TAK project.

[mastersapper]

I was looking at Al'kabor server and saw that theyre using the original client. Saw some videos with all the classic goodness of spells and ui etc.

Has anyone played on this server that can give their thoughts on it vs p99?

Going to probably try to try it out soon, but curious of others experiences.

[Ravager]

I'd probably play there if there wasn't boxing.

[Baler]

I've tried it. my first impressions were not bad but also not good. The starter zone I was in had about 1/20th the number of mobs that p99 starter zones have. Not sure if this has been changed or not but it was a huge pain to find mobs to xp off. Second the 'classic limitations' like no mouse camera among other things was a turn off for me. Titanium client offers a lot of Quality of life features and it's a big factor in why I still play p99.

The staff over there seem up to snuff, a lot of vets from the eq emu forums. I have nothing bad to say about any of them. I'd play takp over p2002 any day.

[paulgiamatti]

It's funny because the TAKP client is exactly what P99 would love to have for their servers, yet it's being used on a server that's tainted with blasphemies such as multiboxing and post-Velious expansions.

Humans and erudites are hopelessly blind and light sources hardly do anything. Nameplates have that classic pixelated look. Targeting is a nightmare, exactly like it was during that era - you can only toggle between two targets max, and it seems to break the "target nearest" function once you've toggled between targets, forcing you to use the mouse cursor to acquire a new target in many situations. No auto-exiting corpses - you have to click "Done" or X out of the loot window for every single mob. No auto-linking loot from corpses. Once you get too far away from a mob for it to stop animating, it no longer draws on the screen. There's also some weird character model polygonal distortion going on when models gain some distance from the camera. Loading times are a fraction of what they are in the Titanium client.

Not as complete as P99 content-wise, obviously, but I'm sure there's ongoing development. Didn't have any problems finding mobs at all, but I've only leveled a couple characters to 10 so far. I agree with Baler in that the Titanium client allows for a less frustrating gameplay experience, and I appreciate having late-aughts graphical features like pixel & vertex shaders and advanced lighting, as well as a bunch of other UI controls that were introduced with Titanium.

[Secrets]

Humans and erudites are hopelessly blind and light sources hardly do anything.

Some areas are even more night-blind for humans/erudites/barbs on Trilogy/DX7 clients, which TAKProject may support someday when they go open source again.

I'd love to see TAKProject have more people checking it out, though. It's sort of my baby, as I helped mangle the netcode together that they used initially (and then later they perfected.)

They have some really smart people working on the project.

Haynar helps them out with his incredible reverse engineering / coding work.
Torven basically figured out the AC/Melee damage formula before Daybreak even posted pseudocode of the formula, which confirmed his work on recreating it. I'd go as far as to say the code is more era-accurate than P99 is for classic mechanics.
Robregen/cavedude were the main guys behind PEQ past 2007 or so, and they're responsible for fostering the community that made the de-facto database for EQEmu servers.
Speedz brought the chickens in the form of web development work - the account management tools that he's brought automate tasks that GMs would normally do on Al'Kabor - account to account transfers between your own accounts, login recovery, etc.

They have some other folks working on stuff there, but I don't know if they want their identity known so I didn't mention them.

It's possibly the greatest preservation project of a server that no longer exists. Definitely check it out.

[Bruno]

Do they have plans to do future selective name changes? Possibly looking to get my eq fix in again elsewhere. Got bored of TLP a while ago.

[Shrubwise]

Second the 'classic limitations' like no mouse camera among other things was a turn off for me. Titanium client offers a lot of Quality of life features and it's a big factor in why I still play p99.

Well said. I had the same turn-offs. Titanium client or bust.

If it wasn't limited by the client, I'd probably play there too. Unlike many other P99'ers, I am in favor of boxing and it wouldn't be a turn off for me.

[fadetree]

I've been playing there for quite a while now, and I like it a great deal. It is very playable. Extremely friendly atmosphere, gear is very cheap comparatively. Really good devs. Luclin is coming soon (Summer-ish). It is kind of low pop, but personally I don't mind that too much as its kind of nice to stroll into most places and find camps. You can box, but you don't have to. Without boxing the early game is sort of empty. The boxing is strictly limited to 3, and there's a large exp bonus if your group has at least a 4th player. Client is older than P99 and limited in some ways (mouse wheel scroll in/out and mouse pan) but that's actually accurate for the period, which I appreciate.
I expect a lot of folks to show up when luclin drops.

[fadetree]

Well said. I had the same turn-offs. Titanium client or bust.

If it wasn't limited by the client, I'd probably play there too. Unlike many other P99'ers, I am in favor of boxing and it wouldn't be a turn off for me.

Well, ok, look you guys make a big deal about the TAKP client, and you're all quick to yell 'not classic!' about proposed changes here, yet you happily use a client that is totally out of era. The client extras are not just conveniences, they are critical game features and are very powerful in what they let you do, which is why you don't want to lose them. But it is, in fact, out of era.

[Baler]

Well, ok, look you guys make a big deal about the TAKP client, and you're all quick to yell 'not classic!' about proposed changes here, yet you happily use a client that is totally out of era. The client extras are not just conveniences, they are critical game features and are very powerful in what they let you do, which is why you don't want to lose them. But it is, in fact, out of era.

Part of why people yell not classic here is because it's an excuse for everything and a p99 meme. Something like Pras is to red if you will. A sizeable percentage of people who play p99 do so thanks to the accessibility of the titanium client and it's qol features. Otherwise believe me haynar as one example would love to implement these era accurate classic changes.

I may give it another try when luclin hits. Not that I'd ever leave p99. But I'm for having a high quality option for luclin/pop in the emu scene. I'm curious what p99's next server will be. I think rogean owns the takp site.

[Raev]

Boxing just sucks. I don't know how else to put it. There are a lot of nice people on TAKP, but most of them are off 3-boxing by themselves. Basically all group content can be boxed easily and even things like the Chardok Royals or the Arena or whatnot. So if you aren't raiding, you are probably playing by yourself. Leveling up 3-boxing sucks.

The other problem with TAKP is the PoP resist system trivializing Velious. Verant's problem was that they gave out a bunch of ridiculously overpowered spells like PBAE stun and mez, and then they had to make the monsters resist them to keep things vaguely challenging, and that totally screwed all nukers. In PoP they changed the resist system to 'let spells basically land, add in charm/mez/snare immunity where needed, and be a lot stingier with giving out stun/mez'. But since TAKP has the PoP resist system in Velious, Enchanters can AE mez 4 red cons with a ~10% resist rate. You can also pacify your way through Sebilis and HS with literally zero risk.

I don't really think the client is a huge issue myself.

The advantages of TAKP: overall class balance is probably better than P99 (except for Enchanter/Cleric for group content). QoL features like the Bazaar and PoK. Raid rotations mean you don't have to get up at 3AM to kill dragons. Generally speaking the population has not been hardened by years of 'competition' and thus is pretty laid back. Luclin/PoP if that's your thing.

[Shrubwise]

Well, ok, look you guys make a big deal about the TAKP client, and you're all quick to yell 'not classic!' about proposed changes here, yet you happily use a client that is totally out of era. The client extras are not just conveniences, they are critical game features and are very powerful in what they let you do, which is why you don't want to lose them. But it is, in fact, out of era.

I’ve never yelled ‘Not Classic!’ about proposed changes here, so please don’t put words into my mouth (or my post) in the process of making your point. I know the titanium client isn’t classic but I am not a stickler for everything being true to classic. As a matter of fact, I am in favor of the Live client and Luclin models. Baker made a good point in saying that the mob spawns, for example, are Moreno accurate on P99 than anywhere else. That’s what I really care about, that in-game content is accurate. If the client offers some non-classic but reasonable features, so be it.

[w0k]

Well said. I had the same turn-offs. Titanium client or bust.

If it wasn't limited by the client, I'd probably play there too. Unlike many other P99'ers, I am in favor of boxing and it wouldn't be a turn off for me.

solid aesthetic decisions for a space tend to weed out chaff.

population is actually ideal. 3box limit keeps things sane without boxing your ears. it's far, far more classic. by far the best emu : )

[Torven]

When Luclin launches, people will be Mass Group Buffing high level buffs periodically, so new people will be able to god-mode through the lower levels.

We populated zones with packet captured data, so the number of NPCs up on TAKP are the number of NPCs that were up when we snapshot the zone. (usually multiple snapshots) I suppose it's possible a handful of NPCs were killed by guards when we captured the data, but it's not from us just arbitrarily placing NPCs around. Some zones (like Nektulos) just didn't have a lot of NPCs.

P99 is probably a better experience if you're concerned about the early game. I think TAKP really shines in the late game. Sony's ez-modification of the game really began in late Luclin, so we have some of that unfortunately. Also it's fair to say that we do give raid content details more scrutiny because these kinds of projects are never ending triage that will never be 100% finished.

I would be curious to see any evidence for Velious era resist rates though. I think people may be exaggerating the difference.

[Raev]

I would be curious to see any evidence for Velious era resist rates though. I think people may be exaggerating the difference.

Hmm. You could actually be right here. For example, the page on juggernaughts suggests they aren't very resistant http://everquest.allakhazam.com/db/npc.html?id=4570&p=2#comments So maybe P99 is just overtuned on the mob resists. Either way, I do think the TAKP dungeons are just not challenging enough.

I don't want to give the impression that TAKP is a bad server! It's hilarious to read the same thread over and over again in RNF about people cockblocked by A/A bitching about the raid scene when TAKP is rotated.

[loramin]

solid aesthetic decisions for a space tend to weed out chaff.

population is actually ideal. 3box limit keeps things sane without boxing your ears. it's far, far more classic. by far the best emu : )

You know an easy way to "weed out the chaff"? Play on your own private server, and then you can box a whole raid! ;)

Personally though I'm a fan of the "aesthetic decisions" made about the original EQ game, and that game was about players on one account each working together to achieve things, not one player manically ALT+TAB-ing between account.

Just not challenging in what sense? When I'm three boxing myself and doing everything perfectly I doubt in the same zone p99 would be any different. Relying in other humans on TAKP it gives that same P99 inefficiency. The only difference is that one server has that as permitted behaviour.

Boxing EverQuest is a different game, plain and simple. It's not the game most of us played on live, but there's also nothing wrong with it: it's great that Takp lets people play that game.

However, for most people here playing the single-account game that we played on live years ago matters more for embracing our nostalgia than a hundred "light blue mobs now con green" fixes ... even people like me who boxed on live.

Personally I just wish there was a server with P99's quality and single-account focus, but that let everyone play other classic (in the English sense of the word, not the P99-sense) EverQuest expansions like Luclin and PoP.

[w0k]

Personally though I'm a fan of the "aesthetic decisions" made about the original EQ game,



you mean scroll-wheeling wow controls on a sluggish client w infravision for all??

[BossThunderace]

enjoying my time on takp - server has changed - lots of friendly people, seeing a rise in new players and a rise in single boxers. the client has that classic feel. luclin to be released sometime this year. worth checking out if its just to make an account and say Hi. have fun!!

[paulgiamatti]

you mean scroll-wheeling wow controls on a sluggish client w infravision for all??

Those are mechanical decisions. The effects of infravision could be considered aesthetics, but the idea of giving that feature to all races, which they didn't do, would either be game mechanics or could be considered a conceptual decision. Also, "sluggish" is the last word I'd use to describe the TAKP client since it's much more lightweight and orders of magnitude faster than the Titanium client.

It's possibly the greatest preservation project of a server that no longer exists. Definitely check it out.

It's interesting that we're now crossing into meta-emulation territory with TAKP, which is essentially an emulation of an emulated server, but I suppose you could just call it a reproduction of the EQMac server being that many of the same developers are involved. This also frees up the development staff to less rigorous standards - they can afford to sort of make things up as they go along since they were never promising the ultimate replication of classic esoterica that P99 offers. It seems like an exchange of information could be incredibly fruitful towards that end, though - I'm now imagining a joint server between the two projects offering the best of both worlds.

I'm definitely rooting for you in the resurrection of the Trilogy client, but I'm skeptical about integration - I'm going to guess that a ton of what P99 does is hinged tightly to the Titanium client, and even making a different era client available as an option would require a painstaking overhaul. It also makes me wonder what kind of CSR nightmares would arise in its wake. Perhaps that's a problem best left to the future staff of P99 Green, featuring the all-classic Trilogy client.

[Wonkie]

infravision scroll wheel refers to p99 paul

takp is alright but the mooing guy has to go really shameful for an adult

[BossThunderace]

lol mooing guy..

wanted to mention that secrets did an awesome job of working on the forums. there are handy tools on the takp website that lets you view your characters bank / inv, there is a spell list for all your toons where you can hide the spells you already know. check it out - the forum features are great!

[Secrets]

lol mooing guy..

wanted to mention that secrets did an awesome job of working on the forums. there are handy tools on the takp website that lets you view your characters bank / inv, there is a spell list for all your toons where you can hide the spells you already know. check it out - the forum features are great!

That's Speedz, not me.

It's interesting that we're now crossing into meta-emulation territory with TAKP,

Technically, EQMac when hosted by SOE wasn't an emulator. It was an original, official SOE-hosted server. The project I made with Trilogy that connects to TAKP is technically not an emulator either; it simply translates data into a format that the EQMac server can understand, as opposed to implementing a full database and server software.

[SDWV]

Boxing ruins so many parts of the game that make EQ great. Grouping, socializing, exploring. I always felt more isolated when I tried it on Agnarr server and it ruined my fun.

[Crust]

I played on live for 6 years starting when Kunark came out. Over that time i knew 2 actual people who multi boxed, as you had to pay $14.99 every month per account, most would/could not justify it.

It seems silly that everyone can have 13+ accounts with 1 character per. No one on any EQ emulated server today would pay $195+ a month for so many accounts.

[BossThunderace]

Boxing ruins so many parts of the game that make EQ great. Grouping, socializing, exploring. I always felt more isolated when I tried it on Agnarr server and it ruined my fun.

Yeah I cannot imagine takp being anywhere close to agnarr in terms of anti grouping, anti-socializing etc. Takp is very group friendly and social. come say Hi!




Secrets!! I miss the boat in crushbone

[Irulan]

"Boxing is optional"

Have you ever played there?

You log in a cleric without a boxed tank...

going to have a boring time.

No way around it.

TAKP has the superior client though.

Boxing sucks.

Also no classic only PvP server with itemloot.

[Secrets]

Also no classic only PvP server with itemloot.

Whenever TAKProject is finished, this is something I am considering making with the open source version of it.

Secrets!! I miss the boat in crushbone

I don't GM on that server anymore. Sorry!

[Fryhole]

I was planning to check it out but after spending so much time on p99 the world over there just felt dead. Barely any chat in the global channel. Everyone was in PoK and I’m sure it felt lively in there but it just wasn’t for me.

That said, a progression server with a client that supports the mouse scroll camera and goes up to PoP (no Ykesha/LDoN) would interest me and likely many others. There are some class changing AAs (endless quiver, mana burn) and other balance changes that would make the game that much better. I was never a Luclin fan but I think the added planes are fun enough to bite the bullet. Throw in no Luclin models or mounts and I think it might just end up with a nice population. (Though at this point I’m guessing a lot of ppl are just waiting on Pantheon or some other upcoming MMOs like Ashes or Camelot Unchained to not suck). Basically though just a p99 that went up to PoP.

[Torven]

they can afford to sort of make things up

I can assure you that I don't just 'make stuff up' and as Secrets said, Al'Kabor was an official Sony server that forked from PC EQ with very little modification around November 2002. In fact that is a great advantage to us that P99 would be envious of because we have 8 gigs of logs that are all of the same point in the Sony timeline to dig through; as well as a user base that played the static era for 10 years to ask for feedback from. (also zone video, captured packets/show eq data etc)

I'm pretty sure p99 devs used Al'Kabor as a data source when it was available to them; but they of course couldn't use it as the definitive source that we can.

[BossThunderace]

"Boxing is optional"

Have you ever played there?

You log in a cleric without a boxed tank...

going to have a boring time.

No way around it.

TAKP has the superior client though.

Boxing sucks.

Also no classic only PvP server with itemloot.


I have a solution to your problem! Make friends! Seriously, drop by the server and say Hi :)

[Crust]

Actually you can buy game time on most mmos with some type of in game currency and multiboxers are a disease

You are saying people farm 13 chrono a month?

I agree boxing is no fun and anti social.

[Videri]

Whenever TAKProject is finished, this [a classic-only pvp server with item loot] is something I am considering making with the open source version of it.

Please do. :)

[Valakut]

haven't played here since trying to report bugs on IRC and then being trolled by one of the devs (speedz) because of his/her/its own insecurities and making the game unplayable for the group of friends that tried migrating to the server.

eqmac aint ever coming back it died when smedley got tossed.

[Wonkie]

haven't played here since trying to report bugs on IRC and then being trolled by one of the devs (speedz) because of his/her/its own insecurities and making the game unplayable for the group of friends that tried migrating to the server.

eqmac aint ever coming back it died when smedley got tossed.

if you are who i think you are, you deserve to be trolled.

[Swish2]

haven't played here since trying to report bugs on IRC and then being trolled by one of the devs (speedz) because of his/her/its own insecurities and making the game unplayable for the group of friends that tried migrating to the server.

eqmac aint ever coming back it died when smedley got tossed.

You're just a ball of happiness aren't you? Go give it another try, cast your prejudices aside.

I'm looking into giving it a shot at the moment, want to play a cat for once :)

[Amirite]

infravision scroll wheel refers to p99 paul

takp is alright but the mooing guy has to go really shameful for an adult


seriously pal? i love that mooing guy, hes awesome.

[Bristlebaner]

Are pets more classic? As in not as nerfed as they are here?

[Torven]

I'm unfamiliar with how pets are on P99.

I outlined much of my pet combat skills research here: http://www.eqemulator.org/forums/showpost.php?p=256327&postcount=11

As far as what levels pets are granted abilities, max HP and the like, we're very close to the P99 wiki.

[Dairmuid]

I decided to give TAKP a try to mix up the insanity that is raiding on P99.... here's my take:

The community is very helpful to new players - I had three people find me and run items to me to help out my n00bie grind in Field of Bone. A wu's trance stick is a game changer for a L6 monk.

Plane of Knowledge is amazing - (Trainers / Spells / Banks / Portals all in one zone) yeah, not classic, whatever.....it's nice to be able to port without having to find a wizard or druid. It definitely shrinks the world, but no less so than having a pocket porter. It's nice to know my spells are in one building and not spread out all over the place. It also allowed me to make characters of different races (IKS / HEF) and play together starting at level 1.

Bazaar - I've only been twice and it appears there isn't a ton for sale. I'm sure this is due to population, but i was able to find a cheap haste item :) It's weird running through a deserted EC tunnel.....

Low pop has it's advantages - I decided to give TOFS a try with my trio and took the raft from NRO to iceclad ocean. When i pull up to the docks, Stormfeather is up and circling the mountain. I call in a guy i barely knew and he helped me kill it. I'm pumped at this point. Then he tells me Lodi was on track ....so he calls in a few more reinforcements and we take down Lodi and i get a map AND they give me a ring. WHAT LUCK?!? He helps me with the Tizmak part and i pick up my 3rd map piece.....still waiting on the dire wolf, but soon !!!

I was also allowed to loot an Aegis of Ice off Dain for my cleric.

It's a different experience then P99, but it is nice to know a lot of the content isn't locked behind neckbeard FTE'ers and the people are more focused on conquering content then Conquering each other.

The dev team on both P99 and TAKP are incredible people. I can't thank you guys enough for the experience you've provided for us.

P99 will always be home and i'll continue to play here, but TAKP will definitely get a lot of my time going forward.

[Savok]

Grata on the shield I’m glad you like it.

After playing on p99 for nearly 8 years I was burnt out on the neck beards continuing to harper the step up mentality and keepng everything else on lockdown. I just wanted to have fun and experience old content again - TAKP gives me that. After 3 months of casual play I already have better gear and have killed every raid mob in the game except the Vulak ring.

[Swish2]

It also allowed me to make characters of different races (IKS / HEF) and play together starting at level 1.

https://i.imgur.com/qzCstRQ.gif

[loramin]

After 3 months of casual play I already have better gear and have killed every raid mob in the game except the Vulak ring.

Yikes, my major beef with TakP before now was their allowance of multi-boxing, but the fact that the whole server is just a giant loot pinata that lets you "win almost everything" in three months probably scares me away even more.

Genuine question: what do you do there after three months? Or maybe after four or five months, since it sounds like that's what it would take to get full "best in slot" gear?

Also, was that three month figure for single-boxing or triple-boxing?

[Erati]

Loramin, it's ok to accept that there are things that people enjoy that P99 ( as great as it is ) simply does not offer them.

To answer your question what he can do after 3 months, well Luclin is about to be released and PoP is where this server will end so there is actually quite alot of quests/leveling options/AAs he can be doing.

[Savok]

Yikes, my major beef with TakP before now was their allowance of multi-boxing, but the fact that the whole server is just a giant loot pinata that lets you "win almost everything" in three months probably scares me away even more.

Genuine question: what do you do there after three months? Or maybe after four or five months, since it sounds like that's what it would take to get full "best in slot" gear?

Also, was that three month figure for single-boxing or triple-boxing?

I don’t box on raids and am only level 55, and those were all from soloing with a small amount of grouping. With Luclin coming out in July there is going to be a ton of stuff to do anyway. I’m not a neckbeard player, 8 years on p99 and I only made level 56 so it fits me well.

[Savok]

I’ll turn you question around. What keeps all the high end players here on p99? Surely after 3 years in Velious you should have everything you want by now?

[Erati]

I’ll turn you question around. What keeps all the high end players here on p99? Surely after 3 years in Velious you should have everything you want by now?

I know the question was not for me but I will add that if gear is what motivates a high end player on P99, its very likely that even after 3 years of raiding, they would not have 'everything'. Its quite difficult on this server to obtain BIS even with Velious being the lock point, guild sizes and competition/neckbeardness really puts an artificial 'rarity' on items that for some keep them coming back to obtain 'that one item'.

[radda]

Love takproject

[loramin]

I’ll turn you question around. What keeps all the high end players here on p99? Surely after 3 years in Velious you should have everything you want by now?

I'm not at all a "high end" player, so I've been here longer than 3 years and still don't have a single "best in slot" item. I'm not really in a rush though: I don't want a game that ends after 3 months, so I enjoy getting a single (not BIS) upgrade every other month or so.

And sorry if I over-reacted, but when you wrote:

After 3 months of casual play I already have better gear and have killed every raid mob in the game except the Vulak ring

Well first off, I thought "Vulak ring" was Luclin content (just because I haven't seen that term used here), which made it sound like you'd killed every raid mob in Kunark AND Velious, AND most of the ones in Luclin, in 3 months. Putting my confusion aside, I can't even get to level 60 in three months, and certainly not without triple-boxing, and even if I somehow managed to I certainly wouldn't have time to raid every target in Kunark and Velious, so what you described sounded very "loot pinata"-ish.

But I didn't mean to make it sound like there's anything wrong with playing through the game quickly. If you want to play on a server with a /levelmeto 60 command and you enjoy "beating" it in a couple months, then great. But personally I've been looking for a viable alternative to P99 that has Luclin, PoP, etc. content ... but (like P99) still is the EverQuest I remember.

I want TAKP to be awesome and I want it to be that server. But their triple-boxing policy means it will never be that server, and if you can all but beat the game in three months that's not even EverQuest IMHO. So yes, maybe I get a little frustrated by hearing about a server that's so close to awesome but doesn't see anything wrong with everyone on the server triple-boxing and speed-playing through the whole game ... but if I'm not allowed to get frustrated about another server's failings here in the P99 forum, where can I?

[Wonkie]

Love takproject

[fadetree]

I don’t box on raids and am only level 55, and those were all from soloing with a small amount of grouping. With Luclin coming out in July there is going to be a ton of stuff to do anyway. I’m not a neckbeard player, 8 years on p99 and I only made level 56 so it fits me well.

I'm pretty much like Savok. Not a hard core raider, or even interested in that in particular. Been on TAKP a year, am 55 on chars. Good gear, but nothing I couldn't have gotten on P99. I like it, I putz around and grind and have a few friends and a small guild. Really looking foward to grinding AA's for AM3 and EQ.

[fadetree]

I'm not at all a "high end" player, so I've been here longer than 3 years and still don't have a single "best in slot" item. I'm not really in a rush though: I don't want a game that ends after 3 months, so I enjoy getting a single (not BIS) upgrade every other month or so.

And sorry if I over-reacted, but when you wrote:



Well first off, I thought "Vulak ring" was Luclin content (just because I haven't seen that term used here), which made it sound like you'd killed every raid mob in Kunark AND Velious, AND most of the ones in Luclin, in 3 months. Putting my confusion aside, I can't even get to level 60 in three months, and certainly not without triple-boxing, and even if I somehow managed to I certainly wouldn't have time to raid every target in Kunark and Velious, so what you described sounded very "loot pinata"-ish.

But I didn't mean to make it sound like there's anything wrong with playing through the game quickly. If you want to play on a server with a /levelmeto 60 command and you enjoy "beating" it in a couple months, then great. But personally I've been looking for a viable alternative to P99 that has Luclin, PoP, etc. content ... but (like P99) still is the EverQuest I remember.

I want TAKP to be awesome and I want it to be that server. But their triple-boxing policy means it will never be that server, and if you can all but beat the game in three months that's not EverQuest. So maybe I get a little frustrated by hearing about a server that's so close to awesome but doesn't see anything wrong with everyone on the server triple-boxing and speed-playing through the whole game in 3 months ... but if I'm not allowed to get frustrated about such stuff here in the P99 forum, where can I?

Lor, you *can* beat the game in any server in a short time if you really want to. You could have done that here. If you played on TAKP you wouldn't beat the game in 3 months, because that's not how you, or I, play. You seem to think that the server will control how you play, but in fact it's just the opposite.

[loramin]

Lor, you *can* beat the game in any server in a short time if you really want to. You could have done that here. If you played on TAKP you wouldn't beat the game in 3 months, because that's not how you, or I, play.

Well sure, but what I meant was ... Savok even said he played here for almost eight years. That's not a "speed racer" player, that's a normal player. And there was nothing to suggest he quit his job, divorced his wife, and put his kids up for adoption when he started playing TakP either ;)

So it sounded like he was a normal player here, then was a normal player there, but over there the leveling rate/loot drop rate was so much higher that he had all but beaten the game in three months. That's all I was talking about.

[Torven]

I'm not at all a "high end" player, so I've been here longer than 3 years and still don't have a single "best in slot" item. I'm not really in a rush though: I don't want a game that ends after 3 months, so I enjoy getting a single (not BIS) upgrade every other month or so.

Respawn timers on TAKP are very similar to P99, so nobody is getting BIS in all slots there. (or maybe just a few) I dunno where you're getting that from.

I hit level 50 on project 1999 in a couple weeks, then when Kunark opened, I hit 60 in about three more weeks. Level 55 in 3 months isn't unusual. Don't assume his entire guild is all 3 month old players, either.

TAKP guilds rotate raid content, so new guilds can get access to them without much trouble.

Well first off, I thought "Vulak ring" was Luclin content

TAKP isn't a progression server in the sense that P99 is. We're making a PoP era server and releasing one expac at a time without spending time recreating old content that's temporary. (e.g. no old level 20-40 Temple of Cazic Thule, no manastones etc) We do however disable a few drops/quests for awhile to prevent trivialization of content because it's very quick/easy to do.

[loramin]

Respawn timers on TAKP are very similar to P99, so nobody is getting BIS in all slots there. (or maybe just a few) I dunno where you're getting that from.

Umm, have you even been following this thread? It was pretty clear that I got it from:

TAKP gives me that. After 3 months of casual play I already have better gear and have killed every raid mob in the game except the Vulak ring.

Now I realize that killing every raid mob in the game does not mean you've gotten every item you might possibly want, and I never said he'd beaten the game in 3 months ... but he certainly got pretty damn close pretty damn fast, and at that rate it should only take another few months to get BIS (remember, that first 3 months included leveling time, it wasn't even all raiding).

I hit level 50 on project 1999 in a couple weeks

Right, you're a speed player (although P99 was so different back then you might have a different experience today). But while he didn't say how long it took him to get to 50, Savok said that he played here for almost 8 years. No one gets to 50 in a couple weeks, then repeats that pace for almost 8 years.

So (again, not sure why I have to keep repeating this) I saw a guy who at least seemed to be a normal player, then they go to TakP and in THREE MONTHS they both level up and kill almost every raid mob in the game! (And then originally I mistakenly thought "every raid mob" included all the Luclin ones too, but I've since been corrected.)

Now do you see where my perception came from?

[fadetree]

Well sure, but what I meant was ... Savok even said he played here for almost eight years. That's not a "speed racer" player, that's a normal player. And there was nothing to suggest he quit his job, divorced his wife, and put his kids up for adoption when he started playing TakP either ;)

So it sounded like he was a normal player here, then was a normal player there, but over there the leveling rate/loot drop rate was so much higher that he had all but beaten the game in three months. That's all I was talking about.

Yeah I get it, I don't really know what that part is about I guess, my experience has been anything but that. I haven't even killed a single raid mob yet, unless you count Gkrean the priest guy in Kael. Like I said, I'm not particularly interested in raiding.
But really, Lor, for someone who says they aren't against TAKP, you seem to show up pretty fast and raise issues. Like someone said before me in thread, why not just stop paying attention? It's clear you're not interested....right? I feel like you are just grasping at stuff trying to poke holes in the TAKP idea. Oh, max lev in 3 months? Awesome gear? Server must be a loot pinata! Go try it, for heavens sakes. At least that way you'll have first hand experience.

[loramin]

Yeah I get it, I don't really know what that part is about I guess, my experience has been anything but that. I haven't even killed a single raid mob yet, unless you count Gkrean the priest guy in Kael. Like I said, I'm not particularly interested in raiding.
But really, Lor, for someone who says they aren't against TAKP, you seem to show up pretty fast and raise issues. Like someone said before me in thread, why not just stop paying attention? It's clear you're not interested....right? I feel like you are just grasping at stuff trying to poke holes in the TAKP idea.

Why not post about TakP in TakP forums instead of P99 forums? Or why not post here, once, to announce the server, and then only again when something major happens like when Luclin is released?

If people are going to come to Off Topic and crow about their server more often than that then great, but when I respond back and say it's inferior to P99, in a P99 forum, I'm not going to apologize for it. But again, I have nothing against TakP or P2002 specifically.

I just have general issues with boxing servers because they're bad emulators, in the sense that playing on them is not like playing EQ on live was (I can all but guarantee half the live server population or more was not boxing, or at least not up through PoP). And I also have issues with servers that let you "win the game" at super speeds: based solely on that one post I keep quoting it sounded like that included TakP.

Oh, max lev in 3 months? Awesome gear? Server must be a loot pinata!

Yes, if you can easily get to max level with BIS gear on any EQ server in under half a year (while having a job and a life) then I do consider that server a loot pinata and not real EverQuest. Where do you draw the "pinata" line: is it only a pinata server if you can get BIS in two months? Three? Wherever you draw it, it can't be that far from my six months.

[fadetree]

That's what I did, once. There's a total of two TAKP threads here, both full of your commentary. That's fine, I just wonder why you're so interested.
The forum is 'off-topic' so I'll post things about whatever in here, P99 or TAKP related or not. I've been very careful to be respectful of P99. I just don't get why you seem unable to let it go. We know your opinion. I like TAKP a lot, and I plan to stay there for the long run.

Anyway, I'm now going to take my own advice. Peace.

[loramin]

We know your opinion.

We know your opinion too, and yet that hasn't stopped either of us from continuing to post :rolleyes:

Please note however that I don't just drop into any thread and start hating on TakP (or any server). I come here, to the P99 forum, and I read the posts people write here. In this case a poster here killed every raid mob but one AND leveled up to raid level in only three months (and they did not seem like an "EQ is everything I do in life" kind of player). Had that post never appeared I never would have chimed in to this thread ... but it sounded nuts to me so I chose to comment on it.

Again, I make no apologies for commenting on something another server does worse than P99 in a P99 forum, and most certainly not when I'm simply replying to a post crowing about that server (in a P99 forum).

[Wonkie]

loramin you'd have a nice time in neph hit me up this weekend for help starting out

[loramin]

loramin you'd have a nice time in neph hit me up this weekend for help starting out

neph?

[Wonkie]

neph?

its a guild theyre dating azure guard i think

[Mblake1981]

TAKP by far the best and most classic EQ server

like it just feels 10000x more classic between the client, pathing code, mob running mechanics, limited boxing policy like what we had at the time instead of the make-believe single box history

I had two roommates during original era EQ, one two-boxed. He purchased the games, paid the monthly fees and had the extra computer capable of running eq in a playable sense.

I am not sure it was policy as much as it was cost prohibitive during a time when the internet and computers were not cool and paying all that for a game would have been seen as mental.

Edit: Oh yeah, paid for the phone lines and later the cable with router.

[loramin]

make-believe single box history

No beef with anything you said except this. Look, I boxed on live, as far back as Luclin. I had friends who physically (ie. using two computers next to each other at a cyber cafe) boxed even before that. I 100% agree that people boxed on live back in the day.

However, I also did this thing where you play and talk with other players in the game, like the ones in my guild, the ones in my pick-up groups, or just the ones I made friends with. If you did more than just box back in the day, and you actually interacted with other players, you too would know (like me) that most people didn't box.

Does this mean live had an anti-boxing policy or that no one boxed? No, like I just said I boxed. But I was in the minority, and again I know this because I talked to and played with other humans. If they were all boxing it would have been very apparent, but no back then a normal group was six characters AND six humans playing those characters.

If you like boxing, great. If you want to play on a server that allows boxing I would even go so far as to agree that there's real fun and skill in doing that, and I'd have nothing against you enjoying that server.

But let's not retroactively change history: the simple fact is that the majority of players on live played one character at a time until well after PoP. If you want a server that reminds you of your experience on live (up through PoP), it too has to ensure that the majority of the players single-box ... and the only way to have that and allow boxing is if you can be like SOE and charge for accounts.

its a guild theyre dating azure guard i think

Ah; thanks, but I still <3 Anonymous ... if they don't throw me out of the guild for bashing TakP ;)

[loramin]

yes but it feels more classic to have an option i had in classic than it does to arbitrarily not :)

Fair enough. Maybe I should word it this way: as a player, it was classic for you to have the option to box (if you could afford it) on a server where most people didn't box. So both the "having the option" part and the "most people don't box" parts are classic.

We will never get a server that has both parts, because the only way Live did it was by charging for accounts, and emulated servers can't do that. So if you want to re-experience classic EverQuest you have a choice of which is more important to you: getting to play two characters in an unclassic world, or getting the world you remember from classic but only getting to play one character at a time in it.

For me I'd happily trade the time I spent boxing on live for things like being able to group with five other people, but if the majority of what you did on live was multi-box by yourself then I 100% understand how boxing is the "more classic" option for you.

[Walex]

Takp is awesome. I moved over about 8 months ago and pretty much never looked back. I'm a pretty casual player and it took me about 6 months to level my trio to 60. Since then I've still been keeping busy with quests (hello Chardok revamp and 8th shawl).

As a whole, the server is 100x more friendly than P99. My first day there I said in /ooc that I was new to the server and was greeted by many people welcoming me, throwing free gear my way to get me started. It's really awesome how welcoming everyone is to newcomers. Free starting gear is doubt a huge part of what enabled Savok to level up so quickly.... I know I personally loaned him a fungi for the first few levels and several others loaned him plenty as well.

What really annoyed me about p99 was the toxic, overly competitive raid scene. It's like there was never a break from inter-guild bickering, training, poopsocking, etc. TAKP has none of that. Raid mobs are done on rotation, there are no guild rivalries, everybody helps everybody else, etc. Seriously, I don't know what the TAKP people did differently to make it that way but it's a night/day difference from p99 and it is SO refreshing.

As for the allegations about the server being a "loot pinata", it's probably a product of the lower population, to be honest. There's just more loot to go around. But I wouldn't say it's easymode by any means.... the mobs still hit just as hard and respawn at the same rate. Just because the high end isn't bloated like P99 doesn't mean it's easy. I play EQ to develop my character and try new challenges. In 8 months, I haven't gotten to the point where I feel like I've "beaten" the game in its current state, and Luclin is just around the corner. So there's still plenty to keep you busy.

Savok single boxes whereas many others double or triple box. So of course he's going to have really good gear.... when stuff drops from raids, he's not splitting his DKP between 3 toons. We keep pretty busy with our raid schedule, having ToV all to ourselves every 4 weeks. On the other weeks, we down ST (warders will never go away because The Sleeper couldn't be woken on original AK server), Tormax/Statue/Aow, Yeli, Dain, CT, Ring wars, VP, etc. It's also not hard to imagine how he was able to kill "every" mob already since all he's had to do is stick around for a full rotation to see them all.

So yeah, take a lower population server and look at how much raiding we do and it's not hard to see how the gear seems to fall better over there.

If it doesn't seem like your cup of tea, that's fine. P99 has a great thing going on and I'm happy for any chance I can get to relive this game. But I would encourage everyone to try it out first and then form their own opinion. We'd be happy to have you.

[Torven]

I never said he'd beaten the game in 3 months

gee, could have fooled me

I don't want a game that ends after 3 months

If you want to play on a server with a /levelmeto 60 command and you enjoy "beating" it in a couple months, then great.

in THREE MONTHS they both level up and kill almost every raid mob in the game! (And then originally I mistakenly thought "every raid mob" included all the Luclin ones too, but I've since been corrected.)

Now do you see where my perception came from?

No, I don't.

It's not hard to level to 55 in 3 months, on project 1999 or anywhere. TAKP has a 20% exp bonus and a generous group exp bonus, (both were EQMac features) which speeds up the process. (and yes, boxing. I wish we had gone 2 box, but it was out of my control)

On p99 you're not getting into a top tier guild at level 55 perhaps, which monopolize content; but p99 has cut-throat competition unlike what live servers had back in the day. TAKP is lowish pop with rotations, so guilds are much more likely to recruit people not at the level cap yet. So some guy achieves level 55, joins a raid guild, and sees raid content. I'm pretty sure in the year 2001, raid guilds were adding people who weren't level 60 yet. Incidentally my old server, Druzzil Ro, HAD ROTATIONS during Velious so guilds were rotating all raid content. I can even link you the old schedules if you'd like to see them.

Combat statistics, mechanics and spawn timers are very carefully researched and implemented-- we're not some ez-mode server in that regard, either.

If you really want to savor the early to mid level game, then P99 is probably a better choice due to the era we're emulating. I don't deny this. Saying somebody 'beat the game' in 3 months on TAKP is just trolling though.

[Mblake1981]

Fair enough. Maybe I should word it this way: as a player, it was classic for you to have the option to box (if you could afford it) on a server where most people didn't box. So both the "having the option" part and the "most people don't box" parts are classic.

A cheap laptop off craigslist can probably run two active characters at a time now, something not possible to my knowledge in era.

I never heard of or knew any players on Bristlebane that boxed more than 2. Never heard of 3+ Box and you are starting to miss the point of an MMORPG, which I agree the time and feel of it is gone and can't be recaptured no matter if its 1 box or 20.

[loramin]

I started to respond to your post, then realized if you'd even tried to read mine instead of just cherry-picking quotes out of context I wouldn't need to, so why bother making a new post you'll just mis-read?

But I will say it's weird how many TakP players spend their time hanging out in a P99 forum.

[loramin]

I never heard of or new any players on Bristlebane that boxed more than 2. Never heard of 3+ Box and you are starting to miss the point of an MMORPG, which I agree the time and feel of it is gone and can't be recaptured no matter if its 1 box or 20.

:o So as it turns out I played on Bristlebane, and I did (rarely) triple box.

I say rarely because between EQ's memory usage (and natural flakiness), and then EQW's added memory usage, running three instances was ... sub-optimal, to put it mildly.

So I didn't do it often or for very long, but there were occasionally times when I did. Plus those friends I mentioned, the ones who played at a cyber cafe (well gaming center, but same difference) also played on Bristlebane. They were like half of Club Fu, if you remember that guild, and at times they would "triple-box" (although it was more of a casual "keep your friend's characters going while he goes to the bathroom" thing than a "run an optimized trio of characters together at once" thing).

But I think the fact that you never even heard of it just reinforces how rare it was.

[Mblake1981]

:o So as it turns out I played on Bristlebane, and I did (rarely) triple box.

I say rarely because between EQ's memory usage (and natural flakiness), and then EQW's added memory usage, running three instances was ... sub-optimal, to put it mildly.

So I didn't do it often or for very long, but there were occasionally times when I did. Plus those friends I mentioned, the ones who played at a cyber cafe (well gaming center, but same difference) also played on Bristlebane. They were like half of Club Fu, if you remember that guild, and at times they would "triple-box" (although it was more of a casual "keep your friend's characters going while he goes to the bathroom" thing than a "run an optimized trio of characters together at once" thing).

But I think the fact that you never even heard of it just reinforces how rare it was.

News to me. Still wasn't aware of any in era. I remember FU, I remember the all necromancer guild <Clan Macabre>

But if that is what counts and triple boxing then I could say I quad boxed while one roommate was using the restroom and the other was making himself something to eat.. but no, I don't consider that boxing and it was a damn headache jumping from my machine to Shaun's then over to Art's two rigs.

*remembers the heat in that computer room with 4 machines running and three guys*

[Mblake1981]

P99 forums are the Jersey Shore of the EQ internet scape.

It's fun to stop by and laugh at regularly. This RNF about the guy in Permafrost bear pits is great. Reminds me of quite a few encounters I had on P99 about camp stealing accusations, and just generic hatred before I'd even said a word.

I'd sometimes AFK my 60 Druid in Unrest in the hedges transferring items to Alts and whatnot and without fail I'd always receive some angry tells about Druids powerleveling taking 2 hags or ghouls from their camp. P99 players are very prickly about the camps they own, and it makes for some great reads.

Has two 60's in sig but refers to P99'ers as "they"

[loramin]

Has two 60's in sig but refers to P99'ers as "they"

Daldaen was "one of us" (and honestly one of the better posters on this forum) for a long time. But then he left for ... I think it was the last live progression server? So the "they" is legitimate.

But even though he isn't "one of us" anymore, he still hangs around these forums, and when he's not talking about Luclin and PoP stuff he still makes good posts.

[MagpieRockyl]

daldaen is a really sick person but has a good heart

[Savok]

First of all /high five Loramin - I get what your saying and am glad your inputting your opinion in this thread. Second I never said I had BiS, I said I had better gear there in 3 months than I had in 8 years on p99.

My enjoyment is killing a mob, be it normal or raid, without feeling like I'm a dick who has to lawerquest up just to have fun. P99, for me, just wasn't fun anymore. The only fun I was having raiding was Sky simply because I didn't have to deal with /ooc crap about training and or conceding mobs. I like the fact that a raid is called at 9pm and I can plan my day around that with my wife and kids or work. I still log in here from time to time to help out but that is more out of respect of my guild than anything else.

To me p99 caters for the 2% raiders which is fine for those who want that competition, it wasn't me. If I wanted to be the best I would of just stayed on Live.

My character link in my sig links to my bard's profile on TAKP if your interested in what I have.

[Erati]

daldaen is a really slick person but has a gouda heart

[Wonkie]

dald played ak and is therefore more expert on classic than loramin

change my mind

[loramin]

First of all /high five Loramin - I get what your saying and am glad your inputting your opinion in this thread. Second I never said I had BiS, I said I had better gear there in 3 months than I had in 8 years on p99.

My enjoyment is killing a mob, be it normal or raid, without feeling like I'm a dick who has to lawerquest up just to have fun. P99, for me, just wasn't fun anymore. The only fun I was having raiding was Sky simply because I didn't have to deal with /ooc crap about training and or conceding mobs. I like the fact that a raid is called at 9pm and I can plan my day around that with my wife and kids or work. I still log in here from time to time to help out but that is more out of respect of my guild than anything else.

To me p99 caters for the 2% raiders which is fine for those who want that competition, it wasn't me. If I wanted to be the best I would of just stayed on Live.

My character link in my sig links to my bard's profile on TAKP if your interested in what I have.

First off, thank you for your positive response to my post, especially since mine was so negative.

The thing is, I was making assumptions, and I definitely could have worded things better to make that clearer.

I assumed that in 8 years here you must have gotten pretty close to BIS, because 8 years, even if you play a bunch of alts, is a long time.
I then assumed you were even closer to BIS on TakP than you were on P99, because you said your gear was better. I also assumed you played a "normal amount of time" (ie. a few hours each day or night), because 8 years of playing crazy amounts of time sounded ... crazy.

Now imagine you said to someone back on live EQ during Velious "In only three months, playing a normal amount, I've gotten to level 60, killed almost every mob possible, and gotten gear that's almost the best possible, gear that's better than the gear of that guy who somehow magically has been playing here for 8 years." They'd laugh at you right?

So all I was trying to say was: I like classic speed, and what you described as faster and better sounded worse to me. Particularly to the degree I saw based on my (very possibly incorrect) assumptions.

But just as with boxing, I am all for people playing EQ however they prefer. I just like the P99 style, and wish we could get some of the pluses from other servers (more expansions/content and a more friendly raid scene) while not getting fast mode with triple-boxing.

dald played ak and is therefore more expert on classic than loramin

change my mind

Depends on your definition of "classic" I suppose.

But even if we ignore that weirdness about AK (live > AK), Dald still likely has me beat on classic knowledge, by any definition.

[Quinas]

We also need to recall that AK /= 'Classic', at least in the way it's described here. AK was its own beast, and TAK is looking to recreate AK at the point it was discontinued years ago, not necessarily 'Classic' 1999-2001, despite the numerous crossovers.

[Quinas]

In your rush to defend TAK, you missed the part where I wasn't criticising it.

I'm actually going to give it a try.

[Quinas]

My point was simply that the two projects are trying to recreate two different things - P99 trying to recreate EQ as it was immediately prior to Luclin launch in 2001 (ie. the Classic era), and TAK trying to recreate the Al'Kabor server at the point at which Sony pulled the plug.

Which one is more classic either now or if/when they reach their different stated objectives, wasn't my point at all.

[Quinas]

Eh, I'm fine. Thanks for asking.

[Vianna]

I don't think P99'ers could handle Takproject honestly. It isn't as easy mode with the UI changes etc. It's too classic for them.

[burkemi5]

Running three boxes well takes some practice for sure.

[Linkamus]

I think I posted this in another thread, but if you're on the fence about takp I would consider reading this:

http://wiki.takp.info/index.php?title=Server_Comparison

I am constantly asking myself if I would prefer takp to have a no boxing rule, and honestly, it's such a fun and akurate place to play that I would definitely be there regardless of which boxing policy was adopted. I will say though that I've learned to love 3 boxing. It adds a whole new element/challenge to the game that I never really experienced before TAKP.

With that said, I hope that the population of takp improves (not that it's necessarily bad at the moment) so that boxing becomes less required. I think the release of Luclin in 2 months will help with this.

[Mblake1981]

if you could beastlord on p99 id play honestly

if they had this one thing from an era that wasn't even EQ anymore.

[loramin]

We also need to recall that AK /= 'Classic', at least in the way it's described here. AK was its own beast, and TAK is looking to recreate AK at the point it was discontinued years ago, not necessarily 'Classic' 1999-2001, despite the numerous crossovers.

In your rush to defend TAK, you missed the part where I wasn't criticising it.

I'm actually going to give it a try.

My point was simply that the two projects are trying to recreate two different things - P99 trying to recreate EQ as it was immediately prior to Luclin launch in 2001 (ie. the Classic era), and TAK trying to recreate the Al'Kabor server at the point at which Sony pulled the plug.

Which one is more classic either now or if/when they reach their different stated objectives, wasn't my point at all.

Eh, I'm fine. Thanks for asking.

It's always amusing when two people have an exchange, then one of them gets banned and has their posts removed, so it looks like the other person just sat there talking to themselves on the forum for no reason :D

But once you get to 60, the content for a non-raider in Velious is extremely limited and the raid scene is a raging tire fire.

To be fair, you quit playing here before or around the great TMO split-up right? The server's raid scene improved significantly after that.

I still think "tire fire" can be used to describe the raid scene, but now it's more like a smoldering tire fire than a raging one ;)

[Mblake1981]

To be fair, you quit playing here before the great TMO split-up right? The server's raid scene improved significantly after that, compared to how it was for many years before. I still think "tire fire" can be used to describe the raid scene, but now it's more like a smoldering tire fire than a raging one ;)

End game or bust.

[loramin]

I think I posted this in another thread, but if you're on the fence about takp I would consider reading this:

http://wiki.takp.info/index.php?title=Server_Comparison

Heh, I went there expecting a comparison that played up P99's downsides and TakP's upsides (not to hate on TakP, I just expect every project to think they're the best). Instead there was only one reference to P99, and it was 100% positive: "and are in fact worse recreations than TAKP and EQ Emu's most popular server, Project 1999."

In all honesty it might be beneficial for whatever subset of players currently play here, but would be happier on TakP, if you had some sort of comparison between the two, especially since that page even admits P99 is the most popular server. It'd be great if it could be as neutral/fair as possible of course, but at least some comparison would seem beneficial.

[Linkamus]

In all honesty it might be beneficial for whatever subset of players currently play here, but would be happier on TakP, if you had some sort of comparison between the two, especially since that page even admits P99 is the most popular server. It'd be great if it could be as neutral/fair as possible of course, but at least some comparison would seem beneficial.

I'm not sure if that would/will be necessary. I'm sure almost everyone that plays on P99 knows of TAKP, and probably knows the differences. Although a large amount are probably unaware of how uniquely accurate the combat mechanics are on TAKP, and how well and professionally the server is maintained.

I would assume that anyone on P99 that is interested in TAKP that hasn't already devoted any real time to it is likely waiting for Luclin. Putting myself in p99 shoes, why would I come over to TAKP when TAKP is only up to Velious at the moment?

[loramin]

Putting myself in p99 shoes, why would I come over to TAKP when TAKP is only up to Velious at the moment?

Why? How about 3-boxing? It's not my cup of tea, but there are undoubtedly some people here who would love to box, and probably don't know much about TakP. They might happen upon a link like the one you gave, and if they saw a breakdown of what made TakP different they might well prefer it.

I'm sure TakP has other plus sides too, and it doesn't seem like there'd be any harm in having (say) a ten row table that highlights some of the differences between the servers, as long as it's accurate and fair.

[Linkamus]

Maybe that's a bad assumption on my part.

[Quinas]

It's always amusing when two people have an exchange, then one of them gets banned and has their posts removed, so it looks like the other person just sat there talking to themselves on the forum for no reason :D

To be honest it still kind of felt like I was engaging with myself even when he was here :D

In other news, I rolled a team on TAKP a few days ago and can report it's fairly fun. Boxing is fairly novel and the small community online during offpeak hours is quite helpful.

[Haynar]

I would say 80% of p99 players dont know or care about any other eqemu server.

The majority also dont get on and forumquest either.

They like p99. Why would they be looking for other options? When you played eqlive, did you check out other eqlive servers often?

Takp is about the eqmac server. Trying to be similar to how it was.

[Dairmuid]

I'm sure almost everyone that plays on P99 knows of TAKP, and probably knows the differences.

I've been around since 2015 on P99 and didnt know a single thing about TAKP until this month when i went to their forums and read up on it. I doubt there is widespread knowledge of TAKP within the P99 community. P99 is executed so well and has so many people engaged that there really is little reason to look outside. What got me to start looking was the fact the server is almost topped out on content and the raid scene is a little too competitive. I wanted a more relaxing experience and TAKP scratches that itch well.

[Linkamus]

I've been around since 2015 on P99 and didnt know a single thing about TAKP until this month when i went to their forums and read up on it. I doubt there is widespread knowledge of TAKP within the P99 community.

I would say 80% of p99 players dont know or care about any other eqemu server.

The majority also dont get on and forumquest either.



I'm sure you guys are right. Bad assumption on my part!

[Mblake1981]

P99 is executed so well and has so many people engaged that there really is little reason to look outside. What got me to start looking was the fact the server is almost topped out on content and the raid scene is a little too competitive. I wanted a more relaxing experience and TAKP scratches that itch well.

The spit polish of the original client.

Rather than Green would like to see legit CC for all ranges of the game but I am not sure how realistic that is. It's probably not realistic at all.

[Haynar]

I'm sure you guys are right. Bad assumption on my part!

Ur assumptions were actually reasonable. I thought something similar. Until I started asking a few people. I was suprised by the results.

[Linkamus]

Takp community has chosen to rotate all raid content, so even if the population grows, your gaming experience wont be ruined by poopsockers.

[BossThunderace]

<Black Sheep> (RL friendly raid guild) is looking for raiders on TAKP.

Raid time 7pm-12pm PST Sunday - Thursday. Friday/Sat Off.

Single & Multi boxers welcome!

www.blacksheep.forumotion.com

[Linkamus]

I can't really argue with that. Obviously there is a limit to how high one would desire a server population to be.

[Raev]

Respawn timers on TAKP are very similar to P99, so nobody is getting BIS in all slots there. (or maybe just a few) I dunno where you're getting that from.

IMO most of Temerity's core are BIS for Velious or close:

Bragon (https://www.takproject.net/magelo/character.php?char=Bragon)
Gadzooks (https://www.takproject.net/magelo/character.php?char=Gadzooks)
Benzarden (https://www.takproject.net/magelo/character.php?char=Benzarden)
Ziva (https://www.takproject.net/magelo/character.php?char=Ziva)


It's not a progression server where literally everyone is BIS, but raid gear does rain from the sky there relative to Project 1999.


I hit level 50 on project 1999 in a couple weeks, then when Kunark opened, I hit 60 in about three more weeks. Level 55 in 3 months isn't unusual. Don't assume his entire guild is all 3 month old players, either.

You're actually quite hardcore, Torven. 0-50 in 3 weeks isn't that easy unless you have a PBAE bard or a good charming enchanter.

Anyway, by far the biggest issue with TAKP IMO is the boxing (and Monk AC, of course). Boxing makes everything more work and less sociable. And you really can't single box without feeling like a slacker. But I know we agree there.

[Torven]

I'm sure Temerity has a few members (I'd be somewhat interested to know exactly how many) with characters having every Vulak drop they want + every other drop they want, but there are reasons for this:

A) Only Temerity can kill Vulak (unless I'm mistaken, I don't keep tabs on guilds)
B) 3 box server means you can funnel gear to one character, essentially tripling your loot, or significantly increasing it anyway.
C) Velious being open for 21 months. Although Vulak wasn't killed until 6 months or so into the expac
D) TAKP's relatively low population

A and B are mostly caused by D. There's not much I can do about D. Apparently I could replicate every mechanic and NPC with 100% precision and we'd still not have 500 CCU. Anyway, TAKP having low population doesn't make it 'less EQ' than P99.

I leveled to 50 on P99 by quad kiting on a druid. 40-50 was done quad kiting in Oggok. P99's guards had typical MR values instead of the higher than typical values they should have. (when I played on AK, I checked the guards for lulz. AK guards resisted more) I did see some other players leveling as fast as I was just from grouping-- an SK in particular that I recall.

In Kunark, I charmed raptors and the bear pit in perma. Outdoor charming with fear + roots + snare + 70% haste + wolf form + heals all in one class is rather effective.

Incidentally 1-50 took me two weeks on AK using MGBs and playing more casually.

[Linkamus]

Ya, quite a few of us are BiS or close to it. Though some of us are saving up DKP for Luclin instead of side-grading in Velious ;) . If Velious was the last expansion, more of us would be BiS by now.

TAKP's relatively low population with almost 2 years of Velious is definitely the biggest contributing factor to Temerity being so well geared. That and our monopoly on Vulak ring. (I'd love to see another guild take out Vulak before Luclin releases.. *cough-NAG-cough*)

Regardless of the population, getting a character to BiS in Luclin will be MUCH harder. I'd be shocked if anyone on the server is full BiS Luclin gear when PoP is released.

[Raev]

I honestly do not understand why TAKP can't get more than 10% of P99's playerbase. Let me think this through. There are four big differences that I can see:

TAKP is Planes of Power Era vs Project 1999 in Velious. In the immortal words of Fieldfare: "please god no more Velious". Edge: TAKP
TAKP has staff enforced rotations vs Project 1999's 'competition'. There are STILL threads in P99 RNF about how player X can't get their epic due to other people out-nerding them. No need to say more here, although monthly resets have supposedly helped massively. Clear Winner: TAKP
TAKP's garbage client vs Project 1999's gimped titanium. Aside from a small group of status signalers, no one likes shit interfaces. TAKP's client isn't terrible, but the lack of 3rd person scroll, the 10 macro limit, and the inability to 'target nearest' practically anything don't help. Winner: Project 1999, until Nilbog gets the trilogy client working
TAKP allows boxing. I really think this is the biggest difference. P2002 for example does not afaik have many players, despite the Titanium interface. Boxing wrecks the social aspects of the game and massively increases the amount of work necessary.


So IMHO if you want 500+ primetime users, all you have to do is start a new server that supports the Titanium client (can't be that hard if P2002 can do it) and does not allow boxing. Add legacy items like the guise and fungi staff for a few months to give people an incentive to join. And that would be that. In fact I would venture to guess that half of the current TAKPers would switch as well.

[Wonkie]

you're trash if you prefer titanium over the takp client

[Haynar]

Takp client is a huge turn off to many people.

No mouse wheel zoom in/out is often a deal breaker.

Scroll wheel is so important, they didnt want to disable on p99 because it would upset too many. Even as classic die hards as they are here. It was something they left alone.

[Baler]

you're trash if you prefer titanium over the takp client
I'm the trashman! QOL from Titanium is great.

Takp client is a huge turn off to many people.

No mouse wheel zoom in/out is often a deal breaker.

Scroll wheel is so important, they didnt want to disable on p99 because it would upset too many. Even as classic die hards as they are here. It was something they left alone.

I've achieved an acceptable camera experience through the practice of using the F9 camera options and numpad to move it around. It may not be as snappy as scrolling out but it works and frankly I was using a few of the F9 camera angles on p99 too. So really it just one missing camera angle out of like ?6.

The one thing I recommend to all is to disable mouse camera look. It resets some of the angles in different F9 camera choices and is frustrating to have to keep fixing.

---
TAKP is worth a try. Plus people can play p99 at the same time. :cool:

[Torven]

all you have to do is start a new server that supports the Titanium client (can't be that hard if P2002 can do it)

P2002 switched to Titanium because they were forced to after we closed source on them before Haynar fixed major issues with the netcode that was making raiding a linkdeath fest. They launched Kunark without disciplines or boats functional, so they certainly couldn't handle netcode.

It probably would have been easier for us had we gone with Titanium in the first place. We chose to go with the older client. This is not something that will change. Frankly playing AK from P99 for me wasn't that big a deal so I don't understand the disdain. People play these emus for the classic experience, but don't want a classic client? Seems illogical to me. I suspect that had p99 launched with trilogy, that few would be complaining about clients.

We did discuss adding mousewheel camera. I wouldn't object to this personally if I could somehow know that it would get us significantly more players, but I would hate to compromise on this for nothing. TAKP devs disagree on many issues and this is one of them however.

[Bleepo]

They launched Kunark without disciplines or boats functional

Disciplines work just fine, and who needs boats when you got Translocators.

P2002 for example does not afaik have many players, despite the Titanium interface.

P2002 has more than double TAK's population because they use the superior client, and that's without artificially inflating player numbers with extra bazaar boxes.

[Linkamus]

I admit I do wish we could use titanium on TAKP. But being forced to use a client from 2002 is a small price to pay for how polished and accurate TAKP is.

I think you can want a classic experience, but still desire QOL. I always thought that 2002 era EQ would be so amazing with revamped up to date graphics, and a modern MMO client. This will never happen of course, but being able to use titanium would be the next best thing (and no p2002 isn't an option or even desireable for me)

The client used may be a contributing factor for why p2002 has a higher population, but I would have thought it was because they've already released Luclin and PoP, mostly.

[Torven]

Disciplines work just fine, and who needs boats when you got Translocators.

P2002 got disciplines when Cavedude put them in and you pulled our code, which was after your half-assed Kunark launch that was so hastily done that you failed to include Korocust until 6 months after you launched it.

P2002 has more than double TAK's population because they use the superior client, and that's without artificially inflating player numbers with extra bazaar boxes.

You're hilariously dishonest Iance. While you were spamming message boards to shill your server, you were highlighting the fact that it was using our older client. Then when you were forced to switch to Titanium, you started calling it superior. You guys would have never switched clients if you didn't have to.

Our server numbers separate Bazaar accounts from active accounts. You guys are the ones who don't do this.

[Linkamus]

We did discuss adding mousewheel camera. I wouldn't object to this personally if I could somehow know that it would get us significantly more players, but I would hate to compromise on this for nothing. TAKP devs disagree on many issues and this is one of them however.

You should take a poll on the TAKP forums ;) .

[ibetweenk]

Every person I know who considered/tried TAK, including those of us who went to al kabor don’t currently due to the client; specifically mouse wheel. Minor stuff like tab targeting working. But it’s the scroll mainly. I just can’t spend more than half an hour there now due to inability to scroll.

I, too, enjoyed the game World of Warcraft in its time. But I also like everquest ;)

[Raev]

Frankly playing AK from P99 for me wasn't that big a deal
So you played on AK despite the client, not because of it. Same here. I can deal with the TAKP client, but I would absolutely prefer something more polished. I just checked and P2002 has 171 boxes online vs TAKP's 102 (both numbers including traders). If P2002 is as buggy as you say and their primary appeal is the titanium client . . . it's working.

Also, just to be clear, I am not proposing that you switch. It shouldn't be THAT hard to support both clients if the server code isn't a massive pile of spaghetti. I do think it's kind of cool to support the original client that gives a true classic EQ experience, and you can keep the current TAKP server instance for those that prefer the exact AK conditions.

Finally, Project 1999 has 600 real players online, crushing both 2002 and TAKP. So that suggests to me that boxing is the single biggest issue.

I really think if you launched a PoP emu that supported the titanium client and prohibited boxing (except for say trader accounts) you would get 1K users easily.

[Haynar]

Blah blah blah

P02 is fine. They have newer client. Instanced raid zones, so progression for all raiding guilds is faster.

Takp is fine. No instancing.

Because instancing basically spreads people out more, their populations wont feel much different.

Because of no instancing, and player run raid rotations, takp is a slower pace overall.

Want BiS? Go p02.

Want somewhere casual? Can have that both places.

Want PoP now? Go P02.

Want Luclin in July, and PoP like a year or two from now? Go takp.

Want Titanium? Go p02.

Want a true 2002 era client? Go takp.

[Torven]

Hmm, I didn't realize our forum 'total players' number included bazaar mules. That's kind of depressing. At least we list the bazaar count so you know how many of those are mules.

There are other reasons for the population disparities. Having AAs vs. not having AAs is significant. P2002 also is using p99's fame to their advantage. Rob had considered that name years ago but didn't want to 'leech' from p99's success in that way. TAKP devs also don't shill our server. Most users can't tell if mob stats were pulled out of somebody's ass or carefully parsed, either. I'm sure many p02 users found that server first due to the shilling and the name, and didn't realize TAKP existed until later (if at all); but once you invest the time to a server it's difficult to switch.

I agree that boxing is likely limiting our overall population. This cannot be changed without dramatically alienating our existing users so it's just not going to happen.

[Raev]

There is nothing wrong with what you guys are doing now if it makes you happy. I am only trying to help Torven, who complained earlier that TAKP has a relatively low population despite its high quality implementation. I can understand wanting more people to enjoy the huge amount of development work.

Also, I am not proposing limiting boxing on the current TAKP server instance. You'd have to launch a new server instance, like P99 Red and Blue. That way both groups of players (and developers) can be satisfied.

P.S. I manually added TAKP's forum player + bazaar mules counts.

[Torven]

So you played on AK despite the client, not because of it. Same here.

I actually prefer TAKP's client to all others. Titanium comes with the new tradeskill UI (yuck) melody (very not classic and OP) no human night blindness, farther underwater vision etc. Removing some of that is possible (and only because Haynar later joined us) but I still prefer our client. I never used mousewheel camera.

There is nothing wrong with what you guys are doing now if it makes you happy.

To be honest I was kind of crushed when 3 boxing barely won out over 2 in our vote, because it meant I wasn't going to play on the server I have now spent 5 years of my life working on. (lately I have played a tiny bit, but not very much) Even if I were made server dictator at this point, I wouldn't change the limit though. Boxing aside, I'm very pleased with the quality of our product.

There is nothing wrong with being in the minority that wants a boxing server, but my strong preference is limited to 2 or 1. Back when this was being discussed, the community had come from AK and PEQ where no limits existed, so they really weren't even thinking much about it and the possibility of no limit at all for TAKP was significant. As I recall, I was the one who brought the issue to discussion. I'm fairly sure 2 boxes would have won had they known what they know now.

[Linkamus]

I'm fairly sure 2 boxes would have won had they known what they know now.

Which is why I don't think there would be a massive uproar if it was change to two. Sure some people might be upset. But I hardly think it would cause an exodus. In fact it could potentially bring more players.

Back then I voted for 3, and I regret it now. As much as I love playing my trio for exp / questing, I think two is a better balance for the raid scene.

[Haynar]

If you are into trying to make urself depressed. Go look at numbers on a wow emu. But be careful. Might slit ur own wrists.

[Torven]

Haynar loves 3 boxes

[Llandris]

Haynar is a masochist

[Haynar]

Haynar loves 3 boxes

Make whole server single box. Let me 3 box and do my own thing, and I won't care. I would even agree to always single box if I raid or group with others.

[Haynar]

Haynar is a masochist

Only a little

[Torven]

Haynar, I swear to you on my porn collection that I'm not organizing a 2-box coup