Cya Everquest

The merc system is out dated and mostly useless in the end game if you want to complete missions. I am sure people will dispute this, but they are not a good alternative to a real player.

Why can't DPG just implement their own system where you can use your own characters as mercs (same idea as that which should not be named). That way they can keep the gravy train flowing and take a firm stance on third party software so there is no ambiguity as to what is and isn't allowed.

I know there is a group of people who say this will kill the group game but it wouldn't be any different than what we have today other than being controlled by DPG and eliminating the aspects that give users an unfair advantage.

Personally if I had to group with other players I just wouldn't play. I know people still play this for the social aspect and enjoy that part, I think Norrath is big enough to accommodate both types of play.

They have added many quality of life improvements to the game and I suspect they will continue to do so. Cheating and AFK gameplay I think has changed the in-game economy for the worse. 3 million plat for a krono on my server! Anyhow, if people want to cheat they will always find ways of doing it, especially if it is profitable for them. I remember in another MMO there were literally gold farm companies setup in other countries who would basically hire people to play the game for gold and then sell the gold on the web.

Now botting and boxing I consider two different things.

To me a bot is akin to "robot" in that the actions are automated, much like the in-game mercs.

To box is to play multiple characters at once. Originally this was done on multiple computer boxes and is intended to be that way on the current "truebox" servers.

Some people like me want only bots removed but enjoy playing the game with boxes. Others want all of that removed. Only reason I created my first real box cleric was when I got my warrior to level 18 back in 1999 and could not solo green con mobs very well.

You know, i've been officially "retired" since 2006. I often come back and level up my main, and play with some old friends that are still playing, maybe go on some open weekend raids with the cool kids. So i basically still look at the game trough the lens of someone who played EQ on its peak from 2000-2006, and there's no MMO out there that can beat that experience.
I know the game has aged, and because of the effects of that process people stoped playing and server populations shrank and people started resorting to boxing more and more, and then eventually some of those people started resorting to automated gameplay for their boxes, and some other people started AFK farming, because why not? So you see, it's a slippery slope, and when you give and inch it takes a mile.
SOE back then craked down on cheaters, until they kinda gave up because back then i guess cheaters got too sophisticated for them to chase down. So they started accomodating those needs from an aging game by implementing Mercs, wich for me are another heresy if you take into account the old EQ "spirit", and then they made the game easier by improving exp, then by putting in Defiant Gear, wich effectively makes the whole game from 1 to 85 obsolete. Then ingame shops with bags, gear and exp pots and every little convenience you can think of, but to me when it comes to a game like EQ convenience is the death of character.
DPG right now seems to be trying to recapture some of that character, and i can only hope they keep on that path and dont give up on the "soul" of Everquest, it has been tarnished enough as the years went by, maybe its time to reclaim that to allow us to have a brighter future in norrath.

I'm honestly shocked at the lack of a response from the dev's on this. It really goes to show the lack of customer service, lack of communication and overall disrespect for its player base. We have clearly seen that EVERY guild has suffered suspended/banned players. The population of players using software to make the game playable/enjoyable is profoundly evident. Dev's clearly do not have the time, resources, manpower and/or knowledge to modify the game to make it playable. Heck, on a subscription based game we cannot even fix lag that has destroyed raids. Instead they are focusing the little resources they have on "anti-cheating".

People have been using software to assist in making Everquest enjoyable for over 20 years. Multiple owers of the franchise understood/tolerated it as an arguable necessary evil. They understood the code used to write Everquest did not allow for many features to be added. Even devs have admitted they cannot improve mercs due to coding restrictions. Instead we are doing somewhat random bans/suspensions which is going to cut into daybreaks revenue thus lowering their already shrinking development budget which will now effect EVERYONE in the game. There are a VERY small group of vocal people on these boards that support the banning of people using any software. They are just that a VERY SMALL group. Most mainstream guilds accept it and many even embrace it. Clearly my opinion doesn't mater to them however I ask people to be careful what they wish for. When the game loses 40-50% of its revenue and you wonder why future content is even more lackluster and servers are even more baron.... perhaps then you will understand. Sadly by that time it will be too late.

I'd be hard pressed to believe 50% of the EQ population are using cheats. You're just speculating, and crying about an action that was long overdue.

Remember, its not just MQWhatever we are talking about, people are being suspended/ban for [Unmentioned 3rd Party Software], software driven keyboards that allow macros and more. Someone put up a flow chart earlier of many of the items. The EULA is so board that virtually ANYTHING outside of the base game is bannable. Hell the good old autofire.exe from GoD days is bannable.

Define "EQ population" first. Are you counting only people behind the keyboard, or actual characters in game? Its hard to tell exactly what that number is from the player's perspective because all we see are characters. I suspect there are probably fewer people behind the keyboard than you might think. As for whether or not 50% are cheating, only DPG thinks it knows that number. I think if you, as a player, really want to know how much the game would be affected, then DPG should suspend all suspected cheaters at once, and not just go pick off a few here or there on server sweeps. Then we would know the true impact that suspending/banning accounts would be. Then we could have a real discussion on what will happen, and not just ForumQuest our guesses.

I'm not looking at individual people but the number of accounts. From Daybreaks view they look at revenue. It doesnt mater if 30 accounts are subscribed by one person or 30 different people. So if we go with bogus numbers and say there are 100k subscribed accounts in EQ and 40-50% use SOME form of 3rd party software... that 40-50% in the figure above would represent 40k-50k accounts. They might actually be controlled by only 8k players if the average boxer has 6+ accounts. The fact remains that removing those 8k players could shrink revenue and total characters in game down by half.

Its a pretty telling sign that EQ knowns who is using software however they keep suspending/banning only a small percentage of players at a time. They are hoping that people will stop using the software however its become clear over this period that most players are not willing to continue playing EQ without the quality of life feature said software provides. EQ could have blanket ban all people using the software but if you read between the lines you will like see that even they understand it will crush their subscribers/revenue.

Do you have evidence to support that claim or is it just anecdotal?

Read the boards bud, people have flat out said what they were using when they were ban and all of them were not mqwhatever

ISB, which is allowed, can do things that are not allowed. The question is not whether the other options can do the things you listed, but rather, do the majority of the people using those other options use those features.

I think based on the amount of frustration, you may find that a lot of the people using those options are not automating everything. They are getting help with some basic functions like the person you quoted suggested and getting mixed in with the people who are fully automating everything.

Which is the real point Barnel was getting at. Can the basic features which contribute to boxing being enjoyable, such as the ones he listed, lead to much fewer people turning to 3rd party options?

One thing that always comes to mind for me on this subject is how autofire used to be a 3rd party app which could lead to account action, but is now part of the game.

Of course people who cheated are going to say "I didn't use cheating software!"

I see, so no evidence then and just taking people's word for stuff.
Did you know I've never broken a single law in my life, not even a traffic-related one?
/That's not true but I just told you it was so you should believe it.

I can get on board with some level of automation, adjusting the rules for some client based boxing support, but when you are canceling 9 accounts, it's hard for even me to believe what you have been doing is in the grey area of maybe we should adjust the definition of cheating for. You are likely more than impacted by the suspensions, you are likely a contributor that forced DPGs hand and caused a lot of collateral damage to other people. There's a point where even boxers want you to go away and you are probably well into that area. I think hitting a 7th sub is a pretty good indicator that you have gone too far, even if some of those subs are for immediate family (spouse, etc).

For sure. I think providing more QoL as well as making the game not so "annoying" to solo would be cool.

Kind've over having to have 3+ characters to do anything somewhat efficiently.

This remind me about this Famous chicken who could live for a while after losing its head.
See https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mike_the_Headless_Chicken

Just saying, May be that is close to DP situation.

The facts are that most of the peoples opinions in this thread mean about 1/9th of someone like myself who subs 9x the accounts as a majority of you. EQ is in for a rude awakening when they find out that a majority of their player base most likely uses these programs, and by listening to the people on the forums who only sub to one account over these people who are paying for multiple accounts, they are alienating a huge portion of their player base. This game has been around for 23 years and EQ just decides to take a stance on this now? The two can not live without each other. I play on a server where I just joined general chat and it has 38 people including myself. The developers want to neglect our server while directly negating all of the hard work some of us have done to drive up the population. Do you think we care if someone is playing 6 toons with programs on Zek? No we go and kill them and they go on their way. We don't need mass suspensions killing half our population, while there has been 0 representation from the developers on anything related to our server. This is a joke and honestly, you all should be ashamed.

Everquest isn't just a game to a lot of us its a part of life. We have been dedicated players for 20+ years, investing in this game. The players support this game, not Daybreak or Darkpaw or what ever you want to call it. The players have to test the raids, expansions, and what not to lessen the workload for the developers. In a sense, we are paying to do work for this company. You want to bring in some developers who know nothing about this game and how it works doing blanket suspensions across the game comparing people using program JUST to play this game to cheaters in Call of Duty, its not the same. Everquest has created this environment due to lack of action or laziness, and what do you think will happen when 50%+ of your playerbase decides they are fed up with it.

If you want to go and suspend half our population, then you need to show some attention to our server. I mean honestly are the developers proud that the last time they ever did anything to support Zek was back in 2005? 17 years its been since we have seen anything new on our pvp merchant, I ask why? Is this a statistic that you developers are proud of? Leave us alone or represent us. As it is right now this opinion is coming from raid leader on Zek and we have beat Zelnithak with 39 toons. We have brought raids to this server after 5+ years without a single raid guild. This is how we encourage players to come back to EQ, providing a server with some what of a raid opportunity along with PVP. So what happens when you cut our population, the pvp dies, the opposing guild stops logging in because there isn't any pvp, and you have nobody playing the server. Reality is you are expensing a server that doesn't bring nearly enough revenue to sustain the cost. Is this what Everquest is really trying to accomplish?

If you really want to make a statement you should call your CC and have them reverse charges. I guarantee you that will have an effect!

Ok, I kid. Dont anyone do that.

And.. just like that.. agenda shown.. and credibility gone.

Thanks for playing.

Now the guild gets to win with only 30 members! That would be impressive!