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New Progressive Server?Follow

#1 Mar 07 2015 at 12:37 PM Rating: Excellent
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So with the poll they have when you log in does that mean they are going to be adding a new progressive server? I have been away from EQ for a little while again and logged in briefly yesterday and seen the poll with proposed rule sets. Might be worth while to maybe start again on a fresh progressive server. I havent ventured to the regular EQ forums only because i like it here Smiley: smile
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#2 Mar 07 2015 at 6:44 PM Rating: Excellent
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Sure looks like they're considering it. With new owners you never know for sure what their ultimate goal is. Will depend on how the voting went, also.
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#3 Mar 07 2015 at 9:25 PM Rating: Good
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seems like everyone on the official forums are fighting over what version of server they want. i'm in the camp of slow n steady but the ones doing the actual unlocking will inevitably be competitive raid guilds, and if it's anything like how The Combine was, then it will be one guild way ahead of the pack...
whichever way the vote goes there will be endless howling about how unfair the vote was and how it needs to be redone in a way that results in a better outcome. i'm all for a new progression server, myself, even if i do seem a bit pessimistic about the whole process.
#4 Mar 07 2015 at 10:27 PM Rating: Good
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I voted for locking it after a certain expansion. However, my actual choice will depend on what expansion that will be. I think I would prefer either LDoN or OoW, but at the very least PoP. I think locking it at Velious like some want would take the fun out of it after a bit. Also if I wanted to just stop there I could just play P99 as Velious is close to release there. Conversely, going to far then at a certain point I may as well be playing on my main server. Those are just my opinions anyhow. I would be ok with a slower unlock, I just don't want the inevitable race to the end to unlock each expansion to shorten the time I can really enjoy the best expansions with a decent community and population in those eras.
#5 Mar 08 2015 at 4:43 AM Rating: Good
xlitin wrote:
seems like everyone on the official forums are fighting over what version of server they want.


Which is part of the problem. People have long disagreed on this kind of stuff, even to the point of exactly what "classic" means.

Throw into the fact that some people are starting to push ridiculous things like when the server reaches an expansion, instance the whole previous expansion for people that want to stay there, which is extremely time consuming, and flat out not going to happen, since the dev staff just took a major hit.
#7 Mar 17 2015 at 1:17 PM Rating: Excellent
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...if only I had got a "come try our new progression server" email from Daybreak (terrible name, but whatever) instead of multiples of the same cryptic "keep being a customer" (nearly a year since I unsubbed...) messages.

Anyways, I think the numbers (especially at launch) of the last round of Progression should give them the confidence to do the following:

1) Launch a new progression server (Prog #5 if my count is accurate) with 6 months on Original, 6 months on Kunark, 6 months on Velious (ack it's been so long I'm spelling stuff wrong) and then lock it. The Velious lock having a timeframe has a purpose... one of which is giving the "classic only" crowd the opportunity to prove it can maintain a viable population.

2) Once Prog #5 is locked you mirror it (other games have done this) and create Progression server #6. This hedges the bet, as #6 will do 6 months of Luclin, then 6 months of PoP [here it gets murky... LoY & LDoN together really equal the missing group non-raider content of PoP... pretty sure last progression they all unlocked at once]. And repeat the mirror process to create Prog #7.

-They could continue to lock and mirror (mirroring means your characters are copied over at that time. You don't like the move up you stay. You don't like new server you lost nothing going back).
-They could also allow one-way transfers UP the progression ladder for free (since you pay for prog this makes sense). So from Prog #5 to #6.
-If any locked server became unviable it would be merged up. As long as the # of paying subs makes keeping the server rolling worth it why should anyone not playing there care how big it is? With all dev work put into the last round of progression this is getting repaid for work you've already done. 2-3 progression servers (with only one moving up) arguably pays for the further development of the live game vs. the costs of running them. Al'Kabor lasted a long time on fumes... there is precedent.

I'm not alone in having no interest in paying for new EQ content, however I'd be a sucker for a progression server that didn't get raced past the eras I like playing in (I lose interest after Ldon... could maybe tolerate OoW/GoD lock but would rather not.).
#8 Mar 18 2015 at 3:15 AM Rating: Decent
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My question is will mercs work on this server.
#9 Mar 18 2015 at 6:15 AM Rating: Excellent
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Usually progression servers don't allow mercs until they "progress" to whatever xpac introduced mercs.

Which is Seeds of Destruction, btw...
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#10 Mar 18 2015 at 1:18 PM Rating: Good
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Fippy was interrupted by the now infamous SOE hack which led to a massive loss in server population before Kunark was unlocked.
#11 Mar 18 2015 at 2:20 PM Rating: Good
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Trappin wrote:
Fippy was interrupted by the now infamous SOE hack which led to a massive loss in server population before Kunark was unlocked.



I was on Vulak... once the speed racer guild unlocked Kunark we lost tons of players. One of the problems there was the voting criteria (level 30 wasn't it?) basically eliminated 90% of the casuals that were playing... I was on a lot and barely into the 40s when that first vote went down* After that vote the casual guild I was in went from 30-50+ on in primetime to ghostville. Most of them decided "well that was fun but it's going too fast to still enjoy". There was definitely anger/sadness towards the vote.


I'd have no issues with a racing to unlock progression server being offered in addition to a time-set one. I'd be okay with PVP (either for the racing --settle your raid camps the old-fashioned Zek server way --or just on it's own). EQ pvp works great in the era with droppable loot (no mercs) and ruleset that lets you loot stuff from your kills.

You also can't have the world too big for PVP... so probably a Luclin lock for a PVP server would give enough range of stuff to do, some faster travel, but lots of risk and in-world contact. They could even do something funny like buff the stats on the Twilight sea quest armor to make it desirable for PVP in that locked era.
#12 Mar 19 2015 at 12:46 PM Rating: Good
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Same thing happened to our guild. I joined a more active guild not long after the Kunark unlock and discovered they were already working epic raids and preparing for the Planes. Most of the members knew the planes like the back of their hand - and expected me (fresh return after leaving in 2002/3) - to perform like a twelve year hardcore raider. I didn't even have time to do the original Shaman plate armor quests before the unlock, and pretty much lost interest when the race to progress outstripped my commitment to login and press heal/canni button/res macro for three/four times a week.

Casual progression server or nothing at all for me at this point in my gaming life.


Edited, Mar 19th 2015 11:54am by Trappin
#13 Mar 19 2015 at 4:25 PM Rating: Good

There were still tons of people on both servers after the hack and after Kunark came out. There was a considerable drop, IMO, when Gates failed to pass the first time (throwing some question into argument that people want a server locked at PoP.) But even then, the population was healthy until sometime in Secrets, when my guild on Vulak fell apart, and we had to merge with the guild remaining, and several of us decided to re-roll on Fippy as well and I've been there for almost 2 years now, and there are still 2 guilds that are able to beat the current raid content.
#14 Mar 19 2015 at 6:59 PM Rating: Excellent
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amastropolo wrote:
People have long disagreed on this kind of stuff, even to the point of exactly what "classic" means.

You pretty much just have to call it "progression" and skip the expectations that you're going to give a 1999 style experience.
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#15 Mar 20 2015 at 1:37 PM Rating: Good
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Can you imagine playing with the original UI? It was hideous and outdated even by 1999 standards.

On second thought, I'm not even sure I'd come back and play - no matter the circumstance. I have the time, but feel guilty for wasting it by playing Everquest - when I could be wasting time reading some trashy novel or movie or washing my hair ( yeah, it's filthy!) or whatever.

Edited, Mar 20th 2015 12:48pm by Trappin
#16 Mar 20 2015 at 3:14 PM Rating: Excellent
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The closest I came to reacquiring the original 1999 experience was when I first logged into the-emu-whose-name-shall-not-be-named (<cough> P99 <cough>) and that was SUCH a blast. I still remember the combination of joy/anguish when my Halfling druid made the long run from Rivervale to East Freeport, took the boat to Butcherblock Mountains only to be killed right on the pier by an aqua goblin trained there by another player. I had to re-make that run, which seemed to take hours (altho it was probably more like 30 tense minutes) and this time I avoided the aqua goblin only to get swarmed by trash in Butcherblock, barely surviving to zone into Kaladim and get myself bound on Faydwer. NOTHING IN THE CURRENT GAME COMES CLOSE TO THIS EXPERIENCE! While I agree that the original 1999 game experience will never be back this was close and I pity any "modern" players who have never felt that kind of game-play thrill.

The original EQ was something special of which we will never again see its like...
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#17 Mar 20 2015 at 5:15 PM Rating: Excellent
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I ran from Erud to Firona Vie once, taking all the connecting boat rides, going to meet a friend in LoIO only to get killed by drachnids by the zone line. It was so much fun I still remember it to this day Smiley: um

I have a ton of fond memories of those days but I wouldn't want to stare at a spellbook until level 20 again or beg for a bind in town. And SOE (and presumably the new management) has previously shown themselves incapable of decoupling the modern game from its new spells, tradeskills, zone updates, etc. Think we'll ever see original Splitpaw again? No, not the level 12-25ish zone but the original level 1-10 zone?

Edited, Mar 20th 2015 6:16pm by Jophiel
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#18 Mar 20 2015 at 8:08 PM Rating: Decent
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I did the same but in the other direction on that same emu server. I made my typical wood elf rogue that has always been my main, eventually making the run across gfay, bb, the boat to freeport to hit up the ec tunnel just to check out that old school, selling out of bags experience. It was a little different for me since I came from Saryrn where our market was in North Freeport. Anyhow, while in EC, got an orc group, my first outside of gfay or crushbone and got blindsided by the roaming griffon. It was at that point I realized I forgot to bind in West Freeport. I agree Sippin, those types of experiences, sad to say, are forever lost to us as no current or future mmos will push the difficulty to the same level. It is just not how the genre works anymore since it has hit a broader market and too much pressure for instant gratification, easy rewards, easy travel, etc. Sadly, it was that difficulty that led to the since of accomplishment, from the simple things such as traveling across the world, to the complex quests like epics.
#19 Mar 21 2015 at 5:59 AM Rating: Excellent
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One more story LOL.

My very first toon was a dorf warrior and when he got "old" enough he liked to adventure in Unrest, because of the great loot, solid XP, easy grouping, etc. Problem was that for a tank class the closest bind spot was Kaladim, which was 3 zones away. Then also once you acquired enough loot to start becoming encumbering, you had to run to a vendor to sell. Your options were the poison merchant on the island in the middle of Dagnor's Cauldron, or making the long hazardous run back to Butcherblock Mountains. The poison merchant was "smart" enough to know that he had a buyer's market monopoly in that zone so he paid a lot less than BB merchants. Plus getting to that island was a challenge all to itself having to swim there and avoid the wandering goblins and skeletons. So usually I would suck it up and make the run to BB.

Anyone who leveled up in Faydwer in those days will recall the creepiness of trying to run up west side of the lake, along the rocky shoreline, trying to avoid falling damage as well as the skells, gobs, snakes and rats that regularly wandered in and out of the water. Remember most likely this was accomplished without benefit of sow or lev or invis, and in those days, with the HPs of a level 16-20 toon, a couple of long falls could do enough damage to kill you. Plus you're trying to orient yourself so you can spot that one lonely half-dead tree that marks the beginning of the tunnel to BB. To top it off, the loot that's encumbering you is slowing you down lol.

I never forget that on one run I picked up agro from a skeleton who started whacking me from behind, giggling that insane laugh of his, and my HPs are plummeting as I try desperately to get to the zone, or at least to the "Fantastic Four"'s camp. Well, I'm down 50% and know I'll never make it so I turn and fight. The mob was a blue con so I had a shot but the real danger here was adds. Luckily for me I kill it but now I'm down to like 15 HPs which means one hit from another mob or a fall down a cliff side means I'm dead. I wasn't even sure where I was so a corpse run would be a nightmare. I decided the smartest thing would be to allow myself to regen and the only safe way to do that is to make my way to the zone wall, along which no mobs wander. Of course, the zone wall is very high and the paths to it are torn with sharp gullies and cliffs. I barely make it without taking more damage and then I sit down to allow the very slow regen process to bring my HPs to a respectable level. Some readers are thinking why didn't you click an invis potion, or log out and "Return Home" or use some other CURRENT game technique. Or just let yourself die and then summon your corpse in the GL? Yeah, right, none of that was even dreamt of in those days. (Who could even afford an invis pot? Probably would have cost as much as the loot I was carrrying to sell was worth!) Dying would have been a MASSIVE pain. I'd be very lucky to even find my corpse in that zone (no maps, of course) and trying to locate it naked meant I'd probably just die a second time to wandering mobs. My only hope would have been to find a high-level necro kind enough to "comp" me a corpse summon since no way I had the funds to buy that service.

Not to mention un-rezzed death was a major XP loss, in an era when XP earned was slow and precious. I didn't even KNOW a cleric high enough level to cast an XP-returning rez. The first rez of that sort I ever got was from a player in an Unrest pickup group who camped out his toon and logged in his raiding cleric to rez our whole group who had wiped. It was the first time I even knew that was possible!

Ultimately, I made it safely to BB and sold my loot, instantly feeling "rich" from the probably 5 or 6 platinum pieces I netted from the run. Then off to Kaladim to bank the money since money carried would be lost if you ever died and couldn't find your corpse. Then back to Unrest!

Such a game we shall never see again!



Edited, Mar 21st 2015 8:08am by Sippin
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#20 Mar 22 2015 at 4:45 PM Rating: Good
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The good old days? My rogue drowned in the Kaladim wading pool. Yeah.
#24 Mar 25 2015 at 12:23 AM Rating: Good
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On second thought, I'm not even sure I'd come back and play - no matter the circumstance. I have the time, but feel guilty for wasting it by playing Everquest - when I could be wasting time reading some trashy novel or movie or washing my hair ( yeah, it's filthy!) or whatever.


I'm with Trappin on this one -- I don't think I could do it again. I don't have the time, and if I did, I've already done 1-60 during Combine days, and it's agonizingly slow. I frankly gave up on the emu server after a week, it's just such a slog it feels like self punishment. I also realized it's very difficult to capture and hold onto the sense of nostalgia I have for old EQ. Sure, your first day back into it, it's amazing and incredible, but after a week, and you're only level 6, and you start planning for 200 blacksmithing and you kind of "come to" one night while playing and you realize you've been dragging items into a box and hitting combine for the last 30 minutes, only to get 4 measly skill points -- that's when I gave up. It's like, I could be doing much better things with my time right now, heck, I'd rather have spent that 30 minutes making my bathtub sparkly clean...
#25 Mar 25 2015 at 4:49 PM Rating: Good
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xlitin wrote:
Quote:
On second thought, I'm not even sure I'd come back and play - no matter the circumstance. I have the time, but feel guilty for wasting it by playing Everquest - when I could be wasting time reading some trashy novel or movie or washing my hair ( yeah, it's filthy!) or whatever.


I'm with Trappin on this one -- I don't think I could do it again. I don't have the time, and if I did, I've already done 1-60 during Combine days, and it's agonizingly slow. I frankly gave up on the emu server after a week, it's just such a slog it feels like self punishment. I also realized it's very difficult to capture and hold onto the sense of nostalgia I have for old EQ. Sure, your first day back into it, it's amazing and incredible, but after a week, and you're only level 6, and you start planning for 200 blacksmithing and you kind of "come to" one night while playing and you realize you've been dragging items into a box and hitting combine for the last 30 minutes, only to get 4 measly skill points -- that's when I gave up. It's like, I could be doing much better things with my time right now, heck, I'd rather have spent that 30 minutes making my bathtub sparkly clean...


someone's sig here says it:

"Friends don't let friends do tradeskills" Smiley: nod


A tolerable ruleset new progression server will be fun for a few months at least. If the ruleset keeps the playerbase engaged in group play then much longer could maintain the nostalgic feel. This varies for everyone of course, but for me it's the following:

-traffic in zones of different levels.
-people levelling in places like Najena and Crushbone in non-boxed groups (nothing against boxed characters, it's the difference in group dynamics and group chat I am thinking of).
-stuff being hard at the intended level because your awesome gear is still junk
-getting to use the toolkit (i.e., all the weird spells a necro has and never gets to use post level 60 come to mind).
-classes being wanted for roles in a group and good players getting to stretch that by having a good reputation (i.e., the enchanter that can control their charmed pet can add DPS to a group that doesn't need crowd control).


Up to PoP can easily hold this feel (though I would play a Velious lock with no real baz too). Ldon I liked at the time, but the augments helped ruin the baz economy for players like me that like to swap gear around every two days. Once tribute cleaned out everyone's old bank mules it was less fun to be a late starting smart baz shopper.
#26 Mar 26 2015 at 6:11 AM Rating: Excellent
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Racing to max level is the surest way to burn out and lose interest on a progression server with any kind of simulation of the original XP pace. XP in the old days was slow and leveling was slow, except for maybe classes that can solo quad-kite like druids and wizards. If you don't stop to smell the roses (i.e. enjoy the lower levels) you will definitely get burned out quick on that kind of server. Tradeskills... nobody HAS to do them and it truly took a special sort of OCD person to max any of those out "in the old days." Except for jewelcraft on my enchanter (because player-made jewelry was very valuable for stat enhancement in those days) I never worked on ANY tradeskill until they dumb-downed the process a few years ago. I agree it's no fun to just keep clicking and to have to pharm mats from grey cons for hours.

And it's a given that the real fun of XPing at lower levels comes from being in a group with real people. P99 recognizes this and that's why they ban boxing so strenuously. They're wise that way...

Edited, Mar 26th 2015 8:11am by Sippin
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