I've said this before and I'll say it again: EQEmu needs its own client. I don't know if SOE is actively trying to break EQEmu, but it seems to me that they're doing a pretty good job of it. I think we know enough about content file formats that it's possible to write a client. This might not have been possible a year ago, but I think it is now. I considered trying it myself once, but I don't know enough about netcode to feel confident about it, and I'd do it in Delphi which would be the kiss of death. A client needs to be written in something that many people can maintain, and at this time that seems to be only C++.
I can't stress this enough. With its own client the dev team could freeze the server code and stop trying to keep up with SOE. They could concentrate instead of perfecting features and making EQEmu something really special, with its own ruleset. If they're worried about SOE's wrath (though I can't for the life of me think of a legal reason why) then a third-party team could create it, but nevertheless I think the time has come to divorce EQEmu from SOE's client code once and for all.
WC
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