How has the game been?

[Aisuru]

Hey guys, Aisu here.

It's been a long while since I played, since RuDN HC was released (Is that a long time?). I really do miss the game at times but dread thinking about coming back to the grind.

So... how is the game now? Is it still the same fun DN that is blocked by a lot of grinding? Is the class tier list gap large as usual? (Elitism, balance issues). Updates? Events? I would love to play casual a bit here and there but if I won't get anywhere doing that then I see no point.

Thanks for the answers~

[pinocallada]

Is it still the same fun DN that is blocked by a lot of grinding?

It gets more and more grindy as every patch comes, with paid shortcuts for a lot of things.

Is the class tier list gap large as usual? (Elitism, balance issues).

worst classes do less then half the dps of a dragoon with the same gear.

Updates?

Monthly updates, they're reviving old content such as Volcano nest, Guardian Nest, Mist Nest, and most recently Green Dragon Nest. Some balance changes and QoL changes that basically flip the meta every month

Events?

All the decent events are pay-to-win with the exception of this months event which is actually quite good. A bit of a grind but definitely worth it for new/vet players

I would love to play casual a bit here and there but if I won't get anywhere doing that then I see no point

You can make progress casually as gear progression is a lot simpler now, its less about forking out thousands of gold and more about how quickly you're willing to earn/work for it. The stages for gearing are very clearly laid out, Neris --> Medea --> Medea tier 2 --> Calypso --> Calypso tier 2 (and you can convert gears to the next level when you reach the maximum enhancement level). Maximum enhance for lv95 gear is +20 now, and very easy to enhance as the lowest success rate for any of those comes with calypso, and its success rate from 17 to 20 is 50%. Also very cheap compared to enhancing gear in previous caps.

(side note, theres a package in cash shop for $6 that gives a set of unenhanced tier 1 medea. And the current event is a grinding event for a free set of tier 2 medea)


to make it short,
game is a pay-to-win grindfest with recycled content and horrible balancing, but gearing is much simpler now so its got that going for it

[JeanClaudeVanDamme]

If you are a free to play player, can't dedicate 90% of your free time to Dragon Nest, and don't have multiple accounts with lots of level 50/capped characters I wouldn't bother playing. The game somehow managed to become even more of a grind than before so unless you participate in the hundreds of dollars spending events every month or solo farm with multiple accounts you will fall behind fast.

The class balance is horrible with easy to play classes like Dragoon, Warden, Ray Mechanic etc. doing easily double or more damage than other classes with the same gear. The current cap nests are all reused so if you played in the old days there isn't anything new to experience. The latest (and re-used) Green Dragon Nest raid is a boring pay to win DPS check with zero new mechanics. The raid scene is basically dead because of the small player pool and high gear requirements.

But hey if you have a lot of disposable income like me and only want to play and invest in Dragon Nest then you can enjoy the game quite a lot. Dragon Nest is super fun, but you have fork over some cash to stay competitive.

[Aisuru]

Ah... fun fun.

I dunno, I went through all of that grind before. 50+ characters for farming (All variations of the farm). Being an Adept since the release of Tinkerer, which had many many lows and a few highs, and then constant grinding just... blegh. Though, the gear thing sounds nice. L-Grade gear was beyond annoying to enhance, with me leaving off at the... awakened? IDN L-grade stuff.

If those classes, Dragoon, Warden, Ray Mech, are top tier... then what's considered low tier? My mains were Adept and Defensio so if anyone can place them somewhere that'd be nice.

Lol to the recycled content though.

[Zengeroff]

Enhancing your gear is still a massive gold sink because of how many stones, quality garnets, quality life giving essence, spaera and jellies it takes. Sure, the percent chance of enhancing is better BUT the amount of materials per enhancement is ridiculous. Hammers of Enhancement exist to help as well but are pretty hard to farm as many as you need and they are expensive to buy (plus they fail quite often).

Gear progression IS better and as was said before, quality of life is better than it has been in a very long time (possibly the best ever). Keep in mind though if you want the highest tier gear with unique gems (or L grade), Genesis accessories and epic costumes with good engraving stats, be prepared to farm millions of gold or to dig deep into your wallet. Thats not an exaggeration either.

[Aisuru]

Yeah I understand the digging your pocket stuff. I know a few too many people that spent over $10,000 on the game since release. Seems to be a lot of grinding for items though...

Oh man, you reminded me that I sold off my Genesis Rings. Oh well, thanks for the answer.

[Noiren]

I will help you to save up some time, the current Dragon Nest is either, nothing but a grinding simulator if you are FtP or an abusive girlfriend thirsty for money.

I used to main Defensio (not anymore because i recently quit) and i consider it as a really strong and versatile path of Machina class, but that's probably just me, most of people understimate machina class, you know people are lazy ass and they don't know how to use a complicated class, that's why they enjoy those 1-click-to-dps class, now if you ask me, i would consider Defensio an S or A class ( self healing, high HP, decent DPS and Bubble shield) but sadly there are just like 10 competent Machina users out there (on NA server) and like 5 really geared i guess that should tell you something regarding to your question.

[Aisuru]

At least there's some positivity here with the answer of Defensio.

But again, DN doesn't seem to have changed me in terms of progression. Well, thanks for the answer.

[ceruulean]

Lmao your best bet is dragon nest mobile because that's where ED is focusing their efforts. it's pretty much the exact same thing as the earlier caps of the pc version

The company just doesn't have the manpower or willing investors to create new assets, and it'll be very hard to return to the game to it's former glory with less money, less staff, less players

[Joni]

To sum everything up as a visual point, look at ceruulean 's avatar picture. "Everything is fine"