Also I need to clarify a common topic and how it applies to me with any server I host, now or in the future.
I realize that some people need to implement a "donation" system to help cover costs for keeping a server
operational. I can respect that, but where I live, there is a lot a red tape to go through if one doesn't want
the government on my ass when they find out. "Non profit" revenue still has to go through red tape. The
whole thing has to be registered (by law), records kept, etc. I'm not interested in that commitment, haha
It's not costing me a dime to run this server and I doubt it ever will. It's a video game to me and thats it.

I had just a unique, crazy idea that could, not only prove to be a happy medium for both sides of the fence, but create a
'consensus ad idem' between the "solo player" and this server.

First of all, I may not be an expert, but I do have the skills, abilities, (and creative imagination) to produce a fun box for
the "casual solo player" base to enjoy some custom content, along with all the modern amenities like buffers, porters, etc.
A server tuned more for the "destination" and not the challenge or "journey" is not hard work (for me). It's work, but it's
definately doable. Contrary to belief, I am not the sadist that wants to see a player squirm though hell levels hating it.
There isn't much point in anyone playing any game if they are not going to reap the reward of enjoyment.
But then I ask myself...... "Why ? Why would I want to ? What would be the axle of incentive to get real serious about
content built for that solo player base that may, or may not exist ? The opinions of less than 10 anonymous nicknames
on a forum is not enough to encourage me. But for those dedicated solo players that may exist, this is just how that
'meeting of the minds' can come together.

Unlocking a Server

Many varieties of progression servers (past and present) have involved unlocking expansion content. But have you ever
participated in unlocking an entire server ? Currently I do have a funky project that I had started, but only to casually
pick away at it for several months without any intention of putting agressive development into it. Basic editing is something
I am relatively quick at so a lot of "whiteboard" work has already been done. Basics set for max level 70, unlimited IP's,
limited use of MQ2, NPC's for armor purchase, buffs, ports, etc. In keeping classic (doable) high end content but also
custom high end mobs/loot to get at with a few challenges. Soloable, but with a merc. The mercs are "finely tuned"
with stats similiar to a real player. Lots of effort being put into the cleric merc healing spells. I can't get into extensive
details right now, but I have done some footwork involving "player rivalry" with a twist. (think "Sleeping with the Enemy")
Honestly I never put serious thoughts into that project until now. It's only been one of those "take a break from
this, and do that" things. Experimenting with creative possiblities was the only reason I continued picking away.

Now, for me to get more serious about it and go hard on development with intentions of catering to the "solo" public,
there would definately have to be a concrete interest which is too hard to predict based on a few forum posts.
I have nothing to lose, nothing to gain and nothing to prove to anyone. I am someone who is normally dedicated
to any tasks I choose to tackle in life. Failure only means you gave up after a mistake or bad decision. I make bad
decisions sometimes and I make mistakes. But I do not practice failure. I rely on instincts and a very perceptive mind.

To the solo players who seek a solo server for so long, if your gaming mind is looking at a server like EQ2002 but you
would rather have that type of server I described above, it's real simple to unlock that server. Get a bunch of people
together, crawl onto EQ2002. There is one simple item to loot. It's a custom scroll note. Kill the mob, loot the note
and tell me what that note says. That's all there is to it. You and your friends would gain my respect and in return, I
would bust my butt getting that custom server up for you, as well as getting all the necessary input of what could help
you enjoy that new server more. But until then, I will not help you loot that note. There will be no flexibility at all
on EQ2002. You and your friends are strictly on your own with no mods from the GM.

By the way, that note you need to unlock the custom solo server ? Quarm has it. Your choice. Have a nice day :)

Well that's savage and will never happen. Back to solitaire I go!

/grin,

That is nefarious!

I like pie.

What kinda pie? I like cherry cheesecake

One thing that could be done is like diablo, scale difficulty based on how many players are in the game.

We all have to learn from the elephant in the room. Imagine the people at p99 made the server and just "saw how much interest" there was from the eqemu community. Do you think they would have 1.5 thousand people from people who were on eqemu when they released it? No way in heck. They would have mabye 200 players.

They created their community, not just pulled people from other servers. They massively advertized on youtube and other forums and communities getting their message in front of literally MILLIONS of old school gamers. Eqemu is the size it is in great part because of the new players p99 brought in. I would never have found eqemu if I didn't see p99's youtube videos that brought me to their server and eventually here.

You have to create demand from your server not just see what currently exists. You have to take a leap of faith to make it big.

May the force be with you .......

Another tit flop server :( wish I had the time to make a server it would have hookers and beer and maybe kromzek giants take over crushbone making the orcs love slaves or something.

Uhh, actually prior to P99 (which most of it's players stay on p99) the population was quite the same.

EZ has stayed the same, THF etc.

P99 really didn't do much for the EMU community.

Something I find very courageous in some players. When Secrets launched this server, the direction, journey and
destination was all layed out before anyone got started on it. But yet, since then, over 50 random players still
logged on knowing all of that. But many people either misunderstood Secrets intentions with content .........OR
they ignored it. The traffic lights, the street signs, they were all in place. But people made an attempt to drive
down that road anyways, until they come to a bad old bridge with a big sign that makes them say "WTF"
There was a map in the glove box all that time, but they relied on their own GPS which took them down
the wrong road leaving them disappointed. But if you pull that map out and take a look, there is little
ol' place called Casual Dreams. Looks like an awesome place for a solo player. I read the description and
it looks like some good work was put into it. http://www.eqemulator.org/index.php?...o&worldid=2575

This is because Secrets likes to add in new/alternative ideas, that others afraid to mess with, and that brings people in. But no matter what the server set up is - people will always TRY TO SOLO!
If you open up P99 forums, which do their best to emulate this VERY hardcore group oriented game, the first thing new comer posts is "Cool, I love classic EQ! Which char do I make to solo the best?" ;)

I never really understood the MMO=Solo connection..

I beat casual dreams...it was fun but got old when there was nothing left to do and poru isn't going to take it past POP I guess. As for what secrets had going on I understood completely what his intentions was I played on the server a few days never found anyone to group with was boring with a merc who is also a unic. might look back into it later if the population goes up but as for now every time I look at server list it's 0 or 1 but these kind of servers do not get vary far and I think secrets seen that amd let it go again.

That is one of the downsides for any server that is setup for solo players to "zip" through the content. That really
has an effect in keeping a steady population. You see a bigger surge of concurrent players on launch, then
after 2-4 weeks, the storm calms down and the population melts down to a low average. As far as keeping up with
new content, it can't be done as fast as those "zippers" go through it. So for any new server, it's a catch-22.
A grind server, like this one that Secrets started, if there is no interest and the whole casual player base wants
those "zipper" servers, I am seriously inclined to think there will never be a new "solo" server that maintains a high
player base for very long. But even for non-solo classic servers, unless you come up something better than whats
already out there, there isn't much point. Can't keep that old school grind and offer something different.
It really boils down to one decision by a server dev. Go with the players and be miserable or do what makes
you happy and forget the player count.

Haha, I read that same book. Unfortunately, I didn't have a translator either.

That reminds me of a server I played on awhile back. The owners intentions were good, as he took some
initiative to cater some content to the players. But it became one of those "give an inch, they take a mile"
situations. He bent over backwards, flying far away from his own intentions to give what they wanted.
Where is that server now ? It's still on the list, with a population of 0-10 average.

Casual Dreams actually took me a long time I'd say at least a year to max out aa's ect this was no zipper server you actually had to work poru did a grewt job working it into something it was full soloable with 1 or 2 toons and only duo box was aloud so it is possible to make a server were you don't blow trough it but have that nostalgia feel like I said it stopped at pop now if that changes I'll go back :) just gotta shape it right so people don't blow trough content in 2 weeks

My issue is not so much about the whole "solo" play preference, I don't find anything wrong with the individual
desire to do so, but there is many solo players out there with only one goal, which is to do the high end and
never think about building their character up. They want server automation to do that for them via scripts.
(autoscribe, skillups, etc) I mentioned in a previous post about the toon on this server, 17 lvls in two days.
And this is a grinding server, haha

I'm going to try something for the weekend, just to see where it might go. With very little compromise, make a few
adjustments. Before morning, I will open up the boxing to no limit and give the mercs an attitude, along with a
sow/temp only npc in PoK. But as far as that high end, I'm not willing to alter that for soloing. Unlimited boxing
will give you an edge.

The biggest mistake any game can make is feeling like they need to add new content to a game. Diablo 2 did very well for a couple decades with very minimal content added after launch. If your game doesn't have unlimited replay-ability without new content something is wrong.

May want to only add boxing and not mess with other stuff. You don't want to become just a knock off version of a dozen servers that already exist.

Ie; they want an adventure game with a scoreboard; not an MMORPG.

No, it's time to wake up to reality. Look around. Anyone who thinks "another" P99 grind is going to attract a
player base, is dreaming. You tube will do nothing for a server. All that advertising will be a waste of
effort and/or money. Aside from the established grinding servers, no more are needed. But what I am doing
is testing the waters without drowning. After this marathon of testing for a week or so, if there is still no
sailors, the ship sinks.

Boxing is unlocked now. Doctor Do Little does very little for you. Temp and SoW for singles,
Temp and Bih'Li for groups. Journeyman Mercs are back and don't hit like a girl anymore :P

http://i1383.photobucket.com/albums/...pswm6lxpok.png

People want that sense of "personal power" and Independence from others. Modern MMOs give them that in a form where - each class can solo, but together they make even stronger group. Ok most of modern MMOs are casual to point where you never ever group, but that a different story.

EQ was unique in a way that it turned a normally anti-social activity (video gaming) into forced social interaction. Most classes were very gimp on their own (compared to mobs) but good in groups. Obviously it was designed by hardcore DnD fans. What designers missed however, is that DnD played in predetermined time sessions with well balanced groups (usually RL friends), but video game format is obviously different - it is hard to achieve close friends DnD mindset in supposedly huge world with thousands of roaming players where no one known no one. Obviously - guilds was a mid step between that, and pick up raids also become a feature when chat interface improved a lot.

Thought maybe I should mention to anyone who had a merc, since I redid the merc tables, bringing Journeyman mercs back,
your original merc will not be there. A new one is only 16 pp at 65, but the upkeep cost has been removed. On the bright
side, a level 53 merc now hits for more than 27 :) (grin) haha

I'm not trying to be mean but you are darned if you do darned if you don't. Why would people play here now if it is just like the server they currently play on, but the server they currently play on is more mature and has a larger playerbase? You have to do something unique to even have a chance. And that doesn't mean putting gnolls in qeynos or some other little gimmick. I mean something truly unique and game changing (pun).

I think it would be cool to make a server set up like casual dreams but take it past POP. And add your own badazzle to it It can still be challenging don't have to make it a hit and quit server maybe 3 box max ? Or solo + merc I think that would pull a good crowd. it can still be nostalgic but a do you're own thing at you're own pace deal if I knew anytying about making one I would myself. Idk just a idea I thought would be a nice change

You have no idea what I am doing, let alone know what you're doing. My reasons for hosting a server is NOT and NEVER
will be about that player count !!! If thats the only reason you're trying to develop a server, it's for the wrong
reasons. You need to get off that kick. You're living in a dream world.
You act like you might know something about servers, but you can't even put the gnolls in splitpaw after all this time.
You started your project when ? and simple 10 minute jobs are not complete yet ? Don't tell me you're too busy, I
won't believe you. You're just spending too much time developing other people's forum threads, than your project.

That was a little harsh. I don't think he was insulting you.

My response was for a different reason specific to him. He's been nothing but negative since Secrets launched
this server and I seriously think he has ulterior motives for constantly coming on this thread with negativity.
I can appreciate it when someone wants to simply put one post up with their opinion, but he just keeps going
on and on with the negativity and I'm not putting up with it. So yes, it is going to get harsh.

Frankly I wish people would just leave this thread alone and stop bumping it. The whole EQ2002 name never
had a chance on this forum right from the beginning when Secrets first posted it. It's obvious I will never
be able to post an update or anything, without someone like Nostalgia derailing it's intentions.

I believe that one of the admins has already addressed detrimental comments in threads.

This is neither constructive nor conducive to this thread:

I'm trying to help people see from a different perspective. I wasn't trying to be mean just pose tough questions, the same type of questions I would love others to point out to me. If you want to ask me why I want to make a classic server when p99 exists I would love to hear that. I don't know what negativity you are referring to; look back I have been encouraging you. Also I was trying to help secrets take peoples investment into his servers seriously. I am honestly trying to help. I care about this community and I help as much as I can.

Thanks for your concern with my server, as you can see I would rather not reinvent the wheel if I don't have to, I have a few "classic" databases that people sent me that I want to sort through still. I try to work smart not hard, I am an engineer for my day job.

And this is a forum, if you want to offer an update log that is what server websites are for.

That was unacceptable. What gave you the right to make the rules on this forum ?

Example 1:

RE: NOSTALGIA

https://i.imgur.com/cuSHEkR.png

Example 2:

RE: Nostalgia

https://i.imgur.com/wNAmLvB.png

You've made quite the name for yourself in the short time you've been here.

:confused: This is coming from multiple people :shock:

No offense.

Oh and you are an asset here? It does not take a rocket scientist to find some of the past deeds you have done. Talk about the pot calling the kettle black.

Don't throw stones when your glass walls are paper thin.

You guys need to pull your shit together and stop acting like children.

Locked