Overpopulated

[Joeyco1989]

Never knew the server pop on 7th Hammer, but during Kunark days, EC had over 300+ toons. Green tops out at like 170 in EC. Just one zone and different times/types of player, but an observation.

[douglas1999]

Veeshan definitely broke 2k a few times, and Povar (where I played) came damn close. Those were both open at launch. But I agree player knowledge is the main factor. The gulf between the hardcore and casuals was way broader back then. Some people raced to 50 in three months, some people straggled along on a single character for *years* before hitting 50.

On p99, some people race to 50 in 3 *weeks*, and some people "straggle along" and hit fifty in a few months. The casuals of p99 can't help but be close to as good as the hardcore players were in classic, which really changes the way content is divided and consumed among the population.

But GOD I miss CT pickup groups, I remember there being two full groups in each *corner* of the courtyard, pulling lizards and gorillas out of the temple. Or throwing a group together and navigating the maze and breaking into the pyramid. That just simply never happens anymore.

[magnetaress]

Originally Posted by douglas1999 [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Veeshan definitely broke 2k a few times, and Povar (where I played) came damn close. Those were both open at launch. But I agree player knowledge is the main factor. The gulf between the hardcore and casuals was way broader back then. Some people raced to 50 in three months, some people straggled along on a single character for *years* before hitting 50.

On p99, some people race to 50 in 3 *weeks*, and some people "straggle along" and hit fifty in a few months. The casuals of p99 can't help but be close to as good as the hardcore players were in classic, which really changes the way content is divided and consumed among the population.

But GOD I miss CT pickup groups, I remember there being two full groups in each *corner* of the courtyard, pulling lizards and gorillas out of the temple. Or throwing a group together and navigating the maze and breaking into the pyramid. That just simply never happens anymore.

*yup my life be like*

and if one group wiped, the other grp would usually toss out a rez to the cleric or port the cleric over and invis them to camp

[Fragged]

Originally Posted by douglas1999 [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Veeshan definitely broke 2k a few times, and Povar (where I played) came damn close. Those were both open at launch. But I agree player knowledge is the main factor. The gulf between the hardcore and casuals was way broader back then. Some people raced to 50 in three months, some people straggled along on a single character for *years* before hitting 50.

On p99, some people race to 50 in 3 *weeks*, and some people "straggle along" and hit fifty in a few months. The casuals of p99 can't help but be close to as good as the hardcore players were in classic, which really changes the way content is divided and consumed among the population.

But GOD I miss CT pickup groups, I remember there being two full groups in each *corner* of the courtyard, pulling lizards and gorillas out of the temple. Or throwing a group together and navigating the maze and breaking into the pyramid. That just simply never happens anymore.

CT was so damn popular on live.

[lesell]

I'd like to see proof of the classic numbers, because all I'm seeing is a lot of anecdotes saying 'yeah it was crazy in the day' bla bla. I have looked for a definitive list of pre-Kunark numbers on wayback and the amount of servers they have and I haven't found any. If people have proof that the servers were 2k strong back then, by all means...

And yeah, I remember that the servers DID get really popular, but not at launch-- a lot of it was when word of mouth got around about the game, I remember it being really high when Kunark launched-- but by then we had a ton of servers and way more zones and level ranges. Also most of the 2k strong server were all rolling lizards at that point, not effing around Antonica.

In classic, I remember about 1k per server and they were very quick to release new servers as numbers increased. I remember places pretty full, but not everyone on top of each other like it is now. It was not 30+ people per zone. Again, if I'm mis-remembering, fair enough, but I'd really like to see a list of servers and numbers pre Paineel etc.

Also, I remember when Kerafrym was taken down and they were talking about it afterwards-- that they were cycling 180 people and how strained the server was-- and I was just boggled by the number of people they got for that raid. I remember everyone was kind of awed at the sheer number of people. And this is Velious era, not classic, at the peak of Everquests popularity and with way more zones and servers.

So I just I estimated the number of 'hunting' type zones in classic (excluding city zones) according to ZAMs 'sever by expansion' list, at about 46 zones or so (I might have missed a couple, I excluded things like paineel, the hole, gloomingdeep etc). Given there's 1100 people on green right now, that's around 26 people per zone. So if everyone on green spread out evenly between every single zone right now, there would still be 6.5 groups per zone-- off peak. Even if I include city (approx 70 zones in classic) that's still like 15 or so people to every classic zone, off peak. On peak is what? 1800 people? So on peak means the average is approx 25 people per every zone, or 38 people per zone in the 'hunting/ZEM' zones. That's... crazy to be honest.

I don't remember the numbers reflecting that amount of people back in the day--especially not pre-Paineel. As I said, 180 people raiding was crazy to me at the time, and that was Velious. EDIT: (As an addendum to this, I remember reading that the zone was straining to accommodate the 180 people because the max per zone was 200 or so back then-- I believe there is proof of that in articles, so to the person saying 'EC had like 300 people in classic!' no, pretty sure it didn't. I would say it barely had 180 at peak times.)

Dunno, personally I think another server is needed but I don't care if they don't open one, except that my weekly EQ group will have to reroll on Blue and abandon our mains for now, which kinda sucks. But it's whatever.

That's just my thoughts on it. As I said I could be totally mis-remembering.

[cd288]

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

I'd like to see proof of the classic numbers, because all I'm seeing is a lot of anecdotes saying 'yeah it was crazy in the day' bla bla. I have looked for a definitive list of pre-Kunark numbers on wayback and the amount of servers they have and I haven't found any. If people have proof that the servers were 2k strong back then, by all means...

And yeah, I remember that the servers DID get really popular, but not at launch-- a lot of it was when word of mouth got around about the game, I remember it being really high when Kunark launched-- but by then we had a ton of servers and way more zones and level ranges. Also most of the 2k strong server were all rolling lizards at that point, not effing around Antonica.

In classic, I remember about 1k per server and they were very quick to release new servers as numbers increased. I remember places pretty full, but not everyone on top of each other like it is now. It was not 30+ people per zone. Again, if I'm mis-remembering, fair enough, but I'd really like to see a list of servers and numbers pre Paineel etc.

Also, I remember when Kerafrym was taken down and they were talking about it afterwards-- that they were cycling 180 people and how strained the server was-- and I was just boggled by the number of people they got for that raid. I remember everyone was kind of awed at the sheer number of people. And this is Velious era, not classic, at the peak of Everquests popularity and with way more zones and servers.

So I just I estimated the number of 'hunting' type zones in classic (excluding city zones) according to ZAMs 'sever by expansion' list, at about 46 zones or so (I might have missed a couple, I excluded things like paineel, the hole, gloomingdeep etc). Given there's 1100 people on green right now, that's around 26 people per zone. So if everyone on green spread out evenly between every single zone right now, there would still be 6.5 groups per zone-- off peak. Even if I include city (approx 70 zones in classic) that's still like 15 or so people to every classic zone, off peak. On peak is what? 1800 people? So on peak means the average is approx 25 people per every zone, or 38 people per zone in the 'hunting/ZEM' zones. That's... crazy to be honest.

I don't remember the numbers reflecting that amount of people back in the day--especially not pre-Paineel. As I said, 180 people raiding was crazy to me at the time, and that was Velious. EDIT: (As an addendum to this, I remember reading that the zone was straining to accommodate the 180 people because the max per zone was 200 or so back then-- I believe there is proof of that in articles, so to the person saying 'EC had like 300 people in classic!' no, pretty sure it didn't. I would say it barely had 180 at peak times.)

Dunno, personally I think another server is needed but I don't care if they don't open one, except that my weekly EQ group will have to reroll on Blue and abandon our mains for now, which kinda sucks. But it's whatever.

That's just my thoughts on it. As I said I could be totally mis-remembering.

It’s been posted here before go look through old posts if you want. Many classic servers had the numbers that we are seeing on Blue (and often times higher). For example, when they split I think it was Fennin Ro they had like over 2.5k people on it or something. Most servers were close to 2k by Kunark.

What’s really happening here is that people have less patience than they did back then. And I say that not trying to be snide or sarcastic at all. Back then people would log in and just run around Norrath sometimes just being amazed at the game world. They’d log in and sit around LFG just chatting with their guildies and other people because chatting with people online was still a pretty new thing. They focused on trade skills a lot even if they weren’t the most min max lucrative skill they could be doing. And on and on. So the population was there, it just wasn’t vocally complaining about not being able to maximize their XP from the second they log in. Nowadays it’s different. The novelty of the world is gone, the novelty of being able to be social online is gone, so we’re left with just the pure video game advancement aspect of it and so people want to be able to do things right away whenever they log in.

[PabloEdvardo]

Originally Posted by cd288 [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

It’s been posted here before go look through old posts if you want. Many classic servers had the numbers that we are seeing on Blue (and often times higher). For example, when they split I think it was Fennin Ro they had like over 2.5k people on it or something. Most servers were close to 2k by Kunark.

As you alluded to, it's not about the numbers, it's about the players. 90%+ of the people online at any given time are min/maxing everything in the game, not just running around socializing like back in live.

On top of the insanely high numbers of tryhards who are camping every mob, you have tons of people using red wood wands now, so a lot of the places that could have supported a group or a couple solo classes are now owned by a single person with wands.

There's very little about the current green experience that feels classic, and it doesn't make sense that they split the servers at launch for the same reasons, but after the merge, apparently the reason they split in the first place is no longer good enough.

[magnetaress]

Originally Posted by cd288 [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

It’s been posted here before go look through old posts if you want. Many classic servers had the numbers that we are seeing on Blue (and often times higher). For example, when they split I think it was Fennin Ro they had like over 2.5k people on it or something. Most servers were close to 2k by Kunark.

What’s really happening here is that people have less patience than they did back then. And I say that not trying to be snide or sarcastic at all. Back then people would log in and just run around Norrath sometimes just being amazed at the game world. They’d log in and sit around LFG just chatting with their guildies and other people because chatting with people online was still a pretty new thing. They focused on trade skills a lot even if they weren’t the most min max lucrative skill they could be doing. And on and on. So the population was there, it just wasn’t vocally complaining about not being able to maximize their XP from the second they log in. Nowadays it’s different. The novelty of the world is gone, the novelty of being able to be social online is gone, so we’re left with just the pure video game advancement aspect of it and so people want to be able to do things right away whenever they log in.

speak fur urself plz i like rping a magnetar online

[TripSin]

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

I'd like to see proof of the classic numbers, because all I'm seeing is a lot of anecdotes saying 'yeah it was crazy in the day' bla bla. I have looked for a definitive list of pre-Kunark numbers on wayback and the amount of servers they have and I haven't found any. If people have proof that the servers were 2k strong back then, by all means...

https://web.archive.org/web/20000510...m/Creation.htm

This snapshot is from May 10, 2000, so this may have been published very shortly after Kunark had just dropped but:

"Choosing a Server...
...Probably the biggest consideration is server population. Many servers suffer from some serious over-crowding issues. The game was designed to handle about 1,500 people at peak, but several servers go into the 2,000 range."

This IGN article is from May 2000 just after Kunark dropped and also talks about the overcrowding issue though I don't see any numbers:
https://www.ign.com/articles/2000/05...uins-of-kunark

I also saw at least several other pages from 2000 and 2001 talking about the overcrowding issue. Like this Eurogamer article https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/kunark or http://members.tripod.com/ms_9ball/kedge.html from Feb 2001 saying how servers were "nearing 2000 players"