Howdy, Stranger!

It looks like you're new here. If you want to get involved, click one of these buttons!

Current state of Shadowbane?

ColdmeatColdmeat Member UncommonPosts: 3,407

Would anyone thats currently playing tell me how the games doing from a tech standpoint? Have they fixed the sb.exe errors, or at least improved that to the point where they aren't as constant? How about server populations? When I played before there didn't seem to be alot of people around. Has this changed any?

Any other advice, beyond the usual illiterate 'DON"T BYE TEH GAEM ITZ TEH SUX' stupidity?

Oh, and are there any sites out there with some decent info on templates, xp spots, etc aside from SB Catacombs, which was somewhat lacking last time I checked it.

--------
Odi profanum vulgus et arceo

Comments

  • HirzikHirzik Member Posts: 57

    Well for the first part of your post I'd have to say that the SB.exes have been lowered however since I don't know when you left I can't tell you if anything has changed.  Server populations are low across all servers except Vengeance.  The population is basically a decline from Vengeance to Mourning, to Corruption, to Damnation then finally to Entropy (with Test server in there somewhere between Corruption and Damnation).

    If you want the retarded answers check the server forums for Vengeance.

    http://www.aerynth.com and http://www.chronicle.ubi.com (their forums have many more templates mentioned, in fact I think they cover all the templates that over sites have).  There are other sites however I don't recall their names addresses right now.

    And even though I think it should be relatively obvious by now Waylander-SB is the head Advocate on the ShadowBane Forums.  He may be able to supply you with a lot more information.

    ::::20::

    image

  • Waylander-SBWaylander-SB Member Posts: 31


    Originally posted by Coldmeat
    Would anyone thats currently playing tell me how the games doing from a tech standpoint? Have they fixed the sb.exe errors, or at least improved that to the point where they aren't as constant? How about server populations? When I played before there didn't seem to be alot of people around. Has this changed any?Any other advice, beyond the usual illiterate 'DON"T BYE TEH GAEM ITZ TEH SUX' stupidity?Oh, and are there any sites out there with some decent info on templates, xp spots, etc aside from SB Catacombs, which was somewhat lacking last time I checked it.--------
    Odi profanum vulgus et arceo


    We have a performance enhancement guide stickied to the top of the SB general discussion forum:

    http://ubbforums.ubi.com/showflat.php?Cat=&Board=sb_discuss&Number=1520912&page=0&view=collapsed&sb=5&o=7&fpart=1


    A lot of the crashes have been fixed over the last year, new powers and race balances have been done, and there's new stuff. We have profession forums now, and several up to date class guides on how to build good characters.

    We are preparing for patches 3.0 and 4.0 for the summer, and they should introduce new things as well.

    In a recent interview with an SB dev, they talked about a graphics engine update but didn't give a timeline.

    Lead Class Advocate
    Senior Herald
    Shadowbane, Chronicle of Strife

    Shadowbane In-Development Page

    Shadowbane Patch Note History

  • ColdmeatColdmeat Member UncommonPosts: 3,407

    Thanks for the info and links, though for some reason, I haven't been able to access the Ubisoft forums since SB went live. I played for a while a couple months after release, and then came back for a month or so around the time they brought out test center. Most of the problems I had were finding a group, and soloing effectively after about 17th level. It was a promising game, so maybe I'll load it up and give it another whirl. Can't be any worse than SWG ::::18::

    --------
    Odi profanum vulgus et arceo

  • ValaraukValarauk Member Posts: 303

    Game is much better than it was at release, biggest issues now are lag/crappy mob pathing.

    Tons more content, higher level zones, etc.

    Larger mapset, it's prettymuch  better all around.  Lag is still an issue but I havn't had an sb.exe error in the 10 days I've been back and I havn't heard of anyone else experiencing one either.

    *Recovering Evercrack Addict*
    -Currently on Shadowbane's Vengence Server-
    Valarian- Aelfborn Archer Warriorr5


    WARNING: Spelling and grammatical errors intentionally left in document to test for Anal Retentive Trolls.


    "The key to wasting time is distraction. Without distractions it's too obvious to your brain that you're not doing anything with it, and you start to feel uncomfortable." - Paul Graham http://paulgraham.com/hs.html

  • Stravus-EBStravus-EB Member Posts: 79
    Point blank SB is not a solo game. Look for groups or find a guild.

  • ColdmeatColdmeat Member UncommonPosts: 3,407

    Well, after snagging the free trial and giving it a whirl, they have changed things noticably on the low end, though I was still getting a good bit of lag in some areas, which is hard to believe, given I get no lag at all in other games with higher server populations, and higher-end graphics, but it wasn't game breaking. Leveling on the live servers crawls after playing on the test server though, unless of course you find a group which were nonexistant at 1am on Entropy., or have someone to pl you. So if anyone that plays on Entropy wants to lend a hand, I'll be sticking with the test server.

    Server population, or the lack thereof, and lag aside, it looks like they're actually starting to impove the game, particularly on the content side, though it still has a good way to go in that regard.

    --------
    Odi profanum vulgus et arceo

  • theuglytheugly Member Posts: 3

    Let me just state first this game had tons of potential and could have been a great game that lasted a long time.

    The # of people playing is way down. I would guess there are less than 5000 paying customers left max. This game was/is great but the poor state of the game at release and first 6 months ruined any chance it had of survival. The game at this point is a filled with the diehards all playing 2 accounts at a time minimum. Don't let the server populations fool you. Every person has 2 accounts logged in so the # of people playing is at least half. factor in those playing 3,4, even 5 accounts and it is really low. At peak time the 5 servers still operating have no more than 2000 people total connected and playing. Divide that by all the boxed accounts and your down to about 1000 real people or less playing. That's about 200 people per server.  When most PvP requires 10 people and with 100 nations across the map its easy to see the future is grim.

    Lesson for all MMORPG in the future. Duping, exploiting, ambivalence and lack of content will doom your game to failure in the end. Enhancing the game while not correcting the problems you already ahve will ruin the game.

    Hopefully UBI will remake this game and correct all the problems. Call it something new and re-release as something else so nobody will ever associate the new game with the old. If they can pull that off I think the game would have a chance. The current community is shrinking rapidly and with no new or common features this game is doomed to be gone by Christmas.

  • HirzikHirzik Member Posts: 57



    Originally posted by theugly

    Let me just state first this game had tons of potential and could have been a great game that lasted a long time.
    The # of people playing is way down. I would guess there are less than 5000 paying customers left max. This game was/is great but the poor state of the game at release and first 6 months ruined any chance it had of survival. The game at this point is a filled with the diehards all playing 2 accounts at a time minimum. Don't let the server populations fool you. Every person has 2 accounts logged in so the # of people playing is at least half. factor in those playing 3,4, even 5 accounts and it is really low. At peak time the 5 servers still operating have no more than 2000 people total connected and playing. Divide that by all the boxed accounts and your down to about 1000 real people or less playing. That's about 200 people per server.  When most PvP requires 10 people and with 100 nations across the map its easy to see the future is grim.
    Lesson for all MMORPG in the future. Duping, exploiting, ambivalence and lack of content will doom your game to failure in the end. Enhancing the game while not correcting the problems you already ahve will ruin the game.
    Hopefully UBI will remake this game and correct all the problems. Call it something new and re-release as something else so nobody will ever associate the new game with the old. If they can pull that off I think the game would have a chance. The current community is shrinking rapidly and with no new or common features this game is doomed to be gone by Christmas.



    Theugly you are correct that the server populations are down as of a few months ago many left to try different games or they weren't satisfied with ShadowBane. However, most people only have 1 (yes I said one as in a single) account. Not many are willing to pay two monthly fees for an additional 6 character slots. There are some that do but generally not many own multiple accounts.

    As for an exact number of paying customers Waylander-SB may be able to shed some light on that for you, I personally don't know. Maybe if you ask nicely UbiSoft will give out some monthly figures on ShadowBane since it's intial release.

    And in regard to your opinion on ShadowBane, its very obvious that you obviously expect every company to be able to change a game to your specifications no matter how impossible that may be at a given time like with ShadowBane. It was very obvious that WolfPack Studios wasn't doing much of anything with it and that is why UbiSoft bought it from them and put their own people on it (aside from chopping off a middle-man). Why do you think people are coming back? Currently I know at least 5-6 people that used to play that have come back and enjoy this game more than anything else that is out on the market (like Star Wars Galaxies, Final Fantasy XI, & City of Heroes amongst others). Perhaps you should play the game again and try to actually enjoy yourself while playing, you might find that the game has a lot to offer, particularly in regard to content, fun, and for if possible I'd like to know what are the specs on your comp since you think the graphics are below par? You never know.... it could just be that your computer is outdated and can't run the game at any settings above it's absolute minimul (personally I only play with the graphics at their maximal as many of the environments look great).


    Also to the guy on Entropy, switch to Vengeance. We have a higher population of players and you'll have a much higher chance of finding a group to help level your character(s). Also hope you find a guild you enjoy.

    ::::20::

    image

  • ColdmeatColdmeat Member UncommonPosts: 3,407

    Been playing on Test and having fun so far. getting halfway to 75 in one day doesn't hurt, either ::::02::

    I'd say the graphics aren't as good as they could be, and the point n click movement still drives me buggy, especially in cities when manouvering between buildings. I also got 2 sb.exe errors within an hour of each other, but given how things used to be, I can live with that. My only real complaint is the lag, which is pretty bad. I have a 2.8 P4, 2 gigs of ram, and a geforce fx 5700, I don't have any problems running anything else, aside from Halo, at max settings, but SB lags like no other, regardless of how many pc/npcs are around, so I know it isn't just a crappy framrate. I haven't tried pinging the server to see if there's something cuasing problems in between, but I don't think that's the case either. Maybe I can get a job there fixing the problem... At least I know I couldn't make things any worse. ::::06::


    As far as the game dieing by Xmas, I doubt it. WWII Online is by all accounts a far worse game, and it's still around. WP, or whoever the current dev team is should go have a chat with the Funcom guys. AOs launch was a total disaster, and the game was beyond fubared initially, but the dev team really got their act together, and turned things around. Of course, everyone was doing the Chicken Little thing, and predicting how AO wouldn't last, but it's still around, and by seems to be making a profit. I think there's still hope for SB, but they need to fix the lag problems, etc before they worry too much about expanding their current playerbase.

    --------
    Odi profanum vulgus et arceo

  • AlmarAlmar Member Posts: 13

    actually browseing the VN boards today the game is shutting down but you all can join AC its better any way

    here is link too it http://shadowbane.en-tranz.com/index_en.php?L1=news&L2=announcement&selmenu=sub1

  • ColdmeatColdmeat Member UncommonPosts: 3,407

    EnTranz is dropping shadowbane. They only run the asian server, while it doesn't bode well for the NA servers, it also could be a good thing for the NA servers, if Ubi/WP lets the people from the asian servers transfer to the US servers.

    Either way, I doubt SB will survive the release of WoW, and certainly not Darkfall if/when it comes out.

    --------
    Odi profanum vulgus et arceo

  • Waylander-SBWaylander-SB Member Posts: 31

    SB is retaining and regaining those who favor a PvP environment. Entranz made some bad missteps with their version of SB, and we're seeing the results of that.

    Regardless, the NA and European versions are doing fine.

    Lead Class Advocate
    Senior Herald
    Shadowbane, Chronicle of Strife

    Shadowbane In-Development Page

    Shadowbane Patch Note History

  • ZiggenZiggen Member Posts: 29

    I was just in the process of downloading the SB Demo and I decided to stop by and see what people had to say about SB.  Well I just canceled the download...  It's a very "Don't bother" I'm hearing.

    Most games that force you to group and don't provide an outlet for the solo player are all re-considering.  Games like AO that realized from the start that solo is a necessity are still surviving.  Things are going to get very tough for those trying to bring MMORPGs to market and survive...  the technology and $$$ out there now are huge and unless you have a great idea, lots of bucks and a hard-core dev team with support your not going to survive...  And only those that can truely read between the lines and give the players what they want will be consided the best games out there.

    my 2c.

    ~Ziggen~

    ~Ziggen~

  • Billius8Billius8 Member Posts: 574
    With the closing of the Asia server, things do not bode well for Shadowbane.

  • HirzikHirzik Member Posts: 57

    Actually thus far most of the major issues are easily forgivable incomparison to everything else out there in the market.  I won't go into individual titles since that leads to a lot of name calling and lends back to the board warrior mentality; however ShadowBane definitely has many things going for it that other games can't currently simulate properly (Guild Wars, SWG, L2, etc....). 

    In my experience, ShadowBane is a success and will continue to be so until the day that UbiSoft decides they've made enough money and they'd like to move on to a newer/better title to fit in with whatever changes are necessary for the times.

    Currently changes/improvements are made at a rate which allows people to get used to them, adapt it into their play style, and from there enjoy it for a bit.  As soon as it starts to become a daily issue where it still appears unbalanced or they finally get time to address a balance issue they get on it.  If you think about it the number of changes that are considered 'necessary' by some people would involve them taking down all servers for an immense period of time which would cause an even larger uproar from the current subscribers because of how long the minimal time it'd have to be down is (being anywhere from 1 week to a month)... there's practically no way in the world they'd realistically do that.  Maybe I'm a little off base here, but I think they'd have to risk too much to do a massive overhaul of what was dumped on them when they finally bought out WolfPack Studios (at least that's what I hear image).

    Currently there they are doing a good job and if anything if you seriously think you can do better I suggest you fill out an application to help them (as the saying goes, "Put your money where your mouth is").

    Also with the Asian servers dropping they'll probably offer a migration (if there is any truth to the statement mentioned by Tenspot within the link posted above).

     

    hehe... there's my $0.02.


    ::::20::

    image

  • Waylander-SBWaylander-SB Member Posts: 31


    Originally posted by Ziggen
    I was just in the process of downloading the SB Demo and I decided to stop by and see what people had to say about SB. Well I just canceled the download... It's a very "Don't bother" I'm hearing.
    Most games that force you to group and don't provide an outlet for the solo player are all re-considering. Games like AO that realized from the start that solo is a necessity are still surviving. Things are going to get very tough for those trying to bring MMORPGs to market and survive... the technology and $$$ out there now are huge and unless you have a great idea, lots of bucks and a hard-core dev team with support your not going to survive... And only those that can truely read between the lines and give the players what they want will be consided the best games out there.
    my 2c.~Ziggen~

    After Patch 3.0 I think you'll find solo'ing very viable. Check back in about a month:>


    Lead Class Advocate
    Senior Herald
    Shadowbane, Chronicle of Strife

    Shadowbane In-Development Page

    Shadowbane Patch Note History

  • CatalystCatalyst Member Posts: 2

    I didn't leave because of errors - no idea why, but I never got any in the months that I played.

    I didn't leave because of lag - it was manageable except in sieges and I'll support a game while it improves in this area if the gameplay is good.

    I didn't leave because of poor graphics - in fact I thought they were nice, and DEFINITELY beyond what I would require for a game with good gameplay. And I thought the combat strategy, classes, skills... the system as a whole was really good. Especially when I discovered my Irekei mage-assassin. So much fun to play!

    I left for one primary reason - the promise of interguild warfare fell short due to a lack of everyday goals. One shot, one kill... you take out the enemy city and they are gone. Sure you could attack them in their hunting grounds, but what good does this really do? If the game had implemented some mechanism to whittle away at your enemy... something where you could enter the game and say, "Hey, let's form a raiding party and attack the So-and-So Clan's outpost in such and such place!", then I would have had more fun. Daily tasks for interguild conflict were non-existent... you just waited for the day when the big battle happened and if you won, that was the end of them. With the mines being implemented, I plan to finally make a return visit. This really is the game I waited years for, it just was poorly implemented... for opposite reasons that I felt DAoC fell short, in which case the RvR was just empty and meaningless... no real point to taking a fort. It seems like the SB devs are listening to the players and slowly, but surely, making the necessary improvements. We'll see. I'll be logging in when the patch arrives.

    Hopefully there will be more of this sort of thing. I would be the happiest SB player on earth if they simply gave us daily things to do that would have a real affect on the enemy and on your own guild's power. In fact, I would suggest making it even harder to take an enemy city, but provide MANY MANY ways to cut off their income and win a war of attrition. As their economy fails, their defenses weaken until finally, after months of conflict with no resolution, one city becomes vulnerable from defenses in disrepair.

    Also, there needs to be a way for upstarts to get a foothold. There needs to be a form of cheap mobile base. Tent camps, cave hideouts, whatever. Places from which new guilds could launch raids on resources until they've become strong enough to protect a fledgling city.

    Ok, I've blabbed enough. I just really REALLY loved this game and was sorry it had so many flaws which I felt were simple and fixable design errors. This is one of those games that comes so close that you start to really think about trying to form a dev team to make your own game. Maybe they should hire me ;)

  • Stravus-EBStravus-EB Member Posts: 79

    There are goals in SB but your guild has to make them. The introduction os spires made it so you could not place a bane and just show up a couple of hours ahead of time to destroy the city.  Now you have to destroy their defenses and deplete their gold before their city falls.  

    As for fnew guilds there is a way for them to get on their feet it is subbing to a guild and making friends.

Sign In or Register to comment.