posted by Sanador
So far I am liking it.  The only problem I have is the dragon capture mini-game.  I was level 7 trying to get a level 9 dragon so I don't know if that made it harder.  But man I had no luck capturing at all.  Any tips?

 

Increase Charisma in your character stats. I always add one point at EVERY level until I'm about level 10. This makes capturing much easier. After level 10, I add a point whenever necessary, just not as often.

 

nmalthus

Actually what he doesn't mention is that SOE in many cases gave early adopters of the Founder packs the difference in station cash. I went into DP with 16,000 station cash after adding the 9000 from the DL pack plus difference in sale price plus existing stashed cash.

ProtoSori

Nice review Bill! Once again a pleasure to read. I have also begun my adventure in Dragon's Prophet, in a little section of country called Helmoth.

 

I played this game a bit in closed beta from one of the keys I got here on mmorpg.com , and I was very pleased with the combat system. As a 90's kid, I grew up with Mortal Kombat, and this game brings back the nostalgia of Mortal Kombat combo system with a fluidity that is rarely found in combat these days. I am still learning how to figure out more combo's, but I noticed one thing that seems to be the best way to go about utilizing everything. Let me explain.

 

Left + Right = Skill 1

Left + Left + Right = Skill 2

Left + Left + Left + Right = Skill 3

 

OR

 

Left + Right = Skill 1 + Left + Right = Skill 2 + Left + Right = Skill 3

 

So basically, by alternating left and right clicks as shown in example two, we get to utilize all three of the previously mentioned skills, as the left clicks seem to accumulate over time in a hidden "counter". I noticed this to be the best damage per second by far!

 

I would love to show everyone some more quirky things I've found in Dragon's Prophet, but since this is Mr. Murphy's write-up, I don't want to step on any toes! In his coming reviews, if he hits on something I have a tip or trick for, I will elaborate on that review

harris195

at level 9 your capture time gets longer so its easier to catch

Gibocracy

Key mapping is an issue...thats the only grip i had.  Great game.

jfsd88

I love this game, and where at the closed beta. Personally i love the combo skills because like with combining 4 or more skills you have like 20 skills, and there are also the dragon skills that depends on what dragon you capture (which makes me search always better dragons with good skills to help me, and then you have to lvl up the dragon skills too!) and if this wasnt enough at lvl 15 you have the masteries and some of them are also special skills!. I played with the ranger so far, the only problem i had is that it seems to me that he has less DPS or less attack speed from the closed beta, besides that ill keep playing. The crafting, enhancement and refinement are also easy to figure it out and very interesting. And it have a housing system too what i want to know better also as pvp gameplay..

MMOGamer71

Not my cup of tea, graphics reminds me of Rift and Neverwinter.

 

Same Engine?

rojoArcueid

i hate when these action mmos dont offer native gamepad support. I am enjoying the game a lot using Xpadder but since theres no native support i cant use modifiers for extra buttons like Tera did.

AsalzSy

any1 found how the macro system works? i tried /cast dat skill but nothing happen..also the macro skill cast and the follow up skills or only the main?