server population

[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.

[lawll]

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

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

Aye!

[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.

[lawll]

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

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.

Gotta remember people had lower fps and dial up connections. I would like to see TMO raid with PCs from 2000 on aol with no vent haha.

[Glorindale]

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

Gotta remember people had lower fps and dial up connections. I would like to see TMO raid with PCs from 2000 on aol with no vent haha.

now THAT'S classic