Sandboxes and SOE and the Mainstream

[KilyenaMage]

Shadowbane was THE single most Sandbox-Style MMO I've played to date -- basically every city being player-owned/controlled. All of these cities vulnerable to attack/take-over from rival guilds at any point. There are only 3 "safe" and NPC controlled cities - placed in the 3 extremes of the gameworld to offer trading posts etc.


One guild, for example, may have had a MAIN Guild city where only tagged members can pledge (bind). However they may also own an open city full of merchants and trainers for revenue etc.


Thieves can actively pickpocket ANYTHING/EVERYTHING being carried by an enemy - at any time - assuming they're not detected. Etc.


If you're into PvP check out Play to Crush - should be up and running soon. It's very quick to level and gear-up in Shadowbane. The focus is on being able to Pvp, and level/experiment with MANY Hero combinations.

I've never played another game with near the character customization of Shadowbane. Somewhere in the realm of 13 races, 25 classes, and 60 different "disciplines" (each Hero can equip 3 of these) which all offer unique skills. Anywhere from being able to turn into a werewolf or werebear, to being able to teleport to any the world's runegatess and everything in between. Wanna make your dagger-wielding Thief a master tracker and a master of unarmed Combat? Take the Sundancer and Bounty Hunter runes. Wanna turn your Elven Cleric into a dual-katana-wielding lawnmower? Take the Blade Weaver rune.

You'll have a specific number of skill points by the time u reach level 70, and you can place then where you wish -- you may have 5 Elven Theives side-by-side each one with a vastly different skillset.

http://morloch.shadowbaneemulator.co...tegory:Classes A list of classes. Note that many of these have 2 and some 3 variations. For example an Assassin can be of Mage or Rogue archetype; a Channeler can be of Mage or Healer archetype - and their subsequent skillsets and play style will be very different.

http://morloch.shadowbaneemulator.co...ry:Disciplines A list of all the Disciplines (again, each toon can take 3 of these)