new server initially w/o current expansions

[Alphonso]

uhh... first 8 open in 6 months huh? I foresee Tacvi > this server

[Lyion]

How long would it take to go through Kunark, Velious, Luclin, POP, Ykesha, and LDON with a well organized hard core guild that knows the underlying EQ system completely?

My guess is not long.

[KaiineTN]

If they keep the alchemy revamp in and have potions when PoP is released, it'll make things a lot smoother.

[Reynaldo]

My point is that I don't see a massive hardcore audience left in EQ. I would think those that are would be tied to their current guilds, especially with the past 2 expansions still offering significant challenges and the completely new city/continent and level 75 coming with the next one.

I think the main crowd this server would draw is the old time EQers who are looking for that last "fix", rather than the 50 hour a week folks. And the ones that do return to check it out that still play tons of WOW or whatever will burn out quick on the same ole-same ole.

And boo on you Sithos for ruining our speculation!!!!! Speculating about this is probably 10x more fun than actually playing on it would be.

[Diekan]

The game should not reward people who put 50 hours a week into it. It should be consistent.

A specialty server should not cater to the same demographic as a regular server, or it essentially is no different.

I disagree Tik - this IS a good way to look at it.

Look, if you [not you tik] are high speed low drag and all you want to do is power level up and own boss mobs - GO TO ONE OF THE OTHER SERVERZ. Let those of us who'd really like to go back to the old days have our fun.

Not every server that opens must be owned in two freaking weeks. I can't stand that type of thinking. There are plenty of other servers to do that shit... I hope Sony does this right, but we all know they wont. They'll fuck it up like everything else they've touched.

Give EQ back to Verant.

[Drem]

game developpers catering to people who play the game the most, strange thought

hehe i know, i never said it was a bad thing. i just don't know why anybody wouldn't expect it to happen in this new server, too

[Sithos]

And boo on you Sithos for ruining our speculation!!!!! Speculating about this is probably 10x more fun than actually playing on it would be.

Fine, Fine I am sorry. I have been a bad bad boy and deserve a to be spanked.......

[Menlaan]

from http://eqforums.station.sony.com/eq/boa ... ge.id=1039

I haven't had the time to read every posting in this thread, so if I'm duplicating some info, I apologize. I want to clarify a few things about this progression server.

First, this is specifically not a classic server. We are not attempting to revert EQ back to its original state. Not only is that a technical impossibility, but the nostalgia people have is due more to it being the first large persistent world that people encountered than any specific gameplay mechanic that has since been changed. That feeling is no more able to be recaptured than the feeling of a first kiss.

This server is primarily a new-player server, it just has a twist in how the content is unlocked to allow players to play through the progression of content as it was released to the game. At its core, what we're doing is simply locking out expansions, similar to what would happen if you didn't own them at all, until some in-game criteria has been met. Generally, this will be defeating the end game content for the expansion. Defeating Vox and Nagafen, for instance, will likely open up Kunark for the server.

That does mean that anything that is tied to an expansion will not be available until that expansion has been opened up. So, when the server first launched, you won't have Iksar, Vah Shir, Frogloks, Beastlords, or Berserkers. It also means that anything that has been opened up to all players over the years will be available from the start. In-game maps is a good example. Also, anything that has been added since release or changed since release will still be there on the server. Freeport and Ro will be using their revamped graphics, for instance, and boats won't work on the new server any better than they do on other servers.

There are a few exceptions to those rules that we will be making and a few more we are still discussing.

While Plane of Knowledge and the Bazaar are no longer expansion locked, we will likely keep those turned off until Planes of Power is opened up.
Veeshan's Peak will likely be reverted to a previous state since that's the end game content of Kunark.
The tutorial will be available. This is first and foremost a newbie server and its important that new players get some lessons on how to play the game. You will likely go to your home city after finishing the tutorial, though, instead of PoK since that's not likely to exist at first. We are looking into the impact that the tutorial gear will have on the server and may make some changes to mitigate it if we feel its going to be a balance problem.

Menlaan

[Reynaldo]

This server is primarily a new-player server

who are they trying to fool with that statement?

[Gaazy]

hahaha exactly

[Menlaan]

Yeah, it definitely seems pretty lame compared to the possibilities. I agree with the earlier posters that the expansions are going to be bumrushed in no time...

Menlaan

[Tikker]

well

we'll see I guess

there's probably not a lot of people still playing that remember how hard some of the encounters are at lvl 50 with gimp gear

[Lyion]

game developpers catering to people who play the game the most, strange thought

hehe i know, i never said it was a bad thing. i just don't know why anybody wouldn't expect it to happen in this new server, too

You don't want to cater to people who play the most. You want to cater to the most people so you have the widest demograhic and appeal.

If they do it based on end expansion enounter unlocking, it'll really leave and turn off a majority of people, and in a short period of time make this server no different than any other.

On par for the course with SOE, though.

[Tikker]

game developpers catering to people who play the game the most, strange thought

hehe i know, i never said it was a bad thing. i just don't know why anybody wouldn't expect it to happen in this new server, too

You don't want to cater to people who play the most. You want to cater to the most people so you have the widest demograhic and appeal.

If they do it based on end expansion enounter unlocking, it'll really leave and turn off a majority of people, and in a short period of time make this server no different than any other.

On par for the course with SOE, though.

the point you're missing is that the vast majority of people that play EQ are raiders

casual players are by far the minority

[Drem]

game developpers catering to people who play the game the most, strange thought

hehe i know, i never said it was a bad thing. i just don't know why anybody wouldn't expect it to happen in this new server, too

You don't want to cater to people who play the most. You want to cater to the most people so you have the widest demograhic and appeal.

If they do it based on end expansion enounter unlocking, it'll really leave and turn off a majority of people, and in a short period of time make this server no different than any other.

On par for the course with SOE, though.

That's just a business strategy... Everyone that goes there is going to want to raid and be the first one to get the first this and that. You can't re-create the first time you played EQ.

[Lyion]

game developpers catering to people who play the game the most, strange thought

hehe i know, i never said it was a bad thing. i just don't know why anybody wouldn't expect it to happen in this new server, too

You don't want to cater to people who play the most. You want to cater to the most people so you have the widest demograhic and appeal.

If they do it based on end expansion enounter unlocking, it'll really leave and turn off a majority of people, and in a short period of time make this server no different than any other.

On par for the course with SOE, though.

the point you're missing is that the vast majority of people that play EQ are raiders

casual players are by far the minority

I'd love to see actual numbers. The game is geared for endgame raiding, but when I played, most I met were not current with expansions.

[Dylan]

Thats cause you suck and aren't with current expansions

[Drem]

game developpers catering to people who play the game the most, strange thought

hehe i know, i never said it was a bad thing. i just don't know why anybody wouldn't expect it to happen in this new server, too

You don't want to cater to people who play the most. You want to cater to the most people so you have the widest demograhic and appeal.

If they do it based on end expansion enounter unlocking, it'll really leave and turn off a majority of people, and in a short period of time make this server no different than any other.

On par for the course with SOE, though.

the point you're missing is that the vast majority of people that play EQ are raiders

casual players are by far the minority

I'd love to see actual numbers. The game is geared for endgame raiding, but when I played, most I met were not current with expansions.

Being a raider doesn't mean you're current with expansions, it means you go on raids on a regular basis. Given the opportunity, I'm sure anybody raiding older content would be raiding new content. I can honestly only think of two or three people that don't actively raid.

[Lyion]

Being a raider doesn't mean you're current with expansions, it means you go on raids on a regular basis. Given the opportunity, I'm sure anybody raiding older content would be raiding new content. I can honestly only think of two or three people that don't actively raid.

Exactly, which is why having server unlock being based on the fastest guild is a bad idea.

Once everything is unlocked, this server becomes just another one. Why have it be in a small percents hands?

[Yamori]

What kind of person would start playing Everquest, buy 10 expansions only to play on a server where they're all locked?


For new players my ass. :P

[Tikker]

game developpers catering to people who play the game the most, strange thought

hehe i know, i never said it was a bad thing. i just don't know why anybody wouldn't expect it to happen in this new server, too

You don't want to cater to people who play the most. You want to cater to the most people so you have the widest demograhic and appeal.

If they do it based on end expansion enounter unlocking, it'll really leave and turn off a majority of people, and in a short period of time make this server no different than any other.

On par for the course with SOE, though.

the point you're missing is that the vast majority of people that play EQ are raiders

casual players are by far the minority

I'd love to see actual numbers. The game is geared for endgame raiding, but when I played, most I met were not current with expansions.

$100 says I'm the only on here that's actually run queries on their players databases

when I was in SD at the guild summit, this is one fo the things they actually showed us (and a bunch of us showed them how to fix their broken ass queries, jeje)

[Drem]

Being a raider doesn't mean you're current with expansions, it means you go on raids on a regular basis. Given the opportunity, I'm sure anybody raiding older content would be raiding new content. I can honestly only think of two or three people that don't actively raid.

Exactly, which is why having server unlock being based on the fastest guild is a bad idea.

Once everything is unlocked, this server becomes just another one. Why have it be in a small percents hands?

It's not a small percent.....

[10sun]

game developpers catering to people who play the game the most, strange thought

hehe i know, i never said it was a bad thing. i just don't know why anybody wouldn't expect it to happen in this new server, too

You don't want to cater to people who play the most. You want to cater to the most people so you have the widest demograhic and appeal.

If they do it based on end expansion enounter unlocking, it'll really leave and turn off a majority of people, and in a short period of time make this server no different than any other.

On par for the course with SOE, though.

the point you're missing is that the vast majority of people that play EQ are raiders

casual players are by far the minority

I'd love to see actual numbers. The game is geared for endgame raiding, but when I played, most I met were not current with expansions.

Being a raider doesn't mean you're current with expansions, it means you go on raids on a regular basis. Given the opportunity, I'm sure anybody raiding older content would be raiding new content. I can honestly only think of two or three people that don't actively raid.

I don't raid. I box.

[Beelz]

I didn't read through all the 122 posts with 1220 quotes included in them (my eyes started to bleed). But just and idea/suggestions for this server:

Make it like FV w/ almost no no drop items.

Once any place is opened up in the game it is open to all. Someone completes the OS, HS key and enters the zone for the first time, it is open to the whole server (one way to possibly deter power gamers & give the more casual people some opportunity to have fun) that and it would make the PoP charm very interesting later :P.

Instead of one key event to unlock the server, include many... even some that may seem easy, but has to be done multiple times to unlock the server (hold back power-gamers, such as killing naggy/vox 5 times or 10 times each, must kill King Xrobb 20 times /shrug)

for Kunark, an idea is each class must have 10 people epic'd to open velious, velious 10 people w/ ring 10 & shawl 8, luclin make seru a main target along w/ burrower, emp, and vt... you get the idea.

for zones that were revamped (excluding the planes), just leave them locked for the time being so this can be planned to start sooner, instead of working on the mechanics.

Make SoW potions a reasonable price though, they will be un-affordable right off the bat for when they could be a convenience.

hmmm, i'll think of more, but let me know what you think.

[Tikker]

Make it like FV w/ almost no no drop items.

Once any place is opened up in the game it is open to all.

blech