Recently, MMORPG.com's Jon Wood had the opportunity to ask a few questions of the General Manager for ChangYou's Dragon Oath.
MMORPG.com:
Can you give us an idea of what Dragon Oath is all about?
Dragon Oath General Manager:
Dragon Oath is a free to play Massively Multiplayer Online Game (MMORPG) set in ancient China during the time of the Song Dynasty in 960 AD. The main storyline of Dragon Oath is based upon the mythology of the eight races of non-human deities described in Buddhist cosmology. According to Buddhism, these Demi-Gods exist on a higher plane of existence than mortals, and yet they are still bound by their passions and desires to the Samsara, the cycle of reincarnation. While the Demi-Gods themselves are not the primary focus in the game, the story's main characters are modeled after the deity races, exhibiting many of their qualities, both divine and mortal.
The entire game play of Dragon Oath including missions, features and systems follow this storyline. This will enable players to develop their own personalized experiences with the storyline of Dragon Oath.
Read the Introductory Interview
It's too bad that this game will be passed over as just another f2p Asian grinder. It's probably one of the best polished and feature full f2p game I have ever played.
The pet breeding is nuts - every damn animal you catch (even in the same species) is different, with different stats and skills. Then you can breed them with different outcomes(color,stats,skills). You can also choose to modify the pets' stats every time it levels up and also buy new skills for it. SO each pet could be totally different from any other. I doubt there is any game with a more robust/extensive pet and pet breeding system. I won't say pokemon, but that is what it felt like.
I think the game is soloable, it's just that you will level a lot slower than a group will.
According to the people on the forums who have been playing the game in other languages, most classes are pretty well balanced, with no overpowering,overplayed class.
I got the feel of a mix of diablo( you can socket/gem up gear, the loot that drops is random stats, lots of armor sets like diablo) generic f2p asian grinder( it looks and feels at first like most every other asian grinder I have played - twelvesky,9dragons, etc. without the monster density and the need to fight 50 at once to get a sliver of xp),and a tiny bit of wow( a lot of quests & features to make playing more fun/easy/lazy).
Its pre closed beta is more complete than a lot of released f2p games. - Lots of quests, lots of little features that other mmos needed, no crashes or technical problems. A lot of funny engrish though. ( I personally don't mind and findi t amusing, some people would be driven nuts by it though)
A few things will bury it though if it does them wrong.
A. Not keeping the community in check as far as jerks allowed to harrass other players and run free in chat using language and insults/threats that would make a sailor blush (- this is already happening in beta) . - They say they won't tolerate it and are working on a ToS and filter. - We'll see how that turns out. - Many games say that and fail to enforce it because the offender is a big cash shopper.
B. expensive cash shop - this game has the smallest inventory I have ever seen with nothing stackable above 20. People will want to buy bags if they enjoy playing and wont want to pay a mint to hold loot or stack higher.
C. you can only make 3 chars per account. wth? Theres like 9 classes. It also takes 3 days to delete a char you don't like. - Nice for people worried about getting hacked and looted, bad for people who just want to try other classes. - Annoying as hell.
I almost didn't try the game out since it looks like every other f2p asian game. The generic name and logo just aren't helping it imo. Glad I did. It's definitely a great fun game for now, I just hope they can keep the community decent.