Second Shadowbane expansion available

[Righ]

Throne of Oblivion

Perpetual optimists required.

Edit: Yesterday's other news posting was a reet good laugh

[HaemishM]

Players have been creating lag during a siege, whether on purpose or not, by placing an obviously exaggerated and non-justified amount of structure to be displayed outside of city walls. Any accumulation of structures found to have been placed for the sole purpose of either creating latency for a group of players and/or to create navigation obstacles for these players will be removed completely except for the first line of bulwarks (if applicable) placed around a sieged city.

Oh Jesus Fucking Christ Jumped Up On A Stick.

Thank you for reminding me why I quit that fucking game.

[schild]

Throne of Oblivion

That's exactly where Wolfpack sits in my brain.

[Mesozoic]

$19.99 for SB, both expansions, and a free month.

Hmm...

[schild]

$19.99 for SB, both expansions, and a free month.

Hmm...

Don't be an idiot.

[Rasix]

A steak knife and a cheap bottle of bleach would cost just as much. Would probablty provide the same level of entertainment.

[schild]

A steak knife and a cheap bottle of bleach would cost just as much. Would probablty provide the more entertainment.

I'm so bored.

[Soukyan]

Players have been creating lag during a siege, whether on purpose or not, by placing an obviously exaggerated and non-justified amount of structure to be displayed outside of city walls. Any accumulation of structures found to have been placed for the sole purpose of either creating latency for a group of players and/or to create navigation obstacles for these players will be removed completely except for the first line of bulwarks (if applicable) placed around a sieged city.

Oh Jesus Fucking Christ Jumped Up On A Stick.

Thank you for reminding me why I quit that fucking game.

Because the engine they designed is woefully inadequate to support the game they want you to play? No amount of expansions can fix it. But vampires as a playable race is a cool idea.

[Paelos]

A steak knife and a cheap bottle of bleach would cost just as much. Would probablty provide the same level of entertainment.

I hesitate to imagine what your Saturday nights are like

[Sky]

On weekends he splurges on the high test and gets Clorox scented bleach.

[Threash]

Still playing after a year and a half or so, still having more fun than i ever did on EQ DaoC or AO.  Someone please PM when another MMORPG comes out with full unrestricted pvp, until then ill keep putting up with all of SBs many faults just for sheer fucking joy of being able to kill every idiot that pisses me off no matter what guild/clan/nation/realm/city/whatever they belong too without silly penalties.  The expansion looks great so far, though im a bit underwhelmed with vampires, id post more but theres that damn NDA still.

[Evil Elvis]

Someone please PM when another MMORPG comes out with full unrestricted pvp..

*sets way-back-when machine to 1999, launch of AC and it's Darktide server*

[Mesozoic]

NDA?  What happened to "now available"?

[Threash]

NDA?  What happened to "now available"?

Avialable for pre order i guess, the expansion is not yet out and won't be until december i believe.  Its still in beta atm.

[Mesozoic]

Avialable for pre order i guess, the expansion is not yet out and won't be until december i believe.  Its still in beta atm.

The Ubisoft Store is pleased to announce that Shadowbane: Throne of Oblivion™ is now available for only $19.99! If you do not own the original version of Shadowbane® or The Rise of Chaos expansion pack, worry not, for the Throne of Oblivion will include both for free. Those who create new accounts with this purchase will receive 31 days of free gameplay. Furthermore, you will be able to purchase and download Throne of Oblivion online while the boxed version will contain Shadowbane, Rise of Chaos, and Throne of Oblivion on it.

[schild]

Someone with a very loose grasp of the english language and the roman calendar wrote their press releases.

[Threash]

Avialable for pre order i guess, the expansion is not yet out and won't be until december i believe.  Its still in beta atm.

The Ubisoft Store is pleased to announce that Shadowbane: Throne of Oblivion™ is now available for only $19.99! If you do not own the original version of Shadowbane® or The Rise of Chaos expansion pack, worry not, for the Throne of Oblivion will include both for free. Those who create new accounts with this purchase will receive 31 days of free gameplay. Furthermore, you will be able to purchase and download Throne of Oblivion online while the boxed version will contain Shadowbane, Rise of Chaos, and Throne of Oblivion on it.

Bad way of wording it i guess, but the link you follow to get that reads "Pre-order Throne of Oblivion".

[Roac]

Someone with a very loose grasp of the english language and the roman calendar wrote their press releases.

Pre-Order Throne of Oblivion

Or it could be that the reader likes to skip context and has a very loose grasp of marketing.

Edit: Beat me to it :(

[Mesozoic]

So - just for the record then - "Now Available" doesn't actually mean that the game is available.  In fact, the expansion is not only unavailable, but the people who know about it are not allowed to talk about it.  But please to be sending us money now before WoW and EQ2 kthx.

Gotcha.

[sinij]

Shadowbane could be very enjoyable game revolving around team-based open-ended PvP that I enjoy playing with taking only seldom hiatus due to many longstanding issues.

What makes SB unfun is broken beyond repair economics, poorly written client, tedious and unfun game play outside of PvP and lack of content. Shadowbane still does not have quests, crafting (you can randomly roll items) or dungeons. PvE and exp is tedious and repetitive to the point where game masters have to police against macroers or everyone would macro.

What makes SB fun is that your nation defines your identity, players have to face real consequences for their actions and skill-based group-oriented PvP.

[Signe]

Someone please PM when another MMORPG comes out with full unrestricted pvp

Lineage 2?

(I didn't want to PM you as I don't know you well enough and I'm terribly shy)

[Koyasha]

While I am of the opinion that L2 is a great game, it's hardly 'unrestricted' PvP.  You can attack and kill anyone, almost anywhere, but most of them will not fight back, therefore turning you red, and hitting you with some really nasty penalties should you get killed.

[Krakrok]

Let me know when they change SB so that:

 - Cities are captureable not destroyable.
 - City ownership costs increase exponentially the more cities your guild (country?) own.
 - Unused cities fall into disrepair and fade away.


This post brought to you by back seat driver MMO dev #83768716822.

[Nebu]

While I am of the opinion that L2 is a great game...

Sorry, you lost me right there...

[Threash]

Someone please PM when another MMORPG comes out with full unrestricted pvp

Lineage 2?

(I didn't want to PM you as I don't know you well enough and I'm terribly shy)

Hi, I'm Threash!  sorry but L2 does have some silly pvp rules.  Plus it requires way too much catassery, takes me a week to finish a char in SB and thats if i really wanna take it as high as possible.  I don't know anything about AC or the darktide server, someone explain please?

[Rasix]

I don't know anything about AC or the darktide server, someone explain please?

[Soukyan]

While I am of the opinion that L2 is a great game, it's hardly 'unrestricted' PvP.  You can attack and kill anyone, almost anywhere, but most of them will not fight back, therefore turning you red, and hitting you with some really nasty penalties should you get killed.

It is unrestricted PvP. It's just not without consequence. It seems that your definition of unrestricted would = no consequences. Griefing abounds in that atmosphere. ;)

[sinij]

It is unrestricted PvP. It's just not without consequence. It seems that your definition of unrestricted would = no consequences. Griefing abounds in that atmosphere. ;)

PvP should not have any artificial consequences outside of loosing any given battle and failing your goal associated with that battle. You are probably talking about killing unwilling or helpless player or PKing.  PKing should not be possible in well-designed PvP game since nobody should be entirely helpless and nobody unwilling should be forced to PvP, unless you are talking unwilling to face risks associated with PvP rewards. Ether way your response about L2 clearly shows me that ether PvP is afterthought there or you don’t know what you are talking about. I personally wouldn’t know since I can’t stand the grind for long enough to get to the point where you get to PvP.

[Ubiq]

Because the engine they designed is woefully inadequate to support the game they want you to play?

Solving the issue with CSRs is a temporary solution.  Hard code limits on the number of buildings planted in a siege will kick in with the expansion, and we're rebalancing the siege experience so fewer are needed.  Which is to say, we're working hard to calibrate the siege experience to match what the engine can do.

though im a bit underwhelmed with vampires

You're seeing vampire iteration 1, of course.  We still have to go through a few iterations on 'em.  Still, look at their max stats.  They aren't as gimped as they seem at first glance.

the expansion is not yet out and won't be until december i believe

We're currently targetting late November.  Actual launch date will, of course, depend upon when its ready.

Let me know when they change SB so that:

- Cities are captureable not destroyable.
- City ownership costs increase exponentially the more cities your guild (country?) own.
- Unused cities fall into disrepair and fade away.

While those aren't our plans, you might be excited about our territorial control plan.  It seems to target some of the same goals that you seem to be going for.

[Righ]

Ether way your response about L2 clearly shows me that ether PvP is afterthought there or you don’t know what you are talking about. I personally wouldn’t know since I can’t stand the grind for long enough to get to the point where you get to PvP.

In L2, if you attack a player, and they elect not to fight back, you either disengage, or you gain criminal notoriety and face generally unwanted consequences upon their death. There are elements to this that can be exploited using multiple characters and gank squads consisting of only one lowbie "criminal", and a herd of "lawful" assists should a lawful player elect to fight back. So it is unlimited, but it isn't perfect. It isn't an afterthought, it just wasn't designed with spotty western griefers in mind.

As with L1, the joy is in the high-end siege game. However, this requires a HUGE investment in your character, and you will need to continue to invest, since siege death does incur an experience penalty.

[Threash]

While I am of the opinion that L2 is a great game, it's hardly 'unrestricted' PvP.  You can attack and kill anyone, almost anywhere, but most of them will not fight back, therefore turning you red, and hitting you with some really nasty penalties should you get killed.

It is unrestricted PvP. It's just not without consequence. It seems that your definition of unrestricted would = no consequences. Griefing abounds in that atmosphere. ;)

What more consequence do you want than being able to hunt down and kill whoever killed you?  If you kill someone there is always a consequence, they dont like you.  Consequence does not mean "instant revenge", it does not mean if i kill you im automatically at a disavantage.  Unrestricted pvp means i can kill you and you can kill me, anything other than that just gets in the way of pure pvp.

[Righ]

While those aren't our plans, you might be excited about our territorial control plan.  It seems to target some of the same goals that you seem to be going for.

Please bring back beta 3 on one server please. Having your city knocked over by people in the middle of the night was acceptable when it could be rebuilt in a couple of days. Syncro-treb for hours was no bad way to remove a tree. The siege system changes late in beta went too far, the timescales and costs for building in release were too extreme. Beta 3 wasn't perfect, and the balance probably lies somewhere between the play it offered and the technical improvements made later.

But that's just my 2c.

[sinij]

But that's just my 2c.

Game long since moved on, building times were shortened and few other things were implemented since then to make it harder and not as painful to loose a city. IMO short-term problems are chain-banes, placing bane stone is too easy and too many people can easily do it non-stop and tedious PvE and long-term problems are repetitive game play and lack of diversity in player experiences. Basically everyone is tired of defending cities from non-stop banes when you don’t really need them.

[Soukyan]

It is unrestricted PvP. It's just not without consequence. It seems that your definition of unrestricted would = no consequences. Griefing abounds in that atmosphere. ;)

PvP should not have any artificial consequences outside of loosing any given battle and failing your goal associated with that battle. You are probably talking about killing unwilling or helpless player or PKing.  PKing should not be possible in well-designed PvP game since nobody should be entirely helpless and nobody unwilling should be forced to PvP, unless you are talking unwilling to face risks associated with PvP rewards. Ether way your response about L2 clearly shows me that ether PvP is afterthought there or you don’t know what you are talking about. I personally wouldn’t know since I can’t stand the grind for long enough to get to the point where you get to PvP.

You can PvP from level 1 so there's no grind to get to it. The highest I attained in L2 was 22 and I did plenty of PvP while I played. No, I did not participate in large-scale seiges, but I did partake of Player vs. Player combat. I have gone red at times and I escaped sometimes and managed to clear my murderous status before having to face the consequences. But the fact that anytime someone could come up to me and kill me made it feel quite unrestricted to me. And no, I don't recall any level limits on it either as I would often get smacked down by some player who was many, many levels higher than me.

What more consequence do you want than being able to hunt down and kill whoever killed you? If you kill someone there is always a consequence, they dont like you. Consequence does not mean "instant revenge", it does not mean if i kill you im automatically at a disavantage. Unrestricted pvp means i can kill you and you can kill me, anything other than that just gets in the way of pure pvp.

Yes, and consequences get in the way of unrestricted car theft, too. You know, there is unrestricted PvP in real life, too. You can walk over and attack your neighbor if you so choose. But there are consequences. If we view it the other way, we can say it is restricted because there are laws that say you go to jail if you do it. That would still be a consequence of an action. Foreknowledge of it means that you have a choice of whether you want to face those consequences or not. Either way, it's the same. It states that it is unlawful.

So I think the issue here is not whether PvP is unrestricted or not, but whether unrestricted means a lawful state or chaotic state. I will concede the definition to you that unrestricted would mean no stipulations, no restraints, no conditions. Therefore, we can not definitively call L2 PvP unrestricted.

Why don't you see unrestricted PvP? Because the games are trying to emulate some level of societal involvement and player accountability. Do you really believe someone could be held accountable in an unrestricted PvP environment? Or is it just that you don't want to be held accountable since it is an escape from real life? If that's what you want, Unreal Tournament has fantastic, unrestricted PvP. Probably the best. And there are many other games like it. But that's a cheap shot.

So we're looking for a virtual world with unrestricted PvP then? An MMOG with it? Can we say SB has it? Possibly at times. Honestly, I doubt any dev is going to bother with true unrestricted PvP because it has been done by other games and from the looks of it, many MMOG devs are trying to create a virtual world with their games as well. And let's face it, people are inherently evil, selfish pricks. To think that players would not use an unrestricted PvP environment just to harass others is foolish. Granted, perhaps only those who enjoy doing that to each other would be attracted to it.

And not to get muddled in terminology, but a quick note on PK. This was another term bastardized over the years. Back in my MUD days, it was used to classify a MUD that had PvP combat. Instead they simply called PvP, PK. Player Killing. It's what happens when a Player vs. Player encounter ends. One kills the other. Now, perhaps some MUDs turned it into a term meaning a griefer, but not the ones I played and administered. Ah well, the more I write, the more there is to pick apart so I'm done now.

[Koyasha]

It is unrestricted PvP. It's just not without consequence. It seems that your definition of unrestricted would = no consequences. Griefing abounds in that atmosphere. ;)

Actually, I don't mind penalties, though I think that L2 is just a bit on the heavy-handed side.  They're *so* strong that even when you have damn good reason to kill someone, you generally don't, because you then become a walking bullseye.

If instead of being 'red' to everyone, you were 'red' to bounty hunters, but killing bounty hunters didn't make you turn red, that would seem pretty appropriate.  While you'd still be technically red to everyone, they wouldn't SEE it.  If they killed you, they'd get no penalties, it's just that you wouldn't have a bullseye floating over your head, except to those who put themselves at risk of being retaliated against.

But dragging the conversation to L2 wasn't really my intention..  On the topic of Shadowbane, I didn't even know they had another expansion coming out.  I tend to go in whenever they have one of those winback programs, and occasionally even pay for a month after that.  The game is distracting, for a little while, to me, at least.  If they had a complete engine ovehaul, it might even become a much better game.