Producer's Letter: July Update and What's Coming Up

since you haven't played the TLP, then really you have no idea of the true impact of the 6/12/24/ and yes 30 boxers(i'm still waiting on someone boxing a full raid of 72, i'm sure that's some mental midget's goal somewhere), have been having on these servers. at one point on one of the servers, a mage box army actually locked down all the end raids from guilds. there are entire guilds made up of boxers, one has 2 sets of 18 boxers and a 24 boxer, never mind the 6 and 12 boxers in that guild.
most of us don't mind boxing, hell i normally don't, several of my guildies 4 box... but the boxing has gotten insane on the TLP. this is why a lot of us are wanting this kind of limit, not been playing recently due to an injury, now i'm debating not coming back now till this new TLP simply because as more and more kronos enter the servers the bigger the box armies are getting.

I don't think its alienating boxers at all but I don't think its good for the regular servers either.

While I agree massive boxing crews are bad I would point out that if they are boxing 72 toons they are not a mental midget....just suggesting a different pejorative be used in this case.

Just not sure where they impose the limit on how many toons is bad... 30 50 definitely waaaay out there on the bad scale.

But I also think anything on the progression servers gets magnified by the fact that you have two servers with relatively massive populations that all started suddenly with nothing but with the abilities to level up to max in a very short time and basically be competing for all the items available on those servers. What would be bad on the regular servers like botters ends up being REALLY bad on the progression servers.

I don't have to be playing TLP to know that some people on TLP are acting outrageously. Trust me, you guys have made yourselves plenty heard on that point.

Which is partially why I said:

My point is, Holly announces said no-boxing server, and instead of the cheers, relief and gratitude that announcement should be met with, it is met with (by some) more derision, nit-picking, MORE demands and etc.

The bottom line is, the grand majority of people (myself included) do not know how to do these technical work-arounds that people are so worried about, and most people are more frugal than to buy 2-3 or more computers just to feed their boxing habit - especially when ALL other servers allow boxing, so why the heck would they?

This is a very old game, with a skeleton crew and very limited resources, and yet people are asking for a huge time and money sink to add additional technology to prevent the very few people who would be foolish enough to try to 1. do a work-around or 2. buy additional computers, just to box on the only server that doesn't allow it.

When is enough just about enough?

Since you are being a prominent user in the community having created a nice UI I am going to try to go easy on you when I try to set you straight about this...

1. They already have code in the client that can do this, but third party tool devs would just bypass this scan if they would start banning for it.
2. Now, since any intelligent person would agree that scanning memory for unwanted modules (that's injected .dll's for the non tech) can be bypassed, the only logical approach would be to come to an agreement with the third party tool developers to ask them to kindly render their software useless on a no boxing allowed server.
3. That discussion is already in the works and it will happen and I know for a fact that at least one developer of a common third party tool used for boxing, has plans to disable that tool on such a server if such a server, should it go live.

mkay? now please drop the scanner thingy, it has been discussed and aside from being questionable its not the right approach nor would it be as effective as just talking to these guys...

Disclaimer: I am a boxer but I also support the no boxing server 100%

I don't play on the progression servers either and I agree some gamers (of EQ or any game out there) will complain and whine even if they are handed the world on a platter. Which makes sense any time you have a large population a certain amount will be whiners.

BUT as to the argument that there will still be boxers (if not botters) on this new server without additional preventions I have to agree that this is correct. You are forgetting that a large number that play on the progression servers play on the regular servers and a large number of that group have multiple computers even if its just one desktop and one laptop. Thing is 2 or 3 or 4 computers won't be that uncommon either because EQ runs off very old computers.... many playing eq keep their old machines for this reason. And you can be sure that those doing all the training and KSing and bot armies on the current progression servers likely have multiple computers too. They will still have an advantage over the other users who abide by the one PC one account rule.

If Daybreak isn't aggresive in preventing boxing/botting on the new server it will do well for a couple months then bust. They obviously feel they can bring in the subscriptions for it. If I was daybreak my worry would be they add a server and just move around the players on existing servers but maybe they have lost so many subscriptions from the new progression servers they know they have a bunch of people out there they might get back.

IMO, that is an acceptable risk to take before you make it so families cannot play together. Doing so is also a recipe for a bust.

they wouldn't do it by ip, it would lock out too many, besides there are work arounds... though a guy just discovered(after he used a vpn to bypass the only make 2 accounts per day rule, read about it here, it's actually kinda sadly amusing https://forums.daybreakgames.com/eq/index.php?threads/banned-for-6-boxing.225515/ ) 24 is maybe not a good plan... they will use another way, probably some sot of client detection software.

This made me chuckle.

I am *sooooo* happy that this thread has now become completely dominated about TLP topics - especially those which are 5+ months away! This might as well have just been posted in the TLP area.

To quote a wonderful cameo on the Simpsons:

Bill Clinton: Thank you, Lisa, for teaching kids everywhere a valuable lesson: If things don't go your way, just keep complaining until your dreams come true.

It's the TLP way!

Blah blah blah, how about revisiting the server merge. Hardly anyone on any one server. Cant find anything you want on the bazaar. No groups because people have had to resort to boxing multiple toons for their own group. blah blah blah nerf mages, create new servers. Just merge the servers so we have people to play with. Thanks.

A TLP with no box/bots?

I'd show up for that.

You crying about TLP players crying is hilarious. QQ

Scoop of irony anyone?

Apparently I've lost my touch at being a pro at complaining. I figured after the Geomantra B*fit I had for years it would be more successful!

Edit: I can't write sentences.

A thousand times this. If group damage isn't a big deal, as it's been claimed here, then lose the pets and keep DPS where it was. Pets don't do screw all on a raid anyway, do they?

Nah, mages want to rank high on the DPS charts and have a (actually pretty damned good) pocket tank. Which of course makes them perfect for a bot army.

Do you have any clue about Mages on Live or are you talking about TLP? Because TLP is not the real game.

Once upon a time, long ago, it was true that Mages thought of themselves as a conjuration class and we even mainly used our "shock" (conj magic) line of spells to deal damage. Bolts were often unreliable due to LOS issues and rains were limited in that they would not land max waves, and the AE radius could make them prohibitive.

Most mages even then viewed themselves as an offensive damage class and as utility in only a marginal sense until PoP came along. Then our pets were turned into wisps which vaporized when sent to an add and we became primarily a mod-rod making class for raids as Yelinak, etc. This was foist on us, not asked for, and as a result, Most "real" Mages disappeared from Norrath and bots were used for the rods and for CoH machines, except for me and a handful of other maniacs.

It wasn't until OOW when our pets came back to a semblance of the tanking form they had had up until PoP, and we also changed our style from a conjuration class to an evocation class. There were a few die-hards and debates about this for about a year, until virtually all mages (that I know of) went evocation only and we primarily used fire spells as our magic line's efficacy diminished further and further. Magic DDs are used rarely nowadays, although in some situations they can be useful and with some help from sinia lines and the RNG land with greater impact than fire. Still, I know only few Mages who use Magic (conj) DDs in a weave.

Mages have been hearing people say, "Here's how I see a Mage class", from people who don't play Mages for a few years now and have undergone around 15 nerfs at last count in the last 2 years. That is substantial and we've adopted our gameplay accordingly as well as possible.

The Mage class does not see ourselves as a utility class first and foremost through the arts of conjuration magic. We see ourselves as evocation offensive magic dealers.

The fact of what we can do in molo capacity has its niche, but in no way deserves the "OP" accolades (or accusations depending on your point-of-view) that it continues to get any more than the cleric who posted earlier in this thread or any SK pulling a named out of a group to my feet, or necro or (insert class) doing his or her own molo or solo "thing."

This class envy and jealousy have done nothing more than hurt a class in an already diminished game. When we all ride into the Norrathian sunset I hope it can be done without the pettiness and rancor all this "OP" finger-pointing and these nerfs have created.

Bara

single client also = no hubby/wife playing together, no father/son, no roommates etc...just sayin...

All about a potential "no boxing" server, so excited I'd probably cash out until it gets released. Won't completely rid the server of potential work arounds, but it will certainly make it much more difficult. It will also be policed pretty heavily by fellow players. Generally what makes P99 so enjoyable, is the no boxing.