Why don't more people play here?

[Itap]

These records show more than 225,000 subscriptions on 1 November 1999, with an increase to more than 450,000 subscriptions by 25 September 2003.With a peak population of ~ 2,000 active players (including red and blue servers), that seems quite small when you look at the amount of active subscribers in the classic era of EverQuest. What reasons do you think we do not have more players here? Do people not like pre-luclin gameplay/content? Do people just not know that P99 exists? Kids that played 16 years ago are now adults and have no interest in online games?

I understand when SoV is released, the population will increase, but with more than 200,000 subscribers in 1999, you would think that more people would be inclined to play here, especially since it's free. I would like one day to see the population grow so much that the devs are able to open a second server identical to the current servers.

[portbitch69]

hard to keep that many people happy when the staff is all volunteer

[Cecily]

It's an emulator. Emulated servers traditionally suck. This one doesn't as much and the fact we have 1% of the old EQ subscriber base is proof. 2k people is a LOT.

[B4EQWASCOOL]

Because WoW.

[Swish]

Getting everything installed is a pain, having to jump through all those hoops to get started probably loses us quite a few people.

Add to that there's some people out there who think the only method to get the right version is to pay $100 or whatever on Amazon... not many want to pay it I'm sure.

Honestly if we had a deal with Dey break Games and could put a link up to download from here with an installer that would set everything up with the current patch in one click... we'd probably have 4000-5000 here.

[Kika Maslyaka]

Because WoW.

umm WoW is at lowest point in last 5 years. Even my hardcore wow-friend stopped playing without even finishing Draenor's solo leveling.

People just bored of being stuck in same content for years.

[Swish]

umm WoW is at lowest point in last 5 years. Even my hardcore wow-friend stopped playing without even finishing Draenor's solo leveling.

People just bored of being stuck in same content for years.

You unlocked an achievement: Opening the achievement screen.

...oh, great. Bye.

[B4EQWASCOOL]

umm WoW is at lowest point in last 5 years. Even my hardcore wow-friend stopped playing without even finishing Draenor's solo leveling.

People just bored of being stuck in same content for years.

Read your last sentence again and think.

[Itap]

Getting everything installed is a pain

I forgot to mention this, good point. It's been years since I've set up P99, but I do remember it being a little bit of a pain. You're right, a 1 click set-up making it easier to start here may increase the pop quite a bit.

It's hard to believe that people "growing up" prevents them from playing here. I've got a full time job, a wife, and 2 kids and I still find time to play.

[Kika Maslyaka]

Read your last sentence again and think.

producing crappy new content is just as bad as having 5 years old content that never changes. I see no contradictions here.

[DevGrousis]

The biggest reason why this server doesn't have more people is because it is free to play. which means there is no budget to allow for marketing. So in other words, people dont know this exists.

The servers on live had about 2-3k at peak times, so technically, in our own little server, it is a full everquest population. I doubt that the staff here could afford to have alot of servers with 2k people on them each. That would become very expensive.

[Itap]

If it's people not knowing about P99, in what way can we advertise it?

[Jayneweigh]

I didn't know about the server until a few months ago, then the whole installing can scare a lot of non technical people away. I found out about it because I was reminiscing about the old days with a friend and decided to check out Youtube to see what kind of vids were out there and I found some about P99. The rest is history, I'm back in EQ (here) and having a blast! But I think those are the 2 main reasons, people don't know and people are scare of the technical aspect of installing it. Also I think a lot people do join, check it out, play for a bit then get their fill of it and leave. Not everyone wants the difficulty level this game has.

[Auvdar]

Well everytime I see a Everquest post in my Facebook feed, I usually link the P99 site to people wanting a more "classic exp". Not sure if I'm a bad boy for doing that or not :\

[Ele]

If it's people not knowing about P99, in what way can we advertise it?

Want to kill dragons and gods and receive epic loot? Come to P99 where you just have to spend 16 hours at your keyboard tracking every weekend for half a year for your chance at that encounter and special items.*

*plus hundreds of hours building your character to the point you can be allowed to wait at your keyboard.

[Amyas]

This server is amazing

[Speedi]

Getting everything installed is a pain, having to jump through all those hoops to get started probably loses us quite a few people.

Add to that there's some people out there who think the only method to get the right version is to pay $100 or whatever on Amazon... not many want to pay it I'm sure.

Honestly if we had a deal with Dey break Games and could put a link up to download from here with an installer that would set everything up with the current patch in one click... we'd probably have 4000-5000 here.

That sums it up pretty much. Some people are lazy and/or not computer savvy. So they have trouble finding the titanium edition. Some are funny about downloading content to their PC from a pirated site. I know I wasn't real comfortable myself. Didn't want to get a virus/spyware.

[Raev]

Want to kill dragons and gods and receive epic loot? Come to P99 where you just have to spend 16 hours at your keyboard tracking every weekend for half a year for your chance at that encounter and special items.*

*plus hundreds of hours building your character to the point you can be allowed to wait at your keyboard.

Yep. I bet Rogean could have 5000 peak population on every night if he launched more servers.

[Itap]

Yep. I bet Rogean could have 5000 peak population on every night if he launched more servers.

This was one of the reasons I started this thread. I want more pop so the devs will hopefully open up more servers.

Perhaps people roll here, see blues current status, and end up quitting?

[Pipip]

I went back and forth deciding whether to try for a month before I did. It was because of the necessity to get the titanium client. I eventually did it, and I've been here since.

I guarantee you there would be more people playing if you could use old install discs, steam, the latest official client, etc. anything but titanium

[kaev]

This was one of the reasons I started this thread. I want more pop so the devs will hopefully open up more servers.

Perhaps people roll here, see blues current status, and end up quitting?

You do realize that "more servers" is just a different way of saying "more content instances", right?





















I'm pretty sure 99.9% of the "OMG instancing is the worst thing ever!!!!!!!!!" people have never had that particular epiphany.

[MaksimMazor]

Want to kill dragons and gods and receive epic loot? Come to P99 where you just have to spend 16 hours at your keyboard tracking every weekend for half a year for your chance at that encounter and special items.*

*plus hundreds of hours building your character to the point you can be allowed to wait at your keyboard.

Lol bullseye

[Swish]

This was one of the reasons I started this thread. I want more pop so the devs will hopefully open up more servers.

Perhaps people roll here, see blues current status, and end up quitting?

I'd certainly say I play less than I did a couple of years ago. The cleric solo guide I wrote is nearly unusable now (on blue at least) due to the population growth - was a time when you could solo mobs in Unrest, have your pick of spectres in Feerott, etc etc.

Much more camped all around now. Not a bad thing, but its tough on the raid scene at the top end.

[Itap]

So far, the general consensus is the difficult start up hampering P99s growth. We need permission from Day break for a link to DL the titanium client

[Daldaen]

People grow up.

Your average 1999 EQ player I would imagine was a 16-24 year old male. Fast forward 15 years. Now that demographic is 31-39. Even shifting my estimate in either direction you end up with more people having wives, kids, houses, and more responsibility at their jobs than they did 15 years. Each of which can be an enormous time investment to maintain. All of which your normal person value above Pixels/EQ.

Due to this there is likely a very big faction of those 300,000 subscribes who simply do not have the time to play EverQuest again. And there is also likely a subset who don't have the time to enjoy it as they were able to back when 12 hour playing sessions were typical and staying up until 5AM drinking Surge was a Saturday night.

That's not to say there aren't 30 something's with families on P99, it just requires more of a balance to be an adult and grind EQ hardcore like they were used to. Which does lead to a lot of players on P99 being casual 3-4 hour a month players. This is why you tend to see so many "which class can I solo on". People with variable play times like to be able to sit down and get things done without waiting on or disrupting a group by your abrupt camping in and out as life requires.

I do also agree. A Titanium Client download from Daybreak would help. But I'm unsure how much they want to help us or whether they just are fine with tolerating us.

[Man0warr]

Kunark for 4 years is hampering p99 more than anything.

[Itap]

I don't buy the "I'm an adult now" pitch. Every adult has personal time, and it's up to him/her how they spend it. We need a way to show them the path of the holy that is project 1999.

[Ele]

I don't buy the "I'm an adult now" pitch. Every adult has personal time, and it's up to him/her how they spend it. We need a way to show them the path of the holy that is project 1999.

Give everyone a laptop and cell dongle too, so they can play at work and in the bathroom.

[Voland]

Give everyone a laptop and cell dongle too, so they can play at work and in the bathroom.

Now we are talking! Where do I sign up for my free laptop? :)

[zanderklocke]

Want to kill dragons and gods and receive epic loot? Come to P99 where you just have to spend 16 hours at your keyboard tracking every weekend for half a year for your chance at that encounter and special items.*

*plus hundreds of hours building your character to the point you can be allowed to wait at your keyboard.

I don't know how anyone on the blue server could possibly think more players on the server would be a good thing.

I mean all guilds on the server already zerg the content in a non developer envisioned manner due to their huge rosters of nerds available at a moment's notice 24/7.

[Itap]

Because Zander, we are hoping for more than 1 blue server

[heartbrand]

At the end of the day, people claim they hate instances and the WoWification of the Modern MMO, but in reality they just want to be able to log in and slay dragons undisturbed on a schedule. When people realize this isn't going to happen, they get frustrated and move on.

[Pint]

More ppl dont play here bc its not 1999 and this game isn't cutting edge or groundbreaking anymore, did you really not know the answer to this question?

[Razdeline]

With a peak population of ~ 2,000 active players (including red and blue servers), that seems quite small when you look at the amount of active subscribers in the classic era of EverQuest. What reasons do you think we do not have more players here? Do people not like pre-luclin gameplay/content? Do people just not know that P99 exists? Kids that played 16 years ago are now adults and have no interest in online games?

I understand when SoV is released, the population will increase, but with more than 200,000 subscribers in 1999, you would think that more people would be inclined to play here, especially since it's free. I would like one day to see the population grow so much that the devs are able to open a second server identical to the current servers.

You're numbers are off. You are comparing the people currently logged in, not the whole player base. That number is probably closer to 10k.(my guess) Secondly, the active people on any given server from that era was around 1800ish.(during that era looking at a screenshot someone posted a while back)

Considering it's 16 years later, this server is beyond in good shape population wise.

[Deadmantis]

Back in 1999 I was single sharing a house with my brother. Had all the free time in the world to play and my friends were in similar situations. Online gaming with real life friends was part of the fun. Making new friends in a new world was even better.

Fast forward to 2015, married with kids, friends in similar situations. I can't get any of them to even give this a look. "Been there, done that" is the consensus. While I still log in and play, I don't have time to camp shit for 16 hours on end. An hour here and there is just enough to remind me of how cool this game was/still is.

Youtube and twitch are bringing back old heads everyday. I also see quite a few "new to EQ" threads on the forums.

I wouldn't worry too much about why more people aren't playing. Winter is coming...

[Itap]

You're numbers are off. You are comparing the people currently logged in, not the whole player base. That number is probably closer to 10k.(my guess) Secondly, the active people on any given server from that era was around 1800ish.(during that era looking at a screenshot someone posted a while back)

Considering it's 16 years later, this server is beyond in good shape population wise.

There can be 50,000 registered ppl here, but it doesn't really matter if only 1500 of them log in per day.

And pint, this game may be old and not "groundbreaking" anymore, but It's still one of the best mmos to date. The Lore alone is enough to get even the neckbeardiest of nerds to play

[myriverse]

My wife and I played together back in 99, but when I told her I was joining P99, she just shot me evil glares and asked, "You can't be serious? 14 years?!"

still one of the best mmos to date
That's the opinion of only a small portion of the population of gamers.

[Stormfists]

Itap you've gotta also acknowledge that a good third of the original EQ population played to raid and werent too much interested in much else once they'd capped a few alts.

Raids in P99 do not mirror, in any way, raids on classic EQ. Cycles, classes, bans - all of these didnt exist. Or if they did, they were a lot more amicable, flexible or friendly.

Although these rules have been designed to make gameplay fair on P99 they also stifle the creativity and individualism of each guild drastically. So you can reduce your initial 225,000 by at least a third straight away.

Imo its not one single thing that cause people to be put off by P99, its a range of small things that eventually leave the potential pool of people who can be bothered to wade through all the crap down to about 2,500 people. And even some of those feel like quitting and often do!

Plus, just because something is groundbreaking / one of the best MMOs of all time - it doesnt make it attractive. The horse and cart was pretty nifty a few hundred years ago but ask kids these days to trade their Hyundai iPad in for a carriage and you'll receive some pretty blank stares.

[Luci]

Not knowing this sort of thing existed was my reason. I would've joined years ago otherwise, loved the social aspect of EQ that you don't seem to get in other games where it's just a rush to complete an instance etc. Going up to Velious is perfect too, after SoV it went downhill I thought; Luclin was OK but adding the Bazaar was a mistake. I only found Project 1999 by accident, been playing 2-3 weeks now and love it, is very much like when I first played on live. Everyone's really nice and helpful too - wish I'd found out about it sooner!

[waffel]

I don't buy the "I'm an adult now" pitch. Every adult has personal time, and it's up to him/her how they spend it. We need a way to show them the path of the holy that is project 1999.

Adults don't spend hours staring at video game monster placeholders. Adults don't have people text them on their phone so they can run over to the PC, log in, and spend hours killing a monster. Adults don't play 12 hours a day.

[dafier]

Getting everything installed is a pain, having to jump through all those hoops to get started probably loses us quite a few people.

Add to that there's some people out there who think the only method to get the right version is to pay $100 or whatever on Amazon... not many want to pay it I'm sure.

Honestly if we had a deal with Dey break Games and could put a link up to download from here with an installer that would set everything up with the current patch in one click... we'd probably have 4000-5000 here.

I disagree. I had NO issues installing it on my desktop and laptop.

You have to create...umm 2 or 3 accounts. Again, easy.

Paying for the 'right' version is expensive and I can't disagree with you.

As for 'deal with Dey stupid ass break'. No...hell no. Don't deal with the devil.

[dafier]

Adults don't spend hours staring at video game monster placeholders. Adults don't have people text them on their phone so they can run over to the PC, log in, and spend hours killing a monster. Adults don't play 12 hours a day.

Ahhhh....sarcasm at it's best.

[Tahlvin]

The biggest barrier (imo) is the install barrier. Account creation wasn't bad, but it did require that you read things which also eliminates a lot of people as well :)

[myriverse]

Adults don't spend hours staring at video game monster placeholders. Adults don't have people text them on their phone so they can run over to the PC, log in, and spend hours killing a monster. Adults don't play 12 hours a day.
Not 12 hours a day, but many EQ players back in 1999 were 30+ years old.

[dafier]

So....I don't understand the OP. What's the issue here? Because I see none.

[Gumbo]

What I can't figure out and maybe because my characters aren't high enough level but people are always complaining that everything is being farmed or there is no good sites to hunt. How can everything be farmed or taken if there is only 800-1500 people on?

I remember back in the day of the server having twice as many people on and you were still able to group decent sites or get certain items.

What has P99 become... A "Solo" server and it's every man or woman for themselves?

[Swish]

What has P99 become... A "Solo" server and it's every man or woman for themselves?

In terms of bored level 60s, yes. They're coming for your camps if there's something they can sell in EC for a 3k-5k most likely.

It doesn't sell the server very well, there's a thread in RNF about Snaj <BDA> doing just that.

[dafier]

In terms of bored level 60s, yes. They're coming for your camps if there's something they can sell in EC for a 3k-5k most likely.

Yes....it is unfortunate


It doesn't sell the server very well, there's a thread in RNF about Snaj <BDA> doing just that.

Too much of that crap happens, and I agree.

[chipz]

Because Everquest is a complete shit game and we only really play for nostalgia? Once that is done you quit.

[Whirled]

Because Everquest is a complete shit game and we only really play for nostalgia? Once that is done you quit.

Why don't more people play here? (http://www.project1999.com/forums/showthread.php?p=1964453#post1964453)

Most I talk to say that most of the community & end game is a total shit-show. From what I've witnessed... I'm forced to agree with them now.

[dafier]

Because Everquest is a complete awesome game and we only really play because it is awesome? Once that is done, you will cry.

I fixed that for you.

[Man0warr]

Adults don't spend hours staring at video game monster placeholders. Adults don't have people text them on their phone so they can run over to the PC, log in, and spend hours killing a monster. Adults don't play 12 hours a day.

I do all those things except play 12 hours a day - also it takes minutes to kill a monster, not hours.

When staring at video game monster placeholders (tracking), we are usually shooting the shit in Vent or multitasking, stuff you'd be doing with your free time anyways.

[nyclin]

Want to kill dragons and gods and receive epic loot? Come to P99 where you just have to spend 16 hours at your keyboard tracking every weekend for half a year for your chance at that encounter and special items.*

*plus hundreds of hours building your character to the point you can be allowed to wait at your keyboard.

This is pretty much why there aren't more people here, I think. From what I hear most raiders don't last more than 6-8 months before they quit. I can't really blame them.. you level a main to 60, then park it at the next available raid target. After that you're basically just rolling alt after alt and parking each one at a new target once they hit 60. Even as someone who enjoys alts, that seems unappealing.

Then after a certain point you can afford Chardok AOE spots which means you can fast forward from 50 to 60, and have even more level 60 alts to park at raid targets! Hooray!

[kaev]

Then after a certain point you can afford Chardok AOE spots which means you can fast forward from 50 to 60, and have even more level 60 alts to park at raid targets! Hooray!

Chardok AE is a huge part of the cancer the keeps people away, having successfully supplanted the selling of accounts and resultant character farming that used to be permitted here. Account selling & Chardok AE are the evils that have made 5 years of Kunark so horrible. Without the creation of hundreds (thousands?) of surplus level 60s, enabled and encouraged by character farming (which still happens with shared "guild" accounts, especially for magicians and wizards) and then Chardok AE, you wouldn't have the ugly overcrowded shitfest that has been the raid scene on p99 for the last 3+ years.

Without the twin evils of character farming & Chardok AE we'd have a less ugly, less overcrowded, less shitty shitfest, and we'd still bitch about it all the time.

[Deliverator]

Just going to point out that 2000 people on a single server on all at the same time is a decent population. Remember back in the day EQ had DOZENS of servers with 2-3000 people on at a time. That is how they had so many subscribers.

[Rhambuk]

I miss the days of cities being populated 8(

[nyclin]

Without the twin evils of character farming & Chardok AE we'd have a less ugly, less overcrowded, less shitty shitfest, and we'd still bitch about it all the time.

I don't personally have anything against Chardok AOE.. if you want to spend your money & time there, that's your own prerogative. It's classic game mechanics. That being said, I do think that it existing ruins the levelling experience after 55. 50-55 are actually relatively quick due to the abundance of groups in KC. After 55, moving to Sebilis or HS is ideal, but there are usually very few groups in these two zones.

For a server of this population, this doesn't make any sense. Sebilis should be packed almost 24/7 and HS should see much more traffic.

Instead, HS is basically only pet groups and soloing Shamans, and Sebilis is mostly guild groups and people farming NG/crypt/king.

Why? Is it just because caster mobs are so brutal on this server?

[August]

I'll tell you why my friends don't play (that played EQ with me back in the day)

1) Doesn't play games at all now. He thinks they're a waste of time

2) Is bored with the content. He played here at one time. He laughs that it's still in Kunark.

3) Attention span of a gnat. He played here, then he started another game - then another, then another.

4) Wants to start, but hates that the server has been around for so long and that he'd be 'so far behind' and 'relying on my charity'

5) (not an original Eq'er) - Played here until level 51. Leveling was so slow and repetitive they called it quits.

[billy]

Take my exemple, I've played a lot of mmos in the past 15 years (EQ1 was my first one), lately I was bored on WoW and was looking to play something else.

Then I heard about the Ragefire hype, and how a lot of old EQ players are coming back (had no idea TLP servers exist before). So I did launch a twitch stream to see how it is and if I want to play it, and the answer was no. (I really dislike multiboxing)

But while I was on this stream I saw some people in the chat saying how p99 was much better than TLP servers (no multibox allowed, more classic), so I did inquiry about it and here I am playing here for almost 2 months now, enjoying it a lot.

So yeah I am sure a ton of old EQ players have no idea.

[Fame]

If P99 opened two new servers one for PvE and one for PvP Teams as "Beta/population test/trial" servers it would potentially generate significant interest. If you couple that with the new interest generated from daybreak, add some incentiviced forumquest, anything is possible.

Dare to dream.

[Fame]

If it looks like there is the population for two stable servers, get a gofundme or kickstarter rolling for additional costs.

[Sajuuk]

I agree with the other people asking "Why would you want more people?" If it's worth camping, or raiding, it's perma camped. Blue seems overcrowded which is why I enjoy playing on red sometimes.

But to add to the discussion..

My RL friend who have played eq with me on live are more interested in WoW still. And we played back in 2004 so we were dealing with PoP which to them, the classic doesnt compare. (Yes I know you classic nuts are saying "Good we dont want them here!").

I have shown other friends, who enjoy MMOs, p99 and the graphics make them laugh out loud and then ask "Why would you enjoy this?"

Plus, combat in video games has become so fast paced that EQ is like watching a japanese RPG fight while you have games like WoW where you can cast 20million spells in a second.

When I played live, I got to kill every god in PoP except for Quirm. I eventually became bored because I was 14 at the time and going into high school and I wanted a chance to lose my virginity. I felt accomplished what I got to do with my guild during PoP that it felt right to quit when I did.

Why did I come back? Because I never explored the old worlds including kunark and velious. I was pampered with plane of knowlegde. As a dark elf shadow knight, I never had to worry about being a evil race with PoK. There was so much pampering that I knew I missed out of immersion (yes Im a dork, thats why Im here, I would roleplay if people actually did that in a mmoRPg). So here I am killing gnolls for the first time and seeing a EC tunnel full of people. Its a huge change that I love and wish I joined this server years ago.

Normal people who never played EQ in the first place wont have reasons like this to come to a ridiculously old outdated mmo.

And oh ya, downloading titanium was very scare for a non torrent user like myself. I am computer savvy enough to do torrents but ALOT of other people wont be comfortable enough. Like my buddies who play WoW would never be able to figure out how to install even if they were giving a step by step guide with pictures.

How did I even find out about p99? By playing live f2p for a week and reading in general chat about p99. Took me 6months after thinking about p99 to join only because I was bored with all the other video games I had and wanted a nostalgic experience.

My god did it work. I never want to leave again. It was like playing EQ for the first time again. And this is knowing I will NEVER BE ABLE TO RAID EVERVEEVVEVRVEVR R R E R R R EVEVEVREVER EVER EVER EVER. I did have goals to koll dragons on this server but the forums have told me to forget my dreams and conform.

[chipz]

I fixed that for you.

Back in 1999, sure. Not anymore sir.

[uolen]

Me personally, I played many MMO's and found an EQ emulator a year or so before P99 launched. Played that server, which allowed boxing, and had increased xp. Leved up my 2 fav classes fast and farmed all my items I wanted, got bored, quit EQ again. took a couple months to get my nostalgia fix.

Now P99 has been out how long, and I couldnt find any other MMO's to play. Decided to check out P99 and boom Im hooked again for the time being. Many other EQEmu's have been out before P99 came out. In that respect, P99 is not that big of a deal.

Plus, if more people played P99 then there would be more than 1 bard constantly pulling every roamer in LoIO making it impossible to level. Seriously have no problem with banning the entire bard class.

[Ennewi]

They read the forums and think it's representative of the overall player base.

[Swish]

Honestly I'd make RNF not viewable without logging in lol

[webrunner5]

I think the main reason on here is that most people now, after 16 years of EQ, have moved out of their moms basement, and actually have a Real Life. :p

[Priceline]

Games and gamers have evolved a great deal since 1999, most folks less a tiny minority don't want to transcend space and time to relive the glory days of mmo's. 99.999% of the people want fast action combat, instanced content, and R99 like exp bonuses.

We're the equivalent to that one guys dad you knew in high school who said music stopped being good in the 60's and refused to only use one spritz of patchouli. damn hippies

[Itap]

If P99 opened two new servers one for PvE and one for PvP Teams as "Beta/population test/trial" servers it would potentially generate significant interest. If you couple that with the new interest generated from daybreak, add some incentiviced forumquest, anything is possible.

Dare to dream.

I agree with this. Perhaps opening additional servers will invite those players that don't want to start here because they feel like they are so "behind". After farming 4 years of kunark, they may have a point

[Itap]

I think the main reason on here is that most people now, after 16 years of EQ, have moved out of their moms basement, and actually have a Real Life. :p

I usually respect your posts but this is absurd. My family of 5 fits perfectly in my mothers basement

[Itap]

And to clarify my OP, 2,000 players on a single classic EQ emulator is huge. I just wanted opinions from the new and veteran players here on why there aren't hundreds, even thousands more signing up. More players would hopefully mean more servers

[Kika Maslyaka]

And to clarify my OP, 2,000 players on a single classic EQ emulator is huge. I just wanted opinions from the new and veteran players here on why there aren't hundreds, even thousands more signing up. More players would hopefully mean more servers

As many have said - times changed.
Back in 99-04 there were only 3 noticeable MMOs - EQ, Asheron's Call and DAOC. AC was a disaster and DAOC (while having more innovative combat mechanic) had TINY content - their 60 levels could literally fit in just 5 EQ zones. EQ was easily the best by all standards and peak population of 640K was clearly showing that.
But then 2004 came - EQ2 and WoW delivered a major blow - more than half of EQ players clearly demonstrated that they were casuals at heart, and moved on within next year. Dedicated Hardcores STILL playing EQ1 on LIVE servers today.
So who does P99 left with? Exactly - nostalgia seekers.

As much as I cherish my newbie memories, I now would prefer a bit different game mechanics.
Even if I find time to play heavily group oriented game, I would demand significant changes to classes mechanics, questing and combat system. And lets face it - EQ raids are too blunt - give me something else to do during a raid than click auto-attack and maintain heal chain for 20 minutes (yes I am looking at you Lord Seru - 45 fucking minutes casting heals!). For example I really liked EQ2 during the first 2 years - not all of it, but some parts of combat and ability to both: to solo with any class and enjoy grouping for hard quests. I also like parts of WoW up WOTLK.
Incorporating together parts of combat mechanics from EQ2 and WoW, ability to customize parts of class specialization, AND group/raid content - that is the MMO I would play today NOT for nostalgia sake.

P.S. Oh yeah see my signature.

[DevGrousis]

If it's people not knowing about P99, in what way can we advertise it?

theres no way to really advertise the game without a budget, unless we did some type of crowd funded social media marketing, where we got on twitter, IG, and FB and everytime someone posted something about everquest, we sent them a link and invitation to come check it out.

If we paid a monthly sub to play here, rogean would have money to play around with marketing using facebook and google ppc ads. But we don't, and the money they get from donations is probably barely enogh to keep a 6-12month run way ahead of us at all times.

[DevGrousis]

As many have said - times changed.
As much as I cherish my newbie memories, I now would prefer a bit different game mechanics.
Even if I find time to play heavily group oriented game, I would demand significant changes to classes mechanics, questing and combat system. And lets face it - EQ raids are too blunt - give me something else to do during a raid than click auto-attack and maintain heal chain for 20 minutes (yes I am looking at you Lord Seru - 45 fucking minutes casting heals!). For example I really liked EQ2 during the first 2 years - not all of it, but some parts of combat and ability to both: to solo with any class and enjoy grouping for hard quests. I also like parts of WoW up WOTLK.
Incorporating together parts of combat mechanics from EQ2 and WoW, ability to customize parts of class specialization, AND group/raid content - that is the MMO I would play today NOT for nostalgia sake.

P.S. Oh yeah see my signature.

I hope you just described EQ Next.

[iruinedyourday]

Just wanted to chime in on OPs origional question, this is why we play here and simultaneously why no one else plays here: http://www.project1999.com/forums/showthread.php?t=201275

Just got back to WW. Zoned in, sat down... Someone ran by with a goblin shaman that agroed me and killed me.

[Kika Maslyaka]

I hope you just described EQ Next.

I don't know. EQN feels like WoW play style combined with Disney graphics and Minecraft. Something fishy is going on there. I bet $20 that in 3-5 years they will either - scrap the project completely or scrap all the unusual ideas and release another theme-park MMO aka WoW-clone #54321.

[fuark]

This Emu actually has a huge base, but the main factor is ... Time.

Most people don't have the time to play EQ in the way that EQ requires you to. I haven't played in nearly 8 months and I wish all the time that I could. I'm relegated to reading the forums once in a while. I have at least 5 friends IRL who played classic EQ and know of this server that would all like to play, but there is no way they can commit to such a massive time sink (specifically at 50 plus).

[Llodd]

If P99 opened two new servers one for PvE and one for PvP Teams as "Beta/population test/trial" servers it would potentially generate significant interest. If you couple that with the new interest generated from daybreak, add some incentiviced forumquest, anything is possible.

Dare to dream.

Pvp teams yeah sure, it's coming anyway. But I'd much prefer they opened 2 blue servers. One catering for the neckbeardies. And one catering for the casuals (ie rotations).

It would be interesting to see how that shakes out. (and the subsequent tears)

[Naxy]

I found p99 through a Reddit discussion about the holy trinity and how it isn't there on GuildWars2.

Having spent nearly a decade playing EQ from the start, I must say I miss the hardcore nature of it. Corpse runs, XP loss on death, hard fights. And I truly enjoyed playing a cleric. However, the majority of players test pla a modern MMO, like GW2, is going to just laugh at the notion of p99. The graphics, the combat system, the time commitment, the gear and level grind.

I love the way Gw2 allows me to dip into a very fluid PvP, with no wait time and no twink issues. But I miss the hardcore part of EQ and the deep camaraderie it produced in our guilds. I hope to rediscover some of that here.

[Riotgirl]

We're the equivalent to that one guys dad you knew in high school who said music stopped being good in the 60's and refused to only use one spritz of patchouli. damn hippies

This. Plenty more options now then were available then back in the day.

[Swish]

This. Plenty more options now then were available then back in the day.

Whole lot of bad games out there too brimming with DLC, catering to kids that can barely walk yet and the ever unfortunate "season pass".

Nothing wrong with paying to play, but why is there never an option to have a flat subscription and keep everyone on the same playing field? EQ was good for that in classic times.

[HallyVee]

For me, it was an initial dissatisfaction with WoW. I sought something deeper, more RPG. First, I went to a dozen other MMO games, trying to make it work. Then, I went to some older MMO games, Lineage, EQ2, etc. those were all bastardized as well.

Finally I gave EQ1 a try. After level 12 or so, in the first few hours, I had an entire set of great gear. Uninstalled.

When even the original EQ didn't work, I sought out emulated content.

The reasons I did so last are

Fewer people: big problem for MMO games
Often illegal: I stopped pirating a while back, this seemed similar
Annoying install: even EQ 1 was easier to install
Insecure payment: always knew I'd donate, I might be outdated on this
Unstable existence: don't want my character deleted
Frequent silly features: engine access often begets arrogance toward mechanics

[Itap]

Unstable existence: don't want my character deleted


You make good points but totally off on this one. Your character will never be deleted, and is always able to be restored if you decide to quit and delete all your characters one day.

We have people that ragequit after a death and let 100K+ worth of items and epics rot only to come back years later and have corpse fully restored.

[Kika Maslyaka]

You make good points but totally off on this one. Your character will never be deleted, and is always able to be restored if you decide to quit and delete all your characters one day.

We have people that ragequit after a death and let 100K+ worth of items and epics rot only to come back years later and have corpse fully restored.

I think he meant when server itself shuts down cause owner lost interest, which is common among other Emu servers, but there are few that been around for over 5-10 years like SH or THF.

[Lady Julae]

Adults don't spend hours staring at video game monster placeholders. Adults don't have people text them on their phone so they can run over to the PC, log in, and spend hours killing a monster. Adults don't play 12 hours a day.

But what if there is an adult who owns their own business and makes stupid amounts of money and chooses to spend 12 hours a day on their super gaming PC playing P99 and have friends text them on their expensive smart phone to play with them?

[Naxy]

I guess I never was an adult.

[mystang89]

Probably don't see as many people because they can't log in due to server issues.

[webrunner5]

I usually respect your posts but this is absurd. My family of 5 fits perfectly in my mothers basement

Truly your mother is a living Saint. :cool: God bless her. Bows head in respect. :D

[Dephyant]

I just stumbled on this yesterday.. If I had know this was here I would have been on years ago.

[Troof]

Not sure tbh, I think the availability of other games is playing a huge role here

[Littlestgnome]

It's an old game. People have moved on and become invested in other games or simply stopped playing games in general. On top of that the newer generation of gamers are far more likely to be console players as opposed to PC.

When EQ was at it's peak it still needs to be understood that a large portion of those numbers were maintained via a constant revolving door of new players coming in. For a fair amount of time that number matched and even exceeded the number of players leaving, but for the most part we're still talking about people who played for maybe a month or two and either did not like it or realized they did not have the time required to sink into it. The amount of people truly motivated by a heavy sense of nostalgia is actually quite small, and if you do not have that motivating factor it's extremely unlikely you're going to give p99 a try. At the very least I would say you're JUST as likely to simply give the current version of EQ a try rather than seek out this Emu.

While it's relatively easy to acquire and access p99, the fact is it's still more difficult than simply picking up a disc at Target or buying a download off the official website. There are rather specific avenues for acquiring p99 that many simply do not trust or don't feel like using.

If p99 had the same ease of access and the same consumer confidence the official game had, I think you would actually see it flourish into a far greater competitor for players than it already is currently. I dare say the result would be an inability to house all those desiring to play on a single server at that point.

[bspa0700]

Read the entire thread. The only answer that seems obvious to me is time commitment. There is NO WAY you'd pick this game up over the alternatives if you didn't play this back in its original era (or atleast very unlikely, and not enough of the playerbase to be concerned over).

And to the 400k+ who played back in 99-->03 or so, that time commitment was ok. Being completely serious, it probably ruined a lot of lives and created a lot of regret. You can't just live in a fantasy world 10 hours a day for 4 years and not look up one day and go "Man, what the hell have I been doing? I have missed out on so much!". If I knew just how awful the end game is due to the neckbeardery, I never would have started.

It's just unreal how much time some people are willing to put into this game. The quote about most raiders only lasting 6-8 months: I'm surprised its that long. Wives will leave you. Jobs will fire you. That method of living is simply unsustainable as an adult with a real job.

[Slave35]

It's still one of the best mmos to date.





That's the opinion of only a small portion of the population of gamers.

Yeah, we're called "those who have played EQ"

[waffel]

But what if there is an adult who owns their own business and makes stupid amounts of money and chooses to spend 12 hours a day on their super gaming PC playing P99 and have friends text them on their expensive smart phone to play with them?

Nobody that successful can justify wasting 12 hours a day playing a video game. It's simply something successful people don't do.

[blondeattk]

people come and go, because the server is badly run.

They dont want to be trapped in a museum thats run by a collective of circus monkies.

People want to feel appreciated and understand the forward vision, which doesnt happen here. shame, as it could have been good.

[utenan]

When the server opened there were roughly 100 people on. With that in mind my question would be - Why do so many people play here?

[HallyVee]

I think he meant when server itself shuts down cause owner lost interest, which is common among other Emu servers, but there are few that been around for over 5-10 years like SH or THF.

I really was thinking more of a Cease and Desist order. I suspect the news that this server is sanctioned would bring in more folks.

[Itap]

Those of you saying that people are unable to play because of time commitment issues, this is so far from the truth. A lot of times, my play time is limited to an hour or two per day, but that doesn't stop me from logging in.

Some people like to race to 60, either by grinding it out or paying for PLs. Socking raid targets to acquire BiS. Others like to log in and exp here and there, or help noobs, and just talk shit in guild chat. There are so many ways to play this game and it doesn't require you to quit your job to do so.

I think the big issue here is P99 is virtually unknown to the people that played EQ back in 1999-2001. Social media might be a way to advertise it, but then again my FB friends would know what a nerd I am if they don't know already lol

[douglas1999]

I dont get the whole installation hurdle. How could there possibly be people who are big enough nerds to want to play emulated everquest but not big enough nerds to know how to move a few files around?

[Tahlvin]

I dont get the whole installation hurdle. How could there possibly be people who are big enough nerds to want to play emulated everquest but not big enough nerds to know how to move a few files around?

It's more than that. You have to find the files first and many are unwilling to do the steps necessary to get the files.

If you could download a working client straight Daybreak, you'd see a lot more people here.

[godbox]

Server doesn't seem capable of supporting what it has now. Leveling up is a ghost town only populated by soloing twinks running the exact same path that the persons last 4 toons ran. There's too many 60s been sitting at 60 on the same content for 4 years and the general attitude I've seen towards people who are new is like /eyeroll not another one. another person to compete with on camps and content.

[Erati]

Server doesn't seem capable of supporting what it has now. Leveling up is a ghost town only populated by soloing twinks running the exact same path that the persons last 4 toons ran. There's too many 60s been sitting at 60 on the same content for 4 years and the general attitude I've seen towards people who are new is like /eyeroll not another one. another person to compete with on camps and content.

this is only if you get jealous of other people's time/effort here bc they came before you

if you join the server - focus on your own adventure - you will have a great time.

I know its a social game and you will have to interact with crap people from time to time but the amount of AMAZING people you will interact with will far far far out number the crap ones.

Ultimately - this is a social experiment game where it is driven by the community, you have to make your own fun how you see fit.

[douglas1999]

if you join the server - focus on your own adventure - you will have a great time.

I know its a social game and you will have to interact with crap people from time to time but the amount of AMAZING people you will interact with will far far far out number the crap ones.

Ultimately - this is a social experiment game where it is driven by the community, you have to make your own fun how you see fit.

Basically all this X1000

[Rararboker]

Server doesn't seem capable of supporting what it has now. Leveling up is a ghost town only populated by soloing twinks running the exact same path that the persons last 4 toons ran. There's too many 60s been sitting at 60 on the same content for 4 years and the general attitude I've seen towards people who are new is like /eyeroll not another one. another person to compete with on camps and content.

Ghost town? Are you sure you are playing the blue server? If yes, are you playing at some insanely late hour when everyone else is asleep?

[Tiewon Shu]

Nobody that successful can justify wasting 12 hours a day playing a video game. It's simply something successful people don't do.

I disagree.

I own forty seven apartment complexes globally. My annual net profit is well over 2.5 million USD. All I do is wake up at 6 AM, get my kids ready for school, then sit on my butt and make money. So while I sit on my butt for 8+hours, I surf the web and play games, (mostly play games).

I live a good life with my significant other and kids. I have stupid amounts of free time even after attending to my family and business responsibilities.

So tell me, just what am I supposed to be doing with all that time to kill?

[Ele]

I disagree.

I own forty seven apartment complexes globally. My annual net profit is well over 2.5 million USD. All I do is wake up at 6 AM, get my kids ready for school, then sit on my butt and make money. So while I sit on my butt for 8+hours, I surf the web and play games, (mostly play games).

I live a good life with my significant other and kids. I have stupid amounts of free time even after attending to my family and business responsibilities.

So tell me, just what am I supposed to be doing with all that time to kill?

We haven't had a Young Slum Lord yet on P99. Welcome!

[Daldaen]

We haven't had a Young Slum Lord yet on P99. Welcome!

We've had many Young professionals.

Doctors, Lawyers, Litigation professionals, Rule Drafters. But nothing quite as significant as a Slum Lord!

Welcome aboard.

[Itap]

I would say I'm successful, made 72k (with OT) last year before taxes. I have a wife, 2 kids, a mortgage, etc. and I still have time to nerd out on this game.

I think whoever said its impossible to play here and be successful isn't doing it right. The more successful you are, the less you have to work imo. Shit rolls down hill. Less work = more free time.


I dont get the whole installation hurdle. How could there possibly be people who are big enough nerds to want to play emulated everquest but not big enough nerds to know how to move a few files around?

I think the issue here is people do not want to illegally download the game via that one website. Like others have stated, a 1 click download endorsed by Daybreak may solve a lot of problems for those apprehensive people afraid of legality issues

[Tiewon Shu]

We haven't had a Young Slum Lord yet on P99. Welcome!

LOL. I'm 44, I don't know if that is still considered young.

[falkun]

'Young' is a meme around here. We're all young for playing a video game from Y2K.

[Kevris]

I disagree.

I own forty seven apartment complexes globally. My annual net profit is well over 2.5 million USD. All I do is wake up at 6 AM, get my kids ready for school, then sit on my butt and make money. So while I sit on my butt for 8+hours, I surf the web and play games, (mostly play games).

I live a good life with my significant other and kids. I have stupid amounts of free time even after attending to my family and business responsibilities.

So tell me, just what am I supposed to be doing with all that time to kill?

This is so true.

Just because people enjoy nerding it up doesn't mean they can't be successful.

PM me with how you got started. I've been wasting all of my excess cash and want to do something productive with it.

[chipz]

Said it once, crap game compared to the billions that are out there now. Once nostalgia gets old it's time to move on.

[bktroost]

Said it once, crap game compared to the billions that are out there now. Once nostalgia gets old it's time to move on.


I sincerely play this game for the awful community. I tried to establish a place that is not awful and in the process met really great people. So without the terrible community, I'd not still be here. I play for my in game family, not the mechanics of the game. I don't understand wanting to have bis VP gear on an alt of every kind. If it was just about the game it'd be crap compared to some games out there ( though the mechanics require strong community like no other), but it's not about that. People>pixils.