A New Red Players Observation to Red99
 

Just wanted to offer feedback.

The XP bonus I think was a nice idea to try and bring the population back up. However, it may end up being one of those "too little, too late" situations.

Here has been my experience so far:

As a new melee, you are almost screwed. There is almost no one around to bind you so you are limited to where you can hunt in the beginning, and after a few deaths out in the wilderness followed by an hour run, I can see it being unbearably frustrating.

As any other non-solo based character, you may get by till your teens soloing, but eventually your cracked staff and full suit of leather armor not going to be enough to solo.

Conclusion:

The server pop is so low, we have to think outside the box. This is a "classic experience" not actual classic. I'd love to re-live being 16 again, but its not going to happen.

If we want to keep these servers alive we are going to have to consider adding some features that are less than classic, or else the population will have nowhere else to go but down.

Here are my temporary suggestions: (at least until population grows again to be able to sustain itself again)

Soul Binder (Major cities only)
This is not going to impact game play, but will offer melee's more chance to exp and less time waiting for days (I am not kidding about that) for a bind after a boat ride.


Global chat (Needed for LFG, esp. on red where everyone is /role or /anon)
I have read concerns about r&f in global chat. The community can police itself. That is why we can /ignore. If people develop a bad enough reputation they will have no one to talk to since no one will see their chat :)

Continue Exp Bonus
This may still encourage more people to try read, but lets remember this is still mostly PVE with some PVP here and there. We need a community to have any PVP, so you die hard "non-blubies" need to remember that before you try and push away people who want to PVE here. The PVP will only exist if their are people here to PVP.

I think we can bring this server back to life, but we HAVE to open our minds to alternatives, or else we risk the chance of failing and making this entire project a waste of everyone's time.

I open this now to any other constructive thoughts on the matter...

Searyx said he was going to market the server a bit more in light of the new exp bonus. I think they're open to adding global ooc. I don't really like global ooc but I've lived with it before. I'm totally against soulbinders though. Maybe I'll explain in further detail later when I have time.

Gonna get flamed for this, but remove xp loss from pvp, MAYBE keep it in the raid zones.

Soon the only thing the core pop of assholes will have to do is play with twinks to kill off any new blood that attemps to start on the server.

435 posts of remove xp loss from pvp

I hear ya. I finally talked some friends to try out red, they agreed because of the exp bonus.

I wasn't a big fan of Global OOC either on live, but I can't deny it helped a ton with trading/selling and LFG. Don't think its needed on blue, but without it on red I think we are doomed :) Red has no trading/selling/buying at all, I'm broke and sitting on about 200 bone chips lol.

I don't like the soul binder's either, but again I just suggested as a temporary fix until the population gets up and one can find a bind from a player with some success within an hour or so.

Aye, but then again this is what makes EQ more exciting than any other MMORPG in my opinion. There is no element of fear in WoW, DAoC, etc.. no CR, no exp loss, no consequences...

Here you better think hard before engaging in PvP or PvE because the cost of failure can be severe....

I wasn't a big fan of Exp loss on PvP, but now with the Exp bonus it really isn't too big a deal for me. Again, it also adds that element of fear when running around... I love it!! :eek:

lol I called it months ago... re: how shitty it will be to roll a melee on this server without being twinked or having friends to help PL...

Yep. I'll do whatever I can + will make a thread to get people advertising and recruiting. This is a good time to do it.


Soulbinders: anyone who plays a melee through the early levels would probably agree. The lower population also severely hamstrings the classic "get a caster to bind you" method.

Global chat: Zone-specific is not the right format relative to the lower population. The social aspect of EQ was really really important. For any solo/casual player right now, it's damn near nonexistent. It goes without saying that /auction is just as if not more important as /ooc.

I don't even really care how this problem is solved. It doesn't have to be "global" ooc necessarily. It can be chat that covers continents or groups of zones. Say one for Antonica, Faydwer, Odus, Planes. The concept and end result will be the same: the chat reaches more players, and thus actually gets used for the intended purpose.

Yes!
 

Absolutely agree 100% with all

I really haven't had any problems getting someone to bind me. Granted I was usually in pretty populated areas (Qeynos (around launch), North Karana, Freeport, Gfay, etc.) but I usually just sent tells to whoever was nearby until I found a caster who could bind. When I'm really desperate I ask a porting class to come and bind me for a donation. I've never had to wait more than 20 minutes to get a bind. Maybe I was just lucky.