Project 1999 vs Corinav

[cptnpedro]

Hey guys!

So I have been craving a solid MMO fix and was debating coming back to EQ after 14 years away. My wife, who is brand new to MMO's was interested in joining as well and right now we are looking at two play options.

1) Play here on Project 1999
2) Register new accounts and play on the new Daybreak games Corinav progression server opening in a couple days.

My main concern with project 1999 is server population at lower levels. How hard is it to form groups when you are brand new? Like in Crushbone for example? I see at the time of posting this there is a PvE server pop of ~750, I was told that peak time populations is ~ 1000.

In it is very important that the community be understanding to new players as I am very rusty and the wife has never touched an MMO. In the end we would be looking for a classic EQ experience.

The way I see it if Project 1999's player place is still solid and grouping under level 40 is still do able why pay Daybreak Games $30/mo (2 accounts @ $15/mo) to play on corinav when I could just jump into Porject 1999 and donate that money to the support team.

What are peoples thoughts on this?

[Weidar]

Choose Number 1.
Getting a group at lower lvls shouldnt be a problem and besides you already have a teammate in your wife. Start up whatever classes you wanna play and join in on the fun.

[Shinko]

p99 is free

p99 had Shinko

[Foxplay]

Don't play Daybreak, you will not get a classic experience there. Not even close they don't even try to be classic infact, it's a completely different experience. Don't let the progression server wording fool you to think it's classic.

P99 has it's faults too, but it actually trys to be classic, and is as close as you will ever get, unless you have a time machine in your garage.

[khanable]

Why not both?

Give 'em both a shot, whichever suits you two best stick with.

[SunDrake]

If you value the classic type experience and want your wife to experience that, then P99. I figure Corinav will have a far greater hype factor for the first few months, but P99 will be a more stable home over the long haul if you don't mind the limitations of the timetable.

[SDWV]

Why not both?

Give 'em both a shot, whichever suits you two best stick with.

Yeah. I second this. I did Agnarr and had a blast through classic. It dies off really quick and I'm back to P99. The live experience is much different. I like the slow burn of P99 better.

[Quinas]

There is something about a brand new server and all the newbie zones full to the brim that gives you some of that 1999 excitement...

...which wears off after awhile when you see how devaluing all of the QoL and various other modern code changes is to the meaningfulness of the game.

It's like they've just compressed the joy and tragedy of EverQuest's decline over 19 years into 6-12 months.

[SDWV]

There is something about a brand new server and all the newbie zones full to the brim that gives you some of that 1999 excitement...

...which wears off after awhile when you see how devaluing all of the QoL and various other modern code changes is to the meaningfulness of the game.

It's like they've just compressed the joy and tragedy of EverQuest's decline over 19 years into 6-12 months.

Probably less than 6 months. So many guilds and people burn out before Velious hits.

[demonith]

I am struggling with a similar though.

Been on p99 for a couple of years now on and off. The game is still very vibrant. People completing epic quests and grouping at all levels. Very new player friendly, often depending on your starting zone you may end up with some random hand outs and buffage.

I myself am debating on starting live up again, PoP and LDoN were some of my favorite expansions. They will never exist on p99 for obvious reasons. Corinav offers what appears to be a similar adventure through the expansions. However I did log into a free account to get a feel for it on a live server and its...........much different.

I would suggest logging into a free account on a live server and also poke around on p99. You can have both, and you have some time to explore a bit before you commit. Either way its not a mortgage and you can jump between the two in any way.

[cptnpedro]

Thanks for the feedback guys. I think we are going to give P99 a shot to start. Working on hunting down some EQ Titanium disks now.

[Splade]

DBG is doing ANOTHER progression server?!

[Foxplay]

DBG is doing ANOTHER progression server?!

Another cash grab, where you expecting more from a company that doesn't make their own games and just buys ip's to milk them?

[Voland]

Every time I log into a newly created TLP, I find some new Live feature that I don't like. It happened with out-of-combat regeneration, with Freeport revamp and now with the Advanced Loot window.

[Vaderman]

have they cracked down on MQ use for live progression servers?

[Tnair]

Yeah. I second this. I did Agnarr and had a blast through classic. It dies off really quick and I'm back to P99. The live experience is much different. I like the slow burn of P99 better.

I third this, because if Daybreak monitors these forums I don't want them seeing a bunch of "Do p99 because it's free!" and getting their brand ownership panties in a twist.

[Barcelona]

It's like they've just compressed the joy and tragedy of EverQuest's decline over 19 years into 6-12 months.

This quote says so much for OP to consider.

1.) Do you want the classic long term (2-3 years or more) feel, and are you ok with playing on a server:

Where it will be FOREVER* time-locked in Velious (with still Chardok 2.0 revamp to see for the first time on P99

Where P99 Server creators/devs/managers have all stated we will NEVER see Luclin, i.e. Cats on the moon, AA's, etc. on this server. *However it has been mentioned that possibilities do exist that they will down the road implement New Custom Content in the Spirit of classic EverQuest. (Classic-linked Planes of Power zones anyone??)


Where a great and mostly supportive surrounding community with a realistic amount of players at every range of levels (arguably many more at max level though) still exist to this day. Many people start over characters from scratch even though they may have 2 or 3 max levels with years of raid gear on them to play


Where the end game raid scene is very competitive (toxic?) and those who put in the most time, work, and resources get all of the end game raid mobs. Very few "welfare" opportunities for raiding will be found here


or

2.) Do you want a massively overcrowded server on day 1 (You will likely be in a queue for 2+ hours at launch)
where you basically have to group (no one solos past like level 5, exp is not worth it. I am not certain, do Duo/Trios even exist on these or is it just totally not worth your while?) To me soloing is important and very relaxing. I cant count how many times I dont want to join a group and just solo farm an item, some plat, or even just exp

Where a version of RMT (Real Money Trading) is basically part of the server economy, meaning he who blows the most RL money buying (or farming) DBG Kronos, gets the most toys.
Where some of the most toxic people who literally come to these severs only to farm DBG Kronos, and box(there are still ways, even on a "true box" server) an entire group farming the biggest cash camps every expansion.


Where MANY who hope to experience POP or LDON basically burns out from the awfulness and lack of any purpose to raiding after they hit Velious/Luclin end games. (Case in point: Agnarr launched May 2017, not even a year later I cant even keep track of how many from P99 left for Agnarr launch and came back since then, Agnarr is barely in Luclin still I think? with Planes of Power launching in April 2018? )


Obviously some of this is bias, but I really went in to detail and gave an honest opinion/viewpoint of what the DBG TLP Servers are like Vs. Project 1999 in its current state.

Good luck OP, may you enjoy EverQuest your way!

[EpicAdventure]

live progression servers will always be shit. they haven't learned yet after 20 years that all the expansions to the game were its downfall. new live server releases new expansion every 12 weeks meaning that you will never have time to fully enjoy the content.

On live you find that every player has been on there since 2000 or they are less then 1 month. On p99 we have a healthy mix of 1 day olds on up to multi year vets, but due to the way the game works (non instanced dungeons and raids with long / random respawn times) all end up playing mostly happily together, enjoying all the content. On live 90% power through the content never leaving the hot zone path and and then the next expansion drops, while the noobs stagger around blind for a month or 2 then quit. The game content (on live) is only 10% utilized and also players of different categories (noob / vet, casual / hardcore) rarely intermingle with each other or socialize, leaving nearly all zones (even hot zones) feeling empty and dead.

Plenty of ppl have semi valid complaints about p99 of course, but nearly all of them result from being at odds with the way the game was designed to be played.

[SunDrake]

Why not both?

Give 'em both a shot, whichever suits you two best stick with.

How do you jump back in to live EQ servers now? Does All Access take care of content you'll encounter? Is it all a download, or is something like Titanium still used as the core file set?

Next question, would it be worth re-activating an old account from nearly 20 years ago, or roll a fresh one?

[Spyder73]

Your wife will hate P99 because of how clunky it is - Choose Daybreak

[cptnpedro]

We are not concerned with Raiding, our focus is on exploring, the social environment and the adventure on our way to 60.

[mattydef]

Go with Cornaiv.

P99 will never get any new content. Its not classic. Raid scene is a fkn nightmare. GM's make rule changes every 6 months or when they feel like it. Dead end server.

Cornaiv will eventually become what live is today on their own timeline which means endless content. Raid scene is 10x better than p99 with the ability to do open world targets and compete with other guilds or play it safe in your own instance and progress at your own pace. Player population is 10x that of p99 and often get groups very fast. Class xp penalties are removed as well. Pick zones offer a camp more than to just one group of people so everyone gets to enjoy the zone instead of someone hogging the only version of that camp for as long as they want. All the changes that made EQ a more enjoyable experience are on the progression servers as well. Bazaar, parcels, guild windows, raid window, chat channels, mounts, illusions, and much more.

Make the right decision and spend the money. Don't fall into the p99 rabbit hole that will lead you no where in the end.

Don't listen to this guy. He has been playing on p99 for 6+ years and is in one of the top raiding guilds that constantly gets raid suspended for stupid shit. He's just in a bad mood right now. The funny thing is once he's able to raid again in a few weeks he'll be back to playing on p99 everyday like nothing ever happened, despite his positive words towards live.

[Amyas]

Roll on p99 blue or red and /tell amyas =)

[cptnpedro]

Thanks for all the feedback guys!

End game raiding doesn't mean much to us, it's more about the adventure to 50/60. I am in the process of hunting down some EQ Titanium disks as we speak. Hopefully I will see you guys in Norrath soon.

[mattydef]

Look for Mokoi when you guys eventually make it on, I'll give you guys some buffs to get you started through the first few levels