Hello,
TLDR: New Dawn is the best private server I have played on, although it’s lacking in population ATM. 9Dragons Classic is pretty good too!
I don’t usually post here, but as a non-elite non-pvper, I would like to review the experiences I have had on 9Dragons Classic and 9Dragons New Dawn. Naturally it's going to be highly opinionated.
BACKGROUND: I recently wanted to play some 9Dragons during the national lockdown and find a server where I could bring some of my IRL friends and play with them there. I wanted to find a server where we could just kick back for a few hours, do some dungeon runs, have some laughs on Discord and that’s it. Not really interested in PvP and stuff (ironic because I’m posting on elitePVPers).
At the same time, I didn’t want to throw my money into a sink hole, more commonly known as 9Dragons Awaken. So I tried the 2 new private servers. I’ve played on and off since Acclaim and I quit when KL was released by GC (HG10). So I am familiar of the two different 9Dragons experiences I was going to get.
In general, I hate the new type of 9Dragons. I hate banners and all the other 0.00000001% crafting chance BS that lives on, to this day, in RedFox. I hate the gambling aspect of opening 10000 boxes and receiving VE mushrooms from half of them. I hate the new skill set because I hate change for the sake of change. I hate how the old animations got changed with the release of the new skills set (i.e. almost all BoT nukes are the same squat-jump animation, whereas in the old versions there was slight variations).
9Dragons Classic
So first I played 9Dragons Classic, because I prefer the old 9Dragons. I (stupidly) picked BoT Nuker, forgetting how aggravating it was to have your initial character as a Nuker in Acclaim. Back then, it was tougher to build a Nuker when starting afresh and this holds true for 9Dragons Classic as well.
I’m aware that there’s probably a bunch of things that I should be doing that I’m not doing, so yeah… Like I said, this is completely from a noob perspective.
Some PROS and CONS:
- The loading screens are quite slow on certain maps and I swear the Impervious effect lasts forever after spawning in.
+ The game in general does not hitch or stutter when playing. Amazing because a lot of private servers do.
- The loading screens have massive blocky “tips”, which make it look congested. I hate it when private servers try to change these things, without realising it just makes the loading screen look tacky.
+ Upon spawning in, you receive a pretty meh weapon with 20% Crit Rate and 5/1k HP Leech! :O That Leech is so helpful especially on this server. Plus you get a 360 WD Def Set. It’s not great, but it gets the job done.
- You have to do all the stupid RTDs to join at OC1.
+ No Second Role quests or any RTDs after OC1.
+ Unlimited and free Carnival of Souls buff can be received from Hermit
- The GRIND is annoying. I am EC8 and I only managed to loot Advanced Steps so far. I am using basic LF and Med. I mean come on guys, just let us have Adv Steps, Med and LF off the break. People are selling LF and Meds for 2 Mil… Where the Fxck am I supposed to get 2 mil from?! The gold drop is like Old 9D – I make 29 Gold off one Bear ffs.
+ Like a proper Noob, I also did as many “Collectibles” (Living) collections as I could. My aim is to get the elixirs to make multiple WD weapons.
+ The game uses the old skill animations! My EC2 nuke is the slam dunk animation (same as FD Slow nuke) and not the squat-jump. I know this is such a minor thing, but when your toon constantly squat-jumps for almost EVERY move, it eventually just looks stale, boring and annoying.
+/- Depending on who you prefer, I reckon CK characters will be dominant in PvP in this game, solely because I do not see much in terms of CK Defense and stuff. This is ofcourse just like in the old 9D.
+ Item Mall is relatively cheap. I spent money there as a token of gratitude and to commend them on a job well done. For $20 you can get 30 Day Prem and an Eternity Deco.
- But 1 Eternity Bag is $10+. Like WTF, come on guys. If I make 3 Characters you expect me to pay ~$60 for extra inventory slots. Ofcourse this is optional, but come on…
- I also spent money on Blue Dragon’s treasure boxes and, I can tell you now, that they are full of shxt.
+ GT and FS are back in business at low levels: 2 Low = 1 Mid / 2 Mid = 1 High
+/- I personally am not a fan of PvP on low level maps, especially when you have to grind so much for gear. Imagine, I have to go grind in a PvP map, when I don’t even have Adv LF… The guys there will literally take it in turns to fxck me. The alternative is to do dungeon runs, but that’s not ideal as a Nuker, with no gear.
+/- It took me around half a day to hit EC2 and the level cap is H12. But granted I was messing around a lot, doing collection quests and stuff.
CONCLUSION:
This game is great for the people that prefer the old times and are sick of the new 9Dragons BS. If you miss the Acclaim and G1 days, then you should 100% give this server a try.
Although I prefer an Acclaim style 9Dragons (in the form of 9Dragons Classic), I think that this game is too grindy and not made at all for casual players that enjoy PvE maybe more so than PvP.
They really should have a slightly better starter pack with full Med, LF and Steps set. They should also give out slightly stronger weapons and maybe even a free 7 Day premium for player retention.
But the main problem was me picking Nuker first, I think. I really should have picked Warrior and grinded all the gear beforehand.
I really wish this server the best of luck! It really is very, very good!
9Dragons New Dawn
Straight after my Classic session, I decided to download New Dawn to see what it’s all about.
I was sceptical at the start. I even hated all the new skills, because I was so used to the recast times and sequence of my old nukes. But it soon grew on me...
Some PROS and CONS
- A little bit more trickier to make this client work (for me at least)
+ Really cool loading, log-in and character selection screen. They maintained tastefulness without looking tacky unlike a lot of these other private servers.
- Sometimes when you back out to character selection screen, the background bugs out and becomes bright RGB red.
- Carnival of Souls lasts 60 Minutes and you have to relog to get the buff. But you get an hourly gift after ~65 Minutes, so you can’t be backing out before that. In the 5 minutes between the expiration of my Carnival of Souls and me receiving an hourly gift, I like to visit some of my most favourite sites…
+ The loading times are quick
+ The game FEELS smoother and silkier than 9Dragons Classic
- However, I have noticed that the game stutters -- not all the time, but frequent enough. No idea how to fix, please halp. Though I do reckon this is a server side issue.
+ I like how they didn’t add any stupid animations/ change the font of the damage you are dealing. Once again they kept it classy
- New 9D Skill set animations
Squat-jumps are back…+ The EXP rate is perfect (early levels at least). In half a day I got to GL6, with fxcking around, ofcourse. Also, you are levelling in sync with your skills – one is not levelling faster than the other
+ Starting gear and weapons are stronger and the grind is MUCH easier than 9Dragons Classic
- Annoying that so much LF, Meds and Steps are dropping when they are obsolete
+ No RTD’s to join or Second Role Quests
+ BEST CHI BREATHING EVER. Left Click, Right Click, done.
+ Item Mall is very cheap. If you spend $30 you can get 100 Blue Boxes (full of scales, tears, banners and other little things to kit you out) and have money left over for premium.
- Decos from Item Mall are clan locked
+ If you grind, you can be on an equal footing with the people that spend money on IM it seems. But ofcourse there are instances where IM users will have the edge, but it’s nowhere near as bad as other servers
+ If there is a wipe, you will be reimbursed for all your purchases, afaik. If this is true, then honestly that’s an amazing feature. For the first time, I do not feel too much guilt for spending money on a 9Dragons private server.
- Living (L) collectibles are bugged it seems.
+ Good range of PvE maps
+ Changes in this server are player-driven, it seems, and everything is made to maximise the players’ experience. The changes, afaik, are not targeted to a niche group of individuals or for the profit of the GM, but for the majority of people.
+ I don’t know how long it will last, but GMs showing logs and stuff shows transparency and integrity. That is really commendable for a private server
Conclusion
I don’t know if this was intentional or not, but I would say a lot of thought went into the smallest changes in this game. And honestly, you can tell the decisions are solely player driven.
Like I said already, I prefer the older 9Dragons (fxck the squat-jumps), but this server is like a breath of fresh air. THIS is what the new 9Dragons experience should have been like on the official server and you can tell this should be the way forward.
I would personally like to thank bog18dy and his team for the amazing effort they put in making this. I can’t imagine that this is a very profitable venture for them, but they seem to have invested so much time and brain power that this game has honestly turned out amazing (so far). I think everyone should put the past drama, and all the consequent pride and prejudice, behind the door and try out this server. It is honestly worth it.
after playing with end gear for 2 months it just get so bored as there is no anything to do for you when you have all gear. ofc i pvp but GM used to fcked up Nukers to this point where warrior was good for farming and good for pvp which makes a bit nonsense. community of classic is also so toxic calling you dogs and everything every single day , even after warnings from GMs they won't get muted or banned cuz they are from same country as GM 
