Merge Green with Blue

[Mblake1981]

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

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image of an actual populated server

April 4, 2001

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[Tunabros]

if there ever is a merge, Im quitting p99 until there is a new server

[Gustoo]

Originally Posted by Mblake1981 [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

April 4, 2001

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mm good times

[Fammaden]

All three zeks significantly less popular than any blue server despite overcrowding on PvE servers. All too familiar eh?

[Ooloo]

See when green launched we actually were hitting numbers in that ballpark, but everyone just knows exactly where to go and what to do *immediately* as soon as the server starts it's a nightmare, but only for like the first two days. People naturally stratify quickly, as some people level faster and other people just wait until the congestion clears up.

And when they first merged teal into green pop hit like 1500 concurrent, there were like 215 people at EC tunnel. It actually made my computer chug a bit (which I chalk up to eq's horribly optimized engine), it was glorious.

I've also always wanted to see the entire online population of a server all in the same zone at once. Like get a big group shot of the whole server all crowded around the ec tunnel ramp. It would be cool to get that kind of perspective on how many people are actually here.

[Danth]

Putting the numbers from Blake's picture into context, during spring 2001 EQ was estimated to have somewhere in the vicinity of 350,000 active subscribers. That suggests his picture was probably made during peak hours because 1/5 of the population being online concurrently is roughly industry average for maximum peak concurrent users relative to total subscriber count.

The highest I can recall seeing blue was in the 2000-2200 max population range during winter 2018-2019. Prior to then it also exceeded 2000 at peak for a time after Velious launch in 2015. Long-term averages tended to be lower though still higher than that of either individual P99 server today. Free MMOGs do not normally have as high a maximum concurrent proportion as subscription games do since people don't feel penalized for not logging in. In free games max concurrent is typically not more than 1/10 the total active user base and sometimes not even that.

I have not seen data on how the stigma and installation difficulty associated with being an emulator might affect P1999's relative concurrent populations. Between all three P1999 servers, depending on how that proportion breaks down it seems unlikely that there are fewer than about 7000 active players, and possibly several times that. 20,000+ is not unreasonable when compared to industry norms, again not accounting for emulator-specific issues. Only the admins who have access to host data could say, and they don't.

Danth

[DeathsSilkyMist]

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

I think it was a mistake leaving blue up when green launched honestly. Green is so much closer to what the project was originally intended to be, and leaving blue up divides the population and undermines interest in the new server. Plus it creates perverse incentives to play on green, like farming legacy items until they stop dropping and then never logging into green again until it merges into blue and they can unload their manastones or whatever.

Green really isn't much different from Blue. It is the same code as Blue, you are just changing which zones see action throughout the life cycle, and you get a chance at legacy loot. And a more restricted UI. That's about it.

If they had deleted blue when Green launched, they would have lost hundreds of players. And every time they just delete your characters and roll another server, hundreds more will be lost.

The problem isn't which server is up, which server is down, etc. The problem is EQ takes too much time investment for all players to want to start over. It is really that simple. You are going to shave off players every time you delete everyone's characters, until the project dies. I doubt we have a large portion of new players constantly coming in.

The only way you could realistically have one Green server and no Blue server would be a custom server where you level faster, mobs spawn faster, gear is easier to get, etc. Then people could have their fun for a few months, leave, and wait for the next restart 6 months later. But obviously that defeats the purpose of P99 hehe.

[Ooloo]

Yeah that's true. I just have a different attitude toward the game I guess, not that there's a right or wrong way to play. I have a well established epic 60 shaman on blue that I rolled almost on day 1 in 2009, when we had global /ooc cause the pop was so low then, so I definitely can understand being invested in your character. But for me personally, as soon as green launched I couldn't wait to do it again and I never touch my blue sham anymore.

[Fammaden]

I think I like the cooldown period idea, merge after they decide to end green but let it be just one server for a while before the next green.

I dislike this population split, it makes the pickup XP group scene suffer on both servers, and that to me is the heart and soul of the classic EQ experience more than the raids or legacy items or server first achievements etc. But it IS fun doing the fresh start server like green.

[Tewaz]

I want a custom P99 server meant for long engagement and replay.

Slightly faster mana regen across the board.
210 bind wound for everyone.
Longer buff duration.
Needed balance adjustments for classes: Mage and Wizard for starters.

Increased raid mob spawning with enforced rotation or some other mechanic for the end game.
Mechanisms to get removed items (or don't remove them but make them extremely rare)

Dream scenario: AA's added and PoP raid zones tuned down to level 60.