The Main Spine Realignment occured on 18th April 2011 and saw the reorganization of the Campaigns into a free Main Spine of content and a series of paid add-on campaigns.
Prior to the change Balefort Castle, Fathom Crypt, The Lost Expedition, The Ancient Swamps, Alien Oasis: Part I, Alien Oasis: Part II, Alien Oasis: Part III and Balefort Sewers were paid campaigns that could only be unlocked in the Platinum Store. The realignment made these campaigns free of charge to all players.
Some dungeons were moved from the Main Spine campaigns into separate paid campaigns:
- Scalefield's Still Farm, Scalefield Homestead, McCroc's Still Farm and McCroc Homestead moved from The Ancient Swamps to form the new [Swamp Croc Feud]] campaign
- Wyldwood, Goblin Stronghold and Shalerockstone Valley moved from Balefort Castle to form the new Wyldwood campaign
Anyone who had paid for the campaigns that originally contained these dungeons were given free access to the new campaigns.
The Main Spine became available in content update 57237.
Controversy[]
The realignment caused controversy in the community where many felt aggrieved that the money they had spent unlocking campaigns had been wasted. Spacetime Studios had initially granted players who had purchased the entire Main Spine a new Shield of Gratitude item. However, players who had only bought part of the Main Spine were not given this gift.
Additional confusion was caused by an announcement on the 18th April that the free access to the Main Spine would only be available for 2 weeks.
On the 20th April 2011 the Shield of Gratitude was changed from a standard shield to a vanity item to allow it to be equipped in addition to any existing shield. Its bonus stats were removed in the process.
On the 25th April, Spacetime Studios announced that the Shield of Gratitude gift would be extended to anyone who had purchased 30 Platinum or more.
On the 4th May, Spacetime Studios http://www.spacetimestudios.com/showthread.php?25585-Main-Spine-of-Pocket-Legends-Content-Free-Forever-and-New-Sandstone-Caves&highlight=main+spine announced] that the Main Spine content would be free forever.