Shadowbane "Lore Server"

Ray · **Joined:** Thu Jan 08, 2004 8:57 pm **Posts:** 2188

Quote:

Wolfpack Studios, a Ubisoft Company, is proud to announce the debut of the first iteration of the Shadowbane Loreplay Ruleset on the Shadowbane Test Server! Shadowbane, a massively multiplayer online game known for its intense player-vs.-player conflict and real-time strategy elements, launched in March 2003. Shadowbane is one of the few massively multiplayer online games that let players actually change the world, and this is the first server to regulate players' strategic options, limiting the types of characters that can join the various Faction-based Guilds, who may cast beneficial and peaceful powers on each other, and who may even group together. These may seem like harsh restrictions, but these game elements have been requested by a large segment of Shadowbaneâ€™s community for some time. For the first time, individual guilds will face limits in their power and abilities, and be forced to make strategic decisions to maximize their effectiveness on the battlefield. Shadowbane has long been acclaimed for its rich backstory and in-game history, and the Loreplay Ruleset will create a rich play environment that better mirrors the factionalized fiction. Many players will finally experience Shadowbane as they originally imagined the game would be. Combined with the Realm and kingship system introduced in Shadowbaneâ€™s last expansion, Throne of Oblivion, players can now for the first time ever wage war to see which of which of Shadowbaneâ€™s myriad factions is truly the greatest! Who will be able to forge an empire and crush their enemies: the Temple of Cleansing Flame? The High Court of the Elves? The Centaur Cohort? Or will the conquerors be one of more than a dozen other factions? Only time, and the players, can tell! To learn more about Shadowbane, click here. To learn more about the Shadowbane Loreplay Server, click here!

So yeah. Look for an interview in a few days.

Alex Mars · **Posted:** Mon Aug 15, 2005 2:50 pm

Can you give the non SB players in the audience a quick breakdown on what the real effect of these changes will be?

Ray · **Joined:** Thu Jan 08, 2004 8:57 pm **Posts:** 2188

This is a pretty good overview:
http://chronicle.ubi.com/loreplay.php

Basically though, it restricts "ARAC" (all race, all class) guilds and embraces the Shadowbane fiction. Pretty close to factionalize combat, but there's still no restriction on who you can/cannot attack.

Pika · **Posted:** Mon Aug 15, 2005 3:04 pm

That certainly sounds interesting. They still got that free trial going on?

Ray · **Joined:** Thu Jan 08, 2004 8:57 pm **Posts:** 2188

Yup - 15 days.

http://www.gigex.com/gp/dlexe.asp?packageid=0051400032
http://www.fileplanet.com/files/130000/130645.shtml

SBT-20BX-79EL-9KXB-DWA4

FP also a promo going on where you get three months membership to fileplanet and the full version of SB+all exp packs for $9.99.

I'd suggest doing the latter when your trial is coming to an end. I think it's $15 if you upgrade to the full version from the Ubi billing site.

Merusk · **Joined:** Thu Jan 15, 2004 4:52 am **Posts:** 869

Shit.. I remember suggesting something similar back when the game first went live and they asked for suggestions at WT. According to the press release I was one voice of many. That only took forever.

I still say they should have allowed building/ ranking bonuses for the few 'lore-centric' guilds on the normal servers.

Shasin · **Posted:** Mon Aug 15, 2005 4:15 pm

Shadowbane wrote:

...wage war to see which of which of Shadowbaneâ€™s myriad factions...

I dunno, they have bugs in their press release. That's not a good omen.

daslog · **Joined:** Sat Mar 20, 2004 6:48 am **Posts:** 1797

Historicaly, SB has has repeated problems with Dupe bugs and other quality control issues. I don't see anything here that makes be believe this has changed.

I'm going to pass on this one.

Ashen_Temper · **Posted:** Mon Aug 15, 2005 5:11 pm

Obviously your choice, Daslog but I have yet to play an MMO where they don't have those issues. Even WoW has quite a few of them still. The problem is that some "players" are just diabolically evil and think of the craziest ways to do things. Developers have been doing their best to keep this as under control as possible. I know whenever we learn of an issue like this, we do our best to kill it as quickly as possible.

Anyhow, as for Free Trials, if you want to wait for when the server goes live, we will be doing a promotional with FilePlanet soon for a 25-Day Free Trial and MMORPG.com currently has a 20-Day Free Trial going on ( http://www.mmorpg.com/shadowbane_free_trial.cfm ).

daslog · **Joined:** Sat Mar 20, 2004 6:48 am **Posts:** 1797

Ashen_Temper wrote:

Obviously your choice, Daslog but I have yet to play an MMO where they don't have those issues. Even WoW has quite a few of them still. The problem is that some "players" are just diabolically evil and think of the craziest ways to do things. Developers have been doing their best to keep this as under control as possible. I know whenever we learn of an issue like this, we do our best to kill it as quickly as possible.

True. However, due to the open PvP nature of SB, dupes have a much greater impact. For example, in 2 weeks, a dupe bug on the Wrath server killed off 75% of the population. I've never seen that happen in any other MMORPG.

Pika · **Posted:** Mon Aug 15, 2005 5:44 pm

Thanks for the info, I'll check it out once the server goes up. Cross teaming in EQ really killed what was, at first, a very fun PvP diversion (I'm speaking of Tallon and Vallon Zek, the first PvP server had loot drop which to my way of thinking was a pretty bad design decision for an item-centric game.)
Then Sullon Zek game along. Anyone ever read their boards, the "Officially Unofficial" ones that everyone actually went to? Those were, without a doubt, the worst boards ever. They made the Vault look like a commune of MIT valedictorians.
So a smaller game, with no cross teaming and strong lore, sounds like it might be worth a lookie-loo if nothing else. Plus, Sachant rocks.

tazelbain · **Joined:** Wed Dec 08, 2004 3:33 pm **Posts:** 112

daslog wrote:

Historicaly, SB has has repeated problems with Dupe bugs and other quality control issues. I don't see anything here that makes be believe this has changed.

I'm going to pass on this one.

Like one that telepoted all the people in our city to a tree at the bottom of the ocean with an ass load of guards waiting for us.

Bloodwork · **Posted:** Tue Aug 16, 2005 4:48 am

Hard to argue with a 25 day free trial. I think everyone's already rehashed all the buggy things that happened early on ad nauseum. I'll probably give it a try once it goes live. Serious question: do they ever plan to go to keyboard movement?

Dren · **Posted:** Tue Aug 16, 2005 4:51 am

I'll probably give it a try soon. I want to at least check out all the expansions and at 10-15 bucks I'll bite. The winter months are coming and I'll need another diversion.

Ray · **Joined:** Thu Jan 08, 2004 8:57 pm **Posts:** 2188

Bloodwork wrote:

Serious question: do they ever plan to go to keyboard movement?

I can't answer for future plans, but WP has stated that they are happy with PnC movement and don't plan on adding WASD support.

Speaking from personal experience, I tried out the en-tranz (Asian) version of SB which had WASD. It didn't add anything to the game at all, really. One thing they could incorporate from WASD-movement games is autorun. Holy crap that would be nice.

Oh, hey, if you're looking to get into the game, I know a great group of people that are forming a nation on the lore server. For those of you that played in beta/early release, they're pretty much the non-retarded members of CoS. I'll be joining up with them on the new server, so let me know if you want to come along and I'll vouch for you. Only problem: they picked the gay elves faction. I plan to roleplay a self-hating elf. Narf.

Dren · **Posted:** Tue Aug 16, 2005 6:57 am

Ray, I might go for that. You seen any estimates on timing? My quick scan from your post didn't grab that info.

Ray · **Joined:** Thu Jan 08, 2004 8:57 pm **Posts:** 2188

Not really sure, to be honest. The build went to test center yesterday (and had 600 online within 30 minutes), so I would guess at least a week or two.

Dren · **Posted:** Tue Aug 16, 2005 9:02 am

600? That's impressive. What are their numbers these days? (I don't feel like going to look for you-know-who's charts.)

Burl Swift · **Posted:** Tue Aug 16, 2005 9:07 am

For the first time since beta I am actually thinking about playing Shadowbane. I swore I'd never give another cent to Ubisoft, but this Lore Server is really tempting.

Plus, I've seen the list of those guilds planning to come back to SB just for this server, should be some great lore driven PvP.

EWSpider · **Joined:** Fri Feb 13, 2004 8:17 am **Posts:** 43

Shadowbane is just one of those games I can never seem to let go of. Every time there's a new server coinciding with a lot of big changes I'm always sucked back in. Despite all it's past and current flaws(and I've played through them all since the beginning) its still one of my favorite games. Once again I'll be hard pressed to not give SB another go. If you can't get over the gay elves Ray, we can always give Winterblades a go.

Lying about games since before you were born

Shadowbane "Lore Server"

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