Project 1999 - Semi-Classic

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Originally Posted by MutualofOmaha (Post 32606)

After having played on the server since its first week back in October, I have some observations, and more importantly, a question for the GM's regarding the server's future.

As others have recently observed on these forums, our server has a number of aspects that are not classic, at all, the most immediately noticeable of these being the global ooc and auction channels.

However, there are many, many other non-classic elements, including:

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Originally Posted by MutualofOmaha (Post 32606)

1. Experience gain - group bonuses and dungeon bonuses have been in effect on the server since day 1, these were not classic; also, pets do not leech experience as they did in classic; also, experience penalties are not shared among group members, as they were in classic. This has made leveling up much, much faster than it should be on a classic server.

Experience is tricky business, classically dungeons did have experience modifiers, we were just never made aware of them.

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Originally Posted by MutualofOmaha (Post 32606)

2. Pets - pets are super-pets, and particularly the magician pets; pets do not draw multiple aggro or generate faction hits the way they did in classic.

Considering the lack of "absolute" data available, they are close. Their min/max hits are correct as are their HP values. Resists are conjecture but don't seem too far out of line.

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Originally Posted by MutualofOmaha (Post 32606)

3. Spells - spell resists for npc's are definitely much lower than they ever were in classic, resulting in fewer npc resists and partial resists; spell resists for pc's are much less effective than they were in classic.

Probably the toughest thing to get correct is resist values. No hard data for this exists anywhere, other than a few scant documents that reveal immunities, actual resist levels are impossible to find. Most every mob had the same resists when we started, about 700 mobs had to be made and several thousand more have been modified.

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Originally Posted by MutualofOmaha (Post 32606)

4. Meditating - meditation does not require the caster to see only the spell-book while meditating, this is non-classic.

Client limitation. Nothing we can do.

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Originally Posted by MutualofOmaha (Post 32606)

5. Factions - starting factions are incorrect for a wide variety of race/class combinations, and they are off on a global scale; merchants are on the wrong factions/no faction, instead of how they were in classic (this is of particular importance for merchants near key dungeons); bankers are on the wrong faction/no faction; faction required to get quests is wrong, making it easier to get certain quests than it should be; faction required to complete quests is wrong.

You should have seen faction when we started :p. It was a nightmare that was no where NEAR as good as it is now. There are probably holes, but I don't think even for a moment that it is as far off as you believe it is. As far as quests go; I'll agree, there are many quests that are missing faction requirements, I generally try to fix those as I go, but again, with -no- idea what faction rewards should actually be from some quests I have to be careful on what requirements I put down.

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Originally Posted by MutualofOmaha (Post 32606)

6. Item and coin drops - coin drops are substantially higher from npc's than they ever were in classic, more on a par with Kunark drops than vanilla drops; item drops are much more common than they were in classic, too, especially rare item drops (a case in point - I tested two well-known drops in Upper Guk, the squire fork drop and the spider armor drop - 23 squire kills yielded 7 forks and 16 collars, while 18 giant spider kills yielded 6 chitin armor and 12 chitin shields - rare drops like the fork were about 1 in 20 or 1 in 50 in classic, not 1 in 3 on a consistent basis).

What can I say, sometimes things get missed. That is why we have a thriving bug & petition forum.

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Originally Posted by MutualofOmaha (Post 32606)

7. Guards - guard factions and assists are horribly broken, and guards themselves are much less lethal than they were in classic

Honestly, on this point, I think you are smoking crack. We had to actually fix the source code to allow for more factions so that we could get guards to even properly kill newbie mobs.

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Originally Posted by MutualofOmaha (Post 32606)

8. Travel - intercontinental travel was instantaneous from the very beginning of the server, eliminating the need for players to take time to congregate for buying, selling, forming groups, questing, etc.; even the current boat replacement system makes travel much faster than it should be in classic

DX8-9 transition problem. The boats became hollow on the Titanium client. We're working on something to replace the translocators with. Stay tuned.

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Originally Posted by MutualofOmaha (Post 32606)

9. Tradeskills - items and recipes and combines are available from the beginning that were not available until the Gates of Discord era, allowing more rapid skilling up and nonclassic items to be made and used; vendors sell tradeskill items that they never had in classic, and in many locations in Norrath, tradeskill items are available near one another, whereas in real classic players would have had to travel through various zones even to get basic tradeskill goods.

The tradeskill table is a train wreck & an aberration. Starting from scratch would have required us to delay launch for another 3-4 months. As aberrant recipes are reported they do get nuked. As far as merchant inventories go, by and large they should be correct. The only ones that are probably off are the ones that either a) haven't been reported yet, or b) we haven't had time to fix yet.

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Originally Posted by MutualofOmaha (Post 32606)

10. Vendors - besides many vendors being available to hostile factions that would never have had access in classic, there are many vendors with incorrect inventories; some vendors even sell finished tradeskill goods that should never be on any vendor as a standard inventory item, and these finished goods tend to be vital stepping-stone type items for higher-level skillup recipes in tradeskills; some vendors sell items that were strictly foraged or dropped tradeskill items in classic.

Again, this is what the bugs/petition forum is for. If you find something you think is wrong, find data via the wayback machine at www.archive.org and post it.

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Originally Posted by MutualofOmaha (Post 32606)

These are just a few observations of my own. I have no doubt that others could add many other items to this list. The result of most of these aberrations from classic is a greatly accelerated advancement and leveling curve on the server, making things move much, much more rapidly than they would have on a more classic server. Our server really is at best Semi-Classic, or perhaps Pseudo-Classic, at this time.

What is classic on our server, then? Class restrictions, race restrictions, starting cities, zone graphics are all classic; list of available zones is classic, although some zones have been made available to certain members of the server before they actually should have been, if the server was to have been truly classic.

This server is still a lot of fun, that's why we're here playing together.

The leveling curve isn't too far off considering the only data table that is available is one from the post-Gates era. While you may not spend 72 hours in 45 like classic you do spend more time in the other levels. People are far more adept at leveling now than back then as well. Folks know all the right places to go.

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Originally Posted by MutualofOmaha (Post 32606)

The question I would like to ask, however, is this:

Will this server strive to become more and more classic, as it continues to move forward? Will some, or all, of the above-mentioned aberrations be changed to classic, over time?

If so, can we expect a relaunch at some point with a truly classic server, or perhaps a second server to be launched as a truly classic server? I personally feel that a second server might be a better choice, so that those who strive to progress through the server as rapidly as possible can retain the distinctions and advantages for which they have played so hard on the current server, while those who enjoy a more truly classic game could start anew once a classic server is a reality. Perhaps such a second server would not track server-firsts and would not grant titles; in this way the pace-setter types might feel less slighted.

We'll always strive to be as exact as possible.

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Originally Posted by MutualofOmaha (Post 32606)

My observations are my own, but I really would appreciate a response to my question from the GMs, so that we all can know what we might expect from Project 1999.

You have one. And while I think you are a pessimist and can't see the forest for the trees. Your opinions are your own.

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Originally Posted by MutualofOmaha (Post 32606)

Thank you GMs in advance for your response, and thank you also for our opportunity to play on this server.

Nice double talk at the end. I see what you tried to do there.

Overall, This is not our primary job in life. All of us have real jobs, families & lives that we have to attend to. My house is still in boxes by and large since I moved due to the fact of the extra time I take on the development of this server. It may not be perfect, but I challenge you to do your part to make the server better. We are certainly doing more than our fair share. We don't actually get to play on the server, so we have little firsthand knowledge of incorrect items, and there will be some. Considering since the start I fixed over 600 broken quests, Nilbog among others made over 700,000 DB changes, several hundred source code improvements and modifications by Rogean, Haynar & Ladoth, we added the pathing files for all dungeons to keep mobs from running through walls, also that thousands of mobs that had incorrect loot (There were 70,000 incorrect "Rusty Daggers" being used as an example), faction was completely incorrect (Ogres could roam around north freeport & high elves in Neriak), we also had to restructure spells from every 2 levels for all classes to every 4 levels, fixed several thousand faces on NPC's, Yes, classic is the target. But when your starting point is so far off the mark, you won't get there in short order. Before we released we developed and changed things for almost a full year just to get it where it was at launch.