Worst MMO Ever? - 9Dragons

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Meditation stops you from playing.
Certain chat options soft lock the game.
The cash shop actively soft locks the entire program.

9Dragons is bad.

An eastern, martial arts inspired MMO featuring way too many systems, awful combat and just really, really bad design choices.

Thanks as usual to the Patreon supporters and Twitch subs who keep the channel going.

[esperderek]

This series really reminds me of those Youtubers who explore malls that are near death. Maybe once upon a time these places held some potential, did something interesting, or were just a hopping place to be. But then none of the stores ever get updated, the mall changes owners like four times, the janitorial and maintenance needs get ignored even as they get worse, and they fail to keep up with the times. People leave, never to return, the population diminishes exacerbating all the other problems, and even the people who stay aren't actually doing anything, just coming out of force of habit than anything. It's not so much 'Worse MMO Ever', and more urban exploration of largely defunct online spaces.

[edd]

I remember playing back in the day when it was owned by Acclaim. Eventually they started adding ads that popped up in the minimap. I remember logging in one day then seeing a Target logo take over the minimap for some time then fading away, it was the most terrible experience I have ever had in any MMO to date.

[qriist]

Legend has it that Josh is still meditating in the cash shop to this day.

[tinkerroblox]

Arriving in the city and thinking "Oh dear god... no... there's other players!?" was pure comedy. The absolutely flat plane terrain in the city hurt my soul.

[williamroeben]

Oh my Gosh, this is nothing like it was. It used to be good... this is a nightmare now :(

[theroadstopshere]

The "cheng" and failure to level system is actually adapted from the Wuxia (fantasy martial arts) genre of stories, where levels of "cultivation" correlate with power level, rather than martial arts belt. Since it's based off of the idea that meditation and enlightenment correlate with personal spiritual and physical power, you can fail to reach the next level of enlightenment and power if your meditation is interrupted, you lack a strong enough "foundation", or if you're just unlucky. That can damage the foundation, and you need to wait and recover before attempting the breakthrough again. Hence the death when attacked during chi breathing and forced wait before trying it again.

"Ancient art of rectum fu" -- ah yes, one of the sacred skills. Known only to the most powerful of practicioners and proctologists.

[nunofyurbusiness]

"If you don't have money, just don't be poor" 7:48
Glad to see Josh subscribes to the same economic theory as Gwyneth Paltrow.

[SimonMoreal]

I remember back then when you choose the 50 gold option, you'd have to get him some wolf hides.
The questlines were what stood out from other MMOs on the market back then for me. Sad to see it got butchered this way.

[Zazuban]

I played 9Dragons before it switched hands dozens of times; was once a great game and always loved the different groups and how they all had unique stories to be told and learned. League of Beggars was always my favorite group. About 80% of the bad systems were added after bad developers decided to purchase and ruin the game.

[SaberKittyZero]

The dog sound effect is true to dogs. Our neighbor's dog will bark for weeks on end without stopping.

[Asmodelta]

So here's the thing about the meditation: it only stops when your HP AND whatever their replacement for mana was called were full. This was usually fine, as meditating from low HP/mana to full didn't take that long. However, in typical dead game fashion, 9Dragons now has a buff for new players that massively increases their stats (which is why Josh isn't dying). BUT the Meditate skill is still the lowest level one, restoring a very tiny amount each time and thus taking longer to charge than a good mmo takes to come out.

I'll always have incredible nostalgia for this game as my first ever MMORPG, but my god did it not age well.

[DeathInHotPants]

This game was my life back in it's early days.I still remember the double-exp weekends when I'd waste hours pressing a single button just to train my buffs. But boy did i feel good to run around newbie areas and just buffing everyone.

I wish we had a classic 9dragons private server :(

[Guhonter]

"Opening the Premium Shop soft locks the game"....
EA, Bethesda, Ubisoft, Earth 2, Caspian: *WRITE THAT DOWN, WRITE IT DOWN!!!*

[mattryder]

July 10th, 2021.
Some Taquito Bandito copycats began showing up, but there is still no sign of the original.
Will keep you informed, but you shouldn't expect good news.
It truly seems like Taquito Bandito is no more. And that he is still wrong to this day.

[BenkaiDebussy]

The most baffling part of this is how characters start out with a massive amount of HP that makes them virtually unkillable.

[trillmxvsx]

The most sad thing is that Acclaim had big plans for this game like adding 2 extra clans that are mentioned in the game and original trailer (iron fist, noble families and vagabond class i think) I played it for few years and kept waiting for those new clans to be added but then it got handed out to money milkers who killed the game and never saw anything new other than grindfest activities added and cosmetic shit. Then new games upping the mmo game came out and 9D died

[darrenbyrne]

Wait. So Josh is an award-winning actor, painter (Warhammer 40k), MMO-Reviewer, knows martial arts and mug enthusiast. What can this man not do.

[FatalKitsune]

Missed joke: The escape key doesn't work because there is no escape from how bad this is.

[daxidol]

Imagine not immediately pickly Wu-Tang Clan when given the option.

[Rzra]

"If your health goes to zero. You transition to Almost dead. Until you die. Unless your friend doesnt let you. Then you dont. But if your friend is dumb and takes too long. You transition to basically dead. Where you just die. But wont die."