Recent Decline In Population

[Deathrydar]

I didn't put anything about nerfs or changes in the poll choices because if your class was nerfed or changed in some way, it was because the development team deemed it neccessary to do so in order to keep the game as close to classic as possible.

If you joined up for the classic experience and then you quit because you got the classic experience, then I don't know what to tell ya.

[Athrix]

I've pretty much leveled in seb since 52 and I noticed an instantaneous population drop when the xp bonuses went away and the most recent patch that 'nerfed' a lot of classes. Not sure if they just got frustrated and are taking a break or what. The week after that patch the pop in seb was down to 15-20 during the evenings. Previously it was around 25-30. Taking those two factors into consideration right around the same time the weather started turning for summer is probably causing the lower population.

[jerus]

Fippy is anything but classic. Mage pets are more powerful, monk damage ratios for h2h are much higher, they still have augments allowed for weapons last i heard. Revamp zones weren't taken back. The only thing fippy has that is better than p99 is pet agro isn't wonky. Or at least that's all I have seen. p99 imo >>>> fippy

[UrsusMajor]

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

Fippy is anything but classic. Mage pets are more powerful, monk damage ratios for h2h are much higher, they still have augments allowed for weapons last i heard. Revamp zones weren't taken back. The only thing fippy has that is better than p99 is pet agro isn't wonky. Or at least that's all I have seen. p99 imo >>>> fippy

We aren't playing on Fippy for classic thank you.

I am playing there because over the next year + over 12yrs of content will most likely be released while I wait for Coprenicus to come out.

Have fun playing Kunark for the next year and a half until Velious comes out.

TLPS >>>> P99

[Alex]

Originally Posted by UrsusMajor

We aren't playing on Fippy for classic thank you.

I am playing there because over the next year + over 12yrs of content will most likely be released while I wait for Coprenicus to come out.

Have fun playing Kunark for the next year and a half until Velious comes out.

TLPS >>>> P99

Why are you still on these forums?

[Doors]

Dot nerf really hurt because theres a shit ton of dot classes. Monk nerf hurt because there were a shit ton of monks. Also Sony's networks came back up. Granted I haven't been here that long these three things combined all hit at once so I imagine they all impacted server pop in some way.

[WizardEQ]

+1 for P99.

I was on Fippy; 2 days later SOE had it's debacle; I called them to get my $$$ back; I cancelled LIVE; I now play on P99.

-1 for Fippy

[Kassel]

its summertime yo !

[stormlord]

When SOE was hacked we got a bunch of people. I was routinely seeing over 1000+ at peak times. You could see people posting in the forum even. Rogean upped the experience gain to grab more of them while SOE servers were down. When the SOE servers came back up you could see the gradual decline over the past week(s). Population is now 700-900, as opposed to 850 - 1100. Back where we started, roughly.

Even I was tempted by fippy. It will get luclin/pop/etc. It has a full population compared to this server and the experience gain is different in a wild way. In fact, I actually like the idea of more people = faster experience. Too often in past years while playing EQ I would decline inviting someone because they were gimp and would slow down the experience rate. Or I would not invite them because they were a class I didn't need, like a redundant class. It doesn't mean you don't still make comparisons and pick a rogue over a ranger, but it means that if there's 1 person in the zone /lfg and if you have room it makes all the sense in the world now to invite them, regardless of conditions. So with this change you worry much less about their class or gimpness. The only downside is that soloers are going to have it harder. If they could make a few changes that make soloing still viable in the new environment, it would be a real sell. For example, perhaps soloers could gain experience from one another in different zones if they're in the same group. The problem as I see it is that the soloing classes were designed for a game that had a different experience system. If you do not compensate the mechanics then changing the experience system will break the solo classes.

Anyway, I think that our population is real low and classic->kunark->velious requires a large population to stay floating. On the plus side, the chat channels and other things we have coming will help a bit. But I don't think it's enoguh if our population doesn't get upwards of 1000-1500. When players are spread out in classic and kunark and velious zones the pain will really start to be felt. It's even being felt now. But it's not all gloom and doom. For example, all of this top heaviness is going to lead to a lot of items being banked. This means an economy rich with wealth for new players that enter the game. The only problem is that if these veterens aren't playing then these items are locked away on accounts that're not active. Another bonus of this top heaviness is that high level players can buff new players with ubber sh** that was meant for a level 60. On a level 1 it's like being god for a a while. But the question is whether all of this makes up for the fact that top heaviness means less people at the lower levels. Finding groups has always been important in EQ and if people can't find them, even super buffs and cheap powerful items might not make up for the empty feelings and the tough gameplay. If you look at live, it's pretty clear top heaviness wasn't enough. That's why they added spires & books, rest regain, pots, bazaar, mercenaries, changed experience curve for lower levels, defiant armors, etc. All of that was just meant to compensate for less people at the lower levels and increased levels/aa. Another factor that must be included in that mess are the huge numbers of zones that spread out people. If no changes were made then new players would face a huge obstacle to playing.

I also think this server being a emulator is a limiting factor. We can't openly go to everquest servers or forums to advertise. For example, if I made a website that has help information about EQ, I could very easily go to the forum for EQ and post about it. But if I wanted to post about p1999, I'd probably get blacklisted or have my post removed because emulators are not something SOE wants their players to know about. The sad thing is that's where our audience is. The rest of them could be anywhere, but they've probably moved on if they don't already know about us. I do expect to get a trickle of other new players from the free-2-play universe. There's always somebody googling to find a new game to play. But in my humblest opinion, the real sell of p1999 is the nostalgia and memory of this world that lives on in older everquest players.

[Ledzepp02]

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

its summertime yo !