Some thoughts on XP, Drops, etc.

[CrabClaw]

Originally Posted by cavedude

...The main point of the project is to create EverQuest so we will be able to play it forever, long after Sony has pulled the plug.....

Yes!

Classic is awesome! I feel the main trunk of any emulator though is to get as many of the features hooked up as possible. Then people can use that a base to come up with any flavor they want, fun-server, classic, FFA PvP or whatever. So many people had played this game for so many reasons it's far better to get the as much of the game content working and let people tailor it their own way from there. Even better if the features could be turned on/off in the settings table too. Even Mangos servers are set up with this variety as well.

I love tradeskilling, hunting for those elusive mats and sharing what I make with other players. Don't forget all the neat quests too. I also like having fun with the other things they have in the game and look forward to one day messing around with LDoNs, monster shrouds and missions, earning leadership AAs, the quest tasks and all the other stuff I wanted to try on live but was left behind in the next x-pac release. EQ is a lot like a melting pot of playstyles and a *huge* toybox, but I feel the whole she'bang should be inclusive as a base.

Some hot blooded people love action oriented Zek-PvP, some rugged types like to play classic survival mode, some players are looking for their own 'gated community' to play a live-like game without all the smacktards, ubers and farmers you get on live, some want to create whole new experiences using the game as an artists pallet, and some like to kick back and explore places you could never visit without 36-72 peons along.

((I know, in my many, many years of being a part of this project I have done all that.))

This is my Mitt Romney response, but I feel more people are attracted to a project the more inclusive the setup is. So yes, I feel a main trunk live-like database should be maintained along with a classic one as well (Angel's DB does this very well. BTW , but I try to maintain both). As for the drops, XPs, and 'game settings' stuff, I think they are a more personal preference.

[Ueguvil]

I also disagree.

MMOs are all about accomplishment. If a server lets players summon items and #level, then in reality there is no difference between an uber geared lvl 65 and a lvl 1 with cloth armor on that server. It's when it takes some time to get there, like on PEQ, that it becomes meaningful.

Yes players might log on to Joe's semi-legit server, but once they realize that from the start there is absolutely nothing they can do on there to advance their characters from the others, they'll leave. Hopefully instead of just outright quitting Eqemu they'll find their way to a legit server.

[John Adams]

I am so sick of hearing the tag "Classic" I am about to puke on my shirt. Seriously. This is getting really, really tiresome to read in every f'n post, guys. This emulator is written in such a way that you, the admin, can do any stinking thing you want with it -- including create your own worlds/zones from the ground up!! Who else offers that? Talk to me about unique experiences? How "EQ" is it to log into a new server who's admin just spent 6+ mos in OpenZone creating an entirely new experience? Most of the stodgy old farts around here turn their nose up at anything that isn't exactly like it was on Day 1. Screw that. I'm just so tired of hearing about "classic". It's dead. Move on.

Admins -- make your servers soloable. Make your servers single-group raid content. Move things around in a zone. Change the quests. Add custom items. Create an entirely new zone and surprise your population with something other than East Commons (c) SOE 1999-2007 when they zone in.

FFS people. You will NOT play an EQ Classic game like it was when the game was first released. You will NOT run at 1.0 speed from Freeport to Qeynos and think it's awesome. You will NOT think CRs to South Karana are "the shit old sk00l roXxOrz" when you forget you are bound in GFay and no one is around to transport you there. I am truly aghast by the delusions here.

No offense to Angelox, because I do understand fully where his heart is for EQ. But these are the days of the Buried Sea, not Kunark. Get the emulator to Emulate something in the last 5 years of expansions, then worry about whether someone can #summon an item or not and ruin the mystique.

[Sakrateri]

You will NOT run at 1.0 speed from Freeport to Qeynos and think it's awesome. You will NOT think CRs to South Karana are "the shit old sk00l roXxOrz" when you forget you are bound in GFay and no one is around to transport you there.

Errrr.......Umm........thats exactly how I play my OWN toons on my OWN server and it does roXx0rz for me

[John Adams]

I was speaking to the huddles masses, not the occasional sociopath.

~runs~

[Jonathan5]

Originally Posted by John Adams

I am so sick of hearing the tag "Classic" I am about to puke on my shirt. Seriously. This is getting really, really tiresome to read in every f'n post, guys. This emulator is written in such a way that you, the admin, can do any stinking thing you want with it -- including create your own worlds/zones from the ground up!! Who else offers that? Talk to me about unique experiences? How "EQ" is it to log into a new server who's admin just spent 6+ mos in OpenZone creating an entirely new experience? Most of the stodgy old farts around here turn their nose up at anything that isn't exactly like it was on Day 1. Screw that. I'm just so tired of hearing about "classic". It's dead. Move on.

Admins -- make your servers soloable. Make your servers single-group raid content. Move things around in a zone. Change the quests. Add custom items. Create an entirely new zone and surprise your population with something other than East Commons (c) SOE 1999-2007 when they zone in.

FFS people. You will NOT play an EQ Classic game like it was when the game was first released. You will NOT run at 1.0 speed from Freeport to Qeynos and think it's awesome. You will NOT think CRs to South Karana are "the shit old sk00l roXxOrz" when you forget you are bound in GFay and no one is around to transport you there. I am truly aghast by the delusions here.

No offense to Angelox, because I do understand fully where his heart is for EQ. But these are the days of the Buried Sea, not Kunark. Get the emulator to Emulate something in the last 5 years of expansions, then worry about whether someone can #summon an item or not and ruin the mystique.

Whoa there, whoa there.

[Wizzel]

Originally Posted by John Adams

I am so sick of hearing the tag "Classic" I am about to puke on my shirt. Seriously. This is getting really, really tiresome to read in every f'n post, guys. This emulator is written in such a way that you, the admin, can do any stinking thing you want with it -- including create your own worlds/zones from the ground up!! Who else offers that? Talk to me about unique experiences? How "EQ" is it to log into a new server who's admin just spent 6+ mos in OpenZone creating an entirely new experience? Most of the stodgy old farts around here turn their nose up at anything that isn't exactly like it was on Day 1. Screw that. I'm just so tired of hearing about "classic". It's dead. Move on.

Admins -- make your servers soloable. Make your servers single-group raid content. Move things around in a zone. Change the quests. Add custom items. Create an entirely new zone and surprise your population with something other than East Commons (c) SOE 1999-2007 when they zone in.

FFS people. You will NOT play an EQ Classic game like it was when the game was first released. You will NOT run at 1.0 speed from Freeport to Qeynos and think it's awesome. You will NOT think CRs to South Karana are "the shit old sk00l roXxOrz" when you forget you are bound in GFay and no one is around to transport you there. I am truly aghast by the delusions here.

No offense to Angelox, because I do understand fully where his heart is for EQ. But these are the days of the Buried Sea, not Kunark. Get the emulator to Emulate something in the last 5 years of expansions, then worry about whether someone can #summon an item or not and ruin the mystique.

To each his own. If a classic server is not for you, don't play on one. By classic, I mean classic. The game as it was. The game at its beginning was about so much more including strategy. Not only strategy by yourself, but strategy with others. Hrm...my party got killed in the middle of an orc camp by orcs 10 levels higher than us. How will we pull this off? Why don't we have the naked halfling kite them around while we loot our corpses and then help kill them. THAT WAS FUN. In today's game, nevermind that. Simply go into the guild hall and pay money to have your body dragged back. Simply click on a book to be moved across the world. Sorry, but not even World of Warcraft players are that lazy. I respect your views but there are many people who want to want to play the game for what the game was, not for what it is today. And by the way, I NEVER forget where I am bound.

-Wizzel

[Jonathan5]

Originally Posted by Wizzel

To each his own. If a classic server is not for you, don't play on one. By classic, I mean classic. The game as it was. The game at its beginning was about so much more including strategy. Not only strategy by yourself, but strategy with others. Hrm...my party got killed in the middle of an orc camp by orcs 10 levels higher than us. How will we pull this off? Why don't we have the naked halfling kite them around while we loot our corpses and then help kill them. THAT WAS FUN. In today's game, nevermind that. Simply go into the guild hall and pay money to have your body dragged back. Simply click on a book to be moved across the world. Sorry, but not even World of Warcraft players are that lazy. I respect your views but there are many people who want to want to play the game for what the game was, not for what it is today. And by the way, I NEVER forget where I am bound.

-Wizzel

Amen. Not being a fanboy, nor a hater, but I agree.

[Windcatcher]

I haven't read everything on this thread but it's making me concerned about what will happen when people really start creating all new stuff for use with SimpleCilent. People should correct me if I'm mistaken, but IMHO the point there really will be mystique first and foremost. Is this something that needs to be thought through before we go diving into server creation?

[Wizzel]

Originally Posted by Windcatcher

I haven't read everything on this thread but it's making me concerned about what will happen when people really start creating all new stuff for use with SimpleCilent. People should correct me if I'm mistaken, but IMHO the point there really will be mystique first and foremost. Is this something that needs to be thought through before we go diving into server creation?

Windcatcher, I have respected you as a developer since forever and you have created such awesome tools and programs that enhance every aspect of this project and others. But I fail to realize the need for a custom client. People are in love with this game for what it is. Ak'Anon, Grobb, Halas, Freeport....the list goes on. People are in love with the models of the orc, skeleton, rat, dragons and everything else. I think a hybrid consisting of original content and custom content keeps a game fresh but why redesign the game from the ground up? This is an honest question and I am just curious as to what you feel will be accomplished with your client.

-Wizzel

[ven-elexver]

For what its worth as a EQEMU noob and a 5 year live player i do Agree if you get to much to soon then at high end of the game it gets to be pointless to play the game is all about getting there for me. but all do not see it my way but EQEMU has done us a favor a GIANT favor you dont need to have a paypal or CC to have fun and that is what brought most of us here so not all will be making a server of his/her own and having a choice of servers /game play for them is one way to keep the game fun.look at it this way if player x starts on toms legit server to the max lvl 65 and finds him self wanting something to do but not much going on he can always start a server that will let him skip some grind levels and do some custom quests you why would player x ever go back to his lvl 65 legit char on toms server ? well in 65 lvls i am sure he made some friends along the way and that is what keeps players coming back to any mmorpg /mmo's but this is just one noobs point of view PS Big CONGRATZ and Thanks to all who spend hours/days/weeks/months/and years in to the DEV of EQEMU and all the DB,Quest,Programs

[John Adams]

Originally Posted by Wizzel

Why don't we have the naked halfling kite them around while we loot our corpses and then help kill them.

/cheer! Naked halflings are always fun.

In today's game, nevermind that. Simply go into the guild hall and pay money to have your body dragged back. Simply click on a book to be moved across the world. Sorry, but not even World of Warcraft players are that lazy. I respect your views but there are many people who want to want to play the game for what the game was, not for what it is today. And by the way, I NEVER forget where I am bound.

I'd like to think you understand where I am really coming from, but I don't think you do. You are lumping me into a "it's not modern and easy so I hate it" category. While the newer games are pretty, they are not nearly as "fun" as original EQ. Why do you think you and I differ so much on this opinion? I am an old school stratigist, too. I am sad that the days of actually working for your glory are gone. All along, this is what I have been saying - including agreeing with your concepts and philosophies.

Where we differ in opinion (only) is that it requires some special server or client to do it. It is my opinion that the current emulator, with the appropriate amount of effort, can do exactly what everyone wants it to do. All it takes is database work, removing some of the clicky transport doors from the world and voila - Old EQ.

Yes, the Titanium client has new windows that do stuff, such as Maps. But you cannot tell me anyone who's played this game for 8 years needs a map to Antonica.

Anyway, you said you were done arguing with me. So, I am beating a dead horse trying to convince you I am not against you, Wizzel. Totally for your ideas, I just think the effort you are going to put into this will not change the status of the emulator - no matter how many fanbois /cheer that they want it. If they did, they'd play the existing servers from level 1 and enjoy themselves. Maybe it's all about the data, not the client.

[oldlurker]

Originally Posted by John Adams

Where we differ in opinion (only) is that it requires some special server or client to do it. It is my opinion that the current emulator, with the appropriate amount of effort, can do exactly what everyone wants it to do. All it takes is database work, removing some of the clicky transport doors from the world and voila - Old EQ.

I beg to differ. There where huge changes in gameplay over the years. The most prominent would be the melee revamp(imho a much needed upgrade for 2h weapons)around SoL launch. Most of this has to be changed/implemented in the server code.
So what is truly classic? If you "only" look at the changes(mostly nerfs) that went in from the day EQ launched to the day Kunark hit the shelves you will be quite overwhelmed.
But it is my option too that is a waste of time and effort to try to get an really old client to work with eqemulator. Not to mention the legal problems, not everyone still has his EQ, Kunark or Velious game CDs.

[Wizzel]

I respect all of your opinions and I realize that it can basically be the same game as the original game and I realize both of you believe that the work myself and another are doing are a waste of time. All I ask is that you hold your judgment and give it a try. This isn't trying to recreate the first memory and the original feeling, it is about trying to play a game I once loved to play. Why do I load up SimCity 2000 every once in a while. Why don't I play SimCity 4. Simply put, newer doesn't mean better. Why do we always play Halo 1 when friends get together. Simply put, Halo 2 is not as exciting. I feel that if you asked a lot of people if they would play Everquest as it was, 1-50, Antonica, Odus and Faydwer for free, most would say yes.

-Wizzel