Open Invitation

[Heebo]

I'd like to reach out to the pals I made while I played on this server. I know some of you are disillusioned by the raid scene and rules put in place to keep the competition "fair". In short, it's been a disaster.

This server is comprised of way to many high end raiders participating in an arms race. People are pushing the envelope of what's acceptable and creating an amazing razor's edge of competition. Unfortunately, this is often at the expense of new rules being created to stifle creativity and encourage more time invested into preparing for raids, tracking, and logging in instantly at any hour of the day.

At this point, it's pretty clear. You're not playing a game anymore. Some of the most fun I've had were the rush of those old PD races. It was exhilarating, but it came at the cost of sitting at your chair with your hand hovering on your keyboard for up to 16 hours at a time. This just seems insane to me now.

I left this server just over a year ago to start fresh on red. I joined at a time when cross server transfers were legal but I didn't really utilize them. I started fresh on a server without any gear on a class I've never played before (Necromancer) and without any clue how to PvP.

It was more rewarding than I can even express. Seeing the game in a whole new way without the stress of petition quest was amazing.

I joined a small guild and we leveled up quickly. I was level 35 before I even upgraded my starter level 1 robe. Yes, we came across fungi twinks. Yes, they killed a few of us but the xp rate was so accelerated that you never had to worry about the same twink for more than a day before you had leveled beyond their range (+ or - 4 levels).

I had a blast. Level 30 pvp was just as thrilling as any PD race. I died. I learned. I made more friends with the people fighting me than any random groups on blue. I felt like I did playing eq for the first time 15 years ago. I just saw PvP as a method to resolve disputes without GMs. A red friend who came from blue said, "it's like trying to describe what sex is like to someone whose never had it."

I'm not going to say it's perfect but I will say it's nothing like the toxic community these forums make it out to be. It's the same as blue - there's good and bad but overwhelmingly more good people. The absence of variance or insane raid rules more than makes up for a handful of Crushbone griefers.

If a group of people were to come from blue and form up on red, you would be surprised at how easily you could establish a foothold on the raid scene. I know you guys have seen this thread a thousand times in a thousand ways but being able to raid at set times 3 hours a night, 4 nights a week is something that everyone should be able to do in velious, even without joining the top guild. Here's a writeup from Gongshow in empire on the topic:

Sleepless in Norrath: Thoughts on Blue, Red, Competition and more.
Posted by Admin on February 9, 2016
Posted in: Uncategorized.
(Also a shameless plug for our great server!)

Hi.

Let me preface this by saying that this is in no way a troll, or an attempt to slander our Blue brothers. What I want this to be is a spark. A catalyst that ignites a more intelligent discussion on the age old debate: Blue vs. Red.

Why now? The answer is obvious. The Sleeper is now awake on Blue. The community is at each other’s throats. Guild suspensions are rampant. Red stands to offer everyone a new way of life. One that is free from the constraints of insane rules, 16 hour variance windows, and a primal-less and Warder-less future. That’s right – I want those of you who are jaded and confused to look to Red. Start fresh. Control your own destiny. Play EverQuest how it was meant to be played.

UNDERSTANDING RED

The biggest roadblock to the Red server has always been misunderstanding. Red is played up to be a toxic server full of trash talking and training and griefing. It is viewed as a prison of sorts, to “keep those players off of Blue.” This could not be further from the truth. Sure, you will find your share of griefers and trash talking, but overall, the server is in a great place.

The rules on Blue and the rules on Red are night and day. Blue has variance. Red does not. Blue has FTE. Red does not. Blue has convoluted raid rules that require a law degree to understand. Red does not.

What does this mean in terms of real gameplay?

Variance: On Blue, guilds need to be ready within a 16 hour window to engage their raid targets. This generally requires a raid force on standby, a person ducking Call of the Hero for up to 15+ hours, and a person waiting to spam a Mallet on a mob. Often times this is done with the help of autofire programs. On Red, there is no variance. The mob spawns exactly 3, 5, 7 days from when it was killed. Everyone knows the timers. You can show up and prepare however you see fit, and the winner gets the dragon. No bullshit.

First to Engage: On Blue, once a guild is in position, the FTE is the deciding factor on who gets to kill the dragon. On Red, you claim your dragons by winning the PVP and being ready for the spawn. No bullshit.

Raid rules: On Blue, Variance and FTE and numerous other factors including “stalling”, training, not having sufficient forces on FTE, camping in the wrong part of the zone for a mob, etc. can affect whether or not you actually get to keep the loot from the dragon you just killed, or whether your guild will be suspended from raiding for a week. On Red, the only thing stopping you from another dragon is your enemy. No bullshit.

Notice the common theme: No bullshit. Red offers you the ability to play EverQuest and take matters into your own hands without asinine rules and hoops to jump through. You secure the zone, you take your targets, and you leave. No bullshit.

THE RAID SCENE

Empire currently reigns supreme, and there is no end in sight. We make no bones about that. To be blunt, the uphill battle for a number 2 to overthrow Empire at this point, is extremely steep. That being said, number 2 is currently a mixture of Friends and Casual Scum (and sometimes both), though neither have the leadership or solid reputation to make big enough waves. This is where Blue could come into play.

With a solid game plan and some thick skin, a crew of 150 players from Blue could come over and be level 60 in a month, work on epics and Growth gear, Kunark targets, weaker Velious targets, etc. and be well ingrained into the raid scene within 3 months tops. All it requires is some level headed leadership and willingness to succeed, two things the Red server guilds outside of Empire severely lack.

LEAVING BLUE BEHIND

If you are worried about starting over, realize that outside of the few legacy items, everything can be obtained on Red. The XP rates are faster, more camps are open, and even if they aren’t – you have the ability to literally take ANY camp that you want, at ANY time. Pretty great right?

Another issue that is always a hot topic is the population. Sure, Red is never going to be as dense as Blue. It never was on Live, it never will be here. That being said, do not let the numbers fool you. On average, say Blue has 1000 players online. Red has 250. How many of those players on Blue are AFK, or sitting in EC spamming sales? 250-300? How many are just logging on and chatting in /gu, or sitting in a zone not really “playing” EQ? Another 100? How many are boxing? Subtract some of the bullshit, and you are left with maybe 600-700 people actively engaged in EverQuest. On Red, everyone is ALWAYS actively engaged because you can’t AFK. If you log into Red, you need to be ready to fight at any given time. The population difference isn’t as bad as it seems at a glance, and is certainly nothing to worry about.

Lastly, the grief. You have our word that we will not grief or disrupt your raids, just as we did not grief TMO’s when they came to Red. Sure, we may show up and fight you, probably kill you here and there, but we will always rez you up and allow you to continue your raid, possibly even help you with it. We will also help fend off “real” grief from the other guilds on the server until you are comfortable standing on your own. There are plenty of mobs for the taking here due to the nature of our schedule and the incompetence of current competition – come seize the opportunity.

DISCLAIMER: For those that are appalled at the ability to kill other players in game, let us remind you and reassure you: EverQuest is a PVE game first and foremost. It always has been, and always will be. The Red server is still PVE-centric. It’s not “Counter Strike with Elves” – it’s just EverQuest. EverQuest that gives you the opportunity to take matters into your own hands and resolve disputes without the need for GM intervention and threads dedicated to guild suspensions.

TL[You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]R

Come to Red.

There is no better time than right now. Talk it over with your friends and your guild(s) and take the plunge. I guarantee once you get your footing, you will never look back – just ask any of the many Blue to Red converts that make up the Red server today.

Hope to see some of you in the future.

Project 1999 Red: No bullshit. Just EverQuest.

If you're interested in starting on red please shoot me a PM. I can help out with some starter weapons or plat for spells.

Thanks for reading,

Heebo/Yibz

[indiscriminate_hater]

tldr

[Ella`Ella]

Cringe

[arsenalpow]

This all made sense, and I'm not even trying to troll here, but let's assume an entire blue guild moved to red, and let's even use BDA as the example (we're talking a 150 person casual roster, 40-50 usually for a scheduled raid) - what's to stop Empire from just mollywhopping them?

Empire is going to have a MASSIVE advantage in gear, in numbers, and in pvp experience. If the allure of red is that it's this place to pvp sometimes and raid casually what's the difference between what BDA is doing right now on blue versus attempting to crack the very high end content on red and getting summarily crushed? I could maybe see something like this working if /movelog was a thing, but I can't see any entire guild moving from blue and grinding through levels and gear only to know that a full NToV/ST geared army of Unsullied awaits.

[Pokesan]

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

"it's like trying to describe what sex is like to someone whose never had it."

[Ella`Ella]

But on the real, Red IS infinitely better than this sewer.

[iruinedyourday]

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

But on the real, Red IS infinitely better than this sewer.

[iruinedyourday]

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

This all made sense, and I'm not even trying to troll here, but let's assume an entire blue guild moved to red, and let's even use BDA as the example (we're talking a 150 person casual roster, 40-50 usually for a scheduled raid) - what's to stop Empire from just mollywhopping them?

Empire is going to have a MASSIVE advantage in gear, in numbers, and in pvp experience. If the allure of red is that it's this place to pvp sometimes and raid casually what's the difference between what BDA is doing right now on blue versus attempting to crack the very high end content on red and getting summarily crushed? I could maybe see something like this working if /movelog was a thing, but I can't see any entire guild moving from blue and grinding through levels and gear only to know that a full NToV/ST geared army of Unsullied awaits.

Id be totally fine with people /movelog but maybe we'll just haev to wait till RE99 lets you choose which server to send your alt to when it resets.

I mean we've been playing the long con here, as in 5 years of kunark... whos to say we wont have 15 of vel!

[ridiculousmoose]

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

you have the ability to literally take ANY camp that you want, at ANY time. Pretty great right?

Got a good laugh about this part... yes and at ANY time anyone can just come right in with their better gear and take ANY camp from you! Sounds like so much fun!

Stopped reading... it's just your bullshit utopian view of eq pvp to try and recruit. There is a reason the server has so little population.

[arsenalpow]

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

Id be totally fine with people /movelog but maybe we'll just haev to wait till RE99 lets you choose which server to send your alt to when it resets.

I mean we've been playing the long con here, as in 5 years of kunark... whos to say we wont have 15 of vel!

I honestly believe that movelog is the only legitimate option to get people on red. Blue players don want to start from scratch, especially when they have resources on the blue server to twink an alt or play with all their blue friends. Even PvP is the goal why isn't some sort of battle server available? You can move a copy of your blue or red toon into the battle server and have some fun. Crushbone battle arena was a fun distraction, same kinda concept would work.