I'm pretty new on this server but have tons of EQ and MMO experience. So far I've noticed a lot of people complaining about high end loot often. I understand this, EQ is a gear based game and rightly so. Our guild isn't even close to being able to raid anything other than upper guk and Najena, but I will put in my 2 cents.
So far I feel that the variance is the by far the best option. As I remember on our live server (The Rathe) later on we ended up having a rotation and forums specifically for raid mobs. Early on it was all about who got there first and who engaged first. If a guild rushed it and started the fight early then wiped, the other guild would come in behind them and mop up. Sometimes they would be nice and allow or help the other guild to CR and try again. But of course that comes down to guild management.
The issue of camping a spawn is the same everywhere you go. I have seen people fight over the mobs at the entrance of guk, so I can't imagine why this wouldn't happen everywhere you go. Now here's logically how it will go down. Most of the upper guilds (right now there may only be 2 capable of raiding but this will change in the following month or so) will have a man or two in the zone waiting to see if something will spawn, If a raid guild really wants to keep 15 people there to make sure they get CT or whoever when they spawn, that's great for them. That allows the rest of us to get other camps that would normally not be open. How often do lvl 50's come into any zone, whether it be Najena, CT or Sola and just own whatever they want when they want. SO having 15 of them waiting deep in solb or in fear helps out some of the little guys who are still working their way up. If a guild could honestly put 15 people at each raid mob and wait for them to spawn, then by all means go ahead. But don't just have 15 people in Solb farming whatever, you need to have them ready to engage Naggy or clearing the FG's for it to be considered your camp. If you have 1 rogue or monk sitting deep inside and the rest of your crew camping king or stone spider, that doesn't count. If you have a raid force ready to take down a mob when it spawns, it's yours. If another guild is doing the same thing, then it's a battle. This is a lot of what old EQ was all about, that innate competition between guilds to get there first and to kill the Dragon/God. I knew guilds that would recruit a few extra wizards just so they could mobilize and KS anyone. This method does have it's drawbacks but a guild should be able to mobilize quickly to make sure they can get mobs too. Once Hate, Sky and Kunark open up this won't be as big of an issues, although I assume there will be more guilds capable of taking those zones.
Our new guild Gothic Circle is going to be nice and polite about mobs and camps. So I suggest we all work together to help each other out or it's going to get real dirty and the top guilds will end up getting banned from fighting over loot.
ALSO guild wars aren't a bad option, was in many of them in live and it's amazing. I suggest if you have never been in one, start one
[You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.] I do say if 2 guilds are giving the GM's trouble they should put them at guild war, this clears up all the problems of camping. Only 1 guild can hold a zone at any given time. If you are at war with each other you aren't hanging out in Lguk or Fear together you are killing each other (unless you are a pansy).
Camps and mobs should be simple, I think the variance of the spawn time should solve a lot of the issues. I think someone did bring up a valid point about server down time, it was awesome when you could get on right when the servers came back up in live and head straight for whatever mob you wanted. It really was a great way to level the playing field.