Dragon Nest

Dragon Nest is a free-to-play fantasy multiplayer online action game released in March 2010 and developed by Eyedentity Games currently available in different regions and languages. Aside from boasting a non-targeting combat and skill system within instanced dungeons, Dragon Nest also revolves around a rich story which told in different points of view depending on the player's chosen class.
Dragon Nest receives new content, balance patches and cash shop items on a monthly basis. Major expansions that include several new dungeons, Nests, new classes, multiple new features or remake of old ones, extensive class adjustements and a raise on the level cap take place every year. From June 2012 to July 2015, the game was known as Dragon Nest 2.0. Currently, the game is known as Dragon Nest R which stands for "Action Reverse, Stress Relieve, Content Reboot"
==Availability==
Currently there are 11 distributors of Dragon Nest, each with physical servers scattered around the world. Interested players are encouraged to choose the game service with closest geographical proximity to ensure smooth gameplay and guarantee the minimal delay disadvantage.
The servers of South Korea (KR), Japan (JP), China (CN), Taiwan/Hong Kong (TWHK), Indonesia (INA/INDO), Thailand (TH/THAI), Vietnam (VN) and Russia (RU) are made to cater the needs of it's respective country and only offer the game client in their native language. Some of these servers IP block foreigners, refuse customer support and other services or even permanently ban accounts of foreigner players.
Europe (EU) server is unique for being the only one to offer more than one language option: English, German and French. It is open to residents of Europe, Latin America and Turkey. North American (NA) server is available in English and open to residents of United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.
The South East Asian (SEA) version of the game is in fact a Global server in English widely available to anyone who, due to liscense restrictions, doesn't live in one of the following countries: United States, Canada, China, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan and Thailand.
A short-lived Turkey (TR) version of the game was opened from 23 December 2014 to 23 December 2015. The userbase preference towards their neighbor European version which led to low population discouraged Smilegate Europe, Turkey's distributor, from reconsidering a contract renewal. Players were compensated with item packs to use in other Smilegate Europe games.
For links to the official sites of each region, see External Links.
==Features==
===Gameplay===
Dragon Nest incorporates a non-targeting system gameplay which requires players to aim their skills and attacks properly to successfully hit enemies. Combos can also be performed through careful timing of skill usage. Players can explore the world of Altera through instanced maps with up to four people in a party and combat a vast array of mobs, with higher difficulty instances called Nests to provide a greater level of challenge for players. These Nests allow from 4 to 8 Players simultaneously.
Skills can be learned to further the character's power for both defeating monsters in dungeons and defeating other players in PvP.
===Classes===
Players can choose from eight base classes when creating a character: Warrior, Archer, Sorceress, Cleric, Academic (Tinkerer in North America), Kali, Assassin, Lencea (Lancea in SEA, Lancer in Europe) and Machina. After reaching level 15, they can choose to Specialization|specialize in one of the second classes available depending on their class, and third class at level 45 to boost some aspects of their skill sets. During event periods the spin-off classes Dark Avenger and Silver Hunter, based on the original Warrior and Archer, become available to the public for free.
Dragon Nest allows players to create up to 16 unique characters, a number that can be increased to 32 through micro-transactions. Every region of the game offers a number of servers that it's perceived as suitable for their target public. In the case of multiple servers, players do not have to stick to playing in one and can in fact create each of their characters in every existing one if desired. However, once the server has been choosen the character cannot be loaded or transferred to a different one, and if the player wishes to continue playing an specific class in a different server, they must start over.
Owned characters can be played one at once and cannot interact with each other, with the exception of mail and server-wide storage as long as the characters exists within the same server. As cash currencies are account based and not server based, every character can benefit from micro-transaction regardless of server.
===Cash Shop===
The Cash Shop (Dragon Vault in North America) is an in-game shop where players use real-life currency to purchase costumes and accessories usually not available through other methods. In some regions, players can use an alternative currency known as DNP (Petals in Japan) to make purchases in the Cash Shop. DNP can be obtained through events or in-game transactions with other players, therefore it's not required to make a real money transaction to obtain this currency.
Besides costumes and accessories there's a wide range of cosmetic items to change the physical appereance of the character, some of them not available during character creation: Hairstyles, faces, eye colors, skin colors and hair colors. The changes can be previewed in the Cash Shop or the Trading House interface. There's no method to revert changes done once the items are applied or reset to the original appereance, and the player must purchase all the needed cosmetics if they desire to do so.
Two form of pets are available: First the Pets (Minion in SEA, Ally in North America), animals that will automatically pick up the loot dropped in dungeons and Nests when enabled, and the pet will continue making the player company even after the option was disabled (removing the pet from it's item slot it's required to make it disappear completely). Second pet type available are the Spirits, little critters or orbs of light that accompany your character at all times, floating around them. Some Spirits can be fed to grow and change appereance.
Beyond the character customization items, there are several comodities available that are usually not found in-game or found in very limited quantities: Wings and mounts with speed boosts to shorten travel times in towns and fields, items to shorten the fishing and farming times, tickets to bypass the Trading House tax, Seal Stamps to facilitate gear exchange, among others.
Limited edition costumes, accessories, wings, mounts and Spirits that are remarkable for being designed by a popular artists, based on a popular NPCs of the game, product of a collaboration with a third party, or simply for boasting extravagant or quirky designs become available usually during event periods that may last from a few weeks to one month. The usual methods of acquisition are participating in it's respective event or Gacha boxes, and sometimes directly from the Cash Shop.
==Development==
Dragon Nest was first unveiled in 2007, being still in very early stages of development. The initial concept of the game focused more in dungeon crawling, and players had to fight their way through random generated dungeons until they reached the next town. The more the player progressed, the stronger, bigger and smarter monsters became. The final goal of the game was to defeat the nine Dragons that ruled the world. http://www.eyedentitygames.com/eng/company04_view.asp?strCate=NEWS&intSeq=80
The games Diablo, The Legend of Zelda, Soul of the Ultimate Nation, Guild Wars and Shadow of the Colossus were cited as inspiration.
==Spin offs and Sequels==
*Dragon Nest Labyrinth
A top view dungeon crawler for iOS and Andriod developed by Eyedentity Mobile, said to take place 500 years after the events of the original Dragon Nest. Players can choose between the Warrior, Archer, Sorceress and Cleric to explore random generated dungeons. According to the game description in the official site Geraint and Velskud will eventually be encountered in an unknown future update.
*Dragon Nest II Legend
An upcoming action game developed by Eyedentity Mobile for iOS and Andriod, said to take place 500 years before the events of Dragon Nest but speculated to be on an alternate timeline due to incongruencies with the main story: The game's story states that Geraint defeated the Black Dragon, but was exposed to the potion and to prevent corruption he sealed himself. In the process, Geraint lost his memories but eventually meets someone that will help him recover. Geraint's physical appereance also differs: He is portrayed with platinum blonde hair, paler skin and blue eyes.
Players take control of Geraint, Argenta, Marian and Garbel, each with 20 different skills that can be unlocked by progressing in the game. The game trailer teased that outfits to dress up the characters will also be available.
*Dragon Nest Origin
No details were given of this game, and it's said to be on a very early stage of development by Eyedentity Mobile for iOS and Andriod. Announcement trailer only played gameplay clips of the original Dragon Nest.
*Dragon Nest: The Light of Daybreak
A side-scroller Beat 'em up game for iOS and Android developed by Beijing ZhangKuo Mobile Multimedia Technologie Co., Ltd. based both in the original Dragon Nest game universe and the movie Dragon Nest: Warrior's Dawn universe. Players can take control of the Warrior, Archer and Sorceress to progress through stages and meet popular NPCs of the franchise, but Kali and Assassin have been teased in trailers and adverts. Currently only available for the Chinese market.
*Dragon Nest: Continenth Exploration
Also known as Dragon Nest Wonderland was monopoly style game for iOS and Android released in July 2014. The game was only released in China, Taiwan and Hong Kong before shutting down in November 2014. The game interacted with the original Dragon Nest and players could participate in events, collect virtual cards, win items or merchandise through this game.
*Project DnD
A game under development by Eyedentity Mobile for iOS and Andriod that combines Dragon Nest with another Eyedentity Games franchise: Dungeon Striker. Nothing has been revealed about the gameplay or plot, but the trailer suggests that elements or characters of Dragon Nest: Warrior's Dawn will be present.
==External links==
* Official site for the Dragon Nest franchise
* Official site of Dragon Nest SEA
* Official site of Dragon Nest North America
* Official site of Dragon Nest Europe
* Official site of Dragon Nest Korea
* Official site of Dragon Nest China
* Official site of Dragon Nest Japan
* Official site of Dragon Nest Taiwan
* Official site of Dragon Nest Thailand
* Official site of Dragon Nest Indonesia
* Official site of Dragon Nest Russia
* Official site of Dragon Nest Vietnam
* TATSUBON's Pixiv profile
==References==
Category:Action
Category:MMO
Category:PC
Category:Free to play
Category:Steam