I don't remember which dev said it and it what thread, but I could have sworn one said that once this server hits Velious, that they would most likey start a new server starting all the way back at classic to go through the progression again. So you essentially would have to start all over again from scratch to play on the new server. Can any devs confirm this? I cant find the thread/post.

I'll look for it later but it wasn't a "likely" event, simply an option. One of many.
They basically can go by anything they want to and are free to change their minds at any time. So even if they did word it differently I wouldn't worry too much about something that would not happen for at least anther 2 years.

Bingo! :D

It can be done IMHO. I'm pretty sure in the server population there's people who could assist with various aspects of the technical operation of a remote hosted server, have done it before, are knowledgable about running an eqemu, and willing to spend some time doing it. Me for example, but probably there's more :)

Of course, donations would need to be reflective of the costs. When I ran a couple of web servers with a back end database server for a large web event (100hoursofastronomy.org) in a decent data centre last year it cost $410/mo per server with dedicated firewall... plus $349 for one time setup. A more rugged DDOS-resistant firewall might be more. Dunno if they break out the eqemu and database servers right now to seperate boxes but thats $920/mo plus $700 setup... pretty steep just to get another server off the ground.

Content wise I don't see much more load, since the content would be mirrored on the servers. Customer service would need to be beefed up but that could be a guide program IMHO...

Possible, but a pretty sizable initiative. There'd need to be a lot of trust established between the leadership team and the newbies before they'd probably let something like this rip as well!

Regards,
Mg

Just a friendly warning, if your going to promote p99 don't use copywrited material. SOE gets their panties in a twist anytime someone uses a copywrited picture or video. Other than that, SOE generally hasnt cared at all about EQemu (the exception being Winter's Roar).

As far as I'm concerned, a server can never be too populated. Once Kunark hits there will be plenty of content for an entire server of players to enjoy and experience. Velious will only add to that.

More people = more groups. More people = better social experience. More people = more different types of character classes, which creates greater diversity in the endgame.

Yes, there will be competition for some spawns. Isn't that part of what makes classic... well, classic?

You have a very optimistic view my friend. I don't have a problem with the server becoming more populated, I am just really comfortable with the way it is now and I don't see the need for marketing urgency. Nobody knows for sure when Kunark will come out - it's done with it's done... but 2,000 people is a lot of people, even with Kunark.

More people = more waiting lists for groups
More people = more camps taken
More people = more solo casters getting in pissing matches with full groups over camp rights
More people = more overhead, more GMs, more bandwidth needed

I would have actually preferred my live server had only 800-1000 people on it during peak hours back in the day. I'm all for success of P99, donations, etc. I can just see why some people are apprehensive about launching an entire marketing campaign to get more people on here.

In comparison to what EQ looks like now (TONS of empty and unused content), yes.. filling out zones and having people around to do stuff will be awesome. Competition is fine too, it gives that much more of a special feeling to an item / quest / raid etc. However I am thinking about it because of what was most psychologically damaging in live: ridiculous and painfully long camps / drop rates etc. EQ2 for example is all instanced content, there is a small bunch of contested stuff that normally one or two high end guilds lay claim to. They do this by way of 24/7 call lists. I don't know if people on an emulator will take it to that extreme but it wouldn't surprise me.

The people who have done it know, camping a mobs for hours or even days, or waiting days just to get a shot at the camp blows.

As for diversity, there's already a giant base of people who discriminate about class / race penalties. Plenty of people don't make said classes because of it.

Quality > Quantity, more doesn't always equal better. No one will know how an influx of players will affect the server till it happens. Might blow, might be awesome, we're just gunna have to see what happens.

One more reason why red > blue. Having new people join is never a bad thing on a red server.

Go for it! btw i find it hard to believe live servers had 2k populations since most zones on project99 are fairly full. Did live servers really have this high of a population???

We could use more for kunark for sure though. :D