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I remember the mass outflowing of jaded gamer refugees coming from Shadowbane.
If you don't mind my asking, what drew you in to SB? Conceptually it never seemed that newbie friendly. Which parts drew you in and made you love it so?
For myself, I loved the fact, that during beta, people were nice... sure, they PvP'd and I was ganked, but they weren't moron's about it. Corpses were rarely camped. I played one a human healer, and the groups I got into were amazing. Again, we were smacked around, but soon enough I got into a large group, almost made a guild, and we took care of one another. I was good at healing, and was oft sought after... I sought those that knew their roles in a group, and things were good.
Come the game going gold, the immature gank & spank crews were way too abundant. Corpse campers, morons, and general all around immature kids who did what they could, because if the game let them do something, they did it, without regards to "internet manners", or "netiquette". Which, btw, is still abundant in many games... I'd blame all kids, but I can't do that, not all kids are to blame for a few rotten apples. I also swear I'd never use the term "kids", but I guess with old age setting in... it happens
What did I like about Shadowbane? I loved the spell effects, specifically, the animations combined with the sounds. As a healer, a quick heal sounded like a quick shout; a longer, larger heal, sounded like an incantation of a spell... the sounds, combined with the visual effects made it desirable in my mind. Too many games today, just do casting "noises"... a swoosh here, and bang there, here a fwip, there a thwack-n-swish. If I cast, I want my caster to say something, or sound like he's mumbling or something... SB did a lot of that.