Server Concept Idea - When Worlds Collide
First, a disclaimer: I'm not a developer, so I don't even know if this is possible in EQEmu. I only know SQL. That being said, I would love to work on a server like this or just see it come to fruitation; so, if someone wants to pick up this idea and run with it, please go for it.
Here's the pitch:
I'm growing tired of a world where bosses sit in their dungeons and wait for you to come kill them. I need random quests that send me out to kill a random boss for a useful reward(s). But here's the catch: Your quest has a timer. If you are taking your sweet-ass time, there are consequences. If quest your timer runs out, the boss sends his minions (mini bosses) to come attack you and others on the server while simultaneously broadcasting a server message that YOU are failing your quest to kill 'XYZ' boss.
The mini bosses serve multiple purposes. First, you're forcing interaction between players and slowing everyone's questing down. After all, this isn't meant to be easy. Second, that quest timer hasn't stopped and these mini bosses are just slowing you down... the timer has just reset and you're still expected to go kill that boss or else suffer additional consequences.
If the clock reaches zero again, the boss AND his minions begin to attack the hub/main city. This is where the real consequences begin. The hub/main city only has a handful of quest givers, merchants, and guards that are attacked and can be killed if left unprotected. If your quest givers go down for awhile, that means your progression slows down. Server broadcasts alerting players of such events must be paid attention to.
There would be several tiers of boss quests to take on. Solo, Solo Elite, Small Group, Small Group Elite, Large Group, and Large Group Elite.
What's to encourage social interaction?:
Great question! Let's introduce competitive play. There are two teams, divided by race or hub/city. If Team Freeport (example) kills a boss, everyone on team Freeport gets platinum that can be used to buy special items of the server admin's choice from vendors in the hub/city. Therefore, the team progresses together. The more quickly they plow through bosses, the faster they all progress. Leaderboards could easily track team and individual success.
Also, If I had it my way, I would give an experience penalty to boxers and a hefty bonus to groups of unique IP address players. After all, the most fond memories of EQ involved the social aspect.
What's to discourage afking to get ahead?
Platinum is only gained through team success (above) and individual success of killing bosses and completing quests yourself. There are no other means of obtaining currency. So while afkers may leech their off their team's success, they will still fall very far behind if they're not participating in boss kills or quests themselves.
How will new players contribute since they're low level?
Low level bosses that are killed will still award platinum to the entire team, but at a lower amount. Lower level players should catch up to higher players quite easily since they're able to receive platinum rewards for high level bosses that the team kills. Perhaps server admins will allow advanced experience potions to be purchased with platinum...
How is item progression handled?
Well, this could go a lot of ways based on preference. Personally, I love what Tobasco did with Dungeon Crawl's boss and loot system. It allowed you to solo a good amount, but sometimes forced you to group with at least one other person to handle the big baddies in the world. I think that would play out really, really well on this server type. If you haven't experienced Dungeon Crawl, please go do so now. You're missing out.
You could also argue Akka's loot system could work, or a currency-based progression item progression.
What happens when a team 'wins'?
Let's say Team Qeynos gets brutally crushed and their city/hub is swarmed with bosses to the point that the players just can't fight back anymore... At that point, Team Freeport would proclaim victory per server broadcast. All bosses would despawn in the respective team cities/hubs and the winning team members would each be rewarded a random high end item after passing a simple random question to make sure you're not AFK. If you're at level cap, you'll receive two additional random high end items.
Gotta love that RNG. It's truly what keeps us playing.
TL;DR:
A server that allows two large groups of diverse playstyle players to compete against each other (PvP) through PvE boss-kill quests and I don't know how to develop it.
EDIT: Fixed formatting.
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