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Shadowbane News - Game Closing Permanently
Posted by Jon Wood on Apr 17, 2009 | 97 comments in our forums
MMORPG.com has learned that Wolfpack Studios is closing the doors on their MMO Shadowbane as of May 1st, 2009.
Wolfpack Studios and publisher Ubisoft announced today that Shadowbane, the company's MMO that had been running now since March 25th 2003, will be shutting down its severs permanently on May 1st, 2009.
The official announcement on the game's website doesn't offer a specific reason for the closure, but instead chooses to reflect fondly on the game and its players.
When a game closes, we here at MMORPG.com like to mark its passing by taking a look at just how many days the game has been online. Recently, many of the cancellation numbers have borne low day counts, so it is a triumph of sorts that we report Shadowbane's legacy included an impressive 2253 days in Aerynth.
No0o0o0o0o0o0o00o :(
Was a real classic game.
Best video game i have ever played. Unfortunately, SB ruined every other MMO for me. Nothing else is riveting enough to keep me entertained more than a week or two.
Sad day in MMOville. Hopefully Stray Bullet Games can get their own MMO developed asap.
My first MMO....../sigh
I tried this game once, even though i did'nt get too into it. It had the fine makins of a good game, its a shame the developers gave up on it and didnt try to improve it .
I guess we all owe shadowbane /salute !!
For those that played Treachery:
History of Treachery - Start to Finish
I enjoyed it, sucks it's gonna be gone. I actually downloaded the game again a few days ago but the servers were down for a few days, finally went back up and I kept crashing. Ahh, byebye Shadowbane.
Repeat of a thread from earlier, but sad indeed. One of the most fun experiences I had in MMO's, despite the numersous technical difficulties. You know it's good if you play through the stuff that happened when it was released like I did!
Farewell SB. You have a place in my heart next to UO.
*sniff*
I really had some good times playing Shadowbane.
RIP, the game gave a lot of peole some good times.
Yeah this sucks considering i never tried this game earlier considering i just started playing like 5 days ago and then they announce that it's shutting down on may 1st. I was really looking forward to getting pretty involved with this game but now i can't :(.
about time this turd got flushed...
The only mmo in the history of mmos to get pvp right. (not the act of pvp, but the reasons for pvp that the game mechanics produced) Now dies.
Because of the technical problems of the game, so few mmo fans will ever know just how bloody amazing pvp in an mmo can be. Come to think of it, neither will mmo developers...
R.I.P. PVP
In my mind this was truly one of the great ones
the pvp fights
even better the gvg fights
the multitude of races
the mutitude of professions
an almost unlimited number of viable character builds
no major leveling grind
no major reliance on chance for elite drops
Just get down to bussiness and Battle your favorite enemy.
yes the graphics are old and the game engine buggy but I will miss shadowbane and have no idea what I will find to hold my interest for more than a week or 2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WWaLxFIVX1s&feature=related
I liked Shadowbane. Not as much as some of you, but I liked it.
Sad to see it finally kick the bucket.
To those of you that didn't play this game...
The most intricate race/class/profession/discipline system ever.
The most thrilling pvp ever.
The highest learning curve ever.
The hardest mmorpg to top EVER.
Definatly the most thrilling game of all time. Ever been in a battle against 50 people? Thats fun. Against 500... Thats Shadowbane.
This game had it all, you could solo it as an assassin, ranger, scout, theif, ect... hope for the kill and the quick get away with that +40 int rune, whether you needed it or not, its worth at least 2mill (a whole city could be bought for the same price some times). You could small group it, big group it, mine fights, or banes... then the complete economic side, buy, sell, trade.
All I have left on my computer is a picture from the bane to rid Thurin of CN once and for all...
There where about 1500 people in this area, mostly inside the walls. We where defending the banestone from attack.
Ahh shadowbane, you will be missed.
I loved the charcter race's, where else am I going to get to play a centaur in armour?
I had some fun times with SB.
Sad to see it go.
Considering the HUGE controversy and hype that was around this game before release, its interesting to ponder its long term effect on the MMORPG genre.
I was very heavy into EQ at the time, I think EQ was still top dog as well.
The newcomers at the time were really innovative.
Where DAoC's hook was RvR, 3 realms, 3rd person, Shadowbane went with the almost sandbox "make what you will" "build your own empire" 3rd person perspective.
Not the economic simulation that EVE became, but not the hum drum MMORPG of the time.
Sadly, the MMORPG space hasn't really pushed the boundaries since, with "instancing" being probably the most inventive "feature" (read workaround) in the past 5 years.
There is something to be said about evolutionary design in MMOs. Make them better, don't re-invent the wheel. An conversly, being inventive for inventions sake, doesn't a good game make. But the current tendancy to make careful, safe games that appeal to the largest demographic, using a huge budget, I think will only weaken the future of MMOs.
Alongside Ultima Online, one of the most enjoyable mmorpg experiences for myself. While not perfect, they did so many things right and were unbelievably innovative for the genre as a whole. Here is hoping Stray Bullet Games(formed by many of the devs who made SB), make a worthy heir with their untitled mmorpg.
I highly enjoyed Shadowbane and will always look back at the great pvp I experienced there with fond memories. I only hope that soon there will be a successor with better gameplay yet with the same quality character choices that allow 100s of possible outcomes; that and firce pvp that is more then (lmb) games of the present.
Its a sad day, what a kick but game it was. Fantastic P.v.P
My wife will be happy no more shadowcrack for me.
Drunken The Master
Crimson Brotherhood
I just brought the game for $1 from bargain bin.
Am i stupid or what ?
I'll miss you shawdowbane.
It's a true classic.
YOu bought a free game. You know you want your dollar back!! :)
People use to rail this game. Now-a-days you see good comments. This thread only has one person railing on it, while most everyone else is saying its a good game, or great game. This, to me, is the greatest game ever second only to Ultama Online, the way UO was 10 years ago.
With the death of SB, the future looks grim for a sucessor. Darkfall comes close, but it has to much FPS style play and a horrible curse word filled community. Age of Conan is the other possibility, but its an instance fest and fighting only lasts seconds. Then there is good ole EVE online. EVE is perfect in every way except for their skill-over-time system, and its a space game.
Whats next?
RIP Shadowbande. And to all the players who were still playing, I hope you, your online friends and your guilds can find a new home.
Well said.
I enjoyed this game despite a lot of its faults. Unfortunately, one fault kept me from playing: way too much lag and crashing in mass PvP battles. If it hadn't been for that I would have been playing this game for years and years. Very sad to see it close down. There is nothing like it on the market.
I fondly remember the months and weeks before SB went live, the furor of SB Fanboi's invading the EQ1 forums and declaring that EQ1 would die as soon as SB went live, oh good days =).
However it's always sad to see any MMO close it's doors for the final time, I suppose the silver lining would be that those paying customers might now migrate to DFO, as it's the only other MMO on a similar lvl.
Shadowbane is on the few mmo's I played for longer then a few months. From launch until about 2 years afterwards. I have never had as much playing MMO as when I played SB!
win!!!
Good riddance. Was a very poorly written game that never really got better. Just gave indie developers a bad name.
Give it a few years and you will see Darkfall do the exact same thing.
Mediocrity does not sit well with game players.
In 2003 I was searching for an on-line game to play. I found Shadowbane and bought it. I struggled through the first few months of server shutdowns, hacks and later all the lag-fest sieges. Joined many clans through out the first year until I found a guild that I liked. Through out the years that I played Shadowbane, I went through 3 different servers and many, many different toons and templates and at one point, I even had 3 accounts.
Though it had it's faults and bad moments, overall I really enjoyed the game and since I quit playing about a year and half ago, I have yet to find an mmo that can hold my attention the way that Shadowbane did. Maybe it's because it was my virgin mmo, or I'm just getting too old to compete with the younger crowd any more or the guild I was a member of, any way, I hope that Silver Bullet's project or some other game (DFO maybe) can bring back thrill that I had while playing Shadowbane.
Thank you Wolfpack and UBI for many years of enjoyment and RIP Shadowbane.
You don't understand the game and apparently don't understand gamers either. Shadowbane for all it's faults, and in some ways because of them, was unique. It introduced things into the MMO space that were copied by a hundred games but were never duplicated. The game grew and changed in major ways almost to the time of it's death but always remained true to it's core.It had dapth and scope like no other game before or since. It's an incredible study in emergent behaviors in MMOs and developers who ignore it's lessons do so to their peril.
Ok, first to the players who had fun playing SB - GREAT!
Fun is the whole point to playing MMOs so gratz! on finding one you loved.
However...
Bollox.
The game failed because of the LACK of Depth and Scope. SB had one gameplay mechanic: Kill. The rest was fluff enabling you to kill more / faster. That's why it failed.
A study in Emergent Behavior? Please. The only thing that "emerged" was the game's collapse, and the only Lesson developers should learn from SB is to Never make one like it again because the one-trick pony of FFA PvP DOES NOT AND CAN NOT WORK as a viable social system, which is what MMOs are.
In other words - "Play To Crush!" got Crushed because it Doesn't Work as an MMO play mechanic. DarkFall will eventually learn this lesson as well.
Meh.
I played this for a month or two after launch. I had fun with it but it was far from my favorite MMO of all time. Way too much of a grind. Plus, I'm not big on games where the entire world is open PVP. That's just my personal opinion though.
Still, I hate to see any game go away.
I played Shadowbane for about 2 years, and another year after that off and on. I have to say, I enjoyed my time playing, but even more what I learned from it.
I'm a developer, who likes to play all kinds of games, and as many people have said, I think Shadowbane did PvP right, in the sense of the goal and not the actual killing mechanics. I have very fond memories of playing with the guilds I did, as well as reading the forums, etc.
I could mention its faults, the reason it was never a huge success, etc. But that will be left for another time, following its passing. Until then, we should all just remember the game for what it offered to those who played it. If you didn't or you did not like it, it is understandable.
If anyone is interested, I have been compiling a list of features that Shadowbane had, in my quest to figure out what works well overall and what does not (I know people will say they have already enumerated these, but I prefer specifics rather than just saying: PVP, FFA, Full Loot, etc).
PM me if you want. I will be doing a comparison across all games in the market (MMORPGs), both in the same genre and not, and creating a detailed comparison of the features and how they worked, didn't, or how they needed to be changed.
RIP, Shadowbane...
The game definately still has a devote following which is why it's sad to see it go. I can't say I actually liked the game but...
Maybe all these Shadowbane lovers with make there own servers.
If you think Shadowbane was a one trick pony of FFA PvP you nerver played it enough to understand it. Not everyone on the planet want's to play the same perfect game because there is no one perfect game for everyone.
I feel as if the company should totally just release everything that one would need to create a server of their own and run it if they like. Like a server package.
I get that they no longer want to put money into it and are shutting it down, but not really fair to those who want to play it if they are willing to pay to have it all set up.
Shadowbane was my jump in the MMORPG world. The classes and races were awesome and the guild system was great! A Shadowbane with current technologie and continuous support would be amazing I think.
Bollox.
The game failed because of the LACK of Depth and Scope. SB had one gameplay mechanic: Kill. The rest was fluff enabling you to kill more / faster. That's why it failed.
A study in Emergent Behavior? Please. The only thing that "emerged" was the game's collapse, and the only Lesson developers should learn from SB is to Never make one like it again because the one-trick pony of FFA PvP DOES NOT AND CAN NOT WORK as a viable social system, which is what MMOs are.
In other words - "Play To Crush!" got Crushed because it Doesn't Work as an MMO play mechanic. DarkFall will eventually learn this lesson as well.
If you think Shadowbane was a one trick pony of FFA PvP you nerver played it enough to understand it. Not everyone on the planet want's to play the same perfect game because there is no one perfect game for everyone.
I agree - there is no, and never will be a "Perfect" game. We, as gamers, are individuals and each have a different reason to play, a different idea of fun, and a different taste for type of game - ie Sci-fi, fantasy, etc.
The problem with MMO's isn't the gameplay of any specific game, in my opinion, it is our need as people for instant gratification. That leads to simplified games which are easy to beat without spending a lot of time at - good for the majority perhaps but not for the minority which appreciates a challenge. I played Shadowbane for a year - early on and I think it was a good game, it had it's flaws but overall it was a good experience. It outlived it's playability. All games will do this. Even Wow, eventually will die, probably when the Company decides it is time to do something else and that they are not getting enough revenues to support the game. Not saying it will be soon, still looks healthy to me, but fashions change - even in the gaming world. WoW was not the first MMO - it displaced those that came before and some day something will displace it - not wishful thinking, merely an observation of reality - all things die. Myself, I hope that in the future there will still be a place for challenging games that not everyone likes, EVE is a good example right now. peace.
Or maybe people are reading more into their beloved game than was really there.
Not everyone on the planet want's to play the same perfect game because there is no one perfect game for everyone.
Agreed. However there is such a thing as a Commercially Viable game that can make enough profit to keep the servers running. I dunno, maybe if WolfPack had trimmed the staff to 1 or 2 people they could have stayed in business because that's about how many people it would take to support the handfull of paying customers who enjoy this genre.
You could argue that there is a market for MMO Pong, and there probably is, but unless you're willing to work for $3.00/hr you'll probably go out of business the first year. Same with Free-For-All Player-vs-Player MMOs, there's so few players who enjoy this enough to Pay for it that it's not a viable model.
edit: How about this - Would ShadowBane fans be willing to chip in $100 each to buy the rights and host a private server?
Looks like Woody at GU can finally get that Shadowbane fly into the zapper. Sort of a shame, I kind of liked how the Shadowbane and Horizons flies kept hanging in there.
I never played the game, but it seems like a lot of you enjoyed it. I guess just not enough of you to keep it going.
Bollox.
The game failed because of the LACK of Depth and Scope. SB had one gameplay mechanic: Kill. The rest was fluff enabling you to kill more / faster. That's why it failed.
A study in Emergent Behavior? Please. The only thing that "emerged" was the game's collapse, and the only Lesson developers should learn from SB is to Never make one like it again because the one-trick pony of FFA PvP DOES NOT AND CAN NOT WORK as a viable social system, which is what MMOs are.
In other words - "Play To Crush!" got Crushed because it Doesn't Work as an MMO play mechanic. DarkFall will eventually learn this lesson as well.
If you think Shadowbane was a one trick pony of FFA PvP you nerver played it enough to understand it. Not everyone on the planet want's to play the same perfect game because there is no one perfect game for everyone.
Quite true. If Shadowbane, which actually had some depth and breadth is dead, then how long does a game with only FFA PVP and nothing else to offer have?
Once again the writting is on the wall for Dark-n-Fail since it has <10% of what Shadowbane had to offer.
Darkfall took all their players.
and gave them nothing.
Never even new this game existed.
A real case of ultimate bad timing, then.
it is a sad day when games which have existed this long and brought a passionate community together finally meet their end. i am sure many will look back to this game fondly.
the same unfortunately cannot be said about other games or game developers, who have chosen to nerf the game to oblivion and screw its community before its certain future shutdown.
I will say this.,..to this day shadowbane had the BEST player run/siege idea in any MMO i have played. If it wasnt for the outdated graphics/animations bugs and horrible lag this game would have done so well.
I havent touched the game in almost 2 years but I have fond memories of it. If anyone remembers Ebonlore when he stole everything in the guild and Ebayed it, i was in the guild at the time as a high council.
that ended up being the main reason i left cuz i invested everything i had at that point into the guild.
Anyways, regardless always sad to see an MMO die. I just hope someone learns to take some great things away from this game and apply them to something new.
Shadowbane was a classic among the first gen mmo's it will be sad to see it go.
I honestly do not think any other game came as close to getting PVP right as SB did. You had a reason to build up your cities and you had a reason to take the enemies down. Starshiner, House Winterwind, sub of The Black Watch, Dread server saying thank you!
I have some really fond memories from Shadowbane. I played it at launch and a few months in. First character i made was a thief and was super exited that a game had finally created a true thief class where you could steal from other players. When i got to level 45 i decided to make the backthen overpowered Mage Assassin (which later had a name change). I had so much fun with that class ...ahh the times.
It quickly became apparent that the idea behind the game could not be sustained however. The penalty of having your entire city burned to the ground you spent so much money and effort levelling up (highest tier trainers and merchants etc.) just to have it all burned to the ground in one night made most guilds quit for other games. I was there through out all the controversy and rage on various boards to know this as fact. UBISofts response to it was to introduce server wipes ala Diablo 2 ladder wipes. lets face it. Nobody thought it was a great gameplay mechanic to have your entire city burned down while 90% of your guild were asleep or at work.
Never the less I had a ball. There will never be another game with such intricate playerbased politics that Shadowbane had. You had to form alliances and make treaties in order to survive. I really admired they tried making a different game and taking a chance on a PvP mechanic that eventually fell short.
Shadowbane you will be missed. Specially the thief.
When Shadowbane first started, I was enthralled making Minotaurs and Centaurs. Unfortunately, as I grew in levels and joined into some of the battles, the technical issues and lag made it impossible to play. I was very sad to cancel my subscription, but the laaaaaaaaaaaaag, the laaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaag!
RIP Beltaine the Healing Centaur Priest.
RIP Shadowbane
Shadowbane was a true classic that was, at least technologically, too far ahead of its time, unable to handle the scope of its own vision. The formula would still work today -- even WAR has failed to make people care about battles the way Shadowbane could.
It was the best two years I ever spent on an MMO (1.5yrs of that in beta), and I know that, just like Ultima Online, it's a once-in-a-gaming-lifetime experience.
Wolfpack Studios hasn't existed for three years, now. Shadowbane is handled by Stray Bullet Games and UbiSoft.
This was far from a perfect game, but it did have some great ideas. As many others have said, the pvp was one of the best done of any game to date. Also while the game was based on classes, it had a very unique system to still differentiate yourself from other players. I haven't played in a long time, but if I remember right they were called runestones.
Also, this game had some excellent classes. At the time I thought it had some of the best classes of any MMO out. It had some really nice hybrid classes such as Prelate and Confessor. As you can tell from this, I liked playing healer hybrids.
The main thing that killed this game for me....
well...
was lag.
I played back in beta, but over the time I played they never could seem to get a hold on it. I even adapted to the controls, which I thought was completely idiotic when the game first released.
Also, to the person who said this game was a grind. This was one of the easiest games of it's time to level in.
One thing I have to give SB credit for, it changed me from a carebear to something closer to hardcore. I can remember trying to play the more anti-type. But very soon, I found it not so hard to loot people's corpses... :)
It made me realize that was just the way the game was played and it wasn't meant to be offensive.
Wow, it feels like a long lost friend has just gone terminal. I never was one for pvp, but somehow Shadowbane did it right, made me like it, and it is one of the few pvp games I have enjoyed. Though my original server has long since passed (Mourning), it is still sad to hear that the game is closing it's doors forever.
Yeah, there were downsides to the game, lag, lag and more lag. And with every new patch, new problems to fix, but the basic groundwork of the game was what kept myself and many others in game. They did an excellent job with city building/sieging, pvp, resources, the class/rune system, and so many other little things. It just became too much of a time sink in the end, and it was heartrending to see cities that you poured countless hours into get destroyed by the invading hordes. Then again, the good times, and the bad, the epic wars, political metagame, just the general community of folks on the Mourning server, those are the things that all help to shape what was a one of a kind gaming experience.
Farewell old friend. You will be missed.
I'm surprised it lasted as long as it has.
SWG should follow suit instead of trying to lure players to empty servers. And lets not forget Vanguard, what a waste of space that turned out to be.
This game will be missed, was enjoyable while it lasted. But seriously, what is with the slow news reporting on this site. There was already a thread about this, do you really need 2? Anyways I hope the developers can find something else out there to work with in this economic struggle.
I really enjoyed this game a lot up to lvI 20. Upon reaching lvl 20 and getting booted out of Noob Island, I could not progress anymore because I was getting PK'd constantly, but still I will miss it. I'm really gonna miss that mezmorizing background sound. Those of you that played know what I'm talking about. Goodbye Shadowbane and goodbye to my Minotaur with his Polearm ready to swing!! RIP
I would bet the SWG will be shut down around the time KOTR debutes and Vanguard would have been shut down already if it wasn't part of the SOE subscriber package.
agreed, although i stopped playing because ugly graphics. yett, as pvper player i must admit it was best mmo i played
let us hope for sb2 one day. i just cannot accept such potential would be thrown away for good
Yes the game was far from perfect but, as my first MMO game, it will always hold a special place in my memory. I had a great time playing in the old War server...
WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAALT!
Should've happened a looong time ago. Like the day before launch.
Got alot of good memories from SB. The PvP was immense, the ingame community was pretty good and it was one of only 3 games in my mmo experience where being ganked often led to fun ingame, friendships or rivalries.
Wasn't everyones cup of tea I can bet, but I haven't found a better experience as an enjoyer of PvP in the mmo world since and i find that very sad.
I never liked the premise of the game, but I'm still sad to see it die, just like any MMO. There are obviously some people that love the game. Sadly, this is a strong indication that the market just isn't very good at sustaining niche games and it may be a long, long while before it can if ever.
Hardcore gameplay / open PvP / sandbox just isn't a large crowd pleaser and the chances of games like this coming out in the future will continue to reduce as games like this fail.
Game was trash, I stoped playing after having the sb.exe crash everytime time I was in a siege.
Though I only come here to read the forums from time to time, this is one post I must comment on. Shadowbane was a great game. Pvp wise this game has yet to be matched. It was fun, best wishes to those who played in shadowbanes ruthless lands.
Gimi Gargrim - Crusader
R.I.P. to an epic game. Shadowbane had the best PvP I've ever seen. None of this carebear PvP where you kill someone for 'honor tokens' to spend on crap. If you killed someone, you took all their stuff (with the exception of equipped gear), and laughed on the way to the bank.
The siege warfare beats the crap out of what I've seen since. WAR is getting there, but still has some work to do. Battles with several hundred people were beyond epic. And you didn't have to worry about just the enemy. You had to be sure you knew what your friends and allies were up to as well, because 'friendly fire' was a factor. 'Neutral' parties could also get in on the action, throwing in with one side or the other, or just jumping into the fight and killing targets of opportunity, regardless of who's side they were on.
Kudos to the players, the devs, and everyone else involved. Despite the carebears and trolls spouting bovine fecal matter in this thread, 9 years is not a failure in my book. Were there problems? Yup, and plenty of em. No one is perfect. All you have to do is look at the current crop of MMO's to see that. Even Blizzard, with their billions, can't get something as relatively simple as 'routine maintenance' or patch days right every single time.
/Salute to Desolation, The Fringe, Order of the Blade, KGB, The Rogue Society, The Crystal Order and many others whom I can't recall right away, enemy and ally alike. It was lots of fun fighting with you and against you. Hope to meet you all again on the battlefield some day, be it in this life or the next.
wtf......
*cry*
The game launched in March 2003, where you get 9 yrs from?
It was my first mmo, I still remember trying to get groups together over by the tree of life amd finally a bunch of us would go out tentatively , I mean we were really afraid we would get picked off by assasins while we were killing the giant worms, and sure enough you heard the screams but did not see the killer. We huddled closer together and then in the distance we saw a smaller group killing some small monsters, and one of us said "hey lets attack them" it took a few minuts to get our confidence up but befor you knew it all hell broke loose . Oh man what great memmories= sey ya Shadow Bane!!!
for someone who alpha'd, beta'd, and played this game till close it's really sad to see it go
R.I.P. Shadowbane you and UO, and AC, and pre-exodus EVE will forever be remembers
A great game. The chinese kinda destroyed it for me though. Have a good night sleep SB.
If you think Shadowbane was a one trick pony of FFA PvP you nerver played it enough to understand it. Not everyone on the planet want's to play the same perfect game because there is no one perfect game for everyone.
Quite true. If Shadowbane, which actually had some depth and breadth is dead, then how long does a game with only FFA PVP and nothing else to offer have?
Once again the writting is on the wall for Dark-n-Fail since it has <10% of what Shadowbane had to offer.
How is this a ffa pvp game?
Did you ever play it?
It was much more than that. The ffa pvp was just one small looming factor in everything you did in the game. There where times that you could spend all day NOT killing and NOT getting killed. The depth was endless, if you say it had none, then you were'nt able to get past its extremely high learning curve. The game was nothing less than social as well. Most everyone knew everyone if you where truely involved in it. You had to be to survive, friends could quickly become enemies, and vice~versa, on a one on one scale all the way up to a 500 vs 500 scale.
It was a game for those that thurst for real epic battles.
To the nay-sayers:
Show me an MMORPG where you have 12 races, 4 classes, 22 professions, and 46 disciplines (that you can have up to 4 of) creating more outcomes than I know how to do the math for, and a player built city system thus causing massive siege warfare, thus causing a massive player built, war-driven economy, and you will have bested me in FORUMBANE. (and given me a new game to play.)
This was my fourth MMO and the first that has closed. SB had problems but it was a fun game and the closest I have gotten to an UO type of game, pre-trammel. I left after my guild split when the servers changed but I went back several times. I still haven't found a race to match the Irekei in any other game. I know I don't currently support SB but I'm sorry to see it go. Thanks
I learned about Shadowbane about a year prior to its release. It sounded like one of the most interesting MMORPGs of its time. Unfortunately, it didn't stand to replace EverQuest. Its amazing that it has lived so long, although I can't say that this game is going out on top. Its survival is impressive. And it pains me to her that another creative MMORPG (that takes me back years) closes down/fails. Hopefully we will see an EMU server or something. EverQuest classic was my other favorite MMORPG which I watched dry up in the wake of WoW.
This game was a great PvP experience until the server Hacks. If it was not for those I would of never left this game. Granted the grafix were not the best but it seemed the best balance of classes, and I loved the AoE part of the game. I have several fond memories of my Confessor and my Mino Warrior.
This is the first time I heard about this game and its a sad one
Maybe the game developer should release this game as an open source for those who still like to play this game together with other Shadowbane players..
I tested this game for around a year...and then just after release....and I'm really surprised it lasted at all
complete garbage....always was. PvP twitch kiddies made it survive...cause there was nothing else like it.
From a typo, of course.
Even 6 years is not a failure. The original point still stands.
Farewell SB! No game has ever come even close to giving me the thrills that SB did. Lag was bad and the sb.exe was worse, but even with that, it was the most fun I have had gaming. I can only hope that someday we will have another game like SB. RIP
The need to, right before turning off the servers, Dump every player into a SB.exe error.
That would make the circle complete.
yes...it would ;p
This was and will always be the standard for PvP based mmo's. Nothing else today comes close.
Props to all who played this hardcore game and truely chased the carebears away... Shadowbane defines the word Hardcore and separated the men and women from the boys and girls... sent them crying back to EQ and WoW with thier pink bellies and a**es screaming from being slapped down.
No other game has made me scared to step out of my base alone... no other game let me hunt a real live prey and gave the satisfaction of making some pore loser bang his keyboard in utter frustration. The excitement that this game generated in its players every time they logged in gave it the nickname "Shadowcrack"
And addicting it is... playing through lag and crashes just to get back into the fight... not for the responsibility of it or the spot in a raid or the need to get mindless things done... for the THRILLRIDE.
I will miss Shadowbane alot... I was there at release, at server resets, at epic banes, and for epic forum trolling. I will be there, logged in a the final curtain call...
Call it niche, call it sandbox, call it anything just please please give us more. I am ruined for anything but real gaming like Shadowbane provided (even with sound off, most chat off, and video at min). I have no home in the gaming world now... I will drift till a new sandbox is built.
I will dream of opensource and a pivate server and would chip in...
MacGruff of Wolf's Dragoons 2003
Frykka of Shadow Empire 2004-2005
and many other wonderful and gimped builds on Carnage, Wrath, Mourning, Vengeance, Vindication, Thurin and Test
Rest In Peace Shadowbane. Had a lot of fun while I still was playing you. Bye bye...
Was my first pvp mmo. Really molded my preference in mmos, as you can see, i play eve these days. Rest in Peace Shadowbane, you will be missed, but not forgotten. So, what's up with the SB emulator thats in development?
The best and most influential MMO I've ever played. A nice new graphics engine and a halfway decent pop and I'd be paying multiaccount subscription fees all over again. The brevity of this post in no way indicates the profound effect this game had upon my gaming preferences.
Missed, but not forgotten.
Disdain-R7 scout, Doubt-r7 warrior, Morta-r7 barb, Finally-r7 druid, Glassjaw-r7 nightstalker, and more that I don't care to list.
Now I feel sad I never set foot there.
Closing a world is rarely a joyous event.
/salute Shadowbane
EDIT: As the final date has been extended to July 1, I've downloaded the client so that I can explore Shadowbane in its final months, partly out of curiosity, partly out of respect for the playerbase. See you in-game...?
I played UO at release, Ac/DT, AoC,DaOC, World of Wimps and gimps, GW's,WaR and Df now and none come even close to what SB had for classes, specs, sieges, gvg and pvp.
You go read the DF,AoC,MOL,DaOC,WoW,WAR,EQ boards and the players are all begging for what SB had.
The rest of the games today are on thing, dumbed down mmo's. The toons are BORING cookie cutter toons. The pvp is a boring joke. There is ZZZEERROO end game, you play for a few months and you done it all, other then collecting some shiny gear.
Shadowbane was and still is the only truely 3rd generation MMO to date. The players formed the world with their hands, they got out of it what they put into it.
Shadowbane is what all the players from DF,AoC,MOL,DaOC,WoW,WAR,EQ are begging for now, minus the lag. Hehhe most of them have as bad of lag and the fights are truely gimp-50 vs 50. I was able to 3 box at 300 vs 300 banes no problem.
Carnage as Dark Legion
Vengance as Jesters of War part of the Evil Bastages Nation
Wrath,Mourning and Vindi as The-Tenth.
Pelton
I tried SB out when it was in Alpha and in 2nd time in Beta, couldnt ever get past the mouse movement, but I had friends who lived and breathed Sb for awhile. I would always try and get them to come back to the BEST game ever EVERQUEST!! =)
Nooooooo :(
One of the best PvP games I have played...
RIP. And let's hope that sooner or later a dev will finally release a game with this kind of PvP and character customization (without the lag, bugs and with better graphics)