Gameplay: Travelling in Shadowlands
  Travelling in the Shadowlands can be a dangerous journey indeed, especially if you like us has the tendency to get lost in your own house. We bring you up to speed on how the layout of the Shadowlands are and how they connect with each other and what to look out for.      
 

Entering and exploring the Shadowlands is an experience. You will encounter places and sights undreamed of and probably get lost a few times. Lets start out with how the Shadowlands connect to Rubi-Ka, which means we'll have to look at how the structure of Jobe is laid out.

Jobe
Jobe has three areas to it. There is Jobe Platform, Inner Jobe and Jobe Research. The whompas on Rubi-Ka placed in Borealis, Rome Green and Old Athens. From these whompas you will enter Jobe Platform. Jobe Platform is a singular area with three teleportrings. These rings will take you into Inner Jobe or as some call it - Jobe Proper.

Inner Jobe is a vast network of shops and vendors. Its split into three sections - Jobe Harbour, Jobe Market and Jobe Plaza. Think of them as equivalents of your Rubi-Kan Basic, Advanced and Superior stores. The portals require you to meet certain level requirements in order for you to travel to the various parts of Inner Jobe.

As you probably have already guessed, Inner Jobe is inside a larger area called Jobe Research. Jobe Research is the frontier city of the Shadowlands. Outside the area of Jobe Research is the first playfield, known as Nascence.

Playfield Layouts
The different playfields are laid out in such a manner that travelling inside them will take you through a variety of areas, but the general direction you will want to head in is north. The first playfield, as we mentioned, is Nascence. After Nascence comes Elysium, Scheol, Adonis, Penumbra, Inferno and last but not least Pandemonium. All of these playfields are subdivided into smaller areas and vary greatly in difficulty.

 
Playfield Approximate level range The Brink level range
Nascence 1-50 80-90
Elysium 40-90 130-150
Scheol 80-130 160-180
Adonis 120-160 180-190
Penumbra 150-180 190-200
Inferno 180-250 220+
Pandemonium unknown, most likely 220+  
 

In order to traverse the playfields you will need to do quests in order to get Ergo's blessing to use its portals.

Surrounding all the playfields is a special area called The Brink. Even the backyard in Jobe has its own brink although not by far as dangerous a one as the higher playfields.

The Brink is not a zone by itself but rather the edge of the world for any given playfield and you will run up against countless of monsters dwelling there tearing and destroying the world that Ergo seeks to rebuild for itself.

This is where the monsters dwell. The worldeaters such as Hecklers and Horrors and other monstruosities.

These are the Brink-mobs and the mortal enemies of Ergo. If you traverse the Brink, you will notice that the Brink is a very dangerous place to be indeed.

One important thing to remember while you roam the lands is that the hostility factor of Shadowlands is up through the roof and skyrocketing upwards as you progress. In the highlevel playfields such as Penumbra and forwards you can almost count on that if a mob is green to you, it will aggro you. Also keep in mind that where there is a large abundance of a single type of critter, odds are there is a boss around..

Portals
Playfields in the Shadowlands connect through portals and statues. There are portals that will take you to the next playfield as well as portals that will take you to a haven, known as a Sanctuary or a Garden in which you will be allowed to save your progress. Depending on which faction you have aligned yourself with, the Garden will allow you to save your progress throughout the Shadowlands and they also provide shelter and the basic needs of reclaiming possessions as well as some NPCs fulfilling various purposes such as quests, peddling wares or for general amusement.

In order to get to the sanctuaries and gardens, you will need to find Insignias. These insignias are marked with the factions emblem and will allow you safe passing. Using an insignia on one of the many Statues spread across Shadowlands will teleport you into the garden of your will. Be advised though, the insignias are one-time passes, so you might want to quest for a permanent keypass to enter.

Maps
As you might have noticed maps of Shadowlands are scarce. It is a brave new frontier after all and the profession that has done the most exploring is naturally the adventurers. Adventurers gets map-buffs they are able to use for the later playfields. The playfields available to the rest of us in map for is limited to the first two: Nascence and Elysium. In other words, time to get really friendly with an adventurer, pick up your weapon and go exploring..


Last updated 08. September 2003