Progression Server Poll Results: What's Next?

How does having other people voting to open up new content make other peoples enjoyment less?

It doesn't - it's just weak arguments you see from people that played on illegal servers.

its funny that u say this about the chat room aspect... i started playing back in '03 and when people would ask me "what is everquest?" i always said "that its a really big chat room where i get to kill stuff" lol

Daybreak should re-look at getting Stormhammer going again.

They are targeting summer, hopefully early summer according to Holly.

I'm really glad they are doing this and while it will be great to go play like it was in 1999 I still feel that it will lack the social side like it used to have and everyone rushing the content will be interesting unilke when it first started we used to laze about having fun in guilds meeting amazing people who were like minded. If that manages to happen again then this will of been worth it, however not everyone has the time like we used to and many of them people like my self have families and lives it that will prove interesting too see who comes back if any.

Already three of my friends from the day it went live in 1999 are already planning fun quest lines for our classes. It will be useful again to be drood airways or chanter useful for making pp and mates again.

Having just returned to the game again after 10 years away its far to easy to do anything with the merc system and easy pp making make the game less fun. I also preferred that you could pass items to alts and not every thing was no trade like it is now once you wear it. Would be better if you could pass stuff down to alts that was always fun and useful for starting new toons in the hey days.

But I'm just glad to see the dervs listening again and I hope they keep the progression so you have to have paid a monthly subscription to support these guys and keep them busy for another 16 years.

Believe what you want - the numbers I was quoting come from the people that actually staff the server.

I don't play on it, but I am on a forum that has a good number of players - and the staff pop over there consistently. (Although I just double checked - I quoted the 400 wrong, that's LOST each month that are replaced by new players - I stated it backwards - about 800-1k consistent)

Regardless that's free vs. paid - there's zero investment to being a consistent player.

Server Name - Sunrise

I obviously can't speak for everyone, but for myself, I want the game to be difficult like it used to be. I want every fight to be a coordinated battle plan. I want people to be forced to work together in order to survive. I want people to actually be afraid of dying. I want the game to be hard, so that classes with special abilities to overcome those difficulties are still useful. I want doors/traps/treasures that can only be opened by Rogue picklocks/remove trap/etc. I want travel to be dangerous and long, so druid and wizard ports are actually worthwhile, and bards need to use Selos for more than just pulling/running to the bank. I want the slower paced, methodical, and calculated approach to the game that was lost after Luclin. Some would argue it was lost after Velious, others PoP, but regardless of where you draw the line, it is fairly unanimous that the entire game changed drastically sometime around the PoP expac. It began trying to compete with the "hip new cool kid's games" by making everything easier and transforming from a strategy game to a twitch/action game.

I'm tired of having things handed to me on a platter; I just want to play the game I loved, where any achievements I received were EARNED.

I really enjoyed the time I spent with friends back in the day. I was fortunate last time I came back to the game to have that sense of adventure and fear again. I made some really good friends in game and we would go out and fight into zones and try really hard to learn certain fights. I agree that it's one of the best things in this game, that sense of fear you get when you don't really know whats around the next corner and you come up on a named.

I really hope you guys get it. I mean if it makes daybreak money and helps fund development on new content and such I don't see why they wouldn't/shouldn't.

I'm going to say some things you are well aware of I'm sure. Back when I started to play this game (and you) all I knew in the way of info for the game was maybe Allakhazam... not sure if it was as good as it is now back then. Other then that you had your friends to learn from and that's it. Now there is some much info compiled and class theory crafting done that it's not just about the game and it's mechanics but also about the ERA and you can't get that back.

People have beaten this to death also but our generation of newly christened MMO players are all grown up now and have kid's and family's and careers (I hope at least, I mean I hope you're not all living on welfare and playing 12 hours a day =() so to stay somewhat relevant they have to implement some creative ways to attract newer younger players. They also have to keep developing newer content to keep other's involved as well.

Again, I really hope they just make a locked server for you guys. I hope it makes Daybreak money. And I hope EQ keeps getting players that are sick of the "flashy" new MMO's and want something with some "meat".

Ya this is so right on. I too hate playing games that are too easy like Every MMORPG that is out right now and I have tried most all of them. I don't know when it happened or why but things just got too easy in eq and every other game that's out . People will say it is because we got better sites to farm info from and we know all the zones and what not. that isn't it the game is just too easy.

Like on Fippy lvling 1 - 50 in less then a week only playin 2 hours a night. I have seen people talk about the overcrowding of zones. Well ya if everyone can get to lvl 50 in less then a week everyone that is on the server will be 50 and all fighting for the same stuff. make it hard again and we wont have that problem. the people that only play 2 hours a night wont lvl to 50 in a week.
if thing are not fixed and made hard again a high % of people will leave after the first few weeks when they get bored. and the server will just keep bleeding people as we have seen befor.

Hopefully we will get some word on whether instancing is on the table or not. I know that's going to make it or break it for a lot of players.

I want a server locked at PoP because when I play progression, I'm playing because I want to experience EQ how I remember it being at its best, its peak - which to me lies within those first 4 expansions, give or take. After that things start getting forgettable, people start leaving, and it won't be too long before we're right back where we are right now.

I hope the devs see the responses here and add some kind of second locked server, instead of a carbon-copy timelocked deal like Vulak was. I think it'd make the most sense even from a business standpoint, because you'd be pleasing the majority of existing and potential customers. People will come and go, for sure, but "people" in the greater general sense will never get tired of PoP-era Everquest.

You're sitting on a huge cache of potential players who weren't polled, because they left after this period. Give us a server locked at the time we remember being the best, and we will come back in droves. We will pay. And we will love every minute of it. And if we ever get tired, others who have the same great memories will step in to take our place.

Give us Quarm.

Ozni/Other Classicists - From how they phrased thing here it looks like they REALLY want to do the "Seasonal" concept. Which literally will accomplish everything you want, besides permanence.

You can have exactly what you want, playing on your own time - and for those that want to never be too far behind it would be resetting every so often.

And with the "rewards" concept, you would have some sense of permanence since the titles or whatever else would demonstrate those that did awesome before.

Or more in short - it seems like many of you are complaining for something that looks like is already almost exactly on their plans to do next. (Maybe Winter -> Next Anniversary)

But yet different enough to not have to worry about people being stolen by that other thing that's illegal.

i'd venture to say people with first hand experience playing on these illegal servers might have more of a stable opinion of how things go in that sandbox than those who don't.

kind of like an organization like NSA hiring hackers to work for them

Where did I say that? If you are referring to fast progression via voting (or boss kills and accomplishments like the first round of prog), we've seen both falter as each expansion opened up. Far more people quit with lower level characters that find it pointless to stick around to end up with a lonely alt on a foreign server than those who quit because of a bottle-necked endgame waiting on the next expansion to open up.

The game is never going to be the classic EQ again, no matter how close we design it; and it is certainly easier, but that isn't entirely due to our know-how. When Naggy and Vox are taken down with just 3-4 groups of level 40-50s, that isn't a strategic masterpiece. It suggests that the mechanics have been dulled down to easy-mode as well from the ac/hp dps alterations to players and mobs awhile back. Change those back or at least make the raid mobs similarly tough again.

Making the exp slower and getting rid of the very fast resting hp/mana regen will make earning levels exciting and rewarding, rather than expected. Adding new accomplishments, raids or zones (via instancing), events, and additions on to old quest lines will give everyone something to do, regardless of level or the speed at which they finished all the existing content they wanted to do for their class or guild. This brings both types of players together, which is what they need for a successful long haul.

When you talk about what could make DBG money--since that is the bottom line to any of this effort--this could easily draw greater interest than an expansion, and since all of the tools and mechanics exist, it shouldn't require too much time or effort (relatively speaking). More time taken to level and complete new quests, new raids, and new accomplishments all equal more money due to longer subs. You could limit it to 1 character slot and sell the rest for SC to save server space and make money off those who like lots of alts or stealing all the good names. If the active population starts to drop, email all old account holders about it and give FTP access for a month or two.

If marketplace is open for exp potions like it was last time, and people can start buying custom mounts and ornamentation, then none of this matters as they are going to sink the server all the same.

You know better than the staff over there though? That's who I've been in contact with.

Ego, thy name is Venk.

So, axe the slower progression and have a PoP-locked server and a seasonal server, sounds good to me.

Look, all they have to do to differentiate it from that "other thing" is by setting it anywhere past Velious. That's differentiation enough. The fact that it'll be an official server, that's easy to jump into and get running without having to mess around with *whatever you need to do to run "other thing"* or grabbing a used Mac or whatever people needed to play on Al'Kabor, that will draw in the crowds. They'll come and inevitably cycle through, but some will stick around, new people will come in, people who left for awhile will come back.

They'll still be packed in like a can of sardines is what I'm saying. It'll be a dependable community, because everyone will know exactly what it is, and what it's always going to be. So when the unlocked server finally rolls into nowheresville, Quarm will still be operating at capacity and you can roll on here and get a group with us. Everyone wins!

Seasonal and Locked and illegal would cannibalize each other. And "sardines" isn't the right to compare against a concept that got over 6k paid players last time to one that nets a bit over 1k while free.

You're talking about splitting the same playerbase three ways with that Ozni.

I think you assume that the locked server would require that everyone who plays it be their main--we know that won't be the case. It might, however, be the best option to bring back and hold on to the social aspect of the game that is the foundation of our desire for that locked server in the first place.

If we pack in, race, and are unhappy--we can leave and play our actual mains wherever else they may be. Ozni's point is that we will still have the locked server waiting for us.