I think what the OP is suggesting if valid especially if there are enough people interested in a server with this rule set. The only stipulation I would place is no Kronos because the exploitation of the disabled by others would/could potentially get out of control. Its easy to sit back and say "not to my EQ" and tell someone who loves this game to go play a game they don't love but try picturing yourself 20 years from now. Do you want to be told to go do something you don't enjoy? I personally would be skipping a server with this rule set but what could it really hurt? If anything it might open the door to more people with disabilities who have felt overwhelmed or threatened by mmo's.
Actually I could see this working well. For me though it would require a few things: 1. Not be a huge chore for the staff to implement - lets face it we'd all rather get new content in general or more quality of life fixes then something like this. making it "easy" mode doesnt seem like it would be all that fast or easy... unless it was something like mobs across the board hit 60% less, and had 60% less hps or some kind of formula, while still a big undertaking at least would make it a bit easier. 2. Be a "nothing in, nothing out" server. Nothing account wide. Nothing or Nobody comes in (no server transfers in, no anything like that), and nothing and nobody leaves. A total wall of separation between this server and the rest of the EQ universe. 3. I'd restrict raid content to be limited to current less two years. Because otherwise, why not just go to ez mode and solve all the mechanics of raiding then pop back to live. 4. Enforce the badword filter, spam filter, and disable krono. I'd play on an easy mode server with my daughter who has disabilities, and i'm sure i'm not the only one who would. I'm sure there are lots of folks who would play in that type of environment with their kids as something to do together, just the same way as my daughter loves to play Diablo from time to time, and when she wants to play we just drop the difficulty down so she isnt frustrated all the time.
This. Everquest isn't hard, but it's gotten very annoying to play over the years. Even World of Warcraft doesn't have this many buttons that you have to push all the time to make your character work, and in fact they've simplified the whole process several times to make it more user friendly. Against what many people think, a game that is user hostile isn't a better or more challenging game. It's a worse game, because there's a larger disconnect between the logic of the game and the player experience. People want to feel as though they are in control of their characters; not that the game interface is in control of them. This game desperately needs less buttons. And I say that as a young person, not an old person.
Bad word filter works fine. Setting up a new character could be a LOT easier in terms of turning off the information overload filters. That stuff ought to be at acccount select screen. Why disable Kronos? So people couldn't farm for other servers? I can see the logic of that. I would never go to a server that required me to leave behind all that I have built these last 18 yrs. though! I might make an account there to play with my disabled son though it wouldn't be too often.
I think it could work too especially with an aging EQ population but you would have to go further then just disabling krono. I think it would have to be like FV and be a no transfer off server. Any server allowing easier acquisition of items, kronos or levels/aa should not be allowed to transfer off that server.
try test server or FV. They both have double exp and gear is easier to come by. However, if you want a vibrant population to play with at lower levels, your probably gonna need to find another game. EQ hasn't been designed well to replay lower lvls. The AA treadmill encourages people to max out instead of enjoy the trip. Other games do have more replayability at lower lvls, so more people play the low end there.
I've been watching this thread since it started, and I agree that there are other games that fit what the OP was talking about. Right off the top of my head Skyrim comes to mind. I know it's not a social game, but you can always hit the escape button. There are options.
One thing that would be done away with is DPS checked raids. Although Plane of Justice trials are all right at level 65+ :-D
Not sure if it's just me, but I click everything, and play very efficiently. I always have. I have 0 macros and 2 key-binds just in case I mis-click, which I still hardly ever use.
Some people are still suggesting other games instead of considering how an easy or casual server as I would like to call it could be beneficial for the game. Lets face it none of us are getting any younger. There is a rather large population of players who have supported this game for nearly two decades who are now collecting social security or will be in the near future. There is also a rather large population of players who have families now and a significant increase in RL responsibilities compared to when EQ came out. A casual server that had 3-5 times xp rates, increased named spawn rates and maybe decreased mob hp/dps might keep more people in these groups interested in the game. Free trade like FV and a no transfer off of server so people cant just use it to PL and move off. It can be a little intimidating looking at 30k AA's when you have limited playing time which is why I suspect a lot of casual players leave the game. They already have retro servers so why not a causal server that has current content for those of us who don't want to be stuck playing the same 3-4 expansions until our names our etched on our tombstone. On the flip side they could create a hardcore server with half xp rates, half rare spawn rates, double mob hp/dps and so forth if people want the extra challenge.
Its not just you, I cast (almost, I have a macro for banestrike/forces though) everything manually too, and do just fine as a wizard. It enables me to fine-tune mana usage better during an encounter. Then again, I don't chat much when I try to dps, it requires constant spamming to deliver good dps. Making an easier server sounds like a lot of work, it will probably require tuning of every single mob/mechanic to make it work optimally. A lazy solution could be to just fiddle with variables that affects global game-mechanics, such as a global time-scale parameter, which makes everything work in slowmotion(to help people with poor reaction). Or a a serverwide hp/mana/endurance buff of 20% for all players or something..
Raiding was fun when we had time to chat and weren't being parsed. I had an idea of what we could do without on an easy server. Elevators that require swimming up and down like Pillars of Alra. Ssra isn't as bad because you can't fall out of them.
Not trying to be rude, but the class you play gains very little from multibinds and such, where as the class Agrippa plays. It's pretty much been the gold standard since HOT. Though I play the same class with minimal automation (jjust a couple multibinds) if have a hard time believing someone could pull it off strictly via alt casting and clicking at a high level for extended periods of time. 7 Hate spells woven on recast (12s to 24s recast so you can't just go down the line alt casting), a slew of AAS that need to be clicked frequently (Yaulp, Disruptive Persecution/FOD) and a bunch of self buffs to micromanage. Who would WWant to work that hard with an easier option available? I can't imagine pplaying most without atleast a multibind. Yuck.
I normally end up tying about fifteen spells, abilities, items and such to my E key. I use WSAD keys for movement, so the E key is fairly natural from there. I've had up to eighteen tied to the key. They're all on different timers. I worked it out to averaging about 55-60 buttons to press per minute as a paladin. As the timers sometimes pop up at the same time, it's not like I can pace myself to moving the mouse around and clicking a different hotkey per second, too. Yeah, there are classes that have a lot more than this and some games (StarCraft, etc.) have about 250 buttons per minute, but my point was that the game has evolved to a point to where it was near impossible for me to do all of this manually. Point and click like. EverQuest started off as a pretty point-and-click friendly game, but now it's evolved to the point that it's near impossible to play efficiently this way for most classes. My point was that, while averaging a click per second might not seem like a lot, try manually clicking 15-18 different buttons that fast as they all refresh at different times never missing a beat. Seems more complicated to me than what most drummers or those dance off video games have to deal with now. It's just too much for some of use old timers.
On Live I found at 62 being far worse for wear over the years, that complication for it's own sake out stripping any attempts at imagination to be boring as crap. See one has nothing to do with the other as it would have been boring at 32. So we turned our backs to Live and went the TLP Enc/priest class route. Outside of the krono hounds that infect these servers from time to time it has been a good call so far and with the right class selection fun to play a duo that can both charm which keeps things busy without 48 buttons to be used. I like a deep tool box and all but this is ludicrous. IMO that is the solution to whatever we wish to call Live.
