The real reason the population is declining is...

[Slave]

Originally Posted by HippoNipple [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

100% pvpers should want 1 item loot, coin loot, and nothing else, but there isn't a player base for that.

I think that the truth lies very much to the contrary of this statement. There is just absolutely nothing out there for the hardcore PvP crowd anymore... Shadowbane has been shut down, Darkfall was dead on arrival, UO lives only in our fondest memories. EVE is not fantasy nor avatar-driven. It is not satisfying for many. It also costs $.

Everquest is so intensely intensive that it really should be ground zero for this disenfranchised group... but we have no ruleset that would support a hardcore PvP lifestyle. Really the one main way I can possibly think of to implement that would be through 1 item loot, and that is problematic because of other arcane mechanics that make item loot a very mixed bag, such as No Drop item tags and pure caster abilities.

-No Drop causes the entire server to overvalue a smaller subset of the total items in the game, leading to a far more limited experience.

-The Caster Problem is that they are able to be effective while still being naked, and risking nothing.

I have proposed what I feel to be extremely well-considered fixes to these issues, things that really rub most of the blue crowd here the completely wrong way... one sure sign that these suggestions are a sure way to attract the (absolutely gigantic and looking for the next big thing) PvP crowd.

-Remove the No Drop tag. It's Classic, and that's about the only thing that it has ever had going for it.

-Allow 1 item loot from all worldly possessions of an in-range victim, including banked items but excluding melee-only weapons.

And that's it. A little something to keep the players here once they arrive, like prearranged, hard-coded teams, and they'll have the home they have always been searching for. Honestly I rather doubt the servers could handle the kind of immense player load this type of PvP-oriented server would bring.

[Doublestep]

Originally Posted by Slave [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

-Remove the No Drop tag. It's Classic, and that's about the only thing that it has ever had going for it.

WHAT IS THIS, FIRIONA VIE 99?

[Slave]

Originally Posted by Doublestep [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

WHAT IS THIS, FIRIONA VIE 99?

It's an arbitarily limiting mechanic that prevents Item Loot from being all that it could be.

Oh, wait, I mean...

THIS IS ZEK!! *kicks people into a pit*

[Doublestep]

give me SZ or give me Discord

[Slave]

Originally Posted by Doublestep [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

give me SZ or give me Discord

SZ had some very advantageously hardcore mechanics going for it that were seemingly not considered for R99:

No Play Nice Policy: players are more invested in a game they can feel like they can make a difference in, as opposed to being constantly hobbled by some fairyland ruleset that causes GMs to come rushing to the aid of the bluest of the players. Take care of business yourself or GTFO.

No Artificially Limiting Level Range for PvP: God, this just makes no real sense. You have a plethora of problems that come along with it, such as OOR healers, groups haphazardly engaging, exploiting the utterly nonintuitive system.

Last but not least, Teams: gave players something bigger than themselves to be a part of without the punishment of having to be in a (dumbfoundingly stupid) player-run guild. Teams fomented grouping, PvP, and most of all, community.

[billyinorganic]

Originally Posted by Doors [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Server population sucks for a lot of reasons but mainly because of:

No global ooc
Means no groups for lowbies
No yellow text
Free for all PvP rules

But the main reason the server suffers is actually Holocaust. Here's a group of people that have been playing together for years on pvp servers and the majority of them are known cheaters, users of Showeq, mq, etc. Their sole objective here is to grief other people and block others from leveling/getting items. Not everyone is a stone cold mother fucker like me, so not everyone can handle this. My middle name however is 'get shit done' so I can cope with the zerg of bads that need to band together in order to accomplish anything here.

Hate to admit it but Wormocht was right back in April. This server should have been teams to negate the regulars of Holocaust from destroying, yet again, another pvp server. One that will realistically be the last attempt at classic EQ pvp.

Every time i read your posts i imagine a pair of wet...... wait this aint rant and flames nm.

[LizardNecro]

Originally Posted by Slave [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

No Play Nice Policy: players are more invested in a game they can feel like they can make a difference in, as opposed to being constantly hobbled by some fairyland ruleset that causes GMs to come rushing to the aid of the bluest of the players. Take care of business yourself or GTFO.

+1

This is why I abandoned my blue character and joined SZ on launch. Best EQ decision I ever made!

[bennyrz]

Originally Posted by Slave [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

-Remove the No Drop tag. It's Classic, and that's about the only thing that it has ever had going for it.

-Allow 1 item loot from all worldly possessions of an in-range victim, including banked items but excluding melee-only weapons.

do this, and allow shit talk in public, please.

[Slave]

Originally Posted by LizardNecro [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

+1

This is why I abandoned my blue character and joined SZ on launch. Best EQ decision I ever made!

Let me tell you a true tale of Sullon Zek:

-I was in the Oasis with maybe the first character I ever made there, healing up on the dock with some others of my team.

-Along comes a deeply red enemy caster who proceeded to cast 1 horrifyingly devastating AOE on the lot of us.

-Everyone tries to run away, screaming and in flames as 5 or 6 people die instantly.

I played Sullon Zek for over a year after that; it was probably the coolest thing I'd ever experienced in ANY game up to that point.

[Chronoburn]

The first MMO experience I had was SZ. 10 years later, I'm still looking for that same experience. I'm coming to terms now that it will never be replicated.