A Rogue Server - Now Open!!

[Soak]

Been messing around with this server idea for a while. I've enjoyed running a few characters through it...Hopefully others will enjoy it too.

Remember the game Rogue? It was essentially a time-waster. You had one life. One shot to run through the dungeon hoping for the best random drops and praying not to die. And when you did die...Poof! It was all gone!

This server hopes to recreate some of that, yet add enough depth and fun that it's not just wasting time anymore.

-PvE Only
-Classic thru PoP (will expand later)
-Max Level Is 65 (will increase over time)
-Random Loot (all level/diety/proc/click/rec/req/etc requirements removed)
-Death will reset character level to 1
-Gear remains on corpse
-High EXP rate so leveling (and re-leveling) is not a chore
-Auto Skills & Spells on level
-PoK Bank has NPC porters, merchants, etc
-Single IP (No Boxing)
-No warp/speed/etc

Balancing will continue to take place. The more feedback the better.

Make friends. Kill enemies. Have fun!!

[Tabasco]

I'm a big fan of rogue-like mechanics in general and they can be a lot of fun in EQ. I actually had a server similar to this some years ago. It never got any significant population, but there were some die-hard players who really explored the concept to its fullest and we all had a good time of it.

I modelled mine after Dungeon Crawl: Stone Soup, which is one of many really good rogue-likes out there. Part of the random loot distribution included a variety of weapons with diverse procs (or brands, as they're described in DCSS). To pull these off we chose an appropriate spell and cranked the proc rate up so that your weapon was going off all of the time.
We also had wands, which were basically 5-10 charge clickies that could be instantly cast. Some of these included AoE spells so the caster could meet a quick end if they tried to blast the more powerful wands at close range.
I attempted managing hunger and thirst but aside from being a boring and annoying mechanic, it was a pain to keep it synced with the client.

If you're trying to work with the existing world you might also think about innate racial abilities to spice things up. We found that it was very enjoyable to see yourself rise to power quickly but still keep the possibility of dying horribly at the hands of a new or unknown foe.
Basically our thinking was to make a spell set with the racial abilities we wanted per race that we wanted to augment. You might want a slam for ogres that has a mean knockback, incrementally nasty poisons on all snakes, maybe a bleed dot for lions, etc.
From there I would use a script to hook the spell sets up to any NPC without an existing spell set that has a matching race.

Alas, I digress. I don't mean to hijack your thread or anything, but I would love to see a server like this really become established and get some polish so I figured I would share some of what we tried and intended to try.

Good luck and keep up the good work!

[microlo]

rof 2 not supported?

[Soak]

Not right now - UF and Titanium working. Will try to get RoF up and running this week.

[Soak]

Tabasco - Just wanted to say thanks for the ideas!! I have been looking into randomizing the encounters a bit!! Also LOVE the wands idea using clickies...Can't believe I didn't think of that!!

I wish I could get the hunger and thirst thing working, but like you said it is iffy at best. I have been playing around with making it so that if the player doesn't have a specific food or drink they get a low level DoT on them...But it seems bulky right now.

Hopefully this version of the Rogue Server proves to be a fun distraction for some. I'll continue to refine it down the road.

[br00kster]

Good job, Soak, really enjoying the server so far.

Is there anywhere to see updates, server status, downtime, etc.? As I notice the server is currently down.

Cheers.

[Krical]

any notice when the server comes back on? Been excited all day but was offline when I got home from work :(

[br00kster]

any notice when the server comes back on? Been excited all day but was offline when I got home from work :(

It's been down for about an hour or so before my last comment, went out for dinner and still not up!

[Veltira]

Soak is a great person and I highly endorse anything they do!

[Krical]

hmm okay.. the server has been down for 2 days now? :o Soak whats wrong?

[br00kster]

Is this server officially dead? Has anyone heard anything?

[Krical]

havent heard a thing, too bad, I really enjoyed the server, if it really is dead and someone decides to start something akin to this, gimme a tell :)

[provocating]

That was quick.

[Nerdgasm]

After looking at the general idea I'll give it a go. Except everything will be completely customized from classes, to spells, to how you obtain said spells. No ETA, but I don't assume it'll take too terribly long.

[Krical]

After looking at the general idea I'll give it a go. Except everything will be completely customized from classes, to spells, to how you obtain said spells. No ETA, but I don't assume it'll take too terribly long.

awesome :)

[lupisnoctum]

If you're going to design something similar, you might want to come up with something to give the whole thing some kind of point. We looked forward to and did play the Rogue server when it was up, but quickly realized there wasn't going to be much to do at max level really. Part of it, I suppose, was that it wasn't particularly hard not to die. Sure, that's a problem with most servers, what do you do at max level with all the toys, but the end seemed to come more quickly here.

Perhaps some kind of reward for surviving to max level that stayed with one after death? An evolving charm or something that gets better every time you hit max, or a buff, or an aug, something like that might give such a game more longevity. The random loot aspect was fun, as I recall even Lootfest used that mechanic as a sort of basis for a more structured game.

[Jahar_LoA]

Good ideas lupisnoctum! Definitely putting some thought into end game/max level.

Edit: Signature link is no longer valid. Just can't figure out how to remove it. Sorry!

[nexxrn]

Server was actually progressing a bit further than mentioned above. Soak had enabled a class changer and people were starting to gather passive AAs from all the classes. As well as I had not heard of anyone even attempting to get into potime, so saying there was no endgame sounds rather baseless to me. I was enjoying the server and hope Soak is able to bring it back or even let us know what is going on, I don't see anyone else recreating a server like this I will enjoy, it had just the right balance of difficulty and progression for my own liking. The loot wasn't just randomized either, it was all scaled to level and as you were leveling you never really became OP for content either. Good luck recreating what he had so far with your own twist or whatever your plans are, but I think I'll hold out for a return.

[Tabasco]

It is quite difficult to do development and play-testing, which is probably one of many reasons why players can be shy to invest a lot of time in a new server. All it takes is a missed detail or some aspect of stock configuration left behind (I'm looking at you, mud shield) to find players flying past every expectation and becoming so powerful that boredom ensues. Fix it without a wipe and you have OP players that make it difficult to generate new content. Fix it with a wipe and you get frustrated players. Both points of view are valid.

Whatever the cause in this case, I look forward to seeing a new iteration or community forks.

[Krical]

Yeah I really enjoyed this server, hopefully Soak will open it again, if he does, im there! So Soak, dont get discouraged, you still got plenty of players :)

[br00kster]

Do it, Soak. DO IT!