Pre-release review of Shadowbane

Rokenn · 02-20-2003, 03:48 PM

Well for the last couple of months I've been beta testing Shadowbane, since the NDA was just lifted I thought I'd post my thoughts on it here. Shadowbane is a mmorpg, massively multi-player online role playing game. The game is a player vs player game (PvP) with a heavy focus on Guild vs Guild battles. Guilds can create their own towns and lay siege to opposing guild towns.

Things I like about the game:
The class system is outstanding. You start as one of four base classes (mage, fighter, rogue, priest). Once you reach tenth level you can promote to one of 15 different professions. One of the neat things is that most professions are available to more then one base class. So a rogue/assassin is a different character then a mage/assassin. With each level you get additional points to increases your stats as well as training points to increase your skills. All this allows for a great deal of customization of your character.

The bad:
the servers are still very unstable and the client has major memory leak problems. They currently released their first release canidate and have commited to a 3/25 release date. They will need to make some serious strides to get this ready for prime time by then or end up with a release debacle like World War II online.
The economy is still a bit unbalanced, as guilds have to spend way too much time farming gold for town improvements/repairs. Some classes are not well suited to one on one PvP (fighter classes in particular, unless they spend points on training up archery skills). Some of the professions are still overpowered in PvP, esp the Fury class. But class balance in a mmorpg is always a moving target.

Being that it is a PvP game expect to get ganked if you po the wrong people. You are safe while on newbie island but you will only be able to level to the high teens there. Once you leave the newbie island you will be open to attack from players of any level. The max possible level is 60, but after 50th leveling is very hard, since the highest level mob is 46th and you do not get experience for player kills.

So that is a brief overview, if you have any questions I'll be happy to give em a shot!

Curlcurl · 02-20-2003, 04:56 PM

sounds interesting, where can we get more info, is there a web site?

Nanobyte · 02-20-2003, 05:05 PM

I'm guessing this is it.

Kakero · 02-20-2003, 06:44 PM

the link work too slow for me. Do you have to pay to play?

02-20-2003, 03:48 PM	#1
Rokenn Galvatron Join Date: January 22, 2002 Location: california wine country Age: 61 Posts: 2,193	Well for the last couple of months I've been beta testing Shadowbane, since the NDA was just lifted I thought I'd post my thoughts on it here. Shadowbane is a mmorpg, massively multi-player online role playing game. The game is a player vs player game (PvP) with a heavy focus on Guild vs Guild battles. Guilds can create their own towns and lay siege to opposing guild towns. Things I like about the game: The class system is outstanding. You start as one of four base classes (mage, fighter, rogue, priest). Once you reach tenth level you can promote to one of 15 different professions. One of the neat things is that most professions are available to more then one base class. So a rogue/assassin is a different character then a mage/assassin. With each level you get additional points to increases your stats as well as training points to increase your skills. All this allows for a great deal of customization of your character. The bad: the servers are still very unstable and the client has major memory leak problems. They currently released their first release canidate and have commited to a 3/25 release date. They will need to make some serious strides to get this ready for prime time by then or end up with a release debacle like World War II online. The economy is still a bit unbalanced, as guilds have to spend way too much time farming gold for town improvements/repairs. Some classes are not well suited to one on one PvP (fighter classes in particular, unless they spend points on training up archery skills). Some of the professions are still overpowered in PvP, esp the Fury class. But class balance in a mmorpg is always a moving target. Being that it is a PvP game expect to get ganked if you po the wrong people. You are safe while on newbie island but you will only be able to level to the high teens there. Once you leave the newbie island you will be open to attack from players of any level. The max possible level is 60, but after 50th leveling is very hard, since the highest level mob is 46th and you do not get experience for player kills. So that is a brief overview, if you have any questions I'll be happy to give em a shot! __________________ “This is an impressive crowd, the haves and the have mores. <br />Some people call you the elite. <br />I call you my base.”<br />~ George W. Bush (2000)

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02-20-2003, 04:56 PM	#2
Curlcurl Elite Waterdeep Guard Join Date: November 27, 2002 Location: Sydney Age: 51 Posts: 49	sounds interesting, where can we get more info, is there a web site?

02-20-2003, 05:05 PM	#3
Nanobyte Thoth - Egyptian God of Wisdom Join Date: March 1, 2001 Location: NC Posts: 2,890	I'm guessing this is it.

02-20-2003, 06:44 PM	#4
Kakero 40th Level Warrior Join Date: March 24, 2002 Posts: 10,215	the link work too slow for me. Do you have to pay to play?

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