Dragon Oath 2

Developer: Sohu-ChangYou
Platform: Client

SYNOPSIS

Dragon Oath 2 is a free-to-play martial arts MMORPG set in ancient China during the time of the Song Dynasty in 960 AD. Based on the mythology of the eight races of non-human deities described in Buddhist cosmology, the game allows players to immerse themselves in a world of ancient Chinese lore, and take part in captivating quests. The gameplay mechanics put emphasis on teamwork and community as marriage, guilds, and blood relations play an important role in the overall experience of the game.
With its latest expansion, the title converts into Dragon Oath 2: Soul of the Sphinx.

STORY BACKGROUND

The story of Dragon Oath revolves around an elaborate saga of complex, troubled relationships among various kingdoms and sects during China’s Northern Song Dynasty, involving the warring empires of Song, Liao, Dali, Western Xia, and Tubo. The struggles within these combating factions affect the bonds between characters and their families, societies, ethnic groups, and countries. As a result, strife and conflict abound, and each player will find himself quickly pulled in to the fray.

MAIN FEATURES

- 10 classes to choose from
- Emphasis on teamwork and communication
- In-depth pet system
- Several PvP options
- Variety of in-game events and daily events
- Free-to-play

CLASSES

Dragon Oath 2 offers ten classes in total to choose from:

Pyromancer
The Pyromancer possesses the highest physical attack of all nine classes and may leave enemies burning, which causes sustained damage. Their magic defence is relatively low though.

Beggars Alliance
The Beggars Alliance is a very balanced character with good physical attacks. Possessing the highest evasion of all, they are most effective when using the "hit and run" strategy. Their attacks involve poison, which causes damage over time.

Shaolin
Shaolin characters have the highest HP and defence values of all classes but must do with evasion instead. As they don’t excel in accuracy, they have to rely on luring tactics to defeat enemies.

Assassin
Due to their superior critical hit rate, Assassins are able to deal the highest damage of all classes. They prefer to hit and run, nearly remaining invisible for enemies.

Taoist
Taoists have the lowest HP and defence values of all classes but may use a mana shield to protect themselves. They are masters of immobilising and paralysing enemies and will deal even greater damage when chaining multiple attacks.

Voodoo
Voodoo characters automatically poison all opponents who come into contact; their skills have many different side effects such as draining and blindness. They are additionally able to recover mana by sacrificing HP.

Minstrel
The Minstrel presents well-balanced stats but excels in hit and run attacks. They are able to drain an opponent's mana bar and also rely on their trap skills.

Lotus Order
Lotus Order characters are the only ones who are capable of healing and can even revive other players from death. Their limited damage skills are effective though.

Royalty
Royalties are able to use fire, ice, poison, and light elements for their highly accurate attacks while being quite resistant against those elements themselves. They prefer to attack from a distance, relying on skills that do direct physical damage.

Sphinx
Easily handling up to ten opponents at once, the Sphinx is a deadly foe to all that are unfortunate enough to meet them in close combat. Alongside a wide range of melee attacks, they also have ranged attacks and group buffs at their disposal.

PETS

Pets in Dragon Oath 2 are very useful companions as they not only provide buffs for their masters, but also do a significant amount of damage in battle. Depending on the type, they can damage enemies, cast buffs, remove negative status effects, restore their master’s MP, and more. They also have manual and automatic skills.

Players are limited to two pets at the beginning and later on to three pets at a time. They may therefore release a current pet in order to obtain a new one. To acquire a pet, they need to find a monster that can be tamed (not all species are tameable) and then attack it to drop its HP to zero before they will be able to capture it.

When fighting at the player’s side, pet gain experience and level up. Each level grants attribute points that can be spend to increase certain of the pet’s attributes.
There are three different types of pets that can be captured: young pets, wild pets, and rare pets. They vary in appearance as well as attributes.

SOULS

Souls are non-combat entities that players are able to upgrade, customise and assign attributes to. When activated, these attributes will boost the character’s own ones. They can even learn skills or be socketed for even larger attribute boosts.

As the soul grows in experience, it can be upgraded, increasing strength, intelligence, stamina, willpower and agility. It can also acquire new attributes whenever a new slot is activated. Players are able to delete current attributes they are unsatisfied with and replace them with desired effects. By socketing elemental stones, the soul’s attributes can be upgraded.

Every soul has a special feature composed of four elements: Wind, Earth, Water and Fire which will increase the character’s attack power when fighting against other opponents.

PVP

The game allows players to go head to head in distinct ways. In PK mode, they are able to choose between several combat types:

Tournament
Players may challenge other to a competition on the battlefield, without any penalties for dying (no item loss) or increasing their crime points.

Duel
Players can challenge another character to a duel that will be held in case both sides agree. This won’t increase the players’ crime points but there’s a risk of loosing some items at death.

Declare War
A declaration of war doesn’t require the opponent’s agreement. However, crime points will increase and major item losses (money, EXP) are likely at death.

Melee
Any rival player can be attacked, which will result in major losses upon death as well as increasing crime points.

DAILY EVENTS

Dragon Oath 2 features multiple events that are scheduled daily. Many of them are instances, which are special areas that generate a new copy of a map for each group that enters the area.

Chess Challenge
This event takes place two times a day and requires a team of six players. They will have to kill 200 Chess Stones and the boss, Chess Soul. When not killing the Chess Stones fast enough, they will turn into Chessmen, who do more damage and reward less experience.

Intruders
The Intruders instance requires player teams to defeat 30 rebels and a final boss. The event can be repeated over and over again on different maps as long as it is within the event’s time period.

Crusade
The Crusade is a large scale battle meant only for highly skilled players of at least level 60. They need to be in a group of no less than 3 to start the instance where they have to protect a NPC who’s under attack and intercept Captain Chien and his bandits, soldiers, and disciples before finally meeting the boss Fu Rong.

Trade Day
Focusing on the art of buying low and selling high, the Trade Day Event is a chance for players to learn how to make money while earning titles at the same time.

PLAYER INTERACTION

As Dragon Oath 2 focuses on team play, the game encourages players to make friends with others on the same server and have a friend list to which they are able to add up to 100 players. Friends can chat privately and will increase their friendship degree when taking part in combat alongside each other. A certain friendship level enables them to swear and marry.
Players can also become team-mates without being friends. Killing senior monsters together will double their received EXP. The game moreover offers possibilities to join guilds as well as establish kinship.

SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS

Minimum requirements
CPU: Intel Pentium III 800 MHz
RAM: 256 MB
HDD: more than 1.5 GB free space
Graphics card: DirectX 9.0c compatible, 32 MB RAM
Sound card: DirectX 9.0c compatible
Recommended settings
CPU: Intel Pentium IV 1.4 GHz
RAM: 512 MB
HDD: more than 1.5 GB free space
Graphics card: DirectX 9.0c compatible, 64 MB RAM
Sound card: DirectX 9.0c compatible