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Dragon's Prophet (Closed Beta).
May. 12th, 2013 06:05 pmSo, it's been ages since I last posted. That's going to be a common theme, alas, because I am in the midst of exam revision and getting very stressed about everything. I am also rather ill, having suffered from several bouts of unexplained vomiting in the last few weeks. I am absolutely sure this is stress related.
The situation with my operation hasn't changed. I still have lots to get signed off in my book, and still no idea when my operation is going to be. It is terrifying. -__-; Even more so because there is still pretty much nothing that I can do about it that I am not already doing. >_>;
Anyway, I have found a nice distraction for the (rare) moments when I am not revising. A few days ago I wandered across a link to a new free-to-play MMO which is currently in closed beta. I managed to get a beta key, and have been dabbling with it for the last couple of days. Unfortunately, the closed beta comes with a Non-Disclosure Agreement, and unlike many other people online (hint hint- you can google pretty much everything...) I'm not going to be going against that. This is mainly because this looks like a game I will be playing long term, and I don't want to get banned just by being that 1-in-10000000000 person that they actually notice and catch breaking the NDA. ^__-
I have to be honest, the thing that has basically drawn me to Dragon's Prophet is.... dragons. >_> The basic selling point of the game is that you can catch, train and fight alongside your own dragon (which you can also name and even dress up in armour.) This game could pretty much have the graphics of a pocket calculator and I would play, based on that alone.
Now, in line with the NDA I can't got into the nuts-and-bolts of how things work. I can only talk about what is already officially out. That basically comes down to graphics, combat, and dragons..... so here goes:
Graphics:
Admittedly this is closed beta, and there are a plethora of interesting glitches ranging from clipping to spelling mistakes, but even so the basic graphics are evident. They are.... well.... middle of the line. Rift (my current staple MMO) has incredibly nice graphics, and I think that has rather spoiled other games for me because I expect the same level, and Dragon's Prophet does not have that. In many ways, the current graphics aren't even on par with the new 'Neverwinter' MMO, which frankly I think looked shockingly bad.... but unlike Neverwinter, Dragon's Prophet doesn't look like a half-assed attempt gone wrong, but rather a concious choice. They have picked a very clear art style and they stick to it, and that makes it work.
Honestly, it looks a bit like a similar graphics quality as Warcraft, and I can live with that. Because, dragons.
Combat:
This game moved away from the traditional 'click button on toolbar' MMO standard, and involves more movement. There are toolbars and buttons, but it feels more like console gameplay. I kind of like it. ^__^ They have gone for very flashy swoops and splashes of blood, and mixed with the game's chosen art style it looks good. I can see it getting annoying in large groups, but that goes for pretty much any MMO I have ever played. >__>;
There are 4 classes, and all of them are basically dps based. Also, your combat abilities and powers aren't based just on your class, but also on the skills and breed of your companion dragon, who can be summoned to fight at your side. And that, my friends, is a lot of good fun. XD
Dragons:
This is not Pokemon. Yes, you catch and train dragons, but this isn't a mini-pet battle system or something- this is full on companion animals. It basically turns every class into a pet class, but you get to choose your pets. You also get to ride them, meaning that you basically get a mount as soon as you can find something to jump on and tame. ^__^ One of my favourite things in Warcraft was taming raptors that looked just like my mounts, and this game basically does that for you. They also promise over 300 species of dragon for us to get to grips with, and even though not all of them are active in the beta yet, the ones I have seen look good.
My only gripe is that they have classed 'dragon' very loosely. Some of these beasts, while lovely, are not really dragons. Some look like dinosaurs (also cool, but no wings) and some are more like birds or wyvens, without front limbs. But this really is just me being picky- the range of beasties on offer is awesome, and it's only going to get better as development progresses.
So yeah, I am really enjoying this. ^__^ There are still character wipes going on and server rollbacks and stuff, but that's what a closed beta is for. I'd love to talk about character generation and some other things, but... NDA. All I can say for definite is that when it goes live, I will definitely be staying around.
The situation with my operation hasn't changed. I still have lots to get signed off in my book, and still no idea when my operation is going to be. It is terrifying. -__-; Even more so because there is still pretty much nothing that I can do about it that I am not already doing. >_>;
Anyway, I have found a nice distraction for the (rare) moments when I am not revising. A few days ago I wandered across a link to a new free-to-play MMO which is currently in closed beta. I managed to get a beta key, and have been dabbling with it for the last couple of days. Unfortunately, the closed beta comes with a Non-Disclosure Agreement, and unlike many other people online (hint hint- you can google pretty much everything...) I'm not going to be going against that. This is mainly because this looks like a game I will be playing long term, and I don't want to get banned just by being that 1-in-10000000000 person that they actually notice and catch breaking the NDA. ^__-
I have to be honest, the thing that has basically drawn me to Dragon's Prophet is.... dragons. >_> The basic selling point of the game is that you can catch, train and fight alongside your own dragon (which you can also name and even dress up in armour.) This game could pretty much have the graphics of a pocket calculator and I would play, based on that alone.
Now, in line with the NDA I can't got into the nuts-and-bolts of how things work. I can only talk about what is already officially out. That basically comes down to graphics, combat, and dragons..... so here goes:
Graphics:
Admittedly this is closed beta, and there are a plethora of interesting glitches ranging from clipping to spelling mistakes, but even so the basic graphics are evident. They are.... well.... middle of the line. Rift (my current staple MMO) has incredibly nice graphics, and I think that has rather spoiled other games for me because I expect the same level, and Dragon's Prophet does not have that. In many ways, the current graphics aren't even on par with the new 'Neverwinter' MMO, which frankly I think looked shockingly bad.... but unlike Neverwinter, Dragon's Prophet doesn't look like a half-assed attempt gone wrong, but rather a concious choice. They have picked a very clear art style and they stick to it, and that makes it work.
Honestly, it looks a bit like a similar graphics quality as Warcraft, and I can live with that. Because, dragons.
Combat:
This game moved away from the traditional 'click button on toolbar' MMO standard, and involves more movement. There are toolbars and buttons, but it feels more like console gameplay. I kind of like it. ^__^ They have gone for very flashy swoops and splashes of blood, and mixed with the game's chosen art style it looks good. I can see it getting annoying in large groups, but that goes for pretty much any MMO I have ever played. >__>;
There are 4 classes, and all of them are basically dps based. Also, your combat abilities and powers aren't based just on your class, but also on the skills and breed of your companion dragon, who can be summoned to fight at your side. And that, my friends, is a lot of good fun. XD
Dragons:
This is not Pokemon. Yes, you catch and train dragons, but this isn't a mini-pet battle system or something- this is full on companion animals. It basically turns every class into a pet class, but you get to choose your pets. You also get to ride them, meaning that you basically get a mount as soon as you can find something to jump on and tame. ^__^ One of my favourite things in Warcraft was taming raptors that looked just like my mounts, and this game basically does that for you. They also promise over 300 species of dragon for us to get to grips with, and even though not all of them are active in the beta yet, the ones I have seen look good.
My only gripe is that they have classed 'dragon' very loosely. Some of these beasts, while lovely, are not really dragons. Some look like dinosaurs (also cool, but no wings) and some are more like birds or wyvens, without front limbs. But this really is just me being picky- the range of beasties on offer is awesome, and it's only going to get better as development progresses.
So yeah, I am really enjoying this. ^__^ There are still character wipes going on and server rollbacks and stuff, but that's what a closed beta is for. I'd love to talk about character generation and some other things, but... NDA. All I can say for definite is that when it goes live, I will definitely be staying around.
