As the time draws near for the next public preview, I'm sure that you
all are anxious to know what exactly you will be able to do in-game! As
always, the team has been hard at work getting as much functionality
implemented as possible for this event. Several items that we would like
to have in for the preview will not be polished enough in time, but
necessary workarounds have been implemented in their places.

Time
Servers are tentatively scheduled to open around 12 PM PST (noon) on Friday, September 3rd.
The event is planned to last until the evening of Friday, September
10th and there will be an event held at the conclusion. Any changes to
this plan will be announced promptly here on the forums, so stay tuned.

Server Downtime and Bugs
We do ask that you expect server restarts throughout the duration of the
event, as well as bugs and all of the fun things that come along with
that. The development team will be working on troubleshooting these
problems, which may necessitate unplanned patches and restarts. We do
encourage you to report any bugs that you encounter during the preview
in the Bug Reporting Forum;
this will help the team track down and address any problems you are
experiencing. Throughout the event the team will be interacting with the
players to ensure as enjoyable of an experience possible.

Basics
In this preview you will be able to level to 75 my means of PvE, promote
to your chosen class at level 10, use most class powers (with some
exceptions), train skills and powers, and (most importantly) kill other
players! The entire map will be accessible and all camps should be
populated, so achieving level 75 will be possible. Furthermore, there
will be some R7 trainers in the world to allow for the training of all
powers open to your class. Loot will drop in the form of gold; at this
time item loot tables aren't implemented. You can store your gold in
your vault or bank, both of which are working for the preview.

Gear
One thing that we were unable to implement in time for the preview was
vendors. Because we would like people to be able to fight one another
using something other than newbie weapons, we will be populating
people's vaults with one 50% and one 100% item of every type. This will
not include class armors or weapons, just the basic weapons and armor.
Because some races are unable to wear certain pieces of regular armor
(E.g. Aracoix), the respective pieces of their racial armor will also be
placed in the vault.

Traveling
Travel in the world of Shadowbane relied heavily upon three things:
Runemasters, rune gates, and player summoning. At this time player
summoning is implemented, but Runemasters and rune gates are not
currently functioning. Because navigating the map is essential to
leveling and encouraging PvP, an alternate system has been implemented
temporarily to allow for fast travel to key locations throughout the
world. There will be special NPCs in places that you would normally find
a Runemaster, as well as at several other key areas in the world, that
will teleport you amongst these locations. Appropriate level
restrictions have been added to the teleportation (no teleporting to
newbie island as a level 75, in other words).

Powers
Most powers are currently working ingame, with several notable
exceptions. Discipline powers are not implemented, nor can you obtain
discipline runes on account of the fact that the spawns have yet to be
placed. Several other specific examples of powers not implemented are
listed below. Please keep in mind that this is not a complete list,
there will be a handful of other powers that may not work in addition to
the classes of powers below.

• Powers that act on mobs, such as mesmerizes or charms
  
• Pet summons
  
• Pet buffs
  

Rune and Vorgrim Drops
As noted earlier, discipline rune drops will not be in for the preview.
Additionally, stat runes and Vorgrim gear drops will not be functioning
either.

Guilds
The ability for players to create, manage, and join their own guilds
will not be available during this preview. We have made it possible for
players to join NPC guilds, such as the Heroes of Starkholm of Heroes of
Sea Dog's Rest, which will allow for some interaction between players
via guild chat.

Connecting to SBEmu
For those of you who have not already configured your fully patched (as
of July 1st, 2009) Shadowbane client to connect to the SBEmu servers,
please refer to this thread for instructions.

Questions
We will try to address any unanswered questions to the best of our
ability, and I will keep this post up-to-date with information about the
preview. Thank you all for reading and we look forward to seeing you
in-game this Friday!

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