Non box, non merc, non heroic char, server.

What is it going to be called?

Mission impossible

Isn't that what the Stormhammer server was? The legends premium server. A server that offered players additional features and exclusive content for an additional fee. It was like $35 or $40 per month instead of the $10 or $15 per month it was on the regular servers.

That might sound like something worth looking into bringing back. Charge a little bit more per month for a new server that offers a different play style than what is currently being offered on the regular servers.

How would you guarantee no boxing? Even when the client only allowed one instance per machine, people just used two computers? Not saying it is a bad idea, just don't think it is technically feasible.

IP or MAC address check

Would that not prevent two people from using the same internet connection?

So my wife and I, playing together in the same room... you'll ban that too? I don't think that's very nice.

that's the only people who wouldn't be able to play on it, ppl who have families and connect through the same line, small price to pay for not having half the server boxed

can you play on the mac server with a windows PC? same thing

I think that will be too high a price to pay to have any kind of significant population. There would be a certain irony if the non-box, non-merc, non-heroic character server had too low of a population to find groups.

there is no reason why a single account owner would want to deal with boxers, it greatly reduces the pool of potential groupmates

no boxers, guarantees that every player is a potential groupmate, it would be a very popular server, much more popular than the anti-social servers we have now

I know many families and couples that play. Almost all of them single box. None of them will join as they can't play together. Much of your target population won't leave their friends that won't be able play. Right now, my circle of friends includes my girlfriend who I live with, three married couples, four two-boxers, and a friend that came back to play with me. That illustrates most of the people that won't play on a single IP/MAC address server.

My family and I would love to play on such a server.

I think the way I'd do it is to have the launcher ensure there's only one copy of the game running on the PC, and just have a rule against multi-boxing that the community can help police. Otherwise, we'll be forced to tether a couple computers to cell phones or use shady proxies. May as well limit to one character per server, too.

It should probably be a progression server as well.

If you can't play from multiple computers from the same internet connection, do you end up with a server for social, anti-social people?

I don't think an IP address filter would work very well. Maybe a MAC address filter would work. I don't know that I trust the SOE servers to implement and remove such a restriction over and over. I would guess even a small rate of failure would lead to some really unhappy players.

sorry no one wants to group with you oranges but from the attitude I see from your postings and past posts id say look at it as more of a personal issue then forcing everyone to play your way... hope not to offend you just being honest.

they should not change back to forced grouping because that is what almost killed eq in the first place, people have progressed to this and honestly these folks who box probably aren't looking to carry anyone anymore or have there play times dictated by someone else.

Easily worked around. Could be up and running with 10 boxed chars. Your hate for boxing is silly.

Cutting out boxing and mercs will likely mean that good groups will be harder to find. Mercs and boxers help put more toons on the server. This means that you are more likely to create an ideal group. Before mercs, if two melees wanted to group, they couldn't. Now, with mercs, they both get their cleric or healer merc out, and you have a group. Once that core group is established, more people can join. Virtually the same thing goes for those who box. Whenever I two box, I often have someone from my small guild with me to make it more fun. I understand wanting more grouping, but I think this is the wrong way.

Is anyone forced to use mercs right now? I thought they were optional.

Ya, but people act differently because they have them. For instance, some may do a quick check of /friends and guildmates, and then fill the group with mercs rather than advertising LFM.

I'm big on grouping with real players, and try not to use my mercs, be even I use them a lot when I can't quickly find a full group.

If there were a better grouping tool that paired LFG players with groups using mercs, that'd solve most of the problem in my opinion. Or cross-server instance groups.

What might be a good first step is to create a guild that meets these requirements. When it proves to be incredibly popular, you have that more leverage in requesting. Even if you don't get a whole server like that, then you at least have a strong pool of like-minded people. Just trying to find a way for everyone to get what they want.