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Dungeon Runners

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Dungeon Runners
File:Dr 250.jpg
Developer(s)NCsoft
Publisher(s)NCsoft
Designer(s)Stephen Nichols
Platform(s)Windows
ReleaseMay 24, 2007
Genre(s)MMORPG, Hack-and-slash
Mode(s)Multiplayer

Dungeon Runners is a medieval fantasy, occasionally satirical, MMORPG developed and published by NCsoft. The gameplay is similar to the Diablo and World of Warcraft series of games.

Development

Development on the title first began in 2001 as Trade Wars: Dark Millennium. The game was based on the early computer game series of the same name and originally featured a science-fiction setting.[2] It later became Exarch in 2002 and was scrapped for some time until it resurfaced in 2005 with its third and current development team as Dungeon Runners.

Dungeon Runners entered the closed Beta phase in May 2006, and a game trailer was exhibited at the 2006 E3 convention. Open Beta began in December 2006, and Beta accounts could be acquired via an invitation from an existing player or through the NCsoft website. On May 24, 2007, the game officially went live.

Much of the original art was conceived by comic-book artist Joe 'Mad' Madureira.

As of 13 August, 2008, the parent NCSoft company in Korea has decided to cut 21 members of its staff in Austin, TX due to the company's overall decreasing profits. Out of the 18 member team which developed Dungeon Runners, only 5 of the original developers remain.

Features

The Dungeon Runners client software is free to download and play.[3] Free gameplay is unlimited (no playfield or activity is closed to free players), but an optional USD $4.99 monthly membership fee grants access to additional features that greatly enhance gameplay.[4] Additionally, users can purchase the game for $19.99. The boxed game comes with 6 months of membership as well as a "Bling Gnome". Although described as an MMORPG, the game world is almost entirely uniquely instanced for each party of players. Towns are the only areas where large numbers of players can see each other. The game is geared toward solo play to make the game as accessible as possible for all players. For players who wish to group, the dungeons scale dynamically based on group size and composition.

Dungeon Runners has implemented a classless system (see Classes, below). NCsoft has released statements on the Dungeon Runners website describing new features to be released via patches over Summer 2007. A patch released at the end of June 2007 introduced voice chat and variable game difficulty settings (individual players and groups can increase or decrease the challenge level of NPC opponents). Later patches introduced arena style team PvP and increased the number of characters per account to three. One of the most acclaimed patches was the update coined "The Heave" that introduced the first player summon "Chill Bill", and a new high level dungeon. This update patch was very well received by the gaming community and considered by many to be one the best of its updates.[5]

Classes

The Beta version of the game featured three playable classes: the mage, the warrior and the ranger. Each class had different abilities and a different NPC trainer in each neutral playfield. As with similar games, each class had a specific role to play within a party grouping. The warrior was the melee specialist, a "meat shield" to gain and hold aggro. The ranger was a ranged combat specialist, with spell-like skills that allowed different types of damage and damage over time (DoT) attacks. The mage was a ranged area of effect (AoE) combatant, dealing heavy damage to many opponents at once but unable to survive long in close combat.

With the public release of the game, a classless system has been implemented. Like before, the player chooses a class (fighter, mage, ranger[6]) when generating the character; this determines which package of beginning skills, which weapon and what type of clothing or armor the character begins the game with. After the first dungeon (Dew Valley Forest) the character arrives in the main town where there are three skill trainers, one each devoted to fighter skills, ranger skills, and mage skills. Any character may learn any skills desired from any of the three trainers. In place of a class, each character has a four word descriptive title that changes depending on how the character's attributes are improved (relative to one another) and which skills the player chooses. When the player buys new skills from a trainer, each skill has an icon that is placed in the Skill Bar, an interface element at the bottom center of the screen. The Skill Bar has eight slots mapped to number row keys plus two additional slots mapped to each of the mouse buttons. The character can learn all the skills available in the game if the player wishes; however, only ten can be accessed at any given time, being limited by the number of slots in the Bar.

A secondary pastime has emerged within the game in which players try to manipulate their descriptive name by focusing on one or two of the character's attributes and swapping out the skills in the Skill Bar.

If the player wishes a radical change in the character's abilities, a "Re-Spec" button is available on the Character Sheet. This allows the player to completely redistribute the character's attribute points at any time by spending some of the character's gold. The charge for a Re-Spec is based on the character's level and is inexpensive up to level 20, after which the price begins to increase more dramatically with level. Currently the level cap is 100.

Graphics and gameplay

The gameplay and graphics styling of Dungeon Runners has been compared to Diablo and Diablo II[7], especially noting the instanced dungeons (whose level layouts and content are randomly regenerated each time a player logs into the game), the "action RPG" gameplay style, the naming conventions for in-game items, the variable class structure based on three archetypes (five in Diablo II), and the absence of a "healer" class, among other similarities. One notable difference is that Dungeon Runners is rendered using polygonal models, rather than the sprite-based isometric graphics of the Diablo series.

GameSpot and Eurogamer[8], have stated that the graphical quality, third-person point of view and screen layout more closely resemble that of World of Warcraft, another MMORPG.

As of the latest 147 patch, a substantial graphics update was also added.

PvP

Recently NCsoft has introduced a PvP world where players can travel to the town of Pwnston and engage in single duels or group duels with other players. Each character starts off with a PvP ranking of 1500 and this number changes according to duel outcomes. Players can engage in single or group pvp combat and each side may have up to 5 players. The difficulty of the match is also scaled according to the ratio of the group sizes. For instance, a single player facing off against a team of two players would be at 100% power while the other team's two players would be toned down in damage and armour. Depending on your performance you may receive King's coins which can be spent on items.

Sound

Dungeon Runners In-game Music is composed by Tracy W. Bush. All boss monsters have their own theme song. The in-game music is notably similar to Diablo II

Payment

Payment methods include credit card, game time card and Surfpin[1], as well as a box purchase for $19.99 in shops. The game has a number of payment plans, but the only difference is in terms of how many months are paid in advance. The cost is $4.99 US per month regardless of the plan chosen. Payment is optional, and one may opt to play freely. However, membership benefits include[9]:

  • Permanent Bling Gnome (with box purchase). A henchman that follows you around and collects gold for you. He will also "consume" useless junk and convert it to gold for you.
  • Voice chat
  • Access to four additional pages in the bank for storing items(unlocked at lvl50 and lvl100 respectively) (starting Build 121), while non-paying members receive only one.[10]
  • Stackable potions up to 10
  • Access to all Rare (Yellow), Epic (Purple) and Mythic (Rainbow) items
  • Login queue list priority (although this is rarely an issue due to the low number of players)
  • Access to the Member Only world
  • No Advertisements
  • 15% More Gold and Experience (starting Build 121)[10]
  • Pay less for King's Coin items[10]

References

  1. ^ Dungeon Runners Reviews
  2. ^ Trade Wars: Dark Millennium Q&A - PC News at GameSpot
  3. ^ Dungeon Runners™ - What is Dungeon Runners?
  4. ^ Dungeon Runners™ - Membership
  5. ^ "MMOFury Honors "The Heave"". MMOFury. March 7, 2008. Retrieved 2008-08-05. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  6. ^ Dungeon Runners™ - Quickstart Guide
  7. ^ ArsGeek » Blog Archive » Cavtroop reviews ‘Dungeon Runners’
  8. ^ Dungeon Runners Review // PC /// Eurogamer
  9. ^ Dungeon Runners™ - Membership
  10. ^ a b c Skills - Townstons
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