Question about future custom content

[Faisca]

It has been said before that after all is said and done with Velious there might be custom content in project 1999.

I was thinking about it and all the possibilities but I don’t know what can be done with project 1999 at that point.

For instance, if devs wanted to design brand new zones or even a brand new continent with a classic feel and connect it to Norrath somehow would that be possible, or is the project restricted to the Everquest zones in Titanium?

And is this something devs are capable and interested in doing?

[Daldaen]

You're talking 4-5+ years in the future.

Adding whole new zones I don't think they can do. They could repurpose zones. One discussion was redoing Planes of Power somewhat, retuning AC/DI/DB values to be tuned against Velious Raid Geared and few AA players.

[Swish]

EC tunnel with "bazaar" style platforms down the sides of it.

http://media.giphy.com/media/BAccrRlql1jgc/giphy.gif

[Shodo]

Almost definitely no scratch-made zones - that would be a ton of work. They'll likely be adding content that already exists, just a tweaked version. I believe I heard mention of trying out some LoY zones? May have just been a rumor.

Pwnt by Nilbog.

[Destron]

Talk about a waste of time thread.

[fadetree]

I'd love to see a modified luclin/PoP.

[Faisca]

Almost definitely no scratch-made zones - that would be a ton of work. They'll likely be adding content that already exists, just a tweaked version. I believe I heard mention of trying out some LoY zones? May have just been a rumor.

Is that something classic purists would accept nicely?

[nilbog]

For instance, if devs wanted to design brand new zones or even a brand new continent with a classic feel and connect it to Norrath somehowThis is the idea. We'll see.

Almost definitely no scratch-made zones - that would be a ton of work. They'll likely be adding content that already exists, just a tweaked version. I believe I heard mention of trying out some LoY zones? May have just been a rumor. Surprisingly, it is faster and less work to build from creativity, than it is to research and emulate something existing.


If you don't see a developer discussing custom content, then its a rumor/don't believe it. And to be clear, my idea of custom content would happen on a different server, that continued on past Velious. A classic-Velious server should remain as a museum, without modifications.

[Shodo]

No idea. Though I doubt "classic purists" are going to accept any custom content nicely.

[Faisca]

Cool! That's exciting news!

(Referring to Nilbog's answer, obvioulsy, hehe)

[Shodo]

Surprisingly, it is faster and less work to build from creativity, than it is to research and emulate something existing.

Good to know :)

[Glenzig]

This is the idea. We'll see.

Surprisingly, it is faster and less work to build from creativity, than it is to research and emulate something existing.


If you don't see a developer discussing custom content, then its a rumor/don't believe it. And to be clear, my idea of custom content would happen on a different server, that continued on past Velious. A classic-Velious server should remain as a museum, without modifications.

So what you're saying is that the beta server will become the custom server. Yes? No?

[nilbog]

So what you're saying is that the beta server will become the custom server. Yes? No?

? No, I didn't say that.

[Swish]

Custom content is good when it's done right.

However, there's also The Hidden Forest (http://www.thehiddenforest.org/) as (imo) a bad example.

I have faith that nilbog and pals can put something great together ;)

[Glenzig]

? No, I didn't say that.

Ok. Well I'm going to just go ahead and start that rumor and say you confirmed it then.

[Messianic]

This is the idea. We'll see.

Surprisingly, it is faster and less work to build from creativity, than it is to research and emulate something existing.


If you don't see a developer discussing custom content, then its a rumor/don't believe it. And to be clear, my idea of custom content would happen on a different server, that continued on past Velious. A classic-Velious server should remain as a museum, without modifications.

EC BAZAAR OR WIPE IT CLEAN ;D

Ok. Well I'm going to just go ahead and start that rumor and say you confirmed it then.

Seems legit

[Tulnavara]

Ok. Well I'm going to just go ahead and start that rumor and say you confirmed it then.

Beta server confirmed teams99 on Sirken's stream. This may or may not be true.

[Portasaurus]

I would like to respectfully request an expansion of Italian food recipes.

The people demand [Spaghetti and Meatballs]!

[tanknspank]

Surprisingly, it is faster and less work to build from creativity, than it is to research and emulate something existing.
When you say build from creativity, are you talking about designing zone/mob meshes and textures from scratch?

And to be clear, my idea of custom content would happen on a different server, that continued on past Velious. A classic-Velious server should remain as a museum, without modifications.
Would the custom content server be something you copy to from P1999 or a clean slate? Would there be custom content for the 1-60 range, or only continuing past Velious?

[zanderklocke]

A classic-Velious server should remain as a museum, without modifications.

Phew. I like this.

[Coriolis]

I thought the idea of re-tuning PoP and connecting the planes to fitting old-world zones (i.e. Steamfont or Ak'Anon having a zone up to PoInnovation) that way you skip the whole PoK/PoTranquility issue and still get some of the awesome PoP zones, at least I really enjoyed them when I played them back on live.

I think there's quite a few neat ideas that could be played around with, but it's so far in the future that I don't really put much thought into it.

[Dragonsblood1987]

This is the idea. We'll see.

Surprisingly, it is faster and less work to build from creativity, than it is to research and emulate something existing.


If you don't see a developer discussing custom content, then its a rumor/don't believe it. And to be clear, my idea of custom content would happen on a different server, that continued on past Velious. A classic-Velious server should remain as a museum, without modifications.

the people demand AAs, nilbog. make it so.

[nilbog]

When you say build from creativity, are you talking about designing zone/mob meshes and textures from scratch?

Yes, ideally building zones from scratch. Despite it being possible for years, tools have recently been developed which makes it feasible to create new zones.

Would the custom content server be something you copy to from P1999 or a clean slate? Would there be custom content for the 1-60 range, or only continuing past Velious?
Nothing has been decided. I'd like to think both; you could create a new character, or copy your existing character from an existing p99 server.

All of this is still in a discussion phase. I've been talking with different people and determining what is possible, and what needs to be created. Future looks good, though.

[nilbog]

the people demand AAs, nilbog. make it so.

You know.. I don't mind certain class defining AAs, but given the option, I'd like to do it in a way other than hey, paladin, complete level 51 'X' amount of times, and you magically get Slay Undead. I think an epic quest line for things like this makes more sense.

[Tiggles]

Nilbog will you be designing "expansions" of custom content?

Like a "what if the original vision of EQ stayed intact?" scenario. Keep everything up to Velious class then add a custom expansion that fits within the lore and feel of actually classic content?

I would love we you could get some volunteer lore writers to flesh out an expansion of a few zones maybe released one at a time to drive a story along the way.

[nilbog]

Like a "what if the original vision of EQ stayed intact?" scenario.

That's the idea. I still play tabletop AD&D 2e [nerd alert], and it's my turn to DM next. It's been on hold for a long time now because of Velious development. When I sit down to work on a campaign.. what comes to mind is more akin to fantasy [prekunark] than what happened post-Velious [linear mmorpging for the masses].

[tanknspank]

Yes, ideally building zones from scratch. Despite it being possible for years, tools have recently been developed which makes it feasible to create new zones.
That is awesome. A lot of the fun of classic for me was exploring and discovering the world within the context of a harsh, unforgiving game system.

At the same time I hope we get a chance to play some post-velious zones in some shape of form. For example I loved Ssra in terms of art, layout, models, all that. I think it would make an awesome dungeon as something in a desert on Norrath (never liked the "on the moon" thing for a fantasy MMO).

You know.. I don't mind certain class defining AAs, but given the option, I'd like to do it in a way other than hey, paladin, complete level 51 'X' amount of times, and you magically get Slay Undead. I think an epic quest line for things like this makes more sense.
I like the idea of that, and at the same time I like how AAs give continuing reason to group and XP, continuing the 1-59 feel of the game.

[Tiggles]

That's the idea. I still play tabletop AD&D 2e [nerd alert], and it's my turn to DM next. It's been on hold for a long time now because of Velious development. When I sit down to work on a campaign.. what comes to mind is more akin to fantasy [prekunark] than what happened post-Velious [linear mmorpging for the masses].

If I could make a suggestion, I would complete all the zones that appeared in the original EQ map that never made it to the game.

http://i.imgur.com/JQpICMX.jpg

[Rhambuk]

If I could make a suggestion, I would complete all the zones that appeared in the original EQ map that never made it to the game.



definitely, with a better veksar

[bleech]

i would like to suggest adding more areas/mobs to certain parts of the world. for instance to expand CB throne room(someone in my group mentioned a second level), or HHK basement(that cave in the first part seems to go nowhere!).

[kruptcy]

If I could make a suggestion, I would complete all the zones that appeared in the original EQ map that never made it to the game.


I second this. I think custom content should not touch original content (aside from making a zone line in a classic zone or something).

[myriverse]

I still play tabletop AD&D 2e [nerd alert]
It's always cool to run into someone that didn't jump to 3e.

[Skydash]

You know.. I don't mind certain class defining AAs, but given the option, I'd like to do it in a way other than hey, paladin, complete level 51 'X' amount of times, and you magically get Slay Undead. I think an epic quest line for things like this makes more sense.

Praise our True Heavenly Father Nilbog!

This makes so much more sense then how it was implemented on Live (i.e. mindless hamster wheel.)

[Danyelle]

I've always kinda liked the idea of, once Velious hits it's finish point (just prior to Luclin release), cloning P99 blue/red and making seperate blue/red servers where the expacs keep going BUT are "reimagined" in the style of original EQ.

Basically like this, let's say the original dev team from Classic-Velious never changed. Sony never reconstructed Verant into SoE (or even if they did it was nothing more than a name change, not a guard change), WoW/EQ2 and other paste-eater MMOs never were made and, as such, there was never any competition for EQ's simpler players that would force EQ to change it's direction in order to compete and remain profitable. Nothing changed at all. But the expacs Luclin+ still got made. what would they look like?

A couple examples, just taking Luclin (as the next expac in line) and "reimagining" it.

Firstly, ignoring graphical styles. Because that is far more of a diverse opinion even among P99's purist community than you might initially estimate. Many more people than you may think at first are ok with, or at least indifferent to, graphical changes. What CAN be universally agreed upon by P99's community is (and, in addition to nostalgia, is why you are all here in the first place) that EQ's content got more and more boring, stat-driven, uninspired, and easy-mode saftey-scissors tier as time went on. To cater to the short bus riders that ultimately overtook modern MMO gaming when it became "cool". So ignoring the graphical changes, what would the content look like?

For one let's take some of Luclin's more critical (negative) points and "classicify" them. Starting with the Nexus:

Problem: Travel became much easier and it paved the way for retard-level Plane of Knowledge in the next expac. Druids and Wizards became poor and cried many non-manly tears.

Solution: The lore for luclin basically states that the knowledge of how to use the Nexus spires was unlocked sometime after Velious, allowing them to travel the way of the fallen Combine empire to their final place of retreat, Luclin, through the use of a trained Wizard. Maybe we add Druids to the mix. Treehuggers can hug stones too. Now rather than placing an npc wizard at each Nexus spire to do it for us like Live did, let's give Wizards/Druids a port spell to the nexus that is quested once Luclin drops from a relatively simple quest (to permit quicker access to the content, but not a sudden flood) and is only scribable/castable at level 60 and ONLY within range of a Norrath bound Nexus spire. IE Wizards/Druids can only cast their port spells at the designated Nexus spires and the spell will not function outside of range of the spires (even within the same zone as one) or from the surface of Luclin itself. People wishing to travel to Luclin, or new sexy kitties wishing to go Norrathside, will need to find a local wizard/druid. This should allow Druids/Wizards to keep their jobs, should eliminate shrinking of the world of Norrath through widespread npc porting, and still allow for a method of accessing the new content.

The Bazaar:

Problem: Many, but most are more complex and economy based so let's just focus on the one that is simpler but also was one of the largest issues. Bazaar, along with the Nexus itself, started the trend of 'hub-zoning' by centralizing trade and killing off old trade zones.

Solution: Don't release the Bazaar, as in the ACTUAL zone itself, at all. Block the zone line in Nexus and shadow Haven with rocks. Instead, assuming this is possible (I'm sure it is it would just take work..), add bazaar functionality to ALL current/classic trade zones (like East Commonlands obviously. Greater Faydark too). Now here's the trick. Doing an item search will pull up sold items from all different trade zones, but you still must interact with the player directly to buy it. Meaning if you're in East Commonlands, and see someone selling an item you want at half the price as an EW vendor, allll the way over in Greater faydark, you then have to run alll the way out there. Wait on boats, or spend extra money donating for a port, and hope the guy still has it when you get there (since you lose bazaar search ability when you zone out and start running, and cannot track the item anymore). Adds a bit of competition into the market, maybe even between trade zones. You could also just not implement Bazaar functionality at all.

AAs:

Problem: They became a grind fest and, as time went on, no longer became "alternate" at all but rather became "required"....in copious amounts.

Solution. for one, do not make them earned through exp gain. Make them a static reward of a set number of AA points from quests along with the typical rewards and regular xp reward (like nilbog suggested earlier). Not just in Luclin+ quests either, but go back and add them as rewards to older quests too. especially pivital ones (epics, Coldain shawl, etc) that can be done by any class/race and is expected to be done by players at LEAST 51+. This should eliminate the grind aspect and ensure not only do people continue to immerse themselves in quests and lore, but that older content retains relevancy. Secondly, you can easily pick and choose what AAs go into the game as well as create custom ones. Making sure the total AA count spent is the same for every class, it's nothing too over powering or game changing that it becomes REQUIRED but at the same time is enough to make people want them, or even FEEL like they need them even though they don't, and eliminates AAs that ultimately destroyed immersion (Innate See Invis.... Innate Enduring Breath....)

Mounts:

Problem: People cry about stuff.

Solution: Stop crying. Mounts honestly should have been in since Classic. What knight on a valiant quest doesn't ride into battle on a trusty steed? I never saw an issue with the way they functioned but you can easily put it up to a vote on how they are obtained and how they function.

Soulbinders:

Problem: They sucked ass.

Solution: Kill them all with fire and napalm (Don't even put them in...ever)

This is just Luclin, you can rebuild each expac as it 'should have been'. Choose when and how level caps raise. Carefully planning it and gear increases to prevent inflating too much and invalidating older content. Preferably keeping everything relevant. A very tough and daunting task but I'm sure with careful planning, and no corporate time frames to abide by, it can be done. You can eliminate hub-zoning and ensure trade zones and starting cities remain useful and populated. You can give the new lore and content the expacs gave, expand upon it to make it even better, and do so without any of the simplifying idiotic gimmicks and crap they were originally pushed with.

I, for one, think this would be fun as hell.

[Rhambuk]

imo after the end of velious we should start a new blue(even red...maybe) and start from beginning with classic timeline/all the fixes that have been put in place since making it a far more classic experience up through velious.

then we move on to new custom content!

[Faisca]

One of the problems with Luclin’s graphics is they make previous expansions’ graphics look old and outdated. Sure, we all know the game is old, but having an added expansion throwing it at our faces every time we play, it’s not a very pleasant thing.

Although people are well aware they are playing an old game, I’m sure they don’t want to be constantly reminded of that every time they are playing it. :D

Obviously, revamping old zones is not an option because it would kill all the nostalgia.

That said, I find it much more exciting for project 1999 to breakaway completely from the Everquest expansion line after Velious, and begin delivering brand new content, starting with brand new zones with the same classic feel, old graphics and all, designed from scratch.

[Taeoz]

I had no idea there might be more content after Velious - this sounds great. P1999 is the true EQ Next.

[sox7d]

I like the idea of PoP minus PoK. And once you ascend to PoT, you can never return to Norrath but you can visit old-world players in the classic-velious planes. No trading to them, but at least they can assist on planar raids.

[Dragonsblood1987]

You know.. I don't mind certain class defining AAs, but given the option, I'd like to do it in a way other than hey, paladin, complete level 51 'X' amount of times, and you magically get Slay Undead. I think an epic quest line for things like this makes more sense.

having quest lines that reward you with special abilities that would otherwise be gotten through AA xp would be neat, but what about general, not-so-class-defining AAs? increased crit for tank and melee classes, spell crits for casters, innate durability/mitigation ect.. it would make it so that even if you arent decked out in kunark BIS gear, your toons could get a little stronger if the time was invested in grinding AAs. plus it would give people something to do at 60 in stead of letting toons rot or camping that one drop for the billionth time. it would also make toons more unique. it wouldnt come down to every toon of a given class being identical, doing the exact same thing over and over in a fight. customization, man!

[Messianic]

customization, man!

http://i3.kym-cdn.com/entries/icons/original/000/010/692/19789999.jpg

[Clark]

Luclin plz.

[tanknspank]

Nexus: [ideas]
Travel to Luclin should not be wiz/dru only (not sure if that's what you meant) and definitely not that complicated. Automated means however should cost time or resources. What I would do would be:

Spires - Activation on a 72min (1 game day) timer from Norrath to Luclin at all spires. This is a boat-equivalent method of travel that makes it accessible to all. However, the downbound spires only activate every 72min in rotating fashion. This kills their use as a fast travel.

Alternately a single norrath "super-spire" (NK maybe?) connects to Luclin (both ways) every 72min.

Spire Quest - A LORE mid-level item would drop from mobs. (Rare drop from any caster mob lvl 30-40?) Turning this into a spire NPC would cause you to be immediately ported. This spreads some income to all classes, adds to player economy and provides a more expensive alternative to wiz/dru.

Druid/Wizard spells - A self-only port at 19 and a group port at 29. Why so low? I think the pattern of spells in classic was ideal, allowing access to each continent at 19/29. I forget if Luclin had any special evac locations. In either case I think there should be a couple of them, spread out somewhere in 44/49/low-50s levels.


The Bazaar
I think this needs to not be in. Neither the place (artifical hub), neither the mechanic (offline commerce), neither the search. Why not the search? The way it is now, sale success depends on being active (advertising) and the interface (/auction) allows a much greater freedom to haggle or trade. Implementing a search UI would make it impossible to advertise WTB, WTT and services.

Backpack token exchange would be implemented through a few NPCs scattered in the world. A Luclin arena would be added in another location.

AAs
XP in addition to items as a reason to group and do content (or even solo) is a valuable thing that brings people together. I think the concept of AAs needs splitting in a few different concepts (names could use improvement):

AA-Levels: 10 Class specific AA-s (incremental cost starting at 10). Each one grants a small increase to MaxHP and MaxMana as well as specialized bonuses for each class. For melee this may be small raises in skillcaps, an increase to the damage calculation or a new discipline. For casters this can be meeting prerequisite of a new spell or small casting benefits.

AA-IconicAbilities: Iconic AA abilities granted in the form of "sub-epic" quests. Long, involved quests on par with the epics, but doable with a group of 6.

AA-Expendables: A maximum pool of 20 AAs that can be spent to create temporary effects (something like this was added on live in a later expansion). No idea what effects they gave them on live, but generally long and shared cooldown utility abilities.


Soulbinders:[...] Kill them all with fire and napalm
Agreed. Though as the world gets bigger I could see giving mages the ability to summon a no-rent bindstone. (Reagent: 1 Pearl)

My biggest problem with luclin, however, was the whole moon thing. For me it broke the believability of the game. Personally I would take a selection of Luclin zones and stitch them into a new on-Norrath continent. I'd expand upon the shissar and akhevans (was that the name?) as main enemies in the area and give it more of a consistent theme centered on them.

One of the problems with Luclin’s graphics is they make previous expansions’ graphics look old and outdated.
This is personal preference, but I found Luclin graphics uglier than the classic. Some models were just plain Models (`old` Vah Shir, etc), animations (new models, many mobs, mounted characters) and textures (all over).

Some were amazing (Ssra, shissar model), but overall I wish the style had stayed closer to classic with just higher poly count and texture resolution.

Obviously, revamping old zones is not an option because it would kill all the nostalgia.
There was someone on the forum who redid a few textures from classic. I think Gfay and Felwithe were two of them. It looked very nice and didn't change the feel of the game.

[Danyelle]

Great ideas!

Mine were just suggestions of course, to show how newer expacs could be changed to fit the Classic feel :). The best route, obviously, would be to have P99's development team use their gut instincts on some features, but for others (especially larger ones like these) compile a list of dev or player made change suggestions and run a pole to see what the community likes best. So it can best appeal to everyone.

And keep in mind, it'd be like Nilbog already said, a server clone. The original would still always stay at Velious only. This would just be to continue the fun of the project and keep people enraptured in it beyond the initial nostalgia spike.

I agree about the graphics by the way. I obviously like them, i mean hell I got Luclin models working over here. I even like modern designs. It was how they replaced everything that bothered me. For example, Dragons of Norrath released a new model for spiders. I loved it. Rain of Fear released a new texture for that newer spider model that was supposed to be a revamp of the phase spider in Velious (http://everquest.allakhazam.com/db/npc.html?id=42172). I loved that too. Buying Rain of Fear gave you an item that illusioned your pet as a 'fear corrupted' phase spider (http://everquest.allakhazam.com/db/item.html?item=106371). I named my pet Phasers (you can name pets permanently on Live now..) and started roleplaying it as a phase spider rather than an elemental. I loved it. Obviously i enjoyed the new spider models....what I didn't enjoy is when they first made it...and went allll the way back to every old zone and ripped out the Classic spider models as well and replaced them with the new one. Old and new should have coexisted. Zones shouldn't have been revamped unless they were gonna be a separate instance (like they did in House (http://everquest.allakhazam.com/db/zone.html?zstrat=747) of (http://everquest.allakhazam.com/db/zone.html?zstrat=752) Thule (http://everquest.allakhazam.com/db/zone.html?zstrat=756)) etc. But unfortunately they seem to have learned that lesson way too late. Live will never get the old Freeport back :(

[tanknspank]

Great ideas!

Mine were just suggestions of course, to show how newer expacs could be changed to fit the Classic feel :). The best route, obviously, would be to have P99's development team use their gut instincts on some features, but for others (especially larger ones like these) compile a list of dev or player made change suggestions and run a pole to see what the community likes best. So it can best appeal to everyone.
Thank you! Same with mine. I have fun brainstorming game design.

Design by community tends to worry me because in many MMOs they lead to trivialization as people ask for easier and easier. If they do any polls I hope it's after thoroughly filtering any ideas through the classic filter before opening the valid ones for polling.

Zones shouldn't have been revamped unless they were gonna be a separate instance (like they did in House (http://everquest.allakhazam.com/db/zone.html?zstrat=747) of (http://everquest.allakhazam.com/db/zone.html?zstrat=752) Thule (http://everquest.allakhazam.com/db/zone.html?zstrat=756)) etc. But unfortunately they seem to have learned that lesson way too late. Live will never get the old Freeport back :(
Agreed. Keep the classic zones as they are. If something is broken enough to need fixing, fix it in place. Add NPCs or quests here and there when needed, but keep the layout the same.

[Zaela]

Despite it being possible for years, tools have recently been developed which makes it feasible to create new zones.

My ears (http://www.eqemulator.org/forums/showthread.php?t=38384) are burning (http://www.eqemulator.org/forums/showthread.php?t=38287)?

[Kevris]

A classic-Velious server should remain as a museum, without modifications.

So let it be written, so let it be done.

Now, if I could perhaps convince you to reset Sleepers after the Kerafym event please, good sir.

[Dragonsblood1987]

http://i3.kym-cdn.com/entries/icons/original/000/010/692/19789999.jpg

Your misuse of that line made me uncomfortable. Shame. Shame on you.

[Dragonsblood1987]

Travel to Luclin should not be wiz/dru only (not sure if that's what you meant) and definitely not that complicated. Automated means however should cost time or resources. What I would do would be:

Spires - Activation on a 72min (1 game day) timer from Norrath to Luclin at all spires. This is a boat-equivalent method of travel that makes it accessible to all. However, the downbound spires only activate every 72min in rotating fashion. This kills their use as a fast travel.

Alternately a single norrath "super-spire" (NK maybe?) connects to Luclin (both ways) every 72min.

Spire Quest - A LORE mid-level item would drop from mobs. (Rare drop from any caster mob lvl 30-40?) Turning this into a spire NPC would cause you to be immediately ported. This spreads some income to all classes, adds to player economy and provides a more expensive alternative to wiz/dru.

Druid/Wizard spells - A self-only port at 19 and a group port at 29. Why so low? I think the pattern of spells in classic was ideal, allowing access to each continent at 19/29. I forget if Luclin had any special evac locations. In either case I think there should be a couple of them, spread out somewhere in 44/49/low-50s levels.



I think this needs to not be in. Neither the place (artifical hub), neither the mechanic (offline commerce), neither the search. Why not the search? The way it is now, sale success depends on being active (advertising) and the interface (/auction) allows a much greater freedom to haggle or trade. Implementing a search UI would make it impossible to advertise WTB, WTT and services.

Backpack token exchange would be implemented through a few NPCs scattered in the world. A Luclin arena would be added in another location.


XP in addition to items as a reason to group and do content (or even solo) is a valuable thing that brings people together. I think the concept of AAs needs splitting in a few different concepts (names could use improvement):

AA-Levels: 10 Class specific AA-s (incremental cost starting at 10). Each one grants a small increase to MaxHP and MaxMana as well as specialized bonuses for each class. For melee this may be small raises in skillcaps, an increase to the damage calculation or a new discipline. For casters this can be meeting prerequisite of a new spell or small casting benefits.

AA-IconicAbilities: Iconic AA abilities granted in the form of "sub-epic" quests. Long, involved quests on par with the epics, but doable with a group of 6.

AA-Expendables: A maximum pool of 20 AAs that can be spent to create temporary effects (something like this was added on live in a later expansion). No idea what effects they gave them on live, but generally long and shared cooldown utility abilities.



Agreed. Though as the world gets bigger I could see giving mages the ability to summon a no-rent bindstone. (Reagent: 1 Pearl)

My biggest problem with luclin, however, was the whole moon thing. For me it broke the believability of the game. Personally I would take a selection of Luclin zones and stitch them into a new on-Norrath continent. I'd expand upon the shissar and akhevans (was that the name?) as main enemies in the area and give it more of a consistent theme centered on them.


This is personal preference, but I found Luclin graphics uglier than the classic. Some models were just plain Models (`old` Vah Shir, etc), animations (new models, many mobs, mounted characters) and textures (all over).

Some were amazing (Ssra, shissar model), but overall I wish the style had stayed closer to classic with just higher poly count and texture resolution.


There was someone on the forum who redid a few textures from classic. I think Gfay and Felwithe were two of them. It looked very nice and didn't change the feel of the game.

Why would it taking place on the moon kill it for you? Some moons have atmospheres breh

[Daywolf]

I gots an idea, how about a pony spell for enc's?? Enc gets to transform themselves into a pony! Then p99 will be super popular with Bronies!

Or did they do that on live already?

meh... best off to just wipe the server and start from scratch, with all the fixes in place this time.
Or just start a new progression server and leave this as classic vel.

[tanknspank]

Why would it taking place on the moon kill it for you? Some moons have atmospheres breh
Not sure. It's not that it can't be possible for the moon to have atmosphere or possible in the framework of magic set up by the lore, it's just one of those subjective things that never clicked to me.

Maybe part of it is how Norrath-like the moon is, maybe it's the prevalence of humans on it, maybe it's the cat people (never been a fan of anthropomorphic animal races in general, and after NPC kerrans and Iksar - which are awesome, granted - another one, on the moon, felt too out there). No idea.

[nilbog]

My ears (http://www.eqemulator.org/forums/showthread.php?t=38384) are burning (http://www.eqemulator.org/forums/showthread.php?t=38287)?

Hey Zaela; didn't know you were around here.

Burn, ears, burn! Great work on those tools so far.

[SCB]

I gots an idea, how about a pony spell for enc's?? Enc gets to transform themselves into a pony! Then p99 will be super popular with Bronies!

Or did they do that on live already?

meh... best off to just wipe the server and start from scratch, with all the fixes in place this time.
Or just start a new progression server and leave this as classic vel.

Literally everything you say is the worst thing ever. Read the thread, then comment. Know what you're talking about before spewing crap out of your face-hole.

Nilbog, I trust you guys completely with custom content and would love to see PoP re-imagined as zone-accessible (ie non-hub) raid zones.

[Sadre Spinegnawer]

I get the idea that Nilbog said, that the original-Kunark-Velious server will be like a museum piece. Fair enough idea, and I can see the point.

But I still would like to see this group of devs, re-imagine Luclin and PoP -- fixing them, as it were. There were things that came into the game that really pissed me off. We all have our list.

And yes, this is all distant speculation: we shall all be living in Velious for more than a few years here lol. But it is still interesting speculation: what went wrong in Luclin and PoP, and can they be salvaged and redone, so that they don't essentially function as nerfs of classic eq?

But it might be, that it is a kind of mudflation kind of deal. You can only add so many expansions and thus new content and powers, before you destroy the basics of the original game.


tl;dr this post-velious shit is a complicated issue, but fun to discuss and speculate about.

[Sadre Spinegnawer]

You know.. I don't mind certain class defining AAs, but given the option, I'd like to do it in a way other than hey, paladin, complete level 51 'X' amount of times, and you magically get Slay Undead. I think an epic quest line for things like this makes more sense.


AA's were one of the laziest things the SOE devs ever did. Sure, they gave neat abilities. But the mechanics how you got them was pure lazy dev nerf. "Just grind out these alternate exp levels!" Meh, at least the shard and flag concepts required you to hunt down and secure certain items to get you somewhere -- they were both giant quests. AA's were just grind grind grind new ability grind grind grind new ability+ grind grind grind new ability++ grind grind grind new ability +++

Weak shit, man, weak shit.

AA's are on my list of top 5 things that went wrong. Right up there with PoK and the bazaar.

[HeallunRumblebelly]

I get the idea that Nilbog said, that the original-Kunark-Velious server will be like a museum piece. Fair enough idea, and I can see the point.

But I still would like to see this group of devs, re-imagine Luclin and PoP -- fixing them, as it were. There were things that came into the game that really pissed me off. We all have our list.

And yes, this is all distant speculation: we shall all be living in Velious for more than a few years here lol. But it is still interesting speculation: what went wrong in Luclin and PoP, and can they be salvaged and redone, so that they don't essentially function as nerfs of classic eq?

But it might be, that it is a kind of mudflation kind of deal. You can only add so many expansions and thus new content and powers, before you destroy the basics of the original game.


tl;dr this post-velious shit is a complicated issue, but fun to discuss and speculate about.

Lots of complaints about luclin especially is that the setting just did not fit the fantasy genre EQ had inhabited before. Bazaar/nexus ports / pok books / the idea of POK in general really rubbed people the wrong way. The casuals also disliked AAXP because it provided such an extreme degree of separation in power between those who had large amounts of AAs and those who did not.

edit: AAXP was far better in later games when they provided meaningful choice, rather than a constant power grind. Talents or EQ2 AAXP for instance.

[Rhambuk]

edit: AAXP was far better in later games when they provided meaningful choice, rather than a constant power grind. Talents or EQ2 AAXP for instance.

im pretty sure they've changed the eq2 system to the grind system

and wow really dumbed it down in the last expansion imo

but yeah something like original talents or original eq2aa would be cool, put in ingame achievements imo gives the hardcores something to do when they cant raid

[Kika Maslyaka]

im pretty sure they've changed the eq2 system to the grind system

and wow really dumbed it down in the last expansion imo

but yeah something like original talents or original eq2aa would be cool, put in ingame achievements imo gives the hardcores something to do when they cant raid

WoW it great in the last expansion - they made their AAs (talents) to be selective limited - not I must have 69 points in Z or I don't get spell X crap. This is how true AA system should be: you can have 3 nice abilities to choose from, but you can only ever have 1 of them.

Nexus port is no different than Boat to Kunark or Velious. Imagine that the only way you could get to Kunark/velious is by a port - that would suck.

On Luclin - Soulbinders are mandatory to this game and should have been in from day 1. Or give me wow graveyards to respawn at in each zone.

[HeallunRumblebelly]

WoW it great in the last expansion - they made their AAs (talents) to be selective limited - not I must have 69 points in Z or I don't get spell X crap. This is how true AA system should be: you can have 3 nice abilities to choose from, but you can only ever have 1 of them.

Nexus port is no different than Boat to Kunark or Velious. Imagine that the only way you could get to Kunark/velious is by a port - that would suck.

On Luclin - Soulbinders are mandatory to this game and should have been in from day 1. Or give me wow graveyards to respawn at in each zone.

Have to agree. Soulbinders / nexus had 0 impact on the game. I can't think of a time past about lvl 20 i ever waited for those stupid spires :P Or sometimes I plan on afking in nexus anyway so i just sit in the spires, heh.

[Invoke]

Questing for some class specific AAs sounds interesting as long as I can still grind out some of the more basic AAs like run3 and regen3.

[Mblake81]

The idea of questing or camping mobs is fine instead of AA being what they were.

Please no horses ever, It's sow or bard song and you sit your butt down to med.

Any rings or spires are druid/wiz teleport only. Never allow auto porting NPC's (add some rings to everfrost..perhaps the gnomes and dwarves got together and built a few more.)
-Hespect to Dial a Port.

No bazaar, No kats - frogs- faeries, all races up to iksar only. Maybe no moon but connected on land like others have said.
Also would redoing kunark and velious to make them look classic be going too far? Giants don't look dopey in kunark or velious... something heartwarming is lost.
Add content to old zones, for example a dungeon on Kerra Isle to increase traffic to an otherwise unused zone.

Please add more things to tradeskill, variety is great and its something to do.

Keep it Classic.

[sox7d]

Nothing to make the game easier or more convenient.

[Mblake81]

Also can we get our classic character selection/creation screens back and keep it please?

The good background for the good races, bad background for the bad with your toon spinning so you can check your gear out.

Take away all the races we won't be using, make it more professional looking :p

[Zaela]

Make custom content excrutiatingly difficult so you could at least tell anyone who refuses to try it out of hand b/c classic they're a pussy.

IMO luclin and beyond should only be looked at for the lessons they contain about what not to do. Don't be held back by anything they did. Kind of inevitable that players in this thread will only be able to think about the stuff they already know. Don't be like them.

Try to avoid making old content redundant. I remember going out to LOIO a month or two after luclin launched and seeing it deserted for the first time. Everyone just went to paludal or whatever for their far-more-convenient teen-to-twenties exp. Sad day.

Plan. A lot. And if you do fuck something up, being willing to change it (or remove it entirely) post-launch. Nothing makes a mistake worse than feeling you're obligated to build on it for the next 13+ years. Making content right is far more important than any players who'll threaten to quit if you take away their new game-diluting toys or whatever. (Don't think that'll be a problem here, though!)

Have fun with it, obviously. Making script-heavy raid zones and encounters is a blast. Making stuff more complex than classic eq isn't exactly difficult, but think big!

Hey Zaela; didn't know you were around here.

Burn, ears, burn! Great work on those tools so far.

Would be happy to collaborate to make the tools better/make more tools if you do decide to make use of them. Now that I know you're considering custom, seems like this server is my best chance to see my tools put to good use. I can see you'd be willing to make a concerted effort, at the very least.

Still need to make a tool for importing animated models. Knowing something significant might happen with the other ones is pretty motivating.

[Daywolf]

Literally everything you say is the worst thing ever. Read the thread, then comment. Know what you're talking about before spewing crap out of your face-hole.uh-oh I'm pissin off the Bronies with my love for legit classic everquest... again. :D

Like... 'how dare they want to just play a new p99 server starting over at that point with all the fixes in place, should be forced to play with new enc ponies here 4evah'. heh

[Erasong]

That's the idea. I still play tabletop AD&D 2e [nerd alert], and it's my turn to DM next. It's been on hold for a long time now because of Velious development. When I sit down to work on a campaign.. what comes to mind is more akin to fantasy [prekunark] than what happened post-Velious [linear mmorpging for the masses].

I happened to think the PoP era lore fit pretty well into most fantasy stories and not just rushed mmo masses crap. Forgotten realms and dragonlance both had mortals fighting and even defeating gods since u mentioned being an AD&D nerd =P

[Messianic]

Your misuse of that line made me uncomfortable. Shame. Shame on you.

AAs arent customization. AAs are progression.

Talent trees are customization.

[Daywolf]

AAs arent customization. AAs are progression.

Talent trees are customization.
Yeah I'd call it a progression rather than a skill tree. At first it was like "wow this is cool" but after time and as they added more it was just more a progression grind within a progression grind :(

And that's saying a lot on my part, as EQ is the only progression themepark I have ever actually liked... not being a skill based sandbox which I pref. Probably because in early EQ (like here) it had challenge/difficulty. I think the progression grind thing starts just getting out of hand with AA. The only real saving grace of it was if you were working AA rather than level progressing - not at level cap yet; so more people camped lower level areas longer resulting in more groups to find in those more favorite spots. But other than that... meh.

[Clark]

Velious then Luclin once expended.

[Daywolf]

Velious then Luclin once expended.
Well, already read the thread before posting, think I recall you already mentioning that. No comment... but Vikings is the best thing going on TV for sure :D
EQ needs more Vikings. Always needed longboats at least. If Luclin had Vikings... ;)
Yes... there is Halas, but common... Vikings weren't landlubber giants living in the mountains for the most part :rolleyes:

[phacemeltar]

AAs arent customization. AAs are progression.

Talent trees are customization.

i would like to see, if AA's are to be implemented, a cap for AA points that is lower than those needed to activate them all.

I.E. - you cant get every AA available, in fact you must choose between them. i know this sounds like classic WoW talent trees, but would work very differently, and could allow for said customization. i always figured that was how EQ AA's worked, but i guess i was just a mistaken noob.

[Mblake81]

Original EQ intro. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ym9hIEbnijw)

Speaking of returning to it's fantasy roots.

[Clark]

If Luclin had Vikings... ;)

:D

[Danyelle]

Also can we get our classic character selection/creation screens back and keep it please?

The good background for the good races, bad background for the bad with your toon spinning so you can check your gear out.

Take away all the races we won't be using, make it more professional looking :p

I already know how to do this...kinda:

I miss the old char select with the good or evil backgrounds depending on race/religion. Old UI, my old friend, where have you gone.

The character select zone is actually just that...a zone. It isn't part of the UI. You can get it back again, both the Classic and Luclin versions, by deleting clz.eqg and renaming load1.s3d or load2.s3d (Classic and Luclin character select zones respectively) to clz.s3d including text files and _chr/_obj files. HOWEVER, it will always place you at 0, 0, 0. Not in the appropriate spots (there's tiny little "rooms" for each good/evil/class/race etc in one giant zone that you would go to depending on character choice, since that's no longer the case it defaults to 0 cords now and that can't be changed.)

So my dark characters will start in that cave with the lava and shit instead?

Nah, you'd be in the right zone, but due to the placement of modern character select it'd put you at 0 cords which i believe is dead air. you can see all the rooms floating around you though :P

Basically in your install there is 3 sets of files:

clz.eqg
clz_EnvironmentEmitters.txt

This is the current loading 'zone' used from Dragon's of Norrath onward.

load2.s3d
load2_obj.s3d
load2_switches.s3d

This is the Luclin loading 'zone' used from Planes of Power - Omens of War

load.s3d
load_obj.s3d

This is the original loading 'zone' used from Classic-Luclin

Now... The client is currently coded to look for clz, not load or load2. BUT it doesn't differentiate between .eqg or .s3d it will simply attempt to load .eqg files first, then default to an .s3d file if available. So you can rename the load or load2 files to clz and remove clz.eqg and clz_EnvironmentEmitters.txt from your install and it will use them instead.

The problem is, the new clz loading zone doesn't use different 'rooms' for races. It's just the one big platform built around the 0, 0, 0 coords in the 'zone'. It will do the same thing in the load/load2 zones because that's how it's hardcoded. Putting your characters up in dead-air and the rooms being so far away they aren't even visible.

Theoretically someone (probably Secrets) could force the client to place each race in different rooms, the load/load2 zones can be explored on any Emu server so you can #goto around them and find the appropriate coordinates to place particular races. as this would likely involve .dll injection it's currently beyond me however :( I may start researching or leeching knowledge off Secrets and one day see what I can do though.

[Dragonmist]

I doubt they will ever do any type of customization on P99 after Velious thats it.

But maybe someday P99 2.0 could release some similar to this ruleset...

Guild Tags under names,no CR's,a shared bank, and No plat encumberance, expansions up to Luclin or PoP 1 IP per household still would be the best server ever but thats just my own opinion.

[smazzocity]

Original EQ intro. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ym9hIEbnijw)

Speaking of returning to it's fantasy roots.

Wow, haven't seen that video forever. I remember watching that and then playing the tutorial as Soandso.

[Priceline]

just add AAXP to Velious, re-tune merbs accordingly. This will give folks something to do for quite a few years ;)

[Mblake81]

Wow, haven't seen that video forever. I remember watching that and then playing the tutorial as Soandso.

Original eq was D&D based for sure. Maybe they wont alter p99 like someone said but allow you to mirror you character over to the 2.0 server or just start new.

There is a chance we could get more content that is classic inspired and looks the part what with the strong modding communities that follow games like this.

:D

[Danyelle]

Original eq was D&D based for sure. Maybe they wont alter p99 like someone said but allow you to mirror you character over to the 2.0 server or just start new.

There is a chance we could get more content that is classic inspired and looks the part what with the strong modding communities that follow games like this.

:D

Seems to be Nilbog's intention based on what he was saying. Make a 'clone' of P99. Leave the first one as it is as a museum, customize the second one. Probably copy characters. Or maybe not, might be cool for the second server you have to start fresh.

[tanknspank]

But it might be, that it is a kind of mudflation kind of deal. You can only add so many expansions and thus new content and powers, before you destroy the basics of the original game.
Generally speaking yes, but if the power creep is carefully managed, there's a lot of room to go before that is the obstacle. To be honest I feel Velious raised the gear level too much. So did PoP (I don't remember the itemization details for Luclin).

AA's were one of the laziest things the SOE devs ever did. Sure, they gave neat abilities. But the mechanics how you got them was pure lazy dev nerf. "Just grind out these alternate exp levels!"
Yes and no. Grinding XP had been the cornerstone of advancement in both classic and Kunark (levels). In my eyes it is iconic to classic content. The problem with AAs was that they added far too many of them, to the point where the grind became limitless.

This is why I think each xpac should have a set of "Class-specific AA Levels" in the 5-10 range that continue your class's progression without the added power disparity that levels give.

Also, unlike levels AAs don't take you on a journey. You can grind your first AA in the same zone as your 4000th. Levels take you on a journey from Orc 1 to Dervs to Karana to Guk to Karnor's to Howling Stones (or whatever your chosen path is). With this in mind maybe different zones in an xpac turn 'green' in relation to AAXP earning as you progress in "class-specific AA level".

WoW it great in the last expansion - they made their AAs (talents) to be selective limited - not I must have 69 points in Z or I don't get spell X crap. This is how true AA system should be: you can have 3 nice abilities to choose from, but you can only ever have 1 of them.
It depends on how it's implemented. I don't like the fact that WoW grants talents automatically for levelling, nor how easy you can switch. In an AA system I think it would be better to "Buy A, B or C for X points. Once you buy A, if you want to switch you have to earn the point cost and buy B or C which removes A (and the points spent)". The permanency of choices is iconic to classic EQ for me. No do-over on your starting stat, deity, no flip-flopping your class's role (spec), etc.

On Luclin - Soulbinders are mandatory to this game and should have been in from day 1. Or give me wow graveyards to respawn at in each zone.
I disagree. This game classic's era was defined by player interdependence. You needed others for bind, sow, ports, rezzes, corpse recovery (drag/summon), etc. That defines the feel of the community. So it's something that needs to be kept and that was lost on live as expansions added more NPC services.

I do see the need for some flexibility, especially as the world grows. But I think the idea is to make the "bind" portable. It should still originate from a player, but allow a melee to take it with them to a different location so they can bind at 5am in an abandoned zone. This could be in the form of a crafted item or a spell-created one.

[Kika Maslyaka]

I do see the need for some flexibility, especially as the world grows. But I think the idea is to make the "bind" portable. It should still originate from a player, but allow a melee to take it with them to a different location so they can bind at 5am in an abandoned zone. This could be in the form of a crafted item or a spell-created one.

Problem with this is that game will cater even more to specific classes and make others even more dependable. We already have classes that can sow and port and bind and heal, and get cash for that, and we have classes that have 0 convenience abilities that only get hoops they need to jump all the time. I do get class interdependence in combat group - cleric heals, warrior tanks, rogue dps etc. But outside of combat what does warrior have that cleric/druid/wiz can possible need?

The DnD group strict inter-dependance approach only works for small group of players who always play together - such as at joint meeting sessions. It falls apart in MMO when you do not automatically have a perfectly balance group ready to go the instant you log in. Hence class interdependence where warrior/rogue/paly MUST look for a caster for an hour just to get a bind is ridiculous. Specialty if traveling to far off places like Erudin.

Having portable bind potions is great, unless its casters who make them - because you just gave casters yet another cash generating machine that melees will have to pay for. Casters already generate ton of profit by selling binds, sows, ports, even heals, while melees have none of such convince income. I strongly believe that no class should have a cash making ability, unless each class has it and its needed by everyone else. Otherwise its just broken. Every person I knew in RL who played EQ at some point made either druid or enchanter alt to generate cash for their melee mains by sitting in one spot casting ports/KEI. And that is where game is broken.

So I say - no one should be able to cast bind, but all cities should have soulbinders. Druids and Wiz may have ports but port must require VERY EXPENSIVE component bought from vendors - so you only port when its really needed like for a guild raid. All buffs should be group bound - like in EQ2 - you join the group with a cleric - you get cleric buffs, you leave the group, you loose the buffs - so no cash from buff selling.

RE: wow talents - yeah i don;t like easy swap spec system neither, but general approach to have limited talents is good. EQ's grind 600 AAs just to be considered for a raid guild was sick.

[blondeattk]

`I would complete all the zones that appeared in the original EQ map that never made it to the game.`

sounds good.

[Kika Maslyaka]

`I would complete all the zones that appeared in the original EQ map that never made it to the game.`

sounds good.

most of them can be found in later expansions. Antonika in Serpent's Spine, Odus in The Buried Sea, and Faydwer - Secrets of Faydwer.

[Taryth]

All buffs should be group bound - like in EQ2 - you join the group with a cleric - you get cleric buffs, you leave the group, you loose the buffs - so no cash from buff selling.

RE: wow talents - yeah i don;t like easy swap spec system neither, but general approach to have limited talents is good. EQ's grind 600 AAs just to be considered for a raid guild was sick.

I hated the fact that I couldn't buff people in EQ2 outside of group. I like being able to toss buffs on people, especially lowbies. I've never charged for buffs, and I think nerfing them like that for the sole purpose of preventing buff sales is silly and hamfisted.

[Kika Maslyaka]

I hated the fact that I couldn't buff people in EQ2 outside of group. I like being able to toss buffs on people, especially lowbies. I've never charged for buffs, and I think nerfing them like that for the sole purpose of preventing buff sales is silly and hamfisted.

yeah and buffying lev 5 guys with lev 50 buffs so they can solo mobs 5-10 levels above them is not cheating? If EQ is a group game, nothing in the game should give you something that allows you to solo - including game buffs from char that are 30-40 levels above you. If game is solo friendly (like EQ2) then no outside buffying is ever needed, unless you grouping for hard content, in which case buffs provided automatically by your group and level appropriate.

[Taryth]

yeah and buffying lev 5 guys with lev 50 buffs so they can solo mobs 5-10 levels above them is not cheating? If EQ is a group game, nothing in the game should give you something that allows you to solo - including game buffs from char that are 30-40 levels above you. If game is solo friendly (like EQ2) then no outside buffying is ever needed, unless you grouping for hard content, in which case buffs provided automatically by your group and level appropriate.

I don't care if the game is about soloing or grouping, to me EQ is about the freedom to play as I like without artificial restrictions. Like monks being able to feign and thereby split encounters. If I can cast a buff I should be able to cast it on anyone I please to cast it on.

[Treefall]

I don't care if the game is about soloing or grouping, to me EQ is about the freedom to play as I like without artificial restrictions. Like monks being able to feign and thereby split encounters. If I can cast a buff I should be able to cast it on anyone I please to cast it on.

I agree with this completely.

A perk of trucking it up the tough levels should be being able to help people get efficiently through some of the lower, tedious levels via buffs.

Heck, I'd much rather 60's sat around buffing people that would go out and kill than have the game implement non-social things that just boost EXP gain for people like modern MMOs have done.

[Ryndar]

I say release Luclin and then Planes of Power. 19 out of 20 people playing here would keep playing and the other 5% would quit for any other reason anyway.

[myriverse]

I don't care if the game is about soloing or grouping, to me EQ is about the freedom to play as I like without artificial restrictions. Like monks being able to feign and thereby split encounters. If I can cast a buff I should be able to cast it on anyone I please to cast it on.

[Glenzig]

yeah and buffying lev 5 guys with lev 50 buffs so they can solo mobs 5-10 levels above them is not cheating? If EQ is a group game, nothing in the game should give you something that allows you to solo - including game buffs from char that are 30-40 levels above you. If game is solo friendly (like EQ2) then no outside buffying is ever needed, unless you grouping for hard content, in which case buffs provided automatically by your group and level appropriate.

Go play EQ2 then. This is classic EQ.

[Daywolf]

EQ2
Buzzkill :(

donating for re-buzz pst

[Kika Maslyaka]

Go play EQ2 then. This is classic EQ.

EQ2 has its own set of problems. An ideal game would lie somewhere in between.

[Taminy]

And yes, this is all distant speculation: we shall all be living in Velious for more than a few years here lol. But it is still interesting speculation: what went wrong in Luclin and PoP, and can they be salvaged and redone, so that they don't essentially function as nerfs of classic eq?


Luclin what went wrong:

Everything that shrunk and eliminated the old world. Nexus spires would be ok if the timers were longer and druids/wizards were instantly able to port up there. Using spires as a short cut from WC to EW was stupid. Maybe have one spire only (as mentioned before) OR make it so you can only port down to the same spire you came up with.

I hate trading in EC but Bazaar just wasn't classic no matter how you slice it. Changed the game entirely. Also lead to a lot more RMT plat/gold farming. Duping and other plat/item exploits crashed the economy too big time with the Bazaar. High end traders bought up the most valuable droppable stuff and completely hoarded it when stuff like that happened. I think face to face interactions in EC would help put a stop to this or at least help put the brakes on until the devs can fix (plus name and shame).

To an extent PC and some other exp zones. However, this is moreso a level stratification / server population issue than a ZEM problem. If there aren't enough low to mid level players they are going to have to flock to certain zones. I've been playing my high 20s rogue lately a bit more and population in HK and MM seems just about perfect. Usually can get a group but sometimes groups are full and sometimes there is no group at a camp at all. If there are plenty of low to mid level players you won't have to go to PC.

AAs to an extent. Mostly the implementation and the fact that they were doing XP over and over. Though Luclin AAs weren't too horrible (besides possible immersion stuff). The difference between a char with full AAs and a char with minimal but class defining AAs was not gigantic. But during later expansions the AA grind for raid (or even group) required stuff was absurd.

Lore stuff and graphics are subjective.

What Luclin did right:

Other than Bazaar and Nexus, the world was still large. Lots of old and new stuff to do. Go wherever you want. More to see. Lots of old and new raid content to gear up with. Mudflation was not really too bad much more than Velious anyway. Biggest change/issue might be all the FT gear.

Faction system with Katta and the other zones was interesting too.

What PoP did wrong:

Simple. PoK books, level cap, added AAs, lack of factions, massive mudflation, graveyards, HUBS and XP changes/ZEMs. With PoP there was utterly no reason to do anything in the old world other than low and mid levels and that was just grinding. Once you got past 50 just head to the planes and grind there. It didn't even make sense to level in older zones if you wanted to because XP was so much different. And sure you had hubs even in classic (such as East Commons) but it was silly that there was MGB c3 every 10 minutes.... that was within a 5 minute walk from where you were XPing. Really changed the game from sandbox to theme park IMO.

What PoP did right:

Raids/lore. At least the idea of taking on the gods.

[Indefinite]

Ghostship casino

[tanknspank]

Problem with this is that game will cater even more to specific classes and make others even more dependable. We already have classes that can sow and port and bind and heal, and get cash for that, and we have classes that have 0 convenience abilities that only get hoops they need to jump all the time. I do get class interdependence in combat group - cleric heals, warrior tanks, rogue dps etc. But outside of combat what does warrior have that cleric/druid/wiz can possible need?
This is an argument between improving classic or adding more content in the spirit of classic. Melee always depended on casters for binds. Adding more content does not change that, but the more bind zones we have the less likely it'll be to find a caster in the least popular ones. My suggestion is to keep the existing paradigm, while accounting for a world that gets larger and larger.

Hence class interdependence where warrior/rogue/paly MUST look for a caster for an hour just to get a bind is ridiculous. Specialty if traveling to far off places like Erudin.
The second part of that is what I'm suggesting we address. If you know you're headed to Erudin you can pick up a bind item from a caster in the more populated EC/GFay/QeyHills (or whatever, depending on how these would be generated, though I would favor a summoned item mechanic). This keeps areas like Erudin, Paineel, Halas accessible/usable even when the population disperses more.

Having portable bind potions is great, unless its casters who make them - because you just gave casters yet another cash generating machine that melees will have to pay for.
Personally I would put this as a mage ability. A summoned, no rent item fits their theme and they have less cash utility (wiz/dru - ports, clr - rez or important buffs they provide for others - sow/C/HP/stats).

Casters already generate ton of profit by selling binds, sows, ports, even heals, while melees have none of such convince income. I strongly believe that no class should have a cash making ability, unless each class has it and its needed by everyone else. Otherwise its just broken.
Yes they do, though you are exagerating. I've played casters and melee here and I have yet to be charged for a bind, heal, cure or sow. Sure, when I was able to, I tipped, but the person doing it didn't know if I would or not and never asked for compensation. Yes, it's unequal, but it is the design of classic EQ.

If I was designing a game from scratch I would try to add out-of-combat interdependence in both directions, where casters need things from melee classes too. But that is a brainstorm for another game.

All buffs should be group bound - like in EQ2 - you join the group with a cleric - you get cleric buffs, you leave the group, you loose the buffs - so no cash from buff selling.
Games need more interdependence and ways for people to help each other, not less. The more you remove from the things two random strangers can do for each other, the more you remove the social aspect of the game. The more you seek to make everything even for everyone, the blander the roles/classes/races/whatever get.

EQ's grind 600 AAs just to be considered for a raid guild was sick.
Agreed on that. Much rather have a handful of harder to attain gains (ex. lvl 51-60) that mean something than having to grind endless points for a 1% here or there. Also if you add too much grind each expansion, you reach the need for catch up mechanics much sooner. There is a point when potential new players say "fuck it" when faced 100 levels and 5000 AA in a world where there's few low/midlevel groups. And then devs make the game easier.

I don't care if the game is about soloing or grouping, to me EQ is about the freedom to play as I like without artificial restrictions. Like monks being able to feign and thereby split encounters. If I can cast a buff I should be able to cast it on anyone I please to cast it on.
This. The freedom to use / combine the tools the game gives you is one of the things that make it so fun despite the utterly simple AI. I'll take that over equality/balance any day.

[tanknspank]

Everything that shrunk and eliminated the old world. Nexus spires would be ok if the timers were longer and druids/wizards were instantly able to port up there. Using spires as a short cut from WC to EW was stupid. Maybe have one spire only (as mentioned before) OR make it so you can only port down to the same spire you came up with.
Interesting idea. I'm not sure how doable it is to give unremovable, persist-through-death buffs to someone and if they could be coded to not count against the buff limit. But the spire effect from say Dreadlands could debuff you with "Teleportation Resonance: Dreadlands" for 3h. While you have that you can only only use spires to port down to the DL spire.

I hate trading in EC but Bazaar just wasn't classic no matter how you slice it. Changed the game entirely.
As big as EC is, /auc trading exists in other places too. People hawk their wares as they travel / play. GFay serves as a small trade hub for Faydwer. In classic even Qeynos/QeyHills acted as a mini trade hub for Qeynos/SFG/Halas.

What PoP did wrong
I agree with all you said. Also:

Removed the danger of travel. Not just the books, but in the planes as well. All extremely quick to get to (super short run from your bind PoT/K) and extremely safe to get to (no risk running through PoT). Zone-ins were much safer areas than typical classic dungeons.
Hub or not, I think MGB is a great idea for raids, but a shitty one for general use. I think it needs a limiting factor so it's used on raids, but not tossed around willy nilly in any hubs. I would put on it a costly reagent that drops in limited amounts on raids. Maybe something similar to ruby crowns (so as not to conflict with gems' use in JC gear). Maybe a new item that drops from the mobs right before a raid boss.
Good/evil/race distinctions. This is an extension of the HUB issue, but it goes beyond that. In classic your race often changed where you XPed, what you killed, what quests were within your reach and so on. It made for a different play experience across various alts. PoP removed that. It didn't matter if you were a dark elf, a gnome or a barbarian, you hunted in the exact same zones and hunted the exact same things.

Yes, this dilution started in high level classic (everyone to LGuk/SolB!), but Kunark and Velious made use of factions to shake it up a some (OT outpost faction loss, Dorf/Giant/Dragon choice, PoG)

[Mblake81]

This is an argument between improving classic or adding more content in the spirit of classic.

The second part of that is what I'm suggesting we address. If you know you're headed to Erudin you can pick up a bind item from a caster in the more populated EC/GFay/QeyHills (or whatever, depending on how these would be generated, though I would favor a summoned item mechanic). This keeps areas like Erudin, Paineel, Halas accessible/usable even when the population disperses more.

You can get binds from group mates when you are going to places and most of the time anyone in Dial a Port will bind you at the closest town for like 10plat.

I don't like the idea of auto anything in eq.

[tanknspank]

I don't agree with having spires auto port in any fashion
Spires have to auto-port in some fashion when dealing with something like Luclin where there is absolutely no way to reach the content through travel. This is not an issue in classic/Kunark/Velious because at the expense of time and risk you can still travel everywhere (except Hate/Sky) without the need of a port.

[Mblake81]

Spires have to auto-port in some fashion when dealing with something like Luclin where there is absolutely no way to reach the content through travel. This is not an issue in classic/Kunark/Velious because at the expense of time and risk you can still travel everywhere (except Hate/Sky) without the need of a port.

To hell with Luclin then.

[Taminy]

Interesting idea. I'm not sure how doable it is to give unremovable, persist-through-death buffs to someone and if they could be coded to not count against the buff limit. But the spire effect from say Dreadlands could debuff you with "Teleportation Resonance: Dreadlands" for 3h. While you have that you can only only use spires to port down to the DL spire.


Yep perfect.


As big as EC is, /auc trading exists in other places too. People hawk their wares as they travel / play. GFay serves as a small trade hub for Faydwer. In classic even Qeynos/QeyHills acted as a mini trade hub for Qeynos/SFG/Halas.


Of course. EC was still not the same hub as PoK/PoT in terms of its close to all your experience areas. Other than SOLB or if you got a port.



I agree with all you said. Also:

Removed the danger of travel. Not just the books, but in the planes as well. All extremely quick to get to (super short run from your bind PoT/K) and extremely safe to get to (no risk running through PoT). Zone-ins were much safer areas than typical classic dungeons.


Come to think of it, PoP zones were essentially just South Karana or other crappy outdoor zones on steroids for the most part with a few exceptions they weren't really even dungeons. Off the top of my head, Plane of Water was the main exception to this rule. Maybe Solro and Plane of War to an extent as well, but even there was quite a bit of kite room. That's another reason why they sucked IMO.

Hub or not, I think MGB is a great idea for raids, but a shitty one for general use. I think it needs a limiting factor so it's used on raids, but not tossed around willy nilly in any hubs. I would put on it a costly reagent that drops in limited amounts on raids. Maybe something similar to ruby crowns (so as not to conflict with gems' use in JC gear). Maybe a new item that drops from the mobs right before a raid boss.


Agree 100%. Or just make the timer a lot shorter.


Good/evil/race distinctions. This is an extension of the HUB issue, but it goes beyond that. In classic your race often changed where you XPed, what you killed, what quests were within your reach and so on. It made for a different play experience across various alts. PoP removed that. It didn't matter if you were a dark elf, a gnome or a barbarian, you hunted in the exact same zones and hunted the exact same things.

Yes, this dilution started in high level classic (everyone to LGuk/SolB!), but Kunark and Velious made use of factions to shake it up a some (OT outpost faction loss, Dorf/Giant/Dragon choice, PoG)

Even that dilution is not so bad at least for Lguk. Selling, binding, porting etc mattered there. Less so for SolB since it was so close to both good and evil cities and there was always the red wine quest....

But yes I loved the idea of siding with or against the dwarves, giants, and dragons in Velious.

And not only that, but faction was so irrelevant in PoK and PoT it was nonsensical. Ogre and Gnome guards in the same zone. Barbarian and Dark Elf merchants and quest givers that sell to everyone.

[Daldaen]

Luclin added:


AAs allowing you to play your main character for meaningful gains.
AAs and new spells balanced out classes like Ranger/Druid/Wizard in the raiding game, whereas before they were quite underpowered.
Tradeskills made relevant. Stat Foods/Drink actually important, Xanthe Earring quest.
Spell Focii made gearing a caster 100x more interesting and added depth to itemization
Expansion of FT dropping / Revamp of FT code allowed you to stack FT, again making itemization and gearing far more interesting
Allowed for slow-self travel, stopping the *Well I am stuck in Karanas and no one can get me so I will sit here for 2 hours waiting for a port*. Fantastic change. Wasn't made too easy or quick.
Bazaar allowed players to sell stuff with minimal time invested on their end (beyond AFKing overnight or during work). Previously selling stuff was quite tedious and involved too much haggling/bickering with random people. Set price and it sells or doesn't sell, pretty simple. Fantastic addition.
Beastlords add a decent amount of depth to the game. New buffs/pets/AAs to factor into raid and group balance.


PoP added;


Expansion of tradeskills. ALL tradeskills made relevant, even pottery and fletching became extremely valuable to have maxed.
Chain quests similar to Shawl/Ring that were awesome.
The best raid progression. Something for the worst family guilds and the best bleeding edge guilds. Lore behind the raids was pretty cool
Raid fights themselves became a bit more scripted and less corner-CH-Tank type fights. The Elemental Gods are probably the best example of this. Extreme endurance/offtank/coordination fights (Xegony/Rathe), burn/AOE/Control fights (Coirnav) and fights focused around pulling/positioning (Rathe/Fennin).


Both of these were glorious expansions. Yes, old stuff becomes less relevant, surprise surprise. Thats inevitable. Its very hard to add meaningful content without obsoleting old stuff. Come velious you will see just how much of Kunark goes from being utilized to vacant.

[Mblake81]

Come velious you will see just how much of Kunark goes from being utilized to vacant.

PIR Fail Horn (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ytCEuuW2_A)

If they ever start a P2.0 server it would be wise to take note of this imo. Have a world that is massive from the start with gear and levels appropriate,
tacking on xpan's which make previous work obsolete is wasteful.. not only for dev's but for the player base.

The last thing you want is 30 different zones in your game no one goes to.

[Danyelle]

Luclin what went wrong:
What Luclin did right:
What PoP did wrong:
What PoP did right:


This is pretty correct in most people's minds I think, and gives a pretty good baseline for what you could add and what you could remove or change to make re-releasing these expacs fun for people here. On a clone server of course (leaving original P99 at Velious)

Ghostship casino

I have no idea if this is even what you were referencing, probably not, but it just made me think of this Legends server zone (http://everquest.allakhazam.com/db/zones.html?zstrat=156) that was a clone of Erud's Crossing with a ghost ship and unique content. It may be kinda neat to have this zone put on P99. Before or after Luclin. It IS a pre-Luclin 'zone'.

Interesting idea. I'm not sure how doable it is to give unremovable, persist-through-death buffs to someone and if they could be coded to not count against the buff limit. But the spire effect from say Dreadlands could debuff you with "Teleportation Resonance: Dreadlands" for 3h. While you have that you can only only use spires to port down to the DL spire.

Very doable. There's some buffs (like xp mod buffs, Lesson etc) that persist through death on Live now. If they can do it, EQEmu can.

Spires have to auto-port in some fashion when dealing with something like Luclin where there is absolutely no way to reach the content through travel. This is not an issue in classic/Kunark/Velious because at the expense of time and risk you can still travel everywhere (except Hate/Sky) without the need of a port.

Even so, it's not necessarily a problem. There's many ways (as the ideas proposed in this thread have shown) that could allow ports to Luclin without the negative side effects of world shrinkage or fast travel like what was present when Luclin went to Live. Things like centralizing the portals to one spire rather than one per continent (In this case I think the Dreadlands combine spire would probably be the most lore friendly and interesting place to put it. Not the original Nexus spire there, but the big platform with the spires and ruins...)

Yes, old stuff becomes less relevant, surprise surprise. Thats inevitable. Its very hard to add meaningful content without obsoleting old stuff. Come velious you will see just how much of Kunark goes from being utilized to vacant.

Not necessarily. It will to a small degreee but there's several things you can do to get close to eliminating it, especially depending upon how far up you go:

1. Make item stats scale at about the level that Classic > Kunark > Velious did. Rather thna the massive stat jumps that started happening in Luclin and PoP and only got worse over time. The stats may not be massive upgrades, there may still (and hopefully WILL) be items very much desired and usable from old expacs, you just have to make sure the fun, lore, and quests/group/raid content from your "expac" is enough to make it fun, interesting, and entrancing like the first 2 expacs were, despite only gaining like 2 stamina per item slot more.

2. Eliminate hub zoning. Zones will empty much much slower if people still have to use starting cities and trade zones rather than congregating in Nexus/Bazaar or PoK/GL/GH like they do on Live.

3. Be very very very careful with when and how level caps are put in and how they are handled. Just because Live raised the cap at PoP doesn't necessarily mean we have to, we can dial back content for level 55-60 rather than 60-65.

4. Make sure new quests/key flags etc integrate themselves appropriately with older zones/flags/quests so that people can't just "content" skip and so that they are guided not only into new zones, but back into old ones as well. Live does this quite a bit now but they are usually only making it a simple "hail this npc", "done" scenario. It could be much more in depth.

-------

Oh and in regards to a post I made earlier about the 'loading' character select backgrounds being 'zones'. Proof:

http://i.imgur.com/wi9iJS9.jpg

And something interesting I discovered that could be used for some future P99 custom content/GM events. Call of the Forsaken went back and added a 'new' race that is actually an ollllld Classic race (ID 32 - "Ghost") that never received a model. ghm_chr.s3d, ghf_chr.s3d. It's the Qeynos/Freeport/Highpass human citizens/guards as ghosts. If the files are ripped from a Live client and added to global load they function in Titanium and all older clients (since it's an old race ID that has simply been searching for a model file all this time). They animate/sound like the Erudite ghosts of The Hole/Paineel etc:

http://i.imgur.com/PJ7Zf3B.jpg

[Daldaen]

The item jump from Kunark to Velious was worse than Velious to Luclin if you're looking at end-game stuff. By a lot.

Mid-tier raid stuff from Luclin was a marginally better jump from mid-tier Velious raid stuff.

[Clark]

Luclin.

[Zaela]

I get that people probably wouldn't care about this dimension, but just for the sake of putting it out there:

When I first heard about this server, I (as a dev for a different, highly custom server) kind of felt sorry for whoever was working on it. Piecing together someone else's work from a decade ago based mostly on crappy, rumor-filled second-hand sources doesn't sound fun at all. I guess there's a kind of "archeological" aspect to it which someone could theoretically like if they're into martialing information, and for programmers solving problems always feels at least a little bit good, regardless of what the problem is.

But, for the most part, it seems like an absurd amount of work to put in just to make sure you, as a developer, never get to do anything creative or interesting lest players be subjected to a novel experience.

I get that the server runs on nostalgia. But I think the devs have earned a break, if they want it.

[Alunova]

I get that people probably wouldn't care about this dimension, but just for the sake of putting it out there:

When I first heard about this server, I (as a dev for a different, highly custom server) kind of felt sorry for whoever was working on it. Piecing together someone else's work from a decade ago based mostly on crappy, rumor-filled second-hand sources doesn't sound fun at all. I guess there's a kind of "archeological" aspect to it which someone could theoretically like if they're into martialing information, and for programmers solving problems always feels at least a little bit good, regardless of what the problem is.

But, for the most part, it seems like an absurd amount of work to put in just to make sure you, as a developer, never get to do anything creative or interesting lest players be subjected to a novel experience.

I get that the server runs on nostalgia. But I think the devs have earned a break, if they want it.

But it's so much fun re-researching and defending every change you make against obscure and possibly out of context references! The end result definitely keeps me going at least, although I for one am definitely looking forward to shrugging off the chains of endless research and being creative, I know some of the others are as well.

[Taminy]

The item jump from Kunark to Velious was worse than Velious to Luclin if you're looking at end-game stuff. By a lot.

Mid-tier raid stuff from Luclin was a marginally better jump from mid-tier Velious raid stuff.

I know you weren't (directly) responding to me but this is why I said mudflation during Luclin was not a huge problem.

[heartbrand]

Luclin added:


AAs allowing you to play your main character for meaningful gains.
AAs and new spells balanced out classes like Ranger/Druid/Wizard in the raiding game, whereas before they were quite underpowered.
Tradeskills made relevant. Stat Foods/Drink actually important, Xanthe Earring quest.
Spell Focii made gearing a caster 100x more interesting and added depth to itemization
Expansion of FT dropping / Revamp of FT code allowed you to stack FT, again making itemization and gearing far more interesting
Allowed for slow-self travel, stopping the *Well I am stuck in Karanas and no one can get me so I will sit here for 2 hours waiting for a port*. Fantastic change. Wasn't made too easy or quick.
Bazaar allowed players to sell stuff with minimal time invested on their end (beyond AFKing overnight or during work). Previously selling stuff was quite tedious and involved too much haggling/bickering with random people. Set price and it sells or doesn't sell, pretty simple. Fantastic addition.
Beastlords add a decent amount of depth to the game. New buffs/pets/AAs to factor into raid and group balance.


PoP added;


Expansion of tradeskills. ALL tradeskills made relevant, even pottery and fletching became extremely valuable to have maxed.
Chain quests similar to Shawl/Ring that were awesome.
The best raid progression. Something for the worst family guilds and the best bleeding edge guilds. Lore behind the raids was pretty cool
Raid fights themselves became a bit more scripted and less corner-CH-Tank type fights. The Elemental Gods are probably the best example of this. Extreme endurance/offtank/coordination fights (Xegony/Rathe), burn/AOE/Control fights (Coirnav) and fights focused around pulling/positioning (Rathe/Fennin).


Both of these were glorious expansions. Yes, old stuff becomes less relevant, surprise surprise. Thats inevitable. Its very hard to add meaningful content without obsoleting old stuff. Come velious you will see just how much of Kunark goes from being utilized to vacant.

Biggest thing for me was that raids became more than tank and spank. I dunno why people think PoP didn't have a fantasy feel to it. Great music (possibly some of the best MMO music ever IMO). Great looking zones. And the whole expansion was EverQuest lore. Oh well.

[Herpa Derp]

Is there going to be custom loot too or just existing loot off of the mobs in the new custom content?

[Daldaen]

Is there going to be custom loot too or just existing loot off of the mobs in the new custom content?

This is like asking Hillary what she is going to accomplish in her second term that she didn't get to in her first. Way too far in the future and may not even happen.

[Zaela]

Designing rewards is half the fun.

[Kika Maslyaka]

Is there going to be custom loot too or just existing loot off of the mobs in the new custom content?

New content with old loot would be pretty ridiculous... "Oh look its a planar demon fiend! Its lev 69! I wonder what it drops... Oh cool, its a fine steel shortsword!"

[Ivory]

I would love to see more GM events instead of hard coded content zones (perhaps a bunch of GM events that are scripted out and triggerable at different times?).

Why add a new zone when you can just trigger a gnomish machine invasion in freeport or commons? Throw in the ability for devs to play around and make "legendary items" (nothing overpowered, could even take existing weapons and just tack on a new name to award to people for doing various things).

Then, add in some epic tasks that people can do to unlock something interesting.

For example, being able to sacrifice a level 50 character to be reborn as an impossible race / class combo ((excluding game breaking combos, like ogre monks)). Instead, ranger gnomes? Paladin halflings?

Basically, instead of just creating a few new zones....I would love to see the devs have a bit of fun and play around in the servers.

Part of the original EQ (back in the first couple of years), the GMs were EXTREMELY active. Heck, you had to even be visited by a gm to get your last name. GM events would happen a lot more frequently and it could be anything (adding a sense of magic to the game).

One time in qeynos, a GM spawned as some insane gnoll (along with an npc army) and just ran around killing newbies :P He was using all his powers too, so if you got him near death...he would super speed away (cheating! lol). But he also awarded some neat items, and everyone had a lot of fun.

Everquest wasn't always simply about end game raiding and trying to get the best pixels :P There was also an element of exploration and discovery of new things. It was a time when anything could (and did) happen.

[Kekephee]

I would love to see more GM events instead of hard coded content zones (perhaps a bunch of GM events that are scripted out and triggerable at different times?).

Why add a new zone when you can just trigger a gnomish machine invasion in freeport or commons? Throw in the ability for devs to play around and make "legendary items" (nothing overpowered, could even take existing weapons and just tack on a new name to award to people for doing various things).

Then, add in some epic tasks that people can do to unlock something interesting.

For example, being able to sacrifice a level 50 character to be reborn as an impossible race / class combo ((excluding game breaking combos, like ogre monks)). Instead, ranger gnomes? Paladin halflings?

Basically, instead of just creating a few new zones....I would love to see the devs have a bit of fun and play around in the servers.

Part of the original EQ (back in the first couple of years), the GMs were EXTREMELY active. Heck, you had to even be visited by a gm to get your last name. GM events would happen a lot more frequently and it could be anything (adding a sense of magic to the game).

One time in qeynos, a GM spawned as some insane gnoll (along with an npc army) and just ran around killing newbies :P He was using all his powers too, so if you got him near death...he would super speed away (cheating! lol). But he also awarded some neat items, and everyone had a lot of fun.

Everquest wasn't always simply about end game raiding and trying to get the best pixels :P There was also an element of exploration and discovery of new things. It was a time when anything could (and did) happen.


One of the reasons I came here when I found out about p99 was because I've spent the last 10 years with a hole inside of me that used to be that feeling when you're running around and suddenly you get some weird yellow text in your chat window that says "A foul wind blows from the east; in the distance, you hear the sound of maniacal laughter and blood-curling screams. It seems to be coming from the Lake of Ill Omen..." and you know something amazing is about to happen.

[Swish]

One of the reasons I came here when I found out about p99 was because I've spent the last 10 years with a hole inside of me that used to be that feeling when you're running around and suddenly you get some weird yellow text in your chat window that says "A foul wind blows from the east; in the distance, you hear the sound of maniacal laughter and blood-curling screams. It seems to be coming from the Lake of Ill Omen..." and you know something amazing is about to happen.

I would totally write a couple of events if there was a demand for it and I'm sure others would too.

I know the GMs encourage player run events but there's limitations on what we can do - no NPC control/spawning/etc :p

[Aveenia]

I love Plane of Nightmare, the sky looks like my hair & it's my favourite music in all of EQ. When I first went there I said, "one day my hair will look like this sky". Adding those planes with modified loot to better match classic and no stupid PoK would be nice.

[Millburn]

Designing rewards is half the fun.

Oh snap it's Zaela! I haven't played SoD in so long, nice to see your name again.

~Dainslaif of Ethereal

[Mr-B]

This is like asking Hillary what she is going to accomplish in her second term that she didn't get to in her first. Way too far in the future and may not even happen.

Speculation and brain storming ideas is exactly what this thread turned into.

[phacemeltar]

"one day my hair will look like this sky"

thats great

[Lopretni]

I would love to see more GM events instead of hard coded content zones (perhaps a bunch of GM events that are scripted out and triggerable at different times?).

Why add a new zone when you can just trigger a gnomish machine invasion in freeport or commons? Throw in the ability for devs to play around and make "legendary items" (nothing overpowered, could even take existing weapons and just tack on a new name to award to people for doing various things).

Then, add in some epic tasks that people can do to unlock something interesting.

For example, being able to sacrifice a level 50 character to be reborn as an impossible race / class combo ((excluding game breaking combos, like ogre monks)). Instead, ranger gnomes? Paladin halflings?

Basically, instead of just creating a few new zones....I would love to see the devs have a bit of fun and play around in the servers.

Part of the original EQ (back in the first couple of years), the GMs were EXTREMELY active. Heck, you had to even be visited by a gm to get your last name. GM events would happen a lot more frequently and it could be anything (adding a sense of magic to the game).

One time in qeynos, a GM spawned as some insane gnoll (along with an npc army) and just ran around killing newbies :P He was using all his powers too, so if you got him near death...he would super speed away (cheating! lol). But he also awarded some neat items, and everyone had a lot of fun.

Everquest wasn't always simply about end game raiding and trying to get the best pixels :P There was also an element of exploration and discovery of new things. It was a time when anything could (and did) happen.

This is the kind of thinking you need, adding more zones just depopulates others and spreads population out even more. Don't even need the other expac zones just take the dungeons and add portals or something to get to them. Also frogloks pls

[Arterian]

Separate server? Great. But don't poison the purity of Classic-Velious.

[Faisca]

After reading comments in another thread about the spirit of EQ never being able to be replicated because everyone already knows everything and what they need to do, it came to me that the only way to keep the spirit of EQ going is actually to create brand new content with a classic feel that players on P99 could relate to and enjoy.

So, how do you do it? With a brand new continent in the current server, but, get this, with no travelling connection with the current geography of Norrath (not initially, at least), and the only way to play in this new continent would be to create a new character there.

It would have brand new content with the same classic feel and the same harsh game play.

There we could again have people going about completely lost, not knowing basic things, not knowing where the bank is, where to buy food, not knowing the terrain, not knowing the geography of it all, not knowing what the enemies do, not knowing how to finish quests because there is no recipe to follow in the internet, not knowing what it’s worth doing and what's not, not knowing what it’s valuable and what's not, not knowing anything about the new continent.

All new, with that good old feel. ;)

[Kika Maslyaka]

Custom server, made from scratch with original EQ spirit, + better thought out itemization, intelligent quests, and fix of obvious exploits (no MQ, no batwing/fangs XP quests, req level for uber items etc).