I hate this perma-camping shit

[eldub]

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

Zebuxoruk server,

...there was no calendar nor anything of the sort on Zeb. And the only true-FFA mob that I knew of was the (in)famous Lodizal. The rest usually were respected by camping rules - whoever was at the spot killing stuff had the rights to the named, which in theory is similar to what we have here right now.

The contested raid mobs were not FFA, they were "races" between guilds to see who could mobilize faster, buff up and engage. This was true for most of the open-area mobs, like the Kunark dragons, and some "dungeon/city" areas, like Vindi/Statue in Kael, and KT. The first guild to engage the mob had the claim, and should they fail, the other guild standing around had a shot.

Some other mobs were a bit more complicated. For example, Chardok Royals and the Coldain King. The guild that started clearing the way to the Named had the initial claim. Another guild could follow behind, without interfering on anything, in case the initial guild wiped, but that usually was not the case. If someone was clearing down to Royals, other folks usually let them be and moved on.

And in the case of the then-available planes, if there was a weaker guild farming trash in Hate, or Growth, for armor drops, and suddenly Inno/Tunare popped, it was frequent that stronger guilds would show up to attempt the named, but they'd leave the small guys alone and either assist them with clearing (if necessary) and handing over loot, but only after talking to that guild's leadership, and not leapfrogging/training the shiznit out of them. Whoever can engage first, gets the first shot.

It wasn't perfect back then, but it seemed to work... obviously, there was "cockblocking" of higher end mobs, with the top guild on the server having certain targets locked down (Emperor Ssra, for instance, was only killed by a second guild after Planes of Power came out), but the whole cockblocking/drama seems to be part of the EverQuest experience.