EQ Mac vs Project 1999

[Taboo]

Discuss......

[Hitchens]

Is there a contest?

[Taboo]

Just curious of the pros and cons of each.

[Bruman]

I'm curious about what EQMac actually is. It's stuck at PoP right? Is it a progression server? What's the population like?

[Autotune]

no mouse wheel camera zoom, no thanks.

[LordFresh]

is it fairly easy to setup on a regular pc?

[Autotune]

is it fairly easy to setup on a regular pc?

they made a thread with the info here in general chat, if it's still up. Seemed as simple as setting up p99 if not more so.

[Hitchens]

Unless they patch out the ability for PC clients to connect.

[Autotune]

Unless they patch out the ability for PC clients to connect.

if they do that, you can still connect by getting a copy of the "haxmac" operating system on a PC and then just connect thru it, least i'd imagine..

Don't see why it would register any different.

Edit: no idea what the real name of that operating system is lol

[Shiftin]

Not as easy as P99, but there are pretty detailed instructions on how to get it going if you look around.


EQMac is also known as the al'kabor server. It's a server that's timelocked in 2002 (planes of power).
It still has very classic mechanics, you can use the original models, etc. It is frequently consulted as a basis for making changes to this server.
It previously required a gold SOE subscription but is now free to play.
Mobs seem generally (and correctly) harder
There are no shared experience penalties
Chardok, PoH, PoF, etc have been revamped.
The community is slightly smaller, probably 300-400 on at a time average are the estimates i've seen
Raiding at the very high end is done via rotation, up through velious and some of luclin, there isn't enough people raiding to constitute anything of that nature
There is no variance other than the natural 6-12 hour variance that was actually classic on some mobs.
The community is significantly better on the whole than what i've seen here, probably due to the fact that it skews older.
Yesterday SOE announced a dedicated community relations manager for the server who will run monthly events.


I know quite a few of us will likely end up there after deciding that the current state of this server isn't sustainable as an outlet for recreation in many regards, but I've enjoyed my time on P99 immensely.

[MelxDruid]

Dull personalities (maturity), legit Sony, lots of raid mobs left up all week, AAs, pok books, etc.

Lots of pros and cons to both servers. The intel client is nice, definitely could have used it years ago. Lots of people have started up on eqmac over the years, most quit, some hang around. Mostly everyone trickles into already existing guilds. Will be interested if you guys can keep a guild going there with strong enough numbers.

[Raavak]

Greener pastures.
The grass always seems greener on the other side of the fence.

Besides that it is somewhat intriguing, mostly because I rather enjoyed PoP. The zones, the lore, the raids.

[Flunklesnarkin]

But how are they going to make eq mac free to play.

Are they going to end up adding an item shop and all the other "Free to Play"" things onto the server?


If so that would slowly drown out the experience lol.

[Bruman]

Raiding at the very high end is done via rotation, up through velious and some of luclin, there isn't enough people raiding to constitute anything of that nature

What kind of stuff is actually raided regularly? Do they even bother to raid Vanilla/Kunark mobs regularly?

I could definitely be misunderstanding something, but I figured if the server is at PoP level, that anything before that expansion would just be ignored, and you only raid the latest content, since the loot is usually better.

[Daldaen]

But how are they going to make eq mac free to play.

Are they going to end up adding an item shop and all the other "Free to Play"" things onto the server?


If so that would slowly drown out the experience lol.

No marketplace was going to be created last I checked Smed's statements.

They are leaving it up with minimal to no customer support because it doesn't require them that much resources. And they know that if they keep these people happy its feasible they may be customers for EQNext.


Al'Kabor is quite awesome from my experiences on it. There are a few things that I find annoying (that are classic):


Can't scroll with mouse wheel. Only 1st person or F9 options
Less command keys. No strafe for easy bard AE kiting, among others
No auto-stand. If you're in a spellbook you can't press your run arrow and get you out of the book you have to manually stand then run.
No auto-sit for camp. Small issue but you have to sit before you actually camp.
No Mana value in UI information. The game doesn't register this if you try to modify your EQUI_Inventory file and add in the mana value.


The pros:


You can box -- No getting stuck with crappy/afk people or having to sit LFG for 20 hours and never get a group
No exp penalties
There are some newbie armor quests -- These have Pre-LoY stats, which are way lower than what you see on allkahazam, but they are still nice goals to aim for pre-20s instead of just a mindless grind
Buffs hit all levels -- Level 65 buffs make leveling cake.
PoP... best expansion in game.

[MelxDruid]

What kind of stuff is actually raided regularly? Do they even bother to raid Vanilla/Kunark mobs regularly?

I could definitely be misunderstanding something, but I figured if the server is at PoP level, that anything before that expansion would just be ignored, and you only raid the latest content, since the loot is usually better.

The top three guilds have a two week rotation on lord seru and VT.

[Hitchens]

From reading their site and forums it seems like a nice bunch of people.

Even though Bazaar and PoK books are incredibly convenient, I sort of like the immersion factor of having to use EC tunnel and buy ports.

[loneless999]

pros : beastlords

Cons: bazzar dose not work if you use the modded client on the PC

[Happy]

pros : beastlords

Cons: bazzar dose not work if you use the modded client on the PC

Correction: Bazaar "search" does not work completely, can still manually browse traders goods and buy/sell items.

[Zapatos]

Bard kiting WORKS there just fine, mobs don't have the crazy reach they do here. Also charm/swarm/kiting whatever you call it works.

Mobs RUNNNNN when they get low hp. You will need to be on top of snaring/rooting.

Players did not have the chance to stock up on manastones and other legend items; market for that is nill to none. Market for anything is fairly dead as well; the longer term players there have almost no need for platinum.

0 competition. If you have fun racing and batphoning, then eqmac is not for you. It can be like taking a zanex playing over there sometimes.

Before Hobart, there was practically 0 csr or fixes to anything. I know of a particular spot where you can level from like 30-47 or so with 0 risk. Or a bard can just /afk over night and come back after it's done leveling. As in, no consequences/fixes for those more discrete exploits. (there was a necro that botted for a few months killing captain boshinko in HK for massive AA's over time).

Edit: and perma-pacify is enabled on the server. That's probably one of the bigger things to mention, more game breaking than 2 boxing. Just pac twice something and it won't bother attacking to the server reset. That enables indivuals or people who boxed whole groups of 6 to wander around dungeons unmolested and get whatever named they wanted over and over.

[Mcbard]

I'm curious about what EQMac actually is. It's stuck at PoP right? Is it a progression server? What's the population like?

It is not a progression server. It was split from the live code in late 2002 meaning things like Box of Abu-Kar, Manastone, Pre-nerf Cos, and any other pre-nerfed items are already fixed and are only available in very limited capacities via GM events and such things. It was the official Sony EverQuest server for players that use Mac. Development on it has long stopped and it is time locked up to PoP. I'm not quite sure the population just yet.

[Writ3r]

Yeah the eqmac server seems interesting enough to give a shot considering the way things are going here, if anyone has easily accessible sources to site on how to get it running smoothly and well on a PC to get going on playing on it, i would highly appreciate it being sent my way via PM (links, steps, etc).

Thanks in advance.

[Mcbard]

Ok I had issues getting this to work, but finally got it to work properly, here's a rough guide I've drafted to help those who would like to try!

Rough Guide to play EQMAC on PC ( Tested on Windows 7 64bit)
1. Fresh Install of EQ Titanium
2. Take contests of fresh EQ Titanium installation folder and put them into an empty C:\EQMac folder
3. Unzip contents of Secret's patch zip that can be found here http://fileb.ag/0ei29cadn4k7 into C:/EQMac overwriting anything it asks to.
4. Download EQMac via the Web Launchpad 3 http://launch.soe.com/lp3/index.html?game=eqmac&skin=everquest
5. Take contents of the Resources folder from the EQMac Launchpad download and copy them INTO C:\EQMac, overwrite anything it asks ( will be a lot )
6. Change desktop to 16bit, run eqw.exe and make sure to check the box for Fix EQclinit.ini

Note* if you want the newer UI, edit eqclient.ini and change newui=FALSE to TRUE, other settings can be changed in eqclient.ini also, like new / old PC models, etc.

Edit: If you own a mac it is much simpler.
Go here: http://launch.soe.com/lp3/index.html?game=eqmac&skin=everquest
Install the plug-in.
Download the patcher.
Patch the game.
Log-in.

:)

[happyhappy]

cats on moon

yeah, no.

[triad]

The pros:


You can box -- No getting stuck with crappy/afk people or having to sit LFG for 20 hours and never get a group
No exp penalties
There are some newbie armor quests -- These have Pre-LoY stats, which are way lower than what you see on allkahazam, but they are still nice goals to aim for pre-20s instead of just a mindless grind
Buffs hit all levels -- Level 65 buffs make leveling cake.
PoP... best expansion in game.

1boxing is stupid most of the fun is actually being social and hanging out with 5 other people grinding and talkin
2newbie armor is lame get you gear the right way if you want stuff handed to you go play a different mmo

i did enjoy pop
no exp - is kinda nice but really not important alot of the game is lvling and going different places and again being soical
buff again if you want easy mode go play WoW

last thing mac's suck

edit: yea cats ... wtf

[DigglesVersion2.0]

typical p99 retentionista rhetoric.

[Flunklesnarkin]

1boxing is stupid most of the fun is actually being social and hanging out with 5 other people grinding and talkin
2newbie armor is lame get you gear the right way if you want stuff handed to you go play a different mmo

i did enjoy pop
no exp - is kinda nice but really not important alot of the game is lvling and going different places and again being soical
buff again if you want easy mode go play WoW

last thing mac's suck

edit: yea cats ... wtf



<iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/JixbzFjv_cU" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

[Silentone]

I've played a little on eqmac, its easy enough to set up. however it does not like my avast anti virus and if am running them when launching i end up having to repatch the whole thing. Personaly i like the game but you will most likely need to box to be able to exp constantly. The no mouse scroll sux balls, and the game is a bit glitchy in first person. Other then that its fun =)

[Grizzin]

cats on moon

yeah, no.

[DigglesVersion2.0]

lol at p99 fags caring about cats on the moon as though eq lore has ever made sense. go fuck yourselves fags

[Estrang]

do u like trollin urself

[DigglesVersion2.0]

go back to red 99 scum of the earth knuckles

[tefog]

what is eqmac anyways?