Dungeon

Dungeon (ダンジョン, Danjon) is a type of adventuring location in MMO games. YGGDRASIL was mechanically known to contain various dungeons for such players to challenge.

Overview
In YGGDRASIL, dungeons are areas that players can enter to do some grindings as well as hunting down monsters both in term of leveling up and acquiring items. Yet they were also not the sort that told a party what levels of difficulty were suitable for them. On the other hand, dungeons can also be conquered by a Guild and become a guild base for the extra benefits while other kinds out there cannot be made into a guild base. It can then be made into a guild base controlled solely by the guild alone complete with various other means like customization, etc through the use of Data Crystals.

In fact, clearing a dungeon often yielded a variety of items, ranging from rare data crystals to artifacts. For example, hard-to-find dungeons that were left unexplored until now may contain monsters which dropped valuable data crystals. The first time one ran a dungeon, there would be a bonus, or about 10% more treasure chests. Once a dungeon was cleared for the first time, the big treasure chest would offer equipment with item levels up to 10-20% higher than usual. Clearing the dungeon under certain conditions can even be awarding like being granted a World Item.

Not only that, but the location of a dungeon do tend to vary in design and terrain environmentally. Some dungeons can only be found under certain conditions and one needed special equipment to delve into it there. For instance, the entrance to a dungeon amidst a field of flowers in the depths of a forest can only be seen under the light of the full moon. A notable example of this is the Frozen City in Niflheim which can only be entered during a blizzard. The proper way to clear these dungeons was probably to learn which bosses would get stronger, and in which order. Then, the parties would simultaneously enter their boss fights and beat them at the same time.

Also, dungeons ranged from different types such as the Great Tomb of Nazarick, a simultaneous attack dungeon. Many people hated simultaneous-attack dungeons, also known as "die-by yourself dungeons". Dungeons of this caliber required several parties working in unison along different routes to complete and were typically designed so that everyone would meet up at the boss room, whereupon they would face the raid boss together. There are even dungeons with higher difficulty than just Nazarick. Particularly, Tabula Smaragdina stated that invading one of those unnamed dungeons will required the cooperation of 36-man parties (a legion) and two guilds combined.

While at the same time, some dungeons out there were designed to allow anyone to enter, so their doors and interiors would expand to accommodate tall and bulky people. This way, they could hold big monsters and remove the chance of said monsters being stuck behind terrain and slowly chipped to death from a distance. And of course, some players were enamored of the benefits of growing bigger — their attack radius would increase and the amount of damage dealt would increase depending on how much larger one was than one's opponent.

In response to this reasonable concern, the developers' response was to prohibit the scaling of the dungeon according to the monsters' size, so even if one entered a room while enlarged, the room would stay the same size. However, with these restrictions in mind, one could make passages that nobody could pass through, creating impregnable strong points for a guild base. The dungeon rule system 'Ariadne' was hard-pressed to deal with situations like that.

Fortunately, the solution was simple since players or monsters can equip an item that would allow anyone to go through those passages. For starters, there exists the Ring of Ainz Ooal Gown that allows oneself to transverse between different floors of a dungeon controlled by a guild.

Rules
YGGDRASIL has many unexplored dungeons within the Nine Realms. Plus, there is always a fierce competition to discover and clear them. The first time the players enter a dungeon, they will be granted a bonus of about 10% more treasure chests find. Also, the first time a dungeon is cleared the big treasure chest would offer equipment with item levels up to 10-20% higher than usual.

While dungeons seem impenetrable and impossible challenges, they are quite the contrary. Conquering a dungeon is a great undertaking that seems only a powerful guild can manage. Once occupied by the guild, the design, defenses and appearance of a dungeon can be altered to suit the needs and taste of the guild members.

In order to achieve this, several factors need to be included such as the necessary skill in programming for making alterations in the area; sufficient data crystals to add additional features; and even gold to finance the special effects of those areas. Additionally, another factor that needs to be considered for a guild controlling a dungeon is to ensure that it must meet the specified laws enforced by the programmers and administrators of YGGDRASIL.

Clearing a dungeon often yielded a variety of items, from rare data crystals to artifacts. However, clearing a guild base dungeon merely gave the owner’s rights. In addition, guilds could only own one dungeon at a time. If they wanted to claim another dungeon, they would need to relinquish their claim on their present one.

However, dungeons that violated the rules would be flagged by the YGGDRASIL system and fined.

As Guild Base
Some conquered dungeons could be be used as guild base and have various amount of levels embedded into it. This would allow command over the the NPC customization. However, like funds, not only does the diligence of the guild needs to be accounted for, but also the quality of the dungeon base.

Furthermore, guilds could only own one dungeon at a time and no more than that alone. If they wanted to claim another dungeon, they would first need to relinquish their claim on their present one. Additionally, discovering a dungeon could affect the world ranking of a guild.

NPCs

 * Spawn NPCs: pop-up automatically from the dungeons. With a maximum level of 30 they have not enough power to protect the stronghold. POPs don't need gold to summon, but have maintenance costs depending on their type. It is zero for undead, but living creatures, in particular large creatures, had maintenance costs increasing proportionally to the size of their bodies and could rack up a ruinous maintenance bill for the guild. In contrast to Custom NPCs, Spawn NPCs have no player-made character settings and it isn't possible to change their appearances and AI programming.


 * Mercenary NPCs: can be summoned by spending guild finances.


 * Custom NPCs: can be customized freely, with their power level depending on the overall limit of NPC data that can be stored. Customization tools includes not only level, equipment, and appearance but also AI. Thus, custom NPCs can be made and used as powerful guardians. Of course, a guild is totally free to customize its NPCs just for decoration purpose.

NPC Data Storage
The collective maximum level for all Custom NPCs combined is the NPC Data Storage. Higher-risk dungeons gave higher levels if conquered. This maximum can be increased by upgrading to an higher-ranked dungeon, using cash, etc. In YGGDRASIL, there were only nine places in the game which offered more than 3000 levels of NPC Data Storage. A City-based dungeon as the lowest-ranked guild headquarter provides only 700 level to be shared between Custom NPCs, could however be funded through tax collecting.

Funding
If a guild base’s innate income was not sufficient to cover maintenance costs of the dungeon, the guild members would have to earn that money themselves. In addition to NPCs, trap activation and the like were expensive as well. Being attacked by an enemy guild could incur incalculable expenses for the defenders, and might even force them into bankruptcy.

List of Dungeons
Dungeons are usually served as a potential territory of being the home base for guilds. With that said, dungeons have levels that is directed towards NPCs. Out of all the dungeons, only one dungeon for each world in YGGDRASIL is said to have the highest amount of levels possessed, which were 3000 levels at most.


 * Great Tomb of Nazarick: It is ranked as the top dungeon in YGGDRASIL. The base amount of levels was originally 2250. If the guild conquered this dungeon during their first try, they gain an additional 500 levels added as bonus to its original amount would equate to about 2750 at max.


 * Frozen City: It is a special event dungeon that could only appear during a blizzard in Niflheim.

Trivia

 * For Nazarick, the Ariadne System was solved by the 5th and 6th levels, which involved a lot of gold to widen the dungeon to maintain it.
 * Ariadne is a character from Greek mythology, most famously in the Minotaur myth, assisting Theseus in navigating the labyrinth.
 * There was actually a simple way of creating an invincible fortress-like dungeon: By sealing the entrance, no one would be able to get in.
 * Clearing an unknown dungeon which was not far below the recommended level was unheard of in YGGDRASIL.