<Nihilum> doesn't raid for gear, they raid to stop other people from getting it, they are literally scared to death of what anyone else would do if they got geared up.

WTF you think they have 16 selo's drums rotting in a bag instead of selling them!

That's me! In some weird way that sig, and the character Jeremy created in my honor "Tasslehoff" is his way of showing his appreciation of me! Or something.... :o

yeah, they wouldn't do it for velious either

it is prob a lot faster to create custom content than meticulously trying to recreate an exact copy of something from 10+ years ago. of course, that doesn't mean that it will be good or that everyone will agree that it is "classic style content". i doubt it would take any where near as long as the regular expansion releases though, assuming he actually goes this route at all.

TLDR: EQ isn't P1999, they're not even really that similar in a whole lot of ways. The community should come together to solve these problems. Uber guilds should still have their cake and eat it too, but not dominate so badly that nobody else ever gets a slice. Poop-socking is gay.

And the long read:

Well for starters, this isn't real Everquest. This is an Everquest classic emulated server in which a large amount of the mechanics and a majority of the database were pieced together by tidbits of information from sites like Allakhazam's.

The EQEmu databases are so bonkers messed up that virtually nobody I have ever spoken with actually understands HOW messed up they actually are.

The actual EQ database for example, had certain caster words and runes only drop from certain mobs. In the EQEmu database pieced together from what data the developers could even get their hands on, that kind of drop information is stretched out across literally hundreds of mobs. It used to be that mobs shared loot tables, especially for common mobs and loot tables to say that one zone might have a few dozen loot tables. The current database uses more along the lines of THOUSANDS of loot tables, because it's such a huge mess that nobody would even want to open the thing to clean it up; it's literally that messed up.

The EQEmu servers are good physical representations of classic Everquest, because the original data from a bonified client was used. We have the proper zones, the correct textures, wire frames, animations, spell effects and the like. What's missing from the client though is the entirety of the database.

This includes where mobs spawn, how often they spawn, where they path, what they drop, what their actual statistics are... We're running on information in which some of it is more accurate and some of it is a BLATANT GUESS by the developers: no bullshit people.

Many things don't even work at all how they should in fact. Resists are most assuredly not actually working like they did in live because the devs have no idea what the actual professional EQ developers had used for their original database mechanics. Hell, the CURRENT EQ developers haven't a clue anymore, because all that data has been rewritten a long time ago and several times since. It's very, VERY assured that how armor class and avoidance is calculated is quite a bit off if not broken all together, and many features that existed for quite a long time on live, do not function here; such as:

Night vision; boats; particle effects (they don't work properly here); stamina bars; pet windows; the incorrect UI; item linking--just to name a few.

This isn't to say that the P1999 guys haven't done the best job they could with the resources they had, but that's neither here nor there. This server is at best, a "fair" representation of classic EQ. It LOOKS like classic EQ, it smells SORTA like classic EQ, but if you had the opportunity to sit side by side and actually compare the two, you'd find out that aside from what's on the surface and a whole lot of experimental fudging of numbers to get mechanics close, that they're pretty much nothing alike.

So at best this is a close representation of Everquest, one in which we really have to realize that without changes, cannot really function in this day and probably have the ability to stay very alive for very long.

We all know so much about mmo's now than we did in 1999-2001. We know so much more about Everquest now.

And a huge factor to consider is that while we the players have had upwards to the last 14 years to come up with strategies, techniques and ways to "handle" Everquest, the developers originally just didn't have that kind of foresight.

The original development didn't even assume EQ would be a success for longer than maybe a year or two. There weren't plans to pump out expansions. There was no way to predict how players would behave in regards to specific situations such as raiding content, and you can see COUNTLESS changes made over the years with the SOLE PURPOSE of ensuring that the playerbase was not, very most literally, abusing the other playerbase.

Some examples are for instance, how they added new epic drop mobs to otherwise ultra-contested mobs like VS or Innoruuk. Or how Velious mobs had their HP jump from 32,000 to several hundred, and plopped many of them in places where you just couldn't walk right in, like you can with Trak or VS.

Verant and then SoE made change after change to what they both felt at the time was in their best interest, and their best interest was in keeping the game engaging for the majority of the playerbase. This means of course that you keep the majority happy. Not the top raiding guilds, not the lowest newbies, but the general populace who most of which would end up doing some raiding.

As much as I love just EQ and do not want it to change, things do require change. At the very least, we must have rules and regulations that conform to new ways of thinking. We have to stop ultra-powerful guilds who dominate content and then use the ideology that "they're the best so if you want to compete you better bring your A-Game" as some kind of "nobody else deserves anything but us" mentality.

Also, sub guilds need to ensure that these guilds aren't being bullied by the lesser guilds to make their deeds go un-rewarded.

There's an idea I once read in a book that I felt very true. The idea was that to have great strength of arms, you must train for years and years. The training, the dedication, the pain--this drilled into you not only pride, but prowess. In doing this, the true warrior knows what the lesser fighter would never know had that same power be given unto him: He would never, without that hardship and experience, understand that though he has great strength, that he must judge most assuredly of all, when and where to use it.

That I feel is where we're failing here. We have uber people who have no idea how to use their power, and we have lesser uber people who do not want to work for it.

I would have hoped that this community could come together and at least agree to do something to help keep raiding fun for the most uber, but not have them dominate the server so badly that once you go beyond the 2nd or 3rd top guilds, you just never get anything or any hope at raid content.

And plus, poop-socking is super gay.

EDIT: Poop-socking is SUPER gay.

AND: Poop-socking is still super ultra gay.

Oh, and if you're gay, that's totally cool. I'm not talking about legit homosexuals. Just putting that out there just in case ;)

This server is mostly nostalgia driven. When it comes right down to it EQ isnt that good of a game anymore, the raids aren't especially challenging, and the grind gets monotonous.
What keeps this game alive is nostalgia and community. New custom content is not... Nostalgic. That coupled with some of the new MMO's will begin pulling the community away. After some time when TMO and other raid guilds have done the raids they want to do enough they will leave. Custom content is not going to keep this server pop high

But they have.....

Moran