Domain of Heroes - Game Guide
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Overview of Game Concepts
Before we look at the game interface in detail, let's take a moment to examine some of the important game concepts. Please see "Sections in Detail" for more specific information on how to perform a specific action. This section is meant to familiarize you with more high-level game concepts in DoH. If you are new and looking to jump right into the action, please head over to the Quick Start Guide, which walks you through the first quest in the game.
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Playing the Game
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You interact with the game the same way that you interact with a normal web-page, by clicking on things in your browser. For example, when you click on a link in an inn that says "Talk to Antoine Merriwether," your character will talk to him. By clicking around the map viewport, your character will travel around the world. By clicking on "Fight monsters" at a location, he/she will fight monsters there.
By talking to in-game non-player characters (called NPCs), your character will acquire quests. By fighting monsters, delivering items, defeating bosses and assassinating characters, you complete quests, which advances the story. If you are not interested in the story, you can also simply explore dungeons, fight monsters and other players, collect treasure, craft items, and conquer territories.
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Character Attributes
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Your character has a set of six attributes, which are called his Character Stats. They are determined automatically when you create your character, and are a direct result of whatever combination of race and class you choose. They are:
POWER: This is physically strong your character is. Also helps defend against physical attacks.
MIND: This is how intelligent your character is. Also helps defend against magical attacks.
ENDURANCE: Primary defense attribute.
AGILITY: This determines turn order, and hit rate/dodge ability.
LIFE: This determines how much health your character has.
LUCK: How lucky is your character? This affects nearly everything.
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Races, Classes, Factions & More
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You have several different choices to make in regards to creating your characters:
GENDER. You can be male or female.
RACE. This is what species your character is. He might be human or dwarf, dragon or werewolf. There are many choices, but the primary difference (other than appearance and coolness) between them is the stats that are assigned to them.
CLASS. This is your character's area of expertise. For example, he might be a gladiator, a wizard, a ninja... once again, there are many to choose from. Your class will affect what skills your character uses in combat, and also compounds his stats. For example, magic users are often intelligent, so a wizard class will give you a higher starting MND attribute.
FACTION. The game takes place in the world of Dohria, in which three separate factions are struggling to dominate the world. You get to choose which faction you wish to join -- the noble Knights, the dark Legion, or the mysterious Brotherhood. Your choice will affect the storyline as well as player versus player combat.
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Experience & Levels
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Every time you kill a monster or complete a quest, your character accumulates Experience, or EXP. When enough EXP has been accumulated, your character's Level will increase. Your Level is a measure of how experienced and powerful your character is, so the higher your Level, the more awesome he or she is. All characters start off at Level 1.
If you have experience with RPGs, that is not a foreign concept to you. However, Domain of Heroes has a second type of Experience, called V-Experience, or VXP. VXP is gained by conquering territories and fighting human players (Player Versus Player, or PvP, combat). When you have gained enough VXP, your V-Level will increase.
Whenever your Level or V-Level increase, you get a handful of attribute and skill points. These points let you increase your Character Stats and the strength of your character's Skills. |
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The Game Screen - Overview
| The Domain of Heroes game screen is divided into two columns. The left column shows your character status at all times, along with your map/viewport and action menu, which change contextually. Some handy shortcut buttons are included at the bottom as well. The main column (to the right) has a series of tabs running across it, and selecting these will cause the main column to display different information. The default view is the "Info/Chat" tab, and this will always be what you first see upon logging into the game. |
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Section visibility: |
A. Character Status
B. Viewport
C. Navigation & Action Menu
D. Shortcut Buttons
E. Tab Menu
F. Status Window
G. Chat Window |
A -- is always present.
B -- goes away during battle.
C -- is always present.
D -- is always present.
E -- is always present.
F -- is only shown on the Info/Chat tab
G -- is only shown on the Info/Chat tab |
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Sections in Detail - Left Column
We will now look at each section of the left column in detail. |
Character Status
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Your character status is displayed at the top of the left column. Your character's avatar (a picture representing them) is shown to the left. |
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Along the top, you will see your character's name in bold, and to the right of that, their current Level, in the format "LVL 2/1". The first number (green) is your LEVEL, and the second number (gold) is your V-LEVEL. A series of progress bars appear as well. From top to bottom, they are your HP (Health), MP (Magic), EXP (Experience), and VXP (V-Experience).
Whenever your character takes damage, the HP bar will drain. Use health potions to restore HP. When the HP bar is empty, your character will flee the battle, running away to the nearest inn. The numbers to the right show your Current HP / Total HP.
The MP bar will drain when you cast spells or use other special abilities that require MP. Use a mana potion to refill this bar. When it is empty, you will be unable to use those special abilities until you have used a potion or rested at an inn. The numbers to the right show your Current MP / Total MP.
When your EXP bar is full, you gain a Level. Likewise, when your VXP bar is full, you gain a V-Level. The numbers to the right of either bar tell you how much EXP and VXP you have total. |
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Viewport
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The Viewport is beneath the Character Status area, and represents your character's view of the world. When you are traveling, it displays a map, zoomed to the particular area you are traveling in. When you are actually in a location (inns, dungeons), you will see a representation of the interior of that location. The map disappears during battles.
There are two icons that are always present on the maps -- the "Zoom Out" icon (top left) and the "Zoom to World" icon (top right). By clicking the Zoom Out icon, you can explore the surrounding area. Zoom to World will take you all the way out to the world-level map.
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Areas of interest on the map are labeled, and by clicking these labels, you can travel to them. You can also click directly on the text links beneath the map to jump to that place as well -- this series of links is the Navigation Menu, and tells you your current location in the world.
The map of Dohria is divided into a particular hierarchy, which is:
World Level (top) > CONTINENT > COUNTRY > AREA > REGION > LOCATION
If you are navigating the map at any of the first four levels, your character is considered to be traveling. Only by zooming all the way into an actual location while your character be considered stationary. Thus, you explore the world by zooming in and out of the map via the interactive map in the viewport. |
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Actions Menu
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Beneath the Viewport/Map, you will find the Actions Menu. This menu will change to display different options depending on where you are in the world. A few typical menu examples appear to the right.
Shop: (Inns only) Browse this inn's store and shop for goods.
Rest & Heal: (Inns only) Rest, refill health and magic.
Games: (Inns only) Games are denoted by the "dice" icon. All inns have item-gambling, and others have Blackjack or other games.
Search for Monsters: (Inn, Traveling) Jump to the nearest dungeon with monsters at or around your level.
Conquer a Nearby Area: (Anywhere) Jump to the nearest enemy-controlled area for you to conquer.
Local Lore: (Anywhere) Read a small history of the area or location you are in.
Search for an Inn: (Non-inns only) Jump to the nearest inn.
Fight Monsters: (Non-inns only) Fight monsters in this location. Waves of monsters will continue to come at you until you leave or die.
Talk to [NPC]: (Locations) Talk to this Non-Player Character. Inns usually have multiple NPCs, but most dungeons have one NPC hanging around as well.
Conquer/Defend [Location]: (Locations) If your faction controls this location, you can help defend it from other factions. If another faction controls it, you can jump in and try to claim it for your own faction. |
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Shortcut Buttons
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 You will find a series of handy shortcut buttons at the bottom of the left column.
Change Character: Takes you to the character select screen so that you can change characters or create a new one.
Options: Opens the options panel in the main window. Generally you should only need to fiddle with these if you have performance issues.
The Great Codex: Opens The Great Codex, the Domain of Heroes info database which lists races, classes, skills, etc.
Forums: Opens the DoH Community Forums, where you can talk with other players and submit bug reports and game suggestions.
DoH Home Page: Jump to the home page.
Sign Out: Logs you out of the game.
Leaderboards: Takes you to the Leaderboards page, where you can see the top players.
Credits: Takes you to the game credits page.
Faction Control: Opens the Faction Control page, where you can see which territories have been conquered by which factions.
Guilds: Opens the Guilds Page.
F.A.Q. Thread: Opens the F.A.Q. thread in the forums. |
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Sections in Detail - Main Window
We will now look at each section of the main window in detail. The main window is divided into tabs which line the top of the window. Clicking on a tab will switch the main window to that section.
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Info / Chat Tab
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The Info/Chat tab consists of two subsections : the Status Window, and the Chat Window.
The Status Window
The Status Window is at the top of this tab, and gives you all sorts of information about your character and his surroundings. You will see a row at the top of the box labeled "Filters." By clicking these, you can enable/disable certain types of information. For example, if you don't want to get system messages, then you could click on the "SYS" filter to turn them off temporarily.
Every message you get is labeled with the filter that applies to it, and is color-coded so that you can easily see what type of information is coming at you.
The filters are described in detail below:
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TRVL: Messages regarding your character's status when he is traveling.
LORE: Lore and history of the current area. You can get this by clicking on the "Local Lore" link in a location's Actions Menu, but it will automatically appear here when you
NPC: Dialogue spoken by Non-Player Characters.
BATL: Information regarding a battle in progress, including damage dealt, afflictions, items dropped, etc.
QST: Quest status reports.
SHOP: Information regarding shopping and item sales.
TRAD: Information regarding trades with other players.
ETC: Uncategorized information, such as system announcements and errors.
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The Chat Window
The Chat Window appears beneath the Status Window, has a series of tabs above it, and is split into two columns. The left column is where the actual chat log appears. It is a real-time chat, so the moment someone sends a message, everyone will see it.
The right column shows all of the players currently logged into the game. Your character name is what is listed, which is another good reason to give your character a name. You can also spend a wish to change your text color (both your name and typed text are the same color).
Next to each name are a series of icons. A heart is an "I Support The Domain of Heroes Dev Team" badge, which players may purchase to show their support. The left-and-right arrows icon means that player is tradeworthy, and clicking this icon will request a trade with them. The pillar icon means that player is guildworthy, and the pillar will change based on whether he or she is already in a guild. Lastly, any text that appears within brackets, e.g. [TSW], means that player is in that guild (the three-letter code is an abbreviation -- hover over it for the full guild name).
As always, you can hover over any given icon for a tooltip that reminds you what that icon means.
To talk, type your message in the text-box beneath the Chat Window and click the "Send" button. The numbers that appear next to the Send button show you how many more letters/characters you are allowed to type in that message. You can increase this character limit with Wish upgrades. |
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Character Tab
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The top section of the Character Tab lists your character's stats, race & class, intention, faction, and history.
The bottom portion of the tab lists your characters various damage and affliction resistances, which appear as percentages.
Whenever you increase your Level or V-Level, you will be attribute points that can be spent on this screen by clicking the "+" icon next to an attribute or resistance percentage.
Attributes are increased one point at a time, and resistances are increased one percent at a time. |
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Skills Tab
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The Skills Tab lists your character's special skills, descriptions of those skills, and their respective skill levels.
This tab functions much in the same way as the Character Tab. When you level up, you will be given skill points to spend in addition to your attribute points. Clicking the "+" next to a skill will consume one point and increase that skill by one skill level.
Your skills are specific to your race + class combination. |
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Inventory Tab
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The Inventory Tab allows you to manage your items.
The top section is your Character Inventory. You are also given a trusty mule so that you can carry more items and exchange them between characters, and the Mule Inventory resides just beneath the Character Inventory. Beneath that are two big lists -- Materials, and Reagents.
If you have usable items (like potions) in your inventory, you can click on the hand icon next to them to use them. Equippable items can be equipped by clicking the blue checkmark. Keys can be used by clicking on the key icon. Clicking on the hammer icon will launch the item forge and allow you to enchant that item.
To manage multiple items at once, use the checkboxes to the left. When an item is checked, you can use the links at the bottom of the Character Inventory box to manipulate those items in other ways.
Sell to a Hobo/Inn: You can sell items to a traveling hobo at any time in the game if you need to make room in your inventory, but they will pay less than inns.
Recycle w/ Hobo/Inn: Hobos can also recycle your items (see below), but for more expense than at inns.
Upgrade Quality: Attempt to reforge the item to one of higher quality.
Move to Mule/Inventory: Move the item back and forth between your character and your mule.
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The bottom of the Inventory tab, as already mentioned, displays your Materials and Reagents and how much you have of each. These are separate from your Character Inventory and your Mule Inventory. Materials and Reagents are acquired by recycling items.
Materials are used to upgrade item quality. You might need 100 bits of steel to upgrade a particular sword, for example. Reagents are used to enchant items and give them special abilities. For example, Dragon Scales are useful in crafting weapons that cause fire damage. |
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Equip Tab
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The Equip Tab gives you fine control over how you outfit your character for battle.
Each box represents a slot, or part of your character's body where an item can be equipped. To equip an item in that slot, hover over the small list icon in that slot and click the blue checkmark next to whichever item you want to equip in the pop-up window that appears. If you hover over each item in the list pop-up, a second pop-up will appear giving you more information about that item.
Equipped items can be removed by clicking on the red X.
The top part of the tab is devoted to the Weapons Loadout. You can assign weapons to your strong hand and your off hand, though you typically get a bonus on the strong hand weapon by keeping your off hand free. The ammunition slot is where you keep ammo for your ranged weapons, and your pocket can hold all sorts of items that boost your stats or offer magical protection.
Your Armor Loadout is beneath your Weapons Loadout. You can equip armor and apparel on every part of your body.
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Guild Tab
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The Guild Tab allows you to control your character's involvement in a guild. Once you become guildworthy, you will either be able to start your own guild or join an existing one.
The top section of the Guild Tab displays info for your guild, including the founding character, date founded, total guild experience, number of members, guild history, and guild news.
Beneath that is the Guild Vault. Guild members donate items here, and high-ranking guild members may distribute them out to other members.
At the bottom of this tab is the guild member list. High-ranking guild members can click the +/- icons next to a guild member's name to add or subtract "guild points," which are a measure of how valuable that member is to the guild. |
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Quests Tab
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The Quests Tab allows you to view and track your quest progress and history.
When you are assigned a quest, it goes into your quest list at the top of this tab. Incomplete quests will appear as white text. Quests for which you have fulfilled all of the requirements but have not yet completed are yellow. Finished quests are cream-colored.
When you talk to an NPC, this tab automatically opens if they have a quest for you. You will be given a little bit of story and prompted to Accept or Refuse the quest. If you click Accept, the quest is granted to you. If you click Refuse, then you have refused that quest forever.
If you cannot decide, you can always leave that window without committing one way or another, and come back later.
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Clicking the name of a quest will open the log for that quest, which includes all of that quest's story, but also lists the status of the quest in more detail (e.g., 1/3 Cat's Eyes collected), reminds you who assigned the quest to you, and gives a link back to the location the quest-giver NPC hangs out in, so that you can instantly jump back to them when you are finished with it.
A quest is only considered complete when you "turn it in" to an NPC. Usually, it is the original NPC who assigned the quest to you, but in some quests -- such as deliveries -- it might be a different NPC. The quest story text will always tell you what you need to do and where you need to go. |
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Wishes Tab
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The Wishes Tab is the place to buy and redeem Wishes. Wishes are special tokens that can be used to buy convenient game upgrades, customize your character, create new characters, increase your inventory capacity, and more.
Wishes can be bought individually for $0.99 or in bundles for as low as $0.45 per Wish. All transactions are handled securely through Paypal.
If you recommend DoH to a friend, you will earn referral points every time they buy a Wish, and every time someone else they refer buys a Wish.
For the full list of Wishes upgrades available to you and for descriptions of each of them, log into the game and check out the Wishes tab. |
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Sections in Detail - Special
We will now look at each section of the main window in detail. The main window is divided into tabs which line the top of the window. Clicking on a tab will switch the main window to that section.
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Battle
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The map disappears and the Viewport switches to the Battle Screen when you engage in battle.
Your enemies will be listed by name, with their health meter appearing directly underneath. By clicking on the blue target next to their name, you can instruct your character to target that monster first. The target icon will turn red.
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Your character's skills are listed beneath the monsters. Click on one to set that to be your new battle action. Your character will continue to perform that action until you tell him to stop.
The orange gradient strip at the bottom of the Battle Screen is the Battle Timer. When the Battle Timer is depleted, your character and the monster(s) will exchange blows and any actions you have queued up will be performed. This gives you time to plan your next move if you wish to control your battle.
If you open your Inventory Tab during a battle, you can use the items from your inventory, such as health potions or mana potions. It is usually a good idea to keep plenty of health potions handy.
When a monster's health is depleted, it dies. If you are fighting monsters at a location, then when all monsters in the current wave have been killed, a new wave will appear. If you are fighting a boss or assassinating an in-game character, you will be dumped out of the battle when victorious.
If your character is defeated in battle, they will automatically flee to the nearest inn. |
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PvP / FvF Battle
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The FvF Battle Window appears in place of the map in the Viewport when you attempt to defend or conquer a territory.
Your character's battle actions are listed at the top of the section, and beneath them is the Formation Grid.
Challengers appear in the top three rows of the grid, and Defenders appear in the bottom three rows. Each half of the grid is split into Front, Mid, and Rear rows.
The Front row is where melee fighters and tanks want to be. The Mid row is recommended for ranged attackers. The Rear row is where you want to be if you are a cleric or someone else providing battle support.
Challengers and Defenders both appear as a box in the grid. The number inside the box is the Level of that character. Your character is the one glowing bright blue, and the character you have targeted is glowing bright red.
To conquer a territory, you must defeat all opposing players in the Defenders grid. If that territory is empty, you just need to stay put for several rounds without anybody showing up to defend.
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Shop
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When you click on the "Shop" link in a location, the Shop section opens beneath your Actions Menu.
Scroll through the list to see what is available at this particular shop. To purchase items, enter the quantity in the box to the left of the item and then click on the money icon. By default, all quantities are 1.
Shops are located inside of Inns.
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Item Forge
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The Item Forge is where items are enchanted and disenchanted to give them different special attributes. It appears above your Character Inventory when you click the "Upgrade Item" icon next to an item.
Click on the disenchant hammer to remove an existing enchantment.
To enchant, select the enchantment you wish to add from the drop-down menu
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