User:Divine Auror/Dragon Court

Hosted at: http://wild.fiends.com/DCourt/Game.stm

Dragon Court is a FREE online RPG hosted by fiends.com This game has a classic feel, and is a clicking, browser-based game. Players can quest or trade their way to earn wealth. The game style functions on a turn-based combat engine. Each character in the game is given a certain number of quests to use each day, and the game has a reset each day upon which all characters are granted full quests again. Weapons and armor in the game have stats that are randomly generated, which means that this game is virtually limitless because there is always potential to find better equipment.

This game has been rated in the TOP 5 MMORPG games.



Shops
There are five shops in the game that sell specific types of items:

Sally Trader's Curious Goods

Sally Trader's shop is probably the most important shop in the game, for you can sell just about any stackable item to her. This shop is located in the Town Square.

Djinni's Magic Shop

Residing in the Mountains, Djinni's Magic Shop has some unique items, such as the Faceless Potion and the Tonic of Unskilling.

Gem Exchange

At the Gem Exchange store, you can buy or sell the six basic gems. You also have the option of peering other characters for the cost of 250 marks, which is cost-effective and worth it. This store is also located in the Mountains.

Crumb's Goblin Inn

The owner of the Goblin Inn resides in the Mounds, and he sells several items that allow access to various questing areas there. He also sells the unique novelty items like Gobble Inn T-Shirts and Postcards.

Beagle's Seaside Diner

This is the newest item shop in the realm of Dragon Court. Although many of the items that are sold in his shop can be purchased at Sally Trader's for the exact same price, his shop saves you from having to leave the Docks just to purchase those items at her shop.

Dragon Guard Missions
The Dragon Guard provides 9 unique missions for your character to pursue. Simply bring back the listed items to the Dragon Guard to complete the mission and you'll receive a nice reward for your efforts. Each mission can be completed more than once and there are some missions that you should consider repeating as soon as you've gathered the necessary items.

Here are a list of the missions and the items required to complete each one:

Grand Fish Oil Project

Items: 500,000 Marks and 50 Fish

Reward: Anywhere between 14 and 26 Fish Oils

Mysterious Goblin Armour

Items: 8 Garnet, Crystal Crown, Goblin Mythril, and Goblin Plate.

Reward: Mythril Helm

Noble Trophies

Items: Battle Axe, Dwarf Axe, Elf Bow, Giant Maul, Great Helm, Mythril Mail, Rams Horn, and War Tusk.

Reward: Swift Boots OR Crystal Swift Boots

Queens Folly

Items: 4 Garnet, 2 Emerald, Ruby, and Unicorn Horn.

Reward: Unicorn Pendant

Seafarers Museum

Items: Dragon Shield, Gladius, Great Bow, Great Targe, Sea Slippers, Serpent Scale, Snake Scale Suit, and Spiked Helm.

Reward: 0-2 Bless Scroll, 8-24 Enchant Scroll, 0-4 Flame Scroll, 0-2 Glow Scroll, 0-3 Identify Scroll, 0-3 Luck Scroll, 2 or 3 Rutter to Azteca, 3-5 Rutter to Hie Brasil, and 2-4 Rutter to Shangala.

Serpent Scale Soup

Items: 100 Fish, 1,000 Food, Panic Dust, 8 Serpent Scale, and 10 Turnip.

Reward: 15-25 Serpent Scale Soup

Tears of a Dragon

Items: 1,000,000 Marks and 30 Dragon Scales.

Reward: Dragon Scale Jacket

The Gnome Tailor

Items: 300,000 Marks and 6 Jaguar Hide.

Reward: Jaguar Mantle

The Titan Blade

Items: 3,000,000 Marks, Gladius, Jaguar Fang, and Nunchaku.

Reward: Titan Blade OR Silver Titan Blade

Queen's Court
The court activities offer the ability to increase a player's rank depending on various participation in Royal Court activities. Increasing rank requires a player to gain favor, which can be done by gaming, dicing, mingling, or boasting. There are 14 different ranks in the game, which are shown in the table below:

Weapons/Armor
There is an average base stat for the weapon, meaning that every other stat is either below or above the average. There is only 3 stats that are below the average base stat, but there is no limit to how high the stats on any given weapon can be. Because these stats are assigned at random, it's possible for even new players to find something that's completely novel to the game!

Some of the Silver versions of weapons that can be found in Dragon Court, with significantly higher stats than normal weapons.

Additionally, some weapons will be randomly assigned a rare attribute. There are four common rare attributes, including Blind, Blast, Disease, and Panic, in addition to clan rares, which provide the same bonuses and their respective clan attributes.

Identifying
Most weapons appear with a [?] next to them. To reveal the complete stats of the weapons, one must identify it. There are five ways in the game to identify your weapons:


 * 1) Going to Bill Smith's Weapon Shop (in the Town Square), which costs 40 marks to identify a weapon.


 * 1) Going to Shortleg Smithy's Weapon Shop (in the Forest), which costs 60 marks to identify a weapon.


 * 1) Using an Identify Scroll on your unidentified weapons. This works similar to enchant scrolls in the sense that the success rate is contingent upon the players wits.


 * 1) Using a Quartz on your unidentified weapons. A Quartz is identical to an Identify Scroll, but you need to have at least 2 mage skills in order to activate it.


 * 1) Having the Armor and/or Smith ability or equipping a weapon that has the Armor and/or Smith attribute. Doing so allows you to identify weapons and/or armour from your backpack without cost.

Rust
All weapons and armor in this game are subject to something called "Rust," which simply is a deterioration of the weapon's base stats. Even items are subject to rust, but the affects of rust cannot affect the stats of stackable items (junk), so items deteriorate by quantity instead. Rust is an unavoidable aspect of this game, but it can easily be prevented by any of the following means:

Queen's Blessing This is the easiest way to prevent BOTH your items and weapons from rusting. Just fork over the marks to Queen Beth for her blessing. The Minor Blessing costs 100,000 marks and it guarantees that your equipped armor will not rust. The Greater Blessing costs 500,000 marks, but it guarantees that nothing will rust that you are either wearing or carrying in your backpack. Both blessings only last for one day (or until your next login).

Snake Oils or Fish Oils Oils can be applied to weapons by clicking the use button on the oil and then selecting the weapon you wish to use the oils on. Up to five oils may be applied to each weapon. Each day one oil will disappear from all oiled weapons (unless a blessing is bought). Oils can be obtained by monster drops or through the Grand Fish Project in the Dragon Guard quest area.

Enchanting
By using Enchant Scrolls, players can significantly increase the Attack, Defend, and Skill points of their weapons. For each enchant scroll, 1 skill point is added to a weapon. Additionally, 1 attack point is added for the first five successful enchantments, and 1 defense point for the next five successful enchantments, etc. Every weapon has a limit on how many enchant scrolls can be used on them, and the formula for determining the maximum amount of times a weapon can be enchanted is $$3xA + 2xD + 1xS$$ where A = the base attack, D = base defense, and S = base amount of skill on the weapon.

A player can increase the likelihood to successfully enchant weapons by raising their wits. A player can still enchant a weapon to its maximum capacity even if they have a low amount of wits, but they will have to use a greater amount of enchant scrolls to do so.

Monsters
In this game, each questing area serves as a breeding ground for different types of monsters. Some can be bribed, swindled, seduced, traded with, or slain for loot. The strength of monsters vary depending on the difficulty of the questing area and also according to the players level (stronger players will fight stronger monsters). An adventurer may quest to fight against lowly rats, magical wizards, elves, ninjas, dragons, and many more!

Here are the various creature appearances broken down by questing area:

Fields: Rodent, Merchant, Goblin, Gypsy, Centaur, Wizard, Soldier.

Forest: Boar, Orc, Elf, Gryphon, Snot, Unicorn.

Mounds: Goblin Gate Guard, Goblin Party, Slug, Thief, Warlock, Berserker, Treasury Guard, Vault, Goblin Champion, Goblin Queen.

Mountains: Basilisk, Goat, Wyvern, Troll, Sphinx, Giant.

Castle Gates: First Guard, Second Guard.

Dungeons: Gang, Berserker, Rat, Troll, Snot, Mage.

Docks: Serpent, Siren, Traders.

Hie Brasil: Harpy, Medusa, Gladiator, Golem, Hero.

Shangala: Peasant, Ninja, Mercenary, Plague Warrior, Panda, Shogun, Samurai.

Azteca: Anaconda, Jaguar, Warrior.

Abandoned Mines: Dragon.

DC Mail
This is the primary way in which players interact with one another in-game. By entering the Castle Gates, a player will be granted access to the post office, where you can click on the send package button and you will be able to choose what you wish to send from your backpack's inventory. It costs 1,000 marks to send one type of an item. Stackable items can be sent in any quantity for only 1,000 marks, but each weapon costs 1,000 marks to send. By typing in the name of another character in the game, it is possible to send your items to them. This is the only way to trade things between characters in the game, and it's also an excellent way to communicate using notes or postcards. Mail is delivered each day at reset.

Clans
Joining a clan is a huge aspect of the game that allows you to take advantage of clan-specific abilities, get advice about the game, make new friends, and gain access to quality weapons or even things like free enchanting service. It's important that players know what do look for in a clan, but ultimately they should join a clan that suits their preferences the most. It's possible to check out various clans by visiting their forums. A good place to start is the Clan Hall because that is where most active clans post their clan ads.

Once you've picked a clan that you want to join, you do so by going to the Castle Area (requires level 6), click on the tower that says "Clan Hall" and then type in the name of the clan that you wish to join. Various information will appear such as the number of members in the clan, clan power, and the various clan abilities will be listed. Click the "Send a Petition" to Join the clan (costs 1,000 marks and 1 quest). That petition will be sent to the clan leader at the following reset, and they will send you a petition within 2 days to a week.

When thinking of joining a clan, here are some things to consider: Do I like other members of this clan? Does this clan promote values that are similar to my own? Are the clan abilities appealing? Do they have forums that are well-organized and active? Are the current members helpful, kind, and fun?

These are only a few things that one might think about when joining a clan. The most important thing is that a player feels like they fit in well and like the other members of the clan. Most clans offer help through advice, gear, items, etc. Picking a clan, therefore, should be primarily based on one's interests and personal preferences.

Here is a list of clan attributes:

Trading
Trading is a huge aspect of this game. Because weapon stats are randomly generated, players actively engage in trading to attain items and gear that they otherwise would not be able to find on their own. Most of the trading for this game occurs on the Trading Post forum. Posts can be made on this forum to either buy, sell, or giveaway items in the game. Trading is done at a player's own risk because items must be sent through the game mail, which means that the transaction occurs exactly at the time of game reset. Items rust in the mail, so it is advised that players thoroughly oil everything before sending to the person they are trading with. There are also other inherent risks in trading, such as item scamming or simple misspelling of a player's name. These can be minimized by checking the Voucher's list, which contains a list of respectable players. Players are also advised to check the scammer's list before trading with someone and to triple check the spelling before they trade items.

Creation
This game was designed and created by Fred Haslam, a programmer and game designer. Combining artwork of Ted Galaday and his programming staff at Fred's Friends, Inc., this game was released in 1997 and featured subsequent updates throughout the following decade.

DC Upgrade of 2002
Perhaps the most important upgrade ever made to this game occurred on April 8, 2002. Changes were manifested in altered game mechanics, changes in gameplay, and major weapons/items updates.

Major changes include but were note limited to:
 * 1) The strength of all creatures has been increased significantly. When a character levels up, creatures will become stronger.
 * 2) More non-playing characters have been added to the Royal Court. In addition, it's no longer possible to make Investments in the Royal Court.
 * 3) It's now possible to see how many skill points a weapon has from the inventory page. Before the upgrade, a player had to click on the Info button to see how much skill a weapon had.
 * 4) Backpack size is now limited to 60 slots and Storage size is limited to 100 slots regardless of a character's level or stats.
 * 5) Certain creatures will now drop a fixed amount of items. Peasants will always drop 4,000 Food, Gladiators will always drop 4,000 Marks, and Hercules will always drop 10,000 Marks.
 * 6) Up to 3 Cookies are now issued to all new characters. These special cookies differ from regular cookies in that they don't turn into Kookies overnight and can be sent to other players. Not surprisingly, Cookies have become a somewhat major currency among traders at the Trading Post forum.
 * 7) 2 new items have been added to the game: the Bottled Faery and the Faceless Potion.
 * 8) Mandrake Roots have been modified so that they can be used for an infinite amount of times. Prior to the upgrade, players could only use an amount of Mandrake Roots equivalent to twice their level before suffering damage.
 * 9) The functions of magical scrolls have been changed. Flames will now add 8 attack points to right and two-handed weapons as opposed to only 4 attack points. Luck now adds 12 skill points as opposed to 2 skill points; however, Luck no longer works on weapons that aren't right or two-handed weapons. Glow now adds 2 skill points to weapons regardless of position.
 * 10) Weapons have been made significantly more powerful, rendering most antique weapons powerless and worthless. Many players immediately sold all of their old gear in favor of the new, advanced gear.
 * 11) Silver weapons have been added to the game. There are 10 different silver weapons to be found: Silver Elf Bow, Silver Giant Maul, Silver Gladius, Silver Masamune, Silver Pike, Silver Sea Slippers, Silver Staff, Silver Tail Whip, Silver Throwing Knife, and Silver Weird Knife. At least one of these silvers can be found from each questing location in the game.
 * 12) Some of the mechanics of enchanting have been changed. Attack and Defense points will now be added to weapons for every 5 successful enchants. However, weapons will now have a Maximum Enchant number and weapons that are enchanted beyond this number will risk being destroyed.
 * 13) Rust has been re-introduced to the game. Unlike the times when rust was first introduced to the game, storing weapons and items in the storage will not prevent rust.
 * 14) Before the upgrade, weapons that were dropped by more than one creature would have identical stats and couldn't come with rare attributes unless they were dropped by a certain creature. They can now be found with unique stats and rare attributes regardless of the creature that drops them.

DC Upgrade of 2003
Just one year after the major DC Upgrade of April 8, 2002, another upgrade was made to the game in 2003. The 2003 upgrade wasn't nearly as huge as the 2002 upgrade, but many noticeable and fairly important changes were made to the game.

Major changes include, but are not limited to the following:
 * 1) Two major changes have been made to guild skills. First off, characters are now allowed to have up to two guild skills for each of their levels as opposed to only one. Next, characters who choose to learn Ieatsu skills will be pleased to know that Ieatsu skills no longer count towards the overall amount of guild skills. This means that players can learn Ieatsu skills regardless or whether or not they've maximized the number of guild skills that they're allowed to learn for their level.
 * 2) 4 new ranks have been added to the game: Squire, Captain, Viceroy, and Seneschal. With the addition of these ranks, ranking up to the highest rank has become more difficult and now requires longer participation in Royal Court activities.
 * 3) Characters can no longer die for the rest of the day. Instead, they will only lose a certain number of quests if they die.
 * 4) Two very useful helmets were introduced in the 2003 upgrade. Both helmets are definite upgrades over the Miners Cap, which was the best helmet in the game before the upgrade. The first new helmet is the Great Helm, which is dropped by the Trolls at the Mountains. The other new helmet is the Spiked Helm, which is dropped by the Gladiators at Hie Brasil. Offering a nice balance of attack and defense points, the Spiked Helm is widely considered to be the best helmet in the game today.
 * 5) It's no longer necessary to polish rusted weapons to remove the effects of rust. Successfully applying an enchant scroll to a rusted weapon is now a way of getting rid of rust.

DC Upgrade of 2005
Another major upgrade was made to the game in May 2005. This upgrade is much larger than the 2003 upgrade and is the first upgrade in years to include a new questing location.

Changes to Gameplay
 * 1) The town area has now been divided into two areas. The first area, Towne Road, includes the Tavern, Weapons Shop, Items Shop, and the Castle Gate. The second area, known as Market Lane, includes Aimee Suitor's Armoury, the Gambling Den, and Silver Storage; the latter is no longer part of the Tavern.
 * 2) Major changes have been made to the Docks. First off, you now have to pay 50,000 marks to hire a boat to the Docks. Next, you now have the option of choosing which location you'd like to quest in as long as you have the necessary rutters to quest in those places. Lastly, the Beagle's Seaside Diner building has been added to the Docks.
 * 3) A new questing area, Azteca, has been added to the Docks area. There are 4 creatures that inhibit Azteca and they are more powerful than the creatures at Shangala. Anacondas can swallow equipment with Glow or Flames, Jaguars and Priests can hypnotize, and Soldiers can use Ieatsu attacks.
 * 4) The Dragon Guard building has been added to the Castle Area. There are 9 different missions to be completed, and each successful mission will result in gaining various weapons or items. Be sure to check out the Dragon Guard Guide for more information about these missions.
 * 5) The Queen will now provide blessings to prevent the problem of rust. More information about these blessings can be found in the Preventing Rust guide.
 * 6) A new guild skill, Sage, can be learned at the Free Adventurers Forest Guild. New characters can also elect to start with this skill by sacrificing 12 build points. For more information about the Sage Skill, check out the Guild Skills guide.
 * 7) The Wheel Guy has been introduced to the game to deter players from using macro programs. He will always show up once per day along with a selection of five items and weapons. Choosing the correct item or weapon will allow you to keep that item or weapon.
 * 8) Inactive characters are now taken away by the reaper if they haven't been played for 2 years. Characters above level 20 are taken away by the reaper if they haven't been played for 3 years.

Changes to Items
 * 1) Oils, which are items that prevent weapons from rusting, can now be found in the game. Up to 5 oils can be placed on a single weapon.
 * 2) A new item, the Tonic of Unskilling, can be used to remove a random guild skill. It's helpful for opening up guild slots for the new Sage Skill.
 * 3) Two new healing items have been introduced to the game: Nectarines and Serpent Scale Soups.
 * 4) Mandrake Roots no longer serve for the function of restoring quests. Instead, they heal 180 guts, temporarily decrease 3 wits for the day, and act as a berzerk-like attack during battle.
 * 5) The functions of magical scrolls have been changed again. Flames will now add 10% base attack points to right and two-handed weapons as opposed to 8 attack points. Luck now adds 10% base skill to right and two-handed weapons as opposed to 12 skill. Glow now adds 5% base skill to weapons instead of 2 skill. Lastly, Bless adds 5% base defense to weapons.
 * 6) Cookies have been removed from the game. With the loss of Cookies and the altered function of Mandrake Roots, there are no more items that can replenish quests.

Changes to Weapons
 * 1) A weapon that has reached its Maximum Enchants number will no longer blow up if it's further enchanted. It will simply glow purple and the enchant scroll will have no effect on the weapon.
 * 2) Rare weapons with clan attributes can now be found on weapons.
 * 3) Level restrictions have been placed on most weapons in the game. Weapons can only be worn based on your character's level and the number of Fighter Skills that he or she has learned.
 * 4) Along with the addition of Azteca, new and powerful weapons have emerged to challenge the old "best weapons" that have been used by players for years. Jaguars drop Jaguar Fangs and Silver Jaguar Fangs. Warriors drop the best right-handed weapon in the game, the Silver Amini Club, along with the regular Amini Club. Priests drop Imacaci Masks.
 * 5) Along with the addition of the Dragon Guard, 6 new weapons can be manufactured through the completion of various quests. These weapons are the Mythril Helm, Jaguar Mantle, Swift Boots, Dragon Scale Jacket, Titan Blade, and the Silver Titan Blade.

DC Upgrade of 2006
The latest upgrade to the game was made in June 2006. Although the June 2006 upgrade was relatively minor in comparison to the other upgrades that were made in the past, it was nonetheless an important one. All changes that were made to the game only affected weapons.

Changes to Weapons
 * 1) The largest and possibly most important change that the June 2006 upgrade brought was the addition of 10 Crystal weapons to the game. One crystal weapon can be found in each questing location and the most sought after crystals include the Crystal Gauntlet, the Crystal Jaguar Fang, and the Crystal Swift Boots. Crystal Swift Boots can be randomly manufactured at the Dragon Guard through completion of the Noble Trophies mission.
 * 2) The base stats of the Silver Amini Club has been corrected. Initially, many players perceived the new Silver Amini Club to be a downgraded version of the old Silver Amini Club. However, this isn't true. With average base stats of +140a/+300s, the new Silver Amini Club is far superior to the old Silver Amini Club, which has average base stats of only +100a/+300s. These are actually the base stats that the original Silver Amini Club was supposed to have; historically, the base stats of silver weapons have been twice the base stats of their regular counterparts.
 * 3) Silver Jaguar Fangs are no longer dropped by the Jaguars in Azteca. Instead, only regular Jaguar Fangs and the new Crystal Jaguar Fang is dropped.
 * 4) The Wheel Guy has stopped offering silver weapons, and because of this change, the trade value of silver weapons is expected to increase

Old Clans
Atreides Founded by Kralizec, the clan ability was Reflex. The clans values were based on loyalty, justice, and achieving their goals through diplomacy.

Black Knights Founded by Black Knight, the clan ability was Unaging. After it was realised that unaging was a disadvantage, the clan members left for other clans. The remainder of the clan was merged with DarkStar.

DarkStar Founded by Methuselah, the clan ability was Stubborn. Leadership was usurped by Dreadnaught who formed the Dark Alliance with Lady Blade and LadyDragonEyes. The clan was the first to reach 500 power and they chose the second ability of Sturdy. Dreadnaught and LadyDragonEyes left and leadership passed to Lady Blade. The clans values were based on gaining ultimate power, however without strong leadership the clan faded into obscurity.

Evil Uprising Founded by Sado Ishikawa, the clan abilities were Quick and Reflex. The clans values were based on fear and the dominance of Evil.

Glade Founded by Alkera, the clan ability was Trader. The clans values were based on humor, friendship, flair and a taste of competition.

Gnoggs Founded by Wallace, the clan abilities were Stubborn and Quick. Leadership was then passed to Munkwunk. The clans values were based on unity.

Hell Knights Founded by Dreadnaught, the clan abilities were Dragon and Ranger. Leadership passed to Witchblade, then Twisted Oliver. The clans values were based on bribery and corruption. However, with constant leadership changes the clan withered.

Macabre Founded by Witchblade. The clans values were based on terror, fear, and submission.

Talon Founded by Rally, the clan ability was Sturdy. The clan values were founded on the fundamental virtues of a knight; Honor, Justice, Valor, Bravery, Compassion, and above all others, Truth.

Ulfserk Founded by Ulfserk. The Clan values were founded on the path of the 'Wolf'. Cunning, fierce and loyal to the pack.

Resources
Randomorange's Dragon Court Help Site The most comprehensive and thorough guide to this online game. Complete with full items and weapons lists, thorough assessment of DC history, and a plethora of Screenshots to boot!

Salamander Tavern This is the question forum regarding this game. Experienced players regularly scope out this forum to answer questions that any new player might have.

Wizards & Warriors Omniscient Oracle Another great source of DC wealth and great questing tips. This site hosts the most up-to-date and complete list of highstat items that exist in the game.