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A question for SBing pvper

TMcCTMcC Member Posts: 218
I played UO for years and quit two years ago and had my eye on SB but when it came out the reviews were really bad and I heard about the lag and the bugs which are ok for starters but I heard SB's were outta hand. Just wandering how the game is now and hows the pvp...its not point and click is it?  What Im sayin is does it take skills and talent to be good at SB.

Comments

  • Billius8Billius8 Member Posts: 574

    Movement in SB is point and right click.  This can be convenient (i.e., travelling a long distance) or a minor pain (i.e., combat or moving between buildings, etc).  It does not take "twitch" skill or fast reflexes to play, however.  Once you attack something, your character pretty much auto-follows it until it's down (or you're down).

    Character creation is fun, although character models are somewhat crude (very 1999'ish).  Weapons and armor are nice.  Shopping for new gear is always fun and gave me the feeling I had when I played Diablo (always some new and better item to save for).

    First 20 levels you are in a non-PvsP area.  After that, you are in a protected PvsP area, meaning if you stay in a main city, you're okay, outside of that, even your group is not totally safe.  After level 30 (or is it 35?) you can only bind in player cities, which means nothing is safe.

    High level game is just P vs P, before that is just levelling (hopefully without being ganked) until you get to the high level game.  Highest level I ever got was level 38.

    Personally, I think the P vs P ruins this game, it's just an endless gankfest.  If SB were filled with more quests and content, and dungeons, this would be a very cool game.

    For a fantasy comparison as to what this game feels like, think of the Hyperborean world of Conan.  Very exotic, very grim, very unforgiving.

     

  • sir_matthewsir_matthew Member Posts: 7



    Originally posted by Billius8

    It does not take "twitch" skill or fast reflexes to play, however.  Once you attack something, your character pretty much auto-follows it until it's down (or you're down).
    ... I have to disagree a bit. It's different for a caster, where magic attack is not automatic and also while casting and melee fighting at a same time, it's sometimes a bit tricky for the keyboard press timing to reach the fastest spell repeat ratio. Also Billius should have mentioned that aside of the automated regular melee (ranged) attack based on attack mode active, there are skills giving special attacks which are actually the key for turning the combat luckiness on your side image




  • HirzikHirzik Member Posts: 57

    First things first:

    Base class basically determines what your later levels will be like regardless of the class since it sets certain restrictions on what you can do with any toon.

     

    Now that being said, Fighters get the highest ability to survive based on health points.  Mages get the highest non-melee damage per second.  Healers generally last the longest as they can constantly heal themselves and others unless Power Blocked or Stunned. And Rogues have the highest defenses and attack ratings (as dexterity is counted into your defense while strength is not).  There are hybrids that get around these constraints, however, these constraints lend to different play styles that generally make the game a lot more interesting as they all interact and different outcomes result from it on a daily basis.

     

    Fighters have a high number of health points (generally the lowest you'll see on a fighter with at least 100 constitution is 2500, while say a dwarf warrior may have anywhere between 140 and 200 constitution which will lend him 5500).

    Healers generally heal people for large amounts of Health Points as they're the only one's that can necessarily heal, some better than others.  They are best to raise their intelligence, spirit, and constitution (some wanting combative healers might increase dexterity or strength also).

    Mages have the highest damage spells in the game.  They generally have very high intelligence, average to high spirit (depending on preference/playstyle) and an excessively low number of health points.

    Rogues generally have an average number of health points (around 2000).  They have the highest defenses in the game as a standard amongst all rogue professions (assassin, bard, ranger, thief; there are others but these fit in best with what is traditionally looked at as a rogue and they're the first that come to mind atm). 

     

    It is a very balanced system as no one base class will allow a player to do but so well if they try to change an available profession to duplicate another, such as: rogue barbarians... very high attack rating however much lower health and damage than a fighter based barbarian, same for the rogue huntress.

    mage-based casters (if you cast magic generally you're referred to as a caster) have higher damage and faster spells than healers. 

    Healers can heal for large amounts, have armor (unlike mages) and have some melee potential aside from altering what would be the usual use for a them.

     

    I think if anything the game may need some balancing amongst the professions (which is solely based on the personal opinions of many that happen to generally disagree on a lot) but the base classes are balanced quite very well.

     

    Fighter = Strong damage, good resistances to melee damage, low intelligence (generally), and a high number of health points.

    Healer = below par melee damage, high survivability (at least in 1v1 fights), and relatively high intelligence (however it doesn't need to be nearly as high as a mage's intelligence).  Healers focus more on being able to heal people by raising their spirit so they have a lot mana points and a high recovery rate on those mana points.

    Mage = fast, strong magical damage. Low number of health points. A good sized pool of mana points (500+). And a very high intelligence.

    Rogue = low melee damage (approx. -30% for duel-wielding weapons), an average number of health points, and the highest defense in the game.  You want a high dexterity, good constitution, and above average intelligence.  Spirit and Strength mean very little if anythign to you.

    Those are just based on the specifics for the game in regard to making characters that fit in with the professions as far as using standard weapons, standard armor types, and applying standard runes (just meaning runes that are relatively easy for them to get their hands on and don't involve a bit of difficulty to get).

     

    Well that's my $0.02 image

    N/A

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  • Waylander-SBWaylander-SB Member Posts: 31

    Some of the lag issues are being addressed with the UI rewrite.

    Other performance issues revolved around NPC AI. Some of that has been addressed, and the rest will be addressed when the UI rewrite is complete.

    Other types of lag are mostly client side where the users computer is trying to process instructions. In your user preferences game menu, you can alter gaming settings to help increase performance. Bascially you should look at reducing your refinement range, texture detail, and other types of settings.

    There is also a performance monitor command that can help with performance, and you can enable it by typing" /prefmon on" in your text box area while in the game.

    I'll see about getting some performance enhancement tips put up on the Chronicle in the near future.

    Lead Class Advocate
    Senior Herald
    Shadowbane, Chronicle of Strife

    Shadowbane In-Development Page

    Shadowbane Patch Note History

  • HirzikHirzik Member Posts: 57

    Thanks for posting that there is definitely a performance monitor. I say that because while in-game I noticed that more than 99.4% of my guildmates didn't know there is a performance monitor.

    Just one question about the upcoming changes to ShadowBane.... Can you please release the ambiant music that is used in your deserts? I think that is by far the best desert theme I've ever heard in any game (and to those of you that played/listened to the XenoGears' themes for Dasil, you should spend some time in the ShadowBane deserts so you see what a better desert theme is ::::20::).

    ::::17::

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  • TalentTalent Member UncommonPosts: 51
    I loved the PvP part of the game, but the rewards for PvP happended to be too little for me to continue playing, I love PvP but I also love a system like DAoCs where even in PvP your working toawards a goal.

  • Waylander-SBWaylander-SB Member Posts: 31


    Originally posted by Talent
    I loved the PvP part of the game, but the rewards for PvP happended to be too little for me to continue playing, I love PvP but I also love a system like DAoCs where even in PvP your working toawards a goal.

    You probably want to stay tuned to the SB In Development page then.

    Lead Class Advocate
    Senior Herald
    Shadowbane, Chronicle of Strife

    Shadowbane In-Development Page

    Shadowbane Patch Note History

  • HirzikHirzik Member Posts: 57



    Originally posted by Talent
    I loved the PvP part of the game, but the rewards for PvP happended to be too little for me to continue playing, I love PvP but I also love a system like DAoCs where even in PvP your working toawards a goal.



    Not to seem slow but how long have you played?  I ask because there is definitely a purpose to playing.. namely fun while killing people that think they piss you off.  It gets interesting, some play this for the joy of small scale PvP/GvG.  Others for a longer lasting game of "King of the Hill," and others still for their own personal reasons.  I think the game presents players with a lot to play for and the PvP system works quite very well, currently since I've never played Dark Age of Camelot I can't give an honest opinion of it.

    I should have that remedied in the near future.

    ::::20::

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  • Stravus-EBStravus-EB Member Posts: 79
    I played Uo for 4 + years. I have played SB since release. The lag is not that bad anymore even though alot of people act like it is still awful. There are very few Sb.exe errors now. As for the pvp this is the best pvp game on the market. Yes there is skill invlolved as in group composition, tactics, if melee what order to perform weapon powers, and if caster what order to cast spells. The hardest part of SB is learning how to build a successful character. There is a huge curve in learning character creation. I hope the replies have awnsered some of the questions and Hope to kill you soon.

  • TMcCTMcC Member Posts: 218
    What would u recommend for a rouge/theif, possible asassin type template? Any direction?

  • Stravus-EBStravus-EB Member Posts: 79

    I would suggest your first character to be either of the healer or fighter class. After you buy and sign up for sb, I strongly suggest taking atleast a day and reading the Ubi forums. They are a great source of info on character creation. There are 2 reasons why i suggest this, One most guides out there are totally out dated alot of things have changed in SB. The next one is character creation is a huge curve from most other mmo's.  Also read up on the different races and classes because everything effects you in SB. Here is a very good source of info for SB:   http://chronicle.ubi.com/  After you get leveled up a bit and get into your first SB guild from there on out I am sure that you will get plenty of help from your guildmates also. That is if the guild is any good. 

    One thing to remember pvp in SB is group oriented so make group friendly characters.

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