First off, PVP is not meant for RPGs. Go play a shooter if you want to kill your friends. Next, I have a friend who beta tested it and said it was awful and not to get it, so I'm taking his word for it.

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PROG-WHORE ALLIANCE!..mmmmmmmmm prog.

OMFG this game is horrid. I was all pumped up about, got in beta and only played it a day. It is way behind its time. Dragon Empires will the next great MMORPG. Til then I am going to play PlanetSide. I am in the PLS beta now and the game owns. It is more of a MMOFPS, but you still have to gain levels and such.

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Evil is an art and I'm friggin' Picasso!! ~Veldrid

I played for a couple weeks since it came out. Its nothing special. The graphics engine is way behind compared to other mmorpgs comin out in the future. It is very balanced and sorta addicting.. but the interface is so weird and clunky along with the poor graphics. I would just wait for World of Warcraft or Star Wars Galaxies if your lookin for an rpg. I'm playing DAOC until then :P

-Atom

Anyone who bashes a game because of graphics while ignoring the gameplay or downplaying the importance of it does not (IMO) deserve the "gamer" title. If games were based on graphics engines, EQ would be better than UO, which is (once again IMO) completely wrong. Yeah Dragon Empires does look cool, but not because of the kick-ass engine. I'm looking forward to it because it's looking like another version of UO when it was actually a good game to play.

As for the gameplay in Shadowbane, it's incredible, for those that say PVP shouldnt be in mmorpgs, once again I point to UO. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I do believe UO was one of the first mmorpgs EVER. Oh and btw there's pvp in UO as well. Shadowbane is one of the more balanced games out there, and is definitely the single-most dynamic world I have ever seen, short of the two incredible games Derek Smart has put out (sure, he doesn't know jack shit about consumer-relations, but let's admit it - after patches, his games are the largest, most innovative pieces of work I've seen). Shadowbane also relies on skills more than levels - in this way a level 35, if played skillfully, will easily be able to PK a level 50+. Unlike EQ, the Z-axis in Shadowbane actually matters!

And the story is interactive, and therefore dynamic as well. Just yesterday there was a FC (Feature character) that led CoS against one of their rival guilds in order to progress the storyline.

I suppose what I'm trying to say is this: playing a game for a single day, or even a week does not necessarily make your decisions about it informed ones.