A New Red Players Observation to Red99

[Vladigan]

Just wanted to offer feedback.

The XP bonus I think was a nice idea to try and bring the population back up. However, it may end up being one of those "too little, too late" situations.

Here has been my experience so far:

As a new melee, you are almost screwed. There is almost no one around to bind you so you are limited to where you can hunt in the beginning, and after a few deaths out in the wilderness followed by an hour run, I can see it being unbearably frustrating.

As any other non-solo based character, you may get by till your teens soloing, but eventually your cracked staff and full suit of leather armor not going to be enough to solo.

Conclusion:

The server pop is so low, we have to think outside the box. This is a "classic experience" not actual classic. I'd love to re-live being 16 again, but its not going to happen.

If we want to keep these servers alive we are going to have to consider adding some features that are less than classic, or else the population will have nowhere else to go but down.

Here are my temporary suggestions: (at least until population grows again to be able to sustain itself again)

Soul Binder (Major cities only)
This is not going to impact game play, but will offer melee's more chance to exp and less time waiting for days (I am not kidding about that) for a bind after a boat ride.


Global chat (Needed for LFG, esp. on red where everyone is /role or /anon)
I have read concerns about r&f in global chat. The community can police itself. That is why we can /ignore. If people develop a bad enough reputation they will have no one to talk to since no one will see their chat :)

Continue Exp Bonus
This may still encourage more people to try read, but lets remember this is still mostly PVE with some PVP here and there. We need a community to have any PVP, so you die hard "non-blubies" need to remember that before you try and push away people who want to PVE here. The PVP will only exist if their are people here to PVP.

I think we can bring this server back to life, but we HAVE to open our minds to alternatives, or else we risk the chance of failing and making this entire project a waste of everyone's time.

I open this now to any other constructive thoughts on the matter...

[Lazortag]

Searyx said he was going to market the server a bit more in light of the new exp bonus. I think they're open to adding global ooc. I don't really like global ooc but I've lived with it before. I'm totally against soulbinders though. Maybe I'll explain in further detail later when I have time.

[oldfish]

Gonna get flamed for this, but remove xp loss from pvp, MAYBE keep it in the raid zones.

Soon the only thing the core pop of assholes will have to do is play with twinks to kill off any new blood that attemps to start on the server.

[nabsev]

435 posts of remove xp loss from pvp

[Vladigan]

Searyx said he was going to market the server a bit more in light of the new exp bonus. I think they're open to adding global ooc. I don't really like global ooc but I've lived with it before. I'm totally against soulbinders though. Maybe I'll explain in further detail later when I have time.

I hear ya. I finally talked some friends to try out red, they agreed because of the exp bonus.

I wasn't a big fan of Global OOC either on live, but I can't deny it helped a ton with trading/selling and LFG. Don't think its needed on blue, but without it on red I think we are doomed :) Red has no trading/selling/buying at all, I'm broke and sitting on about 200 bone chips lol.

I don't like the soul binder's either, but again I just suggested as a temporary fix until the population gets up and one can find a bind from a player with some success within an hour or so.

[Vladigan]

435 posts of remove xp loss from pvp

Aye, but then again this is what makes EQ more exciting than any other MMORPG in my opinion. There is no element of fear in WoW, DAoC, etc.. no CR, no exp loss, no consequences...

Here you better think hard before engaging in PvP or PvE because the cost of failure can be severe....

I wasn't a big fan of Exp loss on PvP, but now with the Exp bonus it really isn't too big a deal for me. Again, it also adds that element of fear when running around... I love it!! :eek:

[Vile]

lol I called it months ago... re: how shitty it will be to roll a melee on this server without being twinked or having friends to help PL...

[SearyxTZ]

Searyx said he was going to market the server a bit more in light of the new exp bonus.


Yep. I'll do whatever I can + will make a thread to get people advertising and recruiting. This is a good time to do it.


Soul Binder (Major cities only)
This is not going to impact game play, but will offer melee's more chance to exp and less time waiting for days (I am not kidding about that) for a bind after a boat ride.


Global chat (Needed for LFG, esp. on red where everyone is /role or /anon)
I have read concerns about r&f in global chat. The community can police itself. That is why we can /ignore. If people develop a bad enough reputation they will have no one to talk to since no one will see their chat :)



Soulbinders: anyone who plays a melee through the early levels would probably agree. The lower population also severely hamstrings the classic "get a caster to bind you" method.

Global chat: Zone-specific is not the right format relative to the lower population. The social aspect of EQ was really really important. For any solo/casual player right now, it's damn near nonexistent. It goes without saying that /auction is just as if not more important as /ooc.

I don't even really care how this problem is solved. It doesn't have to be "global" ooc necessarily. It can be chat that covers continents or groups of zones. Say one for Antonica, Faydwer, Odus, Planes. The concept and end result will be the same: the chat reaches more players, and thus actually gets used for the intended purpose.

[Vladigan]

Yep. I'll do whatever I can + will make a thread to get people advertising and recruiting. This is a good time to do it.




Soulbinders: anyone who plays a melee through the early levels would probably agree. The lower population also severely hamstrings the classic "get a caster to bind you" method.

Global chat: Zone-specific is not the right format relative to the lower population. The social aspect of EQ was really really important. For any solo/casual player right now, it's damn near nonexistent. It goes without saying that /auction is just as if not more important as /ooc.

I don't even really care how this problem is solved. It doesn't have to be "global" ooc necessarily. It can be chat that covers continents or groups of zones. Say one for Antonica, Faydwer, Odus, Planes. The concept and end result will be the same: the chat reaches more players, and thus actually gets used for the intended purpose.

Absolutely agree 100% with all

[Lazortag]

Soulbinders: anyone who plays a melee through the early levels would probably agree. The lower population also severely hamstrings the classic "get a caster to bind you" method.

I really haven't had any problems getting someone to bind me. Granted I was usually in pretty populated areas (Qeynos (around launch), North Karana, Freeport, Gfay, etc.) but I usually just sent tells to whoever was nearby until I found a caster who could bind. When I'm really desperate I ask a porting class to come and bind me for a donation. I've never had to wait more than 20 minutes to get a bind. Maybe I was just lucky.

[Nirgon]

Yep. I'll do whatever I can + will make a thread to get people advertising and recruiting. This is a good time to do it.




Soulbinders: anyone who plays a melee through the early levels would probably agree. The lower population also severely hamstrings the classic "get a caster to bind you" method.

Global chat: Zone-specific is not the right format relative to the lower population. The social aspect of EQ was really really important. For any solo/casual player right now, it's damn near nonexistent. It goes without saying that /auction is just as if not more important as /ooc.

I don't even really care how this problem is solved. It doesn't have to be "global" ooc necessarily. It can be chat that covers continents or groups of zones. Say one for Antonica, Faydwer, Odus, Planes. The concept and end result will be the same: the chat reaches more players, and thus actually gets used for the intended purpose.

/LFG is in. It is certainly not classic but was enabled to address population or the "everyone is anon" issues. The XP bonus should take care of the rest.

[Kief]

I hear ya. I finally talked some friends to try out red, they agreed because of the exp bonus.

I wasn't a big fan of Global OOC either on live, but I can't deny it helped a ton with trading/selling and LFG. Don't think its needed on blue, but without it on red I think we are doomed :) Red has no trading/selling/buying at all, I'm broke and sitting on about 200 bone chips lol.

I don't like the soul binder's either, but again I just suggested as a temporary fix until the population gets up and one can find a bind from a player with some success within an hour or so.

hey vladigan hit me up in game on kief whenever you see this ill buy your bone chips off you sir

[Dullah]

If need a bind, tell me. I can try to port over and bind you or give you a port.

[steaks6]

insert troll message here

seriousley tho how many binds you need , one bind lasts forever , ask people?

[Not_Kazowi]

insert troll message here

seriousley tho how many binds you need , one bind lasts forever , ask people?

have you ever played eq before genius?

[Visual]

rexxbuttsexx

[steaks6]

have you ever played eq before genius?

apparently not

but i will go back in time with you rexx to beta when you grinded to 50 first so you could camp a fbss , got farmed then quit

wait

harrison is that you?

you mad bro?

[Marglar]

I recently started up on r99 and I can tell you it is pretty rough for new comers - especially for classes that aren't super solo friendly.

thankfully I am a pretty patient person and I have some friends in game - even then a lot of my time is spent solo as a rogue. it's painful grinding on light blues but I have no other options a lot of the time. I bet a lot of people only play here for a few sessions, then quit, due to the difficulty and lack of convenience that a more populated server wouldn't have problems with, regarding groups, binds, travel, equipment etc.

a lot of suggestions have been made already so I'm not going to dive into that. it seems to be at a point where it becomes less classic and more newb friendly, or the population becomes stagnate/lessens. I'm not entirely sure how you can find a happy middle ground without pissing a lot of people off.

[Thiefzer0]

I don't think this server is really set up for the solo player imo. It's a very excellent emulation of classic EQ but classic EQ had hundreds maybe even thousands on a server so groups were abundant. If you come here without friends (like myself), good luck. I am currently lvl 14 wiz solo'ing blues and the occasional even/yellow, while meding for 5+ mins between lol. AT least I am getting lots of reading done.

Hit me up if you're near my level and want to group up.

[Nirgon]

I solo'd a lot of levels as a wizard too brew.

Got hated on for playing a wizard quite a bit (SO EZ)... if they only knew.

[Goobles]

This is the only time I have ever advocated this since I began in October 2009....

Bring boxing! 2boxing in pvp situations is useless. Can't hold a camp with 2box either. Or even 2ppl 2boxing without getting shit on. Will boost the server. Ready go!

[Ragemaster9999]

I noticed the LFG tool is active now, and it wasnt before. However, no body seemed to be using it. I would really like to see some kind of opt in server ooc chat, maybe with limitations on how often you could chat in it per minute, because it would probably end up like alot of threads on these forums, useless drivel.

I ran from freeport to grobb to grab my level 14 spells around 11 pm EST slightly after Prime time and I only saw a few guys on the way in zone. Even found some lowbies two trolls leveling in innuthule, gave the guy some armor hoping he would stick around for a bit, I can see why new players would feel the game is dead and just quit right away.

Atleast with a global OOC people will see chatting and wont think the game is completely empty. However with only 150 on during Prime time, thats not a lot of people per zone considering how many zones there are in this game.

Soul binders would be nice too, although yes I know, its unclassic.

[Marglar]

This is the only time I have ever advocated this since I began in October 2009....

Bring boxing! 2boxing in pvp situations is useless. Can't hold a camp with 2box either. Or even 2ppl 2boxing without getting shit on. Will boost the server. Ready go!

lol, right. 2 boxing ruins pvp. yes people can manage more then one char at once, it's eq, it's not entirely difficult to manage multiple casters, especially when you use macros and scripts and fancypants keyboards.

buff bots are the worst of it. i'd rather people be forced to group up and work together rather then rely on their bots.

[Yukahwa]

Boxing is terrible for game. It just means now when I find that rare group with just a few people..the group would be full because 3 people running 2 chars each. Bad bad. No socializing..no dependency on groups.

Right now the hardest class to be from the get go is a wisdom caster. Terrible ability to get to level 10 lol. Mele can at least tank through those levels and kill even con mobs. Everyone benefits from grouping.

EXP bonus is good..server population is really low. The best thing we can do is recruit our bro's to play with us.

[Slave]

There is still just one gigantic thing missing from the entire EQ PvP experience: teams.

The only other thing that could possibly make the game as immersive and compelling would be item loot.

[The Neck Beard]

Item loot always ends up being a check against of if you rolled a melee or caster. Casters are pvp effective naked, unless you are rolling in pp or planar, melees are very ineffective sans gear.

[Slave]

Item loot always ends up being a check against of if you rolled a melee or caster. Casters are pvp effective naked, unless you are rolling in pp or planar, melees are very ineffective sans gear.

This is somewhat true if you use a wholly unmodified RZ-type of item loot. I had called for the developers to be more creative regarding that here, but really the only thing really lacking to triple the population or more now is Teams, in my opinion.

People can't get groups or get ambushed by people calling them to group. What the server needs, what almost every player really needs for immersion, grouping, and social interaction, is the structure that teaming brings.

With teams, it becomes a wholly different world. Us vs Them! Patriotism runs wild: you see a fellow race in trouble, you help them! The PvP targets become totally unambiguous... you see a strange race, you kill them!

It's the You're-in-our-world-now factor that the server needs.

[steaks6]

would come back tonight if i could box +1 for boxing

[Harrison]

Exploiter wants boxing? No huge surprise here.

Cozmonaut, just quit. You're terrible.