I want to hear how caster types match up against melee types. I want to learn about the real strengths and weaknesses of those character types with regards to Shadowbane, and not rely on the ones inferences and experience from other games. Not at all, it s extremely well written and vital to setting the atmosphere and giving a framework history of the game. And the Beta Journals give a nice little slice of what it s like for the first hour or two on a PvP shard, from the perspective of a complete newbie to mmorpgs. On top of that the vast majority of the target market and rabid fanbase that Shadowbane has cultivated are not newbies to mmorpgs.
Money is made through monthly subscriptions and initial purchase.
Each individual subscription is equal. Having a powergamer playing 8 hours a day, every day, every month is the exact same in terms of revenue as Joe Newbie who logs in once or twice a week and plays around for a few hours. When you factor in bandwidth costs and customer support costs for Wolfpack, Joe Newbie is actually more valuable because he isn t clogging bandwidth 8 hours a day. When it s all added up, Wolfpack is likely losing money on the big-time powergamers in the long run. Their real revenue source comes from Joe Newbie and their churn rate with new customers buying the software and purchasing subscriptions that will only be used now and then.