Many posts about "rampant boxing" Compile Solutions - Here.

Let's just ban folks when you see 3+ mages on autofollow.
Only reason anyone has 3+ mages in a group is to either RMT or just make others life miserable at this point.

That's pretty reasonable, in my opinion.

In original EQ, I played a mage (2000-2004) as my main for most of it. Now it's difficult to find someone playing a solo mage. Where there's one mage, there's 3-6 of them all controlled by one person.

They've essentially taken a class out of the game because why would most players want to be a mage when they'll be competing for mage loot against box armies?

The people using 3rd party programs claim that it is the only reason they play, because it makes a more enjoyable or challenging experience, when they can control many characters at once. They do pay for a lot of accounts and therefore make a big income for DBG, however they ruin the experience for alot of players not using 3rd party programs.

All 3rd party programs require a constant update of data offsets everytime there is a patch in the game, which is a lot of tedious work (this is the reason the 3rd party programs are not working on test server).
By making small pseudo pacthes every day that changes some of the data structure in the game all 3rd party programs could be rendered useless.

Therefore my solution is to make 2 different game versions. One version where 3rd party programs is allowed and another version where 3rd party programs cannot be used, because the game version is patched every day. The latter version could then be used for a no boxing TLP server and a PVP TLP server.

I know it would cost some resources, maybe 1 hour of work per day from a developer. But I really think the income from the new servers could cover this.

I feel your pain regarding trying to camp gear for your toon and having it auctioned off. I just do not see a fix for this being rotations. It is too hard to control. I was really surprised to see more focus and replies to the PNP resulting in more enforcement. They really do not even do this on the live servers where players have been actively playing and paying for a decade plus.

The second half of my reply is more a general reply to TLPers. I have read countless posts ranging from over-crowding, botting, boxing, instancing, training, mob stealing and even rotations. The funny thing with all the angst is that is exactly how I remember the early days of EQ. I hated it to be honest. The enforcement was guilds or the players making it hard for that person or persons violating PNPs to progress in the game. You escaped the bad players by running with guildies or calling for help from the good ones.

The overcoming of it all built the community of thoughtful gaming. I see all the replies stating competition and wanting it more than the next guy...earning it. Understand it and what it led to: bad gaming practices. These inconsiderate gaming practices were not only prevelant but seemingly allowed. Why would you expect it to be any different now?

I was glad when instancing came into play. You could enjoy the game without those gamers who thought competition was grieving other players on mobs, camps, and whatever else that they could get a rise on. You would focus on the skill of beating events through game play vice avoiding trains and racing to raid mobs via a ridiculous 24 hour phone network.

Once again, why would it be any different now?

Glad not to revisit those days,
Rykard

I understand your post being one pertaining directly to the 3rd party program. It seems to be related to boxing.

As a boxer, I use the original UI and 4 box using everything provided in game to control my toons. I swap between them using a mouse going between two monitors. What would your feelings be regarding a person playing similarly moving around progressing?

Rykard

No one is stopping anyone else from doing the same thing as mage boxers, as far as i'm concerned just because you don't want to do that doesn't mean you get to force your play style on everyone else. Many people 6 box because they dont want to rely on others in the game or constantly look for groups for hours on end, especially for classes that are not desirable (i.e., most melee dps). And before you say that is what everquest is all about, no. That may be what everquest is all about for you, but not others.

If anyone frequents these forums, they know how constructive and enlightening most of your posts are.

You have yet again shown that you're not really in touch with the game at all.

And i find it very hypocritical, the same people complaining about mage boxers are the ones that cling to their when they have rots whether that be a mage boxer in your guild or just some random multi-mage boxer. Many people have been fully geared in planar gear precisely because of these mage boxers, which they could have not otherwise done alone or as fast.

I find it funny that these people speak so much about them on the forums, and yet if they raid depending on the guild, mage boxers are the ones that actually do most of the work. Some mobs can only be pet walled in the current state with reasonable amount of members and thus any other class that is not a pet class is essentially getting free loot for not doing anything substantial whatsoever.

I am not really sure of why you are still arguing this. The new server that restricts boxing is coming out fairly soon. That is DBG's solution to the 3rd party programs. Since they have already created a solution to the problem, why are you asking for more solutions?

The real problem is the players that multi box and would have been violating the prior play nice policy (so they are being very rude with their boxing) or the people who are using cheats. The people on the servers seem to be playing a little nicer now days but the cheats are running rampid and need to be taken down a notch.

I don't sugar coat the issues like some. I don't think mass boxing, botting or RMT are good for servers like this in the long run.

Agreed. Depends what you call mass boxing but botting and RMT are really bad for the servers and the communities. I could care less about multi boxing but would honestly rather see these 3rd part programs taken out.

I, for one, welcome our new Mage box overlords. I'd like to remind them, as a Druid I can provide SoW so that they can get to their targets faster and provide the server with more loot.

you should just SOW the lead mage so he outruns the rest of the box group. would be funny.

-Or people who complain about boxers

Instead of mage boxers they should just put NPC vendors in Commonlands who sell raid loot and epic parts for Kronos or DBG bucks

THIS really doesn't solve the issue over all as at present you have pretty much the same people WHO actually pay for accounts as the ones that find the need to BUY krono to get gear..

basically the real revenue for the game is coming out of the same pocket EVERY time while others are just using in game money to buy their accounts access..

I also know a few people who have admitted to playing on the TLP servers and especially LJ solely so they can pay for their all access account since on LJ the krono were going for 2100 to 2200 pp and they could make that in a few hours of hard farming.

Hey now krono are back down to 4500 last i heard (down from the 6500 during the "duping") and going down steadily.

My post has nothing against boxers in general. I am a mage boxer. What I find disturbing, if you can understand is the rampant abuse of the system as it is. I am tired of hearing fellow gamers complain about certain boxers and am trying to offer an area to brainstorm solutions. They are not boxers, they are RMTers. That is the problem. The use of ShowEQ, and RMT sites. Please offer something constructive.

Solution - Daybreak invokes a rule to not allow boxing. That's the only solution that will work.

Not true. Instancing with lockout would work just as well. Then, non-boxers will have a supply of mobs to kill. As mob supply increases, RMT boxers will find it much harder to sell their items at costs that can support their squads. Meanwhile, the casual boxer can still enjoy his playstyle.

This sounds like the most reasonable fix to me.