Devs : considerations for better community activity and health

[Trollhide]

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

These are excellent suggestions! The lack of a port for Surefall Glade in the original EverQuest and up to Luclin was a glaring oversight. Eventually the portal spells were added after Luclin during November of 2001 just 31 months after EverQuest went live in April of 1999. It is now 6 years and 9 months after the release of P1999 in October of 2009. Surely enough time has passed for the inclusion of the Surefall Glade portal spells.

By this logic Project 1999 should also have AAs right now.

[Khaleesi]

The point here is that we know people are lazy and goto the common easy spots too often. We also know that if htey wanted to, even as new players with no coin for teleports or friends to help them, they can make the long journeys. The problem is that because it isn't particularly easy or convenient, then they avoid it. And with a population that's 2/3 or 3/4 less than old live servers, that means there's not many players in those areas.

If we were to have things implemented/opened in the game, it would give them incentive to not crowd areas, and start to span out to other areas. Given that the server is not 100% strict classic, then it's not unreasonable to suggest such an idea.

Originally Posted by Spyder73 [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

This +1,000,000

The LFG function is already hard coded into the game, just activate it.

People could make LFG like - LFM Kedge Keep; LFM Hole group

Some of these "out of the way zone" would all of a sudden become more popular if people could actually assemble groups in a reasonable manner other then /who all over and over

While the LFG may help make things a little easier, that's not the core issue.
Realistically, doing /who commands is not that difficult..

And another reason I did not mention the use of the LFG feature, is because it's one of the concepts that eventually led to the 'anonymous' dungeon play found in modern MMORPGs.

When people have /who and then /tell and discuss grouping, it's a lot more involved and thorough.

I would much rather get a tell and have a talk to someone about joining a group in Kaesora(while I'm in Permafrost), to get a bead on whether it's legit/long term - worth the time investment. Anonymous LFG type systems begin to lead to laziness and then people seeing that your LFG far away from them. Therefore, just like it is now when they /who; they won't bother as you're too fair away (so they believe) - which makes the LFG feature moot yet simultaneously potentially harmful.

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

While I am not a strict-classic kinda guy, there isn't really much going on in Western Antonica in the first place. There's not really any reason to go there. If you're wondering, there is a (wizard) port to Western Karana, and if you evac from there, it takes you to WK/QH ZL which is closer than Surefall.

Aside from that I really do think there are some things that need to be considered to maintain community health.

A) The point about a Wizard is moot - if people can afford a port to and from, then for new players, that's half the battle solved.
B) To think that there's nothing of interest, especially experience wise on that side, is very ignorant I'm afraid.

Even if it wasn't about leveling experience per se - simply the adventure and activities, the zones and the sites ..it's definitely worth it. And in contrast to all the worn out regurgitated areas most people go to, it's a nice change of pace.

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

I personally don't believe opening up a Surefall Glade portal will have a major impact on the server. I have been told zones like Permafrost suffer from mobs healing through walls and such that makes grouping there in your tweens extremely difficult, so basically it is a bear pit / vox / item camp zone.

Blackburrow is a nice zone but I did see a decent amount of people there about 4 months back. Gnoll Fangs are excellent xp, so people can easily make the one time long run from the karanas (a right of nostalgia passage... lets be honest about that) and get a bind in Qeynos.

Are you claiming Permafrost is bugged? Because healing through walls happens in many places. Should we also avoid grouping and fighting in Cazic Thule - or any other location where mobs heal through walls?
As far a LFG window, I have mixed feelings. Its not that hard to find someone to duo or trio with, building a full group of 50+ people is tough but not always necessary. The hardest thing I ran into was absence of key classes such as cleric or enchanter to group with when building. So not sure LFG window would restore that.[/QUOTE]

Right, LFG system would not resolve that underlying issue; yet how many times have you gone to /who and ask a Cleric or Enchanter to join you while in an out of the way place, and find them already grouped somewhere mundane like Mistmoore or Unrest or Karnors, and for the ones that are LFG, they don't want to experience any where that isn't one of the common easy to get to places?

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

SFG Portal: I like how everything west of WK is a little distant from the rest of the world. IMO it's fine to leave it as it is. People who want to exp in BB already do it regardless.

The only reason it's good that it's 'out of the way' is because it means there's less people there; that's a catch-22.. What's worse though is when things are lopsided as they are now. Even if they did what I've requested, the ratio would always tip towards the way things are now, just a bit less for everyone's benefit.

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

Increase exp: I dunno if there is a need for this in the age of bard swarming and Chardok AE'ing.

Erm, not many people do either.

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

I've always thought the exp modifiers should change week to week, to get people out of Mistmoore and into Crystal Caverns or Crypt, Dalnir, Runnyeye, and other less frequented dungeons.

Not a bad idea - it's done on other servers. However people would probably miss out due to various reasons and in the end get frustrated to the point where they don't bother to even look at the modifier updates(provided the developers posted it[could turn out to be a secret])and end up staying in the normal spots.

[Khaleesi]

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

Mods should just instantly remove threads like these. There are so many.

Or they could do something about it...

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

These are excellent suggestions! The lack of a port for Surefall Glade in the original EverQuest and up to Luclin was a glaring oversight. Eventually the portal spells were added after Luclin during November of 2001 just 31 months after EverQuest went live in April of 1999. It is now 6 years and 9 months after the release of P1999 in October of 2009. Surely enough time has passed for the inclusion of the Surefall Glade portal spells.

From a lore perspective it makes no sense that the Jaggedpine Treefolk who have their base of operations in Surefall Glade with high level trainers and spells would not have access to nearby druid rings which are physically present but unused in Surefall Glade. It is impractical and inconceivable that the druids of the Jaggedpine Treefolk would have to travels miles to the North Karana which is the nearest functional druid ring.

The Surefall Glade druid portal would open up the entire west coastal areas of Antonica and revitalize the zones you mentioned.

The experience modifier idea for non-used zones is a marvelous idea for the reasons you stated!

While I appreciate the philosophy and intent of the admins with regard to their stance on simulating the original EverQuest, it's high time to stop falling back on the trite "it's not classic EQ" fallacy to block much needed changes to the P1999 version of Norrath that would enhance the player experience and help to alleviate the artificial herding of most players into a few high ZEM zones.

Due to twinking via mudflation and the glacial release of expansions, the current state of P1999 in no way shape or form resembles near the classic EverQuest player experience. Your changes are spot on and would go a long way in alleviating some of the problems and not degrade or dumb down any of the classic EQ gameplay brought to us courtesy of P1999.

Thank you I am glad someone actually read and understood that - at least in regards to Surefall Glade, this was something that should have existed but Verant/Sony didn't manage to do it in time before Luclin ; and how beneficial it could be. I also appreciate your lore angle as well.

The zone modifiers is more of a custom job, specifically and intentionally because we don't have the real ZEMs here. We know that Kunark zones for example were tinkered with among others. They should spend some time redoing them how they see fit.

And you additionally summed up Project 1999s woes in an eloquent way where upon we need any thing we can get to help put some actual classic feel back into the game. If making slight modifications or speeding up the timeline can assist with this, then it's worth considering - given the FACT that there are plenty of non classic things going on, that are NOT due to technical reasons. As I stated in the beginning, the developers saw things that would make the emulated server more popular and appealing, so they included or did not include them, despite not being classic.

It is definitely time we got off the 'classic' high horse.

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

Its a classic server.

Asking for non-classic things is usually a non-starter. Impact of such changes are not even considered.

Same request. Different day.

Same result.

Troll much?

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

Was tab-cycling thru targets classic? No.
Was third person scrolling classic? No

The list is far far deeper than that. Haynar's comment is ludicrous and disingenuous. But he is right about one thing ... nonsensical developer comments = same requests, different day..same results..

It's amazing how they shoot down things whether it be tweaks, ideas or a new server and yet on the front page it reads " ...and several modifications making game mechanics similar to how the game used to be."
Similar, not exact.

And...

"The server will stop at Velious, at which point many options will be considered, including possible custom content that will maintain the spirit of the game, and/or an additional new server starting over at Pre-Kunark."

Might as well bold the entire sentence since here we are..at Velious, 90% or more of the content complete and on lock down.

Custom content ideas - shot down an dismissed as a waste of time
New server ideas - shot down an dismissed as a waste of time

Same request. Different day. Same result.

[lonmoer]

PLANES OF POWER WILL SOLVE ALL!!

[Jimjam]

Roll back to pre-basic planes will solve all!

[Rygar]

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

Are you claiming Permafrost is bugged? Because healing through walls happens in many places. Should we also avoid grouping and fighting in Cazic Thule - or any other location where mobs heal through walls?

In regards to Permafrost, I never tried grouping there, but another poster mentioned the heal through walls causes you to pull mobs back, but the pathing can be buggy (people mention mobs running through walls or depopping) and give you big trains. This can be difficult for people to handle at that level.

It would be nice to see more people use empty zones, I'm all about that, I was just saying there may be a reason people don't stick around in that zone.

I personally LOVE the Hole, but a ton of mobs heal through walls, so I'm not saying to avoid zones like that. I learned the zone well enough to know where I can fight mobs and pull them to. However, the pathing in that zone is phenomenal, never had any bugged or glitched pulls. For the record to the devs, that is not classic. Mobs running in circles and bringing 10 golems to your party was a major problem. Little 'quality of life' improvements are OK to keep a classic experience.

[Zuranthium]

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

By this logic Project 1999 should also have AAs right now.

What do AA's have to do with Lore? Bad logic.

[Evia]

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

These are excellent suggestions! The lack of a port for Surefall Glade in the original EverQuest and up to Luclin was a glaring oversight. Eventually the portal spells were added after Luclin during November of 2001 just 31 months after EverQuest went live in April of 1999. It is now 6 years and 9 months after the release of P1999 in October of 2009. Surely enough time has passed for the inclusion of the Surefall Glade portal spells.

From a lore perspective it makes no sense that the Jaggedpine Treefolk who have their base of operations in Surefall Glade with high level trainers and spells would not have access to nearby druid rings which are physically present but unused in Surefall Glade. It is impractical and inconceivable that the druids of the Jaggedpine Treefolk would have to travels miles to the North Karana which is the nearest functional druid ring.

The Surefall Glade druid portal would open up the entire west coastal areas of Antonica and revitalize the zones you mentioned.

The experience modifier idea for non-used zones is a marvelous idea for the reasons you stated!

While I appreciate the philosophy and intent of the admins with regard to their stance on simulating the original EverQuest, it's high time to stop falling back on the trite "it's not classic EQ" fallacy to block much needed changes to the P1999 version of Norrath that would enhance the player experience and help to alleviate the artificial herding of most players into a few high ZEM zones.

Due to twinking via mudflation and the glacial release of expansions, the current state of P1999 in no way shape or form resembles near the classic EverQuest player experience. Your changes are spot on and would go a long way in alleviating some of the problems and not degrade or dumb down any of the classic EQ gameplay brought to us courtesy of P1999.

100% agree. And I usually scream "not classic" call it your custom content if you must, but you've gotta admit this guy has some great ideas here.

Bonuses or added benefits for hunting in certain zones that you guys change up periodically would not only get people hunting in obscure areas, it would also promote with it the Everquest adventurous spirit. It might also inspire someone to level up alts, adding to the population in the leveling scene.

I don't know. I get it that some things aren't classic. And you always have to ask where you draw the line in regards to changes,but p99 needs some inspiration of sorts. Some pure "classic in spirit" changes to a world that resembles nothing of the good ol' EQ we grew up falling in love with.

[Trollhide]

Originally Posted by Brontus

What do AA's have to do with Lore? Bad logic.

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

These are excellent suggestions! The lack of a port for Surefall Glade in the original EverQuest and up to Luclin was a glaring oversight. Eventually the portal spells were added after Luclin during November of 2001 just 31 months after EverQuest went live in April of 1999. It is now 6 years and 9 months after the release of P1999 in October of 2009. Surely enough time has passed for the inclusion of the Surefall Glade portal spells.

What does lore have to do with anything?

[Vheran]

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

No. This is a classic server. They aren't going to change it. Just stop. Do you realize how many people would stop playing here if they started messing around like that?

How many people in the future are going to stop playing the game because nothing fresh is implemented? 5 years from now when no ideas are considered and are scoffed at by the devs repeatedly, instead of even given constructive criticism or responses, I'd love to see the statistics of how many people are staying to do the same thing with nothing to look forward to versus the bleeding of population who got tired of it.