Would you be interested in a small group instead of raid server some day?

Discussion in 'Time Locked Progression Servers' started by iceyx, Mar 13, 2023.

  1. iceyx Journeyman

    Now that we have AOC's for everything, I can't help but think that this game would be absolutely amazing if we had a TLP server based around small groups at some point. Basically balancing all of the content to be group oriented rather than raid oriented.

    Raiding with 72 people is neat, but I know I'm probably not the only one that usually ends up in a dedicated clique within my raid guild. People I've had a ton of fun playing EQ with over the years. This tends to be a smaller selection of players, and it would be absolutely amazing if we could some day say, clear through all of Planes of Power with a smaller group. Or even 2 groups similar to EQ2 with its epic x2 content.

    Bonus points if the server was built around progressing at your own pace, unlocking expansions as your group clears content which would unlock all sorts of fun race potential between groups. Example, beat VT to unlock Planes of Power for your character.

    Anyway, just rambling and looking for something new to challenge with my EQ friends.
  2. Captain Video Augur

    They already have this, it's called a Live server.
    code-zero and Skuz like this.
  3. iceyx Journeyman

    Mercs soloing bosses isn't very engaging. I'm talking about a server built around raid bosses being group encounters.
  4. Captain Video Augur

    This is a MMO. They're not going to re-design the game to eliminate raids. If you want easy mode, there is Mischief.
    Skuz likes this.
  5. Chuuk Augur

    There are some ehem-you-l8ted servers that do this already - Project Lazarus is one of them. But I agree that it would be cool to play on an "official" server that does this.

    Its tuned so that you can 1-group (in era) all but the toughest PoP / GoD / OOW raid content. They also allow all the fun EQ cheat tools, so you can essentially 6-box a team (with help from software) thru most of the content. It makes a server with only maybe 100-150 actual human players feel much bigger.
    Appren likes this.
  6. Ythera Augur

    That's one of my issues with EQ is that with a smaller population base compared to other popular online game, it can be moderately difficult to gather together 54-72 people who want to play the raid game, so you end up with needing to box to fill that out. If the raids were all retuned for 12, 18, or 24 characters, then it would work a lot better.
  7. MischiefTLP Augur

    If you want to one group raids just play on Vaniki, Mercs come out on Thursday to make it a lot easier to get gear since you no longer need to gear up a tank and Field of Scale means 6-7hp per level gear is easily obtainable. Stay at whatever level you like with a handful of other people doing the raids at 51+ and can even sell raid spots for some events to people playing on the new server. Level up whenever you feel like it.

    TLPs are largely necessary for level appropriate large scale raiding, Faceless on Test and a couple guilds on Trakanon attempted self regulated raids but it's a pain. Self-regulating a group is pretty trivial.
  8. FranktheBank Augur

    You are your friends dont want challenge.
  9. Roxas MM Augur

    there are no mercs in raid instances...
  10. Kahna Augur


    I am curious what difficulty has to do with the number of people you bring. WoW raids are difficult and they don't have 72 people. If something is tailored to be difficult for the number of players allowed to enter the instance then it is difficult. It doesn't matter if that number if 12 or 72. The only hard part about 72 person EQ raids is keeping a roster of 72 people.

    The raids themselves are easy. I have played on almost every TLP to date and I can count on one hand the number of times a guild hasn't killed every single mob they tackled on the first attempt. Let's not pretend there are any truly difficult raids from Classic-PoP. I struggled far more with low man content on Mischief then I ever did with a full 72 man "real raid". That was a real challenge, not swamping the zone with 72 people and facerolling everything.
    Haeldar and Appren like this.
  11. Parkers Journeyman


    Yeah, I think if they did this with Vaniki like ruleset without the minus 10 levels, it would be the most popular server. Simply toon the encounters to a group for most raids except the hardest end Event, make those 3 groupable lets say. Make all equipment recommended level useable, raid targets groupable, free trade. In other words, a server for non-raiders, who make up a large percentage of players. Instanced, picks etc. I know this is going to be looked at as dumbing down the game, but consider that most players who have been playing for most of EQ's History are older, have less time, already done it, and just like the funness of EQ.
  12. Mrjon3s Augur

    People already do this. Its called low manning. Doing every raid with the bare minimum. It really only works if you have good people.
  13. Waring_McMarrin Augur

    From what I recall none of those raids are designed around having a raid of 72 players and bringing that many players is what is making it easy. It isn't that those raids are difficult anymore just that 72 is way more then is required for them.
  14. Kahna Augur


    Except the 54 man raids, which were tuned for that many people, are also faceroll easy for a significant portion of the game. Game's not hard, player power creep has ensured that. Retuning for small groups is likely never going to happen, but I do think it would be an easy way to refresh the old game and bring in new life. Easy as an idea anyway. Harder to actually implement/balance. Hence why it will probably never happen.
  15. Waring_McMarrin Augur

    Neither of us mentioned the 54 man raids and all I was pointing out was many of the early raids that allow 72 players are not only easy but designed for fewer player which means brining more people then intended will make them even easier.
  16. iceyx Journeyman

    Are you actually, genuinely challenged by this content? Seriously point me to where this game has any challenge left at all on TLP servers. It's faceroll all the way through until the next set launch and we do it all again. Every expansion conquered the day it releases like clockwork. Casual raiding guilds with people playing in first person at 5 APM clicking their abilities like it's still 1999 clearing content the following week.

    Raid size has nothing to do with challenge. WoW, FFXIV, most games have 10 man raids that make EQ raid difficulty look like freddi fish with mods installed to make it easier.

    I guess you could argue that the challenge is rounding up enough bodies to zerg something down, but 70% of those bodies are just boxes now due to the content being so easy and classes so basic, so that kinda falls apart too.
    brickz likes this.
  17. Skuz I am become Wrath, the Destroyer of Worlds.

    Later expansions already feature group content that is based upon many of the raid events anyway so that even groupers "get to experience all the story without the requirement to raid".

    I think this idea requires far too much work for far too little payoff - it benefits maybe a niche audience and for the few that want that I think they would quickly get bored because the sense of achievement, of having beaten something difficult requiring intricate team coordination will be missing entirely or at least massively eroded.

    And ask yourself if by down-tuning all of the raid events to group difficulty means you would be happy to see all of the raid gear downtuned in the same way - if your answer is no.....then you are absolutely just asking for a face-roll mega easy server dishing out OP loot that will bore people to death faster than ever before.

    And if you wanted a "real" grouping server you would just remove all of the raid content, and that also means no epics.
  18. brickz Augur

    I think you undercut your own idea here. The reason people still play this ancient game is to boomer it up and play something familiar and slow paced. Anyone looking for a challenge is doing m+/mythic raids in wow or savage/ults in FFXIV or playing another genre entirely
  19. Xeris Augur

    You can just do this on current servers, Agnarr for example. I've been running as much content as possible with 1-2 groups. Have got through about half the LDON raids, and 3/4 elemental planes (not Rathe council, obv), and not potime.

    I feel like there are tons of ways to do what you are looking to do in the existing game, so not really sure why EQ should be rebuilt. If you wanna do other stuff, play the other games. I dunno why people keep using things that wow or ff14 or whatever are doing as examples. If you want to play EverQuest, play EverQuest... If you don't want to play this game, play one if the many other mmo options
    Captain Video likes this.
  20. Captain Video Augur


    If the game ended at PoP, I would tend to agree with you. But fortunately for those who do appreciate challenges, the game keeps going, for 20+ additional expansions and counting. From my perspective, the real game of EQ doesn't begin until GoD, and it's clear you've never played that far along. Raids are no longer tank and spank, there are much more involved mechanics which your guild has to think about and plan for. Raids don't go down the first day, either; in some cases they don't even go down the first month. Progression at group level is also more involved, you'll be doing group missions which far exceed the complexity of the raids you're now bored with. The beauty of it is, you can try out swaths of content designed just the way you've asked for it, all for FREE, on any Live server.
    Appren, Skuz and Tweakfour17 like this.