Yueyenie, a Wizard. I am in the opposing guild Chaotic Entry. Hasn't been an active/live PvP shaman on the server since you left... so many years ago right? Their guild has about 35-40 mains. Ours has 31 or 32 at the moment. Both are building up steadily and the Zek server has been pretty good these last several months in comparison to the previous several years. Yueyenie is a good dude. I've had multiple chats with him now on Discord concerning Zek, our guilds and in general talking about ways we can get more people to the server. Recently chatted with Darlana/Aspit on facebook and they are considering coming back as well! Join AsD Discord public and talk with him if you are interested. His char is always online and he's available to chat several hours a day. And of course you could always shoot me a tell if you were interested in us. We can use people on any character class. I remember you playing some alts but only really remember shaman being your main.
It is large, close to 10% of the playerbase if you just look at discord numbers. The majority of eq pvp players don't play eq live anymore. There's been a few PvP emulaters in the past, the most current one is "Rise of Zek." Looking at their discord channel of the same name right now there's 169 members online with over 450 offline, Everquest live's discord has 1929 online at the moment, 7:19 am est. If you consider all the people not in Discord, on Zek live now, not playing EQ anymore or that have movelogged from Zek over the years as well, you can't say it's a trivial or insignificant number of people. Just cause the current Zek live server isn't highly populated doesn't mean there aren't some simple things they could do to bring it back. Getting killed instantly ain't a lot of fun, it doesn't take a genius to figure this out lol. There's no way the devs have put in a percentage of work equal to the EQ pvp or Zek population. For sure the last 7-12+ years have been 99.99% strictly blue code work, and they've lost a significant percentage of their subscribers because of it. For those who say eq isn't a place for pvp, never was, we need a whole new game, etc etc, just look at all the people playing on open player made/supported servers. Sure, you can't get back hundreds of people in a day, but if you consider it took you years to lose them all, maybe you can come up with a plan to get some back in the future, i think that is what this thread is about... It doesn't take long for word to spread and I think all these unlicensed servers are only utilizing 0-1 or 2 expansions of content. Obviously a nonbroken live Zek server would have a lot more to offer.
It is NOT a large group. 10% is still low to the 90% that is not. You can't look at discord as evidence. You look at actual logins. I can look at discord and tell you there are hundreds that play Minecraft or Everquest, or Diablo etc but that doesn't guarantee they would all go play those games again. They have not lost "a significant percentage of subscribers". They've lost a miniscule amount because of PvP. It's niche.
Close to 10% of the playerbase? There are 23 live servers and zek is is at a constant population status of low. You can't compare the numbers in discord as there are more that don't join than do. Also trying to count people who play on unofficial servers and don't support daybreak is just silly as there is no evidence that they would start playing on an official server any time soon especially if they have to pay. As for the number of online people how many of those are just online because they are on their computer/phone and are part of many different discord servers but not really paying attention to any of them.
Interesting take, cause when you compare the numbers long ago when the number of eq pvp servers was more than 10% of all EQ servers and the numbers of people on the various EQ pvp servers it's still about the same, 10%. They made a decision long ago not to care nor cater to the PvP playerbase and now that has led to the majority of those players not playing live. How many times has anything Zek or PvP been mentioned in a patch in the last 10 years? 3? 4 times? Put in minimal effort, get minimal results. I don't think anyone would argue that the current Zek population is less than 1% of the playerbase at this time, FAR less than it could or should be IS THE POINT. Lack of acknowledgement, mismanagement. Whatever you want to call it. Certainly "uninterested" or "not noticeable" would NOT be valid arguments. High interest for an Everquest PvP experience exists. Very few are participating in the version that currently, and has for a long time, existed on live. Facts.
Funny its always just a hand full every year making all the noise claiming to speak for the masses. Fact is if EQ PvP players cant get people onto Zek and increase its population and sustain if for several months its not happening. Paraphrasing from past Dev statement pertaining to EQ PvP.
It has been over 15 years since all the pvp servers were merged into a single server which suggests that the population wasn't enough to support them even back in 2005. The merged servers all had a lifespan of 4 to 6 years and I would expect pvp was dying in EQ for a good while before that merger happened. Considering there is a single pvp server and it has been at a low population level for a very long time I don't see how there is any demand for pvp in EQ.
i Play since 1999 Everquest, never need PvP for Everquest (pointless for me). We need the Dev. resource for the "normal" live server. If some looking for PvP, go and play WoW but not EQ!
That is about the most false statement there is. If you going to post something, atleast post something you have knowledge about. Ascending Dawn is a raiding guild, and we're still here on ZeK (Raiding). True it's a smaller community then other servers (which makes us closer together), but we currently have over 80 members playing and adding new ones everyday. I also wish they would look into fixing the PvP, but just because your on ZeK, doesn't mean you have to PvP or required to PVP. We have plenty of members who don't want to PvP, and they get along just fine. Our main focus is group and raid progression, with the option to PvP if you want to. Yes, its true we're trying to recruit more players to our guilds, but what raiding guild on EQ isn't? Be sure to come check out our recruitment link, if your interested to learn more about our guilds. Ascending Dawn https://forums.daybreakgames.com/eq/index.php?threads/ascending-dawn-zek.268416/ Chaotic Entry https://forums.daybreakgames.com/eq/index.php?threads/chaotic-entry-zek-recruitment.273152/unread Hey Jaybizzer, how are you? If your in game come look me up, or come join us in discord and say hi. Discord : https://discord.gg/hRX8Eyy
Its not a false statement. You just don't like it. Grats on having 80 in your guild. Hopefully you get more and keep growing.
They said something along those lines? That's ironic because they are responsible for their own sandbox. Failing to take responsibility for it is one thing but rationalizing that it's the fault of the players that have stuck around despite it all over the years? I don't know if that's pathetic, disingenuous or just another excuse of many we've all heard over the years. Most all of them provided by forum posters such as yourself. Please, keep telling us more reasons why 90% of EQ PvP enthusiasts have either quit out of total disgust or now play on emulated services. It's cause they enjoy 0-2 expansions of content? It's cause those left on Zek haven't kept in touch with them over the years and convinced them to come back? It's cause the PvP merchant gear is so amazing when you are level 60 that the obtainable gear available to them in the first couple expansions via PvPing is great! There's definitely reasons, but you aren't going to acknowledge or agree to any of them are you? Show no support whatsoever and at the same time blame us for it? Seriously? You all have the same reason: been the same reason for 2 decades, always will be the same and you are gonna use any excuse or reason you can to deter the devs from ever spending any time on it. again if the devs spent near a percentage of time(over the years) on EQ PvP as there once was a playerbase of and still has a potential of a decent percentage of players, the Zek server would be thriving. What have they done? Thrown one thing at Zek then forgot about it for 4, 5, 6 years. Little to no effort in maintaining the playerbase, little to no playerbase left. The people still on Zek, it's your fault(please quit also)!!!!!! That is what you are saying, is it not?
I would omit all of this from the argument for fixing PvP. This just bolsters the argument that there is no need to address PvP issues due to low interest in it. A lot of these threads read as, if they would fix PvP more would show interest while the dev position appears to be, the interest is so small there is no benefit to working on it. Without the PvP, why not just play on one of the other servers? Many ways to answer that question but they are irrelevant when you have to make a business decision. So it always comes back to the same stalemate...fix it and they will come...come and we may fix it.
PVP servers always drive themselves into irrelevance. They’re a waste of time and resources not just development time but Customer Service. PVP doesn’t really work in long-term profession based games like EQ. Game population naturally dwindles with age, and drives people away from ever starting.
I'd argue a lack of, and complete overall assessment of unwillingness to take any initiative whatsoever plays a much larger role than that prediction. There's no incentive to PvP. There's a PvP merchant that has never, EVER received new items. Best items are of Vex Thal quality. Best augment is an 8% dodge augment that has a duplicate item of 8%(type 3) from PvE content and an upgraded version making it totally obsolete from PoWar. Does it take a lot of time and effort to put a 40 slot bag, with the 30+ some odd other 40+ slot bags that are already in the game, this bag being only obtainable from the merchant. Please, do tell me, does it take a lot of time or effort, cause I thought about that idea in the 5 seconds it took me to read your reply. All you need for new players to movelog here and PvP for a short time is one single item on the PvP merchant with any buff, click, mount or something cool not obtainable anywhere else in game. Would generate hundreds of movelogs over years time and thousands of hours of PvP. ONE. SINGLE. ITEM. Nope, that's too much to ask for or think up themselves... seriously? No, that's the answer. No it doesn't. PvP lacks any incentive. Devs lack any initiative. Non PvP players on the forums have a never ending list of excuses why not to ever do anything. I can't think of a time I have ever seen anyone not interested in PvP offer up a single idea that would be simple, relevant or improve anything for Zek and they most certainly never support them when they show up on the forums. And again, the Zek server isn't all about PvP. A very small number of players actively PvP on the server, maybe 10-12 people? But some people like being on a PvP server, with open danger. But they don't like being instaneously killed by one person pressing one button, them and their box alts etc etc etc after buffing up, zoning several times etc. When you die in PvP you get a 15 MINUTE rez effect 95% snare detrimental buff. It really sucks. If anything they could simply remove that. It's like dying from a dot, but instead of 5 minutes(we have that version as well on Zek) it's 15 minutes... They've let it suck. It has sucked. Trust me, it(the state of EQ's live Red server) sucks for PvPers, non PvPers, everyone who plays on Zek. It's ok with everyone if it still sucks, always sucks and given damage abilities completely out of hand somehow progesses to sucking even worse in the future??? See how the above reply contains 3 very simple ideas to improve Zek that would take very little time or effort to implement???????????????????? Versus your reply(s). Just a thought. I'm pretty convinced no one of any importance has spent any time thinking about Zek for many years.
I played on Zek for a few years in the past, mostly on blue though. Open world PvP was kind of cool, find a camp, don't wait for it or to join their group, just kill whoever's there and take it. Use to be a cool option, then after a few years if you did that a Rogue show's up in a short while after and just kills your whole group in 3 seconds. Haven't played for a few years but it just wasn't fun anymore when it got like that. I can't imagine how bad it is now. Literally fighting over or for a camp was fun, but not standing a chance wasn't fun at all lol.
If it's PVP vs. Non-PVP, the arguments are consistent. This reinforces what everyone already knows. Not speaking for everyone but, if the majority of players are not doing PvP and they care about the game's overall health, with limited development resources devoted to it...yes. Do not allocate limited resources to things that have limited return. There is already a balance the devs maintain between live vs. TLP, raid vs. group, etc. They cannot make any of these general groups exactly what they want but they decided they are worth the effort.
See how the above reply contains ZERO very simple ideas to improve Zek versus my reply you took sample snippets of? One more example. There's no more dev time you can possibly advocate for, you already utilize 100% of it. What time they want to spend on stuff is up to them and they've continually made the decision to spend close to none on Zek. Instead they've chosen to completely ignore the server altogether. So, that's where we are already at. I'm not sure about balanced. If the devs time was balanced considering it's entire playerbase over the years then the population of Zek wouldn't have gotten close to zero for several years there. Whether they want to see now as a time they can get others back with more people online and get some of those players off other opensource servers is something for them to think of if it would be worthy investing that time in. Do you think speaking for them will keep them from doing something they decide to do? I don't think Zek or PvP in EQ live will ever have another opportunity better than right now and the next short couple of months ahead. It's good something like this is coming up now and discussed, atleast we might stand a chance of a significant update, and by significant I mean doing something that wouldn't be insignificant and would get results. It bothers me a little you can't even argue the ideas I put forth in my reply, or even quote them, never even acknowledge an idea, just skip right over it. Same eq forums as it's ever been. Ignore the things that have caused Zek to depopulate and never even converse over any suggestions put forth to improve it. You do participate in the conversation in your own way though. congrats I guess.
there used to be a 24 or 36 boxer on zek but eventually some dps classes could kill all his toons in 30 secs - 1 minutes time. i don't know if he canceled all his subs or movelogged them all blue. that was like 10 years ago or something, probably take 10-15 seconds today
