Project 1999 - A history of (the lack of) VP

We're 6 months and 17 days since the launch of kunark, and 1 month since the last word from a GM on why the pinnacle zone of the expansion has not been released. It's time to take a look at the timeline of the zone to try and convey the frustration regarding why it hasn't been released.

- Nilbog started working earnestly on VP in february. Here's a thread asking for help / input:
http://www.project1999.org/forums/sh...ad.php?t=27566

- It was not included with Kunark release because it was not ready yet, and it was silly to delay kunark for a zone that couldn't be used or even accessed for at least a month after launch. Perfectly reasonable.

- Around the time we expected it to be released, tornados took out nilbog and the development server. Development continued to a limited degree on the live server in small measure. We know, for instance, that uthgaard was getting epic mobs set up. When tracking for naggy one day, I caught him spawning Zordak Ragefire. With epics being worked on, how far away could VP be? There should be a significant gap between VP and epics because epics trivialize a huge chunk of VP loot. Why would you be working on epics if VP wasn't done or basically done?

- On 8/2, after the development server had been back up for a while, uthgaard made a post ( http://www.project1999.org/forums/sh...4&postcount=23 ) stating that both the hole and VP were done. Both guilds numbers swelled, and heads started bumping like crazy as guilds were on high alert for an opening every weekend. We were told they were just working out an event to open them. A hole event is absolutely classic (an artifact should have been handed out), but a VP event isn't. Regardless, we were all happy VP was shortly to come.

- After over a month of peak numbers for both TR and TMO causing raid dispute after raid dispute, on 9/10, Rogean said that the high end guilds didn't deserve any new content and thus VP would not be opening. Also, the hole (a high level dungeon with a small raid encounter) was opened contradictory to that first point and without its event they didn't have time to do because of other pressing matters (presumably the account suspension / anti hacking stuff and Red99). Well... Hobby had already said 2 weeks before that that he had written the hole opening script / event ( http://www.fohguild.org/forums/2122365-post3213.html ) and that VP wasn't done.

- Rogean told us privately the day of the patch to come to an agreement regarding VP. Both sides made concessions and we presented a plan for a modified, time-limited rotation to rogean that same weekend. It was basically instantly rejected and we were told Nilbog wanted to talk to us about it. The compromise gave ZERO weight to the fact that TR had a raid force capable of probably clearing VP months before anyone else even killed Trakanon. As much as this pissed off my own guild, who understandably felt we should have first crack at the zone since we were fully keyed first, we thought getting any sort of plan out there in hopes of the zone opening was better than nothing.

That was over 4 weeks ago. PMs to both senior staff have gone unanswered since then. An entire server has been launched and 2 patches have been made to P99 since then, so it's not a matter of them not being around, it's a conscious decision to not release. Maybe it's not actually done still. Maybe they know a lot of people will quit beta testing R99 if they have stuff to raid again on P99. Maybe its still "punishment" and the effect it would have on the server as a whole wasn't considered. Maybe they don't think ignoring P99 and deviating from a classic timeline it will have a material adverse effect and would rather play with R99 concepts instead. I don't know. I try not to assign motive, so maybe there's another reason entirely I haven't considered.

Again, it is their server and we play here for free, but it gets super depressing seeing the population drop every night and hearing people talk about not having the motivation to do the same things over and over again who quit holding out hope that the zone we worked so hard to be ready for is coming any time soon. People in smaller raiding guilds who were hoping to be able to get more shots at raid mobs when we had moved our focus to VP are stuck in a bad spot as well.

Either way, the classic VP experience will be harder and harder to recreate here for either guild every week the zone gets delayed. Venturing into the zone for the first time with only 2-3 groups, testing yourself against a dragon that hits for 1k and seeing what classes you needed to get keys to next trakanon was a blast and a formative experience in classic EQ for me. Those memories were some of the most fond ones that drew me to this server in the first place.

Rogean, Nilbog: We know you don't owe us anything. You already provide hours upon hours of entertainment to hundreds, if not thousands, of players every week, for free. No one is more aware of this. However, you can't read the timeline from the perspective of a player and not understand that a lot of us think it doesn't really add up. Any sort of status update or response would be greatly appreciated.

Yes, TL;DR. Please keep guild on guild drama in RNF, this is an attempt to find out the real status of VP, something important to more than just 1 or 2 guilds.