Dragon Oath

I’m not going to say that I’m 1337 and beat all games that dare cross my crumb and coke covered path. However, I have played my fair share of mmo’s and consider myself well versed in pvp,  grind fests, end games, and item shops. I played Wow from beta through level 70, Lineage 2, Everquest 2, Star Wars Galaxies (before and during the Jedi grind), Warhammer: Age of Reckoning, 9 Dragons, Allods, Hell’s Gate: London, and omg I’m tired of listing these and it’s making me out to be bigger nerd than I really am.

Now that you know my mmo gamer cred, I would like to highlight a game that you don’t have to ignore your significant other or your personal hygiene standards to play; Dragon Oath offers the casual gamer an opportunity to sit back, relax, and revel in instant gratification.

Upon logging in you’ll notice a free gift awaiting your point and click. Once you receive the item, simply wait a few minutes to get another! This intriguing ploy encouraged me to run around getting a feel for the game before immediately dismissing it because of its Diablo style top down only view. Don’t stop reading here, I promise it’s not as bad as it sounds and once you get addicted you won’t even notice it…much. Since I’m on the topic of what’s bad about the game, it’s also point and click movement. I hate point and click, but again, after playing this game for the last few weeks, it doesn’t bother me in the slightest. BTW, it’s free.

So, back to what’s wonderful about it. Besides the free gifts, double and triple exp bonuses, and overall coolness of being a Kung Fu apprentice, everyone gets a pet. Not a novelty kitten that follows you around, but a truly useful sidekick you get to name, and raise. What’s better still, you pick and tame the pet you want on Pet Island. There are wolves, porcupines, squirrels, tigers, birds, unidentifiable creatures, and more all varying by level, skill, and rarity. I tamed three different pets before level 15.

There are 9 classes and for my first character I chose the Assassin,  which is basically a rogue. Over time, I’ve gained skills that increase critical ability, invisibility, and agility. Where this game differs from other mmo’s is its leveling and skill options. Instead of instantly leveling up once you’ve earned enough exp, you have the option of selecting to level or spending the exp on skills. This option allows for great variability of characters and, if you’re like me, sometimes I just can’t wait to get a new skill. On a side note, if you’re not ready to run back to base to get the skills, the experience you earn continues to build and is not lost simply because you chose not to level up right away.

Oh, and that’s another thing…wherever you need to run to, don’t worry about spending exhausting amounts of time getting from one side of a map to the other, simply click where you want to go on the map screen and your character will auto run to the location. There are a few run-ins here and there, but you’ll learn how to avoid them. This is just another way the game takes it easy on the player. There are also coordinates for npc’s that you can click on to run to and an in-game list of available quests and their coordinates.

There are lots of in game events and mini-games like chess and bingo, plenty of professions to keep you occupied if you feel like taking a break to fish or to plant and harvest grains, and there are personal stores so you can sell items to save up for your level 40 mount. There are instances, pvp, and enough quests that keep the grinding to a minimum.

Overall, it’s an easy game geared at rewarding players. If you’re a casual gamer looking for something fun, light hearted, and colorful, give it a shot. 

As some readers may know, my girlfriend and I are moving up to Berkeley soon and we’re deciding what furniture to deck out our new place with. After days of searching through furniture stores, online discounters, and modern design studios, we’ve compiled a list of all the items we love. We split up the items into the priority items we can’t live without, items that are similar that are more affordable if we choose to save some money, items we’d like to have sometime in the future, and items we’d die to have but are just a tiny, tiny bit out of our price range. Enjoy.

MTV broadcasts teen angst and idiocracy, The Discovery Channel dedicates 10 hours to animals vs. humans (and no less than one hour to a Myth Buster episode appropriately titled “Stinky Car,”) and the History channel plays an Ice Road Truckers marathon.  Don’t get me wrong, I love my bad-reality t.v. super stars as much as the next procrastinating adult, but it saddened my overly sensitive emotional receptor when I tuned in to learn all I could about Operation Overlord only to find a vapid reality show instead.

What would grandpa think? I should call him. Anyway…

If I constantly say I’m a nice person and follow it up with a kick to the shins, you’ll realize that I am indeed not a nice person. Just as I have indeed realized these channels are not for music, discoveries, or history. A channel that boldly and defiantly crowns itself the History channel and then airs idiotic marathons on ice commerce over the entire course of D-Day is not a gentle lover, but a cheating dog. You heard me History channel, we’re breaking up, you’re unfriended, you slut.

Dropkick your remote and go wave a flag.