A wall of text on the global XP modifier, global OOC

[Derubael]

Since some of you are freaking out, I thought I'd take a moment to wall-of-text all you pals on the thinking behind this. Keep in mind that none of this is set in stone, and that these statements, while supported by some of the other staff members, are my personal views on the subject and should be taken as such until someone else on the staff gives a +1 in this thread.

Lets start with the easy one:

Global OOC:

There are a number of positives to global OOC. Especially on a low population server, global ooc provides much needed communication between the handful of people playing on the box. People need a way to publicly auction, find groups, and talk to each other without having to resort to the forums or tells.

The negatives far outweigh the positives. I can say from personal experience and talking with a vast number of new players on the server (read: not all of you that have been here for 2 years) that the stuff that goes on in global ooc drives people away. Bottom line here is that not everyone wants to hear 'pras' everytime a nihilum member goes down, or listen to someone rage out because they got killed by a gank squad. Even worse, global OOC often devolves into a shitfest of 'you mad' 'get fucked faggot' and 'kill yourself irl' spam. It presents, up front, immediately, and in no uncertain terms, a false image of the community on Red 1999. While there are certainly some toxic assholes that play here, the majority of this community is helpful, friendly, and supportive of new players. Those of you who want to talk about your drug addictions, playerX's mom's basement, or scrubX's inability to pvp are in the minority. Saying that people can simply /ignore the people they don't like is not a feasible reason to keep global OOC in its current form. The default should be to not have to see that, not the other way around.

There has to be, and there are, alternatives to global OOC. 5 minute timers, limiting what zones OOC can be seen/used, level limits, and chat channels (though I think Nilbog is very much against this) are all workable solutions to the problem. There needs to be a form of global communication, but a default-on, say anything you want, anywhere you want, whenever you want system is not, and has not, been working.

High XP Modifier:

So this is the fun one. I'll start with a long list of positives, though this is subjective because XP and grinding can be viewed as good or bad, depending on how you look at them.

A high XP modifier makes it easier to level. Particularly on a low population box where finding groups can be hard, the ability to solo quickly can be invaluable in getting someone to the high end. Getting to 60 faster means quicker raiding, more high end PvP, and lots of people in that level range to PvP with. On a PvP box, it also means less of the 'boring parts' of EQ, like grinding mobs. You get to spend less time killing mobs, more time PvPing (at the high end) and the time you do spend seems 'better spent' because you progress more quickly. Last, and in my opinion least important, turning on an XP modifier brings new people in. Wait, why is that least important?

Large global XP modifiers are a short term solution. Typically in the past, when we've turned UP the global xp modifier on red, a population spike has occurred, sometimes adding 50 people or more to the server. These people are attracted by the prospect of big gains in a short period of time. Once the XP modifier goes off, generally the population goes back down, as people are no longer interested in the slow progression with difficult to find groups.

'Derubael,' you say, 'Are you being intentionally fucking stupid? Clearly once the XP bonus goes off, people leave, so wtf are you going on about? XP bonus needs to stay in forever so we can get YT and have dragon paxels for the scrublets.'

That'd be fantastic if it were true, but unfortunately, it's not. Last time we turned up the XP modifier on red, there was an enormous population spike. XP on red went from being a scalable bonus from 1-60, to having the scalable bonus AND a 2.0 modifier. Suddenly, people were gaining levels faster than they could get the money to buy their spells, pixels were raining from the sky, and scrub on scrub YT was through the roof. Perfect. That proves the theory that high XP modifier = people.

Except it doesn't, because we left the XP bonus on, and guess what? The overwhelming majority left the server within a month. It didn't take long for the population to once again sink back into the sub-100 level. Ignoring 'server toxic' as a reason why someone would leave, after talking with a large number of people who left the server we can conclude there are a couple reasons for this:

People hit the max level range too quickly (52-60). Someone who rockets their way to 52 and only has a few PvP fights along the way suddenly being roflstomped by a level 60 who's entire life goal is to kill people in everquest is not a good thing. Some will say that it's a good lesson in how to PvP, but I'd strongly disagree. It's like flying a model airplane a couple times, and then being thrown into the cockpit of a 747 and being told 'hey, its np, you'll figure it out. sucker.' Fortunately on this server we have some experienced pilots who take these people under their wings and teach them the basics, but I'd argue these are fundamental skills and knowledge that should be learned long before someone reaches the train pain that is 52-60.

Furthermore, hitting the max level range too quickly kills one of the things that makes EQ PvP so great. What was your first experience with PvP in EQ? Fighting some elven scum in Crushbone with a group of scrubs you just met? Running into a_random_druid001 in the karanas and being unsure of weather or not he was going to kite your ass to death while you tried to kill aviaks? Finding a twink destroying everyone in unrest, and banding together with your fellows nublets to take down this fungus covered monster?

These are the experiences that form bonds and keep players coming back for more, and having a ridiculous XP modifier essentially nullifies their presence on Red 99. Being thrown immediately into the teamspeak/vent-srs-fckin-bsns-and-dont-u-fcking-dare-fckup-or-we'll-fck-your-life-and-everyone-will-shame-you-forever trakanonspawn pvp 2 weeks into rolling on the server does not retain players. While this is definitely fun, I imagine the people who really want to be in that environment on this server are already in it. Not only that, but the people who DO want to be in that environment will be playing on the server longer, simply because it will take longer for them to get there.

With the XP modifier so high, people are unable to form strong bonds to their compatriots, or fierce rivalries with their competitors. These are what keep people playing on the server, not YT, ridiculous OOC messages, or paxels. 'BUT THERE ARE NO GROUPS ON RED 99!' I hear you say, in an austrian accent, because in my head you sound like Arnold Schwarzenager, 'With that rock'em sock'em XP pack, the server will prosper!'

You're right, there are no groups on Red 99 when leveling up. Why would there be? Everyone hits 52 in less than a month, and the ones who don't are the melees who are stuck solo'ing light blues. There is 0 reason to group if you're a class who can even remotely solo, and if you are a class that can solo, you're going to hit 52 in no time. Why would you group with lowbiewarrior001 when he's just going to slow you down? You won't, because the XP bonus is so high you can just go solo pretty much anywhere and level up with no issue. There's no reason to group in a dungeon with an XP modifier, because who cares? There's no reason to form a group and take risks. And if you DO decide to group with lowbiewarrior001, if you play a few hours a day more than the next guy, you're going to outlevel him in less than a week and no longer be able to group. He'd better play at your neckbeard level or gtfo, because once you're past him he can kiss his XP goodbye.

By the time they hit the max level range, they have 0 attachment to their character, 0 attachment to this server, and 0 attachment to any other player. There are some who find one or more of these things along the way, but they are clearly few and far between. Even those who do find something max out with ease, get into red dawn/azrael -> get cockblocked by nihilum, or get into nihilum - > farm pixels uncontested with no pvp, or they do their own thing (get pvp'd by everyone) and then they quit because that's all fucking stupid, and with minimal attachment/effort in their character, why stay? There is no journey, there are no upper guk dungeon crawls constantly looking over your shoulder to see if that lvl 22 is going to gank your group, there are no lvl 17's battling in oasis, there isn't a rivalry that spans 40+ levels and countless hours between someone who got you at 5% when you had ALMOST killed that rare spawn. It destroys everything EQ PvP is supposed to be about and replaces it wiith lvl 60 callofdutyquest.

The XP modifier was a short term solution that caused a long term problem. For anyone taking a close look at the reasons why new people quit, this is glaringly obvious. The number of people who bail prior to 52 greatly outweighs the number of people who bail post 52, and even that number is pretty high. The things that make your average EQ player (read: not you vztz kids) stick around on a server (and hence, give you vztz kids people to kill) are completely eliminated with a high XP bonus.

So wtf does this essay mean?

XP on red definitely needs to be increased compared to blue. There's no question about that. But the modifier needs to be extensively changed from the way it is now. At most, the scaling XP bonus should be the only global modifier present. To supplement that, there should be a group XP modifier that would stack on top. This would slow leveling down as a whole (the goal of taking out global xp, yes, this is a good thing) and encourage grouping, even for solo classes. A group XP bonus is far preferable to a global modifier.

I'm not stupid. I know that initially this would hurt the population. Clearly some of you would leave (because you can't level your 5th alt fast enough, or something, because you're all 60 anyway), and others would quit when the forums/in-game chat exploded with 'BOX IS DYING, GET OUT WHILE YOU CAN!!' Some people who came here from blue because of how easy it is to solo would also /q and never return. But then when new players were actually able to find people to group with, and stay with those people, leveling, battling and dying together, the population would slowly start to increase. These people will be far more invested in their characters by level 30 than they would be now at level 60, and their experiences will keep them playing on the server. This would be a cumulative snowball effect on the population that has long lasting positive implications on the success of the server as a whole, as opposed to the 'hotfix' of a massive xp bonus like we have now.

It's got to get worse before it gets better, but make no mistake, this is something that is absolutely needed here on Red 99.

tl;dr? there isn't one. if you didnt read this then go cry in rnf about how we're killing the server while you shit up the forums on a daily basis. i'm sure your tears are encouraging people to roll here.

<3,
deru

inb4 staff dumb, killing the box, NIHILUMRAWRGH, etc
and
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