Is the server overpopulated? Or is it something more?

[Ivory]

So, I've gotten up to level 56 and have been doing more raiding lately....along with that, I'm starting to discover just how overpopulated the server seems to be! ((And, on my trip up to 56...i also noticed the experience really wasn't the same....ghost zones, no one doing lower quests... it was just a lot of grinding and insane twinked out characters)).

But this overpopulation is really felt most in terms of high end raiding and the time-scales for getting anything accomplished. For example, killing inny happens for a guild once every few months. Or simply being able to kill the noble djorn in sky happens also once every couple of months.

Add into the fact that a lot of classes need rare items from these mobs...and you are looking at years to maybe get a chance at your epic??? Then, if you consider things like trakanon and getting VP keys....to key an entire guild, would take a decade!!

Things seem extremely over populated. Even with earthquakes now and then...the time scales for these things is insane.

Personally...I would love to see something more to do than just twink out an alt or sit around for the next raid target rotation.

Heck, even if you make an alt on this server...a lot of the earlier content seems dead (no groups really hunt in cazic thule or splitpaw for example). The reason is that there is no real reason to go to those places.... you can get a lot better equipment from visiting the commons and buying a few things then go back to grinding.

There are a ton of items and content in everquest....that were relevant at some point (on an earlier server).

As people like to say "this isn't classic" :P

But this problem comes from more than just "too many high levels"....it is really a break down in what everquest was meant to be (everquest was never about solely high end farming, it was more about facing challenges and overcoming those high end raids as you got stronger together)


So, how to revitalize the earlier game? (meaning more people will want to play that instead of always sitting around for next raids)

Simple! Create a "refresh server"!

This would be another server that wipes itself clean every year or so (though, instead of deleting the characters, it dumps them onto the main server for people who want to keep playing their characters and continue onto the end game, or who don't want to lose their work and just keep going).

Alternatively, you can choose to permanently delete your character (with some rewards depending on their level? title if you had a level 60 or a fun item that summons a pet? Or could even work with gm's once a year to make some fun stuff)) or select a non-weapon item to "gift" to your next character on the server (weapon items would break things too much).

Basically....this means people would have the opportunity to play through the "classic everquest experience" as if it were really just EQ releasing again in 1999. Over and over again.

This would fragment the server population a bit... and leave the current server alone (so people could continue to raid). But it would revitalize the lower end game and give less competition on the main server for raiding. Effectively....everyone wins!

Suddenly doing newbie quests becomes relevant again ....and getting to hate / fear with several months left before the refresh becomes exciting (instead of waiting for your guilds rotation to clear it for the pixels and yawns).