Hello!
I see that you are interested in Dragon Nest Mobile. Well, let me show you the ropes.
For those who are not familiar with Dragon Nest, it started as an action-based MMORPG for desktops. For me, it introduced fast-paced third-person action into the MMORPG realm. It was the first game (that I remember) that somehow depended on the skills of the gamer itself - reaction time, timing, dodging skills and combos. After years of success, the developer SiamGame created a mobile adaption which is named as Dragon Nest M. Now, there is another game in the PlayStore named as Dragon Nest: Saint Haven created by Mobile Embedded Technology CO.,Ltd. This is different so please make sure you have the Dragon Nest M -SEA game installed (refer to the logo below). If you want to know more about the PC version, please Google to get more information.
Back to the main topic! First off, Character Classes.
Classes
The game has a diverse selection of classes. Each class can be specialized to two different classes when you reach a certain level. Not to mention that all have 2nd specializations, emphasizing your chosen skills. All in all, there are 28 classes in the game. You will learn more from them as you progress through the game or when you encounter them in the arena.
You get to choose your character from 7 different base classes:
- Warrior
- Cleric
- Sorceress
- Archer
- Academic
- Assassin
- Kali
Here are a few information on the main classes:
Warrior - melee physical attacks. Can be specialized to be tank (Mercenary) or with ranged sword skills (Sword Master).
Cleric - mid-range magical attacks. Can be categorized as tank (Paladin) or support (Priest)
Sorceress - long-range magical attacks. I'd like to categorize these as elementals (Elementalist) and semi-support (Mystic) . Because their skills are either flame/ice based or time-stops with dark matter skills. The elemental skills cause either slow or dps while the latter are more on holds (stops movements of enemy).
Archer - unconventionally, you'll be surprised that archers in this game has a melee sub-class. The main class have long-range magical attacks (Sharpshooter) while the other has melee DPS attacks (Acrobat). Can be categorized as DPS or semi-support.
Academic - the most hated class in PVP arena (in my opinion). can be categorized as a summoner (Engineer) or semi-support (Alchemist). You want to know why I find it the most hated class in the arena? Check Youtube.
Assassin - DPS class. The only diversity I see on this class is its focus on DPS or survival. Can also be categorized as mid-range summoners (Bringer) or melee DPS (Chaser).
Kali - boobies. They are categorized as mid or long range attackers. Their sub classes are Dancers (mid) or Screamers (long range).
To know more in-depth information about the classes, please use Google. I don't have an article about them yet but if I do, I'll be sure to link it here.
Game play
As I have mentioned above, the game is fast-paced action-based third-party combo-grinding MMO.
So instead of point-click-kill type of game, you should be quick with your reflexes and focus on the enemies attacks, anticipation is the key. Dodging plays a huge role not only for the tanks but to all, in order to survive the lairs and dungeons.
The game also has Battle Points (BP) just like other mobile games. But, not all the time this affects how strong your character is. For example, in the arena - BP has no influence on the damage that you make or take. This means there are times that you will see a Lvl40+ on the top ranks, raking in 2k++ honor points compared to you who is Lvl60 with a BP of 700K (Sorry, can't avoid to compare my own situation in this). Also, there are dungeons that totally disregard BP, making the monsters a bit harder to kill and would force the players to rely on their skills to finish it. Here's a little list of the dungeon types and whether BP affects game play or not:
Fair mode (non-BP related):
Dragon's Lair Grand master levels
Ladder Tournament (Arena)
Arena Nest
Sky Arena (team PvP)
Battle of Heroes (MOBA-like 4-man PvP)
Tournament of Blessing (Cross-server 4-man PvP)
Territory war (guild battle, 5-man)
BP-related dungeons:
Story levels
Abyss dungeons
Boss Rush
Dragon expedition
Dragon's Lair Hell
Nest dungeons
World Boss
Guild Boss
A lot of people would say that the game is pay-to-play. But I say not really. I've been playing the game for about 5 months now (3 months on my current server, as of posting) and I have a decent amount of BP (700k+). I only topped-up 10php to get the free wings as a first top-up reward (The wings are not that fancy - it's small, just so I could say I've got wings). And I don't have any S-rated 3-piece set nor an S-rated fairy. My battle points is nothing compared to other players who also are at the same level as me, also with no S-rated items, yet their BP is about 100k more than mine (I play casually, and that's my excuse). But to put it simply, one can reach high BPs even if you don't purchase anything from the gacha nor the Diamond market. Item sets can be farmed or purchased from the auction using Dragon Coins. Dragon coins are like the main currency in the game aside from gold. (We'll talk about this in a bit). And the developers offer a lot of ways to get what you want, only in a manner where you'll need to either login everyday, participate in certain events or even play hard to get enough items to exchange for that sweet S-rated item you want! So, is it pay to play? For me, no. As long as you can play - and win - against those who have high BPs in the arena, then the game is fair. It's just a matter of discipline and determination to become strong.
Currency/Market
The main currency in this game is Dragon coins (DC). There are a lot of ways to get this, even maintenance breaks gives you these as a reward. There is also gold in the game but it is the least of your concern since you can directly exchange your DCs into gold with the 'Benefits' menu or just click on the '+' sign beside the gold indicator.
Premium currency is Diamonds. Topping-up also gives you 'top-up' points equal to the number of diamonds you purchase, which is needed to purchase certain premiums together with the required diamonds as it's price. For example, one type of premium costs 380 dias but it also needs 380 top-up points before you could purchase it. Makes no sense at first, right? The reason behind it is because the game has a bounty system wherein someone who has diamonds can use them as a bounty reward to those who will help him finish a certain dungeon. The top-up point requirement on the premiums is like a guarantee that the service will only be available to those who truly support the game by purchasing in-game currency (diamonds). If you're curious what are the services offered on the premiums, these are somewhat beneficial in someways, but they don't exactly affect your game play. Some of the premium services are as follows (in no order or bundle):
100 DC everyday
x2 login rewards every other day
free attempts on nest and/or abyss dungeons
free refreshes on boss rush
2 extra dice on the card albums
etc.
I can't really discuss all the premiums and their bundles on this article, because (1) I don't purchase premiums and (2) you can check them in-game.
_________________________________________________________________________________
There's a lot more topics that we can discuss about the game but I'll leave it at here for now. I'll update this article if I can add more topics or create a whole nw article for more specific details. You can also ask questions on the comments below so that I'd know what to write next. For now, I hope you learned a lot about the game just by reading my article.
