Section: Mac Software, Games, Internet / Websites, Social Media, Features, Hands On / First Looks, Originals
An evil army has invaded the Kingdom of West Kruna, and the people cry out for a hero. Though you are but a simple farmhand, perhaps you are the champion who can save the land from disaster.
Gameplay
The goal of Dawn of the Dragons (DoTD) is to complete quests and kill raid monsters for gear. Doing so earns levels for skill points to make your character strong enough to face other players in PvP (player vs. player mode) or to defeat tougher raid monsters.
Yet, at the start you’re a simple farmhand wielding a pitchfork with little knowledge of warfare beyond attacking weeds in the fields. It all changes when your peaceful town is attacked by kobolds. Instead of running and hiding, you rally the town to defeat them. You then find yourself traveling throughout West Kruna with your companions while becoming a hero by performing mighty deeds. The story is told in the quests you complete. Each area having four or five locations, and each location has five quests that you complete by using energy. Energy recuperates over time (how fast depends on the class you choose), and you can increase how much you have by using skill points and wearing gear with energy bonuses. At the end of each location there’s a boss you defeat to get the ability of fighting it again as a raid monster for even better gear and craft items.
I’ve been impressed by the story so far, and the characterizations of the hero and his or her fighting companions are detailed and interesting. There’s even a story written about Roland, one of the companions on your quests, and how he acquired his weapons in an adventure before he settled down to run a tavern. While I still don’t see from where the hero could have acquired amazing combat and leadership skills, the rest of the story is written very well.
After you’ve finished some quests, you can summon your own raid monsters or join in on someone else’s raid. You use stamina on a general raid monster or honor on a guild raid monster to do damage, determined by how much attack and defense your character has, your gear, the magic that’s used, and the generals and troops you have in your legion. The more damage you do, the higher chance you have of getting more and better loot when it’s defeated. Using honor in addition to energy and stamina is a big difference between DoTD and other similar games on Facebook, because it encourages you to join a guild and play with others. You don’t have to choose between participating in a general raid or a guild raid because you can do both. Not only does this give you more chances at good gear, it also helps you gain levels faster. While there’s a chat room included, and you can leave messages with each raid monster, you can’t really communicate with your guild members from within the game. Fortunately, it’s easy to create a group using Facebook, which many guilds have done in order to share strategies, raid links, where gear can be found, and more.
In addition to raids, there are other ways of getting items. If you finish enough quests, kill enough raid and honor monsters, get your skills to a high enough level, and collect enough gear, you can earn achievement points which you can then use to buy loot bags of various sizes. Some of the bags have powerful items, and others have crafting ingredients you can collect for a set with even more power. There are many items you can make through crafting, including legendary items which take a lot of luck to earn but which are the most powerful and most challenging to find. You can also attack other players in the Colosseum and by earning enough points through victory can qualify for powerful items.
Friends
You can send and receive free crafting items and free gear through gifts, so you are rewarded for having many friends, but it’s not required and you can do well with no friends playing DoTD. While you’re encouraged to band together in guilds and join raid monsters started by strangers, they don’t have to be in your friends list if you don’t want them to be, and you don’t need a certain number of friends to unlock any of the areas or do anything else. I think more Facebook games should follow this route instead of forcing you to have 501 or more people in your friends list who play the game just to be competitive.
Planet Coins
There are many items to buy with Planet Coins, the in-game currency, such as four limited time offers. If you’re feeling lucky, you can buy an expedition (one item at random from a large selection) or a starting pack with a variety of items every adventurer needs. You can also purchase energy or stamina refills, gold, temporary stat boosts, and a few other items. In addition to buying Planet Coins with money or getting them through offers, you also get one free every five levels; so, you can save up and get what you want without ever spending money for any extras.
Time
You only need to play when your energy, stamina, or honor have filled up if you don’t want to waste any, but since raid monsters have a time limit, you are encouraged to play consistently until they’re done. However, you only really have to play once or twice a day at the most, and can play even less often if you want. DoTD is not demanding of a person’s time, and is a good example of a casual game.
Conclusion
Dawn of the Dragons is a fun game, and there’s a lot to do and many goals to achieve. Having to work with other people in guilds adds a social component that other Facebook games don’t have. There’s also a lot coming soon, including guild vs. guild battles, siege weapons, guild armory, and the guild trophy cabinet. On the other hand, guild jousting (where you use honor to fight people in other guilds) and PvP aside from the Colosseum are rather dull and pointless. At the moment, it does feel like you’re getting stronger just for the sake of getting stronger without many opportunities to put it to the test. However, 5th Planet Games has been good at coming out with regular updates, and it’s likely that all of the missing features will be added eventually, if not sooner.
At the moment, I’d say Dawn of the Dragons is an enjoyable Facebook game, and one of the better ones out there. It has good social aspects without needing to clutter up your friends list with strangers and many goals to accomplish. It’s a fun casual game with a lot of potential.
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Full Story » | Written by Erica Marceau for Appletell. | Comment on this Article »
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