Storm Haven

[trevius]

Storm Haven is a new custom-legit server that I created on Jan 11th based on the PEQ database. I have been developing at a pretty fast rate and already have exp zones with custom loot tables, custom quests for class armor sets, custom epic quests, custom tradeskill recipes, and other interesting quests all of the way up to level 70. Nexus is setup as a base camp with everything you need including Server Greeter, Spell Scriber, Soul Binder, All Class GM trainers, a merchant, teleporter and quest NPCs.

The forums for the server are located here:

http://stormhavenserver.com

Server stats are:
OS: Debian Linux
AMD 3700+ CPU
3GB RAM
Dual Hard Drives running RAID 0
Cable Internet Connection - 10Mb down / 1Mb up

Here is a list of the current projects as of this post. This is directly from my forums and is updated regularly:

Current Project(s):
- Choosing the first real end-game zone that will be designed for small to full group encounters with nice rewards and epic 1.5 quests
- Constantly thinking of new ideas for quests and other content

Already Completed Projects:
- Server Created Jan 11th 2008
- Nexus base completed with spell scriber, soul binder, class GM trainers, server greeter, merchant, bankers, and many quest npcs.
- Nexus created original custom temporary and permanent de-leveling quests to allow players to drop levels to play with friends or alts.
- Crushbone zone models updated
- Crushbone loot tables updated
- Crushbone armor quest added
- ToFS some model updates
- ToFS added key drops for all floors to certain named
- ToFS loot tables updated
- ToFS tradeskill class armor set quests completed
- Nexus added a forge to nexus for tradeskill armor
- Nexus added augment device to nexus
- Delveb adjusted spawns and prepared for loot tables (60-70 zone)
- ToFS added Epic 1.0 quests and modified Epic stats for all classes
- Vex Thal modified to be for levels 50-60. All drops stayed the same
- Server-Wide Lowered Recommended and Required levels on all items level 45 and up
- ToFS set the Shadow Torches to drop armor molds 100% of the time for people lacking molds.
- Vex Thal adjusted all named spawn timers and made them all slow-able to be more in-line with the zone
- Delveb added loot and quest items to the zone
- Delveb adjusted zone in point, mob pathing, spawn timers and other fine tuning
- Server-wide upped max level from 65 to 70 (70 was what I originally intended, but 65 is default)
- Server-wide set naked corpses to be left. You don't need to corpse run to get your gear back, but now you can rez
- Devleb 2 new quests for the zone. One for a nice custom earring and the other is a custom ring
- Devleb added a class armor set quest
- Renamed server to new official name Storm Haven
- ToFS tuned first and second floor to be an easier transition from Crushbone
- Server-wide added command #traindisc <level> so everyone can train all discs up to their level. Example is "#traindisc 70"

[miotch]

Any relation between the server Developer and the guild "Storm Haven" on live?
I was in that guild on povar..8 years ago?

[trevius]

Nope, lol. I just wanted a server name that sounded like the name of a castle. I googled castle names and saw one with Haven in it, and then made a list of possibilities. I liked Storm Haven the most, although Windhaven was close behind. The initials SH roll off the tongue easier than WH though :P

It kinda reminds me of a cross between Stormwind from WoW and Shadowhaven from EQ. So now you know the history of the name

[trevius]

Quick update on server status:

The first end-game zone is in place for small to full groups of level 70 players. The zone is the Plane of Time B and it has been completely rebuilt from the ground up. I respawned the entire zone, trying to stay as close to live as possible, but made changes needed since it is not an instanced zone. All original spawn names and races have been set as close to live as I can remember. Phase 1, 2 and the top part of phase 3 share the loot tables of Quarm and Ralloz Zek from timeb on live. For phases 4 to Quarm, the loot tables have been added custom to be better than the previous phases. When you first zone in, you are in the earth room in phase 1. You must kill the boss and the adds there to get an item that can be turned in to teleport your group to the next room of phase one. This keeps people outside your group from being able to follow you through or jump ahead of you while clearing through the first few phases. I have also added in tokens that people can gather to get instant ports to later phases in the zone, so they don't have to clear the lower phases if they don't need loot from them anymore. I will leave any further details for people to find out on their own. Just know that it has been a lot of work and I have tried to put a good variety in the zone to make it fun for all that attempt it.

Timeb is the main zone to gather parts for the 1.5 epic quests, although 2 other zones will have items required for the 1.5 quest as well. There is a quest for a nice slot upgrade (not saying which to keep some surprise in it). I am also going to add in an armor quest unlike any others so far on the server! I should have that in within a day or 2.

I will most likely still be tuning some encounters to make them harder or easier as needed. But, for the most part, I feel it is pretty complete.

My server has up to 30 or so players on at peak times right now, so it is starting to build a good player base. Check my forums in my sig for more information or if you have any questions, you can post there.

[Cvinion]

Please check out Paladin's and 2hs. I have a dwarf Paladain Padal whom whenevrr he swings with his 2hander crashes to desktop. He is lvl 48 and cannot use two handed weapons. May want to create a new paladin Dwrf and chck this out.

[trevius]

I will check that out. That would have been better posted on my own forums in the bugs section though. I am not sure why paladins would have that issue only on my server. I haven't done anything to classes or skills. I think you were talking about the same issue with a 2HB as well. I don't think anyone else has had that same problem.

The only thing I can think of is that the issue is on your client side. Since it crashes you to desktop, but the zone doesn't crash or anything. Normally if the issue was server side, it would cause the zone to crash too.

I will make a paladin tonight and try out some 2 handed weapons. If it works fine for me, I would suggest reinstalling Titanium.

[Cvinion]

Sorry I didnt post it on your server forums. Also it's crashed on three different computers so I know its not something with the client, but may be something with the Charcter himself.

Agian sorrya bout posting this here, and props on the server its my favorite as of now

[trevius]

Well, I just made a paladin and tested it with a 2hb weapon and it worked fine. Not sure why just your character would cause that. Maybe if you can post a crash log or something on my forums, I can look into it. I can try renaming your character if you want, or even copying him and seeing if you still have the same issue. Let me know on my forums. Just post in the bug section about it if you want.

[trevius]

It has been a while since I updated this post, and there have been a ton of changes to the server in the past few months. I figured since I finally finished the Epic 2.0 quest and quite a few more zones, I would post an update with a list of all the changes I have made since the last list. You can also read about these on my forums ( sh.makeforum.org ) in the news section. It is updated regularly.

My server currently gets up to around 85 players at peak times. I don't think it can handle much more than that until I get a few more changes in (which should be soon). So, this post isn't really advertising to get more players to come over. I wanted to post to let everyone know that the server is still going strong. If you want to check out the server, feel free

February 2008 Changes:
- Potimeb: all loot, quest items and quests are in place. The zone will still be fine tuned where needed for encounter balance
- Potimeb: added a quest for every class to upgrade their delveb armor to a new set
- Quest: Epic 1.5 quest is completed
- Server Update: updated to newer version of EQEmu 0.7.0-1080
- Server-wide: upped the cap for mana and hp regens from items again to 100 max
- Crushbone: added 2 new quests in zone
- Vex Thal: lowered spawn times in the courtyard for soloers
- Nexus: teleporter added to send people to many regular zones
- Veeshan's Peak: customized with new models and loot tables in place
- Nexus: added the ability for the spell scriber to also train Bard music skills
- Povalor: new exp zone added. More customization and loot will be added soon
- Server: the server is now running on another PC that is dedicated to only running the server and nothing else
- Crushbone: added quest for all pet classes to gain an item that will summon pet gear and weapons
- Povalor: custom loot tables added to existing and new named
- Povalor: Key quest added to gain access to Aerin`Dar
- Povalor: added quest for all pet classes to gain an item that will summon upgraded pet gear and weapons
- Povalor: added a new ring and earring quest for this zone
- Nexus: added a new quest NPC for exp only quests
- Nexus: added a new NPC near the forges to warn about bugs with using the forge
- Server-wide: updated the emulator code to version 0.7.0-1099
- Server-wide: added NPCs to all custom zones that will reset each one on timers to reduce server lag

March 2008 Changes:
- Server-wide: lowered regular exp from 3X down to 2X
- Server-wide: raised AAXP from 2X to 3X
- Frozenshadow: changed all mirrors that previously zoned to Iceclad to now send you to the ToFS zone in instead. With the exception of the mirror at the zone in of ToFS
- Frozenshadow: changed mirrors on the top floor in the mirror room to now require the master key (Tserrina's Key) instead of the keys for the individual floors.
- Vexthal: retuned all of the boss encounters to be harder. This will make them require a small to medium group to do them as intended
- Potimeb: changed the Quarm Egg to spawn after Quarm is killed along with Zebuxoruk.
- Vox/Naggy: considerably raised the perimeter range that characters higher than level 52 will be banished from.
- Nexus: added an NPC to train Common Tongue skill to 100 since Ogres, Trolls and Iksars start with 95 and have no way to raise it
- Vexthal: slightly reduced the agro radius of all NPCs in the zone. This should help to slightly lower the issues with chain agro
- Delveb: lowered the levels of the drakes at zone in to make them easier for players under 70 to solo
- Server-wide: slightly reduced the damage on Rogue epic 1.0 and 1.5 as well as all sold arrows as a temp fix to lower insane damage from special attacks until it is fixed in the Emu code
- Veeshan: removed the shielding aug until a fix is put into the Emu code to stop LORE augs from ignoring the LORE setting once they are inserted into an item
- Delveb: reduced agro range on mobs to lower chain agro. Adjusted boss encounters slightly
- Potimeb: re-tuned the entire zone to be more inline with how I want it. More tuning will most likely be necessary to perfect it. Resists have been lowered as well for casters to land more spells
- Veeshan: re-tuned the entire zone to be more inline with how I want it. More tuning will most likely be necessary to perfect it.
- Server-Wide: removed experience loss on death. All rejoice
- Potimea: new zone added. This is the first de-level zone and has a full set of completely custom gear
- Stillmoonb: new exp only zone added to take AE exp groups out of delveb for the most part
- Delveb: reduced some of the named HPs slightly
- Nexus: updated the de-evel quest for potimea access to be repeatable. Any sacrifice after the first one will reward 2 Golden Tickets to Time
- Unrest: new custom zone added for players of levels 15 to 35. This zone includes new custom quest rewards
- Quest: the Large Balls of Energy for the Epic 1.0 quest have been moved from ToFS to Unrest
- Veeshan: upgraded most drops from Phara`Dar
- Poearthb: new custom zone added for players level 50 to 65 with custom loot tables. Quest will be added shortly
- Poearthb: 2 quests added, as well as a new boss event

April 2008 Changes:
- Solrotower: new high tier zone opened for players. All loot is in place, but only trash spawns are tuned so far. All named are set to be impossible to kill until tuned. Many quests and other work still in progress
- Solrotower: the first quest for this zone is completed and ready for players to try out. Enjoy! More to come for this later
- Server-Wide: upgraded my internet connection from 5MBs down and 512k up to double the speed. It is now 10MBs down and 1MB up
- Epics: the epic 1.5 for all caster and healer classes is now usable in the offhand slot as well as primary. The damage and delay has been removed to allow this
- Nexus: added 2.0 weapon graphics to all of the class GMs to give them a cooler look and give people a way to see what their class 2.0 looks like
- Solrotower: a 'boss status' npc was added near the zone in to allow people to check which bosses are up for a small fee
- Server-Wide: spells for levels over 70 have been added, but require updating the spells_us.txt file in order to use them
- Solrotower: opened up all named and mini bosses so they are ready for players to try out
- Server-wide: updated the emulator code to version 0.7.0-1104
- Solrotower: all armor quests are now complete
- Server-Wide: temporarily enabled the #scribespells for everyone to use until I can fix the issues with 70+ spells disappearing from spell books when zoning.
- Solrotower: removed summoning from all trash spawns to prevent players from falling through the world. Made all trash immune to speed changes and run faster to adjust for lack of summoning
- Solrotower: the zone is now fully complete with all quests and events. The encounters will still most likely need some adjusting for difficulty level balance
- Chambers (Proving Grounds): this series of zones are now complete and include access quests and a final event for an epic quest piece drop
- Quest: Epic 2.0 quest is completed

Other than tweaking and tuning current content to make sure all encounter difficulty is the way I want it and working properly as intended, the next plans I have are to work on a new custom zone for solo and raid players. This zone will have quite a few new ideas in it and should add something fresh to the server. It will be a while before it is completed though as there is a TON of work to get it all in.

Feel free to register on my forums and ask questions there if you have any.

[Izzo]

Storm Haven boards are redirecting to the makeforum.org home page. Just an FYI

[trevius]

They do that sometimes. All you have to do is hit back and click the link again. Sometimes it takes a few tries, but it will eventually go through. I am not sure if that is an error on their part or if it is some tricky advertising. I wouldn't be surprised either way lol.

[Andarius]

This is an awesome server. It's fast leveling, nifty custom gear, you have to actually earn your epics and armor through questing and crafting, and the community is very friendly and helpful. Thanks for a great server Trev.

[deucemachine]

i agree i just started playing EQ emu again after like 3 or 4 years of walking away from the game....I must say.I give you an A++ I love the server!

[trevius]

Dreadspire is now open to players!

It took over 3 months to get this zone ready for players. There has been much player anticipation for the release of this zone. I think everyone will see what has been taking so long when they see how new, dynamic and challenging the entire zone is. Dreadspire has been made completely custom from the ground up. Since the zone was completely empty when I started on it (there weren't even any doors), it will not be similar to Live in any way. I didn't play in Dreadspire/Demi-Plane of Blood on live at all, so I made everything up on my own. The only mob that exists in the Storm Haven Dreadspire that was also on EQLive is Mayong Mistmoore. And, the only thing that isn't 100% fully custom created is the actual loot in the loot tables. Most of the loot was pre-existing in the database and was just edited where needed.

Some of the key features of Dreadspire:

- Melee class trash mobs have disciplines that can make them considerably harder
- All caster class mobs have custom spell lists for their class using level 71+ player spells
- All trash mobs have a chance to trigger one of 3 types of special mini events
- All trash mobs have a chance to spawn 1 of 3 named when they die
- The remaining named all spawn in static places but have placeholders
- 11 Total Named mobs which have each been built as custom encounters to all be different
- 8 Total mini bosses all with 100% custom and extremely detailed original events so each requires completely different strategies
- 1 Boss, which is Mayong Mistmoore himself
- Over 220+ Loot and Quest items in the zone with more to come!
- Progression based content that requires defeating certain encounters and completing quests to access other areas
- Completely original and new scripted events that will create more interesting encounters than ever and add more excitement
- Considerably challenging content that will require more variety in classes, strategy and skill
- Quests for upgrades from the Veteran Charms
- Quests for Immaculate items, which are epic 2.0 quality items that are meant to compliment the epic 2.0 in other slots.
- Multiple branches from the zone in to help divide up the zone to allow multiple separate groups to use the zone at once
- Mini-Boss and Boss status checker to find out which bosses are up directly from the zone in
- Probably one of the best overall zone looks and layout in the entire game.
- More attention to detail for things like weapon models on mobs, pathing, mob names, etc to give a certain feel to the zone
- Custom Random attack and death messages and emotes on all trash mobs


This zone will definitely require further tuning and there are even more features planned for it in the near future as well. Dreadspire is designed to be the top tier zone on the server for a long time. There is alot to do there and the content is hard and slow, but hopefully still lots of fun. It will be extremely hard before poeple start earning much gear from the zone to help them handle it better. As people gear up, the trash mobs and even named will probably be boxable, but I doubt any of the mini-bosses+ will be boxable due to their advanced scripting events and challenge levels.

Once the final tweaks and additional features are added into the zone, we will start work on more new content which should continue to give more interesting things for players to do whether they are solo, grouped or raiding. We have plenty of very interesting ideas that should make Storm Haven even more unique than it already is.

Special thanks to Vanco for helping create many of the encounters. His scripting ability and creative mind has really helped to make Dreadspire what I think will be a huge success. If you ask me, I might even say that the Storm Haven Dreadspire is probably better done than almost all EQLive zones. Or, it will be when it is fully finalized.

Also note that since the last post was made in this thread, the following major changes/additions have been made:

May 2008 Changes:
- Server: the server is now running on Debian Linux. This is on a temporary PC until I get the real server built onto Linux as well
- Server-wide: disabled all zone resetters since there are reports that player ghosts do not occur on Linux servers. Will enable them again if they are needed
- Server-wide: lowered the exp bonus for the server down to 1.5 to help in further server balance
- Quest: reduced the drop rate on Radiant Scrolls from Phara`Dar and Spirit of Mithaniel Mar from 6 down to 1 per kill to reduce access rates for Solrotower
- Armor: added worn effect: Faerune to all PoTimeB and Solrotower armor set helms
- Solrotower: removed a possible exploit in the Solusek Ro event
- Pets: upgraded the highest level pets that level a 70 mage, necro, beastlord, shadowknight and enchanter can get and added new pets for 70+. More pet changes to come
- Pets: completed updating high level pets and the 70+ pets. They may still get further tuning, but they have all been upgraded and customized
- Code: added the anti-MQ detection source code from TZ/VZ server. This should remove most cheats from the server
- Tools: added the PEQ character mover tool. Information on this tool can be found in the General and Bugs sections of the forums in stickied posts
- Discipline: reduced the amount of avoidance given by Evasive Discipline. This discipline was much too overpowered
- Spells: corrected the range setting for certain mid level cleric, druid, and shaman healing spells that were not working properly
- Bards: corrected a bug that was causing bards to crash zones everytime they logged in if they had trained the Sionachie's Crescendo AA.
- Bards: adjusted the level 71 song Jonthan's Mightful Caretaker to reduce the proc rate increase it gives as it was much to overpowering
- Bugs: resolved a long running bug with the quests to level above 70 and de-leveling

June 2008 Changes:
- Server-wide: updated the emulator code to version 0.7.0-1110
- Server-wide: temporarily disabled NPC fleeing until there are less bugs in the code for it
- Pets: increased the dps and some other stats of end-game pets by a considerable amount
- Veeshan: lowered all resists accept for magic resist considerably on all NPCs
- Nexus: added an automatic random illusion generating NPC that spawns occasionally
- Nexus: made a minor adjustment to the de-level quests to remove a possible exploit
- Veeshan: upgraded the loot on all dragons accept for Phara`Dar to be in line with the rest of the zone
- Quests: increased the number of Radiant Scroll drops in Veeshan and Hohonorb. The other dragons now have a rare chance to drop the scrolls as well

July 2008 Changes:
- Server-wide: updated the emulator code to a modified version of 0.7.0-1118
- Server-wide: added code to resolve the "Lag Bug"
- Server-wide: added code to stop lore augments from being looted after the same aug had been inserted into an item.
- Dreadspire: the access quest for Dreadspire has been started and the first part is attainable
- Dreadspire: the zone is fully spawned and pathing and doors are completed. Quests and loot needs to be added to finalize the zone
- Server-wide: players can now contribute to the server. The contributor zone Guild Hall has been completed and an item upgrade quest has been added
- Solrotower: cleaned up some old stuff in the Solusek Ro encounter to hopefully reduce lag issues during the fight
- Server-wide: added some new code that I wrote into the server to allow Call of the Hero to be disabled on a Per Zone basis
- Nexus: added a new NPC to toggle PVP flags off or on at any time
- Server-wide: added code to help HPs to be displayed properly and for Chaotic Potential AA to work
- Server-wide: added code for Pet HPs to update out of combat now
- Server-wide: added new hack detection and prevention to stop the hack that allows items to be equiped by classes that cannot use them so they can use the click effect from them
- Server-wide: added the opcode for Charmed Pets, so they now use the pet window and can be controlled
- Server-wide: added disciplines to level 75 Necro and Mage pets
- Server-wide: enabled IP Limiting to limit the max number of simultaneous accounts per household to 3
- Server-wide: added code to allow Pet buffs to show up in the pet window. Pet classes rejoice
- Delveb: the dragon encounter, Tirranum, is now complete with loot and a Dreadspire access flag
- Server-wide: updated the emulator code to version 0.7.0-1125
- Server-wide: added code to fix the issue with level 71+ spells being removed from the spellbook when zoning
- Server-wide: removed access to the #scribespells command for normal players
- Corathusa: new zone opened and all quests complete accept for the Dreadspire access portion from there
- Server-wide: updated the emulator code to version 0.7.0-1128

September 2008 Changes:
- Server-wide: created a new quest command that allows disciplines to be trained at the spell scriber
- Server-wide: removed the #traindisc command access since the spell scriber can now train them
- Server-wide: increased the max level of disciplines to level 75
- Dreadspire: this new zone is finally open to players after 4 months of hard work! Enjoy

If you haven't played on Storm Haven yet, feel free to come check us out anytime. And, if you have played on Storm Haven before, feel free to come back and check out the best zone on the server yet!

[hayward6]

Oh, I have to give this a shot!