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Inauro
Village Dweller
Joined: 03 Oct 2005
Posts: 9
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| Shadownbane: Free @ Official Site |
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The official <a href="http://chronicle.ubi.com/newspost.php?id=15088" target="_blank">Shadowbane</a> website has word that the MMORPG is now free to play.<blockquote><em>Many members of the Shadowbane Community have already noticed that a change has occured to the Billing System today; one that allows players to play for free!
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<br>There will be a more in-depth announcement coming soon but, in the meanwhile, I wanted to let our community know that this is not an error. Existing users can now open up their <a href="https://secure.ubi.com/billing/" target="_blank">Account Manager</a> and their accounts will now be working, allowing them to play Shadowbane for free! This does include those who had previously canceled accounts!
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<br>In addition, those who wish to try out Shadowbane for the first time will also be able to. All you have to do is <a href="https://secure.ubi.com/billing/default.aspx" target="_blank">create a new ubi.com account</a> and then click on Add a Subscription, and you will have free access to the lands of Aerynth! This is not a Free-Trial subscription and it will not run out in 15-days. This is completely free!
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<br>If you are looking for a place to download the Shadowbane client, you can get it from <a href="http://www.fileplanet.com/" target="_blank">FilePlanet</a> by clicking here for the <a href="http://www.fileplanet.com/130645/130000/fileinfo/Shadowbane-25-Day-Free-Trial-%5BWin32%5D-(US-&-Canada-Only)" target="_blank">PC version</a>, and here for the <a href="http://www.fileplanet.com/130644/130000/fileinfo/Shadowbane-15-Day-Free-Trial-%5BMac-OSX%5D-(US-&-Canada-Only)" target="_blank">Mac version</a>! While these version are labeled for the "Free Trial", they are full versions of the game client and any active accounts can be used to play using them.
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<br>No longer will players, existing and new alike, be charged to adventure in the lands of Aerynth! If you happen to be a new player or have not adventured in Shadowbane for many an age, makes sure you check out the <a href="http://chronicle.ubi.com/Getting+Started.php" target="_blank">Getting Started</a> guide. You can also view the <a href="http://chronicle.ubi.com/versions.php" target="_blank">Shadowbane Version and Patch History</a> to see what has changed over the last few years.</em></blockquote> |
Fri Mar 17, 2006 1:25 am |
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Kepler
Keeper of the Gates
Joined: 18 Oct 2005
Posts: 109
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Can someone involved with the game as a player please clarify?
Are they adopting the Guild Wars model? Buy the game and no monthly fee?
This seems impossible since there is not an influx of new customers.
Are they adopting the Anarchy Online model? Play for free and pay for additional content?
Are they closing it down and this is a last ditch effort to keep Shadowbane alive? |
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Fri Mar 17, 2006 1:36 am |
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Wildefire
General Goods Vendor
Joined: 03 Oct 2005
Posts: 1
Location: USA |
Hum, looks like the discussion thread they created about that post has been deleted. (?!?) Another option is that it'll be free-to-play but you can buy in-game currency and items with real-world cash. A lot of the Eastern games are going that route lately. Did some research and couldn't come up with actual details though...
Also the players seem a little surprised and confused about it as well (although happy for the time being).
_________________
For each toon kills the mob he 'groes, yet each toon does not die. |
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Fri Mar 17, 2006 1:48 am |
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Inauro
Village Dweller
Joined: 03 Oct 2005
Posts: 9
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Given the appearance of two rather large threads concerning billing issues (one, two) it's possible that there are some problems to be resolved before further news of the new billing model will be released.
Inauro
_________________
News Editor @ MMORPGdot |
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Fri Mar 17, 2006 2:08 am |
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Acleacius
King of the Realms
Joined: 24 Dec 2002
Posts: 453
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If your intrested one of the Devs posted here on Blue's News.
http://www.bluesnews.com/cgi-bin/board.pl?action=viewthread&threadid=65498
Looks as if the a customer would need to buy the expansions if they want that content but can play the main game for free.
Be warned as mentioned in the thread this is 99% PvP content game focus, which I never really had an intrest in personally. |
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Fri Mar 17, 2006 8:27 am |
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Wildcard[UK]
Guest
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It's quite a unique game in that it is far and away the most PvP orientated game currently in the fantasy mmorpg genre. I'm not sure of their wisdom in doing this. Whereas AO has enough content in it's exapnsions to entice the free player into subscribing I don't think SB does. On the other hand it does mean I can get as much as I need from it for free now. Can't really complain as a consumer  |
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Fri Mar 17, 2006 10:44 am |
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Guest
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| Re: Shadownbane: Free @ Official Site |
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quote:
Originally posted by Inauro
Shadownbane: Free @ Official Site
Was that extra 'n' intentionally? |
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Sun Mar 19, 2006 1:27 am |
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zenjah
Village Dweller
Joined: 20 Mar 2006
Posts: 1
Location: Boston |
http://chronicle.ubi.com/newspost.php?id=15136
The Shadowbane Team is proud to announce that we will bring a new world online today at 2pm EST named after the eldest of the True Goddesses.
Braialla will exist as a "clean" server: we will not allow any migration to it. Braialla will use the Vorringia mapset (the same used on Wrath and similiar to Vindication's with the exception that it will not contain the Factionholds). Braialla will follow the same guidelines and principles as the other North American and European production servers when pertaining to Mine and Siege Windows of Opportunity.
Starting on a fresh new server is a great way for new and returning players to take advantage of FREE Shadowbane because when a server is new it is a lot easier to find guilds to join and groups to level with.
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Mon Mar 20, 2006 9:49 pm |
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Sir Markus
Counselor of the King
Joined: 11 Jan 2002
Posts: 369
Location: Columbus, Ohio USA |
I played Shadowbane during a 'stress test' or 'beta' or something like that, and I thought it was a pretty good game overall. I didn't like the camera view, but the game itself was pretty good, and it seems it was overlooked by the gaming public by being released too close to EQ2 and WOW. |
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Tue Mar 21, 2006 12:12 am |
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Kepler
Keeper of the Gates
Joined: 18 Oct 2005
Posts: 109
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quote:
it was overlooked by the gaming public by being released too close to EQ2 and WOW.
Shadowbane was released March 2003.
Everquest 2 was released November 2004.
World of Warcraft was released November 2004.
1 year and 8 months earlier.
Your post clearly indicates Shadowbane was not advertised enough... |
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Wed Mar 22, 2006 11:46 pm |
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Sir Markus
Counselor of the King
Joined: 11 Jan 2002
Posts: 369
Location: Columbus, Ohio USA |
My point is that people were waiting for those other bigtime games to come out, and didn't give Shadowbane a fair shake.
I thought Shadowbane was nicely done, and underrated. |
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Thu Mar 23, 2006 12:12 am |
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Wildcard[UK]
Guest
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Agreed. Shadowbane is a seriously underrated game. I think it had some quite serious issues at launch and that's been shown time and again to be a real killer for mmorpgs. The problem with mmorpgs is that they rely on having a solid player base. They're built on the premise that you're going to be able to find fellow adventurers when you need to. You can get into a viscious circle where population dwindles and hampers the game experience as a result. Shadowbane is addressing this by going free and I think that's a pretty brave step. I hope it works out for them.
I also hope they make a Shadowbane 2. With the experience gained from SB I reckon they could make an excellent follow up and address all the issues the original has. |
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Mon Mar 27, 2006 3:41 pm |
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