Overpopulated

[Jack N]

Enjoy the strong pop while you can morans

[sajbert]

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

Spoiler: Literally nobody here has actually played classic. Everyone's just roleplaying that they did.

Oh I think a fair number played Classic (myself included), I just highly doubt that more than a very very select few ever made it to level 50 or ever heard of manastone or guise during the classic timeline. Out of those who did it's even fewer who can actually remember what the game was like back then in terms of population.

[Mblake81]

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

Oh I think a fair number played Classic (myself included), I just highly doubt that more than a very very select few ever made it to level 50 or ever heard of manastone or guise during the classic timeline. Out of those who did it's even fewer who can actually remember what the game was like back then in terms of population.

I would have to disagree, I joined in early 2000 and the manastone was well known but they had already patched it out. That is still within the classic timeline. So was the dark elf mask.

When this project started the population was really low so those in the know went there to get it. Over the years, after the removal of the mana stone here, more and more people joined P99. The server went on for a decade before Green, over that time the price of manastones, if you could find one, fetched a very high price.

The difference being: In classic no one new what the hot items were, when and what was going to happen when the game first launched. On p99 blue the pop was low and the few playing here did know that. On Green it was talked about on the forums before the server launched, and after a full decade of blue with people talking/knowing about it/ and many who went to play there already knew about the manastone/guise. People were revved up and ready to get that.

Also the wiki is popular and details the information. There are no secrets about it, there are no guesses.

[TripSin]

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

Oh I think a fair number played Classic (myself included), I just highly doubt that more than a very very select few ever made it to level 50 or ever heard of manastone or guise during the classic timeline. Out of those who did it's even fewer who can actually remember what the game was like back then in terms of population.

I was being facetious. I was assuming that would be obvious. I actually think the vast majority of people here have played classic. And I would also imagine that the vast majority of people who are here playing P99 today in 2020 probably played it pretty heavily/seriously back when it first came out.

I imagine that problems arise here because of a number of possible factors: 1) The "classic" experience was probably different for each person to a degree - different servers for example might've provided different experiences for different people. 2) People have rose-colored nostalgia glasses on that's causing them to remember aspects of classic EverQuest differently from how it actually was. 3) People don't realize or are underappreciating how a classic experience can't be possible given that it's 2020 (i.e. that everyone playing now has a ton of knowledge about the game, nothing is novel anymore, we have way more software and better hardware to help play the game more efficiently, etc. etc.). 4) Sometimes people are just plain ignorant and maybe just aren't aware of things like the fact that 1200+++ population servers was a norm in classic EverQuest (like for me, I came in right before Kunark was released so there was more area for people to be spread out over).

[Mblake81]

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

nothing is novel anymore, we have way more software and better hardware to help play the game more efficiently, etc. etc.)

And this is one reason why I think there can never be another game like original Everquest made again. It was literally a product of its time.

There were secrets in EQ that wasnt well known until years after the fact. Today though, if you had a game trying to be like that it wouldn't work, for starters any secret would find its way onto youtube to strike while the iron is hot and to get that sweet ad money. Some doofy streamer would be munching chips into the mic and spilling all the secrets.

Part of original EQs charm is we didn't have any of that, you went searching for clues on webpages and sometimes the information was good and other times it wasn't.

We also couldn't watch another player do something in a stream, or to "stream snipe". You could read someones thoughts/guide and do you best to play. You still had to find out for yourself and play the game.

Heck, there are games today I would like to have played but will never buy just because I can find out all the good stuff without buying it and playing.... why buy the Cow when you can the Milk for free?

Games are entertainment like a TV today.. even worse would be a MMORPG trying to be like EQ but also trying to be entertaining to a streamer audience. A very hard pass for me.

*Note: Some quests in original EQ make me scratch my head when I read the wiki, honestly how the heck did anyone figure those out. I bet a developer gave someone hints but who knows.

[Zephire]

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

Oh I think a fair number played Classic (myself included), I just highly doubt that more than a very very select few ever made it to level 50 or ever heard of manastone or guise during the classic timeline. Out of those who did it's even fewer who can actually remember what the game was like back then in terms of population.

I second that. If memory serves, Verant removed server pop numbers a few months before Kunark released. I never saw any server over 1500 prior to that

when I started in July 99 it was the first week Brell went up.. there were 300 people on it when I rolled my ranger. Never saw it over 1100

[Mblake81]

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

I second that. If memory serves, Verant removed server pop numbers a few months before Kunark released. I never saw any server over 1500 prior to that

when I started in July 99 it was the first week Brell went up.. there were 300 people on it when I rolled my ranger. Never saw it over 1100

I have a distinct memory of Bristlebanes server number in the early afternoon being around 300 and it would pickup later into the evening/night then die back off closer to midnight (working adults). I want to say it would creep close to 7-800 at peak evening and closer to 1k on the weekends. Camps were packed during the busy hours.

[Dolalin]

Vanilla EQ was designed for 2k concurrent players, per Brad.

Green is underpopulated.

[Vizax_Xaziv]

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

Vanilla EQ was designed for 2k concurrent players, per Brad.

Green is underpopulated.

2000 concurrent players across all level ranges, spread across all of Norrath.

While the reworked ZEMs have alleviated some of zone crowding, the top-heaviness problem is still an issue. Maybe open Teal to level 35+ transfers only. Good riddance I say!

[Lampolo]

On live I remember killing lots if yellow, red, white cons in groups. On green everyone just wants to full group blues and greens. There are also lots of people farming no xp mobs. Sola is a great example of this. Theres almost always a 40+ sitting on kindle but killing everything from freet to cap. Doing this hogs half a dung for 1 person. A full group of 30-35 is too high for a camp like the bar, most 35's can solo it but we full group it on green, killing every mob in the other half of the dung. This is the prob with green. Your all a bunch a greedy, lazy, unskilled bastards that play your toon like a 6 yr old. If your in a grp and your killing greens...