History YMMV / DawnOfTheDragons

** Mini-zones (especially "Peril of the Pumpkin Patch") have caused this - on one hand, players enjoy it because it allows the developers to release areas faster and deliver more content over a sustained period of time. On the other, some long-time fans perceive the zones to be lacking in effort and easy to finish.
** The debate over whether the Expedition/Mystery Packs constitute gambling or not, and whether the RNG ('random number generator') is rigged to benefit the developers. Due to California passing new legislation for online gambling (and an massive forum war that nearly took down the servers), the developers published the chances for obtaining each pack item in November 2012.

** Elite raids have been accused by some players of accelerating power-creep to unreasonable levels, while others have stated that it's a needed outlet for high-level players who need to burn off extra energy and stamina. Conversely, players have also complained that there are too many elite raids being introduced, and that there is no effort put into them besides changing the raid name and greatly simplifying the end loot.

* EnsembleDarkhorse: Bosso Twinklefingers (a WickedToymaker who terrorizes kids in West Kruna with lethal toys) ascended from someone mentioned in the flavor text of a familiar to a RunningGag in virtually every World Raid, to a usable premium general who scales with owned familiars.

* ThatOnePuzzle: The steps needed to achieve the highest form of the Sword of Conquered Kingdoms. Unless you've been reading the Wiki, the steps required to obtain are so obtuse and confusing that most people give up completely, and range from codes to enigmatic hints about what to do.
* ThatOneSidequest: Several of the quests involving the Legendary items can be this, considering the amount of time and effort they take for comparatively little reward:
** Both the upgraded Shield of Ryndor and Sword of Conquered Kingdoms task the player with taking part in several raids (a minimum of 14 for the shield, and 20 for the sword), using very specific combinations of armor/weapons/troops/Legions/mounts for specific raids on specific difficulties. The only place to find information on the exact combination of what to use is only covered on the DOTD wiki, you'll spend lots of time raiding just to get all the pieces required for the shield/sword-associated raids, and the eventual rewards are marginally-better gear that is only good for PVP, and far outclassed by most premium armor and weapons.
** Getting the Greenleaf and Derek's armor sets from the Dragon's Lair raid. Aside from the fact that the raid has a hideously low timer and high HP (5 hours to chip down 1.2 billion hitpoints), the drop rate for the pieces is hideously low, to the point that it takes some players to take part in ''100 raids or more'' just to get everything. While the time problem can be mitigated with certain legions found through questing, there is no quick fix for the drop rate issue besides extreme patience.
** Getting Mina's third form (which has a "freemium" ability in the form of scaling stats based on how many generals the player owns) can only be obtained by obtaining gear through the Achievement Points Shop, and takes a minimum of 60,000 AP to obtain all the pieces (not counting RNG). This cannot be done until much later, after the player has spent time doing thousands of raids and quest areas, but offers some of the best free bonuses in the game (in addition to Mina, it offers a 25% legion bonus and an additional set of powerful armor).

* HeartwarmingMoments:

* HeartwarmingMoments: The "My Name Is..." chapter, which details the impact the player has made on West Kruna, and the lengths his/her friends will go to for the safety of innocent civilians and the glory of his/her exploits. One chapter has Teucer Tullian consoling a young girl he rescues from certain death.

** Players typically gravitate to a handful of armor sets that are among the best in the game, including the Mighty/Heroic Wings of Callissa set, Vornax's Set and Masterer's/Forest Guardian sets (due to their availability in most expedition packs).

** Both the upgraded Shield of Ryndor and Sword of Conquered Kingdoms task the player with taking part in several raids (a minimum of 14 for the shield, and 15 for the sword), using very specific combinations of armor/weapons/troops/Legions/mounts for specific raids on specific difficulties. The only place to find information on the exact combination of what to use is only covered on the DOTD wiki, you'll spend lots of time raiding just to get all the pieces required for the shield/sword-associated raids, and the eventual rewards are marginally-better gear that is only good for PVP, and far outclassed by most premium armor and weapons.

** Raid cooldowns. After the development team changed cooldown periods for certain bosses (like Carcalla) to be longer, users complained it would break the flow of the game and hurt the player base.

* GameBreaker: There are several troops and items that break the challenge in the game, although some require [[BribingYourWayToVictory real money]] to acquire.
** Nearly every premium troop is made of this, as they allow the player to essentially disregard collecting one specific type of item/troop. These include Machaon (who reduces the need to buy Volatile Energy/Stamina Honor pots), Mathias the Masterer (who can summon his own troops), Tussao the Beast-King (who can summon his own mounts) and Drogon Mar (can summon runes).
** The Scrolls of Dahrizon quest area. Although it will take until you're at a decent level to fully complete the area on all difficulties, the benefits are astounding. To start with, completing the final boss (Simulacrum of Dahrizon) on all difficulties (Normal - Nightmare) results in a +200 Legion bonus, making any Legion you have instantly top-tier (not taking into account already-existing Legion bonuses). Secondly, you can craft Dahrizon, a general who gives a +100 bonus to all Legions by himself, and gives extra damage per different Troop owned ''and'' +25 to his Attack and Defense for each 12 different Troops owned. That last point is particularly notable, as the player will likely have dozens of Troop types by that point in the game, making him head and shoulders the best general in the game. There's a reason why SOD is considered the most broken area in the game by the DOTD fanbase.
** Zumara is likely the best single troop in the game. Although she costs Planet Coins to acquire, she can deal unbelievable damage with her "Woman in War Paint" ability (which repeats the damage of any weapon, clothing item or ring worn by the player), and her already-absurd stats (225/225) increase by 3 for every 5 different pieces of clothing, weapons and rings owned. When paired with the Siege Master set (which itself can be boosted with extra dragon/siege/general procs), she can deal tens of millions in damage per hit, trivializing most major Raids.
** Likewise, Claudia Bloodwyn can deal insane damage with her "Anything you can do..." ability, which makes her repeat any general's attack with greater damage.
** The Tussao the Beast-King premium general is so powerful that (according to player research) he can add a minimum of 14% damage to the player's bottom-line - great at low-levels, absolutely insane for anyone else. Not only does he deal his own bonus damage, but he can summon any mount in the game and automatically deal half of any mount's attack. When paired with mounts like the Siege Master' Steed or the Two-Headed Unicorn, he can deal tens of millions in damage per level, rendering him the most overpowered general seen in a long time.

** In June 2014, the decision to replace direct-buy premiums with a random-chance lockbox and key system, which was already heavily criticized in the mobile version for being a cashgrab and spamming players with tons of boxes that couldn't be thrown out or sold. The resulting outrage nearly melted down the official forum, with many players calling 5PG to task for accelerating the game's power-creep and being arrogant in the way they explained it.

* CreatorsPet: Roland. Despite being the first companion the player acquires in the course of their adventure, Roland has been promoted like no other general in the game. He received the most proc/stat boosts of any one character (4, as of the most recent update), had an entire quest area devoted to one of his past adventures, and is mentioned by other player units and supporting characters constantly. Despite this, he still can't match up to the likes of the best player generals, and finding someone who actually uses him in raids, let alone likes the character, is exceedingly difficult.

** The debate over whether the Expedition/Mystery Packs constitute gambling or not, and whether the RNG ('random number generato') is rigged to benefit the developers. Due to California passing new legislation for online gambling (and an massive forum war that nearly took down the servers), the developers published the chances for obtaining each pack item in November 2012.

** The debate over whether the Expedition/Mystery Packs constitute gambling or not, and whether the RNG ('real numbers game') is rigged to benefit the developers. Due to California passing new legislation for online gambling (and an massive forum war that nearly took down the servers), the developers published the chances for obtaining each pack item in November 2012.

* CrackIsCheaper: Some long-time players feel this way about the game, which makes you pay money to get the best items, armor and legions if you want a shot at dealing more damage in World Raids or leveling faster.

* PlayerPreferredPattern:
** In PVP Duel, expect 80-90% of the available players to be wielding a fully-upgraded Sword of Conquered Kingdoms, due to its immense PVP bonus and status as one of the best free weapons in the game.
** Players typically gravitate to a handful of armor sets that are among the best in the game, including the Mighty/Heroic Wings of Callissa set, Vornax's Set and Masterer's/Forest Guardian sets (due to their availability in most expedition packs).

** Zumara is likely the best single troop in the game. Although she costs Planet Coins to acquire, she can deal unbelievable damage with her "Woman in War Paint" ability (which repeats the damage of any weapon, clothing item or ring worn by the player), and her already-absurd stats (225/225) increase by 3 for every 5 different pieces of clothing, weapons and rings owned.