Save the Server, Allow guild instanced raid zones

[Llodd]

Daldaens wonderfully classic suggestions aside, the main problem (if you can even call it that) is the top heavy nature of this server. No server during classic on live was anything remotely like p99 is now. Its a pretty interesting experiment, at least that's how I view it.

It took eq quite some time to arrive at instances because of this very issue. People were paying so it had to be done. Nilbog has the luxury of having no pressure whatsoever to worry about these trivialities. Which is fuckin great!

And btw you cant agree or disagree with anything more than 100%.

[jcr4990]

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

And btw you cant agree or disagree with anything more than 100%.

I disagree with this 200%

[maestrom]

Originally Posted by jcr4990 [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

I think you're over simplifying it a bit. If the only thing that mattered is what guild had the most people with enough flexibility to log on for raids then Rampage would get every single target. Granted they do get most of what they try for but they can (and have) been beaten to FTE on many targets since Velious came out. They also happen to be exceptionally good at mobilization and have multiple characters parked all over the game and a very skilled pull team. But I won't deny that having lots of flexible high playtime raiders is a big part of their success too.

However! Very very very often there are multiple guilds with adequate force in the zone shortly after a hotly contested target spawns. Being the guild that secures the FTE and gets the kill is where the challenge comes in. If you remove that (imo) you remove the only arguably difficult aspect of raiding on this server. You can artificially increase difficulty if you want by doing things with less numbers and such like you mentioned. But many people won't do that. Keeping the race for FTE ensures that there's always going to be an element of challenge to acquire pixels.

Hehe. I'd be curious to see how many targets Rampage makes a full run at and gets beaten.

With variance the way it is, my guild can either sock 1 target and maybe (probably?) waste our night, or we can try to mobilize and get beat by Rampage camping over to their alts that they have camped outside of whatever target spawned.

The game is set up for Rampage to kill everything. Not because the game was designed around Rampage, but because with the way the game was designed the people who ended up joining Rampage were in the best position to win. There's nothing that says the game has to be this way (its certainly not classic). There is no inherent value to the way the game is now, it's just a set of rules that tries to strike a balance between easy for the staff and keeping the masses happy.

[Myfather]

That would be awesome! I just started again!

[Brontus]

How about just creating a new blue server so that other guilds have a chance at having access to high level raid targets?

[jcr4990]

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

my guild can either sock 1 target and maybe (probably?) waste our night

Why would it be a waste of a night? If the only "challenge" of raiding (in your view) is having the numbers available then it should be easy to get any target you sock for with an adequate force right?

[Swish]

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

What I think would be really cool is if there was an end game dragon that kept getting slightly stronger each time after it was killed until finally it was too strong for any guild to kill. If it remained alive and no one was able to kill it then maybe a couple of guilds would team up and try to take it down. Then the process would continue until it was finally so strong that not even 5 or more guilds working together could destroy it. Then once it reached this point and remained unbeaten for an extended period of time, the whole process starts over but with the dragon having new random abilities that no one is prepared for.

As custom content ideas go I think that would be really good. Perhaps the best idea I've seen yet even.

[Swish]

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

How about just creating a new blue server so that other guilds have a chance at having access to high level raid targets?

If the pop on this one gets up past 2.5k I could see this argument maybe.

[maestrom]

Originally Posted by jcr4990 [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Why would it be a waste of a night? If the only "challenge" of raiding (in your view) is having the numbers available then it should be easy to get any target you sock for with an adequate force right?

Absolutely.

Except with 16 hour variance, it's pretty easy to imagine my guild parking it at Trakanon at 5pm and then he spawns while we're at work the next day.

If a guild can realistically have a raid-sized force together and ready to go for ~5 hours a night, even if trak has been in window for 6 hours when they get there, they only have a 50% shot at actually seeing the target.

Too difficult.

[Lazie]

The competition is what brings me back to the server honestly. I take breaks here and there when I get tired of the politics/petitions which is a byproduct of it though without a doubt. I am sure this is the case with a lot of players who have raided at the high end on this server.

I think Daldaen's idea would make it more accessible for more casual players no doubt. It still wouldn't stop the skilled players who invest time and effort more than those casual players from getting the majority of the targets. Honestly, the end game raid scene on this server is more about innovating inside the rule book to secure mobs. You use the game mechanics in front of you to make things easier. Emergent gameplay is alive and well on this server.

Instances would take away the parts of raiding that makes this server unique. You have to make split second decisions and have them work out in your favor to win mobs. These decisions have moving parts and people that have to work together and communicate or it all falls apart. It takes time to build that communication and teamwork up to make it run flawlessly and smooth in the situations this server presents. People who invest the time to perfect that will have success.