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Dungeon Runners Review
rhinok
Member UncommonPosts: 1,798
History:
First a little bit of history surrounding Dungeon Runners (DR). DR is the latest iteration of a game that has been kicking around for several years. DR has its roots in Tradewars (TW: Dark Millenium), which later became Exarch (notice the same art) and then finally, Dungeon Runners. Here's a link to the overall history of the game:
Dungeon Runners history
The current developers are at least the third team to have had this project. As you can see from the history, the game has changed dramatically in design and direction from it's inception.
Vision:
According to the developers, DR is not intended to be a full-fledged, in-depth MMO. In fact, the game pokes fun at some traditional MMOs with it's cartoony graphics, oversized weapons and ridiculous weapon names (Infected Wooden Titan Axe from the Ghetto, for example). DR is intended to be easy to get into and play for the casual player, It's foundation is non-stop action at a moment's notice. The game is free to download and free to play. Players can choose to become paying members, however, for a small month-to-month fee. By doing so, players will have access to the best items, a bank for gear storage, etc... Check the following link for more details:
Membership
Mechanics:
Caveat - there are two major patches coming within the next month or two which will dramatically change the game. More on that later...
There is only one race (Human) and three classes: Fighter (melee), Ranger (ranged, duh) and Mage. Each class provides certain inherent traits. Beyond this, however, there are no set rules for equipment, attributes or skills. For example, one could '"roll up" a mage, but equip it with all fighter gear and put all attribute points into Strength and Endurance. By the way, there are only four attributes: Strength (affects defense and melee damage), Agility (affects to-hit and ranged damage), Endurance (hit points) and Intelligence (affects magic damage and mana pool). Every character can potentially learn every skill from every class. Each character can reach up to 100 levels in experience.
Battle is simple and fast-paced, regardless of your "class". Theres little room for strategy. There's no pulling. All loot is completely random and all dungeons are instanced, so there's no spawn-camping/fighting. Farming does exist, however, but not in a "bad way". That's because there is no economy.
There are variety of quests, however, quests haven't been written for all of the dungeons. After the mid-20s, it's just all dungeon grinding. Speaking of the dungeons, they're repetitive. New colors, blue mobs instead of brown mobs, etc..., but still variations of the same dungeons.
There are only two towns, the newbie town (Dew Valley) and the main town (Townston), both of which are very small. There is an obelisk in the center of each town through which you can access the various dungeons, provided you have reached them.
Grouping is very simple. You can be placed automatically on a team in your level range or be invited to a group. Each group can have a maximum of five players. Additionally, each member of the group scales up the difficulty of the monsters and the quality of loot dropped.
Loot:
Loot comes in six flavors: gray (normal), green (superior), blue (magic), yellow (rare), purple (unique) and rainbow (mythic). Yellow and up are only available to playing members. In general, they are significantly better than anything lower, however purples and rainbows aren't always better than yellows. Purple and rainbow items become soulbound on drop. As such, you can't give them to your teammates or friends. All loot is assigned to individual players when dropped. There's no way to ninja phat lewtz., except for the loot that comes from treasure chests, which is free-for-all. Following are some screen links of some rainbow items I found on my ranger:
Celestial Blade
Uber Wand
Fabled One
Demon Sniper
Death by the Slice
Economy:
There is none. The only way to trade is to drop a non-soulbound item on the ground. Another party can them pick up the item. This is best done in an instance rather than town square lest the item be stolen by a passerby.
Coming attractions:
As I mentioned before, there are huge changes coming to DR in the next few patches. Some of these are:
1) Mob AI changes
2) A complete revamp of the Horrific Dungeon of Legend (HDoL)
3) Bind on equip after x minutes rather than bind on drop for purple and rainbow items
4) Elimination of classes - creating of additional slots. Classes will be based upon attributes and gear and you'll have enough room for two complete sets of gear.
Summary:
Pros
Easy to pick up and get into
Free or inexpensive to play
Addictive in the short term
Funny
Cons
Repetitive
Lack of content
So, what are my final thoughts on DR? DR is an easy-to-get-into hack-and-slash game with little background story and very little complexity. It seems very similar to Diablo and Dungeon Siege in this manner. Is this good or bad? It depends on your point of view. From my point of view, its a good thing. I already subscribe to City of Heroes/Villains and will continue to do so. I'm not looking for another in-depth MMO. So, for me, DR fills a niche; a non-stop, hack-and-slash, I intended to play for 10 minutes, but realized I was still playing 3 hours later niche. I don't, however, see this as a game to which I will subscribe for over two years like I did for Everquest and am currently doing for City of Heroes/Villains.
~Ripper McGee
First a little bit of history surrounding Dungeon Runners (DR). DR is the latest iteration of a game that has been kicking around for several years. DR has its roots in Tradewars (TW: Dark Millenium), which later became Exarch (notice the same art) and then finally, Dungeon Runners. Here's a link to the overall history of the game:
Dungeon Runners history
The current developers are at least the third team to have had this project. As you can see from the history, the game has changed dramatically in design and direction from it's inception.
Vision:
According to the developers, DR is not intended to be a full-fledged, in-depth MMO. In fact, the game pokes fun at some traditional MMOs with it's cartoony graphics, oversized weapons and ridiculous weapon names (Infected Wooden Titan Axe from the Ghetto, for example). DR is intended to be easy to get into and play for the casual player, It's foundation is non-stop action at a moment's notice. The game is free to download and free to play. Players can choose to become paying members, however, for a small month-to-month fee. By doing so, players will have access to the best items, a bank for gear storage, etc... Check the following link for more details:
Membership
Mechanics:
Caveat - there are two major patches coming within the next month or two which will dramatically change the game. More on that later...
There is only one race (Human) and three classes: Fighter (melee), Ranger (ranged, duh) and Mage. Each class provides certain inherent traits. Beyond this, however, there are no set rules for equipment, attributes or skills. For example, one could '"roll up" a mage, but equip it with all fighter gear and put all attribute points into Strength and Endurance. By the way, there are only four attributes: Strength (affects defense and melee damage), Agility (affects to-hit and ranged damage), Endurance (hit points) and Intelligence (affects magic damage and mana pool). Every character can potentially learn every skill from every class. Each character can reach up to 100 levels in experience.
Battle is simple and fast-paced, regardless of your "class". Theres little room for strategy. There's no pulling. All loot is completely random and all dungeons are instanced, so there's no spawn-camping/fighting. Farming does exist, however, but not in a "bad way". That's because there is no economy.
There are variety of quests, however, quests haven't been written for all of the dungeons. After the mid-20s, it's just all dungeon grinding. Speaking of the dungeons, they're repetitive. New colors, blue mobs instead of brown mobs, etc..., but still variations of the same dungeons.
There are only two towns, the newbie town (Dew Valley) and the main town (Townston), both of which are very small. There is an obelisk in the center of each town through which you can access the various dungeons, provided you have reached them.
Grouping is very simple. You can be placed automatically on a team in your level range or be invited to a group. Each group can have a maximum of five players. Additionally, each member of the group scales up the difficulty of the monsters and the quality of loot dropped.
Loot:
Loot comes in six flavors: gray (normal), green (superior), blue (magic), yellow (rare), purple (unique) and rainbow (mythic). Yellow and up are only available to playing members. In general, they are significantly better than anything lower, however purples and rainbows aren't always better than yellows. Purple and rainbow items become soulbound on drop. As such, you can't give them to your teammates or friends. All loot is assigned to individual players when dropped. There's no way to ninja phat lewtz., except for the loot that comes from treasure chests, which is free-for-all. Following are some screen links of some rainbow items I found on my ranger:
Celestial Blade
Uber Wand
Fabled One
Demon Sniper
Death by the Slice
Economy:
There is none. The only way to trade is to drop a non-soulbound item on the ground. Another party can them pick up the item. This is best done in an instance rather than town square lest the item be stolen by a passerby.
Coming attractions:
As I mentioned before, there are huge changes coming to DR in the next few patches. Some of these are:
1) Mob AI changes
2) A complete revamp of the Horrific Dungeon of Legend (HDoL)
3) Bind on equip after x minutes rather than bind on drop for purple and rainbow items
4) Elimination of classes - creating of additional slots. Classes will be based upon attributes and gear and you'll have enough room for two complete sets of gear.
Summary:
Pros
Easy to pick up and get into
Free or inexpensive to play
Addictive in the short term
Funny
Cons
Repetitive
Lack of content
So, what are my final thoughts on DR? DR is an easy-to-get-into hack-and-slash game with little background story and very little complexity. It seems very similar to Diablo and Dungeon Siege in this manner. Is this good or bad? It depends on your point of view. From my point of view, its a good thing. I already subscribe to City of Heroes/Villains and will continue to do so. I'm not looking for another in-depth MMO. So, for me, DR fills a niche; a non-stop, hack-and-slash, I intended to play for 10 minutes, but realized I was still playing 3 hours later niche. I don't, however, see this as a game to which I will subscribe for over two years like I did for Everquest and am currently doing for City of Heroes/Villains.
~Ripper McGee
Comments
~Ripper
You're right. It's fast. You can play as you like, in a group or by yourself, because the dungeons change for groups making it the right level of difficulty.
~BUMP~
Just to add my personal thoughts, relative to COH since it's the closest actual MMO produced that I've played:
You'll probably like this if:
* you really enjoyed doing COH missions over and over
* you appreciated COH's quick travel and minimal downtime
* you enjoy games where you can login and accomplish something in 10 minutes then logout
* you appreciate the value of free entertainment
You may not like this if:
* you want more out of a game than just fighting, e.g., you thought COH was too one-dimensional and needed an economy or crafting or more time-sinks
* you want PVP
* you didn't like the repetitiveness of COH missions
* you want a more serious role-playing type atmosphere
I will say that if this game cost $40 with a $15 a month fee I wouldn't pay for it, but since it's free, I'm enjoying the heck out of it.
~Ripper
Yeah, UlrichWolfsbane sounds familiar, I think we hooked up last week! I'll look for you ingame again. I'm still really enjoying this.
I need a break from the more serious MMOs while I wait for Warhammer Online to be released, and this one doesn't seem too serious.
I really liked CoH/V, Dungeon Siege and Diablo, so I think this game will fit me.
Now I just need to get a key...
I'd agree with the review... all the clicking could wear a guys mouse out.
The incredibly huge weapons compared to the character are very entertaining though
as for what i liked about the game, the simplicity, humor and bright huge gaudy weapons. DR is definitely a 'fill-in' game for me, one where if i get a bit bored of what i'm currently playing (Last Chaos and Rappelz), i could play for a couple hours. or during server downtime lol. i'd recommend DR (once they put in the mouse look) as a 'side game'