Nagafen PvP Server - Coming March 16, 2019!

Before something like this is released, I think there should be a poll of certain developmental questions asked to the PLAYER BASE and voted on. The results of the poll should be public. This would ensure that those who are playing the game have a legitimate say on how the game proceeds in the future. The developers of the game will have a forum where proposed questions will be considered and then later polled to the general public of the player base. If this game is to survive, it's time that those who play it have a say in what changes they want to be made. If those who play the game are able to vote on things that they want, it is more likely that they will stay on board longer. Thus more revenue for the company and a happier community.

I have played this game on and off for years and the main reason I've quit each time is because of the lack in player base along with time dedication. I started on the original Nagafen server and it was the most fun I have ever had playing a video game. I would love for something like to come back into the game so I can play again, but if it does; the public's opinion needs to be taken into consideration. After all, we are paying for this game to play it. Why should I pay for this game if I don't enjoy it?

I'm not even sure if the development team reads these forums, but I hope they do considering how much useful information on what the community wants is right here.

The thing is, much as we'd all love a permanent server, it seems they're trying to prevent too much player power from building up. As they can't exactly eliminate all the spell and combat art tiers (apprentice, expert, etc.), nor gear tiers (treasured, fabled, etc.) or AAs (starting with KoS), they have to wipe the characters every so often instead.

This game was a PvE MMORPG first, with PvP tacked on two years later. They can't just remove 90% of the game that gets in the way of a level playing field. They've got to prevent the hardcore "play it like a full time job" PvPers from running all the casuals and latecomers right off the server until the server dies. I would think that preventing players from shutting off any XP (including quests and mob XP) would do the trick, but apparently that is buried too deep within the coding to be done, so they're wiping every 3 months instead.

Well, it's better than no PvP in EQ2! I just hope that, during the 2nd season, they try factional PvP with Exiles. That induced a lot more strategy and traveling throughout the landscapes, dodging guards, etc. It was certainly more fun than FFA (where everyone just camps their own lowbie bells and ganks their own greens, and nothing else).

Why wouldn't something like a poll of developmental questions be in their best interest as well as ours? They have the power to poll the certain questions while we have the power to present them as well as vote on the poll. This would be a good way to have a continuous player base as well as a balanced way to introduce new content and or fix old content. It's a win/win.

Am I the only one who sees this PVP event server as a Battle Royale-type trial? The only thing EQ2 about it is the environment map - there doesn't seem to be anything else traditionally associated with MMORP games like building your character, tradeskilling etc. Just a FFA, last-man-standing-is-the-winner BR type server, set on the background of Norrath.

By eliminating both factions as well as Exiles, and nerfing crafting XP and adventure XP into the ground, yeah, that's kind of all that we're left with-- except there are 24 distinctly different classes on Nagafen, instead of a bunch of guns spawning on the ground that everyone has random access to sooner or later.

The thing is, though, Daybreak doesn't need a BR "test." That's what they already have H1Z1 and the imminent Planetside: Arena for. It's just that Apex Legends is currently casting a "Fortnite" and "PubG" type shadow over what has quickly become and overpopulated genre. I don't know that Planetside: Arena will ever become a breakout success in those circumstances. I can tell you this, though: EQ2 would be that much worse as a BR game; it's just the polar opposite of that kind of play.

When I said 'trial', I meant it more as a test of the attitudes of the fantasy role-player towards BR in a traditional fantasy environment. H1Z1 and Planetside appeal to a certain demographic. Perhaps DBG are trying it here to see what sort of uptake it would get from traditional fantasy RPG players. And of course, be willing to pay for it. It's all about the $$ at the end of the day, after all.

Well, I was hyped about a new Naggy pvp server for all of 20 minutes... I played on the original Sullon Zek Eq server for 3 years and the original EQ2 Nagafen server with 2 accounts for 4 years. I loved this game. Absolutely Battlegrounds and simplistic WOW copycat killed Nagafen. Open world PVP, carefully crafted characters with hard earned long-time gear, and carefully practiced skills made reputations worth far more than idiotic leaderboards. I remember when the Purity guild's "A-team" went ganking, it meant something by their reputation and practiced coordination alone. I remember when Onyx folks would wake up a support team at any and all hours to prevent other guilds from getting a contested boss. People worked long and hard for those reputations and they were known, feared and respected server-wide...by name. The idea of factions keeps casuals safe within a certain parameter, because even unknowns tend to defend their "faction" just as a point of honor. Free-for-all already breaks the team spirit needed for a pvp server to thrive. Character wipes are an unimaginable misunderstanding of how this genre works. People aren't playing Mario Bros. They are investing in creating god-tier characters and earning the trepidation that hard work investment and talent affords. Folks earn those AA advantages. This company is completely clueless as to what actually works. EQ was a masterpiece. EQ2 was a thrilling masterpiece. PVP in this genre was an amazing multi-year lifelong friendship worth investing in. Just like they killed H1Z1, they will kill this.

I also refuse to invest or play in such an ignorant iteration of what had been awesome memories that lasted years. This company is stupid. I feel sorry for the current state of MMO's, because the guys with funding don't know **** about what people want, yearn for, love and will INVEST IN. Grats dying company, your ignorance proves how short-lived you will be. Battle-Royal, survival games were a great gimmic. Your EQ and EQ2 audience were a radically different breed. Shame you do not realize the playerbase your purchased with the company. Dear Daybreak... please enjoy watching Brad McQuaid and Pantheon earn millions while you die off and fail. I can only hope your executives will get a cluestick and try to provide the content the playerbase wants. We, many hundreds not even actively playing, would come back for a rebooted Nagafen. What you created isn't even EQ2, let alone Nagafen. Please change the server name to what it actually is... STUPID.

Could not have summed it up better myself. Thank you for this Tippity!

Who knows, maybe the janitor at DBG will stumble upon these forums and perhaps pass on the message to their boss about how utterly disconnected they are to their fan base.

There are already several fantasy themed BR games up and running, and they are for the most part, well designed.

DBG knows this. This server is just more cash grab development.

Sorry I didn't get back in awhile.

For clarity: Objectively, this will be EQ2's most hardcore rule-set ever. I played on Nagafen in 2006-2008 it was a lot of fun, but this is a more hardcore rule-set than Nagafen was. FFA alone satisfies the criteria to categorize it this way. After reaching cap, which will take about 16 hours of gameplay assuming you have two hands, the T5 contested will be mini teren's grasp writ givers, being constantly zerged across norrath.

It will be very difficult if not impossible for any one guild to completely lock down any contested mob. Nobody will kill Vox in month 1. Similarly, nobody will kill terrorantula in month 2, and hurricanus in month 3 due to the locations of the spawn points and the volume of people that will be in the area. The best part of this is that casuals (I dont like to use this term because the scale is not unilateral and difficult to define) will play a large role in blocking (have to develop relationships fast) and preventing successful pulls.

I think the message was getting muddied up by a lot of you face-rolling across your keyboard in a blind rage how you want character wipes dropped. It's there to help you keep the playing field even.

Kazzo, you looking like a rude dude instead of a cute boy. Can't wait to catch you outside. GLHF

Yes a poll is sort of a standard form of acquiring or testing how information is currently perceived and also how to improve. I still think this is out of the box and encouraging - I think they are trying to see if they can get this to last 3 months without being dead. That is my honest take.

By creating FFA, there is a larger total killable population and you do not need to deal with betraying to roll a certain class - hopefully you can join guilds of all factions too. By having the best xp gain in PvP combat, they are forcing you to PvP so that you do not grind. By having the wipe, as it has been said previously, it gives everyone a better chance of "catching up" so people do not stare at that grind mountain anymore.

My only gripe is that if they are committing to that model, do it fully - do not do some hybrid where you still have a grind (in TS and adventure) and then it goes. That would defeat the point of all these changes.

Tippity said:

This new server is an event server for an event that will last 3 months, there will be no AA's for the first 2 months of play.
you will for the most part have a 'naked' playing piece, if the new event opens with the same rule set and programing as the beta .
there wont be tradeskillers to buy upgrades from because there will be few if any real tradeskillers , there won't be time for it.
there wont be quest dropped gear to buy ... as there wont be any that's not on a player, and darn little of that .
this season of play is more about hitting the ground running , knowing the class you pick and having the mental flexibility to pvp with nothing but you and the avatar. NO ONE is going to care what the character looks like ... as they loot you and step over your corpse.

Tippity also said:
[QUOTEI played on the original Sullon Zek Eq server for 3 years and the original EQ2 Nagafen server with 2 accounts for 4 years. I loved this game. ][/QUOTE]

Ya? so what? You and every body else.
Those servers are gone and so are the players and they will never return, ever. even you are not the same person and looking back at where you were wont help you go forward .
the old pvp servers and games were taken down because they were unused for at least a year maybe longer and they emptied out due to extreme toxic player behavior, you can claim anything you like , a cash grab company wont take down a cash cow if its giving, and they took those servers down.

instead of throwing a tissy (again) over the seasonal wipes just play it and see , at most you will be out 14.99 one time, you pay more for a fast food lunch for one day.
And I hope the 'cash grab' works , I want this game in ALL its forms even the parts I don't personally enjoy, to continue and thrive , since they sold a pile of life time memberships I am not the only one .

I read you guys and i want to share WHY people have given up on EQ2....

First, on Naggy : After GU53, they introduced PVP stats and gear. If any of you remember, We use to get tokens to buy gear from the merchant in KP, gear that was not available anywhere else. The chest piece would cost you 1k tokens, the legs 500 and so on so forth. Completing a PVP quest would give you 1 token...that's if you killed 10 people. THEN GU53 came.... the PVP quest would then give 10 tokens ! Let me step back... remember you had to convert/consume those tokens? OR you could just keep them as is.So if you had kept your tokens in your bank or on you; after GU, you could convert those tokens to 10 instead of 1. SO ALL the hard working people that would actually differentiate themselves form others because they worked HARD to get the tokens and so they would have awesome gear, would see themselves like the rest, as the gear would be easy to get by any player. After that, came in the pvp stats ! And then pvp stats got worse, they added a few stats where your PVE gear was useless in PVP and vice-versa. ALL that, turned me off and it did turn off a lot of players and we literally saw the population go down on naggy.

On non pvp servers I saw the game die around DoV as the items seemed copy/paste with a little change.IE:instead of 5 potency, we will give you 5cb and change the name of the armor or jewelry piece. Like the devs didnt have enough time to use their imagination to create something solid. And this is still true. From there, nothing was new, they just made the world bigger and the stats/numbers bigger. Oh yeah, they added AAs.... :S

It is very sad and I think unrespectful that the Devs and the team of EQ2 do not even share their opinions, write any comments here, do a broadcast saying we ehar you guys, anything of the sort would be appreciated but unfortunately it doesnt happen. Ive watched all the tweets and broadcast and I can clearly see in their faces that they are not motivated and happy anymore...and we get the results !

How is EQ (EQ1) still running with 100x more people. Because the game hasn't changed it's core or it's mentality.

EQ2 is not the same game as it use to be. It started so well, so well.... I am very sad of what happened to this game and unfortunately I cannot find any other games that matches it and yet i've tried ALL of the MMO's. But again, devs and the EQ2 team probably does not even read or will read this...us....

I hear you all...trust me I do. EQ2 was a part of me, a part of my happiness...next day I would go to work so tired but I had that smile because of last night: I had spent a nice evening/night on EQ2, I had things to do, important questing to do, 1 specific item that I wanted from that specific mob, lots of pvp killing to do.It was a slight shadow of EQ1. Now, I have nothing to play and I am waiting on Pantheon as it is the successor of EQ and EQ2 form what I see so far...

This is a message to Daybreak, you still have a chance to get us all back...just hear us first......

I have come to grips with it this way: Deathtoll had a paid beta. I consider this first season to be Nagafen's actual paid beta.

Everything from t3 through cap to this new Bounty System hasn't even been tested yet, let alone the true affects of FFA and wipes on the recurring population.

I suspect that if there is *really* bad feedback after the full three months, that they will adjust the second season some.

And although I too dislike the wipes and the FFA, and would greatly prefer a permanent factional PvP server with Exiles, I'm still glad Daybreak is giving us an open PvP server of sorts. I'd rather have this FFA seasonal open PvP setup than a Battleground. I'm a bee trapped in a jar in those, ugh.

Did y'all see the link in the FAQ? Some things clarified:

https://t.co/OW1hyKV6Fa

Still do not understand this, however. Looks like it might be grind & gone.

Will experience values be tuned for Nagafen?
Experience values will be slower, similar to how it was on original launch. Quest XP has been increased which makes doing writs for Tradeskilling better for experience.

Thanks, Trasor, I hadn't seen that yet!

This is sort of exactly what I was concerned with. Seems to be misaligned. Grind it out for 3 months and poof?

Hopefully we have a stoic population willing to put enough $ so that it can be adjusted in the future.

As the President of Nagafen, I'd like clarification on a few things.

1. "Experience values will be slower, similar to how it was on original launch. Quest XP has been increased which makes doing writs for Tradeskilling better for experience." - Is this to acknowledge that certain XP bonuses will be out of the game (like veteran xp)? Clearly we wouldn't want to be dragging our feet to hit max level, as we should feel a much lower sense of investment in our characters due to the nature of the server.

2. "With the launch of Nagafen, spell research will be made available, however, spell research will be capped at Master." - Can you use SC to research faster? Or can you use SC in any sense to develop your character? This would turn off a ton of people, including me.

3. "How does the Marketplace work on an Event Server?" - This kind of reaffirms my concerns from question 2. What items will be offered?

Other than that, I think the post is great and the development team is doing a great job. Keep it up.

Edit: Any sneak peaks of the added items to contested mobs? Also, will patch notes be released in tandem with the server launching (IE, an hour before its up)?

I was just coming here to ask for clarification on these two points as well.

I sure hope Spell Research isn't available in the SC shop, and is only available in-game to accelerate skills because seasons are only 12 weeks long. (I have a bad feeling about this one, but I will wait for dev confirmation, which I hope is forthcoming soon.)

"How does the Marketplace work on an Event Server?" What is contained in these Event Server Packs? This whole part was way too vague. And are these tokens and items in the Event Marketplace only able to be bought with in-game gold/plat and not Station Cash I hope? And is there a full list of what will be available in the Event Marketplace?

I mean, the main reason I could understand 1 character per account on Nagafen (for added revenue from multiple accounts) was because the cash shop was supposed to be extremely limited with no pay to win stuff in it.

The following systems will NOT be available on the Nagafen server:

• Recruit a Friend
• Legendary, Fabled and Mythical Critical Hits
• Veteran Rewards
• Veteran experience bonus
• Loyalty System
• Daily Objectives
• Dungeon Finder
• Agnostic Dungeons
• Reforging
• Mercenaries
• Tradeskill Apprentices
• Spell Research
• Guildhalls
• Prestige Homes Portal
• Home Teleport From anywhere
• This is a cut and paste directly from the Nagafen FAQ page ... note that spell research is on the Not Gonna be there list
  • don't mix up the two VERY DIFFERENT FAQ pages !!!