Recent Decline In Population

[Deathrydar]

I remember when Kunark released, I logged on to the server screen just to see how many people were online on a Sunday night and there were about 1200 people online. I was like, OMFG!!!

A couple weeks later, I did the same thing on a Sunday night.....there were over 1100 people online.

When I started playing again in May, over 1,000 were online on that particular Sunday night.

Yesterday, I logged on and noticed that there were 710 people online, which by no means is a low population for a private server, but it brings up the question, where did 300-500 people go in such a short amount of time? This is not a one time affair, it seems to be decreasing on a weekly basis. I understand the "newness" of the Kunark release wearing off, but c'mon.....

I am eager to hear Norrath's opinion on this. I guess it would be a waste of time to ask that everyone keep the flaming to a minimum?

[Rogean]

Fippy -> Kunark

[Aadill]

Release of an expansion means everyone wants to try it but doesn't mean anyone is going to play past day 1. The population before Kunark's release was just around 700-800.

Also, Fippy.

[Deathrydar]

Release of an expansion means everyone wants to try it but doesn't mean anyone is going to play past day 1. The population before Kunark's release was just around 700-800.

Also, Fippy.

....How come I don't "get" the Fippy thing....?

[Aadill]

Fippy Darkpaw the Timelocked Progression Server released by SoE to reboot their "version" of EQ Classic and beyond, releasing expansions every so often.

People wanted a fresh start again so they went to Fippy.

[Deathrydar]

Fippy Darkpaw the Timelocked Progression Server released by SoE to reboot their "version" of EQ Classic and beyond, releasing expansions every so often.

People wanted a fresh start again so they went to Fippy.

Oh.....never heard of it.....lots of people went there, huh? :(

[Messianic]

....How come I don't "get" the Fippy thing....?

http://forums.station.sony.com/eq/posts/list.m?topic_id=173099

http://www.fippydarkpaw.com/

[Rogean]

Why do I get the odd feeling we are now being trolled and this is a ploy to get people interested in Fippy.

I SEE WHAT YOU DID THERE...

[Deathrydar]

I take it they still used their "new zones" and faster experience gain, etc?

[Deathrydar]

Why do I get the odd feeling we are now being trolled and this is a ploy to get people interested in Fippy.

I SEE WHAT YOU DID THERE...

Nah. Delete this thread if you think that.

[Rogean]

I take it they still used their "new zones" and faster experience gain, etc?

Actually the beginning levels are way slower than ours. It took something like 50 kills to get Level 2. EXP is capped at 2% per kill or something.

However if you get a full group of 6 people the XP gained per kill is practically the same (while more people generally means faster killing). It's way out of wack.

But yes any geometry revamped zones are still present.

[Deathrydar]

Actually the beginning levels are way slower than ours. It took something like 50 kills to get Level 2. EXP is capped at 2% per kill or something.

However if you get a full group of 6 people the XP gained per kill is practically the same (while more people generally means faster killing). It's way out of wack.

But yes any geometry revamped zones are still present.

Sounds gay....

[Aadill]

Ha Rogean we had a good marketing scheme till you found us out!

Also: lol@Fippy being down when SOE got hacked.

[Deathrydar]

Now I see why the skiff/platform in Erudin isn't getting fixed.....you guys must all be playing on the Fippy server. :(:(:(:(:(

[odizzido]

That flippy server is a joke. They didn't even put enough effort in to 1/2 ass it so the game is essentially broken.

-edit

right. I forgot to answer your question. My reason for not logging in as much anymore is because my necro is now 59 and essentially xp capped. I also don't really feel like playing my alts too often so I simply don't log on as much.

That is a big reason why I will forever miss AAs on this server.....unlimited(for me) character leveling, which is what I like to do.

[skorge]

some of its probably from the hardcore crowd hitting level 60 so dam fast and then realizing the majority of the people are still only level 45-55, getting bored, burnt out and already taking a break...i still don't understand why some people work so hard to get to max level, KNOW they will get burnt out and quit, and still do it???

[naekko]

Population has steadily declined for a bit. Seb and KC used to be camped 24/7, now I'm getting 15-20 people in Seb during primetime.

[Shiftin]

Some people hit 60 and only log on for raid targets. Some number of people got frustrated they can't raid and quit playing. Summer started, schedules changed. Server is still quite healthy, no worries.

[Dynaguy]

right. I forgot to answer your question. My reason for not logging in as much anymore is because my necro is now 59 and essentially xp capped. I also don't really feel like playing my alts too often so I simply don't log on as much.

That is a big reason why I will forever miss AAs on this server.....unlimited(for me) character leveling, which is what I like to do.

^ This exactly. Now that I hit 60 I twink and play alts, which is also a lot of fun admittedly. On live I used to XP for AA's, which for some reason never got old (altho farming them in PoFire did). I guess any way of improving your character will always feel good. I really hope we get AA's in some way or other (new server skipping luclin and including PoP?)

[Slave]

Why do I get the odd feeling we are now being trolled and this is a ploy to get people interested in Fippy.

I SEE WHAT YOU DID THERE...

You should probably sue SOE for taking your idea and player base.

[naekko]

The biggest problem for the server is that there's nothing to do at 60. There's one raiding guild that's getting everything (last spawn cycle TR got every raiding target but naggy). You either join TR or you don't raid Kunark.

Kunark isn't like classic where casual guilds could still get some of the best gear in the game by clearing fear or hate for armor drops. In Kunark if you're not capable of mobilizing and killing Trakanon, you're never going to see new content. That same armor set you had at 50 last year, you're going to be wearing until Velious. Just wait until epics are released and anyone who needs a scale is blocked because TR is still killing every dragon, you're going to see real frustration then. Don't get me wrong, nothing against TR, Kunark raiding is just badly designed and will hurt the server population the way things currently stand.

[falkun]

Which came first, VP or epics?

[Muligan21]

In regards to Fippy, just roll in FP and you'll see a brand new zone, music, etc. There is nothing classic feeling about it. I tried Fippy for the free 45 days and i'm sure many have/did as well. EQ is no longer the EQ it was and if you are like me, even the music is important in respect to the nostalgic experience.

This server is really solid. Population for all games go up and down. The server might need to do exp weekends for like Memorial Day, 4th July, Father's day, etc. or even a item giveaway event. Just a little creativity and advertisement would go a long way. Though, I think we are just fine. Maybe in honor of our winter months, maybe part of Velious this year and the other half next year. I don't want the server to cap too fast.

[Athrix]

I've pretty much leveled in seb since 52 and I noticed an instantaneous population drop when the xp bonuses went away and the most recent patch that 'nerfed' a lot of classes. Not sure if they just got frustrated and are taking a break or what. The week after that patch the pop in seb was down to 15-20 during the evenings. Previously it was around 25-30. Taking those two factors into consideration right around the same time the weather started turning for summer is probably causing the lower population.

[Odeseus]

I attribute the slight decline in population to 2 things.

First, its the beginning of summer. People's schedules change drastically. For me, I went from having a set play time because I was in school and so were most of my friends. Now that school is over, some of my friends have a lot more time to do other stuff than p99. I personally have less time because I'm working and as since it is a temporary position, my schedule fluctuates pretty wildly from week to week depending on what's going on. Its also nice enough to go to the beach, to the pool, go play some basketball outside or just generally hanging out away from a computer. A few months ago the weather was shitty and none of us really wanted to go outside to do much of anything.

Second is burnout. People worked so damn hard to grind to 60 that they severely burned themselves out. Getting to 60 is a HUGE time sink. But it is also the absolute best way to improve your character. No amount of gear can make up for those 10 levels. The increase in overall power is just huge. So you grind and grind and grind and grind, and congratz, you're now 60!.......but now what to do?

Before, people just rolled an alt to mess around with. But the thought of leveling anything after the grind to 60 is just horrifying. If you're a solo class, you can farm up some plat.........but kunark didn't add too many new "solo" cash areas. Seb can be great cash solo, but it can be somewhat difficult solo even for a skilled necro. Few ill-timed FDs and a few lucky ice-comets and you're toast. So you have to group and not everyone is up for that, unless you want to go back and farm furies and get KS'd by a mage or see a druid or bard quad 4 furies for a half hour for the millionth time....ugh.

And then, as many people have accurately stated, the raid scene is pretty well locked up at this point. TR has a strangle-hold on all the bosses, and many people have no desire to raid PoSky (ugh) or Fear/Hate for trash drops. So there isn't a ton to do raid wise at the moment. This will probably change when VP is released and TR will be spending most of their time in that zone. But that is a ways off yet.

TL;DR - burnout + other RL shit to do = people don't have the same desire to log on at the moment

[jerus]

Fippy is anything but classic. Mage pets are more powerful, monk damage ratios for h2h are much higher, they still have augments allowed for weapons last i heard. Revamp zones weren't taken back. The only thing fippy has that is better than p99 is pet agro isn't wonky. Or at least that's all I have seen. p99 imo >>>> fippy

[Doors]

Dot nerf really hurt because theres a shit ton of dot classes. Monk nerf hurt because there were a shit ton of monks. Also Sony's networks came back up. Granted I haven't been here that long these three things combined all hit at once so I imagine they all impacted server pop in some way.

[WizardEQ]

+1 for P99.

I was on Fippy; 2 days later SOE had it's debacle; I called them to get my $$$ back; I cancelled LIVE; I now play on P99.

-1 for Fippy

[WizardEQ]

I take it they still used their "new zones" and faster experience gain, etc?

Seemed that way. I started a bard in Fay, did the newbie stuff around the lift to lvl 3, hit CB with a group until 8. All that took a little over 3 hours. I was amazed at how fast I leveled.

Left all that for the slowest ass-leveling class in the game, wiz. At least it seems that way!

[Kassel]

its summertime yo !

[Messianic]

Left all that for the slowest ass-leveling class in the game, wiz. At least it seems that way!

Naw

Wizard levels quite a bit faster than a bunch of other classes, particularly if you're a baller and know all the best quad spots 24+.

[Myrkskog]

I haven't logged in for about a month. If this was a poll, I would tick the "raid scene is retarded" option.

[Deathrydar]

I haven't logged in for about a month. If this was a poll, I would tick the "raid scene is retarded" option.

Hmmm...good idea...

[Shiftin]

Which came first, VP or epics?

VP by a significant margin, but it's important to point out that they're not holding on to VP or the hole to try and fit them in an abstract timeline. They released kunark without them ready so people could enjoy kunark and VP being in plays no part in that for 95% of the server.

VP was revamped on live, so bringing it back to classic VP undoubtedly took some time. As I understand it, VP was nilbog's baby and he was hit really hard. For the server's sake I hope the Devs were working harder on the hole and epic than VP because those will keep far more people playing than opening VP.

I assume Trak's spawn time being fixed means VP is pretty close though...weeeee!

[Bayleo]

People in classic EQ were fairly imbalanced. People on this server are psychotic. Camps will stay squatted on for weeks, dungeon keys have 24 hour waiting lines, etc. I was really excited about camping a fungi tunic when the server first opened up, but now I know I won't even have the fortitude to wait out the CAMP, much less the spawn. I think plenty of people, myself included, have just decided to wait until the poopsockers have found a shiny ball of yarn to play with so that everyone else can use the server for a few months before Velious.

[Shiftin]

People in classic EQ were fairly imbalanced. People on this server are psychotic. Camps will stay squatted on for weeks, dungeon keys have 24 hour waiting lines, etc. I was really excited about camping a fungi tunic when the server first opened up, but now I know I won't even have the fortitude to wait out the CAMP, much less the spawn. I think plenty of people, myself included, have just decided to wait until the poopsockers have found a shiny ball of yarn to play with so that everyone else can use the server for a few months before Velious.

I've run by the fungi camp twice in the last few days uncamped.

[Rasah]

Some of the problem might be from player perceptions. I started a druid, and then levelled a mage once the druid got to 50 before Kunark was launched.

My druid had certain abilities that I had grown used to upon making the character, and that became my baseline. Since that time, the following things have occurred: DS times got reduced. Dots stopped stacking. Dot effectiveness dropped 33% if mobs are moving. Snare and root no longer stack. The only thing that was added was charm no longer checks against charisma. Now if only there were more animals...

For mages, first innate Dual Wield was removed unless you hand it 2 weapons, and now pet damage is nerfed.

I suspect other classes may have similar gripes.

Sure, now those 2 particular classes are more like classic. And I suppose if I started playing today, I wouldn't know the difference. But the reality was that I was enjoying playing 2 classes, and through various patches they became less fun. I suspect the disappointment over what peoples characters can no longer do has had an impact on people's eagerness to log on.

[Deathrydar]

I didn't put anything about nerfs or changes in the poll choices because if your class was nerfed or changed in some way, it was because the development team deemed it neccessary to do so in order to keep the game as close to classic as possible.

If you joined up for the classic experience and then you quit because you got the classic experience, then I don't know what to tell ya.

[WizardEQ]

Naw

Wizard levels quite a bit faster than a bunch of other classes, particularly if you're a baller and know all the best quad spots 24+.

When I played back in '99, I did quite a bit of quadding with BoF. Now, I'm purposefully taking it a bit slow and doing lots of groups. I'm very social, plus I roleplay alot, and grouping is just way more fun! Being back in Guk in the 20's is the best.

I don't know the post-50 game because I left too early, so maybe my tune will change with that grind. What goes around, comes around is my motto. And in game I'll give the shirt off my back to someone in need. I don't even expect anything in return, but almost everyone I've met in game has been hands-down awesome. In the forums, people think I'm harsh, but in game it's all good.

Xaxian

[Aadill]

The argument against "MY CLASS GOT NERFED [to classic]" is that all of the reasons for change are due to research. All that research has been posted in the bugs forum. All that research is available to anybody. All that available research can lead you to understand what class you should be playing, not what you are playing.

Look at Fippy: SK Harmtouch was WAY too good, Monk h2h damage was post-velious damage tables upon server START, pets were even more powerful than here, post-Ykesha drops were available in classic zones, augments are available for weapons.... the players there don't even have to suffer the concept of "classic accuracy." While some of the changes seem a bit ostensibly done in the name of classic everquest, we all should come to know what to expect (DoT changes, Snare/Root, Mage Pets needing weapons to duel wield, etc).


Death said it very well, too:

I didn't put anything about nerfs or changes in the poll choices because if your class was nerfed or changed in some way, it was because the development team deemed it neccessary to do so in order to keep the game as close to classic as possible.

If you joined up for the classic experience and then you quit because you got the classic experience, then I don't know what to tell ya.


If people quit because of the game operating like it should, welp.

[inyane]

pre kunark, you sat in solb and lower guk hoping for a group.
post kunark, you sit in kc or seb hoping for a group.

sure, there is chardok and HS, but those seem mostly like bring your own group kind of places.

there is no raid scene unless you are in the top guild.

so, overall, it gets kinda boring. i doubt VP, the hole, or epics will add much.

[Dantes]

IMO it's better now than it was before. After Kunark came out there were too many people online. Finding groups was more of a challenge, finding spots to exp was more of a challenge, and flame wars over camps were rampant. The career players have shot their load and now they are facing burnout. Great news for casual players. I can now find a group in Sebilis within 10 minutes of logging on.

[Deathrydar]

IMO it's better now than it was before. After Kunark came out there were too many people online. Finding groups was more of a challenge, finding spots to exp was more of a challenge, and flame wars over camps were rampant. The career players have shot their load and now they are facing burnout. Great news for casual players. I can now find a group in Sebilis within 10 minutes of logging on.

I think it all boils down as to WHY you play this game.

Do you play to raid and get the uber loot?
Well, if you do, then if you are one of the unlucky ones to not get into the top guild, you will be bored.

Do you play to get to the max level as fast as possible?
Why? Just why? I will never understand this one.

I will tell you that I play for the experience of the game! I like to interact with people, help people, group with people and just have plain fun!

[Taryth]

The argument against "MY CLASS GOT NERFED [to classic]" is that all of the reasons for change are due to research. All that research has been posted in the bugs forum. All that research is available to anybody. All that available research can lead you to understand what class you should be playing, not what you are playing.

If people quit because of the game operating like it should, welp.

I used to think this as well. But there have been changes that are entirely non-classic (such as Charisma no longer playing a role in charm, to name one), so you can't argue that everything they do is because that's the way it was in classic. That is simply not true.

Only pointing that out, not arguing against any changes. I know it wont do any good and I continue to enjoy the server, nerfs or otherwise.

[baalzy]

Charisma plays a role in enchanter charm... just not druid or necro (this is classic).

[Aadill]

That is simply not true.

I know. There's been a few changes that have altered gameplay significantly and not in a way that has successfully emulated classic, namely damage distribution for players and pets alike, but spells are so very concrete and some of the biggest complaints came from classes that were affected by the spell changes that were clearly documented as being like that for multiple expansions.

As far as melee changes or coding changes to proc rates, (some things that seem a bit off) emulating these as close as possible is difficult because the code has to be recreated to the best of the knowledge of the community, and as such some things don't work quite right. That's why we have a bugs forum, though.

People leaving over the former don't want to play classic. People leaving for the latter aren't trying to get things fixed. I really appreciated the work done on the melee distribution bug report, because it had quite a lot of data and historic posts pointing towards specific accuracies of melee classes. More people need to do that instead of just leave, ya know?

[Shiftin]

The raid scene issue is the most easily solvable "problem" the community has faced for a long time. 4+ guilds calling themselves raiding guilds while struggling to not exclude their casual members and spreading the 55+ population and any gear won on patch days thin isn't the answer though.

[Vendar]

Fippy -> Kunark
(i hate to say it but), LIES!


and deathrydar, to answer your orginal question, there were tons of people 2boxxing behind other IPs, once the lizards finished leveling, the pop went back to where it was.

coincidence? or conspiracy? :p

[stormlord]

When SOE was hacked we got a bunch of people. I was routinely seeing over 1000+ at peak times. You could see people posting in the forum even. Rogean upped the experience gain to grab more of them while SOE servers were down. When the SOE servers came back up you could see the gradual decline over the past week(s). Population is now 700-900, as opposed to 850 - 1100. Back where we started, roughly.

Even I was tempted by fippy. It will get luclin/pop/etc. It has a full population compared to this server and the experience gain is different in a wild way. In fact, I actually like the idea of more people = faster experience. Too often in past years while playing EQ I would decline inviting someone because they were gimp and would slow down the experience rate. Or I would not invite them because they were a class I didn't need, like a redundant class. It doesn't mean you don't still make comparisons and pick a rogue over a ranger, but it means that if there's 1 person in the zone /lfg and if you have room it makes all the sense in the world now to invite them, regardless of conditions. So with this change you worry much less about their class or gimpness. The only downside is that soloers are going to have it harder. If they could make a few changes that make soloing still viable in the new environment, it would be a real sell. For example, perhaps soloers could gain experience from one another in different zones if they're in the same group. The problem as I see it is that the soloing classes were designed for a game that had a different experience system. If you do not compensate the mechanics then changing the experience system will break the solo classes.

Anyway, I think that our population is real low and classic->kunark->velious requires a large population to stay floating. On the plus side, the chat channels and other things we have coming will help a bit. But I don't think it's enoguh if our population doesn't get upwards of 1000-1500. When players are spread out in classic and kunark and velious zones the pain will really start to be felt. It's even being felt now. But it's not all gloom and doom. For example, all of this top heaviness is going to lead to a lot of items being banked. This means an economy rich with wealth for new players that enter the game. The only problem is that if these veterens aren't playing then these items are locked away on accounts that're not active. Another bonus of this top heaviness is that high level players can buff new players with ubber sh** that was meant for a level 60. On a level 1 it's like being god for a a while. But the question is whether all of this makes up for the fact that top heaviness means less people at the lower levels. Finding groups has always been important in EQ and if people can't find them, even super buffs and cheap powerful items might not make up for the empty feelings and the tough gameplay. If you look at live, it's pretty clear top heaviness wasn't enough. That's why they added spires & books, rest regain, pots, bazaar, mercenaries, changed experience curve for lower levels, defiant armors, etc. All of that was just meant to compensate for less people at the lower levels and increased levels/aa. Another factor that must be included in that mess are the huge numbers of zones that spread out people. If no changes were made then new players would face a huge obstacle to playing.

I also think this server being a emulator is a limiting factor. We can't openly go to everquest servers or forums to advertise. For example, if I made a website that has help information about EQ, I could very easily go to the forum for EQ and post about it. But if I wanted to post about p1999, I'd probably get blacklisted or have my post removed because emulators are not something SOE wants their players to know about. The sad thing is that's where our audience is. The rest of them could be anywhere, but they've probably moved on if they don't already know about us. I do expect to get a trickle of other new players from the free-2-play universe. There's always somebody googling to find a new game to play. But in my humblest opinion, the real sell of p1999 is the nostalgia and memory of this world that lives on in older everquest players.

[Duie]

The raid scene issue is the most easily solvable "problem" the community has faced for a long time. 4+ guilds calling themselves raiding guilds while struggling to not exclude their casual members and spreading the 55+ population and any gear won on patch days thin isn't the answer though.

I agree that this is a very easy thing to fix... thing is, are you guys willing to kick your casual members to the curb and accually progress to the new content as the did on live? VP not out does hamper this , ill give you that .

It would be a lot easier to come up with a solution with 1 or 2 hard core and the casuals being able to do the old world scraps until they are accually ready to advance....... Idea world granted.
On my guild on live you had to have full planer before you were even able to app after kunark. something like this could benifit both parties as well as keep people intrested. problem being, is either one is willing to do this.... the answer so far is no.

3 day spawn on Trak.. lets hope Epics come out soon followed by VP so you guys can advance past all this stuff.

PS. I have been on both sides of the fence playing EQ . I feel that a better way for raiding to be done would benifit the comunity as a whole and would also keep people intrested in the game longer. This is not a Slam on TR or Ascension as id probally be right there with them if real life allowed it .
They will be a point on this server where something will have to be tried or we will just end up with 300 to 400 people guilds all cockblocking one another. The trend has already started tward that.

[alWald0]

Id be playing, but the computer i play on has something wrong with it, causing it to restart every 5 minutes.

[maximum]

There's a season (each Earth year) where outdoors and noschool become the "hot" thing.

[Deathrydar]

There's a season (each Earth year) where outdoors and noschool become the "hot" thing.

LIES!!

[Shiftin]

They will be a point on this server where something will have to be tried or we will just end up with 300 to 400 people guilds all cockblocking one another. The trend has already started tward that.

Please tell me what you see that leads you to say things like this?

[Dantes]

Raiders raid what they wanna.

[Slathar]

i notice theres a trend for the people who have the most time invested to vehemently deny any decline in population.

without this server they would probably regress into a full-blown comatose slug who parks 18 hamburgers in their gut while wallowing around in bacon grease and shitting themselves.

word. life.

[Duie]

Please tell me what you see that leads you to say things like this?

mass recruitment that is going on between TR , Asc ,and TMO. All of you are trying to get people in difrent time zones for a greater chance at the kill.. Im not for or against it but one day soon your gonna wake up with guild numbers that are pretty large . Then someones gonna figure out that most all these Raid targets are also good xp spot exept vox. So why not keep a few xp groups capable of killing said mob in the area w/ CoTH and claim it as a camp? With enough guildies, rotating people from difrent time zones, this isnt even a problem to keep said mob perma camped .



lets hope this doesnt happen but it can.

[Shiftin]

mass recruitment that is going on between TR , Asc ,and TMO. All of you are trying to get people in difrent time zones for a greater chance at the kill.. Im not for or against it but one day soon your gonna wake up with guild numbers that are pretty large . Then someones gonna figure out that most all these Raid targets are also good xp spot exept vox. So why not keep a few xp groups capable of killing said mob in the area w/ CoTH and claim it as a camp? With enough guildies, rotating people from difrent time zones, this isnt even a problem to keep said mob perma camped .

lets hope this doesnt happen but it can.
We've (the server as a whole) seen extremely clearly what happens when you have an active raid force capable of logging 100+ people on at a time. Ask the people left from DA when they had 104 people in fear to compete with 2 other guilds for 3 pieces of loot how sustainable that felt. It's not a model anyone should or will strive for again because it doesn't work. This doomsday scenario where you have multiple 100+ person guilds of level 60s exping for no reason on top of raid boss spawns is honestly just plain silly.

The average attendance at our raids over the last week was 27.3 people. Our roster has gotten no bigger than it was pre-kunark. Trust me, no one thinks zerg size is the long term answer and no one who has a clue is headed that way.

[Zereh]

Additionally, we've seen extremely clearly what happens when you have an active raid force capable of logging 100+ people on at a time. Ask the people left from DA when they had 104 people in fear to compete with 2 other guilds for 3 pieces of loot how sustainable that felt.

^^ Just had to throw some total BS in there to ruin what might could have been a surprisingly accurate response. Spin doctors must spin, I suppose.

[Shiftin]

^^ Just had to throw some total BS in there to ruin what might could have been a surprisingly accurate response. Spin doctors must spin, I suppose.

There was a fear raid with 104 DA+feeder guild in fear at one time. I was there. It was an anomaly and havoc. No one is calling you a zerg now and everyone made questionable tactical decisions last summer. Hug?

edit: Was it 94? It ended with a 4 and was essentially 100. If it was 94 I apologize. I don't think that changes my point at all...

[Daywolf]

Yesterday, I logged on and noticed that there were 710 people online, which by no means is a low population for a private server, but it brings up the question, where did 300-500 people go in such a short amount of time? 700 is good, and really avg. I've been on peq for years, and it always had an avg of 700-1000 on peek. Now it's peeking less, as many from there came here as well as new emu players here just for classic. One of the big things people wanted thatw ere playing peq was non-multibox, which this server offers, as multiboxing makes for too much solo play among the population. Chances are this server will remain around 750 peek even after the remaining expansions are unlocked, sort of like EQMac. And 700 is only peek, so 1000's of people are playing, just not all the time.
Why do I get the odd feeling we are now being trolled and this is a ploy to get people interested in Fippy.

I SEE WHAT YOU DID THERE...I played a coupe weeks, it really sucks. Though, doesn't suck as hard as SWG post-nge, they should really just put that game out of it's misery. But fippy is just so easy, like Barny the dinosaur easy, and the regular servers are just still ghost towns. imo not worth patching.

Id be playing, but the computer i play on has something wrong with it, causing it to restart every 5 minutes.Same here, well not every 5 minutes, but it keeps lockign up on me at least once a session, making me do a hard reboot :P It's too buggy, and was destroying my system. Same thing was happening with Planetside last year when I did a resub for a month, though that was making actual blue screens :o These guys cant seem to program clients right any longer.

[Slave]

I played a coupe weeks, it really sucks. Though, doesn't suck as hard as SWG post-nge, they should really just put that game out of it's misery.

The pre-CU, pre-NGE SWGemu is pretty amazing, there's a nice play server up and everything. Development is slow but quite solid. Played there a year before heading here.

[San]

I was on the progression servers. Came over here when the big dump took place at Sony. Cancelled that crap before Kunark even popped up over there. It's already here so if I want to go to Kunark I can go there on p99 where you are more likely to run into great people instead of running into more jackasses, hackers, botters, and plat farmers over there.

[john_savage1982]

Dot nerf did it for me. Snare kiting was already slow....then it just got worse.

Also, I just don't have the time to devote myself to a 10+ year old mmorpg. It was fun the first time around but now Norrath is full of lame hardcores who want to relive their glory days.

Seriously, have fun guys. Nobody cares that you have phat gear on P1999.

[Marley]

All I gotta say is "Trak 3 day Spawn, where's my login button?"

[dragolyche]

I take it they still used their "new zones" and faster experience gain, etc?

On Fippy, Xp is more slow than EQ99.

[Slave]

On Fippy, Xp is more slow than EQ99.

On Feepy, mobs get xp from YOU!

[hdawg06]

Fippy -> Kunark

Especially when it is free for everybody for another 2weeks.

[hdawg06]

We need velious release so we can have tons of raid content!

[Daywolf]

Development is slow but quite solid.They took a step back to recode it. Not so playable right now, but it will progress once again, and with faction wars no less :D Been there for years, though not active this year until it progresses a little more. I was on live from launch to nge. I cant spend 5 minutes on the current live servers :P


On Fippy, Xp is more slow than EQ99.True that. Only good thing about fippy. Of course it's nearly impossible to die... :o so no xp loss. So it evens out I guess.

[Rogean]

SWG Pre-CU truly was an epic game

[Slave]

SWG Pre-CU truly was an epic game

I would have played it soo much more if I knew then what I know now about games.

[Deathrydar]

SWG Pre-CU truly was an epic game

I loved that game when it first launched!!!

[naekko]

All I gotta say is "Trak 3 day Spawn, where's my login button?"

Really excited about the prospects of seeing TR kill him twice as much huh?

[Knuckle]

Trakanon twice a week sucks big dick, we had that on VZTZ and I implored them to change that to 7 days, you silly bluebies getting all bonered up about it.

[UrsusMajor]

Fippy is anything but classic. Mage pets are more powerful, monk damage ratios for h2h are much higher, they still have augments allowed for weapons last i heard. Revamp zones weren't taken back. The only thing fippy has that is better than p99 is pet agro isn't wonky. Or at least that's all I have seen. p99 imo >>>> fippy

We aren't playing on Fippy for classic thank you.

I am playing there because over the next year + over 12yrs of content will most likely be released while I wait for Coprenicus to come out.

Have fun playing Kunark for the next year and a half until Velious comes out.

TLPS >>>> P99

[Aadill]

On Fippy, I don't like the idea that in a few months time the majority of items go obsolete. The point of it is progression, sure, but the players are simply slogging through the early content with broken game mechanics waiting to get back to the end result of live servers, anyway.

[vinx]

waiting to get back to the end result of live servers

If they push thru 12+ years of content in the next year as he stated.
then thats all it is
no economy as things become obsolete in a few weeks/month, and who wants to tradeskill for upgrades/sales?
its just a consolidation of casuals as the other servers are now dead besides those raid guilds who log on for scheduled raids

[Jepaxis]

Could it be summer?

[Aadill]

Honestly the idea of at least time locking the expansion progression staves off the inevitable, and the player base has the right to choose to hold off on releasing the next expansion. That lends some credence to the idea but the way the dev team on P99 is working makes it seem more like a, "Jeez I just heard of this new expansion coming out I wonder when they'll give us more information!" like it was in classic rather than the voting system Fippy has where it's simply, "Kill these mobs and let's vote to have the next expansion released in 90 days so we can get to bigger targets."

P99 at least leaves some appeal to exploring the world on alts or even on mains, regardless if you're raiding targets. For those that get bored and want ultra fast progression right back up to live, Fippy is a good idea.

[stormlord]

Honestly the idea of at least time locking the expansion progression staves off the inevitable, and the player base has the right to choose to hold off on releasing the next expansion. That lends some credence to the idea but the way the dev team on P99 is working makes it seem more like a, "Jeez I just heard of this new expansion coming out I wonder when they'll give us more information!" like it was in classic rather than the voting system Fippy has where it's simply, "Kill these mobs and let's vote to have the next expansion released in 90 days so we can get to bigger targets."

P99 at least leaves some appeal to exploring the world on alts or even on mains, regardless if you're raiding targets. For those that get bored and want ultra fast progression right back up to live, Fippy is a good idea.
The thing this all underlines for me is the importance of redefining what progression means in games so that it includes all of the content on more equal terms. Too many games mudflate and anything older than a year or two is left to rott out back in the shed. The problem with this is that progression players, the ones that want to see older content because they haven't yet, have to slog through cobwebs and trash to experience it. What's going on is little to no attention is given to this gameplay style. What they do is make a progression server, IF you're lucky! And it's an afterthought. What I want to see is a real effort to define the progression play-style and to implement it in an inclusive kind of way that doesn't alienate sub-populations.

Looking at EQ2, I see some positives. For example, it's easier to do older content than it once was. You flip on AA's and your power increases. This is a necessity because fewer people will be doing it. But the problem is that a lot of it still has not been adjusted to reflect this new reality. For example, if 4 people were needed back then to pull a lever or to spawn a named, this constraint STILL remains. So they need to find some people to help them do it, which defeats the whole purpose of making older content easier for progression players to experience it. Another example are tradeskill items or quests that might need particular items that drop randomly from somewhere. The problem emerges whne you realize there's no economy for this older content so you either have to grind for the item or just give up. The drop rate or the mechanic used needs to be changed. So making the content easier is not the silver bullet because it won't address little things like this that can hold back a progression player. If the content is detailed and diverse you have to go through it with a fine tooth comb or you have to plan ahead so sh** like this doesn't happen.

And HOW you make content easier is important as well. For example, you can offer super items that make it easier in the latest expansion, for new players. YOu can make it drop on trash in all expansion, like defiant armor in EQ1. Then they go back to the older content and mow everything down like Rambo. This problematic and miserable because it ruins the sense of reward a player gets when they succeed. They find out that the reward is worse than what they have! Increasing defense/offense in certain content or at certain levels with each new expansion is probably a better method since players can still do the older content but they can find a useful purpose for the rewards as well which will be a nice touch and not ruin the reward.

Even WoW is mudflating. I've read about it here and there. I know that they tried to revamp some content which was a great sign. But even they have a bottom line and content that was once doable and purposeful is not anymore. They're turning a blind eye to it. This problem is industry-wide.

Just a imagine a human body that's slowly shedding body parts because it can't circulate enough blood to keep it all healthy. What's going on is our current methods in the industry are not solving this problem or they're not looking ahead far enough. My feeling is that they're centered on the latest and shiniest, but anything else is on the back burner. This is where it all falls apart. Progression players are left behind in the dust and bitter decay to crawl among corpses and broken remains looking for the game.

[Ledzepp02]

its summertime yo !

[Messianic]

its summertime yo !

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_VSjdKAQpeMw/SIKTGE73tRI/AAAAAAAACnI/FfrlFYaTDGM/s400/dj_jazzy_jeff_summertime.jpg
http://emptyv.multimedia.cx/images/freshprince-summertime-1.jpg

[Daywolf]

SWG Pre-CU truly was an epic game
Yep, pre-cu was one of my top all time mmo's, and I've played many. UO, SWG and EQ were the best, hard to choose a top favorite as they were all so different. pre-aos, pre-nge/pre-cu, pre-pop. Now their all about the same lol. But Pre-cu was just the best faction wars hands down. SWG should have skipped the CU and all game changing ideas and just focused on JTLS/space content, but they decided to "fix" what was not broken at all. ah well.

[Trademaster]

Pre CU was the best MMO sandbox released, IMO. The problem was, that it was nothing but a sandbox, and asking players to generate content is asking for a lot more than most players are willing to give. Especially without any devo tools available. If I were masochistic enough to try to split my time between two MMOs (again) my second would be swg.

[hdawg06]

SWG Pre-CU truly was an epic game

The SWG emulator project is actually starting to see some promise, but it will probably be another 2 years before it is actually ready to play. It is buggy as heck atm.

[Duie]

I agree that this is a very easy thing to fix... thing is, are you guys willing to kick your casual members to the curb and accually progress to the new content as the did on live? VP not out does hamper this , ill give you that .

It would be a lot easier to come up with a solution with 1 or 2 hard core and the casuals being able to do the old world scraps until they are accually ready to advance....... Idea world granted.
On my guild on live you had to have full planer before you were even able to app after kunark. something like this could benifit both parties as well as keep people intrested. problem being, is either one is willing to do this.... the answer so far is no.

3 day spawn on Trak.. lets hope Epics come out soon followed by VP so you guys can advance past all this stuff.

PS. I have been on both sides of the fence playing EQ . I feel that a better way for raiding to be done would benifit the comunity as a whole and would also keep people intrested in the game longer. This is not a Slam on TR or Ascension as id probally be right there with them if real life allowed it .
They will be a point on this server where something will have to be tried or we will just end up with 300 to 400 people guilds all cockblocking one another. The trend has already started tward that.




I guess i wasnt too far off after all sir

[Qauz]

wait for winter to hit and see the numbers climb

[wrxBRAH]

hit the reset button. watch the numbers climb back up while making all the hardcores rage at their lack of pixels. win/win and buys the developers a lot more time to code/fix/test vp/epics and whatnot.

[Messianic]

hit the reset button. watch the numbers climb back up while making all the hardcores rage at their lack of pixels. win/win and buys the developers a lot more time to code/fix/test vp/epics and whatnot.

....Die.

And i'm not a hardcore...

[Ronas]

Yah alot of the haxor wanks went over to fippy. Now the whole fippy server full of hax

Check out the screen shot, stolen from p99 servers.

http://www.fippydarkpaw.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=1461

[Tonomar]

Hate to invade your post and taint it with my pvp talk, but this is why pvp servers are a good thing. There's always someone to kill.

[Alex]

We aren't playing on Fippy for classic thank you.

I am playing there because over the next year + over 12yrs of content will most likely be released while I wait for Coprenicus to come out.

Have fun playing Kunark for the next year and a half until Velious comes out.

TLPS >>>> P99

Why are you still on these forums?

[SearyxTZ]

That Fippy server seems like a hunk of shit. EQ was awful past Velious


just added at least +20 to ur server courtesy of TZ/TZT

also I heard that /guildwar implementation will spike the population tenfold

[Nyrod]

seary doin work as usual

[Envious]

also I heard that /guildwar implementation will spike the population tenfold

No reason... would have to contend with PvP while PvE guilds poopsocked and log 50ish online each within 2 minutes of mobs spawning...

Altho would be cool for mid-level shit and world pvp.

[Envious]

Would be neat if TMO / TR would go /guildwar tho...

Did a /who all "Tallon Zek Times", saw #s.

[tekniq]

recent decline happened because of this:

kunark was cool, people checked out new content and you grinded to 60 in about a month or so.

NOW WHAT?

do i want to waste my time leveling my alt to 60 no?
what benefit do i have after i hit 60? what more can i do if i'm not hitting raid targets in TR/TMO? NOTHING!!
wanna sit there and farm plat for items for leveling...oh wait i'm max level.

essentially, after you check out the zones you realize there isn't anything more to do on p99 after you hit 60.

thats why i stopped leveling and i'm waiting until epics are released HOPEFULLY by next month so it gives me a reason to play again.

[Messianic]

grinded to 60 in about a month or so.

...im sure plenty of people did that, but most people didn't...

[Xaleban]

This happens every year and is a topic every year. Numbers always go down in the Summer. Wait another month and numbers will shoot back up. Plus when epics/the hole/VP going in this will add even more numbers

[bluejam]

Also that Star Wars MMORPG is coming out soon I hear?

[Vendar]

summer time gets a lot of people out away from their computers (obviously not all of us). when Kunark launched a lot of people just wanted to "see" kunark again, and once the nostalgia wore off, they didnt feel like grinding to 60. When kunark launched a absolute megafuckton of people were two-boxxing to PL their Iksar twinks.


in conclusion... twoboxxingatkunark + Summer - Nostalgia = current pop

[Malev]

I played on VZ in the same guild for many years. During the summer the guild was always 'falling apart', we still had raids but we didn't have waiting lists like we usually did. The same people used to panic every year... this really is classic EQ!~

[Fourthmeal]

I heard people miss Fourthmeal and that's why they're not playing. Thoughts?

[jarshale]

I heard people miss Fourthmeal and that's why they're not playing. Thoughts?

I've heard this too. You might be on to something.

[Fourthmeal]

All hail Fourthmeal!

[Tewaz]

Decline because Fourthmeal left.

[Hagglebaron]

All hail Fourthmeal!

Hail!

[Fourthmeal]

Hail!

I miss our nights gambling together good fellow

[Slave]

Hail!

Could you possibly not run a casino on your selling character? I get the feeling you have a lot of goods that I'm missing out on due to your shady side career.

[Hagglebaron]

Could you possibly not run a casino on your selling character? I get the feeling you have a lot of goods that I'm missing out on due to your shady side career.

I don't understand sir, my casino is on the level I assure you :p

[Slave]

I don't understand sir, my casino is on the level I assure you :p

Just saying that I and many people on the server automatically /ignore casinos. I can't imagine that it helps your buying and selling at all.

[Hagglebaron]

Just saying that I and many people on the server automatically /ignore casinos. I can't imagine that it helps your buying and selling at all.

Ahh I see, im not involved in item sales. I recruited Saiene Eyeke and Leoric to handle all services and business related to items and accounts, except escrow which we all do. I'm just interested in gambling, trivia and other events/giveaways in my retirement from adventuring :p

Sorry if the casino messages bugged you though, but ignore solved that problem so no worries!

[Hagglebaron]

I miss our nights gambling together good fellow

Lol same, good to see you back mate