Better server?
 

I have yet to play on the eqemu servers since I left the scene some 2 years ago (I used to run the Titanium Role-Play Server), but Shards of Dalaya (http://www.shardsofdalaya.com) was the best emulated server out there. All custom NPCs, quests (hundreds), and custom items, etc.

The sad part is they long ago quit contributing back to the eqemu project so I can't recommend them.

I quit playing on there due to the catering of the GM's and staff to all the high level players. The killed off powerleveling which is annoying when you have played EQ for as long as I have and want to play a new character Who wants to kill rats and bugs again for the 100th time? They slowly drifted back into what made EQ annoying - being a timesink. It was better back when it was Winter's Roar.

Anyway, I'm getting off track, but judging from what I've seen as far as posts here and the websites I've visited...I admire the PEQ team the most for contributing back to the community.

Looking forward to playing on a few servers as soon as I get Titanium up and running on Linux...got it installed and can get to server select, but it's not letting me log into any servers...so gotta figure that part out now...

To all the server admins/devs out there - keep up the good work guys. :)

I've been on Darktides since it's first week "live" , and I can't complain. Lots of custom stuff , GM events , a very helpful GM staff , 24/7 uptime ( with the exception of 5 minute reboots / updates once in a while ) , and the players get to give input on alot of what darktides has to offer ( of which many things have been implemented! ) . I've also played on Zeb , Scars , SoD , PEQ , the non-legit servers , but I always come back to Darktides. Why? because Darktides is not just one of the most complete servers , with a high degree of uptime , it has the right atmosphere. Also Darktides is going through a change right now , that will make it even better then before! Come on over and check it out.

Grahl

75th Season Beastlord of Damage Inc.
Proud WildBlood of Darktides.

I play on Darktides for my live-like (but with a fun-server twist) fix, and Zebuxoruk for is neat quest-based setup. Both are very fun. :smile:

I haven't tried Shards of Dalaya, though.

Just to clear some things up I don't see Zebuxoruk and Darktides as competing, unless I missed something! They do their thing I do mine, we have the loyal players and the to-n-fros.

I try to visit these forums and my own a few times a day, contributing where I can but I don't think anyone wants any of my custom zones. They wouldn't work very well without the scripts behind them, and most are revamps of already PEQ/Cavedude live-spawned zones.

Thanks to everyone out there who is conributing! Let me know if I have anything you might need over at my forums.

Just a quick comment. I disagree that we(SoD) focus on catering to high level players. The Main Quest, low level treasure maps, adepts, et al reinforce my statement as well. That said, we've also taken a new approach and redesigned the core gameplay and focus of max-level players this week, placing a hard-cap of 18 players for raids, down from 36, to make it easier on folks like yourself who don't really want to gather a large raid force to continue enjoying content once you're 65. You're right though, we did kill off powerleveling as much as possible, because we want the grouping to be enjoyable enough(and it should be IMO) to not even want to powerlevel.

You can try to implement low level things that make the game fun but when everyone who is 65 on the server is saying "the game starts post 60" then really, there's an issue.

Another problem is that low levels, no matter what you've added in are not fun. Being low level in the game just plain sucks. Especially if you're a class that is crap at low levels (clerics?) Adepts? No offense, but trying for hours to round up a group huge enough to take one of them out was annoying. And when you round up 15-20 people for these things and it drops 2 pieces of loot...that's just stupid.

The main quest was decent. I did enjoy it and the story behind it. When it was introduced I was having a good time doing it, but really, it was WAY too spread out. Maybe it's not so bad if you're a druid and can port around, but for most classes it's a huge timesink and that's the problem with MMORPG's in general...timesink. I ended up DCing just to make the game tolerable. I'd sit hours LFG after level 40 as a cleric, rogue, monk, shaman, shadow knight, or druid.

If you really want to discourage powerleveling and twinking etc...wipe the server and let EVERYONE start on equal ground. All the ubers who have squatted on the server for the past several years (a lot of whom weren't even donators) should be starting on the server that everyone else is playing on...not having levels, money, and items from before the server was "balanced".

Also one other thing that was nice was the Starfall quests...but several items were very questionable. The proc effect on the SK BP sucked...it was nice for breakign mezzes...and the shaman earring nerf was lame...8 second cast for a low level slow? psh...)

Don't take this the wrong way...I'm not telling you how to run or design SoD because I'll never play there again, but it's just my opinion.

So you're making changes for people like myself? So this post by Kas from SoD's forums isn't true?

http://www.shardsofdalaya.com/forum/...69819#msg69819


When's Dawntide coming out?

Maybe...
 

I take back what I said about SoD...I haven't played there in several months, so I honestly don't know how it is now. To be fair, I'll try it out with the new changes before I give a real opinion of it (although I do think if the server was reset with no high level players on it, it may do wonders for the grouping).

So my apologies to Xeldan for ranting...sometimes it's best if I don't post comments while I'm at work. :)

So after playing on SoD again for the past couple weeks I can safely say that it is still the best EQ emulated server I've ever played on.

The changes made recently were very well done in my opinion. Some people got upset and left, but I think it helped to bridge the gap in levels as well.

After being back for a day or two I decided to become a donator again as well. I've always donated to SoD while I was playing and I wish more would do the same.

Anyway, if anyone decides to give Shards of Dalaya (www.shardsofdalaya.com) a try, drop me a tell in game (to Kukov or Rexo) and say hi. I'd be happy to give you some pointers or a tour of the place. :)

Forums and their website are currently down while they do maintenance, but should be back up soon.