Server Populations

[ShadexDemarr]

I was curious, I do remember that Everquest was one of the only MMOs back in the day that actually posted on the login screen the number of players that were on the various servers. Does anyone remember what kind of numbers they remembers seeing? Is the 1,000+ that we typically see here around the same as an EQ had circa 1999?

[Tupakk]

3-5k

[jcbbjjttt]

3-5k

[FatMice]

3-5k

[Swish]

That's too high, they were splitting Fennin Ro at the tail end of 1999 when it was going over 2100 at peak - a server movelog happened at least twice from it. Maybe people are thinking of Velious numbers.

[Zaela]

Around Velious later-added overflow servers were usually 1-2k (I played on Xev) while the early servers (like Innoruuk) could expect to be 3k+.

[Jauna]

3-5k for every server or just Bertox? Bertox was packed to the brim because it was the first server listed alphabetically

Holy shit Bertox was so bad in hindsight. a group of 6 at each spire in south karana. groups of 3 at the treants turning people away, a group for every house in aviak village.. a group for every room the goblin area for highkeep. lguk had shit like bedroom, bugs1, bugs 2, even groups just for the gargs..

[Jimjam]

I remember servers being 1-2k. Not a US prime time player though.

[Llandris]

a group for every room the goblin area for highkeep.

This is how CT was also, fun times :D

[Sorn]

I remember numbers anywhere from 1600 to 2400 on Tholuxe Paells on average during later Velious and Luclin.

[ShadexDemarr]

Well that's such amazing news then. That means that 1999 is right on par with a typical 'live' EQ server during its hay day. Not an overpopped mega server but far far from dead as a lot of older game emu servers are. That makes me very happy. What has been the highest we have seen here?

[mr_jon3s]

That's too high, they were splitting Fennin Ro at the tail end of 1999 when it was going over 2100 at peak - a server movelog happened at least twice from it. Maybe people are thinking of Velious numbers.

Numbers were higher after velious and at its highest at PoP.

[Lojik]

I remember 1500ish offpeak, 2500-3000 during peak. This was around late classic to velious. Bear in mind that there weren't nearly the afk, ec mule, or lvl60 poop socking pop that there is now, so most zones were well popped

[Arkanjil]

What's funny is that when this server first launched back in 2009 and we had a pop of 100 to eventually 150 through December, the server felt well populated :)

I love the numbers we have now, it feels just about right. Looking forward to seeing the numbers on a green99 server though ;)

[guinness]

I remember peak hours being about 2000-2500 on Morell-Thule during the Velious to PoP eras.

But since the level distribution among characters was so much more spread out than on P99 things didn't feel overcrowded at all. P99 actually feels more crowded in certain zones than live ever did.

[Dezlen]

I remember peak hours being about 2000-2500 on Morell-Thule during the Velious to PoP eras.

But since the level distribution among characters was so much more spread out than on P99 things didn't feel overcrowded at all. P99 actually feels more crowded in certain zones than live ever did.

This is how I remember MT.

[Tecmos Deception]

That's too high, they were splitting Fennin Ro at the tail end of 1999 when it was going over 2100 at peak - a server movelog happened at least twice from it. Maybe people are thinking of Velious numbers.

Saryrn was in the 1500-1600 range in my memory back in Kunark before they got rid of the display on server select, and IIRC it was one of the lower pop servers (though there were only like a dozen?).

[Gustoo]

Yup yup.

Would kill for vintage screen shot of loginscreen

So scummy when they stopping showing population.

And yes, blue99 super crowded because it is majority max gamer people getting revenge on their 11 year old selves that never got all the good stuff. Very few new players goofing around in the cities and newbie zones. Just blasting to the top and fighting for camps.

It's like old bertox but only high value item mobs.

[Zaela]

Would kill for vintage screen shot of loginscreen

http://i.imgur.com/mQHFfvN.png
!

(Extremely fake. I'm sure some of you have a much better idea of what servers existed early on than I do.)

[ShadexDemarr]

http://i.imgur.com/mQHFfvN.png
!

(Extremely fake. I'm sure some of you have a much better idea of what servers existed early on than I do.)

Heh, I was going to say, "Where is Solusek Ro! Mah home!"

[Nuggie]

I want to say Lanys was Dec 99....

[Whoop]

The shitfest this server would have had if the pop was double...

Blue that is, red is dead right? :)

[Zuranthium]

So scummy when they stopping showing population.

Yes! It was like "what are you trying to hide, is the active player population decreasing?"

I played on The Tribunal when I started (picked it because I was playing a Barbarian Shaman, so it seemed fitting) and I remember being really happy with our server size, it always had a considerably lower population than the biggest servers.

I remember peak hours being about 2000-2500

This is also what I recall.

[Swish]

I want to say Lanys was Dec 99....

I'd say it was later than that. I was on Prexus when I started (December 1999) and did jump to Lanys but it was more than 2 weeks after I'd been messing around making 10 characters and being indecisive :p

[Trollhide]

What's funny is that when this server first launched back in 2009 and we had a pop of 100 to eventually 150 through December, the server felt well populated :)

I love the numbers we have now, it feels just about right. Looking forward to seeing the numbers on a green99 server though ;)
Can't wait for green server, I plan on poopsocking as hard as I can up to 60 as life schedule allows. I didn't hear about P1999 until like 5 years after it released, and while I started on Innoruuk in May of 1999 I was a hardcore altoholic and didn't even hit level 20 until after Kunark had dropped so I kind of missed the classic boat in some ways.

[Swish]

Holgresh Elder Beads? You ain't seen nothing yet on the manastone / guise camps :o

[maxlaurent]

Can't wait for green server, I plan on poopsocking as hard as I can up to 60 as life schedule allows. I didn't hear about P1999 until like 5 years after it released, and while I started on Innoruuk in May of 1999 I was a hardcore altoholic and didn't even hit level 20 until after Kunark had dropped so I kind of missed the classic boat in some ways.

There will be no "green server", too bad for you.

[Crawdad]

I want to say Lanys was Dec 99....

http://www.zlizeq.com/Game_Information-Servers_and_Versions

[Swish]

http://www.zlizeq.com/Game_Information-Servers_and_Versions

Not to sound like Daldaen but that's an awful chart. Lanys didn't launch in 1999 with the launch servers.

(neither did Luclin, or Vazaelle, or Zebuxoruk, or Maelin Starpyre... holy shit there's a long list of errors)

[Expediency]

Not to sound like Daldaen but that's an awful chart. Lanys didn't launch in 1999 with the launch servers.



Lanys absolutely launched in 1999. I started in Dec 99 and it was the only server I ever played on. It was fairly new at the time

[Swish]

Lanys absolutely launched in 1999. I started in Dec 99 and it was the only server I ever played on. It was fairly new at the time

Okay my memory is slightly cloudy but I had it in 2000 at least. March 1999 though with the other startup servers? No way.

[Kaedain]

who all played on that "premium" Stormhammer server ? was it worth that extra moneys ??

[nyclin]

I played on SH during Luclin. Stormhammer was interesting, but if it had been my own money paying for it I'd have never played there. Community was good.. lots of well known players from the various servers.

Raiding atmosphere was pretty friendly, but there were also GM enforced rotations and a rather large gulf between Leviathan (2nd best hardcore) and Township Rebellion (best hardcore). TR was doing VT while Leviathan was still working on Ssra bosses and lesser Luclin targets. This combined with the large number of raid targets available in Luclin meant that Levi/TR rarely had any conflict.

We had some unique GM events where Guises were given out, and also a unique quest which eventually made it to live (Earring of the Solstice). We also got access to Jaggedpine before live servers.

[Axlrose]

I remember Bristlebroken almost always being close to maxed out for populations at peak times. A few gaming sessions I did attempt to play during these peak hours (since I usually jammed on the off hours), I had a few pop-up messages stating the server was full and that I should consider joining another server.

And then there were times it lived up to its name and while the other servers were active, old Bristlebroken had a population of zero!

[Crawdad]

Not to sound like Daldaen but that's an awful chart. Lanys didn't launch in 1999 with the launch servers.

(neither did Luclin, or Vazaelle, or Zebuxoruk, or Maelin Starpyre... holy shit there's a long list of errors)

Yeah, I'm not quite sure its accurate and wouldn't pass the classhole test, but I've been looking for a few days and can't find anything in Allakhazam patch notes or elsewhere and its the best I've found. Maybe digging through the waybackmachine later will find something better.

[Zheta]

I remember ~1000-2000 players. Played on Rodcet Nife.

[Swish]

I remember ~1000-2000 players. Played on Rodcet Nife.

yeah more this in late 99, early 2000

[Blitzers]

Veeshan server before they turned it into Luclin would see 3k+

[myriverse]

Not to sound like Daldaen but that's an awful chart. Lanys didn't launch in 1999 with the launch servers.

(neither did Luclin, or Vazaelle, or Zebuxoruk, or Maelin Starpyre... holy shit there's a long list of errors)
Maybe a better list:
https://web.archive.org/web/20040209030553/http://www.shadowfury.net/eqservers.php

[dallow2345]

never forget the 120 people in loio and the wife and i camping the one spawn at the south spire in sk hoping the one wanderer would get to us for that bonus xp!