server population

[Fists]

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

The whole variance vs static respawn is a Catch-22. With variance, you have more tracking (ugh)/ racing upon pop. With static respawns, you have more poopsocking (ugh) and racing for FTE. If every guild knows Trak respawns at 3pm, you can bet yer ass every guild is going to have a raid force in Trak's lair by 2pm hoping they can claim FTE. That's not a solution. That is just a different set of problems.

Both options have their pros and cons. And that's the problem. But whatever.

Server population needs a fix on both ends. The bottom end needs a steady stream of incoming players.

The top end needs to find a COMPROMISE to the current situation that appeases all sides. If a compromise can be found for Ragefire, it can be found elsewhere as well.

Everyone is going to have their own opinions on how to fix the top-end, so I will leave that animal alone. However getting new players to the server is something we all can do. Word of mouth. Comments on EQ vids on Youtube. Comments on gaming forums / other forums you belong to. Hell put a flyer up at your local Gamestop. Put an ad on Craigs List - wtf ever. There are lots of things we, the playerbase, can do as a community if it means that much to you to keep this thing going.

[Zuranthium]

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

The whole variance vs static respawn is a Catch-22. With variance, you have more tracking (ugh)/ racing upon pop. With static respawns, you have more poopsocking (ugh) and racing for FTE. If every guild knows Trak respawns at 3pm, you can bet yer ass every guild is going to have a raid force in Trak's lair by 2pm hoping they can claim FTE. That's not a solution. That is just a different set of problems.

Once again, the problem comes down to the fact that the content itself is static. It doesn't really matter if there is variance in the repops or not, the encounters are the exact same every time and it's too easy to "win". What the game really needs are encounters constantly changing so that guilds frequently lose when they try to fight the big Dragons/Gods/etc, and then after they lose the next guild in line gets a shot. Similarly, there should be new encounters popping up throughout the game World, both in the form of everyone being able to take part regardless of guild and also in the form of individual guilds spawning the content via quests they achieve as a collective.

That said, if the game content is going to remain static, there are other ways of adding depth to that static content. Namely, guilds should have to COMPETE against each other to have the RIGHTS to raid certain areas for a select amount of time. There are multiple ways to go about this:

The first would be Guild vs Guild PvP matches, with set item restrictions (and number of players) so that it's about PLAYER SKILL and TEAMWORK that decides who wins, not who has farmed more items or has the biggest guild. This would add a whole new dimension to the game, very favorably so. It removes the random element of PvP that people dislike about "Red" Everquest servers, instead creating PvP fights that players willingly engage in and prepare for on equal terms.

The second method would be having Guilds engage in dungeon crawls, with a capped number of people per team, and seeing which guild can "beat" a certain area in the game the fastest. Whichever Guild wins gets first selection of what area they want to raid. The guild who finishes 2nd in the challenge gets the next selection, and so on and so forth until all of the guilds who finished top 8 in the challenge that week (or whatever the period of time would be, perhaps every 5 days or maybe even less) have claimed all of the raid areas. Those guilds then get a certain amount of time to raid the areas they have claimed and if they fail it becomes open to other guilds.

Both of those ideas could also be incorporated into an Everquest with non-static content simply to introduce a leaderboard for bragging rights or maybe even still to lay claim over certain areas of the game for that guild for a certain amount of time. There's tons of potential out there. p1999 can be so much more and the game of Everquest deserves it.

[Slave]

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

The whole variance vs static respawn is a Catch-22. With variance, you have more tracking (ugh)/ racing upon pop. With static respawns, you have more poopsocking (ugh) and racing for FTE. If every guild knows Trak respawns at 3pm, you can bet yer ass every guild is going to have a raid force in Trak's lair by 2pm hoping they can claim FTE. That's not a solution. That is just a different set of problems.

You have literally just compared a 15 minute raid on a mob to tracking and poopsocking each target for hours. Do you even understand what a gigantic difference you're talking about here? I really don't think you do.

[Fists]

The chance of having unique encounters and changing content on this server is extremely low, so why even post that as an option. That idea has been thrown out and the only time it's ever been considered is a year + after Velious.

As for any of these suggestions; how would they be implemented? We haven't had a GM Event in quite some time, guildwar was implemented iirc but has not been used at all.

[Vostok]

I get the impression this is all going to change come velious (in the year 2018) when their is going to be simply to much raid content. that's what i've been told anyway.

[ElanoraBryght]

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

I get the impression this is all going to change come velious (in the year 2018) when their is going to be simply to much raid content. that's what i've been told anyway.

Kunark content may open up. But anyone that thinks Velious adds so much raid content that there won't be poopsocks on every bit of it is fooling themselves. Every one of the nameds on the Velious boss list (except maybe AoW) will be handled easily by the top two guilds if they can keep their numbers in the 40+ range; it'll be the same old FTE race in a new zone.

The easier dragons in HoT and NToV will die the first week too, the tougher ones may live for a cycle or two while gear is farmed from the easier ones. But within a month it'll all have been killed, leaving "Who's going to be the asshole that wakes the Sleeper" the only new flavor of drama. ST keys are a whole lot easier to get than VP keys. It will be good times having two or more guilds in there fighting over pixels because they aren't mature enough to hold talks about sharing their toys.

King Tormax, level 70, <24 hr spawn, 7 day respawn, Kael Drakkel
Derakor the Vindicator, level 70, instant, 8 hour respawn, Kael Drakkel
Statue of Rallos Zek, level 59, <24 hr spawn, 5 day respawn, Kael Drakkel
Idol of Rallos Zek, level 65, instant spawn/respawn on Statue death, Kael Drakkel
The Avatar of War, level 70, instant spawn/respawn upon Idol death, Kael Drakkel
Dain Frostreaver IV, level 70, 1-3 day spawn, 7 day respawn, Icewall Keep
Velketor, level 66, instant, 3 day respawn, Velketor's Labyrinth
Lord Doljonijiarnimorinar, level 65, instant, 3 day respawn, Velketor's Labyrinth
Zlandicar, level 65, 1-3 day spawn, 3-6 day respawn, Dragon Necropolis
Klandicar, level 70, 1-3 day spawn, 3-6 day respawn, Western Wastes
Sontalak, level 70, 1-3 day spawn, 2 day respawn, Western Wastes
Kelorek Dar, level 65, 1-3 day spawn, 7 day respawn, Cobalt Scar
Wuoshi, level 64, 1-3 day spawn, 7 day respawn, Wakening Lands

[Alarti0001]

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

Kunark content may open up. But anyone that thinks Velious adds so much raid content that there won't be poopsocks on every bit of it is fooling themselves. Every one of the nameds on the Velious boss list (except maybe AoW) will be handled easily by the top two guilds if they can keep their numbers in the 40+ range; it'll be the same old FTE race in a new zone.

The easier dragons in HoT and NToV will die the first week too, the tougher ones may live for a cycle or two while gear is farmed from the easier ones. But within a month it'll all have been killed, leaving "Who's going to be the asshole that wakes the Sleeper" the only new flavor of drama. ST keys are a whole lot easier to get than VP keys. It will be good times having two or more guilds in there fighting over pixels because they aren't mature enough to hold talks about sharing their toys.

Your quote is missing about 40 mobs

[batkiller]

It's always good to promote stuff on the big mainstream gaming sites which have forums. And also Fires of Heaven. I would do it myself but I'm not sure of the legality of this server yet.

[Dannermax]

The legality:

http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/83055/page/4

If Sony could approve of this server, the population would be through the roof!!

[Phased]

I love it when people keep bringing up the fact that this is a 13 year old game and an emulated server. What difference does it make? If it were a game that came out today does it make the point any more relevant? Is getting up at 4am to kill your shit suddenly 'okay' then?