A Brief Overview
Domain of Heroes is a little different from most games you have probably played. It is a text-based game, so it's more like reading an ever-changing book than a typical video game. The world you are about to enter is Dohria, a realm that is equal parts dark mystery and sly humor, filled with monsters, dungeons, and characters with stories to tell.
You begin by making the character that you want to play, selecting what race (Human? Elf? Dragon?) and sex they are as well as what general skillset they possess (Ninja? Necromancer? Gladiator?). That character is then thrust into the world of Dohria, and it is your job to guide them through the world, but you do not micromanage their every action. You are more like their guardian angel, telling them which dungeons to go to, what monsters to fight, what equipment to wear, and which quests to undertake.
You don't have to push a button to swing your sword and babysit your character's every action. For example, if you tell them to go to Beetle Burrows and fight the monsters there, your character will keep fighting until you tell them to stop or until they are overwhelmed by monsters, at which point they will run away to the nearest inn.
Domain of Heroes is a "hands off" game, as much as an MMORPG can be. It's designed so that you can play it while you are working, and some of our players even play it while they are playing other games.
Your character's path through the game is up to you, as is how you choose to experience the world of Dohria. You can accept important quests and experience the story we have crafted, you can fight monsters and level up your character until they are legendary and unstoppable, you can explore the world and battle for control over territories as you aid your faction's goal of controlling all of Dohria, you can start a guild and band together with other players to form friendships and social circles, or you can do it all. |
[ ^ back to top ]
Quickstart
This section is meant to help you get into the game quickly. Please visit the "DoH Manual" for an in-depth look at the various sections of the game, but by following this short walkthrough, you should have a pretty solid grasp of what to do. Good luck, and thanks for playing!
1. Make Your Character.
The first order of business is to design your character. The Character Creation Form (See Figure 1, to the right) lets you choose your character's gender, intention (how good or evil they are), class (what skills they have), race (whether they are human, creature, or something else), and faction (whose side they are on).
As you click on different options from the drop-down menu, you'll see descriptions appear, a preview of what your character will look like, and their base stats -- this is how strong, smart and fast they are. The yellow bars show you the stats given to your character by what race you have selected, and the blue bars show you how much of a bonus gets added on based on their class.
If that is too much information for now, just know that the taller those bars are, the better. From left to right, the stats are Power, Mind, Endurance, Agility, Life, and Luck.
|
Figure 1. The Character Creation Form |
|
|
2. Get Your Bearings.
When your character is created, you will be dropped into the game, so let's take a moment to get acquainted with the game interface!
The screen that you first see (Figure 2) is the Domain of Heroes Main Screen. On the left, you'll see your character's beautiful face and name, along with some stats, and beneath that is a drawing on a piece of parchment with a menu underneath. To the right, there is a set of menu tabs, with "Info/Chat" being the selected tab. Beneath that is the status window, which gives you all sorts of information about your character and the game world. Below that is the chat window.
|
Figure 2. The DoH Main Screen |
|
|
3. Talk to NPCs.
Your character's journey begins in an inn called Laurinara's Hearth, in the town of Seven Cities. Seven Cities is in the lush forests of Crystali, which lie in the continent of Elmwood. You will be spending quite some time exploring Elmwood before your character is strong enough to go beyond her borders. But for now, let's take a look around the inn.
Look underneath the parchment drawing in the left column, where you will find a bunch of orange links including "Talk to [character]" options. There are several people in this inn (called Non-Player Characters, or NPCs), and one of them will have a quest for you, but some of them won't trust you and thus won't be very helpful. Some of them only trust human and human-like characters, others only trust orcs and the like... try talking to everyone in Laurinara's Hearth.
Once you are given your first quest, the "Quests" tab will automatically open, along with a little bit of story telling you about that NPC and what he wants you to do. You can accept or refuse the quest by clicking the appropriate button. The quest will not be assigned to you until you click "Accept," but if you click "Refuse," then you will never be given that quest again. If you're not sure whether or not you want to accept or refuse, you can always come back later.
Click "Accept," and let's send your character on their first quest!
|
Figure 3. Talk to NPCs.
Figure 4. The quest screen.
|
|
|
4. Travel.
Your first quest might have been granted to you by Zelandia Ravenguise, Antoine Merriweather or Grelaria Hilathos, depending on what race your character happens to be. Regardless of who has given you the quest, you will be sent to the same place this time -- the Tower of Daedantus.
On the left side of the screen is a parchment with a drawing of an inn's hearth. This parchment is actually your map, and this drawing is displayed because you are inside an inn. Try clicking the "Zoom Out" icon in the top left corner of the parchment, which looks like a magnifying glass.
Your character is no longer in the inn of "Laurinara's Hearth," and is considered to be traveling. The parchment switches to a view of Seven Cities, the town in which Laurinara's Hearth lies. If you want to go back to the inn, you can click the label on the map that says "Laurinara's Hearth." This is how your character travels, by zooming in and out of the map.
Zoom out again, and you will see a lush forest called Elvenwood. If you ever forget where you are, just look at the text just below the map, where it says "Current Location." You are currently in the Elvenwood region of the country called Crystali, which lies in the continent of Elmwood. You can always click on the orange text here to jump right to the location described, so if you click on "Elmwood," you will warp right to Elmwood.
If you recall, the NPC who gave you your quest asked you to go to the Tower of Daedantus, which they told you was in Crystalis. Click the little piece of parchment that reads "Crystalis" on your map, and you will zoom into that part of the forest. Then, click on "Tower of Daedantus" to zoom in to the tower.
If you have trouble finding a place, check out this page: Location List
|
Figure 5. Traveling.
|
|
|
5. To Battle!
You should now be in your first dungeon -- the Tower of Daedantus. This location is a dungeon, so it is labeled as such, and gives you a different set of options than you found in the inn. Click on the "Fight Monsters" link below the map.
The map disappears, and is replaced with a batch of monsters who are attacking your character. If you want to fight them in a particular order, click the blue target next to the monster you want to fight first, and then select what combat ability you want to use from the links below the monster list. "Attack!" is your basic attack ability, but depending on what class your character is, they might be able to cast spells and do special attacks.
If you don't click on anything at all, that's okay -- your character isn't stupid. They will fight monsters on their own, though they won't be able to use potions unless you tell them to. The red bar next to your character's picture is their health, and if you see that bar get low, you can click the little red potion bottle next to your list of battle actions to use a potion. The blue bar is your magic, and the blue bottle will use a mana potion to refill it.
When a monster dies, a red line will appear through their name. When all of the monsters in the list die, a new set of monsters will appear. You can click the "Leave" link to run away from a battle at any time.
|
Figure 6. Fight Monsters
Figure 7. A Battle
|
|
|
6. Get Loot.
When a monster dies, he may just drop some treasure. This loot that they drop might be coin, weapons, armor, special keys, or quest items. The status window will tell you when a monster drops an item. If you click your "Inventory" tab, you will see a list of everything your character is carrying. You can also buy a mule to carry more loot.
If you see some stuff that looks good, you might want to equip it to help make your character kill monsters better. Click on the "Equip" tab to see your character's equipped armor and weapons. For each available slot, you will be shown what item is currently equipped, along with a red X icon and a list icon. Click on the X to unequip an item, and hover your mouse cursor over the list icon to see a list of what items your character can put in that slot. In the list that pops up, you can click on a blue check mark to equip an item.
If you haven't gotten any new items from monsters just yet, don't worry about it -- you'll get some for finishing your quest, so let's focus on collecting the items that your questgiver NPC asked you to bring them.
Click on the "Quests" tab, and if you do not see your current quest shown in its full glory, click on it in the quest list. In the quest description, you'll see a line that reads "Collection Status" (since this quest is about collecting items) which will tell you your quest status -- in this case, how many items you still need to collect for the questgiver NPC.
Keep fighting monsters in the Tower of Daedantus until you have collected the requested amount of items.
|
Figure 8. Loot Appears in Status Window
Figure 9. The Equip Screen
Figure 10. Current Quest Status
|
|
|
7. Complete the Quest.
Alright, your character has finished the questgiver NPC's task. Now it is time to go back to Laurinara's Hearth and tell them the good news! You could leave battle and use the map to navigate to the inn, but the quickest way is to click the "Laurinara's Hearth" link in the quest description, in the Quests tab. Since that is where this quest originates, we give you a shortcut to jump right back there. Handy!
Once you're back at Laurinara's Hearth, talk to the NPC who gave you your quest. They will tell you what a great job you did, implore you to come back for more quests, and give you rewards.
|
Figure 11. Finishing The Quest |
|
|
8. Level Up!
Chances are, your character got stronger over the course of their first quest and gained a level. The green bar next to your character's portrait is their Experience Meter, and whenever it fills up, your character gets stronger and "levels up." You can gain experience by fighting monsters, completing quests, and conquering territories (more about that later).
Click on the "Character" tab, and you will find that you have attribute points to spend. Click the "+" icons next to your various attributes to level them up, but keep an eye on the "Points Remaining" field at the top of the Character box. You only get a handful of points every time you level up! You can also spend them on the various damage/affliction resistances at the bottom of the screen. These give your character extra protection against poison, fire, lightning, paralyzation, etc.
Next, click on the "Skills" tab. You have points to spend here as well. Spend them on the skills that you want to be more powerful.
|
Figure 12. Attribute Points
Figure 13. Skill Points
|
|
|
9. Customize!
Domain of Heroes is free to play, but you can buy "Wishes" that let you upgrade the game experience and personalize your characters. Every new player starts the game with one free Wish, which can be spent by clicking on the green "Wishes" tab and click on the "+" icon next to the upgrade of your choice.
Most new players will spend their first wish to buy a mule (so they can carry extra stuff across all of their characters). You can buy more wishes in this section for $0.99 each, or you can buy them in packs for as low as $0.40 per Wish in bundles.
Wishes are purchased through Paypal, though you can earn free Wishes by referring friends to sign up for Domain of Heroes. You can also trade for Wishes. We've also got a deal with TrialPay to get a free Starter Pack for trying out some services like Netflix or Gamefly.
More upgrades will be available over time, so keep checking the Wishes tab to see what new goodies we might be offering! |
Figure 14. Wishes and Upgrades |
Alright! You made your first character, helped them complete their first quest, killed some monsters, picked up some cool loot, leveled up, and made good use of your free Wishes. You should have a good idea of how to play Domain of Heroes. It's a little different, but once you get the hang of it, it really is a fun distraction.
There's much more to do -- trading, gambling, conquering territories and fighting other players, making your own weapons and armor, special upgrades that let your characters hold more items or get experience twice as fast, joining a guild, buying a mule, and playing more characters. The Manual goes into all of those items in more detail, but you can wait and read it at your leisure, or just keep it open as a reference while you poke around. Play the game at your own pace.
Here are a few hints and tips to keep in mind as you explore the forests of Elmwood:
Talk to NPCs. Talk to every NPC you see, especially the ones who have given you quests before. If an NPC tells you to visit them again, then it's almost a guarantee that they have more for you to do.
Early quests are still important. Don't refuse early quests just because they might seem easy -- they're still important, and if you skip any of these quests, you might miss out on the storyline!
Buy health potions. Some of these monsters may seem puny at first, but watch out -- bigger and badder ones appear more often as you progress. Visit the shops found inside inns to stock up on health potions.
Monsters = Money + XP. Explore nearby dungeons and hunt monsters often. The items they drop are not only good for improving your character, but can be sold at inns and fund your health potion habit. Your character will accumulate experience at the same time, though remember, quests are still a very, very good way to get XP fast.
[ ^ back to top ]
|
