Sunday, October 28, 2012

Dragon Nest (Part Four)




Equipment
Dragon Nest - Equipment WindowDragon Nest - Trading House
The equipment system in Dragon Nest is pretty simple and not as complex as that found in Magic Campus. In essence, almost all items found in the game are color-coded into 6 different "rarity or grades", "Normal" (White), "Magic" (Green), "Rare" (Blue), "Epic" (Orange), "Unique" (Purple) and "Legend" (Red). And naturally, the better the rarity of the item, the better the stats found on that item (with all other factors being equal).

In this system, the rarity of an equipment cannot be altered in any way and is determined right from the start (when it drops from a monster). With that being said, so how do you go about looting the better rarity items?
Dragon Nest - Epic Item Drops
As far as I know, for item drops of rarity "Epic" and below, the difficulty of the dungeon and your level compared to the dungeon monsters would affect their chances of dropping. Let us take for example, Sanctuary Core in Abyss Mode (as shown in the above picture).

If I didn't remember wrongly, the recommended level for Sanctuary Core in Abyss Mode was around level 24. And since I was around level 25 (according to the screenshot), the final boss monsters still dropped some epic items although somewhat lesser than when I cleared it at level 23 or so.

Conversely, when I did a Raiders Ambush Point in Abyss Mode (recommended level 15), there was totally zero epic item drops from the final boss monsters. All the items that do drop from them mostly consisted of rarity "Rare" and below. This is most probably because I was way "higher leveled" than the monsters found in that dungeon instance. As for items of rarity above "Epic", I would guess that they will drop from the tougher dungeons like the Dark Lairs or Nests (ones that would require a party to clear).

Now that you know about rarity of an item (which is something we cannot change), let us take a look at the things that we can change.
Enhancement Potential
Dragon Nest - Enhancing Venus BeretDragon Nest - Enhancing Success
Enhancement potential is merely the lingo for upgrading your equipment in Dragon Nest. If you take an item such as armor or weapon to the blacksmith in any major towns (Calderock or Saint Haven), you have an option to upgrade it as long as you bring him the necessary materials.

But as far as I know, the materials you need depends on the rarity of the item your upgrading and how "upgraded" it already is. Items of "Normal" and "Magic" rarity (and at low upgrades) may not require any jewels and just needs some in-game coins (gold, silver, copper). However, upgrading "Rare" and above items would require the use of jewels like agates and/or diamonds of various sizes (fragments, rough, ordinary, etc) and quantity depending on item and upgrade levels.

And like all upgrading systems found in regular MMOs, there is a chance to fail the upgrade as you enhance the item more and more. Generally, an item is guaranteed to upgrade to +3 without fail and can be safely upgraded to +6 without the risk of losing the item. And at +7 and above, the item will start to glow, but that is also when you will risk losing the item unless you use "Item Protection Jellies" found in the cash item shop. For an idea of the chances of success, please refer to Dragon Nest Equipment Enhancement.
Dragon Nest - Alloy GlovesDragon Nest - +1 Alloy Gloves
Initially, when the item is not yet upgraded, the "Enhancement Potential" section of the stats will not appear. Only when it has been upgraded at least once, will it appear. And as you upgrade it further, only the stats in the "Enhancement Potential" section will start to increase (while all other stats of the item remain as per normal).
Item being UpgradedStats Bonus (Enhancement Potential)
ArmorsMax HP & MP
WeaponsPhysical & Magic Attack Power
However, this is merely one of the ways to upgrade an equipment in Dragon Nest. There actually is another way of doing upgrades without the risk of losing your item or previous upgrades, albeit it being a more tedious process.
Dragon Nest - Spiral Code PouchDragon Nest - Vortex Code Pouch
If you take a closer look at the items that the "Blacksmith" NPC sells, you would ought to find a particular tab called "Enhance Code". In this tab, you will find two particular types of codes being sold, "Spiral Codes" and "Vortex Codes". For each of these types of codes, there exists a "Rare" version and an "Epic" version. The "Rare" version can be used to upgrade rarity "Rare" equipments while the "Epic" version is used to upgrade rarity "Epic" equipments.

The best part about these codes is that they upgrade your equipment with 100% success rate, although they do work under certain limitations. "Spiral Codes" only work to upgrade an equipment by +1 while "Vortex Codes" would upgrade an equipment up to the upgrade level of that code. Additionally, these codes would only work on equipments of "their levels" and "types".

For instance, if you open up a "Level 40 General Spiral Code Common Pouch" of rarity "Epic", you might perhaps get a +7 "Level 40 Spiral Code" for say a "Helmet". This spiral code would then be only usable on a +6 Level 40 "Epic" helmet and once used, the code would upgrade the said helmet to a +7. If it was a "Vortex Code" instead, then the code can be used on any Level 40 "Epic" helmet of below +7. And this vortex code will then upgrade the helmet to +7.

Interested in buying these codes now, aren't you? But just wait a sec and take a closer look at them first. The pouches holding a random +7 to +10 spiral or vortex code requires you to pay up with "Comet Dust" while the +11 to +14 versions requires "Sun Sparks". So what are these "currencies" and how do you get them?
Dragon Nest - Disassembler
Well, here's where this weird looking structure comes in...the "Disassembler". When you place ordinary, non-upgraded items into this "Disassembler", it will normally give you a "fail" message and nothing comes out. However, when you place rarity "Rare" and above equipments, which are upgraded to at least +6, into this "Disassembler", you will then obtain some "Comet Dusts" and "Sun Sparks".

As far as I know, the higher the level requirement, rarity and/or upgraded level of the equipment your disassembling, the more "Comet Dusts" and "Sun Sparks" you would get. And if your lucky enough and the item your disassembling is "precious" enough, you might sometimes get "Comet Tails" (exchangeable for 10k "Comet Dusts" per "Comet Tail" at "Blacksmith" NPC), "Sun Flames" (exchangeable for 10k "Sun Sparks" per "Sun Flame" at "Blacksmith" NPC) and "Spiral/Vortex Codes" from the process as well. For more information about the quantity you can get, please refer to Obtaining Dragon Nest Comet Dusts and Sun Sparks.

Hidden Potential
Dragon Nest - Hidden Potential
Another type of "upgrading" you can do to your equipment to improve its performance is to "unveil" its hidden potential. To do so, you will need to use another form of codes that works similar to the "Spiral" and "Vortex" codes you've seen earlier.
Dragon Nest - Low Grade Diamond CodeDragon Nest - Low Grade Technical's Agate Code
Basically, you can find three kinds of these codes, "Agate", "Crystal" and "Diamond".
  • Agate: Agate codes are used to reveal the hidden potential on armors.
  • Crystal: Crystal codes are used to reveal the hidden potential on weapons.
  • Diamond: Diamond codes are used to reveal the hidden potential on accessories.
And like the "Spiral" and "Vortex" codes mentioned earlier, these hidden potential codes also work with certain conditions. First of all, the hidden potential codes would only work upon equipments with the same rarity. Next, the level requirements of the equipment must be equal to or below that specified by the codes.
Dragon Nest - Using Low Grade Crystal CodeDragon Nest - Hidden Potential Unveiled
As long as these conditions are fulfilled, the hidden potential of the equipment will then be unveiled. However, the stats that do get applied upon the equipment is random and cannot be controlled. At best, the only thing you can do (if you dislike the stats applied) is to acquire a "Revert" Code to "wash away" the stats and then use another hidden potential code to get a fresh new set of stats.

Previous: Dragon Nest (Part Three)Next: Dragon Nest (Part Five)

Sunday, October 21, 2012

Dragon Nest (Part Three)

Titles
Dragon Nest - Titles
In Dragon Nest, one way of increasing the stats of your character is through the use of titles. These titles work in a similar fashion to the medals found in Dragonica. Both of them requires you to "equip" the title/medal in order to "activate" the bonus and likewise, you are only allowed to equip one of such title/medal at any point in time.

However, there is a slight difference as to how titles work in Dragon Nest. If you bring up the titles window as shown in the above picture, you will see that there is a "Cover Title" and an "Ability Title". A title placed in the "Cover Title" slot is only cosmetic (appears beside the name of your character) and will not affect the stats of your character in any way. On the other hand, a title placed in the "Ability Title" slot will add to the stats of your character if it provides any of such bonuses.
Dragon Nest - Combo Freak TitleDragon Nest - Master of Battle Title
Titles are gained in Dragon Nest in the same way as collecting medals in Dragonica. You will either need to complete certain quests or fulfill certain achievements/criteria before you will obtain them.

For example, to gain the title of "Combo Freak", you will need to perform at least 300 combos in a single dungeon instance. That means you will need to chain 300 attacks in one continuous flow without a pause. To gain the title of "Master of Battle", you will need to kill 20 monsters in a single strike/attack (I reckon that it can be done if you gather 20 low level monsters and use one single AOE skill to kill them off in one shot).

Heraldry
Dragon Nest - Enhancement PlateDragon Nest - Skill Plate
When out hunting in the dungeons, you will often come across all sorts of different plates. These plates may vary in types, level requirements as well as rarity.
Dragon Nest - Heraldry Crafting
In general, there are three types of plates, enhancement plates, skill plates and special skill plates. And from these plates, you can craft out their respective heraldries by gathering the necessary materials and then visiting the Heraldry Scholar in various towns.
Dragon Nest - Impact Enhancement HeraldryDragon Nest - Million Weight Hammer Skill Heraldry
Enhancement heraldry provides some sort of boost to your character's stats like strength, agility, ability to stun or paralyze others. Skill heraldry on the other hand provides a boost to a particular skill of your character. For example, increasing the damage of a skill by 10% or decreasing its MP cost or cooldown by 30%. Finally, special skill heraldry would bestow upon your character a new special skill like Hound Strike (one which you can cast in battles).

In terms of level requirements and rarity, the higher the level requirement and/or rarity of the plate, the resulting heraldry crafted will provide a stronger effect. However, not all of these plates can be easily found just by hunting in the regular dungeons.

As far as I know, Magic (Green) and Rare (Blue) grade plates are commonly found dropping from regular dungeon monsters out in the fields. The higher the level requirement of the dungeon and the harder the difficulty setting, the resulting plates that drop from the monsters will then be appropriately higher leveled and rarer.
Dragon Nest - Epic Special Skill PlateDragon Nest - Epic Skill Plate Pouch
Epic (Orange) grade plates, however, are much tougher to acquire. So far, I've only found that certain special dungeons or nests have them up as rewards for clearing them but I've yet to acquire one since these dungeons are very tough to clear alone.

As for epic skill plates, I have discovered that the heraldry scholars in towns do sell random ones placed in pouches. However, they are not up for sale using regular gold, silver and copper coins (the usual in-game currency) but rather costs varied amounts of "Fragments of Dimensional Gem".
Dragon Nest - Abyss ModeDragon Nest - Silver Dimensional Rabbit
These "Fragments of Dimensional Gem" are acquired by completing the regular field dungeons in "Abyss" mode. Upon finishing them, a dimensional rabbit will appear for you to loot and if you have in your inventory a "Key of Dimensional Box", it will then drop 25 of these fragments along with the usual loot when you click on it. If you do not possess such a key, then these fragments will not drop.
Dragon Nest - Heraldry Window
The heraldry window shown above is where you would equip those crafted heraldries that you've made out from the plates acquired. And as you can see, you only have a certain amount of slots to place heraldries in.

Ignoring the three boxes above the "Details" button and everything below it (have not discovered what they are for or whether they are already implemented into the game), you can see that the heraldry window can be divided into 4 quadrants.

In each of these quadrants, there are three boxes, two on the outside and one on the inside. The two boxes outside are for "Enhancement Heraldry" while the one on the inside is for "Skill Heraldry". The box found at the center of it all is where you would place a "Special Skill Heraldry".
Box TypeUnlocks at Levels
Enhancement10, 14, 18, 22, 26, 30, 34, 38
Skill16, 24, 32, 40
And as you progress and level up your character, each of these boxes will gradually unlock one at a time starting from the top left quadrant and moving in a clockwise fashion. But before you run off trying to collect heraldries to boost one particular stat or skill, you might want to know that the system limits you in such a way that you cannot equip more than one of the same kind of heraldry regardless of its difference in level and/or rarity.
Dragon Nest - Equipped HeraldryDragon Nest - Unequipping Heraldry
Lastly, at any point in time so long as you have an empty heraldry slot, you can just simply equip the appropriate heraldry right from your inventory. However, if you ever found a better heraldry and wish to swap it with an existing one, you can only do so at the heraldry scholars in towns. All you need to do is to pay a small sum of money to the heraldry scholar and ask him to unequip the unwanted heraldry and you can then put on the one you wanted as per normal.


Previous: Dragon Nest (Part Two)Next: Dragon Nest (Part Four)

Friday, October 12, 2012

Dragon Nest (Part Two)

Character Stats & Skills
Dragon Nest - Stats Window
Pretty much like in Dragonica, when you level in Dragon Nest, you will only get a fixed amount of skill points per level (3 skill points). Your character's stats, however, are automatically increased whenever you level up. And as far as I know, the only way to alter your stats is through equipments, titles and heraldries.

Since skill points allocation is pretty much the only way to goof up your character, let us take a closer look at it then.
Dragon Nest - Engineer Skill Tree
The picture above shows the Engineer Skill Tree. And from this picture, you should be able to pick up a few things. Firstly, you can see that I have already spent a total of 29 skill points and is left with 16 skill points remaining. Secondly, of the 29 skill points already spent, 20 points are allocated to skills in my first class (Academic) while 9 points are allocated to skills in my second class (Engineer). Thirdly, the maximum number of skill points you can allocate to either one of the class is currently at 28 skill points. And finally, to pick up a new skill or upgrade an existing one, you will need to satisfy its requirements (character level, prerequisite skill, etc), have sufficient skill points as well as not going over the class limit. So effectively, this means you will have to choose carefully which skills you would want to learn and max as you would not be able to get everything.

As far as resetting learnt skills go, you will need to purchase a skill reset scroll from the cash item shop. The only other time when you could do this for free is via the time limited skill reset scroll which you get after completing your class change quest at level 15.
Dragon Nest - Academic Skill Tree
In general, skills found in the skill tree can be classified into two kinds, active skills (blue) and passive skills (golden). However, they actually work quite differently from what you would expect in other MMOs if you purely base on the terms active and passive skills.
Dragon Nest - Napalm Bomb Skill DescriptionDragon Nest - Napalm Bomb Skill
Active skills in Dragon Nest works just like in regular MMOs and requires you to hotkey them before you could actually use them in battles. Take for example, Napalm Bomb. To use it, I had to click and drag the icon to one of the empty slots in my hotkey bar. After doing so, I just need to press the respective hotkey to use the skill during battles.
Dragon Nest - Magnifier Attack Skill DescriptionDragon Nest - Magnifier Attack Skill
Passive skills on the other hand would somewhat vary. Apart from the normal passive skills that boosts your character's stats and abilities, there is another kind of passive skill. These passive skills only trigger when the player presses some keys and/or encounter certain situations. For example, the Magnifier Attack (passive skill) only triggers when you perform a right click on a nearby fallen enemy.
Dragon Nest - Million Weight Hammer Skill
If you had performed this right click on a nearby stunned enemy, you would trigger the Million Weight Hammer (passive skill) instead. Naturally, all these would depend on whether you have learnt these passive skills in the first place. If you didn't learn them, they would not even trigger.

Useful Info:
Dragon Nest Character Stats
Dragon Nest Classes & Skills


PVP
Dragon Nest - Colosseum Channels
When you've reached level 10, a new set of channels will appear in your channel list.
These new channels allows you to visit a new place called the Colosseum. In this place, player versus player battles take place (kind of like the PVP rooms in Dragonica).
Dragon Nest - Colosseum
Upon arriving in the Colosseum, you should see a huge wooden door in front of you and some NPCs lying around to the left and right of you.
Dragon Nest - Waiting RoomDragon Nest - Fatigue Point Consumption
Going through the huge wooden door will lead you to the waiting room where you can create new PVP matches or instantly join existing ones. But do take note that there are generally two categories of PVP matches available, Colosseum and Ladder (where each of them works slightly differently).

Colosseum matches puts the players in various PVP modes where they fight, against each other or in teams, for Goddess Medals. In these types of matches, you can opt to consume a certain amount of "Fatigue Points" per few minutes (while in the match) in exchange for extra Goddess Medals. To activate this consumption, all you need to do is check the "PVP FTG Consumed" box under the "Edit" tab (bottom right corner) of the Waiting Room window.

Ladder matches on the other hand places the players in 1 vs 1 individual battles or 3 vs 3 team battles. The players fight in these matches for ladder points instead of the goddess medals. And unlike Colosseum matches, Ladder matches does not allow the consumption of Fatigue Points and requires a character level of 50 to participate.
Dragon Nest - Challenger's Equipment
After collecting enough goddess medals or ladder points, one can approach the NPCs outside in the Colosseum to exchange them for unique or rare items and equipments.

Useful Info:
Dragon Nest PVP Modes


Previous: Dragon Nest (Part One)Next: Dragon Nest (Part Three)

Thursday, October 4, 2012

Dragon Nest (Part One)

Ever since Dragonica got shut down, do you ever miss playing it?
Dragon Nest
If your answer is yes, then perhaps you can try out this new game that I came across called "Dragon Nest". The game client is only around 2.45 GB to download and after installation and patching, the game client's folder size comes up to roughly 2.94 GB.

Character Creation
Dragon Nest - Class SelectionDragon Nest - Character Creation
Unlike the extensive and detailed character creation system we see in Phantasy Star Online 2, Dragon Nest's looks very primitive and simple.

First we have the player choose a job class and then from there you are given a few simple customization options. By simple, I mean only three to four styles per option. And since there isn't much to talk about here, I guess we'll just skip to the gameplay part.

Gameplay
Dragon Nest - InterfaceDragon Nest - Dungeon Clear
Generally, the look and feel of the game gives off an aura of being Dragonica's clone, but it does have its differences. First of all, Dragonica's somewhat more of a side-scrolling type while Dragon Nest is three dimensional.
Dragon Nest - Leaving TownDragon Nest - World Map
Secondly, Dragonica has monsters all over the places linking between towns and cities, but Dragon Nest doesn't. Dragon Nest's style seems to be more like dungeon-crawlers such as Divine Souls.
Dragon Nest - Frost HillDragon Nest - Instance Creation
Once you exit the town, you go into a map area where there are some interactive objects, some NPCs, dungeon entrances and also portals leading to other areas. Just for your information, dungeon entrances have red colored portals while those leading to other areas are blue in color.

Overall, from the first few hours of playing, I get this feeling that what the game has to offer is most probably its story-telling quests. Take for example the storyline quest of my job class (Academic/Tinkerer). Apparently, my character had time-traveled back to the past in order to change the future. And quite frankly, following this storyline had occupied the bulk of those hours I've spent playing the game. But nonetheless, I felt this experience to be quite interesting in my opinion and kindda like reading a storybook.

And with the following of this storyline quest, I felt that the leveling of my character wasn't much of a grind like in other general MMOs. Well in fact, in just a mere few hours of playing, I had almost reached level 15 which is the point where I perform my first job class change. And from what I've heard from another player, she only took a week to get to level 21.

But since I have only just started to play this game, it wouldn't be too fair to end my opinion of Dragon Nest with just that. I will probably have to spend more time exploring the other features of this game. So stay tuned for the next few articles which will introduce to you the other aspects of Dragon Nest.


Next: Dragon Nest (Part Two)