server population

[Dannermax]

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

The game was called Everquest. Think about it:

EVER. QUEST.

The point of the game was supposed to be that you are experiencing an alternate World which continuously has something new for you to discover, overcome, or be engaged by; always an adventure to go on. When there is no more adventure left, there is no more Everquest. Sitting around camping for drops or level grind and doing the exact same fights over and over and over is not what the game was supposed to be about.

Everquest has an amazing World. The landscapes and zones and creatures and lots of other little touches are eminently more enthralling for whatever reason than that of any other audiovisual MMORPG to date. Again, though, all of those wonderful qualities cease to have much value when the game itself stops immersing you into that World.

What Everquest needs to have, for the game to adhere to the original vision of what it was supposed to be and for it to continue being the amazing game that people got drawn into during the beginning, is constantly changing content. Players should never know exactly how an area is going to spawn or exactly where many of the items/rewards in the game are going to drop. Obviously some drops need to be static to give each area of the game its own unique draw, but the content itself that you have to fight in order to get those drops should be ever-changing. Players need to have reason to constantly explore the entire game World and they need to be constantly challenged by the encounters.

Without that element, no MMORPG these days will ever be "the classic Everquest experience" or be the game that Everquest should have been. The sad thing is that the people in charge of the companies creating these games are not allowing such a thing to exist. They only want to get in on the WoW model because they believe it to be the easiest/best way to make cash. They are wrong. I'm not sure how many of you followed HORIZONS from early development, but that very well could have been the game which picked up where Everquest failed and allowed "the classic Everquest experience" to be revived and evolve into the next level of dynamic gaming. Unfortunately, the creator behind the game got overthrown by the ignorant producers and thus they ruined the game and we never got to see what it was intended to be.

Guild Wars 2 looks to be another MMORPG that finally tries to bring back what Everquest should be, however I disapprove of the design and mechanics of that game. It just doesn't have the same level of personality, originality, and immersion as Everquest.

So that brings us to p1999. A game with capable developers who have succeeded in corralling the largest population ever for an Everquest emulator. This is not Everquest, though. It can't be, because you've missed out on the SOUL of what Everquest actually was. I wish you guys would realize what made Everquest the game it was and start trying to bring THAT back. You need to have dynamic content or it doesn't work. p1999 could be a relatively huge game with a constant 10k+ population (more servers would need to open obviously) if you stopped with this futile attempt of simply cloning the shell of EQ as it was over a decade ago. Use the Everquest World as it was intended to be used and create a real living, breathing, ever-changing gaming environment. It would be a smash and people who want to relive "the classic Everquest experience", or experience it for the first time, would get far more out of it and continue playing for far longer than what we are currently seeing.

Nice post Zuranthium. I agree with most of what you are saying. But i do feel that i am back in 2001, and to mee it has got a classic feel to it. I know that there arent any GM events, or you feel makes EQ dynamic. To me, im having as much fun, as i did back then. I'd just wish that there were more people online..!

[Arclanz]

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

... To me, im having as much fun, as i did back then. I'd just wish that there were more people online..!

Very few players enjoy the spawn coveting on P99. Probably 100ish (since IB left). That is your steady population. Everyone else, like myself, were just visiting. No amount of server promotion is going to grow the server; you will only get new visitors. There isn't an endless supply of new visitors so either change the end game rules or enjoy being a 100 player emu.

Looking for suggestions? They've been stated before ad infinitum (years ago). Reduce the spawn timers dramatically. This is PVE not PVP; a force with the right numbers and skills should get to schedule a raid at least once a month. That is classic for the vast majority of EQ players, certainly the cool ones.

Massive Marc, QFT brother. Keep fighting the good fight!

[Deathrydar]

Maybe make another server, start from scratch, but have different rules, like the ones that are being suggested above?

If people want to stay on the "real" classic server, they can. Otherwise, people will move to this "kind of classic" server. I think people will come back once issues like the raiding and spawn times are resolved.

Times are different now then they were in 1999......a lot of us have families and can't stay online to camp spawns and be online all of the time.

I am not saying to darstically change the server, just minor tweaks that may bring players back that chased them away.......

[Striiker]

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

You need to have dynamic content or it doesn't work. p1999 could be a relatively huge game with a constant 10k+ population (more servers would need to open obviously) if you stopped with this futile attempt of simply cloning the shell of EQ as it was over a decade ago. Use the Everquest World as it was intended to be used and create a real living, breathing, ever-changing gaming environment. It would be a smash and people who want to relive "the classic Everquest experience", or experience it for the first time, would get far more out of it and continue playing for far longer than what we are currently seeing.

Well, this is a good idea for a server where the intention is to make a classic style EQ server with enhancements according to "the vision" of whomever is building and maintaining the server. You (and others) frequently forget the very clearly stated goal of this sever which is to recreate the EQ environment as close as possible to the original (warts and all). The other goal states that the server goes to Vellious and ends there. Any discussion outside of this fails to accept these stated goals. Nilbog does not want to improve the graphics, the quests, the balancing issues, or change things to match what he "feels" it should have been. He wants to clone what once was and for most of us, that's fine.
I have had my disagreements with some decisions since the changes seemed needless and introduced problems which were later admitted to by Verant/SOE on live and fixed (racial / class XP penalties for example). In the end though, I do realize that these changes are in line with the clearly stated vision for the server and grudgingly accept that the change is here to stay.

Perhaps someone will make a classic style EQ server with the fixes and enhancements and changes to fit his or her vision of how EQ classic should have been but it's not going to be on P1999.

[Zuranthium]

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

Well, this is a good idea for a server where the intention is to make a classic style EQ server with enhancements according to "the vision" of whomever is building and maintaining the server. You (and others) frequently forget the very clearly stated goal of this sever which is to recreate the EQ environment as close as possible to the original (warts and all).

As I've said a hundred times, you don't seem to understand that simply cloning the exact coding of the game as it was back then doesn't work. When people first played Everquest, they had to actually explore and figure things out for themselves. All of that is lost, because everything has already been figured out. Without the essential element of adventure, Everquest is not Everquest.

The only way to recreate what Everquest was actually like back then is to have content that is constantly changing so that players need to continuously figure out how to beat it. It's great to be able to load into p1999 and see the game as it was back then, and bring back those memories, but it's not at all the same game. Hence, why people tend to stop playing p1999 relatively quickly. For EVER-QUEST to actually exist, players need to be doing exactly that.

What people love is the Everquest World. All of the different locations, the creatures, the danger, the sounds/music, the spell effects, the sense of individuality between characters, and the idea of taking part in this living game environment where you are constantly doing something new and/or achieving an exciting goal. The elements of "exciting" and "unpredictable" are lost when nothing ever changes or is at stake, though. It all just becomes routine and then the magic is gone. I'm very sure that nearly everyone who has played on this server would enjoy it a lot more if the Everquest World was preserved, but some of the functionality was changed so that people are getting an experience which is much closer to what the classic Everquest experience was really like (and what it was always intended to be by the people who made the game).

It would be VERY easy to add a decent amount of unpredictability into the high-end game to make it so that raiding the Planes and Dragons and those big encounters are actually a constant challenge, not just a matter of getting there first with as many people as possible. All you have to do is make the creatures in those areas spawn with a random selection of varying capabilities every time and also make them more powerful based upon the number of people in the immediate area (which could/should include additional monsters spawning into the fight). If these big fights were actually a different experience every time, if they were actually EPIC and didn't get easier (or at least not much easier) by simply adding in as many players as possible to the encounter, then we would have a far more interesting and engaging game to play.

That's how Everquest actually was back then. People didn't understand how to pull certain areas or how to beat certain monsters. It was a challenge and an adventure. p1999 desperately needs this in order for the real classic Everquest experience to come alive again. Guilds would frequently be getting wiped by these epic encounters and then the next guild in line would get the chance to try and succeed. Again, this would not be a hard thing to code into the game and it wouldn't require any maintenance. It would be the perfect place to start with regards to giving the game the dynamic quality it NEEDS.

[lawll]

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

That's how Everquest actually was back then. People didn't understand how to pull certain areas or how to beat certain monsters. It was a challenge and an adventure. p1999 desperately needs this in order for the real classic Everquest experience to come alive again. Guilds would frequently be getting wiped by these epic encounters and then the next guild in line would get the chance to try and succeed. Again, this would not be a hard thing to code into the game and it wouldn't require any maintenance. It would be the perfect place to start with regards to giving the game the dynamic quality it NEEDS.

Custom content and tuning mobs a bit harder probability won't work out to well (like every other eq private server).

[Danyelle]

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

Custom content and tuning mobs a bit harder probability won't work out to well (like every other eq private server).

Tell me again how that didn't work out for other servers?

Look at The Hidden Forest. Hell even look at EZ, as disgusting a server as I think EZ is, it still caters to some peoples' needs and has a good population. I respect that.

EDIT: You are right though that it probably won't work here. Because this server isn't meant to be custom.

[Bill Tetley]

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

That's how Everquest actually was back then. People didn't understand how to pull certain areas or how to beat certain monsters. Guilds would frequently be getting wiped by these epic encounters and then the next guild in line would get the chance to try and succeed.

While I agree with a lot of your post. This I do not agree with... strategies existed then and were executed flawlessly by top end guilds then as they are today.

[Danyelle]

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

While I agree with a lot of your post. This I do not agree with... strategies existed then and were executed flawlessly by top end guilds then as they are today.

I think he's referring more to the first encounters maybe? Those were kinda sloppy/lots of wipes. And it's true people didn't know what they were doing then.

However, in regards to tactics and their execution, it's kind of hard to compare Classic EQ as it was then to P99 as it is now. Considering we have 13 years of knowledge and experience and the websites/databases to back it up now that we did not have back then.

[Acillatem]

The whole variance vs static respawn is a Catch-22. With variance, you have more tracking (ugh)/ racing upon pop. With static respawns, you have more poopsocking (ugh) and racing for FTE. If every guild knows Trak respawns at 3pm, you can bet yer ass every guild is going to have a raid force in Trak's lair by 2pm hoping they can claim FTE. That's not a solution. That is just a different set of problems.

Both options have their pros and cons. And that's the problem. But whatever.

Server population needs a fix on both ends. The bottom end needs a steady stream of incoming players.

The top end needs to find a COMPROMISE to the current situation that appeases all sides. If a compromise can be found for Ragefire, it can be found elsewhere as well.

Everyone is going to have their own opinions on how to fix the top-end, so I will leave that animal alone. However getting new players to the server is something we all can do. Word of mouth. Comments on EQ vids on Youtube. Comments on gaming forums / other forums you belong to. Hell put a flyer up at your local Gamestop. Put an ad on Craigs List - wtf ever. There are lots of things we, the playerbase, can do as a community if it means that much to you to keep this thing going.