Hey All, A month ago I started on Vulak after a 1.5 year hiatus from live. Wanted to share some thoughts after reading a few debate threads regarding the server. First, population is definitely low. This has been a huge plus for me on a number of different occasions. Beyond the obvious benefits, a low population means that I frequently find named mobs up and untouched. I've been able to get a ton of gear upgrades running through new areas and killing named that are spawned because most people don't bother to kill them if they don't need the gear. On the flipside, there is very little available in the bazaar. I've personally enjoyed this as gearing up once again means more than "saving enough pp to buy everything in the bazaar." I actually need to camp targets and earn my own gear -- not buy it all. In fact, I'm level 80 and I still don't have a cloak...This adds a whole new element to the game beyond just xp grinding. Second, the population that does exist has been incredibly helpful in every way. My belief is that because there are so few of us on the server, everyone knows each other and treats the server as one giant guild (which it practically is). A guy gave me 5kpp when I started out, which helped me afford my spells and basic defiant gear. Others have helped me with information and even invited me to groups to help me level even though I was too low to contribute anything. This has been really powerful and nice. Third, not a day has gone by where someone new hasn't logged in and asked where we are on progression (SoD). Many of these people never reappear, but every week we have a few new players start up. This has lead to a slow increase in the population, and also given me a handful of new friends in the same situation as myself. Population aside, I really like where we stand in progression. I raided through DoN and stopped for a number of years, only picking up again in VoA. That means I missed Prophecy of Ro through House of Thule. I'm finding it a ton of fun experiencing the old expansions while the content is relevant. The gear is useful and it is difficult. The other day I found another level 70-something guy who wanted to do SoD progression. So we teamed up and knocked off a bunch of tasks that I had never done before. Is this possible to replicate on live? Sure. But it is much more meaningful when it is the latest and greatest expansion available and you can't just gain 5 more levels and power your way through it. I'm looking forward to crawling my way through the rest of SoD progression. Similar to the prior note, I did my first raid with Kukgrol the other day. It is certainly a different experience than traditional raiding in that boxes are used. However, I really, really, really enjoyed raiding SoF content. The thrill of beating challenging raids that I've never seen before was great. I'm definitely looking forward to raiding more content during an era in which the gear is useful and the raids are challenging. I'm a boxer. However, I only box 2-3 characters. I fill in the rest of the spots with mercs unless players are available. For me, this positions me to tackle almost any groupable content without having to wait around for others, but also leaves room for others to join. The server is definitely more fun if you box, but you don't need to box an entire group of six to have fun. Most people I've run into seem to play 1-3 and are more than willing to team up with others to tackle the tough stuff. There are certainly downsides of the server compared to live. I'm personally enjoying it and am not in a rush to move to later expansions. Even if I do manage to max out my primary three characters through SoD, I'm excited to try out some of the classes I haven't played much and built up those toons as well. I'm 29 now (compared to 14 when I first started playing EQ in 1999)... I've finally realized that the fun of playing an MMORPG comes from the journey and not the destination. Shame it took me so long to realize it, but EQ is much more fun now that I have. Morthakia | Aurmoon | Atharian
While I agree with the whole post, and it's great to see you share your experiences, this quote really says it all. Very well said. Looking forward to many more days to justify all of the above.
Anyone can be stuck in an expansion with very few people to play with on most servers, thats not a special reason to play on Vulak. At the end of the day not seeing how this or any other anecdotal evidence makes Vulak a place SoE should continue to support with server hardware. The players playing on Vulak are making the argument for you, just read this. You can have a character doing any content SoD and lower on every other everquest server. Just merge the lot somewhere to free up space for a new meaningful endeavor. All the same players will be playing with each-other so their experiences shouldn't change, at least that's what every single vulak player here has told you. They play for the people they play with and or box with, if you move them all there is no downside. Unless they are coming to the forums and lying to you non stop, which could be the case after logging in vulak myself and not seeing anyone outside of the guild lobby, the people of vulak wouldn't mind a merge if you sent them all somewhere together because it's the people that matter.
I came back to Vulak in August to my LDoN gear. It was a fun ride working my way up, and am now doing the casual raids with Kuk Clan. What I enjoy is that we try new things, see what works for us and our raid makeup (which changes a lot from day to day since it is casual raiding). Both my wife and I are having more fun raiding than we ever had before. A huge part of that is the community on the server. It's fun to help out new players, and then see them raiding with us. I think of Vulak as "The old mans server", even though we have younger players and women (some of our wives play). It makes for a nice cozy feel. Thanks for the great post!
A community is drawn up by the players. The players posting here can play on Tippy if they wish to do so, and as do you? What strikes me about your post is that you decide what the players of Vulak want, yet you clearly state you don't want to play there. That's fine with us. How about you find a community who wants you instead of speaking for others in order to force them to play with you? Vulak is a casual pace server, it's time to come to grips with that, and that not everyone is purely focused on pressing as fast as possible. Your endless demands for a server merge will just end up with a casual population who vote NO to expansions, in the same way it has happened in the past. The solution is so darned simple ... You play your way and we will play ours. People can decide for themselves which pace (and community) fits them best. And lastly, anyone who is looking for a faster pace than Vulak offers is able to transfer their character to Fippy..
Sounds like your argument is making the case to roll both Progression servers into live, and simply announce Progression play available on all live servers. If you use the above description, there isn't any reason for any progression servers ever again. But clearly each time a progression server is launched there is mass migration to it. So there is something about being able to play on a server that isn't a live server. Anyone, at any time, could simply decide to play on any server and work through progression. But the number of subs on the progression servers at launch show it's really not that simple. People have different reasons to play. They have different playstyles, and different goals. And it's really not for any person to decide how others should spend their time in game. And that's the beauty of the current setup. It offers different options for each. SOE has done this deliberately at times with PvP dedicated server, roleplay, etc. Best approach is to find what works for you, and go with it. Don't worry about what others are doing. The only time you see me comment to what others are saying, is when they're suggesting things about our server, one they don't play on. As someone that has been on Vulak from it's launch, and continuously ever since, there really isn't anyone on it that has better appreciation for what the server has been through, how it's evolved, and what is working there now. While there are a number of people on Fippy that transferred from Vulak, even they haven't been playing here for what nearly a year now? The entire makeup of the server has changed drastically since then. As several people have posted and commented on various threads lately, it's become a great home for people that want a casual, family oriented approach at enjoying EQ. And the more options we find for people to have reason to play EQ the better for all of us. Since in the end, the better EQ does as a game, the better resources we all have from SOE to support the game we enjoy.
There is a difference between being stuck in an expansion by your own will and progressing through content. When the former happens the server has failed as a progression server and no longer should use up hardware and resources that could go to other things.
No clue what you are talking about. We are progressing though content just fine. Eventually we will catch up to the expansion ANOTHER GUILD opened up. At that time we will formally progress. But, stop with the absurd comments. And stop with your endless negativity.
oisjafoij, I don't agree with your premise that one can simply do exactly what we're doing on the progression server on live servers. There are a tremendous number of differences. I like that everyone is abiding by the same exact "rule-set" in terms of where we stand in progression. You're not sneakily buying otherwise unavailable AAs or saying "okay, let's let that lvl 86 person raid just this one time." Also, the economy is VERY different --- there is no flood of high quality gear available for cheap prices -- you have to earn it. All of the above aside, what makes Vulak special to me is the community. I'm getting to know almost every single player on the server. I don't mind investing the time to help them level, complete quests, gear up, whatever. I know that we will continue to cross paths over and over again. Reputation matters as the community is small. These are the sort of things that I loved about original EQ and I feel would be lost if we moved to a larger server. Afterall, I have raid-geared level 100 characters on a live server, but there is a reason I'm playing on Vulak instead of there. Morthakia | Aurmoon | Atharian
