Anti-boxing servers

[Lordfate]

It seems like so many recent servers are 100% against boxing. The thought process seems to be that if players play multiple characters then they won't be willing to group with other players and the server will die.

What's actually happened is that none of these anti-boxing servers is doing well because they post such low numbers day after day. They intentionally drive away players like myself that enjoy boxing 4 at a time.

I rarely group, true, but I also never play on servers that only allow 1 or 2 characters per IP. I flat out refuse to play on those servers because they are not fun.

Do you think Sony designed their servers to only support players with 1-2 characters? Hell no!!! They wanted as many accounts as possible logged in all the time. They catered to players of all styles. So stop narrowing your user bases and you'll have much more success.

Lately, there are so few innovative servers. The few that are innovative seem dead set against players that box. But we aren't a plague. We don't destroy servers. In fact, we help make them popular.

Do you think any server made it to Legends or Preferred by having 5 people logged in at a time? God no!

So please make your servers supportive of multi-boxers. We aren't evil, we don't destroy servers. We're dedicated players that are bored with the idea of playing just 1 or 2 characters. Seriously, it's boring as shit...

If you want your server to have a chance of being successful, don't hate on boxers. We're players too.

[Burningsoul]

Just go play on Shards of dalaya. you and the three other boxers who have the end game on lockdown will love it.

Or just make your own and call it "Boxers Roxers", then you and 8 other people can permacamp the whole game.

I detest your idea that a solo character is "boring as shit". So take your elitist attitude about how we need to cater to your whims and shove it.

[Township EQ]

Just go play on Shards of dalaya. you and the three other boxers who have the end game on lockdown will love it.

Or just make your own and call it "Boxers Roxers", then you and 8 other people can permacamp the whole game.

I detest your idea that a solo character is "boring as shit". So take your elitist attitude about how we need to cater to your whims and shove it.

Relax friend.

[Kingly_Krab]

I'm not sure what server angered you, but that sucks, boxing is something that became very evident in this community, I don't remember 6-8 boxing being common on live. But if you're looking to play a boxing server, you can play EZ or The Hidden Forest, or you could make your own that is a boxing paradise and allow people unlimited boxing and scale content based on that.

[Kayen]

It seems like so many recent servers are 100% against boxing. The thought process seems to be that if players play multiple characters then they won't be willing to group with other players and the server will die.

It has nothing to do with grouping.

In brief, trying to implement balanced content that accommodates both boxers and non boxers is nearly an impossible task. Ultimately leading the disenfranchisement of the non-boxers leaving you with a server with a high population but low actual player count. This is not what any developer strives for and it is not representative of a healthy server.

Kayen
GM Storm Haven

[Shirodan]

Pretty much what Kayen said,

If you balance a game around boxing then the non-boxing player will not be able to keep up. If you balance the game around non-boxing but allow people to box then content becomes trivial for a single person who boxes.

Disallowing boxing allows for better balance.

That being said, there are plenty of servers that allowing boxing to accommodate those who wish to box.

[jakaleca]

Agree with the OP.

Competent EQ/Emu game design has less to do with catering to boxers (or NON-) than it does simply offering a decent EQ/gaming experience overall.

In EQ1 multi-boxing was a >> reaction << to Sony's arbitrarily increased tier difficulty, unfinished content, and cockblocks and timesinks (Velious Sleeper, SoL, all of GoD), and the subsequent loss of community and overall number of players interested in such a poorly managed game.

Look at the need for shrouds and mercs on live.

Some of you all need to relax; enjoy your low population 1-2 clients per IP clamp, but don't say some of us didn't try ta warn ya. We didn't 6-box your camp or KS your gnoll... we told you the facts; some of us have whole families that play here and we need servers that allow 2-4 or MORE clients per IP, or, well we all just go elsewhere.

~n~p~



/auc WTS Splitpaw Hide Mask 5pp PST

[sorvani]

Just go play on Shards of dalaya. you and the three other boxers who have the end game on lockdown will love it.

Or just make your own and call it "Boxers Roxers", then you and 8 other people can permacamp the whole game.

I detest your idea that a solo character is "boring as shit". So take your elitist attitude about how we need to cater to your whims and shove it.

And you obvious elitist attitude is better? Pot meet kettle.

I personally boxed 2 on live from less than I year after I started. I do find solo playing tedious and less fun. Does not mean shit. Everyone has their own preference and there are currently servers catering to pretty much all of them.

That is the point of this project after all. To let people make the servers they want, how they want.

[demonstar55]

Demanding server operators to run their server a certain way is a little silly. Isn't there like a French phrase that applies here?

[Mariomario]

Demanding server operators to run their server a certain way is a little silly. Isn't there like a French phrase that applies here?

I assume you are speaking of 'Oi vey'?

[xzyphor]

Why can't we just include boxing but limit it to two characters per IP address. It seems that would make things so much more simple and convenient other than completely ruling out the prospect of boxing in general.

[provocating]

I allow 2 boxing on Dragons Of Mist [HC], anything past that seems excessive so I stuck with two. Plus it allows someone to have a character in the bazaar selling while they are playing.

[wolfwalkereci]

I keep reading the OP and really can't see why people like Burningsoul react so negatively to it. Btw you might want to double check Shards boxing policy.
Should have referred him to EZ, sound like you came from there and failed at the server.
Sorry that you cant box content, you can always go play on P99 where there are no 'evil boxers' to take all your content...

Kayen really hit it on the head, some servers are just not meant to have the big boxers on it, a 2 or 3 boxer that does content balanced around that figure is fine but someone that can come in and box 12-18-24 in that same content break all scaling on that server. SH forums are a interesting read about how boxing has effected the server.

I think it's why EZ does so well and is a personal favorite server for me. Its dummy proof with no skill required. Push buttons <afk> for the longest and win.
:wink:

As for the OP: I really can't think of to many servers that wont at least let you box 4. What exactly do you want because I can think of a server type for damn near everyone's taste, except PVP which is stupid in EQ.

[Xiggie3]

When someone comes along and looks at the server list to see what server they may want to play on one of the first things they look at is server population. Saying that server population doesn't indicate a healthy server is talking from inside the box. I don't mean that as an insult. Appearances are everything at first glance and appearance of a high population says to people, 'hey, if a lot of people like it, it must be good'. An anemic population says to people it must not be very well liked. There is also the fear factor of how often servers disappear. You don't usually see a server with high population, boxing or not just up and disappear. And about those boxers and how they inflate server population, do you think they would stick around if the server was unhealthy?

All that being said though I don't think that every server should automatically accept multi-boxing. Supply and demand are strong indicators of what is in demand. By a large margin, most of the long term servers are multi-box servers. Most single box servers just fail to attract the attention needed to retain long term membership. Again it falls back to numbers. I go to log in and I see there is only 15 people on this server, but this other server has 300!

I would absolutely love to see a server like Stormhaven pull the cap off the box limit. I remember when that server started getting into the 100's. Unless my memory is just extremely bad it was largely do to lag that Trev started limiting boxing. I got frustrated with waiting on other people to log in when I was playing and finally just moved on to another server where I didn't have to wait. Trying to find a group was a large part of the reason I left live.

[carpediembr]

I detest your idea that a solo character is "boring as shit". .

For me is exactly the oposite.
I played for a bit on EZ server, where people are allowed to box as many as I could see in the zone. I entered this Tier 3 or w/e zone saw a guy boxing 31 chars... I asked if I could join on the last spot and grab any rots... he just said to fuck off and go box...

Like why would you do that? If you are going to box and not play with other players just create your own server and play alone!

In the other hand if the server population is below 50 players and you cant box, the chances are ou will never find a group.

In my honest opinion a max of 2, maybe 3 should be allowed if the server population is low.

[nenelan]

In my honest opinion a max of 2, maybe 3 should be allowed if the server population is low.

In my honest opinion, it's up the the developer(s)/owner(s) of each individual server, ya'know, the people putting the time and effort in to it. They may entertain notions and discussions of changing that if presented to them, especially if presented in a clear, concise and coherent manner.

I hate to hit that horse one more time, but if your ideal server isn't out there, there's no better time than now to learn the skills necessary to host your own.

[sorvani]

It is also not all that hard anymore.

[Faheemkhan]

Great information. Very useful to me. Actually I was searching the same since many days. Thanks.

[jakaleca]

heh just ran a toon up a couple levels for no reason on Dragons of Mist; limit one Account per IP-- Permanently? I evidently can't even create an alt on another of my own login accounts, and wife can't log in at all. I read what you say, Provo, but- if that isn't openly hostile to players, there's no such thing.

What a shame too.

A $20,000.00 12x Core Dual Xeon 74GB 20TB dual Raid 10 enormous Lian Li encased server... on a standard household cable line... for a cap of 14 players?

I guess that may be nature's way of saying "you have too much money"...

Among other things.

...

Thanks anyway, Provocating!

Good luck to you.

[provocating]

heh just ran a toon up a couple levels for no reason on Dragons of Mist; limit one Account per IP-- Permanently? I evidently can't even create an alt on another of my own login accounts, and wife can't log in at all. I read what you say, Provo, but- if that isn't openly hostile to players, there's no such thing.

A $20,000.00 12x Core Dual Xeon 74GB 20TB dual Raid 10 enormous Lian Li encased server... on a standard household cable line... for a cap of 14 players?

I guess that may be nature's way of saying "you have too much money"...

Among other things.

...

Thanks anyway, Provocating!

Good luck to you.

Well you never contacted me about it to see if there was actually a problem. Dragons of Mist [HC] is openly two connections right now, on the first server though I ask people to message me for that second account.

I definitely do not have 20k in that server, if I had purchased something like a Dell or HP then yeah I probably would have that much in it. Plus the server does way more than host the game servers. I also store my customer backups, do developmental work for multiple personal clients on it. If I do a lot of work for a client and get a large check, I may put some of that money back into the server.

Of the two options, not having money to put into the server...or having the money to put into the server I will take the second option. It does not hurt my feelings that I do not have a large draw of players. As long as I have a world for me to play in, that is all that matters to me.

I am sorry you did not like the experience though, but my server is not for everyone.

[jakaleca]

Sir, I actually admire your work greatly, and am a little surprised you aren't a green server yet. My stab at humor about the tremendous hardware you operate has missed badly, for which I humbly apologize. You indeed have a state of the art machine which must make others every bit as envious as it does me my crew.

And as we've said before, here and elsewhere, we simply move on when we find such restrictions.

Best wishes.

[provocating]

As I said, if you need things changed on the main server, it is an easy adjustment for your account. Either way, my feelings do not get hurt that easily. My server is definitely not for everyone.

[ChaosSlayerZ]

+1 for no boxing allowed servers ;)

[physxguy15]

I used to 5 box on some servers, got to some of the highest tiers on them. I hated it. Other servers need 15+ people to raid, to make those server anti-boxing is ridiculous, people would be stuck on the first tiers forever. TBH, some servers need to rebalance raids, needing 20+ people is ridiculous, having 20 unique accounts would take forever to organize and progress through. People need to be able to do stuff in game solo or small groups, I'd really love to see admins allow more bot usage. Let the people play, I'd much rather manage a group of bots than deal with a bunch of macros and 5-6 instances of EQ.

[zeldik]

P99 is so popular because it is single characters and forces the bond that EQ used to bring to other people, if requested they do grant an IP Exemption however I think if a NEW Progression style server was introduced that didnt stay in expansions for years on end and even only allowed 1 IP limit it would still be a hugh hit I mean P99 stays 900-1400 ish population most every evening.

As for Boxing about every single server Ive been on with the exception of 2-3 out of all of them allows boxing of 3 or more most being unlimited.

[Davood]

It seems like so many recent servers are 100% against boxing. The thought process seems to be that if players play multiple characters then they won't be willing to group with other players and the server will die.

What's actually happened is that none of these anti-boxing servers is doing well because they post such low numbers day after day. They intentionally drive away players like myself that enjoy boxing 4 at a time.

I rarely group, true, but I also never play on servers that only allow 1 or 2 characters per IP. I flat out refuse to play on those servers because they are not fun.

Do you think Sony designed their servers to only support players with 1-2 characters? Hell no!!! They wanted as many accounts as possible logged in all the time. They catered to players of all styles. So stop narrowing your user bases and you'll have much more success.

Lately, there are so few innovative servers. The few that are innovative seem dead set against players that box. But we aren't a plague. We don't destroy servers. In fact, we help make them popular.

Do you think any server made it to Legends or Preferred by having 5 people logged in at a time? God no!

So please make your servers supportive of multi-boxers. We aren't evil, we don't destroy servers. We're dedicated players that are bored with the idea of playing just 1 or 2 characters. Seriously, it's boring as shit...

If you want your server to have a chance of being successful, don't hate on boxers. We're players too.

Try Alakamin sometime... i dont have a boxing limit . I think I used to.. but it didn't make sense after a while

tiers 1 to 3 are insanely hard and most of the tiers after 15 through to 30 are really really hard unless you group / box / bot it up

[Davood]

I think about 2 people made it to tier 30 on my server (one was a boxer the other was a botter) and at least 2-3 people are somewhere between tier 20 and 24, and there are like 50-100 people somewhere between tier 7 and 20, and hundreds of people who are in tiers 1-7

ill make some auto statistics later when i have time for eqemu again