DragonRealms is seriously dying.. seriously.

[Duskruin]

Judging by the sales on DRSales yahoo group, game is hurting bad. First time since the yahoo groups conception back in 98' sales have dropped to double digits. Just a couple years back the average was 300~400 and 10+ years ago it was in the 1000's.

This game is dead (certainty) not because of Dooom! but because of basic gameplay issues (namely EXP and leveling). It was a great run while it lasted. RIP DragonRealms.

[SonoftheNorth]

Good let's take their developers

[Methais]

Good let's take their developers

Last time that happened we ended up with Solomon.

[Amerek]

That game was stupid even back in AOL days. I'm surprised it lasted as long as it did.

Also, I'm surprised Simu didn't put more $ and effort into GS. Actually, I'm not surprised at all, but they should have instead of trying to make a bunch of games noone wants to play.

[Tgo01]

Actually, I'm not surprised at all, but they should have instead of trying to make a bunch of games noone wants to play.

Hey! That Xena game had dozens of people during it's peak! DOZENS!

[Latrinsorm]

Yahoo!

[Amerek]

Hey! That Xena game had dozens of people during it's peak! DOZENS!

Seriously, how much total effort is absolutely *wasted* when one of their games fail? And yet, they really don't advertise GS like they should or offer the game on a popular platform (MSN doesn't fucking count). It truly boggles the mind.

[Steve]

I'm curious, actually, and this is only a small tangent. Was Dragon Realms a ripoff of Legends of Terris or was it the other way around? They shared a combat system with the advancing and attacking and distancing such, and they were both on AOL together, but I forget which came first.

[Taernath]

Seriously, how much total effort is absolutely *wasted* when one of their games fail? And yet, they really don't advertise GS like they should or offer the game on a popular platform (MSN doesn't fucking count). It truly boggles the mind.

I think you kind of answered your own question. Simu puts so little effort towards growing or maintaining their populations. Before they were taken down, the Modus and H&X event calendars were empty for years.

I do kind of wonder why DR is supposedly struggling while GS is doing more or less ok. Is it just because we were the first? Do we have legitimately better systems? I keep meaning to make a DR f2p account and check it out but never get around to it.

[Ashlander]

GS is easier to get into and far easier to see character improvement in my opinion. The zombie issue is honestly due to 90% of the games activities being a massive repetition of commands. You can either give yourself carpal tunnel or just script it. One big problem with DR right now is lack of GM's almost everything codewise seems to be done by two or three people. That being said I am enjoying playing it right now so who knows.

[Tgo01]

I do kind of wonder why DR is supposedly struggling while GS is doing more or less ok. Is it just because we were the first? Do we have legitimately better systems? I keep meaning to make a DR f2p account and check it out but never get around to it.

The GMs themselves implied a part of it is how everyone pretty much just scripts everything. People think everyone in GS scripts everything, apparently it's worse in DR.

Also apparently it's tough for new players there to get the hang of things so they are having problems keeping new players.

[LivderaDeralleur]

I dabbled with DR's F2P a bit, but never was really able to get into the game.

It is beyond tedious after a while and there is no real 'resting' point like GS has. You fried on combat skills? Good, now you can go swim in a stream for an hour or try to climb some stairs to raise Swimming/Climbing skill. And when that is fried, you can forage for branches until your eyes bleed. Then by the time that is done your combat skills will be drained enough to go combat again.

They have an engagement system for combat and I found it super slow/boring after a while. The magic system seems super cumbersome/tedious, as well. There are pools of power or something and you have to endlessly/repetitively cast different spell types to raise your skill in them to the point of even being able to use them successfully. I am not sure if my opinion of this is mainly because I am used to instant gratification version of GS or not.

Also gear seems fairly superfluous in DragonRealms. You may need to try to use 3-4 different weapon types because you need to raise different skills to Circle/level and the stats may not even matter so much as the look of them.

On the other hand, they do have some really neat systems:
- Ponies!
- Men can grow beards/mustaches and you can groom them/shave them, etc. or grow them to epic proportions.
- They have an "at the feet" slot that prevents the janitor from snatching certain things you set on the ground.
- They have better STOW/STORE verbs that lets you specify minutely which container gets which item type.
- Their moon/star phase thing is pretty cool with the Moon Mage profession.
- They have an OOC noob chatter channel that newbies can ask questions on.
- They have a noob charm thing you get when you first create that does automatic teleportation back to town up to a certain circle, automatic healing up to a certain point, etc.

Some of the above may be DR benefiting from a slightly less ancient code base than GS. But I dunno. I kinda wish the mirrors the sprites give you in GS had that level-based functionality for newbies that the DR noob item has - it would help save new people from worrying about getting lost if they have free teleportation back to town for a few levels at least.

[SHAFT]

I think you kind of answered your own question. Simu puts so little effort towards growing or maintaining their populations. Before they were taken down, the Modus and H&X event calendars were empty for years.

I do kind of wonder why DR is supposedly struggling while GS is doing more or less ok. Is it just because we were the first? Do we have legitimately better systems? I keep meaning to make a DR f2p account and check it out but never get around to it.

Silvers dropping to sub-$5 per is a bad sign. Not sure I've ever seen silvers for $4.50 per.

[Kobold]

Silvers dropping to sub-$5 per is a bad sign. Not sure I've ever seen silvers for $4.50 per.

We know why silvers are dropping to 4.50 and it has nothing to do with popularity or health of the game. DragonRealms' problems are terminal, unless they are willing to revamp the entire way of how EXP is gained, applied, and ultimately capped they will continue to lose players and just die out.

[ZeP]

I'm curious, actually, and this is only a small tangent. Was Dragon Realms a ripoff of Legends of Terris or was it the other way around? They shared a combat system with the advancing and attacking and distancing such, and they were both on AOL together, but I forget which came first.

Terris was out before DR, but Simu always did want an engagement combat system. It was supposed to come to GS for a while before eventually being tabled. I doubt they got the idea from Terris.

[Crash187]

I switched between GS and DR for years. I never did or do much scripting in GS (maybe spellups and artisan skills) but the only way to get anywhere character wise in DR you have to script. I just had a massive script that worked certain skills until fried then did another skill, etc. There is very little actual playing in the game. Last I'd known they reworked a whole bunch of stuff and it went completely dead but that was 7 years or so ago.

[Duskruin]

I switched between GS and DR for years. I never did or do much scripting in GS (maybe spellups and artisan skills) but the only way to get anywhere character wise in DR you have to script. I just had a massive script that worked certain skills until fried then did another skill, etc. There is very little actual playing in the game. Last I'd known they reworked a whole bunch of stuff and it went completely dead but that was 7 years or so ago.

There's a bunch of HLCs that will unsub in a heartbeat if they actually made the game enjoyable, otherwise known as capping all skills at 1000 and making combat deadly instead of the scripting chore that it is currently. Their PM realizes the game is currently in a downward trajectory about to explode on the side of a mountain but the captain is oblivious and complementary drinks are going down the aisles.