General Discussion

Friday saw the launch of Chunk 4 for NCsoft's Free2Play MMORPG, Dungeon Runners. The patch notes can be found below:

Good news everybody! Chunk 4 (Build 145) is now available for everyone to mess around with on the Public Test Server (PTS). We have some handy instructions for you on how to get on the PTS, and a nice healthy list of patch notes to keep you satisfied. It's got the new MutantMania dungeon, a reworked quest interface, graphical engine changes, and much more.

Read more here.

Well, take note it's on the Public Test Servers, not the actual live game. Still, it's close and there's something we can get our hands on! Good stuff!

 I've been testing the patch extensively.  The graphics engine updates are excellent, as are the fixes to many trouble spots in the world geometry.  I specifically tested the game on both my lowest and highest performing machines.  On the lowest performing machine, it ran better (significantly) and looked better than it does on the current live server.  That's exellent news!

Here are some examples of what players will see in terms of the new shader/specular lighting effects:

Login Before vs. Login After
Angel Before vs. Angel After
Suit1 Before vs. Suit1 After
Splint Before Vs. Splint After
! Before vs. ! After
Mobs look especially nice, too!

Some of the new equipment is damn cool, too.  Here are some shots:

Pirate

Emerald

Sunstone (the shield is new)

Slatted

C.H.U.M Cannon

Fowl Launcher Cannon

The new boss fight is pretty epic, btw.  It's a huge encounter with tons of mobs, very chaotic and it rocks in a full group!

~Ripper

well seeing they have deployed this big patch i guess the game aint closing just yet, but they gotta get more customers asap just like TR...

 Chunk #4 was official deployed to the live servers today.  Posse support is in game, but posses are currently disabled to resolve some last minute issues (something I'd rather they do now than after players have already made posses and run into problems).

~Ripper

 Every dungeon level is still a square.  It just can't be more boring after doing a few levels.

 Wow - huge surprise at a "60 year old Reuter from Ohio" slamming yet another DR news post.  Get tired of posting as Ozmodan, get banned or are you a pair of spiteful, trolling brothers?

Ciredric vs. Ozmodan

Not all of the maps are squares, although they all do fit within the constraints of a square space.  Regardless, there are several different tilesets, a variety of fun monsters to fight, fun quests, tons of phat lewt and a decently social community (on most worlds).  Once again, if you don't like the game that's fine.  I really don't see why you feel the need to belittle both it and the people who do enjoy it every time it's mentioned in the news...

DR is isn't just a spiritual successor to Diablo, it's the bastard stepchild who staged a coup, kept many of the same cool things (lots of action, quests and loot), but added cool new things like a sense of humor, an actual community, 3D play, open "sandboxy" character development, etc...

Do I think Dungeon Runners is perfect?  No.  There are quite a few things I think would make the game better than it is.

Do I like Dungeon Runners?  Yes.  I like it a lot.  It's been one of my favorite games for a while, but I've had fun recently with some other games like Wizard101, WAR and Atlantica Online. They're all distinctively different, none are perfect , but I like them all for various reasons.

~Ripper

Does the Pirate cloth come with mage stats?

Nice chunk. Nothing epic just all around good additions.

 PIrate Gear is for fighters (ilght defense, but fast and agile build).  Here are some stats from pieces I found on the Public Test Server:

linky...

~Ripper