Hello all!
I'm TurmoilToad, long time lurker on the EQEmu forums. On the Gates of Time server I play the character Odin. I'm the one responsible for starting up this new project, Gates of Time, on EQEmu, and spooling up the server that's hosting the Gates of Time world. I've been busy working behind the scenes on a lot of the different moving parts and have a good group of GMs/staff that have been helping me work and develop this server. As you have noted, we are currently in our ALPHA stage, having made the decision to ask our closest friends to join us and put up with our bug fixing and content restructuring. We have been quite pleasantly surprised at the number of early adopters from the EQEmu community, and want to thank you for putting up with our efforts as well.
I would also like to thank members of the EQEmu development community for their advice and insights along the way--not only from the rich repository of information here in these forums and on the Wiki, but also for popping onto our server and helping us out and offering their expert advice one-on-one. I won't name any names, but thank you!
ON TRANSFERS:
During our ALPHA stage, we are accepting character inventory transfers from ALL servers. We will most likely begin to restrict this activity as we enter our BETA stage, but we're willing to discuss your specific needs (for a time) while we continue down the path of tweaking our world to suit us. One of our main focuses has been to restrict content to the Luclin era, with a handful of exceptions. Our intention is to progress into the Planes of Power expansion, and then let our unique storyline secrets begin to unfold.
As a result, we are not allowing all items to be transferred over without restriction. We will continue to reserve the right to interrogate your transfer requests with this tenet in mind. As an example, certain cosmetic items won't be allowed (some illusion items, petamorph wands, etc). The reason for this is that we want to be able to reserve some of these items for our world, and its progression--such as rewarding players for participation in special events on our server. Hopefully this makes sense to you, and if you managed to collect a rare artifact on your older Emu server, you will understand why we will scrutinize the item while we're performing your import.
Additionally, some regular gear items that are part of a later era, or overpowered for our current content, won't be imported due to balancing issues. Again, it is not my intention to produce an all-encompassing list of these items, but we will communicate with you when we're evaluating your requested import.
REGARDING 'BUGS':
As I'm sure you're aware, the EQEmu Development team works very hard to provide a playable and stable environment that will allow just about anyone with a little bit of knowledge to embark on the journey of setting up their own server. Out of the box, they provide a FREE, workable code base that does what is says it will do, and a database that represents an extraordinarily accurate depiction of the EQ world that we know and loved.
It is our vision to exclude portions of their work as enumerated in my post and other posts in this thread--and that takes time and effort. It is also not always without inherit danger, but we feel that it will pay off for us as we toil to achieve our vision. Again, our thanks goes out to an understanding player base and we look forward to building a world that you will enjoy for many years to come.
REGARDING 'GM CENSORING':
This simply does not happen. The post mentioned above was made by one of our friends and he later regretted having posted it in haste. He asked for the thread to be removed, and we did so. Personally I would have liked to have kept the post intact, but I wanted to give him the chance to consider the points he raised and to give him time to write another post without things devolving--his intent was to be constructive, and we appreciate that. For those of you that didn't catch it, his post focused on some of the issues that we're working on, and some of the issues that he asked us to focus on--we are certainly doing so as rapidly as possible, but we are all busy, and certain issues have to be given a lower priority.
For anyone that has run a server before, I'm sure you're familiar with the feeling of having to get these issues resolved while maintaining a playable environment, and helping out your incoming users as quickly as possible. It's not always easy, and it won't always be without missteps.
AN APOLOGY:
As a server policy, we do not discriminate or favor any characters, guilds, or server transplants, despite what you may have read on this thread. This has been reiterated with all of the staff, and I would like to apologize if any comments have been made that would indicate otherwise. Small course-corrections are a necessary part of any organization, and we welcome you to give Gates of Time a try to evaluate our commitment to the ideal of inclusion and mutual respect.
REGARDING THE COMMUNITY:
We are trying to foster a helpful, positive community, and in order to do so, we cannot tolerate any troublemakers or trolls--we are seeking players that are accountable for their own actions, who wish to have an enjoyable in-game experience and ensure that other players have the same. For the Gates of Time server, the community is the priority, and the game is just a helpful and fun UI that helps to grow and entertain the player base.
I encourage anyone interested to check out our forums at
http://forums.gatesoftime.com and come chat in our Discord channel at
https://discord.gg/2WnFZHv.
I hope this post has made it more than clear that everyone will be welcomed to join our server--come slay some dragons with us, and be a part of our rapidly expanding community!