New SOE Progression Posts

[Rottening]

Some new Dev posts regarding their progression server.

http://forums.station.sony.com/eq/posts/list.m?start=0&topic_id=171449�

Edit: Ugh, I posted without completing my subject. Fail. Was supposed to read New SOE Progression Posts.

[korrowan]

Some new Dev posts regarding their progression server.

http://forums.station.sony.com/eq/posts/list.m?start=0&topic_id=171449�

Edit: Ugh, I posted without completing my subject. Fail. Was supposed to read New SOE Progression Posts.

That link fails.

[eqravenprince]

This new progression server on Sony might perhaps be a good recruiting ground for getting more P99 players. Although I'm not paying them money just to recruit more players to here.

[Rottening]

That link fails.

Fixed.

[Rottening]

This new progression server on Sony might perhaps be a good recruiting ground for getting more P99 players. Although I'm not paying them money just to recruit more players to here.

Agreed. I doubt I'll even try it. I'm happy here.

[Kavanah]

Pretty tempting IMO. Will see how this all plays out =)

[korrowan]

Pretty tempting IMO. Will see how this all plays out =)

Maybe all the poopsocking guilds will go there..that would be amazing.

[Scrooge]

Maybe all the poopsocking guilds will go there..that would be amazing.

I wouldn't count on it.

[guineapig]

Maybe all the poopsocking guilds will go there..that would be amazing.

They wouldn't be able to deal with real competition. When you are already established with 50-100 full time players online all the time, the game is cake.
You can claim you want a real challenge but really these people just want frequent easy kills.

Starting over with a couple thousand people playing in all different timezones, you're not guaranteed a monopoly and nobody is going to jump on board just because you were in a big guild on an emu server.

In short, they aren't going anywhere.

[Mountaineer]

Sorry Sony. You lost your chance. You wanted to open a 51/50 server couple years ago instead of Progression. You didn't think progression server would get enough players. Well Fuck You SONY! You lost out!

[Rottening]

Not to mention, nothing has been said about which expansion it will stop at.

The second Luclin is released, I would be gone.

[piggvomit]

I like mountaineers post. How ive felt for a long time

[Hurley]

If they do indeed make it a time locked progressive server I am there.

[baub]

Sorry Sony. You lost your chance. You wanted to open a 51/50 server couple years ago instead of Progression. You didn't think progression server would get enough players. Well Fuck You SONY! You lost out!

This

[Malrubius]

Ooooh cool, another server with the "new and improved" Lavastorm, Freeport, Ro, Oasis, Nektulos, etc. Crazy stupid drops. A Find button. In-game maps. PoK stones incoming. etc., etc. lol, no thanks.

[warrioman]

They wouldn't be able to deal with real competition. When you are already established with 50-100 full time players online all the time, the game is cake.
You can claim you want a real challenge but really these people just want frequent easy kills.

Starting over with a couple thousand people playing in all different timezones, you're not guaranteed a monopoly and nobody is going to jump on board just because you were in a big guild on an emu server.

In short, they aren't going anywhere.

This

[L2Phantom]

I'll be heading there when it releases just because the free2play emus always attract the biggest morons out there. I'd rather deal with SoE's idiocy and a few minor non-classic features than this community in the long run.

[Slathar]

This new progression server will kill this server's population. I can almost feel the panic of all the lifers here not having anyone to envy their pixels.

[Rogean]

I'm willing to bet $100 that whatever new server sony puts out will have atleast some marketplace items available for purchase.

Have fun seeing people running around with weapon ornamentation from House of Thule.

[mimixownzall]

WTF is House of Thule?

[Hasbinbad]

WTF is House of Thule?
I don't know either, but seeing as it's post-velious, I assume that this is the kind of thing that happens there:
http://inlinethumb26.webshots.com/42329/1280331647053300784S600x600Q85.jpg

[guineapig]

WTF is House of Thule?


http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/09/11/everquest-opens-orders-for-house-of-thule/

http://everquest.allakhazam.com/story.html?story=23631

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=myffHZex2Ok

[Asher]

Sorry Sony. You lost your chance. You wanted to open a 51/50 server couple years ago instead of Progression. You didn't think progression server would get enough players. Well Fuck You SONY! You lost out!

QFT

F you SoE.

[Kavanah]

QFT

F you SoE.

Are you the Asher from Alkabor?

[Asher]

Are you the Asher from Alkabor?

yes

[randomer]

They wouldn't be able to deal with real competition. When you are already established with 50-100 full time players online all the time, the game is cake.
You can claim you want a real challenge but really these people just want frequent easy kills.

Starting over with a couple thousand people playing in all different timezones, you're not guaranteed a monopoly and nobody is going to jump on board just because you were in a big guild on an emu server.

In short, they aren't going anywhere.

plus the fact there all bums living in there moms basements,they cant afford to pay to play

[Kavanah]

yes

Dunno if you remember me or not. Exodus/Gennesis mnk/shm box.

[Slathar]

plus the fact there all bums living in there moms basements,they cant afford to pay to play

Add to the fact that the people who are already in the "elite" guilds (none of these guilds would ever have been able to compete on live on any meaningful level) would never give up their sweet dragon loots to start over.

Str8 grindin' fa' pixels.

[Cerzi]

Anyone else feel like it's worth mass subbing just to send a message out that there is actually a market for this stuff?

[Chanus]

Anyone else feel like it's worth mass subbing just to send a message out that there is actually a market for this stuff?

The numbers one could achieve wouldn't be a blip on any MMO Market Exec's RADAR. You'd need tens of thousands, not 200.

[Japan]

prediction: defiant drops not removed on this server

[stormlord]

i've always felt that the answer to placate progression players isn't a progression server rather it's a new game feature of some kind.

What I was always thinking of was a expansion tag on every single item in the game. So all items would have a tag on them when you look at the item description that would say what expansion it was in. Second would be a new character called a progression character. During character creation you would be allowed to create this character by toggling it on or off. If you toggle it on then your character starts in their homecity. If you toggle it off, then everything is back to normal.

Progression Characters:
* Any race can visit any zone that has a creation date preceding the expansion it's a part of. So Iksar can visit pre-kunark. Vah Shir can visit pre-luclin. Frogloks can visit pre-LLOY.
* Races cannot visit future expansions until they have completed objectives for each concurrent expansion. So humans will have to complete objectives in pre-kunark before entering the kunark expansion. Similarly, Vah Shir cannot visit POP zones until they complete luclin objectives.
* If you want to shut off the progression feature after creating a progression character then you cannot turn it on again. It's like the pvp feature in that it's a permanent feature of your character.
* A character cannot wear an item that's in an expansion that has not already been completed or does not precede the actual expansion the race is a part of.
* All changes to zones would remain the same so there would be no effort to mirror 1999. If you start a multi-expansion quest you will be allowed to but you cannot complete it unless you have access to the zones themselves that're required to complete stages of the quest.
* Whatever else i've missed

I haven't thought much about the details of this idea. But history has taught me that most problems, aside from the big theories in science like special relativity, can be overcome. I'm confident.

Granted, it would take a lot of work, but you could do it on any server. I think it would be a very popular feature for guilds that organize on websites or in the forums. You could even twink your progression character by using your main to kill the gods in the old content and then give what you get to your twink so that the twink can more easily complete the expansion. It's not a perfect solution, but the one thing it doesn't do is segregate progression players from the rest of the population. This allows for servers to retain more of their populations without players going to a separate progression server. And it doesn't require more hardware!!!!

An easier idea is just to attach progression rewards to players that complete tasks for each expansion. This would be a lot easier to do. The rewards could be as simple as new titles (like loremaster or the wisened or the learned or something) or colors for their name or a new field that shows up when you look at another character that says what they've accomplished in the form of progression. I'd prefer a reward that wasn't an item or a direct hp/damage/etc benefit because then it wouldn't be about progression anymore.

Keep in mind i played earlier this year on live in jan/feb 2010, so I'm not being a blow-hard.

I think any new MMORPG needs to implement a progression feature to plan ahead for these types of players.

[Taluvill]

For some of us in the big guilds, its that we know sony wont deliver. You can RMT there, among other things. You can get defiant armor, among other things. You will probably be able to create berzerkers, among other things.

The point is that they won't get it right. Unless this server has been some kind of a big secret for years and its sony's last shot at the playerbase, then its going to suck

This server isn't like live, but I'm hoping for a live population on kunark release. This is a whole hell of a lot better than anything we can expect from sony except for EQ:Next, which will still suck because they plan to have RMT in it. ( I dont mind spending my 15$ a month, but if I cant compete because I dont buy Potion X, then is bullshit.)

Best thing they could do is to hire this development team, but they wont do that either.

[OngorDrakan]

I'll be heading there when it releases just because the free2play emus always attract the biggest morons out there. I'd rather deal with SoE's idiocy and a few minor non-classic features than this community in the long run.

Hey guys, 1 less moron on the server! Yaaaaaaaaaay! He'd rather pay to play with other morons than do it for free with more morons!:eek:

[Omnimorph]

Having played on the other progression servers they brought out, even with all the bugs they had (items far too powerful for the expansion they were in dropping etc.) it was still really popular, and it was still really fun.

Do i expect the same for the time locked progression server? hmm, maybe not... but it'll still be very popular. The server being time locked means you'll be able to hold on to people's subscriptions for a longer time, and won't need to have the marketplace items to make money.

[Vangorr_WAR]

Lets see: Sony - a business
Project 1999- Donation based

^^ if thats not enough for debate then I don't what is. You think sony's server will be better? They are in it for the money... You think sony will give a shit about any opinions you voice out? This servers community is part of what makes it more classic then anything. Sure theres jerks on the server , but do you honestly think there wont be on Sony's??? The majority of the people that will play on sony's server are current subs. You know the jerks that didn't get into the game until luclin or are just die hard EQ fans they will play whatever shitty content sony throws at them. Poopsocking bad on P99??? Wait until you see sony's server... Everyone will flock to this server, but in the end you will come back to square one whining about your classic server etc , soon as they release the current content and crap. Unbalancing??? I guarentee you exp will be easier , certain items will appear , along with other certain features... Like the LFG Command , Ebayed , Dupes up the arse... This server is as legit as you can get. It had some hiccups and minor shit storms , but this is the real macoy. The devs here work for the satisfaction of creating something great , not for the green cash they are paid hourly. These Devs aren't told what to do. Everyone gets a say its more of a democracy amongst devs with a leader to host. The people at sony they get told what to do, whatever brings in the most cash they will go with. So if people get tired of velious which they will, most of the power gamers etc. Luclin will come so will everything else right out the shit shoot. BOOM any ounce of community destroyed.The thing that changed eq the most was its sense of community amongst players... Not so much content... The old content brought people together. Can you say HELLO BAZAAR, etc. 2 boxing 3 boxing will be a common thing on these servers. Great a guild of 12 people that have no lifes always on are poopsocking 24/7. The community will be overun with a dime of dozen douchebags etc. In reality the community here is stronger then any sony server has ever been. P99 is the rolemodel for all servers. in 10 years can you imagine if P99 passed off its work and rereleased this to be operated on once more and improved.... I see big things on this server. It just gets better and better. I played the progession server , and let me tell you it was fun for a while , but the community stunk. I like my underground P99, god forbid if it was ever like sony. Sony was okay with me post luclin , after it just got worse and worse. We all evolve eq did as well , but for those old time players like me we just didn't get it. P99 is a safeheaven for those old time values. What makes P1999 great is everyone despite eachothers issues can agree with one thing. Post luclin was the god damn best era that ever lived in any MMO games. THANK YOU The devs , Community , people that researched via web , posted opinions , errors , bugs etc for all the hardwork and dedication that goes into this server. Now lets start a topic about how we would love to puntch everyone in the face at sony. Thanks

[Omnimorph]

You say that, but i still think alot of people will go back to live eq. The progression server when it was first introduced had so many people they split it across 2 servers (numbers dwindled later on so they merged) but for the most part it was a huge success.

I personally had a lot of fun on it and played it for what must have been at least a year and a bit. Sure it was entirely classic, but it was as close as i expected to have (p99 wasn't around then). Infact i think i played the most hardcore on the progression server because there was actual competition between guilds, not just for farm status but for server first kills. I'd like to think that SoE learnt a thing or 2 from their other prog server (ie. not having jaggedpine forest in from the start, not having items that were better than god loots dropping from a level 20 mob in qeynos sewers or w/e)

People play EQ in cycles, they play, they get bored, they quit, but then after a while they come back. A new progression server is just the incentive people need to come back.

[Hurley]

The biggest appeal to me would be losing the "it's our server, you're lucky we let you play here" mentality most of the staff have.

[Chanus]

Lets see: Sony - a business
Project 1999- Donation based

^^ if thats not enough for debate then I don't what is. You think sony's server will be better? They are in it for the money...

I think you misunderstand how people make money.

It's not by catering to a niche market that hates everything you've done for the last nine years.

[Slathar]

I love all the baseless speculation people are spouting off here. Wait and see before you say there will be RMT and defiant drops.

Another example of level 50s with dragon-gearz fearing that p1999 will suffer a massive player migration leaving them with no one to act superior to.

[L2Phantom]

I think you misunderstand how people make money.

It's not by catering to a niche market that hates everything you've done for the last nine years.

You clearly have no idea how big of a success the last progression servers were. SoE publicly stated themselves that when the Combine and Sleeper launched, they had the best months (financially) that they had had in a long time.

The progression servers were epic amounts of fun and people were bustling in every nook and cranny of every zone. Guilds were racing to targets to progress their guilds and leveling together in nearly every zone in the game. There were a few things that ruined it for many people, the big thing being power gamers rushing to unlock the content in under a month, and zones being out before they were supposed to, but overall they were amazing.

i can't wait until we get to come back into the real Norrath in early 2011 and can see the changes that SoE has made this time to progression. I have a feeling that after seeing the response to P1999, they realize there is a market out there for the "niche" you are talking about. Most people tend to play EQ in short spurts and come and go to revisit old memories. That is where the money is for their company; nostalgia - and that is why they are bringing this server ruleset back again.

[Chanus]

I was there. The Progression Servers were a "massive success" for about four months.

[Chanus]

If they're doing it differently this time, it could be more successful. The fact is, the original Progression Servers were a massive letdown because they weren't actually Classic. They were current EQ with expansions disabled.

You still had all the features of EQLive at the time like Out of Combat Regen and the low level armor quests and such because they weren't willing to redesign a special database and client just for one (or two) servers.

So, people resubbed to check it out, realized they had been duped, and quit. That boosts your numbers for a quarter, but it does not a success make.

[KilyenaMage]

They wouldn't be able to deal with real competition. When you are already established with 50-100 full time players online all the time, the game is cake.
You can claim you want a real challenge but really these people just want frequent easy kills.

Starting over with a couple thousand people playing in all different timezones, you're not guaranteed a monopoly and nobody is going to jump on board just because you were in a big guild on an emu server.

In short, they aren't going anywhere.

This man knows his PoopSocking Emu Guilds. Just like the guilds on VZ/TZ would never have switched to a LIVE classic PVP server if it had opened - despite their claims.

[KilyenaMage]

For some of us in the big guilds, its that we know sony wont deliver. You can RMT there, among other things. You can get defiant armor, among other things. You will probably be able to create berzerkers, among other things.

The point is that they won't get it right. Unless this server has been some kind of a big secret for years and its sony's last shot at the playerbase, then its going to suck

This server isn't like live, but I'm hoping for a live population on kunark release. This is a whole hell of a lot better than anything we can expect from sony except for EQ:Next, which will still suck because they plan to have RMT in it. ( I dont mind spending my 15$ a month, but if I cant compete because I dont buy Potion X, then is bullshit.)

Best thing they could do is to hire this development team, but they wont do that either.


What's the difference how many people are on the server, when the same Guild(s) will be monopolizing all the Kunark bosses just the same?

And if you think people aren't RMTing here, then you're either mistaken or ignorant.

[Haynar]

I liked the original progression server, until I was 3 months behind expansion wise. That took what? 3 1/2 months? If you were not playing 8 hours a day, you were behind.

That was why I quit playing on live. I was always behind, since I could not play 8 hrs a day. There was too much content.

H

[Haynar]

And if you think people aren't RMTing here, then you're either mistaken or ignorant.
There are no more people doing RMT's than there are boxing.

You know the server is a success when people are giving real money for in game characters, items, etc.

=P

[KilyenaMage]

I love all the baseless speculation people are spouting off here. Wait and see before you say there will be RMT and defiant drops.

Another example of level 50s with dragon-gearz fearing that p1999 will suffer a massive player migration leaving them with no one to act superior to.

I dunno about the Defiant items, but OBVIOUSLY RMT will be there - it always is.

[Crone]

There are no more people doing RMT's than there are boxing.

You know the server is a success when people are giving real money for in game characters, items, etc.

=P

I think when dealing with progression servers, when RMT is mentioned, they are talking about the Station store that lets you buy experience potions, mounts, and all over sorts of weird stuff.

[Zexa]

I played on Sleeper then Combine and it was some of the best fun I ever had in EQ.

Unfortunately it wasn't very casual friendly because people like me raced to be the first. Fun for me, but I imagine 90% of the server population was left very disgruntled about that. It should be interesting to see how long the time locks are. I personally hope for nothing more than 3 months per expo.

[L2Phantom]

That boosts your numbers for a quarter, but it does not a success make.

Who is to say what a success is though?

They had a significant increase in monthly subs, they stated this.

They likely sold a bunch more copies of the game for people who boxed or bought new accounts to come back with.

People stayed around mostly until Luclin/PoP/GoD came out, which was 5-6 months of a ridiculously high population. It would have been longer had they stopped the power gamers from unlocking everything for the whole server; which this time will be fixed.

The amount of time spent coding the server was probably significantly less than the profits they made from it.

My point is, success can be any number of things. Just because the server didn't stay for 10 years like the others, doesn't mean it wasn't a success.

[Rogean]

I'd like to mention that I was one of these power gamers that unlocked everything on combine (Realm of Insanity), or as some people on the server liked to call us, an "end game fuckhead".

$$$

[Vangorr_WAR]

Thats funny I was in realm of insanity for a bit too. If your name fits your forum name then you were a rogue by the name of Rogean =). I remember you teaming up with me in the areana and ganking me a few times =)

[Vangorr_WAR]

Was a shame the guild was way different when Elucid led , wasn't necessary bad , but wasn't Xylgoz or whatever that dudes name aws

[KilyenaMage]

I played on Sleeper then Combine and it was some of the best fun I ever had in EQ.

Unfortunately it wasn't very casual friendly because people like me raced to be the first. Fun for me, but I imagine 90% of the server population was left very disgruntled about that. It should be interesting to see how long the time locks are. I personally hope for nothing more than 3 months per expo.

Isn't that exactly what people did on this server!??!

[Omnimorph]

Was a shame the guild was way different when Elucid led , wasn't necessary bad , but wasn't Xylgoz or whatever that dudes name aws

Xygon

Yeah, i thought combine was very fun... but being the dominant guild and getting the majority of encounters will always be fun ;) I never thought about it at the time, but it must have been a bit rubbish for the people who weren't raiding etc.

My ISP broke when pop came out and i missed the whole expansion... was gutted :(

But alas, i no longer have 10+ hours a day to commit to a game... so a prog server now might not be as good.

And there was no defiant armour on the prog servers, just 1 or 2 items that were out of place.

[Rogean]

Plane of time in.. 12 days was it? from the opening of PoP. Was pretty epic.

[mitic]

I'd like to mention that I was one of these power gamers that unlocked everything on combine (Realm of Insanity), or as some people on the server liked to call us, an "end game fuckhead".

$$$

ROI? ive been in elementum (u bastard!)

[mitic]

I liked the original progression server, until I was 3 months behind expansion wise. That took what? 3 1/2 months? If you were not playing 8 hours a day, you were behind.

That was why I quit playing on live. I was always behind, since I could not play 8 hrs a day. There was too much content.

H

confirmed

http://i684.photobucket.com/albums/vv203/miticeq/kera.jpg

[Rogean]

http://www.rogean.com/images/sleepermsg.gif

[mitic]

think he has been awakened like 4 times before soe finaly opened the next expansion

[Hasbinbad]

who wants to bet sleeper wont last for a week on p99? :P

[Rogean]

who wants to bet sleeper wont last for a week on p99? :P

With the amount of guilds contesting the key mobs, it will be atleast 4 weeks before a guild has enough people in there to even kill the 1st warder.

[Rottening]

who wants to bet sleeper wont last for a week on p99? :P

Sleeper still lives on Al'Kabor!

[Asher]

Dunno if you remember me or not. Exodus/Gennesis mnk/shm box.

I do remember grouping with you in PoDisease.

Glad to see you here. :)

Asher

[Asher]

Sleeper still lives on Al'Kabor!

Sleeper was forced to wake up on Firiona Vie. iirc when they launched EQ2.


Asher