Yup. Botters (not boxers) nail down named camps in earlier eras, FTE makes it easier for them. I am not against FTE, but people who havent seen the botters locking down camps 24x7 really don't realize how bad it it (on top of it many confuse bots with boxes) . Their pets engage the mob right as it "unlocks" after it spawns, within split second, and mage pet insta root proc nails it - you get a very low chance of first engagement if you spam pet attack etc. (not fun really). Anyway, I have kind of accepted that bots are part of TLPs especially in the first few expacs. I think I will get a stroke if I DONT SEE a 20-char 24x7 automated crew in every pick in Siren's Grotto in a TLP (and like a fish tank, it is relaxing to watch them go through the same motions, including same exact steps)
Honest query... If FTE makes it impossible to compete with a 20 char crew (your words) how does not having FTE help that scenario? are you really thinking you can out DPS the 20 char crew? Seems with FTE you have some chance of gaining aggro first...So for the 20 char crew example I think FTE helps not makes it worse? What am I not seeing? I get the 24/7 camping that will always be an issue. and it bites when it happens in zones that rarely get enough traffic for multiple picks so they control the sole spawn...Hadden was a decent example of that... There were many full time groups in Guk in Classic. I only see FTE made it so a stronger group could not just steam roll the existing group and take a camp. Hadden you could not steal, but you could race for first aggro... IF I came to Qeynos Hills and someone was sitting at the spawn I conceded they had the camp even when it was always the same person regardless of when I checked. I had to race when I finally found the camp unoccupied and waited and 10 minutes before he spawn the person who had been camping it showed and made it clear they would try and take the spawn...I got first aggro...FTE made that situation better IMO... Was it perfect....was everything FTE introduce a positive....no, but I still say the positive way out weigh the few negatives which really boil down we can not use force to dictate who gets to loot the spawn.
I remember on Fippy we had a guy everyone called G6 (6 gnomes cleric, enchanter, 3 mages, 1 wizard) He was actually a really nice guy as a whole. He would help you get certain mobs most the time just byt asking him, yet he owned PoFear....lol Guilds literally negotiated with him over items...because he knew they could not out DPS his script. Should he be using a script....NO.... Was he....YES Sometimes reality just bites....lmao
Good question. Again, I am specific about bots (not boxers, other players). Pre FTE you could stand a chance against bots with DPS racing ( esp if necro or shaman, DoTs full damage counted even if it had ticked only twice). EVEN THEN, well scripted mage bots will and did out DPS you most of the time. Oh Phinegel (2016?) 3 mage bots on HG hill will auto nuke any HG in range and win all DPS races. Badly scripted bots were easy to mess with: Enchanter will charm a HG and stay close and they will target the charmed mob and....just stand there. You could also open a trade window with the bot chars, and cancel - and they will have you targetted, and do nothing.. heh. The scripts got better after that. At one point mage fire pets were so OP with their nukes and would melt Hill giants. So bad that people just didn't bother with them. Ice Giants, oddly, while permacamped (by bots) on previous TLPs, were not 24x7 on Oakwynd. FTE just made many item camps easier for bots than they were before In initial expansions. Again, specific to bots. While DPS racing was a whole can of worms and there were always toxic asshats who would either come take your named (enchanters would charm your named and gate away (bound elsewhere in same zone), that got addressed, you could dispel charm etc), or pull all mobs through over you (hey "no camps, read the rules!" toxic guys) , this is the FTE issue. The day PnP was thrown out the window by the game company (And actual GMs became a thing of the long past), was the day which showed the true colors of many players to be honest.
And it happened on Oakwynd too, and they got choice camps locked down as their scripts were good enough to guarantee them "first to engage" status 99% of the time! . FTE did nothing to address the Bot armies. Heck during Luclin in nexus there were 30+ bots standing in a tight cluster (with bard song invis) for hours - was fun to watch with see invis Remember, FTE got rid of the DPS race (and resulting tickets/petitions etc), nothing to do with bot armies which thrive with impunity on all TLPs. I am sure they are all "Truebox" too (I am being sarcastic)
I get it, and if they were there when you showed up in my mind they have the camp. Now if on Oakwynd or FTE of the future a mage shows up at a camp and sets up his level 1 mage pet on guard where a mob spawns when you have been there for an hour clearing the PH That is a serious negative to FTE, but I truly think overall that would be the exception not the rule... Otherwise it starts to sound like they got there first and are monopolizing the spawn so I want to force them to give it up to me. No one likes a player that monopolizes a spawn, but I do not see FTE as the end all to allowing that to happen.
These are unattended bots (and they have trade off, and scripts to alert them of GM AFK checks (in say/tell, yes we are in 1999! when it comes to AFK Checks!) - so they are "there" 24x7. The smart ones also will have one gate and bank etc once in a while - the bad ones won't so lore loot will be on corpses at times. People were hanging around the CoS bots for hours hoping for one such rot (sad if you ask me, but that is lack of enforcement of any kind on botting) Also they dont use level 1 mage pets. they use the latest/max level earth pets which proc root (and hence "first to engage") the mob etc. Really, on next TLP go check the pre-nerf CoS camp - you will see. It is easier to see it in action than imagine / theorize or write a book (in my case) about it
Yeah...again got it....But these same bot armies were around long before FTE. Did FTE solve that issue....NO....did it solve a lot of other issues....YES
Sandbox server. Say Karanas, nothing really goes on in the Karanas. So sandbox allow it. Put in some Minecraft like enemies. Put in some Palworld like raiders. Put in Fortnite/Rust like building system Put in Palworld/Rust like technology system. as in core, kunark velious thats like wood tier. When you get into PoP you can start making stone structures, etc etc etc. Use tradeskill mats as the materials. TLP where there is stuff to do after raids, stuff to do without doing raids. People already know all the raids, they know all the tricks, they looking for more. It can be more without giving freebees like double loot, etc. Can create opportunties like I'll give you a krono, but for a week I need protection from being offline raided by NPCs like bandits and what not. Can you give protection. You can, here is a krono. Can create community like Build near me, I'll give you protection. Build by the other guildies, we'll protect each other. One of us is usually on, and can take care of any bandits if they start raiding. Can create meaning to factions. If you get ally status with highpass guards, they'll take care of any bandits headed your way if they see them on the roads. in their locations. If you have very bad faction something, you'll likely raided by that faction.
most tlp players are recyclers they will drop their current tlp for a new one because they like original eq and its first few expansions and playing with people lvl up.
I find it amusing that some people believe the staff care players. Everquest is a cash cow, and that's all they care about. After the recent plat dupe, it's obvious that they dont't care. I quit playing the game a while ago, but I still read the forums for a good laugh. I don't think they will ever stop RTM or bots. The proof is right there in front of us the same people use third-party programs to power level characters and RTMh. The top guilds do whatever they want and pretty much get away with it. My advice is to find a new game and stop giving them your money. They don't care about you; they only care about your wallet. When they start losing a good amount of players, then they might start cracking down on people using third-party programs and RMT. Tell then yeah sorry not sorry :/
This would an interesting server, but I would go even further. All gear NO TRADE and no Truebox. This way you can grab your gear for your team, but only that team. Thus eliminating spawn farmers from owning spawns for the market. This is a server I would love to see.. . . .But maybe just me lol
I understand the thought process behind this idea and I can appreciate it. However, a lot of players get a majority of their enjoyment of the game out of the economy. Bartering, manipulating the market, buying low selling high, negotiating etc. If everything was no drop, there would be no economy. Other than it would just devolve into people selling loot rights. "Hey buy this off this corpse or i'll delete it."
They care. I work in the industry, I have seen the other side of the coin. It is a constant war. There is no, "just do this one simple thing and it will all go away". It's an arms race, much like evolution, and the cheaters will always evolve a little faster than the game company, because the game company has to be reactive. Cheaters will always get better at what they are doing, much like weeds always get better at surviving our attempts to control them. There are even weed in rice paddies that are becoming resistant to being picked by hand by an actual human. If folks think the cheaters wouldn't evolve to hide from devs going around in person to ban them by hand I have a bridge to sell, it's a steal.
