Hello there, this is a small recommendation for anyone searching for a server to play on, anyone who doesn't have a lot of time to play, or wants to play casually, or wants to experience the game's content without having the time to commit into the big Social scene.
Nagafen's Lair server
I would like to recommend this server to anyone who likes true progression through this game with a solo/duo/trio boxing gameplay.
It is an old PoP Classic Era server that used to be up a few years ago, hosted by
Maze_EQ , unfortunately he had wiped the server and it's Database for reasons that I don't know still. It has just been backed up by SirJames, currently the only Staff in charge. He only is keeping up the server and preserving it for now, further plans for continuing to develop this server with further expansions or content above
Planes of Power (PoP) and other similar ideas are kind of still in the air right now since the server was just backed up and saved recently.
Progression System
Mobs, Raid targets and such have reduced HP's, stats and resists to adapt the Solo/boxing gameplay, although they will become harder to beat the further you go through expansions, with less reduced stats the more you advance in Kunark, Velious, Luclin and PoP.
To progress through the Tiers and game content, each Tiers NPC's in the Lobby will ask you to fill a small list of Raid targets that are required to be killed to access the next expansion. Such as classic, you will have to kill all of the old raid targets,
Lady Vox, Lord Nagafen, Phinigel Autropos, Innoruuk, Cazic Thule, and the Eye of Veeshan. This will let you have access to
Ruins of Kunark content, and so on etc until PoP.
What I like of this system is that it forces you to visit all of the possible content, dungeons and Raids that this game has to offer, thus discovering new things you probably never had the time to explore before.
Unlike the popular Imperium server, in which I used to play, their progression system is okay, but feels too easy for me, instead of taking your time to hunt targets and explore the content as much as possible, you can just kill one of the expansion's bosses, take the key and boost through the next Tier instantly and so on. Don't get me wrong here, Imperium is a fine server, you can always try it if you want to, just not my progression type.
Leveling
The leveling pace is
x3 faster than the old Classic-Live servers. It is neither too fast, or too slow, just enough to enjoy the experience of leveling without having to do mindless grinding, if that's your thing. You can reach Level 50 from 10 hours to 24 hours, depending on how fast and how often you play. Grouping can always give a bit more of exp if you're boxing or playing with others, it is always encouraged.
Level 65 is the level cap. Although you are locked on Level 60, you will have to do a certain quest to unlock the last 5 levels.
Soloing is viable here, but can be harder if you aren't leveling a tank or support, although it is still doable. You can level without tank, but as for Raids, you
will need one sooner or later with another player or boxing one if you want to progress. You will also have to gear accordingly with the increasing difficulty while progressing, you aren't going to take down stuff with only 2-3 hits here, you will need help at some point later on.
The HUB
The main lobby contains diverse NPC's, with merchants, a buff NPC, a level Skip NPC (It's a trap. No joke.), Epic Quest NPC's, teleportation, and Tier NPC's. You will find pretty much anything you'll need here. Don't hesitate to ask other players for help if needed, the small community is very friendly and helpful!
Traveling and Teleportation
Now this is a bit more classic than what other servers such as
Imperium uses for traveling methods. There is a Teleportation NPC in the lobby, he will let you teleport to main Locations, such as capital cities and starter zones throughout Norrath. Unfortunately it does not use the #PEQZONE commands to get to any available zone. You will have to walk your way to the place you want to go. Just like in classic and Live. It makes you feel again like this world is very large and having a bit of fun going through it, instead of zapping instantly anywhere.
Boxing
Like I said, boxing is permitted, along with the use of MQ2 as long as it is fairly used without cheating commands like Warp and others.
The server used to permit 2-box maximum, but now it tolerates 3 max.
Conclusion
This server truly is a small gem that fortunately got saved, and in my opinion, is really worth a try if this is your type of server. It definitely needs more people to populate it once again.
If it doesn't interest you, then I wish you good luck on your small quest into finding a server that pleases you.
Thank you for reading and welcome to
Nagafen's Lair !
Website Link:
http://nagafens-lair-eqemu.proboards.com/