Dofus opens their new version, Dofus 2.0, to simultaneous praise and worry

If you're a gamer looking for a tactical approach to MMOs, then you're pretty much going to want to play Dofus. Dofus is the MMO that takes a real-time strategy approach to combat, letting characters move in cells and conduct attacks in turns, very similar to the classic combat system of Final Fantasy Tactics.

Recently, the Dofus team has ripped open the packaging on Dofus 2.0, a huge update that gives the game improved graphics, new areas, gameplay, and much more. However, the update hasn't been released without a fair share of criticism. Ankama Games had made the decision to launch Dofus 2.0 while simultaneously keeping Dofus 1.26, the prior version, online on separate servers.

This move has been made to let the community transition to Dofus 2.0 when they feel the game is "ready" to be played. Until then, the two games will run on separate servers (and with separate character lists, which has members of the community up in arms) until the decision is made to migrate old characters and servers. To help with the new characters, the new servers will include both double exp and money so the leveling process won't be as hard.

For all of the info on Dofus 2.0, check out this great devblog on the update.

Reader Comments (6)

That's an interesting way to handle a new launch. What they probably should have done to help the community of already-established players, though (though they do get kudos for putting in the Double XP/Money thing to try and make it easier) was to offer a character copy system, so they could move a copy of their characters to the new server. If they didn't like how it felt/played, they would go back to their original server. If they did, then when the servers moved they'd have the option to keep their copy instead of their original, so not everything was lost.

Has anyone put any gameplay into this game? It looks interesting and I might give it a try, just want to hear a gamer's point of view!

I've played this since the beta days, but I haven't been keeping up recently and I'm not sure what else is different in 2.0 besides the graphics.

Basically, Dofus has the unique selling point of being one of the few (if not the only, correct me on this) MMORPGs in the tactical RPG format. Think Shining Force and Fire Emblem, where each character takes turns on a grid and has a certain amount of movement/action points per round. It also has a pretty unique set of classes that go beyond the typical tank/dps/healer trinity. One other thing I like about it is the equipment variety. Everything is crafted (with materials coming from monster drops) and there is no "one set" that everyone has to have.

Unfortunately, it gets terribly grindy. Once you hit the 40s, things start slowing down, and at 60 it's a very long road to 100 (where things really open up, since you get both your last skill and an extra action point). Grouping isn't forced, but you'll be hard-pressed to get anywhere without one.

Soloing is pretty rough (most people multi-box), and materials require a certain amount of prospecting points (roughly equivalent to the number of people in your party) before they even show up in the drop table. And at this point, most people in the older/highly populated servers are already level 100+, so newbies might have a harder time finding people to group with.

Dofus does offer a free trial area without any time restrictions, so give it a shot.

Atlantica Online is a tactical turn-based MMORPG.

True, I had forgotten about that one. But the battles in Atlantica Online play more like a typical JRPG (both sides trading blows), though the 3x3 square adds a little bit of strategy into the mix.

Where's Wakfu?

For all I know, it's still in beta. Been that way for more than a year now?

Dofus opens their new version, Dofus 2.0, to simultaneous praise and worry

Reader Comments (6)

Posted: Dec 14th 2009 5:11PM Serious Table said

Posted: Dec 14th 2009 5:47PM DFuzzy1 said

Posted: Dec 14th 2009 10:45PM (Unverified) said

Posted: Dec 15th 2009 12:15AM DFuzzy1 said

Posted: Dec 14th 2009 7:35PM Slob Zombie said

Posted: Dec 14th 2009 10:22PM DFuzzy1 said

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