SOE’s new F2P fantasy MMO, Dragon’s Prophet, sounds like Pokemon but dragonier. I mean it, too. That is exactly what it sounds like. See for yourself: “In a world shaped by dragon-kind, more than 300 unique dragons roam the lands. Fight, capture, train and ride them in order to unlock their unique skills and abilities.” But, in reality, that’s only one aspect of its sky-searing DNA. The rest, meanwhile, might seem a bit more familiar if you’re from ’round these PC-friendly parts.

So a lot of it looks like traditional giganto baddie biffing, ala Tera, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing by any means. SOE’s also touting action-based combat via “a revolutionary auto-targeting system that gives players unprecedented control during battles.” Admittedly, I imagine that’s less on the level of a Bolshevik Revolution and more in line with, say, a Dance Dance Revolution, but I’m all for new attempts at speedy, heavy hitting MMO combat.

The Dragon’s Profit, meanwhile, will come by way of SOE’s Free To Play Your Way^™ model, which does business on “your terms.” I was hoping that meant I could haggle prices and pay in squibbles, quarks, and priceless winter fox pelts, but alas, SOE’s merely referring to the ability to purchase “hundreds” of items and weapons with Station Cash.

The Runewalker-developed MMO will take flight next spring, but you can register for an upcoming beta here. Is that something you’ll be doing, though? This one intrigues me a bit, but we no longer live in a world where an MMO can get by solely on strong combat or a few minute changes to the formula. Then again, dragons are hardly something I’d call “minute.” So I suppose we’ll see.