Long term Survival of this server, some thoughts

[Diabalein]

I have played on the Zek servers since 99 (well thats not quite true, I quit years ago) had toons on Rallos, Tallon, Vallon, and Sullon with the vast majority of my time spent on Sullon, I post this from a perspective of a long time eq vet and a long time pvp gamer.

....(edit) {the Short short list: boost mana and hp regen outside of combat between 3x and 5x would be my guess. back when EQ was THE game 15 minute med sessions were acceptable, not so much anymore. if you arent fighting something you are sitting on your ass medding, we dont play to med, we play to pvp.}

....Read the rest if you want, that one single change would make this game a lot more playable.

the way the server is set up is just like p99 blue but with pvp, and that is a potential mistake. Many pvp gamers are only here to pvp. How many? I have no idea, but as I have seen happen many many times the server pop starts out huge then dwindles to a small core group after the pvp crowd leaves for a better game, and there are much better games out there.

the nostalgia factor is cool but on a zek we play to fight. on p99 they play to play and the difference is night and day, the Zek crew tolerate the lvl grind and the gear grind for the sake of the pvp. on p99 thats the only reason to play besides all the cool peeps you get to chill with at the stripper bar in Neriaks 3rd quarter.

my point is pretty simple. if this server pop takes a major nose dive (or maybe before then) you should consider what it is that the Red crowd wants
PVP
not exp losss
not lvl loss
not sitting around for decades waiting for mana bars to refill
not looking for a month to find a bind
not digging through your spell book for your pvp spell load out

look at Sullon Zek, server wide exp bonus, server wide exp loss Cut
on Sullon you had hard coded teams, and while I hated the rp aspect of those teams you knew there were people who had your back. the team aspect made Sullon a great home for a lot of people in spite of the rather insane 5-85 pvp lvl limit.

some thoughts and or suggestions

implement an exp bonus, a significant one. 5 times would be a bit much but 2.5-3 would be on target for most players.

if the above goes into effect consider upping the loot tables from 1-25 or so. you cant even afford spells when you out level your money making abilities.

remove exp loss on pvp death. punishing people for pvp is kinda counter to a pvp server, and when I say punishing I mean over and above the insanity that is the eq corpse run...easily the most punishing game mechanic of its type outside of character deletion.

if at all possible put an end to deleveling, its a bad mechanic period. (hell remove ALL exp loss other than the self inflicted kind)

boost mana and hp regen outside of combat between 3x and 5x would be my guess. back when EQ was THE game 15 minute med sessions were acceptable, not so much anymore. if you arent fighting something you are sitting on your ass medding, we dont play to med, we play to pvp.

access to locked zones, either perma break access to those zones or make them open to all. nothing and I mean nothing breaks eq pvp faster or more brutally than a guild/team with safe havens to pve in and gain a massive gear imbalance. On a Zek there should be no place safe to hide.

that's a start, my short list. I am sure others will be along. some will say that the above changes would make this like the EZ server. maybe but the red crowd doesnt play on the EZ server because its blue...we might just stick around on this one, if the grind doesnt chase us off first.


{this post came about after a conversation with some of my old Sullon crew, ALL of us felt basically the same way, the current state of the server is boooooooooring and actively hostile to fun (no spell sets? really? this wasnt a game breaking mechanic it was a needed function) so much removed that was good for game play, so much not added that was in eq back in 99. all I am asking is you give it some thought}

[Cwall]

blue as fuck

[Lazortag]

No offense but this is a horrible idea. This server has the highest population of any eqemu pvp server that's ever existed and yet after it's launched you already want to change the ruleset so that it more closely resembles past failed servers. People wanted classic, not some custom abomination like you're suggesting.

[Bazooka]

Sounds like you want VZTZ server it's over........

Oh yeah it doesn't exist any more because no one wanted to play it except like 5 people.

[Hasbinbad]

Originally Posted by Diabalein [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

I have played on the Zek servers since 99 (well thats not quite true, I quit years ago) had toons on Rallos, Tallon, Vallon, and Sullon with the vast majority of my time spent on Sullon, I post this from a perspective of a long time eq vet and a long time pvp gamer.

the way the server is set up is just like p99 blue but with pvp, and that is a potential mistake. Many pvp gamers are only here to pvp. How many? I have no idea, but as I have seen happen many many times the server pop starts out huge then dwindles to a small core group after the pvp crowd leaves for a better game, and there are much better games out there.

the nostalgia factor is cool but on a zek we play to fight. on p99 they play to play and the difference is night and day, the Zek crew tolerate the lvl grind and the gear grind for the sake of the pvp. on p99 thats the only reason to play besides all the cool peeps you get to chill with at the stripper bar in Neriaks 3rd quarter.

my point is pretty simple. if this server pop takes a major nose dive (or maybe before then) you should consider what it is that the Red crowd wants
PVP
not exp losss
not lvl loss
not sitting around for decades waiting for mana bars to refill
not looking for a month to find a bind
not digging through your spell book for your pvp spell load out

look at Sullon Zek, server wide exp bonus, server wide exp loss Cut
on Sullon you had hard coded teams, and while I hated the rp aspect of those teams you knew there were people who had your back. the team aspect made Sullon a great home for a lot of people in spite of the rather insane 5-85 pvp lvl limit.

some thoughts and or suggestions

implement an exp bonus, a significant one. 5 times would be a bit much but 2.5-3 would be on target for most players.

if the above goes into effect consider upping the loot tables from 1-25 or so. you cant even afford spells when you out level your money making abilities.

remove exp loss on pvp death. punishing people for pvp is kinda counter to a pvp server, and when I say punishing I mean over and above the insanity that is the eq corpse run...easily the most punishing game mechanic of its type outside of character deletion.

if at all possible put an end to deleveling, its a bad mechanic period. (hell remove ALL exp loss other than the self inflicted kind)

boost mana and hp regen outside of combat between 3x and 5x would be my guess. back when EQ was THE game 15 minute med sessions were acceptable, not so much anymore. if you arent fighting something you are sitting on your ass medding, we dont play to med, we play to pvp.

access to locked zones, either perma break access to those zones or make them open to all. nothing and I mean nothing breaks eq pvp faster or more brutally than a guild/team with safe havens to pve in and gain a massive gear imbalance. On a Zek there should be no place safe to hide.

that's a start, my short list. I am sure others will be along. some will say that the above changes would make this like the EZ server. maybe but the red crowd doesnt play on the EZ server because its blue...we might just stick around on this one, if the grind doesnt chase us off first.


{this post came about after a conversation with some of my old Sullon crew, ALL of us felt basically the same way, the current state of the server is boooooooooring and actively hostile to fun (no spell sets? really? this wasnt a game breaking mechanic it was a needed function) so much removed that was good for game play, so much not added that was in eq back in 99. all I am asking is you give it some thought}

I'm blue.


But I'm not that blue.

[Nuggie]

Originally Posted by Cwall [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

blue as fuck

[Diabalein]

Originally Posted by Hasbinbad [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

I'm blue.


But I'm not that blue.

I am not sure Blue means what you think it means.

the more time you spend playing pve
the less you spend in pvp
this is a pure blue server with zero acknowledgement of the pvp game.

I do love the pvp range solution, thats very close to something I suggested years ago.

[tsaC]

Originally Posted by Foxx [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

tldr

spark notes plz

this... tho im pretty sure its not good considering the replies

[Darwoth]

reason the server has a high population is because it emulates classic with all the good and bad things, changing it to easy mode will drive off more folks than it will keep. hence the reason every other pvp emu is a 50 pop piece of crap.

[Amuk]

I get where he's commen from but don't really agree with it - keep it classic yo.