Shadowbane character wipe inc

[Kobalt]

Shadowbane


We will be updating the Shadowbane Test Server with the first iteration of Patch 22 later this afternoon. There are a variety of changes associated with this update but most talked about development will be what we are referring to as “Shadowbane Reboot”.

The Shadowbane Team decided that it would be best for the longevity of the game to reset all server and character data and start from scratch. By doing so, the game benefits in a variety of ways. First, we feel the community will be better served by being more consolidated and less fragmented. Second, resetting the game removes items that have accumulated over the years that have caused imbalances to the game. In addition, numerous updates and enhancements have been made to the Shadowbane service to improve the performance. Some of the changes were not as effective due to preexisting data and resetting the service will allow the servers to work under optimal conditions. Finally, this update also gives us a chance to address certain game issues.

The first of these that cannot occur on any existing world is the flattening of the entire city zone. Currently when a Tree of Life is placed, the area around the building grid is flattened and the rest of the zone is left unaltered. This has caused issues with the “phantom row” of walls, siege engines wrongly terra-forming the terrain, and creating practically unsiegable cities. With this update, we will be extending the flattening to the entire city zone which will rectify these issues.

Another change that is being made is the removal of Tower Guards. Tower Guards work much like Guard Captains and are continuously scanning the area (unlike Guard Minions). This scanning created a large hit on the servers and was one of the reasons cities were limited in how many Guard Captains a city can hold. Tower Guards are essentially Archer Captains without any minions and numerous cities have more than 40 of them. Initially we were looking at limiting how many walls and towers a city can hold but the community was much more supportive of removing Tower Guards completely and not limiting the design of city walls.

While it could be done without the wipe, making sweeping changes to equipment is better done in conjunction with it. Armor sets have been redistributed so that there is only one set for newly created characters, and then a set for the 25%, 50%, and 75% skill points. All other sets have been placed in the 100% bracket. With these extra sets, we have plugged a few missing Class and Discipline specific sets. Warriors have a Heavy Armor set called Dreadnaught; Priests have a Medium Armor set called Sacrosanct; Druids have been added to the Hunting Leather set which Scouts have been removed from; Scouts have been given a new Light Armor set called Scout Leather; Wizards have a Wizard specific robe and cowl; Blade Weavers have a Heavy Armor set; Blade Masters have a Light Armor set; and Knights and Dark Knights have their own individual Heavy Armor sets.

Resource costs have been removed from creating any armor set; discounting magical effects. While doing all of this, all armor sets have been brought in line. Most were not far off but a few of them had resistances and stats well outside the norm. All of the armor sets have been brought in line so that one set is not superior to another with a few exceptions. While resistances will not differ between armors, the Defense Rating, Bulk Factor, and Weight gets slightly better with Racial, Class, and Discipline armors. In addition to this, the latter get baked in magical attributes per armor piece. Not huge bonuses but rather very minor ones. For example, each Sacrosanct armor piece comes with +1 to Spirit and +1 to Theurgy. These baked in enchantments do not override or counter against the magical enchantments players can place on these armor pieces via merchant crafting.

In addition to the above, the following changes are being made in this update:

* Melee Weapons have had their range slightly increased and weight decreased
* Throwing Weapons have had their range slightly decreased and are now created on the Projectile Craftsman as are Bows and Crossbows
* Khan’Ov Skrekel, a new Freehold, has been added to the Vorringia mapset in the desert; unlike Safeholds the entire city is PvP+ and allows for transportation by all even on the Loreplay server.
* The Fence Merchants in Sea Dog’s Rest have been relocated to Khan’Ov Skrekel and Fate’s Peddler is taking a well-deserved vacation.
* The maximum amount of minions a Guard Captain can have has been decreased to 2.
* Various Bow and Crossbow Powers have been decreased.
* The Player-based Area of Effect attack on Siege Engines has been removed.
* Buildings of War now use square perimeter placement area instead of a circumference.
* An issue with the Summon power has been fixed.
* Maintenance Fees for Rank 8 Trees of Life will now be deducted.



Assuming anyone continues to play after this, will be interesting being able to re live the launch.

Btw anyone know how exactly this is still alive considering it's been free for months now? Does it have micro transactions now or something?

[Steamrice]

People still play this game?

[Saban]

Ballsy.

[Tolanin]

i really wanna know how they pay for any of this since it seems like the game is completely free now.

[Tenks]

Shadowbane : 5 years ahead of Vanguard's time

[Pinchandroll]

They have random ads on the menu screen / intro movies that pay for the game, I believe.

This sounds pretty cool, actually. I'll probably start playing again now that everyone is on an even playing field. Though it will be sad for all my r7 characters to disappear...

[Jait]

I heard a rumor once that if you enter a graveyard at midnight and say "Shadowbane" three times if you listen very carefully, you'll hear Jesus weep.


And then some 14-year old kid will PK you, and for the next week and a half he'll remind you hourly.

[Zarcath]

Glad to see the devs still working on making SB into something worth playing. Some of the changes sound pretty nice.

[Nako Mistako]

It's amazing that this game is still going.

Even more amazing is how it's still not something that I feel is fun to play. I think at the abstract level (guilds, cities, pvp, etc) it's a neat game, but the direct connection with the game is just... ugh.

[Cybsled]

Damn...my blademaster with 22million gold will be nuked ;(

Not that I care at this point. Last time I logged in. some dude from Taiwan/China was leveling up twinks outside a "dungeon" while he was underground killing shit. I killed all his twinks and he started yelling, but I didn't understand him. I was a ranger/blademaster so I did the super-ultra sprint combo when he came out to kick my ass ;p

[Lyenae]

The only bad thing I see with this wipe is it'll probably be the sign to a lot of veterans to move on.

Other than that, there will be probably be some fierce drama/action for the first few weeks the servers go live.

[Mahes]

I think this is a first of sorts. Cannot think of any online games that have chosen to wipe a server. Merge servers, yes, but not wipe.


Can you imagine if EvE did this?

[The Bog]

Originally Posted by Cybsled

Damn...my blademaster with 22million gold will be nuked ;(

Not that I care at this point. Last time I logged in. some dude from Taiwan/China was leveling up twinks outside a "dungeon" while he was underground killing shit. I killed all his twinks and he started yelling, but I didn't understand him. I was a ranger/blademaster so I did the super-ultra sprint combo when he came out to kick my ass ;p

yuo kell twank RANG RANG

[Seth]

Originally Posted by Mahes

I think this is a first of sorts. Cannot think of any online games that have chosen to wipe a server. Merge servers, yes, but not wipe.

Swg, without actually doing the character wipes, i guess?

[Linbog]

Originally Posted by Mahes

I think this is a first of sorts. Cannot think of any online games that have chosen to wipe a server. Merge servers, yes, but not wipe.
Can you imagine if EvE did this?

The only issue is it doesn't matter, 6 weeks later everyone will be right back where they are today. Gear, skills and everything is so transient in Shadowbane unlike EVE.