[mexicali4tacos]

Hey what's up everyone. Look to play an MMORPG that isn't like crack (a.k.a. WoW), haha plus I don't have the time to be playing it all day. Just wondering what everyone's thoughts are on Dofus and those who have played it, is it worth playing? I appreciate any input. Thanx.

[maccer]

I played it for a short while maybe six months ago or so. Unfortunately I started my journey to MMORPG world with playing WoW (managed to quit more than a year ago), and after that most other MMORPG:s I've tried (Dofus, Runescape, Minions of Mirth, Shadowbane... ) feel mostly like crap.

My main problem with Dofus is the turn-based battles. They're too slow for my taste, especially when multiple allies and monsters are fighting in the same battle. Also, the repeating music soon becomes a bit too annoying.

Also, at one point in the the tutorial I found it impossible to go any further, since the character refused to move - i clicked and clicked everywhere on the map, the character just stood still. This might be fixed by now, though. And no, I didn't give up playing the game just because I couldn't pass the tutorial :-)


But since a basic verison of Dofus is free, why don't you give it a try? You might even like it!

[macdude22]

First Star Online is a quick getaway and Oberin seems to be reasonably stable(though I don't log on much). First Star Online for whatever reason is a game I'll sit down with a 40 (of soder of course) and play talk to a few peeps online. Overall a plesant experience.

[Sharky]

I was involved a long time ago in the Dofus beta and it was largely incomprehensible to me. The game looks great, and was fun to play... but I couldn't for the life of me figure out how to play the damn thing. The quest progression was largely opaque to the gamer at that point.

Another thing that drags is the way battles are conducted. When an enemy spawns, there's a rush by everyone present in the room to fight that one enemy that will drop the special item and it's pretty much a matter of who can click fastest. Once the party cap is reached, you're locked out of combat. And must wait for a respawn, which runs you the same risk of not clicking fast enough.

It got old pretty fast.

Of course, as I said, it was a long time ago I played. This may have been fixed since.

[Mr.PreacherMan]

Like any other multiplayer game, the most important part in determining how much fun it is will be who you wind up associating with. The crowd on Dofus varies wildly but generally falls into two primary categories.

1. Annoying snot-nosed kids who will drive you completely bugnuts.
2. Reasonable, rational adults (a lot of designers and artists, it seems) who enjoy the old-school game play and slick art style.

(Yes, that is a drastic oversimplification. I'm trying to be funny. No, really. I am trying, I swear.)

Seriously, I find the community as a whole can be a bit on the rough side... but there's an occasional diamond in there. The only reason I've played the bloody game for a year and a half is because of the small core group of good people in my guild.

As far as game play, it's a matter of preference. I think of it as somewhat like the old Microprose games (X-Com, Master of Magic, etc...) and thoroughly enjoy it. I can easily see how it is just too slow for some people's tastes. Depends upon what you enjoy.

Getting started can be rough - as a part of the narcotic-based rewards model of MMOs - random item drops are few and far between and getting your character even the most basic equipment can be a challenge. A little guidance on what is worth selling and keeping will go a long way towards getting you up and running.

Additionally, I highly recommend picking a good startup class and considering your first character as your test run. Be prepared to use the first character to try things out and build up some capital in order to work on making your second one a lot better. I hate the overly-competitive side of character development (and the random asshats who look down on people for leveling the wrong spells, wearing the wrong gear, not planning for the long-term, etc...) but I found it really is a lot of fun to plot out a rough plan for a character and have it work out well.


Last note: Non-paying accounts (F2P or Free to Play) are limited to a small geographical area. You're missing out on a lot and you'll eventually be limited in what you can do but the game itself is still the same and quite fun on a purely casual level. Additionally, the first and largest English-speaking server is overpopulated and (last I heard) F2P access was being denied. That means you'd have to play on the secondary server, in the highly populated free area, with every other english-speaking F2P player bitterly packed in there. Try not to judge the whole game on that one small sample, as it will likely be pretty ugly (see the joking category #1 at the top).

[Huntn]

I just received a press release indicating the Dofus is over 100k players in the U.K. in less than 2 months of retail play. I got it via email. Don't see it on the ankama's site. Both Dofus and Wakfu have Mac versions but I don't know if Dofus is available in the U.S. yet and I think Wakfu is still in development.

http://www.ankama-games.com/news.php

[Mr.PreacherMan]

Huntn, on May 31st 2007, 06:07 PM, said:

Both Dofus and Wakfu have Mac versions but I don't know if Dofus is available in the U.S. yet and I think Wakfu is still in development.

As token fan boy, I'll clarify just one or two tiny things.

---

- The game is not only available in the US but worldwide. The game has been available in English since July '05 (open beta, at least. September '05 in production).

While my guild, for example, consists primarily of us yanks, we've got a few scattered folks from Europe to South East Asia.

- Wakfu is still in development, I think in closed beta. Apparently they hit the wall on what they could do with a flash-based client and so they started Wakfu with an entirely code base and set it in the same world, only a few thousand years later.

---

As far as the press release goes, I think they're referring to Shika, the "UK server". I've never been clear on what makes it the UK server, since there is no geographical restriction of any sort on what server you choose when you create your character. The only difference between servers (other than the time that they've been active and accordingly, the power level of the inhabitants and economy) is that you can choose a French, International (English) or now a UK server (also with English as the primary language, obviously).

If you haven't tried it, it's worth looking into. Game play is a cross between X-Com/UFO and Diablo. Art style would be right at home in a Studio Ghibli flick (if you've seen Spirited Away or Howl's Moving Castle). The player base has evened out a bit and there are a lot of genuinely interesting, fun people playing (along with the occasional raving asshats, naturally). Classes, setting and items are original and occasionally wickedly funny.

[CyberTron]

I don't know if you're still on this forum, but Dofus is a great game. It was one of the earliest mmorpgs available for the Mac. I've had a Mac my whole life and I used to hate how I couldn't play WoW, so that's when I found the beta version of Dofus.

Mr.PreacherMan is correct in his stereotype. Often the people that play this game are in their younger years. Some are mature for their age, yet some will ruin the game for you if you can't get away from them. There is an older community that will be friendly. This game is not cracked like WoW, but once you find these friendly characters it will be hard to say goodbye.

I have played Vendetta, Lineage, RuneScape, EQ, and WoW: Dofus remains my favorite. It incorporates alternative animation, turn based fighting for those that enjoy strategy, and they have been Mac friendly long before most other games.
Dofus 2.0 will be coming out in less than a month and I have already played a temporary, open beta. There are bugs left to be corrected, so I would try out Dofus as it is now and then experience the colorful animation soon to come.

Here is my link to Dofus:
https://secure.dofus.com/en/
or
Check out their parent sites:
Dofus.Home