Proposed new server ruleset: PvE+ [long effortpost]

[Raev]

I think your post is interesting but in the end completely jumps the shark. IMHO there are three big problems with classic 'feel' on Project 1999 currently.

1. Since the server is so old, mudflation reigns and twinking is insane. Fungi/Tstaff monks can own huge sections of dungeons solo. I saw an Awakened Rogue with a Horn of Hsagra, Fungi, Belt of the Great Turtle, Cloak of Flames, and a fucking AOW mask. Needless to say, he was a douche. Even newer players can get superb mid level weapons like the Frozen Shard for cheap.

2. Due to the stagnant content, everyone builds huge armies of alts. Every older player has a pocket cleric and wizard and 10 toons to camp at every raid target. This hugely reduces cooperation because I can ask a friend to log on my own cleric or portbot for 2 minutes and increases demand for epic items and such.

3. A significant group of players are still trying to "win" an emulated EQ server via poopsocking/rule lawyering/waking up at 4AM. The insane competition over the raid scene percolates down and creates this an antisocial attitude where people are busy fucking each other over.

I would also like to see a more classic 'feel' to the server, but I don't think anything near what you are proposing is necessary.

• All items receive a required level = level of the NPC they dropped from -10. This eliminates the vast majority of twinking.
• All buffs cannot be cast on any player < the buff level -10.
• Item recharging is much more expensive, ~10x
• Logging in to a toon binds your IP to that toon for 1 week, preventing you from logging in to other toons. Mules/Guildbots/pocket clerics/Naggy toons vanish.
• Elimination of variance + GM enforced rotation on all raid targets with a tier system to make it more interesting.

All that being said, none of this will happen. The GMs here simply prefer the current environment. My changes could be done in a week; if they actually wanted to do something they would have done so long ago. The server is what it is, either accept it or play somewhere else.

[Vexenu]

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

So you want to keep the "Spirit of classic" by making it as non-classic as possible? Mobs faster than SOW, no rent food, mobs looting you, environment attacks you, outdoor xp penalties which would leave the majority of Norrath completely empty, half the server buys Manastone + pre-nerf Fungi staff from "rare" vendor which is an insanely OP combination for the majority of caster classes.

People put massive amounts of time into gear at the higher end, only to have it looted and destroyed by a raid mob? I'm confused how that is in the spirit of classic at all.

I'm sure you put a lot of time into these ideas but c'mon man that's basically an entirely different game and I'm far from a "classic purist".

Edit: just to add, if raid wipes did have those kind of consequences everything would just be downed with zerg numbers. People aren't going to risk losing something they worked days/weeks for when they can just roll in with 200 people. Guilds already do zerg raids with no fear of losing their gear, can't imagine how it'd be with risk like that added to it. Also mobs like that death touch every 30 seconds would likely just be avoided completely.

I don't think you read the post very carefully (you don't seem to be alone in that regard, although to be fair it was a huge wall of text despite my best efforts to format it for maximum readability).

1) Only DROPPABLE gear would be at risk from being destroyed by raid mobs. The best gear is all NO DROP. Past a certain level of gearing you'd mostly only risk losing some resist jewelry/gear. Or you could put no gear at risk by wearing only NO DROP gear and otherwise empty slots, accepting reduced stats and thus increasing the difficulty of the encounter. The entire purpose is balancing risk, reward and difficulty.

2) Mobs faster than SoW and outdoor XP penalties: discourages easy outdoor leveling and forces people into dungeons. If you can't hack dungeon leveling then you won't advance. That's the entire point of raising the difficulty level.

3) The idea is the Traveling merchant would be *extremely* rare and totally random. Most players would never encounter him. You could not camp him. You would just hope to get lucky one day. The idea that half the server would have access to him is wrong. I'm talking about a rarity level where he might only spawn a few times per real life year for a few minutes at a time, in one of two dozen or so zones.

4) Guilds might zerg more, or they might not. Does it really matter? It's not a raid-focused server proposal. The point is to increase the difficulty and risk of all aspects of the the game, including raiding. It's SUPPOSED to be harder and more punishing, so players would adapt their approach and play more carefully. Working as intended.

[Sadiki]

Every thread.

> Implement all of these changes I like.
> Those changes are too drastic, implement these over-the-top changes instead.

Perhaps these people would enjoy one of the many other servers available on EQemu.

[Lakeland]

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

I don't think you read the post very carefully (you don't seem to be alone in that regard, although to be fair it was a huge wall of text despite my best efforts to format it for maximum readability).

1) Only DROPPABLE gear would be at risk from being destroyed by raid mobs. The best gear is all NO DROP. Past a certain level of gearing you'd mostly only risk losing some resist jewelry/gear. Or you could put no gear at risk by wearing only NO DROP gear and otherwise empty slots, accepting reduced stats and thus increasing the difficulty of the encounter. The entire purpose is balancing risk, reward and difficulty.

2) Mobs faster than SoW and outdoor XP penalties: discourages easy outdoor leveling and forces people into dungeons. If you can't hack dungeon leveling then you won't advance. That's the entire point of raising the difficulty level.

3) The idea is the Traveling merchant would be *extremely* rare and totally random. Most players would never encounter him. You could not camp him. You would just hope to get lucky one day. The idea that half the server would have access to him is wrong. I'm talking about a rarity level where he might only spawn a few times per real life year for a few minutes at a time, in one of two dozen or so zones.

4) Guilds might zerg more, or they might not. Does it really matter? It's not a raid-focused server proposal. The point is to increase the difficulty and risk of all aspects of the the game, including raiding. It's SUPPOSED to be harder and more punishing, so players would adapt their approach and play more carefully. Working as intended.

I read it, every long winded word, but tell me what out of these things you listed are "classic eq"? Traveling merchant is simply something you want, not one thing about it says "classic eq" and honestly you want everything else "harder" but you want some merchant randomly wandering around to make things easier? Very odd.

Why penalize players who want to be outside? So if I can't find a group I get 75% experience loss killing stuff? Why? What makes this "classic eq"?

Gear getting destroyed by raid mobs? When was this in the "spirit" of "classic eq"? No, see we read it, we just realize you have a theory of what you want in a game and want it added to an existing game. You don't want "classic" you want your version and again by all means that's cool but don't act like it's anything close to "class eq" because it just is not.

[Vexenu]

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

I think your post is interesting but in the end completely jumps the shark. IMHO there are three big problems with classic 'feel' on Project 1999 currently.

1. Since the server is so old, mudflation reigns and twinking is insane. Fungi/Tstaff monks can own huge sections of dungeons solo. I saw an Awakened Rogue with a Horn of Hsagra, Fungi, Belt of the Great Turtle, Cloak of Flames, and a fucking AOW mask. Needless to say, he was a douche. Even newer players can get superb mid level weapons like the Frozen Shard for cheap.

2. Due to the stagnant content, everyone builds huge armies of alts. Every older player has a pocket cleric and wizard and 10 toons to camp at every raid target. This hugely reduces cooperation because I can ask a friend to log on my own cleric or portbot for 2 minutes and increases demand for epic items and such.

3. A significant group of players are still trying to "win" an emulated EQ server via poopsocking/rule lawyering/waking up at 4AM. The insane competition over the raid scene percolates down and creates this an antisocial attitude where people are busy fucking each other over.

I would also like to see a more classic 'feel' to the server, but I don't think anything near what you are proposing is necessary.

• All items receive a required level = level of the NPC they dropped from -10. This eliminates the vast majority of twinking.
• All buffs cannot be cast on any player < the buff level -10.
• Item recharging is much more expensive, ~10x
• Logging in to a toon binds your IP to that toon for 1 week, preventing you from logging in to other toons. Mules/Guildbots/pocket clerics/Naggy toons vanish.
• Elimination of variance + GM enforced rotation on all raid targets with a tier system to make it more interesting.

All that being said, none of this will happen. The GMs here simply prefer the current environment. My changes could be done in a week; if they actually wanted to do something they would have done so long ago. The server is what it is, either accept it or play somewhere else.

Those would be good changes, but the IP binding would be too easy to circumvent for those inclined to do so. You'd just end up punishing honest players.

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

Sounds interesting - I'd play on it over current server.

Personally I'd just like a green server with classic rules and mechanics like the way it was originally that progresses in the same time frame as it did on live.

I'd like to see problem mechanics removed:

- No MQ (or at least 1 MQ per month per character max)
- Lazy aggro in Kunark Velious
- No OP FD -> Sneak
- No binding in dungeons in Kunark / Velious
- Original bind rules for melee's Kunark / Velious
- Randomized and relocated manastones / Fungi's
- Soulfires pre-nerfed Pally only
- Fully implemented classic PnP not just cherry picked PnP
- No drop removed for all items except some quest itmes, epic quest items and epics
- TLC on common highly camped mobs

Agree with most of these changes as well.

[fadetree]

I'm with ya in spirit, but I think this is a little too hardcore.

[Vexenu]

Also, for fuck's sake people, this is an obvious theorycraft thread and hypothetical discussion. I assure you, your pixels are at no risk and there is zero chance that Rogean and nilbog will suddenly implement these ideas. There's no need to have your jimmies rustled so hard you joyless, unimaginative bastards, so lighten up. It's just a topic for discussion.

DURRRR NOT CLASSIC GO PLAY SOMEWHERE ELSE

*clutches pixels tightly to chest*

[Lakeland]

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

Also, for fuck's sake people, this is an obvious theorycraft thread and hypothetical discussion. I assure you, your pixels are at no risk and there is zero chance that Rogean and nilbog will suddenly implement these ideas. There's no need to have your jimmies rustled so hard you joyless, unimaginative bastards, so lighten up. It's just a topic for discussion.

DURRRR NOT CLASSIC GO PLAY SOMEWHERE ELSE

*clutches pixels tightly to chest*

Seems the only one with any real panties all bunched up is you. Someone asked for opinions on an idea, he's getting them except for your post which is simply someone jumping around complaining about people who aren't complaining.

[Vexenu]

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

Seems the only one with any real panties all bunched up is you. Someone asked for opinions on an idea, he's getting them except for your post which is simply someone jumping around complaining about people who aren't complaining.

I assure you that my panties are not bunched up. I'd simply like to hear more intelligent criticism than "LOL NOT CLASSIC" or "MAKE UR OWN SERVER BRO".

There is no need for people to feel so rustled by hypothetical discussion of a server ruleset.

[Izmael]

Obviously quite a bit of thinking went into OP's post - I'd undersign about 95% of it.

Not sure what to think of the traveling merchant (why?) and charm resistance (if we nerf charm, we have to nerf a bunch of other stuff as well - necros soloing, druids/wizards quadding, bards swarming (even 10 is a lot of mobs).

I totally agree with the general idea - make EQ hard as it was back when we all were clueless.

Maybe make ALL the mobs hit for the 2x or 3x the damage they are supposed to and make sure they outrun any kind of speed spell outdoors AND indoors should be enough to make it pretty damn hard to get loot and exp?

Maybe also make all mobs summon so root/rot, fear kite and such don't work.

Basically force people to group and even then it should be super hard to achieve anything.