Viability of a no box server

My first concern,
I'm mostly curious but do people who have a more sophisticated knowledge of coding and related fields know if it's possible for a true no box server? Wouldn't there be ways to circumvent whatever safeguards are out in place? Even then does DBG really have the staff to enforce such a thing? I'm not trying sound malicious I'm just curious if it's really possible. Personally I'd welcome such a server but it just seems far fetched.

My second concern,
Would the server being able to sustain itself player wise? While no boxing is a valiant goal, it does get old waiting for a healer, tank or cc in a group setting. Which the older content is heavily dependent on the Holy trinity. Raids sometimes require the assistance of boxed healers as well. I'm mostly just wondering what other people think about this. Any thoughts?

Finally I was wondering if anything was posted about whether or not it would be a no box TLP server or another server variation?

Thanks again for your thoughts and answers.

It will require a good population to maintain the health of the server, especially on higher ends.

The problem is the 3rd party program, not the boxes.

It would be TLP, because no one cares about boxing on live since we've seen it for years, are used to it and understand how beneficial boxers are to the dying game that we all love and aren't going to cry about a small community of players that have kept this game alive for many years.

The owner of [Unmentioned 3rd Party Software] said he will not circumvent a no boxing ruleset (there is a post on the [Unmentioned 3rd Party Software] forums, just google it, i am too lazy to do it myself) that being said it is easy for any coder to do it themselves but i am also too lazy to google and see if [Unmentioned 3rd Party Software] is opensource.

I know people who box on p99 using VPNs and proxifier and they are MUCH more strict on p99. You can't even have two accounts logged on from the same IP so if you wanted to play with family errnt can't do that. That's why I hate p99.

Ultimately people will still box on the no boxing server. It's unpreventable. The amount of boxing you see will be 1/100th what it is now and NO ONE will be doing it blatantly obviously. You won't see people /following and anyone who does box wont be as in your face about it as they are here.


The downside with the no boxing server is you're going to have THE WORST community there ever was. Almost every single person who complained boxing is ruining EQ and whined endlessly, created dozens of threads, spam reported boxers and harassed boxers for boxing is going to be on that server.

If you want to play with people as toxic as that who are willing to go out of their way to deliberately ruin another players play experience just because they don't agree with what you're doing.... Well enjoy Mayong 2.0

Even if people bypass it, and run two characters each on separate computers, I think the "problem" players will be handled. If there is a warrior running around PoHate with 18 magicians following him, players can just report him and he'll hopefully have his accounts suspended.

If little Johnny wants to run a shaman on his tablet to buff up his main monk, most people will not be negatively impacted by this and will likely never even notice it to report it.

@Almar, just like there are a vocal crybaby minority on Ragefire I still find my daily interactions in game with other players to be mostly pleasant. There are tons of people looking forward to a "no box" server that do not participate on the forums.

Boxing can be both very beneficial, keeping the game alive, but it can also be very detrimental. 2 boxing is always beneficial. Boring classes will be boxed, such as healers. 6+ boxing is almost always detrimental. 2 boxers will group with other players, 6 boxers won't.

I think a maximum 2 box server will be great, a no box server will fail instantly. I have 2 PC's but I'd rather not box using multiple monitors and keyboard / mice, that's just too much effort and takes any fun out of the game.

Hopefully the idea of a no box server will change in time, otherwise we have an annoying 1 year wait to watch it fail, then we can start playing once the 2 box server opens up winter 2016.

I say kudos to day break for trying different scenereos for servers but honestly i wanna see the prizon server happen, not sure why but i think i would love it

I suspect that a prison server would be more successful that the no box server

First I want to toot my own horn and say that before TLP started I said boxing is going to be a problem. I didn't realize just how bad but well, I was right.

I agree with the above poster however, people that box just a few characters are not going to cause a huge problem. The problem is that it is indeed hard to truly implement.

BUT, if these "would be" 6+ boxers need to pay for VPN accounts (usually $10.00-$20.00 per account) in order to box, we are going to see a major decline in the people boxing that are harmful to the gameplay.

Finally, I just want to say that even a 3 boxer is more likely to be looking for friends to group with. It's this 6+ stuff we need to get away from, at least on ONE SERVER.

This counts equally for the extremists on both sides, unfortunately.

Can't really escape it in online gaming communities unless you wall yourself off from anyone not like you.

i think we need to wait and see exactly what the rules will be for the server. so far the only specifics they have mentioned is the possibility of it being restricted to 1 client per PC. this is reduced-boxing and no where near no-box. will there be less 6 mage groups sure. will it stop them, no way. there are 4 PCs in this household and i could easily scrounge up 2 old laptops dirt cheap that will run the game just fine. i could be 6 boxing with [Unmentioned 3rd Party Software] completely within the rules of the server. people will just rage at the first one they see in game and soon the server will be flooded with pissed off people that think they are playing on a no-box server. because lets face it, people are dumb. they dont look into things or research them or see exactly what the rules of the server are. they have heard people talk about a no box server and they join it on that information alone.

they need to be extremely specific on what the restrictions are and very vocal about it so that people understand there may still be boxing on this server. take all that into account and then add in that people will have to restart from scratch on this server AGAIN. under the current plans i honestly dont see the server being very successful. knowing that there will still be some boxing, along with having to start over, how many of you would still play there?

they either need to be more restrictive in what they actually allow or they need incentives to get over the hurdle of starting over. like starting with kunark released or allowing you to xfer after a certain period once the server is up. would a reduced boxing server even be acceptable with incentives? what is the point of going to a server to get away from boxing if you will still see it just in lesser amounts?

My prediction is that the no-box server, if it actually ever goes live, will be a ghost town and shut down within a year or two.

I remember EQ back in 1999 and up through 2004. If it is going to be anything like it was, then it's going to be more painful. Boxing provided an alternative to an hours-long waiting game. I can't even imagine the inability to play without a box team. I only run a warrior, cleric, and enchanter. You'd sit around looking for a healer and tank. It might be fun for the guilds, but I fear for the rest. They won't have readily available tanks, healers, and dps. They'll have to wait and hope for others to enter their zone. As expansions release, it's just going to spread them out even thinner. *Shudder*

Exactly, after they will hopefully move onto a 2 box server, perhaps even 3 box maximum. It's just that 1 or 2 years waiting for the no box server to fail which is annoying. I want the 2 box server NOW damnit.

The no box server will most likely have more actual people than say LJ or RF. I'd wager. At least half of the chars that exist on these two servers are boxes or some sort.

A year or two is pretty kind. I'd be surprised if it lasted more than 3 months.

Carnac? Is that you?

years ago , in seeds of destruction when they introduced mercenaries, the game was moreorso dying from the lack of key classes in group ( aka: it's friggin boring to play a cleric) and that's despite being able to box.

I wonder how long that server will last... how long can you press CH once every 10 second without getting bored out of your mind?

-----------------------
Some good questions Zeltari; will be watching for replies.

"While no boxing is a valiant goal, it does get old waiting for a healer, tank or cc in a group setting. Which the older content is heavily dependent on the Holy trinity."


No it doesn't get old creating a group for those who enjoy a rounded class inclusion for groups...thats part of the deal. The trinity and grouping as such IS the reason why many, many EQ vets came flooding back to play on the retro servers and it is a big draw. Doesn't mean you can't be creative when necessary to fill a group slot with an out of the ordinary class set up, but it would be righteous to play on a server where the general majority of the time you can spend playing full groups with individual players and all that other shizz (multiple boxed characters for whatever justification) is NOT the norm but rather a little noticed aspect.

Anyhow, it is never productive to sit around 'waiting' for a group. You send out some tells and see who's on from your friends list and encourage lfg people to join in. And then you do OTHER STUFF while you are waiting for the group to form up, ain't no fecking way I would sit around in a big chat room, pining or whining for everyone to hurry up and get to the group.

Do stuff! You know, t-sing some potions you may need, cooking up a few meals, finishing up some grinding for plat or quest items you are working toward, offer to meet the healer that was invited and escort them to the zone, organize your hoarding at the bank, josh around in guild, go explore around a bit, fish up some slimey boots...there is always something to do.

Same thing if a group ends earlier than you planned; mix it up - put out the ads for replacements preferably before individual party members leave, but many times I have been in a group that falls apart and we regrouped and went on to some other zone and had a great time. You have to communicate though and find people, fill up both your 'friends list' and your 'shizheads' list so you know who to avoid in the future.

And I hope very much that DBG does not reveal their specific plan for how they are bringing this particular ruleset server to fruition. Don't give them any edge toward cheating the ruleset.

Set the launch date DBG and start putting out some promo's, do a little more than usual marketing- and don't share tmi about how you're going to "make it work!" Make the exploiters have to spend max time trying to sidestep anything they can.

Meanwhile those who are looking forward to the new server can jump right in and have some fun. Also it might turn out that this sort of ruleset will draw mainly group loving players and a smaller top end raid guild count which could really make for a neater, more definitive server flow actually. I know a lot of folks do not think DBG can carry this off. I am hoping DBG didn't just grab this idea out of the thin air without Plan A and B myself.

These are valid concerns. I was excited about the prospect of a new server until I actually thought about it =/

-----------------------

Very interesting points Shmef.

Well this IS going to be another special ruleset right? And DBG STILL hasn't revealed much about it..perhaps they will change up some of the other rules to better accomodate their vision for this/these particular winter servers.

Ie..."i could be 6 boxing with [Unmentioned 3rd Party Software] completely within the rules of the server."


Mayhaps that won't be easily done. What if they should decide the Unmentioned 3rd party Software is NOT ALLOWED on that server.
After all...what is the point of that software???????????????????????

Just musing, but until DBG gives or even better does NOT give up their plans on how to make this server happen, thats all we're doing anyhow. So ... one can hope .