Project 2002 Plug
 

Howdy!

So, I jumped on the TAKP bandwagon back when they first launch years ago, had some fun but a rocky launch and issues caused me to come back to P99. I decided to give it another shot a few months ago and very glad I did. Apparently there was some sort of drama and a split and now there are two Al'kabor servers, but the one I ended up playing is P2002 - http://p2002.com/.

The Good:

The Community-

Fantastic community. Everyone (and I mean that pretty much 100%) is helpful on the server. There are huge giveaways for newer players every few days that the entire server donates items to. I have yet to run into a single toxic person and have invested a lot of time into this server in the last few months.

Worldwide OOC/Auc but no trolls? That alone should show you how great this community is.

Leveling Curve -

20% XP bonus across the board

Rotating XP hot zones which means 150% bonus in ~6 zones at a time with lessor bonuses in many other zones. Means you can go to out of way zones and still min/max your xp depending on line up that month.

Monthly Bonus XP weekends

Content -

Luclin now and PoP in a few months (for many this is a downside, and for a long time I was one of those, but I have seen enough of velious and kunark for a lifetime. Luclin and all the quality of life changes are very welcome.) And I really enjoyed SSRA and POP raiding.

Boxing -

This is a hot topic for many, but there are plenty of people who play a single toon, and with a 3 box limit means there are almost always room for singles or duos to join, and most people will drop a char from their team to let you in to get xp. Even with Plane of Knowledge most people don't have a porter in their team so there is still a place for a Dial a port presence.

Raiding -

Their take on raiding is not for everyone. High end content is instanced, with world bosses on rotation. The bad part of this is that there really is no racing or competition other than some open world mobs like kunark dragons etc. The good part is no guild is cockblocked from content like on p99. You want to raid sleepers and get primals? Do it. I got a gnome mask and a primal spear just last night. You will never get that chance on P99.


The Bad:

Polish-

The server polish is no where near as high as P99. Pathing is a known issue they are working on and in some zones it is truely broken, DN being the worst I have seen. However, the Devs are active and in ooc almost daily and are happy to talk to you about bugs and issues and actively work to fix them. Server is 3 years old vs 10 years of p99 so don't expect that level of detail and polish to be in place.

Some things are very different there, not sure if its due to luclin content and changes with that expansion or if they are just not as accurate about their zones and mobs etc but you will notice differences from p99.

Population-

This is a bit of a two edged sword but I feel the server needs another ~200 players to be in the perfect spot. Right now there are people in most zones, and you can always find groups in hot zones, but to have a healthy economy and grouping experience the server could use a influx of players. The upside of the lower pop combined with boxing is I farmed pretty much all of my gear. Camps are rarely contested so you or you and a buddy can farm pretty much any drop you are after for your characters. I visited zones and killed shit I haven't given a shit about in years, and loved it. There are 4 high end guilds raiding end game content and room for as many more as would want to do it with how raiding is handled here. It really makes for a low key enjoyable experience, no poopsocking here (other than maybe emp keys.)

TL;DR

Come play on p2002, they have a all-in-one installer that makes setup a 1 click affair. They have a healthy and helpful population. They have a great end game scene with none of the toxic bullshit that pervades the p99 scene. They have content none of us have seen in 16 years and Kunark and Velious are getting pretty stale. They have a faster leveling curve, It took me less than 2 months to level a trio to 60 and start raiding.

Let me know if you have any questions!

So if I decided to bring DaP to p2002 what would you say if any would be interested in it. 2 months anyone could have a porter to 60. It just seem like I could make it work.

Boxing is totally a turn off.

Pathing I could care less it’s easily managed.

My main reason not to go 2002 is the population and the lack for my guild. The fact that there is no competition is also disheartening. Toxic or not here the competition is great. There is no better feeling that racing someone for a mob and winning it or watching someone else get FTE and screaming Fuck You and Gratz in the same line. Furthermore the trash talking is beyond fun. There is no better fun than poopsocking and trashing on someone else to pass the time. Toxic or not it’s fun.

Don’t get me wrong I would love to progress to luclin and pop but I would want to do it with my p99 toons. If they would ever do a character mirror I might might consider it.

I do like the shout out and all but I just don’t think it’s something that would ever happen.

its garbage

This. I really hope that someday the server's population grows, and in response they decide to disallow boxing, because I would really like to see Luclin and PoP again sometime ... just not on a boxed server.

elaborate on this. why the hate for it? lot's of people did it on live

I really tried to get into it, even the boxing and instanced raiding. It's not like I wouldn't like to see all the raids I've never seen; I'm not attached to the racing/competition. It's not like I don't multibox the hell out of other MMOs; I have fun doing it. But with EQ, the meta is just so different when nobody picks A class and instead picks 2 or 3 classes... when the road to 60 or the gear you want is shortened...

P99, for all it's issues with the slow timeline, with previous bugs/exploits/mechanics affecting the way things are today, with the raiding scene being what it is, etc? When I log in and play a single character solo or in groups, hoping to get the camp I want but often not getting it, needing to work long and hard for new gear and sometimes still not getting it? That's exactly what classic EQ was back in the day for me.

For me, personally, playing p2002 would be like playing a totally different game. And if I wanted a totally different game, it wouldn't be an emulated one from 2001... haha :)

Glutton for punishment, I can respect that haha. And yea i can see your point. Mostly just passing time till pantheon ruins my marriage or flops...so enjoying 2002 quite a bit personally in the mean time.

I elaborated a bit already. But yeah. I think it boils down to:

1. No, "lots" of people did not box back in the day. Especially before POP, like 1 in 10 people boxed, and when they did, it was most likely only 1 extra account.

2. We play emulated, early-era EQ because we loved it and we want it again.

3. When boxing wasn't part of the oldschool EQ experience for the vast majority of people, most people aren't going to want to play where triple boxing is fully permitted (and likely even strongly encouraged due to low population).

I tried to convince myself to play. Even just now I was trying to think of 3 classes that I would enjoy playing together so that I could do my usual solo type thing over there to see more of Velious and give SOL/POP an old college try. But meh :)

Mage/Chanter/Cleric very powerful for farming and raid. Pal/Rog/Sham is insane dungeon farmer. Necro+ sham + anything...so many combos

There is a Pal/Rog/Sham that's been trioing VS lately, guy lives in the new CT