Question Regarding Further Expansions

[Crescens]

Disclaimer: I love P99 and I love most of what the devs are doing and this thead is by no means ment to troll but rather start a healthy discussion.

Granted I already know the answer to my question but what I am seeking is clarification. The question for me is why does project1999 consider up through velious classic everquest. Personally I would like to see the game go atleast 1 more expansion in.

The reason for posting this topic is because during the livestream the guys mentioned the possibility of creating new content in the spirit of classic EQ. Personally, this idea feels like it is more than any other idea breaking the servers classic rules. I see people ask for things like completing quest lines that "should" have been completed during the era they appeared in, I.E all the Iksar epics, and the answer always is that was not classic. That does not mean those things where not suppose to be classic though.

The other issue with this for me is why would you choose to create your own content over progressing the game onto the next expansion. This is the part I really would like to hear more about personally. I understand if Luclin killed the game for the devs and is not what they are wanting but for me at least, Luclin is still one of the main expansions I spent the majority of everquest in and even though I hated the new graphics I still enjoyed the expansion and what it brought. P99 is about reliving my past mmo nostalgia all the while playing the great game that EQ was.

What I really would like to see come out of this discussion is some good insight into why Luclin goes against what P99 is trying to do. What are the issues with bringing it out, even on say a new server? The devs in the livestream said no cats on the moon, and that statement I feel undercuts all the cool stuff Luclin brought with it. AAs where and are one of the best idea's in all MMOs in my opinion and would hate to see those and many more of the features from Luclin never come to the amazing P99 community.

Once again I want to say I do appreciate and love all that the P99 staff have done so far and will be playing P99 for years to come, regardless if I do not get to experience further expansions through them.

[maskedmelon]

There are several reasons SoL is a departure from Classic Everquest:

1. Setting - the game changes from adventures in slaying dragons and orcs to battling aliens in outer space.
2. Community - introduction of the nexus/bazaar was the beginning of unraveling of the Classic Everquest community. The world expansion also furthers dilution of the player population.
3. Mechanics - the alternate advancement system was a radical departure from original EQ game design. While it has it's merits, it would ultimate trivialize a vast amount of content on a locked server like this one.

SoL was not classic Everquest. It was a departure from it. Some people do not consider Velious or Kunark classic for their roles (albeit to a much lesser extent) in some of the above (expanded world, changed mechanics, etc.), but most just view the tweaks in those expansions as a fleshing out of the original design.

[Grizzler]

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

There are several reasons SoL is a departure from Classic Everquest:

1. Setting - the game changes from adventures in slaying dragons and orcs to battling aliens in outer space.
2. Community - introduction of the nexus/bazaar was the beginning of unraveling of the Classic Everquest community. The world expansion also furthers dilution of the player population.
3. Mechanics - the alternate advancement system was a radical departure from original EQ game design. While it has it's merits, it would ultimate trivialize a vast amount of content on a locked server like this one.

SoL was not classic Everquest. It was a departure from it. Some people do not consider Velious or Kunark classic for their roles (albeit to a much lesser extent) in some of the above (expanded world, changed mechanics, etc.), but most just view the tweaks in those expansions as a fleshing out of the original design.

My one question would then be, how is custom content considered classic then? I understand in the stream they said, "It would have to stay in the realm of classic EQ" but that statement is completely subjective. I enjoy the current servers as they are and am fine with velious but as the devil's advocate, I'm not sure how you can say custom content is more classic EQ than SoL.

[Crescens]

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

My one question would then be, how is custom content considered classic then? I understand in the stream they said, "It would have to stay in the realm of classic EQ" but that statement is completely subjective. I enjoy the current servers as they are and am fine with velious but as the devil's advocate, I'm not sure how you can say custom content is more classic EQ than SoL.

This is basically my point entirely. However you mentioned in 3 that AAs would trivialize content and that just is not true imo(realize once people are velious gears kunark is way easier). There is no level cap increase. The bazaar does remove the use of EC tunnel but in a good way where people do not have to dedicate hours of time they could be playing to shouting to sell items, which they can still do in the bazaar.

The aliens on the moon comment is still kind of childish i think. I mean you end up fighting the shissar which are big in iksar lore, so its not they completely made up "new" monsters(aliens) and put them on the moon. I feel like if Luclin was just sold as a different content and people where never told it was the moon, more people would like it. Just seems like a very arbitrary reason to dislike something.

[maskedmelon]

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

My one question would then be, how is custom content considered classic then? I understand in the stream they said, "It would have to stay in the realm of classic EQ" but that statement is completely subjective. I enjoy the current servers as they are and am fine with velious but as the devil's advocate, I'm not sure how you can say custom content is more classic EQ than SoL.

I haven't listened to the stream, but I would agreed that custom content is obviously not classic. It could be in 'the spirit' of classic though by staying true to the genre and encouraging player interaction. Designing within those to parameters alone would yield custom content more true to or in the spirit of Classic than Luclin.

[Grizzler]

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

I haven't listened to the stream, but I would agreed that custom content is obviously not classic. It could be in 'the spirit' of classic though by staying true to the genre and encouraging player interaction. Designing within those to parameters alone would yield custom content more true to or in the spirit of Classic than Luclin.

I definitely see where your coming from in this respect but again it's all in the eye of the beholder what is and isn't classic EQ. It's the devs server in the end and they can do what they want with it but I feel that SoL would be more Classic EQ than someones attempt at quest/boss/zone creation just because SoL was actually in the game whether some folks feel it "watered" down the experience or not is irrelevant.

Not to mention, if the devs are able to make custom content what's stopping them from taking out certain items of SoL like the bazaar or char models or whatever?

[Ravager]

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

My one question would then be, how is custom content considered classic then? I understand in the stream they said, "It would have to stay in the realm of classic EQ" but that statement is completely subjective. I enjoy the current servers as they are and am fine with velious but as the devil's advocate, I'm not sure how you can say custom content is more classic EQ than SoL.

My ideal custom server would have no Kunark, no Velious. Classic Zones only with the 3 original Planes. Include Paineel, The Hole.

Level cap stays at 50.

The custom content would be:

-More class specific quests. All of the quest rewards scaled to the difficulty of the quest.
-Further distinction between class roles in group/raid scenarios so that everyone has something unique to offer
-Nerf all things that allow one class to perform duties of another class that they wouldn't otherwise be able to on their own (i.e. Soulfire)
-Make that door in The Hole go someplace.
-Leviathan and Mayong Mistmoore as regular raid targets.
-Add a raid boss to every zone and city.
-Eliminate Zone Experience Modifiers
-Stock all zones and dungeons with more unique loot.
-Tweak all tradeskills to make them more relevant to the game (whether required for quests or to just make the items made more worthwhile)

Basically I'd just completely overhaul the classic content, but maintain the classic game mechanics.

[L4m3st0n3]

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

My one question would then be, how is custom content considered classic then? I understand in the stream they said, "It would have to stay in the realm of classic EQ" but that statement is completely subjective. I enjoy the current servers as they are and am fine with velious but as the devil's advocate, I'm not sure how you can say custom content is more classic EQ than SoL.

P99Devs stated that it would be classic in a way that it would not make current content trivial. If SoL comes out, it makes the 1st 3 expansions almost worthless and like others have said, takes away from the community of the game, AKA the MMO experience. Their custom content ideas related to a quest/npcs added and possibly/hopefully some zone additions just to add on to what is already in-game.

Also, the Luclin models suck, and I'm pretty sure the devs think so too and can't bare to look at them as I cannot either. Probably the main reason.

[Synthlol]

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

My one question would then be, how is custom content considered classic then? I understand in the stream they said, "It would have to stay in the realm of classic EQ" but that statement is completely subjective. I enjoy the current servers as they are and am fine with velious but as the devil's advocate, I'm not sure how you can say custom content is more classic EQ than SoL.

You can say custom content is more classic than SoL if it

1. Doesn't radically change the setting of the game.
2. Doesn't unravel the way the community interacts with itself/
3. Doesn't trivialize most of the content already available on the server.

It doesn't matter that these things are subjective, because this is not a democracy. Get it together, man.

[Grizzler]

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

You can say custom content is more classic than SoL if it

1. Doesn't radically change the setting of the game.
2. Doesn't unravel the way the community interacts with itself/
3. Doesn't trivialize most of the content already available on the server.

It doesn't matter that these things are subjective, because this is not a democracy. Get it together, man.

I realize this isn't a democracy and have said as much in my previous posts. Again this is more to find out what the reasoning for feeling that something that was implemented into the game at one time or another isn't as good as something original made by devs that never worked for the EQ franchise.

As you and others have listed, I have gotten the answer to my question.

*Edit* - Although I still think that a "custom content" addition that was reworked zones from other EQ expansions not implemented would be a great way of doing custom content. However, another poster mentioned that the devs had said that it would be harder to do that than just reworking current zones or creating completely original content.