I am not sure if this is the right place to ask, maybe the Newbie area instead. Maybe the Progression Server section, although what I am asking is not necessarily a progression server. Regardless, why are there so many servers that do not really seem, at least on the outside, different from one another or so different that it deserves to be it's own server? Besides ping or latency of course from region to region, they just seem like more servers of the same content. Even progressions servers take it past Classic and at least to PoP if not slightly higher. And from at least one reply, even that is not really Classic. So is it just to have more room for others to play more comfortably? If so why do people still congregate on certain servers instead of spreading out? Why are not more servers unique and stand apart from one another? And what has to happen in order to get a new server? Can someone host or pay to have a server up and running? Do you have to be part of the team or just John or Jane Doe with some money? Who gets to make the rules of the server? I am not talking about emulating anything, I am talking about official EQ stuff.
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EverQuest is a 20 year old game. When EQ was launched there were too many players for a single server to host, so they created lots of servers to handle the load (more modern MMORPG have taken a different approach, in some cases architecting for a mega server. Without a massive amount of work, EQ probably doesn't have that as an option). So we had about 20 servers, and then the number of players started to decline. A lot. Few people are going to play a game for 20 years. They had some server mergers a long time ago, but even so, the servers are now rather poorly populated and in need of another merge. When it comes to progression servers, players like the nostalgia of starting on a new server where everyone is level 1, and everyone is LFG. So they create new servers each year. Players have to pay to use these servers, plus these servers generate a lot of extra income like krono sales. So it is very profitable to start new progression servers. However, very quickly the glow on the server fades, and they suffer a steep decline in population. Much worse than regular servers. So the progression server 5 years ago is probably a ghost town, and they are looking at server merges to try and increase the population on the server to acceptable levels. A lot of your questions show that you don't understand how population affects a server. So let's look at both extremes. First, too many people on a server (not a problem that we have these days). At the highest end, that could cause server lag as the server is overloaded. That is a technical issue, and not one that we normally encounter. The fear of too many on a server is that you can't go to the camps you want, do the raids you want, etc. That isn't too big a deal these days, as EQ has various instancing options to ensure that most of the time you can play the content that you are interested in playing, although it can be a problem on older zones that aren't instanced like doing epics and plane of power camps. The real problem is under population. Imagine playing EQ where you are the only person on the server. There is no one to group with, there are no raiding guilds to tackle the hardest content. The game gets pretty lonely, and you would quickly move on to another MMORPG with more people. Fortunately, EQ isn't that extreme, but finding groups can be difficult in low population servers. There may not be many raid guilds. On some servers, none of the guilds can beat all of the current content raids. Raid times might not fit with your schedule, etc. The higher the server population, the more varied options you will have to raid. You also mentioned about people spreading out. It is possible to transfer servers in most cases, however there are problems with transferring. First, odds are you will lose the name of your char, and have to rename it to something else. Personally, that is a big deal for me. More importantly, EQ is a game of relationships both at the guild level, as well as your personal friend's list. You leave those behind when you transfer servers. Chances are if you have friends that you are fine leaving behind, you probably are not that attached to the game in the first place, and are more likely to just quit rather than transfer.
I think what the OP is asking is why there are so many servers that are so much alike. TLP servers open up, and they all have similar rulesets, and the zones are really all the same. For many players who populate Live servers, there is little incentive to even consider TLP servers because they are basically a been there done that experience. This is especially valid for casual players the don't have the time to go through old content again. The problem with having servers with different zone configurations, items, and rulesets is that updating becomes difficult. Even creating them to begin with requires resources, and Darkpaw has very limited resources.
... I did say officially and not emulated. Yes thank you. Why are there so many servers alike. To top it off and I made another thread for it, but the servers we do have, unless it is a progression server or pvp, it tells you basically nothing by looking at the available servers. Not what part of the world it is located in so you can gauge how well you can play on it. Nothing about if it has a low, medium or high population which may discourage some or encourage others from joining a particular server. Nothing about if it is normal rules or slightly different rules, faster exp, etc. Just looking at the server selections basically all the same and you wont know except by trial and error and that can take time. If the player population has dwindled so much I would assume there would be less need of servers or at least more unique servers. I'd still like a truly Classic server that never goes past Trilogy or SoL with the old school rules and all. Since there is P99 as well as many other emulators that do that, I would assume it would be a no brainer for Daybreak to do unless they are incapable for some reason. The want and need of the player base is there, even willing to pay for it, although it would be nice to have the Classic price back as well. ^^! "Play like it is 1999 for $9.99!!!" I think I will trade mark that if it has not already been done.
I'm pretty sure the special rules servers do tell you they are different. All the servers are in one place except the Euro server. The TLPs all have different rules, but otherwise you have Test, PvP and whatever FV is called.
All servers except for Antonius Bayle are in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA. They used to be in San Diego, California, USA but I believe they moved to Las Vegas. Antonius Bayle is in Europe, I don't know where exactly. Here is a link to a list of some servers with somewhat of an explanation. This list needs to be updated. https://everquest.fanra.info/wiki/Game_servers
Thanks everyone. I assumed the servers were spaced out a bit more to give people in different parts of the US and the rest of the world a server best suited to them. Either I am thinking of Classic or a totally different MMO that shown the ping and where the servers were located and also the current population. Also I assumed that servers with different rules existed, so maybe that was my mistake. And yet FV does not stipulate it is faster than normal EXP either so... And of course to have a truly official unique server, even one of True Classic would be nice even if you had to be a gold member to play on it.
