Is P99 today a better game of than EQ live in 2001 ?

[Issar]

For me, P99 is better. Six plus years since launch and P99 is more EverQuest than EQ was after six years past it's launch. That being said, I loved the game still in 2001, but the space cat expansion at the end of the year definitely didn't sit right with me. I didn't hate it, but the game never felt the same. When the Green 99 server launches, I would expect that a lot of us will be excited to start playing from scratch with everyone else. Ask the question after that and we will likely see different responses.

[Khaleesi]

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

Lots of great points here both pro and con. P1999 is amazing in many ways as it brings us back to what EQ live used to be like. But I think EQ Live was better. Here are some my reasons:

• Rigid interpretation of what constitutes classic EQ means we are frozen at Velious
  
• Limited meaningful admin and dev dialogue with the playerbase
  
• High level farmers camping named mobs in every zone which has created mudflation that has ruined the "classic EQ" experience as most newbies are twinked to the hilt
  
• Powerleveling is everywhere
  
• Bard swarm kiting
  
• Except for once a year on Halloween, no GM and Guide quests/events on P1999
  
• Not enough content for level 60 players
  

And too much time between now and the original EQ, has led to excessive knowledge gathering and therefore manipulation of content before it even launched (e.g. the perfect strategies practiced on test servers and other EMU locations).

The fact that Rampage took down the warders only to awake a mob that will never be beaten, showed such disregard and arrogance that it is the symbolic nail in the coffin for this server.
It was something akin to the hording of items approach by TMO, yet more greedy and definitive.

If you separated the raid scene from the rest of the server, with considerably less item saturation, power levelling, whatever the fu** that weak Chardok nonsense is and returned to something more organic, then we'd be where we should - a place for aged EverQuest veterans to relive nostaligia's good parts, with little of the bad.

Instead we ended up with a festering cesspool for EverQuest veterans to relive nostaligia's bad parts.

Rogean should release the source code, close the server and let other people go off and make their own.

[Wowbagger]

I have a soft spot in my heart for both - and for conflicting reasons...

P99's low population is fantastic and frustrating.
EQ circa 2001's high population was fantastic and frustrating.

The fascination, exploration, and "how do we split this camp?" mechanics, for example, which are second nature, old hat, and nostalgia now... were platforms for fantastic nights of joyous failure among friends/guildies back then. Can't be recreated... and I can't really compare the two without too many caveats to render the comparison moot.

I love 'em both.

/fence
/sit

[stormlord]

Live was better because we didn't know everything yet. There was so much unknown. Everything was new.

The mudflation is probably worse on p1999 too. (I see another poster mentioned this.)

I do like the gameplay and still like it. I look for it in games/MMOs I play. Not all of it, but a lot of it.

Things like:
* no in-game radar
* first-person 3d
* limited maps (no gps)
* aggro trains (possible at least)
* maze-like dungeons (qeynos sewers and guk come to mind)
* unique items (not spreadsheet items) with meaningful choices about what you use
* weight encumbrance and inventory limits
* death penalty
* sandboxxy progression--not a obvious/forced path to push everybody into certain places
* classes which're different (and not just copy/pasted versions of each other)
* open world/non-instanced
* high-level KOS mobs sometimes appearing in lower level areas

There're other things and sometimes I want particular things. That's just a general list.

[cormag]

the min/maxing, twinking, farming, selling of epics, etc. make it a completely different animal

theres better things about it, like bug fixes and stuff and theres worse things about it, mostly player/community related

[Mortiis]

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

P99 all the way. This could be because that as a person I'm more intelligent, more skilled, and a better gamer than I was that long ago, because my characters have advanced in gear and level much faster this go around. 'Knowing' everything hasn't hindered me too much because with this increase in capability has come with a different way to handle content. Plus there is enough content that the leveling path doesn't need to be the same way twice. I haven't played in the LOIO or Frontier Mountains ever on P99 because I played them to death on live when they were brand new...but places like Guk or Kaesora lie available, and with deeper pockets, more toys to use, and being better at the game, I can do more than I ever could before.

I think a lot of the people who play P99 are older, usually from the original series, and more diehard, since they could have gone to easier MMOs like many people a long time ago.

This.
I agree some of the mystery is gone. However, there are still places I haven't seen and experienced yet. EQ is vast and I think this is the pace the original needed to see and do everything you wanted to. Like mentioned earlier some people were still working on their mains when PoP came out. You can create several different characters now with a complete different experience if you choose to. I also enjoy p99 with current technology, period.
I'm not as lost this time around. One stop shopping on the wiki, as opposed to checking three different sites for a common denominator from the comment section.

There are tons of valid points to be made between the experiences of 2001 and p99. Overall, I believe P99 wins.

[Nune]

Here's a metaphor:

EQ was like a first love. I thought about it every day, i wanted it every day, I blew things off to spend time with it I shouldnt have, but I was really young and didnt really understand what I was doing. We got older together, grew together, made friendships with other people that still last to this day. But then EQ changed (Luclin for me), and even though it was still the EQ I loved, it was different now. My love for it kind of grew apart and eventually it came to an end. So, P99 is like a time machine that lets me go date my first love again. I know what I did wrong, I know the best and worst aspects, I know what to focus on and what to avoid. But it could never be the same, just highly nostalgic.

P99 is way more noob friendly anyways. Kunark was out forever so gear is 1000x more easily accessible and pennies on the dollar compared to live. There's a lot less devious characters which is a huge pro for P99. Getting scammed, people using bugs to con you, people "lagging out" while transferring for you kind of problems occur waaaaaay less here than on live. p99, however, def has a lot more "burned out on the game but log in everyday" type crowd. The Raiding scene has been malicious, though better lately. I remember it being very competitive on live also, but it seemed to have more sportsmanship. Even coming from Tallon Zek where you didnt sock a wall for 18 hours to kill a dragon, you showed up and fought the guild that mobilized first, there was respect among the competition. All in all, P99 is amazing and I'm grateful for the staff that has to put up with us and still deliver such a well executed product

[R Flair]

No contest, p99 is plagued with muflation making your achievements feel far less important than they were on live.

Would they fix this by offering separate servers that rotation thru expansion on a proper timeline, it would be a very different story.

[Angushjalmur]

Live was better because everything was new.

P99 hit the nostalgia button hard though.

[drktmplr12]

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

No 24 hour+ downtimes... p99 wins!

Weekly resets

EQ Live 2000 wins!