New Server Announced

[L2Phantom]

Hello everyone.

I know we all love classic, which is why we're all here and this project is booming, but I have a feeling a lot of players came from the Progression servers a few years back. With the announcement of a new server in the coming months and the talk of a new Progression server at SoE Fanfaire 2009, I can't help but think some people might go play on Live instead.

I was just wondering what everyone's opinions on this new server were. In a way, I really miss the Progression servers because there is so much simultaneous competition from guilds rising from basically dust to try and top the server - racing to targets, drama, and unlocking the next expansion with server wide emotes. And on the other hand, I can't help but think that unless they get a clue and put time-locks on Progression, it will just be a few months before the server's playability for many classic lovers will be out the window.

What do you all think? Will you give it a try at least for a couple months while you wait for Velious (or even Kunark depending on the release date) to unlock here on p1999?

(For those who don't know this was announced in the EQ Live email along with server merges today).

http://img580.imageshack.us/img580/9997/newserver.jpg

[Gorgetrapper]

As much as they announce the servers being classic, they will never be classic. They will always have the hotzones, gear that isn't supposed to be dropping etc. They failed with the progression servers, and they will fail again.

[Pyrocat]

They mentioned that the last new server might be progression and it ended up being a start at level 50 server instead. This one makes no mention of progression at all.


Also this:

As much as they announce the servers being classic, they will never be classic. They will always have the hotzones, gear that isn't supposed to be dropping etc. They failed with the progression servers, and they will fail again.

[Shurid]

The first thing I will do when their new progression server comes out is buy a XP potion with my station cash. Then I might buy a pack of digital cards in order to obtain a sweet mount.

/sarcasm off

[Secrets]

The first thing I will do when their new progression server comes out is buy a XP potion with my station cash. Then I might buy a pack of digital cards in order to obtain a sweet mount.

/sarcasm off

Actually they are doing trial runs on EQ2 for station cash mounts, so your wish may become true even easier!

</HUGE SARCASM>

[oldhead]

As much as I would love to play live... SoE has lost every bit of my confidence over the years. I believe the team here is truly 10 times more capable as volunteers. P1999 is better at programing, research, and catching hackers... hell even better at customer support from what I have seen so far.


Even if they do allow global chats ;p

[Winston]

we dont pay for this +1, and we don't have to worry about power gaming guilds trying to push expansions.

i'm comfy here, will stay. Nil and the rest of the team are doing a great job...and doing better then most live management.

[Weekapaug]

Will have to see what it is exactly.

Not sure I want to fall for the same bullshit twice. During the last progression server, I took a two week vacation that summer and managed to miss an expansion in the process. I was cool with newbie armor quests, hotzones, and some inappropriate gear, like the lavastorm stuff and the FP sewers stuff. Wasn't crazy about it, but I could deal. But allowing 50ish players to determine the unlock speed of expansion for the other, what, 2000? was just obnoxious to the extreme, IMO.

That said, if they were to do a SLOW progression server through all of the expansions, I would be up for that most likely. One of the things P99 will never have that I love about EQ is AA. I know many hated dealing with it and it's a legitimate stance, but I really loved what it did for the various classes, to an extent.

I'm very happy here. They are going to have to really do some work on this one to get me to resub for it, although if they are wiping under 10's as they have in the past during merges, I may have to suck it up and resub for a month to deal with that....Way too many mules and alts twinked with fabled gear to not address.

Is there a link to this letter? for some reason I haven't been getting them for the last year or two, even though my email has been up to date on my accounts.

[L2Phantom]

That said, if they were to do a SLOW progression server through all of the expansions, I would be up for that most likely.

Is there a link to this letter?.

I agree, they will have to do things right to win me back. Hard to say what they have on their minds, as SoE is pretty unpredictable. However, they have had a year since the last Fanfaire so perhaps they have made a few adjustments.

http://eqplayers.station.sony.com/news_article.vm?id=51902

[Droxx]

Wow. Just wow. Race and gender changes? Wtf?

# Character Transfers

* New Rate During Transition Period (June 29th - July 6th only): 1000 SC

# Potion of Amnesia (character name change)

* New Rate During Transition Period: 500 SC

# Potion of Disgenderment (gender change)

* New Rate During Transition Period: 500 SC

# Witness Protection Pack (character name and gender change)

* New Rate During Transition Period: 700 SC

# Transmogrification Scroll (race change)

* New Rate During Transition Period: 1500 SC

[Adramelk]

The team here is doing a great job.

Personally, I think Nilbog and the P99 team are more in-tune with what folks want out of a retro classic experience (slowly expanding, heavy focus per expanion) than Sony with their Progression servers.

edit: the point is: why move?

[stormlord]

The team here is doing a great job.

Personally, I think Nilbog and the P99 team are more in-tune with what folks want out of a retro classic experience (slowly expanding, heavy focus per expanion) than Sony with their Progression servers.

edit: the point is: why move?

Only value I see in live is live. Live is best at being live. Live can't make a better classic server than project1999 anyway because there's too much red tape preventing them from doing so. They could never get away with it. Players on live demand all of the latest stuff. If they're going to use the old zones in a meaningful way that can grab some old players, it'll be entirely new and hopefully exciting with little resemblance to 1999.

You know, I wish they'd reorganize the whole world. Live is so mixed up right now like a messy room, and things don't make sense most of the time. Defiant items obsoleted old content so there's no reason to use it. Old zones are low polygon versus new zones. Some quests use the task window and some don't. Quests in new zones are so much better than the ones in old zones. So many inconsistent traits that have accumulated over 10 years. It would need big changes. Maybe even throw out some of hte expansions. Throw out big additions like defiant armor. Make the homecities purposeful. Make pok an outpost as opposed to the main city. Reinvent the game. Make it fresh and new by comparison to what it is now. Allow people to move around freely on their own. Put travel in their hands (ex: bind in multiple places). Don't need corpse runs or hell levels. So much I could say but not enough room in this post. Take the best of what eq was in 1999 and the best of what eq is in 2010 and mix them together. Keep the eq of 2010-11, as we know it, on a special classic server. The new one would encompass several servers. If they could do it right, now that would be fun!

But honestly, they're better off just making EQ3. And, EQ2 runs circles around EQ1, so why waste time. There's a lot in EQ2 I'd love to see in EQ1. I really don't know why someone would pick WoW over EQ2.

[anthony210]

If they do it right with time locked progression so 1 guild cant progress the server past pop in less than 6 months, then I will check it out.

I have more confidence in the P99 devs and I love this server but one think that I will never get to experiance here is raiding Luclin and PoP, as well as having AA and those 3 things are some of my favorite times in EQ.

[kariden]

ah screw live. Let them scrub all the sub 10's in the merge. Its just not worth playing and its not like my 10mil pp on my banker could even really buy shit with the inflation rate.

[Fippy]

Just don't think Live will do it right.

I LOVE this server right now and the community it is building. They will never have that on Live. If most of the players that would go to the new server heard about p99, they would jump here in a heartbeat.

[stormlord]

If they do it right with time locked progression so 1 guild cant progress the server past pop in less than 6 months, then I will check it out.

I have more confidence in the P99 devs and I love this server but one think that I will never get to experiance here is raiding Luclin and PoP, as well as having AA and those 3 things are some of my favorite times in EQ.

The ultimate answer would be guild-locked progression or something. The problem with time-locked progression is that people who come late never get a chance to experience it. If there was a way to allow anyone, whether they come early or not, to experience old content the way it was meant to be experienced, then they'd have an answer. Just reproducing the way progression was in 2006 but making it time-locked is too easy. It's so easy it's cheap. The 50/51 server is also the same pattern. Too easy. They just can't come up with original, inspiring servers because they don't want to invest in them. They don't got guts, and they don't got the talent. Something tells me 9 out of 10 of them would rather work on Free Realms or EQ3. They're bored sick of EQ1.

Can you blame them? I don't. It's all about making waves. Working on EQ1 is not helping their resume. Look, to the industry it's all about beating WoW, not milking whatever is left of EQ1. To survive these days, you have to be on a leading edge success. You have to show you can beat WoW. That's what they're looking for. Sure, you can nail a lower job, but most of them want to get better and shine before they get too old. They don't want to waste time on dead projects like EQ1. It would take a miracle to change this. The order of the universe is that things get old. Software gets old. It's the way things go. If you don't move fast enough, you get swept away.

[Sparkin]

Only if it had an interesting ruleset. My ultimate would be a PvP-enabled progression server. I would have to resub for that just to see the chaos that would ensue. You'd have your few hard core guilds trying to unlock shit as fast as possible and a ton of people doing everything they can to keep it from happening.

But since this is SoE i know there's zero chance of anything like that.

[Tudana]

As much as I would love to play live... SoE has lost every bit of my confidence over the years. I believe the team here is truly 10 times more capable as volunteers. P1999 is better at programing, research, and catching hackers... hell even better at customer support from what I have seen so far.


Even if they do allow global chats ;p

this, times 10

I would not go back to SOE for EQ anything.

I am getting my EQ rocks off and more right here.

[Senadin]

I'll see, who knows maybe they'll get a clue this time?

/shrug

[mitic]

soe miserabely failed on progression servers and on 50/51 servers too

P99 alone is better in any pov compared to combine/the sleeper

they wont lure me back those suckers

[Zexa]

After years of lobbying for a new prog/classic server and even re-upping my account to vote for it, I have accepted that they will never release a new one, at least not one without station cash. They have made it very clear that cash for in game items is the model they are aggressively pursuing.

But then again...why announce a new server after merging so many if it's not going to have a special spin to it. I'll be looking forward to seeing what they do.

[Branaddar]

I tried the progression servers. Hated them.

There was no point playing on them unless you played 40 hours a week. With a new expansion launching every month, I think I hit level 44 or so by the time PoP came out. At that point, I quit.

I have no problem with progression servers, but don't throw us a new expansion every month. I quit EQLive because I was getting a new one every SIX months.

If I'm playing EQ anywhere, it's here or trying to make my old out-of-date characters uber again without having to start from scratch.

[Brund the Decrepit]

What P1999 has is light years before anything that SOE could, can and will do. With dedicated people like Nilborg (:D), Rogean and the rest of the passionate cast of VOLUNTEERS working on this project I don't think I could ever see myself 'Donating' my hard earned cash anywhere else.

I have not had this much fun since the original EQ release and I am not letting go of this feeling.

[garyogburn]

Simply put, SOE is fail. Therefore anything SOE does = fail. Theyll never again get my money.

[Shrubwise]

Simply put, SOE is fail. Therefore anything SOE does = fail. Theyll never again get my money.

QFT

[girth]

Yeah fuck SOE, I paid for about 2 months during that server vote bullshit. Never again. Unless this server gets nuked by the North Koreans.

[guineapig]

I remember paying to play.
It made me feel like I needed to log on for x hours every day or else I was wasting my money.
I remember the rate race of having to try and stay above the curve with gear, quests, progression.
No thank you! I'm too old for that shit.

[Thac0]

Simply put, SOE is fail. Therefore anything SOE does = fail. Theyll never again get my money.Yet here we are trying to half assed emulate them including the reasons why they failed. :p

[Adramelk]

Yeah fuck SOE, I paid for about 2 months during that server vote bullshit. Never again. Unless this server gets nuked by the North Koreans.

Our server is in Asheville, NC.

Here's hoping they don't target that first.

[garyogburn]

Yet here we are trying to half assed emulate them including the reasons why they failed. :p

I feel like I should give you a history lesson on how wrong everything you just said was, but I think given the time elapsed since you posted this, its probably already sunk in, and you regret your comments. Theres simply no reason for this kind of ignorance.

However, I could be wrong, and you could just be that big of a dolt.

[lethstang]

project 1999 fills a very specific niche - classic eq, with a slow rate of expansions introduced. No other server released will do this. For those who have chosen this place because of these reasons, I have a very hard time thinking people will jump ship.

Our community rocks, and Im just glad I get to be apart of this. Thankyou to the volunteers who make this happen!

[Thac0]

I feel like I should give you a history lesson on how wrong everything you just said was, but I think given the time elapsed since you posted this, its probably already sunk in, and you regret your comments. Theres simply no reason for this kind of ignorance.

However, I could be wrong, and you could just be that big of a dolt.Been playing EQ since 3rd beta, doing the end game content for each expansion up to Luclin most likely before you were even out of school, whats your track record? There are alot of things that even 989/Verant/Sony Regretted doing and later changed to make the game better. To say otherwise indicates your ignorance.

[Tallenn]

Great I've got several characters on both Luclin and Stromm.. maybe not 8 each, but close. WTF am I supposed to do with them?

Maybe it's time to just sell my accounts....

[Micer]

They would have to pay me to play on their server tbh. P99 is too good with gm/updates and community to even bother thinking about something soe is working on.

[garyogburn]

Been playing EQ since 3rd beta, doing the end game content for each expansion up to Luclin most likely before you were even out of school, whats your track record? There are alot of things that even 989/Verant/Sony Regretted doing and later changed to make the game better. To say otherwise indicates your ignorance.

Why does anyone list their past playtime of a game like its an accomplishment?

Does anything you said have any bearing on how anyone should give SoE their money when they've failed at everything they've ever attempted? Or even give them credit for what a stinkpile the game currently is?

[Reiker]

See you guys on Prog 2!

[Kerrik]

Our server is in Asheville, NC.

Here's hoping they don't target that first.

Maybe the Great Leader wants to nuke Biltmore House? He might mistakenly think the Vanderbilts still live there?

[Reiker]

Seriously, Prog and P99 are two completely different servers. In P99 you conquer raid targets and wait 6 months for the new ones to be opened. Progression was fun for the fast-paced domination, and mostly appeals to the "hardcore." That's what I enjoyed so much from the first round of Progression. Sure a lot of people can say they defeated Emp Ssra but not many can say they did after < 1 month in each expansion with minimal gear and like one copy of RGC.

[emubird]

The news from SoE about a possible new server is rather vague, and even if it were not so vague, could never be trustworthy, as SoE has never been trustworthy.

If a new server is to be progression-type, as before, then I probably will not move back to EQ live. The first progression servers were so badly done on SoE's end, with SoE intentionally leaving in items, zone changes, quests, and even instances, so that certain people could exploit such things to gain rapid advancement, that I would not wish to take part in it again.

If, however, SoE managed to create a progression-type server with long time lockouts, or with broader-based progression requirements (for example requiring 20% of the population to meet progression requirements before next expansion is unlocked, or something like that), then I would return to live EQ to play on such a new server.

If SoE decides to create a classic server (which I personally doubt will ever happen), then I would definitely leave Project 1999 for such a server. Only SoE can create a truly classic EQ server, with the correct game code, just as it was in 1999. Leveling up from scratch on a truly classic server would be too attractive for me to pass up. Things here on Project 1999 are fun, but let's face it, they have hardly been very classic until just this last week, and using the emu code will always limit things. Most of us have leveled up two, three characters to 50 in the past seven months, assisted by things like translocators and experience exploits in certain zones and with certain quests, as well as bugged/exploitable item drops, mob pathing and mob spawning. Also, we have maxed tradeskills by using a system that allowed us to utilize recipes that should never have been in the game and a tradeskill interface that greatly accelerates production and advancement, and we have been able to utilize items sold in infinite quantities by merchants that should never have had these items. Sure, these things are being fixed now; but the first seven months on Project 1999 have been a far cry from truly classic. And I would happily pay to experience a true classic experience once more.

I am hoping that once everything here on Project 1999 is fixed and 'classicized', there will be a server reboot, or a new server launched. Whoever wants to stay on the original server with their characters can do so and have all the fun they want. But I know that I and at least some others will happily start over to experience something a bit more classic.

Don't hold your breath, though; SoE has always been so incapable and unreliable that it is unlikely anything good will come from a new server. So probably we'll all just still be here having fun.

[Thac0]

Why does anyone list their past playtime of a game like its an accomplishment?

Does anything you said have any bearing on how anyone should give SoE their money when they've failed at everything they've ever attempted? Or even give them credit for what a stinkpile the game currently is?Hey friend, your the one who wanted to give me a "lesson" on "history" on a game i've already played before you most likely.

So Im not sure how your mind works if does at all :cool:

[Reiker]

The news from SoE about a possible new server is rather vague, and even if it were not so vague, could never be trustworthy, as SoE has never been trustworthy.

If a new server is to be progression-type, as before, then I probably will not move back to EQ live. The first progression servers were so badly done on SoE's end, with SoE intentionally leaving in items, zone changes, quests, and even instances, so that certain people could exploit such things to gain rapid advancement, that I would not wish to take part in it again.

If, however, SoE managed to create a progression-type server with long time lockouts, or with broader-based progression requirements (for example requiring 20% of the population to meet progression requirements before next expansion is unlocked, or something like that), then I would return to live EQ to play on such a new server.

If SoE decides to create a classic server (which I personally doubt will ever happen), then I would definitely leave Project 1999 for such a server. Only SoE can create a truly classic EQ server, with the correct game code, just as it was in 1999. Leveling up from scratch on a truly classic server would be too attractive for me to pass up. Things here on Project 1999 are fun, but let's face it, they have hardly been very classic until just this last week, and using the emu code will always limit things. Most of us have leveled up two, three characters to 50 in the past seven months, assisted by things like translocators and experience exploits in certain zones and with certain quests, as well as bugged/exploitable item drops, mob pathing and mob spawning. Also, we have maxed tradeskills by using a system that allowed us to utilize recipes that should never have been in the game and a tradeskill interface that greatly accelerates production and advancement, and we have been able to utilize items sold in infinite quantities by merchants that should never have had these items. Sure, these things are being fixed now; but the first seven months on Project 1999 have been a far cry from truly classic. And I would happily pay to experience a true classic experience once more.

I am hoping that once everything here on Project 1999 is fixed and 'classicized', there will be a server reboot, or a new server launched. Whoever wants to stay on the original server with their characters can do so and have all the fun they want. But I know that I and at least some others will happily start over to experience something a bit more classic.

Don't hold your breath, though; SoE has always been so incapable and unreliable that it is unlikely anything good will come from a new server. So probably we'll all just still be here having fun.

Doesn't mean much but during their last new server announcement the devs were pretty vocal about not leaving in out-of-era content. There was a huge thread where they compiled a list of all things that should not be on a new progression server. So it looks like they were admitting they screwed up some things and wanted to

Reiker's top 4 "lol Progression" moments:

4) Craftable range weapons in Kunark with Vulak Aerr-ish stat bonuses.
3) New style alchemy pots allowing me to solo just about anything including Lodizal during Velious.
2) Jailer event in Dreadlands: Spawn as many lower PoP tier bosses as you want for PoTime quality loot!
1) Killing revamped Innoruuk in Luclin for Req 65 Rec 70 loot.

[Malrubius]

But they will have those beatifully redone zones like Freeport. :eek:

[Xantarr]

What they need to do is make EQ live into only the classic version, with most or all of the new crappy models thrown out. Then, they need to have it so it progresses so that maybe Kunark comes out a year down the road or so, and then eventually Velious, but it should stop there. Then, they need to fire all their crud-on-my-service and get some customer service, and GM's that are real people who care about the community and simply do their best just to make it tip-top. Last but not least, they should make it free, without the ability to purchase in-game advantages with out-of-game favors.

Oh wait...

[stormlord]

The news from SoE about a possible new server is rather vague, and even if it were not so vague, could never be trustworthy, as SoE has never been trustworthy.

If a new server is to be progression-type, as before, then I probably will not move back to EQ live. The first progression servers were so badly done on SoE's end, with SoE intentionally leaving in items, zone changes, quests, and even instances, so that certain people could exploit such things to gain rapid advancement, that I would not wish to take part in it again.

If, however, SoE managed to create a progression-type server with long time lockouts, or with broader-based progression requirements (for example requiring 20% of the population to meet progression requirements before next expansion is unlocked, or something like that), then I would return to live EQ to play on such a new server.

If SoE decides to create a classic server (which I personally doubt will ever happen), then I would definitely leave Project 1999 for such a server. Only SoE can create a truly classic EQ server, with the correct game code, just as it was in 1999. Leveling up from scratch on a truly classic server would be too attractive for me to pass up. Things here on Project 1999 are fun, but let's face it, they have hardly been very classic until just this last week, and using the emu code will always limit things. Most of us have leveled up two, three characters to 50 in the past seven months, assisted by things like translocators and experience exploits in certain zones and with certain quests, as well as bugged/exploitable item drops, mob pathing and mob spawning. Also, we have maxed tradeskills by using a system that allowed us to utilize recipes that should never have been in the game and a tradeskill interface that greatly accelerates production and advancement, and we have been able to utilize items sold in infinite quantities by merchants that should never have had these items. Sure, these things are being fixed now; but the first seven months on Project 1999 have been a far cry from truly classic. And I would happily pay to experience a true classic experience once more.

I am hoping that once everything here on Project 1999 is fixed and 'classicized', there will be a server reboot, or a new server launched. Whoever wants to stay on the original server with their characters can do so and have all the fun they want. But I know that I and at least some others will happily start over to experience something a bit more classic.

Don't hold your breath, though; SoE has always been so incapable and unreliable that it is unlikely anything good will come from a new server. So probably we'll all just still be here having fun.

Every new nugget of information I learn in-game is like a diamond to me.

Even if you could fix all of hte bugs and make it 100% classic, you can't erase peoples memories. For example, it took me 13 days /played to get level 13 in 1999. It takes me just a day or two /played to get that now. Why? Because I know where to go and what to do. I know the zones I'm in by memory. I'm playing a ranger and intentionally killing myself and re-rolling because I level so fast. It's because of what I know. Sure, I learn new things sometimes. I like that, but most of what I see is what I've seen before.

There're people in their 20's and 30's that I saw not too long ago at level 7. People level up fairly quickly on this server. I should know because none of my alts are greater than 15.

People know exactly where to camp items. They know exactly where to go to get experience. This accelerates everything. The economy is filled with examples of this. You can't stop it.

There can never be a 100% classic experience unless it's a new game.

[redghosthunter]

Xantarr-- "Then, they need to fire all their crud-on-my-service and get some customer service"

X customer service was always working... they just could not make decisions without GM oversight. Had this prob a few times myself.

I will never, ever go back to SONY EQ. SONY EQ is not the same game as what was started in 99. The ONLY thing SONY EQ is concerned about is getting your credit card numbers. Why do u think the pricing is so high on everything>? Every single thing requires boatloads of plat. And farming plat? gone.... I could go on and on about how SONY EQ has ruined the game... but so could we all.

[Tallenn]

Oh, and about the new server: if it's not time-locked progression, then what's the point? Classic (including up to Velious) will be over within 3 months. I probably wouldn't even be 50 by then.

[Bloodshot]

What they need to do is make EQ live into only the classic version, with most or all of the new crappy models thrown out. Then, they need to have it so it progresses so that maybe Kunark comes out a year down the road or so, and then eventually Velious, but it should stop there. Then, they need to fire all their crud-on-my-service and get some customer service, and GM's that are real people who care about the community and simply do their best just to make it tip-top. Last but not least, they should make it free, without the ability to purchase in-game advantages with out-of-game favors.

Oh wait...

Ohhhhhhhh, I see what he did there...:cool:

[Xantarr]

X customer service was always working... they just could not make decisions without GM oversight. Had this prob a few times myself.



That's true, I'd have to agree with you there, iirc.



The ONLY thing SONY EQ is concerned about is getting your credit card numbers. Why do u think the pricing is so high on everything>?



Although I must say that if Sony EQ were so concerned about making money, they wouldn't be doing what they're doing. That's the point - they'd have made more money if they had done what Nilbog et al. have done.

Anyway, higher prices do not mean higher profits. It's incorrect to assume that a company charges higher prices because they're greedy. Nearly all corporations seek to maximize profits in some respect or another - sometimes by lowering prices. It's just that Sony EQ failed to capitalize on these potential profits, not because of greed, but because they were apparently unaware of what it was their customers really wanted.

That's just my 2 cents :]

[mitic]

they will never have classic eq like we have it here on emu cause they would need a separate patcher and this will NEVER happen.

[Alleusion]

SOE lost alot of intergrity over the years, mainly by going back on things they said they would never do. The fact that you can uber-ize your character with real money is just...well, it killed the game in my eyes. Velious is when I started playing, quitting after GoD and the random letter names of mobs (like someone threw a bunch of scrabble letters onto a table and the first 5 they picked up became the next mob's name). Met my husband on the first attempt they made at a progression server. It would be interesting to see what their idea for this "new" server will be...and how much interest they can really re-gain after all this time.

[stormlord]

Even though I'd rather sell my eq account on live (tried to), I might go back because the server I play on is being merged. It would be interesting to see what it's like to play on it now that more people are online.

I just get tired of doing anything for more than a month or two. My time on live is pretty much off and on, depending on my interest levels. But I have to be honest and say this merging is interesting.

But I have to agree with a lot of posts here. Live is mediocre for a p2p. To give an example, they recently held a poll about which feature developers should work on. There were several options. The option that got the most votes was to work on increasing the number of slots in bags. I didn't vote for that, but apparently a lot of people did. The problem I have with it is that a good p2p mmorpg would have done all of them, not just one. The game is so messy and out of date. I have a lot of memories there, but it won't last forever. What does???

[fastboy21]

they will never have classic eq like we have it here on emu cause they would need a separate patcher and this will NEVER happen.

even with a bare little creativity I can think of several very simple solutions to getting around this problem.

I don't see at all why you think this (of all things) would be the biggest stumbling block...very easy to get around/fix for them.

***
The big advantage of playing on live is that you have a contractual relationship with the game.

I trust the devs here, but there is nothing that would stop them from just pulling the plug tomorrow. Don't get me wrong, I don't think that they would ever do that. What if Rogean and Nilbog got hit by a bus? What if one of their family members got sick and they couldn't spend any time working on the server?

Again, I don't doubt the devs here at all, but I can't help but feel just a bit more secure with a paid team to secure the game. I really hope the devs don't take this as a knock against them, because it really isn't. What they do is incredible, and their passion for EQ is so pure that they do it for simple love of the game, and THAT is the biggest reason to play here instead of on live.

In the end, there are good reasons to stay and go if live offered a server that was progression/classic/time locked/etc...
My opinion is that lots would stay here, but we would see a noticeable drop in population to the order of 25% to 50% on the day that live opens a progression server...followed by a return of about half of those who left over the next weeks.

[Bumamgar]

There is no contractual relationship with the game on live. SOE could shut down the servers tomorrow if they felt that it was profitable to do so.

Yes, there are fewer 'key man dependencies' on live. SOE is large enough that a single person getting sick or hit by a bus won't mean the end of EQ Live, but other than a 10 year track record, there's nothing to guarantee that Live will continue to exist from day to day. In fact, server mergers indicate that Live is getting closer and closer to decommissioning.

[Branaddar]

The option that got the most votes was to work on increasing the number of slots in bags.

Are you serious? Not the whole "rework the Bazaar so we don't have to sit there afk selling crap all the time"? That was the first choice for me hands down. The rest were just fluff.

[stormlord]

Are you serious? Not the whole "rework the Bazaar so we don't have to sit there afk selling crap all the time"? That was the first choice for me hands down. The rest were just fluff.

At the time, I ordered them according to what I liked most. Offline selling was one of my top 3 picks, but I eventually chose houses because I like fluff. Another one of them that I really liked was the player designed dungeons feature. I think that it would have been awesome for the inner developer in all of us.

But more slots in bags? Geez, why not just allow us to use clickies in bags or something? Besides, I've never had to worry about bag space. I don't know what people are complaining about. Maybe it's the people who do tradeskills? It just seemed to me that bag space was part of the design. We could have 5 slots per bag and it would work if things were organized in that manner. If they make new content or new items with 10 slots in mind, there's no reason 10 slots can't work unless developers have failed their design parameters. If players want more space so desperately, it's because the developers have failed to design the game for 10 slots.

More bag slots reminds me of adding another currency, (example: dwerium):
1 dwerium = 10 platinum
1 platinum = 10 gold
1 gold = 10 silver
1 silver = 10 copper

What would be the point of that? If you design the game for platinum being the highest form of currency, there's no reason it can't work. Making dwerium the new highest currency isn't adding anything new to the game. Fluff, as you call it, it's something new! That could have made this game more fresh. Instead, somehow, people voted for one of the most boring and ineffective options on the list (imho).

The game could be designed around a single currency, like gold, for christs sake.

Let me say this again. Houses and offline trading and player designed dungeons are FEATURES. More bag space is not going to change how this game plays in any appreciable way that I can think of. Why? Because all you're doing is increasing the ceiling, but everything will adjust to the new ceiling, including whatever the developers create, so the whole feel of the game will remain unchanged. I get a worry that players are like the drug addict asking for more drug. But once the drug addict gets accustomed to the increased dosage, they'll readjust and then want more. Nothing about how the game plays is changed. It's taller, but the same damn shape.

I think this is what happens when you let the mechanic program your software instead of the programmer. The first mistake was the developers not being more clear about each option.

I would have ordered it like this:

Poll #1:
1) Increased bag space
2) New player models (higher polygon counts)
3) Revamp older zones (higher polygon counts)

Poll #2:
1) Offline Trading
2) Houses
3) Custom guilds and guild ranking features
4) Player designed dungeons

I would have allowed them to vote on both and the highest picks would be chosen. So two of the listed changes would be implemented. I tried to separate them according to the type of change.

[Branaddar]

Okay, yeah, player housing is kinda neat. I'd forgotten that was an option.

I guess I dismissed a lot of the options because it seemed like "let's make it more like EQ2" to me. Housing, guild rankings, houses, improved models and zones... I can play EQ2 if I want those.

To me, revamping the bazaar would be a huge benefit to the game. I'm not knocking some of the fluffier choices, but the bazaar needs some work. Right now it favours multi-accounters and gold farmers. Us lonely one-accounters can only sell while we're not playing.

But yeah, totally agree on your other points.

[fastboy21]

There most certainly IS a contractual relationship between the player and SOE when a player plays on live. You are correct that them keeping the game running is NOT guaranteed...but that is not what I was talking about when I said a contractual relationship exists.



even with a bare little creativity I can think of several very simple solutions to getting around this problem.

I don't see at all why you think this (of all things) would be the biggest stumbling block...very easy to get around/fix for them.

***
The big advantage of playing on live is that you have a contractual relationship with the game.

I trust the devs here, but there is nothing that would stop them from just pulling the plug tomorrow. Don't get me wrong, I don't think that they would ever do that. What if Rogean and Nilbog got hit by a bus? What if one of their family members got sick and they couldn't spend any time working on the server?

Again, I don't doubt the devs here at all, but I can't help but feel just a bit more secure with a paid team to secure the game. I really hope the devs don't take this as a knock against them, because it really isn't. What they do is incredible, and their passion for EQ is so pure that they do it for simple love of the game, and THAT is the biggest reason to play here instead of on live.

In the end, there are good reasons to stay and go if live offered a server that was progression/classic/time locked/etc...
My opinion is that lots would stay here, but we would see a noticeable drop in population to the order of 25% to 50% on the day that live opens a progression server...followed by a return of about half of those who left over the next weeks.

[L2Phantom]

Update to this, help name the new server:

http://forums.station.sony.com/eq/posts/list.m?topic_id=165329

[BuzWeaver]

Any news on the new additional bag space?

[frefaln]

There is no way in hell I'm playing on a formal "progression" server, for all it proves is that SoE's unable to learn from its own mistakes. However, there might be a plus side in that it might weed out the worst of the instant-gratification crowd on P99. I'm okay with losing a few from that crowd, seems the P99 population is still steady and rising.

[thxer]

SOE will get my money when they make EQ3, until then, screw them. They messed up EQ1, EQ2 could have been amazing and they screwed that up too and made it a generic WoW. If they manage to make an EQ3 with the same feel as EQ1, and polish of EQ2/WoW, then they can have me.

[Gwence]

Cant imagine that a progression would win any vote if there even is one if the ruleset is the same as it was before.

[mitic]

SOE will get my money when they make EQ3, until then, screw them. They messed up EQ1, EQ2 could have been amazing and they screwed that up too and made it a generic WoW. If they manage to make an EQ3 with the same feel as EQ1, and polish of EQ2/WoW, then they can have me.

so you srsly think that after the failure of eq2 (besides eq1 PoP< ) there will be a change "backwards" with eq3?

on a side note there has been vanguard and we all know what happened to that game

[Smuuglie]

Vanguard was so much fun in my opinion... people just found it too hard I guess...
And EQ2 had the best roleplay in MMO games ever, fuck I loved house designing!

[Reiker]

People didn't find Vanguard too hard, it was just bullshit. I played until that patch that fixed all the broken Cleric abilities and added new Cleric abilities (and Clerics were already balanced around half their abilities being broken). So all of a sudden my room mate became the best tank, dps, and healer in the game. That was when I realized they had no idea what the fuck they were doing (I realized it before that I was just trying to deny it and enjoy the game).

But for the first few months, the classes were great, the world was amazing, and the quests and lore were by far the best of any MMO.

The game had big mix of totally awesome and totally shitty elements, nothing in between. Like, some dungeons were totally epic like that ancient castle ruins. While in other areas, there was literally the same mine dungeon copy and pasted 3 times next to a town.

But people miss that Vanguard had a lot of potential. I would have played that game for years if they spent more time on it. People say you can't get that "awe" back from your first MMO, but Vanguard was really close exploring the amazingly designed world and lore.

[Jify]

It was pretty good for the first bit.. But ya, I agree.

Totally awesome... or totally shitty. There was no inbetween.

[Frighteous]

so you srsly think that after the failure of eq2 (besides eq1 PoP< ) there will be a change "backwards" with eq3?

on a side note there has been vanguard and we all know what happened to that game

It was a situation of hungry developers (Verant) with an innovative idea that Everquest emerged from, once SoE got their hands on Everquest it turned to shit. The same thing with all these other MMOs you see getting released, and if you'll notice the larger the company, the worse the MMO - excluding Blizzard, and that's just because of it's success rate, I can't stand wow. Vanguard was horrible, it was hyped while it was in development. Just like with all these other games like Warhammer, AOC, Aion and etc. They're hyped while they're in development, then launch comes and people play it and realize that the game seems to be designed by a team led by a guy with a degree in Business Management, paid salary with minimal reason to want to 'push his team to make a better product' - The guys at Verant at the time just made Everquest their own little personal monster and it seemed they all were passionate about the game even more than the players, this is why it was such a unique experience. But like I said, they were also hungry, just like any other professional if you look at it from a general standpoint. Performers, entertainers etc all are at their best, well most of them, when they're hungry.

[Tronjer]

Got bored from Vanguard Beta 2 already but came back some months after release. Leveled a char to 50 in roughly 4 weeks and left again, because the two group raid encounters with 10 min. fights were just ridiculous. Last year I made a toon on Mayong and was immedialety turned off, as SOE introduced mercenenary and removed the necessity of corpse runs.

I'm still the committed player I used to be 10 years ago and even my time is restricted now, the very last thing I want is a casual version of EQ for people who prefer to solo and can't focus for longer than 60 min. So whatever server SOE is announcing now, I'll pass.

[mitic]

/snip
Last year I made a toon on Mayong and was immedialety turned off, as SOE introduced mercenenary and removed the necessity of corpse runs.
/snip

and thats evidence enuf for me why we will never see a worthy successor of eq1 from soe

[Cyrano]

It was a situation of hungry developers (Verant) with an innovative idea that Everquest emerged from, once SoE got their hands on Everquest it turned to shit. The same thing with all these other MMOs you see getting released, and if you'll notice the larger the company, the worse the MMO - excluding Blizzard, and that's just because of it's success rate, I can't stand wow. Vanguard was horrible, it was hyped while it was in development. Just like with all these other games like Warhammer, AOC, Aion and etc. They're hyped while they're in development, then launch comes and people play it and realize that the game seems to be designed by a team led by a guy with a degree in Business Management, paid salary with minimal reason to want to 'push his team to make a better product' - The guys at Verant at the time just made Everquest their own little personal monster and it seemed they all were passionate about the game even more than the players, this is why it was such a unique experience. But like I said, they were also hungry, just like any other professional if you look at it from a general standpoint. Performers, entertainers etc all are at their best, well most of them, when they're hungry.

That's completely incorrect, Verant was SoE. The game was developed from the ground up in the same office space where 989 studios was developing games. However Sony didn't originally want their name on the product because of the uncertainty of success for such a new idea.

EQ was and always has been a product of Sony game development.

[Cogwell]

Like it or not, pre expansion Warcraft is probably going to be as close a successor to EQ as there will ever be.

- Classes mimicked EQ classes, by and large, with a little more flexibility.
- Community was excellent before cross-server BGs were instituted.
- One generally had to work to get decent gear
- The raid game wasn't insanely easy like it is now.
- in depth lore, questing, storyline.

The largest differences I think were the lack of a need to group for general level advancement and removal of any death penalty to speak of.

[UrsusMajor]

project 1999 fills a very specific niche - classic eq, with a slow rate of expansions introduced. No other server released will do this. For those who have chosen this place because of these reasons, I have a very hard time thinking people will jump ship.

Our community rocks, and Im just glad I get to be apart of this. Thankyou to the volunteers who make this happen!

The problem with this is that it's not "a slow rate of expansions introduced." It's at the rate that the devs can get out Kunark and Vellious and right now there is NO eta on Kunark. Not having Kunark in yet is a major reason a number of my friends are hesitant about rolling here and would roll on a time locked progression server, because Kunark and other expansions have a known time table.

[StinkyGreenBud]

I'll never give SOE anymore of money..never ever again.

[UrsusMajor]

so you srsly think that after the failure of eq2 (besides eq1 PoP< ) there will be a change "backwards" with eq3?

on a side note there has been vanguard and we all know what happened to that game

Vanguard was actually a very fun game IMO but it had a zillion bugs and release should have been held off for at least another 3-6 months.

Gameplay was not the issue with Vanguard.

[Soft]

we dont pay for this +1, and we don't have to worry about power gaming guilds trying to push expansions.

i'm comfy here, will stay. Nil and the rest of the team are doing a great job...and doing better then most live management.

the reason i don't think I would enjoy live style progression servers is power gamers pushing the content faster than I can see it, even if i don't want to see the current raiding content, getting to enjoy the group content and other parts of the game is important to me. P99 has it right IMO.