Two Kronos a month for Aradune

Let me get this straight. You want to increase demand for Kronos and therefore increase incentive to farm Kronos to decrease the farming of Kronos? Your solution is worse than the problem.

And?

Whaa?

Seriously though, yes... I did ALL of those things, went to areas out of the way with less then perfect groups, with less numbers. So what is the problem? This is called "risk vs reward", and we risked and got a lot of reward from it. Often we got good exp, nice loot, etc... because we didn't just go sit in line expecting easy exp.

I have no sympathy for those people, they didn't understand the concept of this game and simply wanted a glorified chat room to grind exp for easy rewards.

The TLPs are not even remotely difficult. They are easy street modern based MMO gaming. That is the point the OP is making. People box, sell krono, PTW their way up. They have ALL these TLP servers to attend to this, but someone mentions an actual server with strict rules and you complain?

Why? Because you like cheat servers that have the "illusion" of being strict. Actually provide "strict" rule play and you guys whine and throw tantrums if you can't cheat your play.

There's very strict rules on all current servers whether TLP or live.
1: never AFK at a camp
2: DPS always wins
3: Don't train


Facts are that the current crop of serious cheat software allows for on the fly name changes so the fact that you even know the names of the characters you accuse of cheating is rather odd. 20 years ago computers were rather expensive and bandwidth was very low. In the modern era small cheap boxes that can handle EQ are ridiculously cheap, internet speed is very high and hardware to allow control of all those boxes is easy to come by.

Also, I forgot, and it's the big one. Can't trade Krono on this one server. You can buy them from Dark Paw store or get them from other servers to consume for game time, but no in game trading. /holds breath.

You can hold your breath til your face turns blue, they aren't ever going to even consider this.

yeah i'm aware. it's a shame the pay to win model is being used more and more in mmo's

So following that line of reasoning the game should go entirely free to play as having a subscription definitely gives you an edge even if it's subbing for just 30 days to get all the AA's.

Krono are fine and working as intended

EQ is pretty reasonable on balancing making money & going hardcore Pay to Win, try playing a range of MMO out there & you'll find EQ really isn't all that Pay to Win at all.

This is the dumbest post I've read.

Those aren't strict

Never AFK at camp? So your idea of a strict rule is no botting?

DPS always wins? What does that have to do with anything?

Don't train? Umm... so?

Here is the thing... you can never eliminate cheating, but... you can greatly reduce it if you have solid rules.

There are layers of solutions that can be applied such as pay sources being only bank/CC's with violators having their pay sources banned upon violations. Other solutions are proprietary encrypted network protocols for verifying original source machine creation (ie machine hardware addresses, local IP, public IP, EQ account number, etc... which form a hash that make your account singular as well as an activity flag that disconnects any duplicate sources).

It can be very difficult to identify the difference between a bot and that of a machine player, a lot of this is a guessing game, but... it is far easier to identify a person boxing. Simple IPS style implementations can be used to evaluate such play behavior to narrow search parameters to target and eliminate abusers.

Will some still get through? Absolutely, but they will be few and far between AND combined with a community who will be active in reporting abusers, it can greatly reduce the occurrence.

The problem is, it requires a company willing to implement such features.

There are other solutions as well that can layer to reduce this problem.

Making the entire server no trade, as in nothing at all can be traded, (killing off the bazaar) would eliminate the PTW/Plat market (if you can't trade anything, it is difficult to establish a barter system).

That is a fallacy of extremes. It is a patently stupid argument attempting to grasp at straws to defend an obvious PTW mechanic.

Paying a sub gives player access to play the game. Period. It is a pay for services model. You want to work out at a gym, you pay a sub so you can access the equipment and services to work out.

Krono trade circumvents game play by allowing players to trade money for in-game cash, then taking the in-game cash and purchasing items/gear/etc... to circumvent having to earn them in game.

That is what PTW is, it is paying to circumvent having to play the game to achieve the item.

Krono is a cheat, by every definition of the word.

You are excusing it. EQ doesn't stop being pay to win because other games are "more" pay to win. Pay to win is pay to win and EQ provides the ability for players to circumvent game play through trade to gain rewards that would otherwise require that game play. That is Pay to win.

There is no cheat or circumventing even if you absolutely hate Krono and spend hours of mental gymnastics to say they are bad. They are doing exactly as Darkpaw intended.

https://www.everquest.com/krono

Pay to win is where nobody needs to do any content to gain power, someone buying an item from another player still means there was 1 player that went & earned that item.

Your rationale is simply blinded by your narrow-mindedness.

You have made no argument. All you are doing is claiming it is not a cheat because they allow it while completely ignoring the actual meaning of a cheat as it concerns game play. It may not cheat the "rules" they decide, and while technically true, it is an obtuse point. According to your position, they could make a rule where you could pay the GMs money and they would give you GM powers, summon you gear, etc... You would look silly claiming that was not cheating game play.

The point is, Krono cheats game play. It allows a player to BUY their progression, circumventing content by paying money. This isn't debatable on this specific point, it is a fact.

I seriously doubt that PTW kiddie. You are arguing it because you like to buy your way through content, or sell off to make the game easier for you. Typical PTW supporter. I bet you box, afk bot, etc... You just don't want a server where you can't cheat on it.

Some impressive mental gymnastics you employ to support your argument & yes I was rationalising, I like to think I am a rational person not given to to the kind of narrow-minded pedantry you have resorted to.

Your argument would necessitate removing not just Krono, but also Platinum/Gold/Silver/Copper & the Bazaar from EQ to meet your extreme definition of pay to win, that's not a reasonable argument that's absolutism and it doesn't fit most players at all.

If this pay to win from trading is such an issue for you then you really need to look at what you expect from EverQuest as a game because this has been going on since the game was launched.

Back in '99-'01 or '02 I had an acquaintance who ran a 6 box and sold stuff on eBay. Back then computers were relatively much pricier and most people played on dial up connections.

His setup was rather nice with KVM switches and access to university broadband. He made enough from eBay to buy a nice car and pay tuition.

The IRS put an end to his farming as he failed to pay taxes so he ended up selling the car and parting out the computers to pay taxes and penalties

Nowadays most people have a really fast internet connection and small boxes that can run EQ are dirt cheap as is hardware to control them. I don't believe that this fact was taken into consideration when True Box was conceived. In fact I image it's considerably cheaper and easier to run a rack full of small machines rather than risking bans from using VM's and all the other software based solutions to the problem of running a couple of dozen accounts

That would simply cause the death of Krono. Why would the people pay more for a Krono vs a monthly sub?