New Server Announced

[stormlord]

Even though I'd rather sell my eq account on live (tried to), I might go back because the server I play on is being merged. It would be interesting to see what it's like to play on it now that more people are online.

I just get tired of doing anything for more than a month or two. My time on live is pretty much off and on, depending on my interest levels. But I have to be honest and say this merging is interesting.

But I have to agree with a lot of posts here. Live is mediocre for a p2p. To give an example, they recently held a poll about which feature developers should work on. There were several options. The option that got the most votes was to work on increasing the number of slots in bags. I didn't vote for that, but apparently a lot of people did. The problem I have with it is that a good p2p mmorpg would have done all of them, not just one. The game is so messy and out of date. I have a lot of memories there, but it won't last forever. What does???

[fastboy21]

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

they will never have classic eq like we have it here on emu cause they would need a separate patcher and this will NEVER happen.

even with a bare little creativity I can think of several very simple solutions to getting around this problem.

I don't see at all why you think this (of all things) would be the biggest stumbling block...very easy to get around/fix for them.

***
The big advantage of playing on live is that you have a contractual relationship with the game.

I trust the devs here, but there is nothing that would stop them from just pulling the plug tomorrow. Don't get me wrong, I don't think that they would ever do that. What if Rogean and Nilbog got hit by a bus? What if one of their family members got sick and they couldn't spend any time working on the server?

Again, I don't doubt the devs here at all, but I can't help but feel just a bit more secure with a paid team to secure the game. I really hope the devs don't take this as a knock against them, because it really isn't. What they do is incredible, and their passion for EQ is so pure that they do it for simple love of the game, and THAT is the biggest reason to play here instead of on live.

In the end, there are good reasons to stay and go if live offered a server that was progression/classic/time locked/etc...
My opinion is that lots would stay here, but we would see a noticeable drop in population to the order of 25% to 50% on the day that live opens a progression server...followed by a return of about half of those who left over the next weeks.

[Bumamgar]

There is no contractual relationship with the game on live. SOE could shut down the servers tomorrow if they felt that it was profitable to do so.

Yes, there are fewer 'key man dependencies' on live. SOE is large enough that a single person getting sick or hit by a bus won't mean the end of EQ Live, but other than a 10 year track record, there's nothing to guarantee that Live will continue to exist from day to day. In fact, server mergers indicate that Live is getting closer and closer to decommissioning.

[Branaddar]

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

The option that got the most votes was to work on increasing the number of slots in bags.

Are you serious? Not the whole "rework the Bazaar so we don't have to sit there afk selling crap all the time"? That was the first choice for me hands down. The rest were just fluff.

[stormlord]

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

Are you serious? Not the whole "rework the Bazaar so we don't have to sit there afk selling crap all the time"? That was the first choice for me hands down. The rest were just fluff.

At the time, I ordered them according to what I liked most. Offline selling was one of my top 3 picks, but I eventually chose houses because I like fluff. Another one of them that I really liked was the player designed dungeons feature. I think that it would have been awesome for the inner developer in all of us.

But more slots in bags? Geez, why not just allow us to use clickies in bags or something? Besides, I've never had to worry about bag space. I don't know what people are complaining about. Maybe it's the people who do tradeskills? It just seemed to me that bag space was part of the design. We could have 5 slots per bag and it would work if things were organized in that manner. If they make new content or new items with 10 slots in mind, there's no reason 10 slots can't work unless developers have failed their design parameters. If players want more space so desperately, it's because the developers have failed to design the game for 10 slots.

More bag slots reminds me of adding another currency, (example: dwerium):
1 dwerium = 10 platinum
1 platinum = 10 gold
1 gold = 10 silver
1 silver = 10 copper

What would be the point of that? If you design the game for platinum being the highest form of currency, there's no reason it can't work. Making dwerium the new highest currency isn't adding anything new to the game. Fluff, as you call it, it's something new! That could have made this game more fresh. Instead, somehow, people voted for one of the most boring and ineffective options on the list (imho).

The game could be designed around a single currency, like gold, for christs sake.

Let me say this again. Houses and offline trading and player designed dungeons are FEATURES. More bag space is not going to change how this game plays in any appreciable way that I can think of. Why? Because all you're doing is increasing the ceiling, but everything will adjust to the new ceiling, including whatever the developers create, so the whole feel of the game will remain unchanged. I get a worry that players are like the drug addict asking for more drug. But once the drug addict gets accustomed to the increased dosage, they'll readjust and then want more. Nothing about how the game plays is changed. It's taller, but the same damn shape.

I think this is what happens when you let the mechanic program your software instead of the programmer. The first mistake was the developers not being more clear about each option.

I would have ordered it like this:

Poll #1:
1) Increased bag space
2) New player models (higher polygon counts)
3) Revamp older zones (higher polygon counts)

Poll #2:
1) Offline Trading
2) Houses
3) Custom guilds and guild ranking features
4) Player designed dungeons

I would have allowed them to vote on both and the highest picks would be chosen. So two of the listed changes would be implemented. I tried to separate them according to the type of change.

[Branaddar]

Okay, yeah, player housing is kinda neat. I'd forgotten that was an option.

I guess I dismissed a lot of the options because it seemed like "let's make it more like EQ2" to me. Housing, guild rankings, houses, improved models and zones... I can play EQ2 if I want those.

To me, revamping the bazaar would be a huge benefit to the game. I'm not knocking some of the fluffier choices, but the bazaar needs some work. Right now it favours multi-accounters and gold farmers. Us lonely one-accounters can only sell while we're not playing.

But yeah, totally agree on your other points.

[fastboy21]

There most certainly IS a contractual relationship between the player and SOE when a player plays on live. You are correct that them keeping the game running is NOT guaranteed...but that is not what I was talking about when I said a contractual relationship exists.

Originally Posted by fastboy21 [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

even with a bare little creativity I can think of several very simple solutions to getting around this problem.

I don't see at all why you think this (of all things) would be the biggest stumbling block...very easy to get around/fix for them.

***
The big advantage of playing on live is that you have a contractual relationship with the game.

I trust the devs here, but there is nothing that would stop them from just pulling the plug tomorrow. Don't get me wrong, I don't think that they would ever do that. What if Rogean and Nilbog got hit by a bus? What if one of their family members got sick and they couldn't spend any time working on the server?

Again, I don't doubt the devs here at all, but I can't help but feel just a bit more secure with a paid team to secure the game. I really hope the devs don't take this as a knock against them, because it really isn't. What they do is incredible, and their passion for EQ is so pure that they do it for simple love of the game, and THAT is the biggest reason to play here instead of on live.

In the end, there are good reasons to stay and go if live offered a server that was progression/classic/time locked/etc...
My opinion is that lots would stay here, but we would see a noticeable drop in population to the order of 25% to 50% on the day that live opens a progression server...followed by a return of about half of those who left over the next weeks.

[L2Phantom]

Update to this, help name the new server:

http://forums.station.sony.com/eq/po...opic_id=165329

[BuzWeaver]

Any news on the new additional bag space?

[frefaln]

There is no way in hell I'm playing on a formal "progression" server, for all it proves is that SoE's unable to learn from its own mistakes. However, there might be a plus side in that it might weed out the worst of the instant-gratification crowd on P99. I'm okay with losing a few from that crowd, seems the P99 population is still steady and rising.