Dragons of Mist [HC]
 

I launched Dragons of Mist nearly two years ago. Since then it has changed a slightly from my original vision but is still a great server in it's own right. A month ago I was able to procure additional i.p. addresses so that I could host multiple servers. I have now launched an additional server that is the genuine vision I once had and will remain true to that vision.

Dragons of Mist [HC] is exactly like it sounds, it is hard core much like Everquest was back in the beginning. Bots on a server can be great for fun but can also be quite a distraction for me. You end up in a click fest of "point and kill", sure you get to see content that you may had never gotten to see in live. Playing on my own server for the past year I have noticed that I never really got to know my character, I never had to cast that much as a Magician, the bots did most of the work for me. For the last month playing on [HC] I have noticed the original feeling of playing EQ as I remember it, the experience is completely different not having the bots there. Hard core in my vision does not mean permanent death, but definitely plenty of death along the way. So basically we have this...

• No bots
• No donation system (like DoM original)
• PEQ content up to GoD
• Extremely high uptime
• Extremely robust server
• No hand outs....none...nada
• No buff bots
• No spell scribers
• Original starting locations, no Tuturial B
• Slightly lower than normal XP rate
• Single connection to the server, no dual boxing

This server is definitely not for most people but I do invite you to try it. What we have been doing so far to survive is to use our veteran AA's to do resurrections or just eat the XP. For those looking for the BOT type server, DoM will always be around, it takes very little time to keep the server upgrades going so I will keep it running indefinitely. Both servers are legit and I will always keep it that way.

I agree with and like your stance on most all of these things. I don't know what your server is like, but I don't care for buff bots, bots, boxing, mercs, ect personally I feel it degrades the social experience of EQ. I know people like them because it makes things easier in ways, but it also spoils the challenge as well on top of spoiling the social interaction aspect.

I can't say I'm a fan of large scale hardcore raiding requirements which I'm not sure how this server is in regard to that, but I don't think bots, boxing, or mercs are really proper solutions to that issue and create as many or more issues than they address. That said good luck with this project it seems like a very sound one that a lot of players seeking a challenge and that social interaction aspect could enjoy a lot.

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Everything was great until - Single connection to the server, no dual boxing

Seems like a clone of P99- just not 'as' classic.

Good luck with this-

D -

Maybe I'm wrong, but I just don't see how this is workable.

Look you are not going to get the population of something like P1999.

So tell me about the play experience of a warrior or rogue on this server. You can insert a lot of other classes in those spots.

You can do the old necro soloing some gear for the class you really want to play. Or maybe an enchanter or bard to do some of their particular types of soloing. A druid or Wizard quadding. A mage doing their solo that works quit well in some locations, but no where near what a necro could do.

But the xp gain is pretty low. You are going to be grinding. Then maybe grinding on another class depending on what you do.

What about epics? I kind of think that some of them aren't going to be doable solo. Maybe if you play long enough to get to GoD content or something, maybe a shaman or necro could solo theirs (don't really know those quests). What about everyone else? Some epics require you to go to sky. That is probably a non-starter for most classes.

This is a catch-22. If you want to have anything like live, you have to have the population. If you don't have that, then a bunch of the classes I mentioned above is pretty much what you are going to have.

So most servers adjust things somehow, either with boxing, bot armies, gear drops, or tweaking the mechanics.

But a classic style server with none of that? If they don't come, it won't be viable, not really. If they do come, maybe it will be then, but you would have to have people willing to work with others and dedicate time to doing content as a group.

At best you might get 50 or so people on at a given time, if your server is a runaway success. And to progress very far, those guys would basically have to function like a raid guild.

Just don't think it is going to happen.

Hello,

sounds good. If you allowed dual-boxing then I imagine you would get it to 50+ players. I think many people are really looking for a server like that.

Best regards,
Khokon

Yes, the boxing may be an issue. The boxing is not something I am completely firm on, the bots and the donation system I am completely against.

I also do not want to make any rash decisions so I will sleep on it and see what I come up with. If I do allow boxing then it would not be by donation system though, I am just totally against donations.

I saw the "HC" tagged on the forum topic and so thought this was going to be a "if you die your character is gone for good server"......... bummer

Honestly every new server now and days needs a catch 22 or it just wont get any population or loyal fan base.

Think about a 2 or 3 connection by IP limit.
I boxed on live from 3 months after I started playing in 2001. No MQ, just two computers. To me, that is my classic experience.

But, most of all this is your server, make it how YOU want it. Just offering my thoughts.

Agree with this.

I am definitely putting some consideration into this. Now as a player myself I doubt I would two box very often, I am a soloer at heart. Now I may would level players on two accounts separately and use them for an emergency situation, or power leveling. The thing for me is not to make a rash decision, once you make a change like that it is permanent. I do not like making a decision like this and changing it on the players. If I do it I would probably limit it to 2~3 connections. I would not like seeing groups of players totally controlled by something like MQ, if that is even possible (I do not know much about MQ). I would like to see a higher server population of course, I am in this for the long haul.

I really appreciate the responses, and I agree that it is a decision I have to make.

Basically - a good population of people are looking for a p99 server that you can 2-3 box on. I hate mercs and bots - I'd rather box 2-3 chars.

Reason? I have 2 kids and a family. A lot of groups don't like when you have to afk to whipe a kid's butt or get dinner ready. It allows me to do some stuff on my own.

Yes - there is a population that likes custom-custom stuff - but from my experience (and the fact that P99 is the most populated server) - people want a classic server - but one you have the ability to box on.

Just my 2 cp.

D-

Wow, I am really glad you guys are giving such great feedback. I had no idea that with as many servers are out there, there was need for a server like that.

..
 

most the servers are solo or have bots and are custom. Custom are a dime a dozen imo - there's not enough classic servers with just a touch of custom.

D-

I disagree. These servers pop up all the time and fade away just as quick. There's never enough population to support them.

Good example is Clumsy's World, was the most popular classic server until P99 came along. Population dropped so devs added boxing. CW adds Kunark and begins work on velious to try and tempt players back, open new content, etc and no one comes. They take a break, come back with the same style but added a central zone and a separate custom progression path (balanced with regular progression) in order to add more content, threw gm events regularly, tons of awesome ring-style events and unique boss fights found no where else. Nothing.

CW had an extremely dedicated developer with a massive focus on quality. Fixed bugs fast. Helped often. Was extremely strict on his GM/Guide policies to prevent abuse. Etc. I see it every few months people begging for a server like this, but when they get it they never play on it.

Server keeps dwindling only about 4-5 consistent players. With boxing that's enough to do content but hell for only 5 people you may as well just host a private server.

I wish you the best either way.


Edit: To clarify on the "break." The Dev got deployed to Afghanistan for a year so it did a number on him and his family. He came back stronger than ever though. Sad no one supported it :(

The difference is though, no matter what I am not going anywhere. I do not care if the population is always 0 or 1, I will always keep my servers running. I have an extremely stable job, no drama, great income. Since I am not going to monkey with the database much or at all, I will not be apt to experience burnout. I am not going for any population count at all. I was just giving a small announcement in case anyone does want to play.

Oh I'm not trying to deter you, I was contesting the supposed 'demand' for a non-p99 classic server. I wish you the best of luck haha.

Well another thought on the dual boxing could be a rather simple one for me. The ability to be able to have a character in the bazaar on another account, and being able to play at the same time. This is something I did on live all of the time. I would sell Magician summoned items while I was playing.

Like the previous poster, don't let anything I have to say stop you from doing this server.

But I just have a hard time understanding how things would work practically.

For the moment let's assume you aren't going progression, that is Kunark and Velious at least, are in the game from the get go.

Heck what kind of content can you even do if you are boxing? I mean you aren't going to have the mudflated gear, you have to find spell drops, some that were hard to get on Live at least.

It's been a while, but how far are you going to get in Howling Stones two boxing with the kind of gear that is easy to get? Sebilis? Are you going to require keys?

How many people would you need to do Venril Sathir or Trakanon?

It's just hard for me to wrap my head around this if you do things totally legit, to see how it works practically. Personally I don't have the patience to go through what you are trying to create, if no people are around.

Right now I've been playing Everquest II, and I have become monumentally bored with it. Kind of interesting, but too many wonky bits with how they implemented everything. But the killer is that no one groups at all, till they reach level 90 or so.

And even though levelling is easy, it it totally boring because you are doing the same things over and over: Kill this and/or click on that.

EQ 1 is a little different, but I can't imagine camping a rare drop in a totally solo environment. That might be just me though. Some people like to fish.

Hello Provocating,

I like what you say. When I'm looking for a server to slowly level my characters on, I want to be convinced that this server is going to stay up for years.
Also changing rules while it is running is crap. Hotzones and exp weekends are no good either in my opinion. Veteran AA double exp 30 mins are ok though, but dont let me go into details too much ...

My opinion about dual or three boxing is that dual boxing allows anyone to play solo when no others are around. This is based on experience with boxing without any additional programs. Grouping is still doable and gives advantages to dual boxers. Three boxing lets you create quite a strong group by yourself. Three boxers are less social in my experience since controlling 3 chars requires all concentration and youre self sufficient anyway.

What about defiant armor, does that drop on the HC server? Are all zones accessable from the beginning?

Best regards,
Khokon

The only real changes are that defiant does not drop at all. I loath defiant armor, I allow it on DoM but not DoM[HC]. All zones are accessible except those that require a key or a flag, just vanilla PEQ. I do not alter anything that can throw off balancing.

I appreciate your comments on "keeping the server up for years", that is my main thing. I cannot express enough how that bothers me when players lose their characters. Yes, I know that real life things happen but when I committed to running this server I knew I was going to have to keep it running and upgraded. If you look at prior post, I have already upgraded the hardware again. Currently we are at 2 - 6 core processors and 74gb of ram. It is way overkill, I know but the server is also my developmental server for side work in programming which helps bring in even more income (to pay for my toys).

I like the idea.

If you keep it as classic as possible and allow boxing I would probably give it a try.

It is not classic folks. It is default PEQ database and quest files.
That means currently through GoD minus the last three raid zones.

Provocating,

To truly be hard core... I.M.O., you need to consider a few things. EQ 1 grew in a way that left old zones behind. Just about zero reason to utilize most old zones. Then they tossed in horridly bad "newbie quest stuff"...bleh! Remember when they had the Darkened Guk etc? Then when it was over, they reverted it back to its old worthlessness... just a general example is all.

-- You might consider going back and taking a HARD look at what made original Hard Core really Work! A literal re-balance to homogenize things from "start to finish" would go tremendously far. You would not have to really all up Change a lot of stuff, so much as re-do what already is there to make it all jive together.

Remember your first time in Veeshan's Peak? How about Halls of Testing? Go back and really take a hard look from original Antonica, all the way up to the GoD content. Then really think hard about how to make it all seamless.

-+- The goal would be:
-- "Ok, day one...starting newbie in Qeynos...here we go!"
-- "Whew, level 50 Baby! YEAH!"
-- "Whew... Max level, all AA's, best gear in game...YEEE-HAAWW!!! Hmm...time to start another toon and do that again!"

Note there was not any "Ok, time to go purchase Max Expansion twink gear, because this original crap blows!". To be hardcore...that last expansion needs to FEEL like a natural progression forward, not the Herky Jerky ZOOM ZOOM that it turned out to be in original EQ. Hey, I played years and years... :) For instance, Dragons Vs. Giants in Vellious was all the rage right? Suddenly it literally dead ended from one expansion to the next?!?! All that time factioning and gearing up, and Poof, NEXT!! With no proper "End Game Finish for this chapter of EQ1, Ok folks next up is...!!"

From antonica to vellious alone, there is so much that could be Re-Massaged and then expanded upon to _Finish_The_Story_ ...:) Another for instance...Cats, and Drakkin were never in first 3 expansions ...obviously... this server could "expand organically" to include the Drakkin easily enough ...especially once you consider Dragons Vs. Giants.

Next... Deity. For the most part that just got 100% dropped! Some spells need to be pretty much Just Reverted to original. To add to that thought, you could have a "grey pool" that is the generic starting spells for the respective classes, then Faction choices and Deity work would generate very real differences in what players get for their personal _in_game_made_choices_for_spells_. This would make faction and deity really *Feel Real*. There would obviously be a path of "neutrality" in here, not just good and evil, because there are 3 types of deity...

What I am saying is, you could make your Hard Core server feel more real then the "real-but-current" servers by going back and re-doing the stuff that was pretty much already there.

Btw, is that Relic from Shards of Dalaya?,

Gary

Edit: Another For Instance... the Wakizashi you could quest from Mistoor, and the old Crafted Armors... pretty cool OLD quests...for OLD worthless crap gear nobody in their right minds would ever do THESE DAYS.... re-imagine and re-do things so where that these old quests are anything but old... make them real again. Some of these old quests were Really Good! My old DE Warrior (who could enter halas and train...remember shared wolf form before the nerf?) kept his Crafted and that Wakizashi, and later added a Swiftblade of Zek... heh.. was a cool look for a long time :)

Hello Provocating,

I like the idea to play the original game the old school way very much.

Allowing dual boxing would be great, as in some postings before mentioned, without any additional programs just by running 2 accounts on 2 computers. It's not only because a low server population, there are also people not on US prime time playing.

Best regards,
Duvinya

Well I have thought about this for a couple of days. There are a few reasons I am going to allow two boxing. One is for people that would want to leave a player in the bazaar as a trader and still be able to play, or maybe even leave two people in the bazaar. The second is for storage mules, I used to do this on live, I am a packrat for tradeskill mats. It is nice being able to have two accounts logged on for trading materials. The last is for powerleveling, this is nice to have. If I see anyone abusing this privilege, well i have zero tolerance for it. You ruin the game for me and everyone else if you are boting your other account, in other words 'not at the helm'.

This feature is turned on now, so enjoy.

This is now turned on per i.p. address, meaning if you are at the same location you can have two different accounts logged in. So to play on Dragon's of Mist [HC] with multiple connections you will need two EqEmulator.org accounts or message me for access to our private login server. I prefer anyone staying on our server long term to have an account with our login server, that way if EqEmulator.org experiences an outage you can still play on the server.

Actually no. When I played on live, I was in a guild called Relic at one time. So my guild in the game is Relic

I really hope I'm not the only player that actually preferred the bartering aspect of the game prior to the introduction of Bazaar. I hate auction houses in games in general honestly they aren't designed in the same way a changing evolving world economy and ecosystem is and tend to cause a lot of devaluation and trivializing of games in my opinion. More often than not in a MMO supply far outstrips demand and never curtails itself.

Perhaps item drops had caps limiting the amount of times certain items drop and can stay in circulation within the world it would be different. That would probably be on the better fixes to the mudflation effect outside of items decaying entirely. I think bartering was a fun social experience though quite honestly myself you could chat with people and sell and buy goods.

A lot of times people were happy just to find the item to purchase they were seeking regardless of them getting the most optimal price to purchase it or not. Some items were fairly common naturally, but others were a lot more rare and you'd have to wait around longer to finally find so was pretty exciting to finally get them.

I loved the old bartering aspect of the old commons tunnel

The dual boxing rule is not clear to me. Do you allow playing 2 chars together as a group without use of additional programs?

Correct. Any type of macro'ing or MQ'ing is not allowed.

This is of course your desire, but there is no realistic way to stop it unless you go to the extreme to hack a DLL like P99

No, I will got go to the extent he did. We will have low population, so it can be monitored rather easily.

Hey All,

it is a very interesting server and setup. Population is low currently and thats a problem. But I'm sure this server can be very successful in the long run. And if not, shrug - personally I'm playing alone anyway.

At low to mid levels this plays like a classic server with travelling thorugh PoK and with veteran AAs for double exp, clarity etc once per day. Newbie quests do work so you can start a gear dependant class and get some decent equipment early on.
There is no trivialisation like defiant armor, so camping items in the old worlds does make sense. You get to see alot of the world.
Those expansions up to GoD contain alot of things to be discovered. The path to 65 is going to be interesting for sure.

Max level is 65, you have access to AAs. It will be very interesting to see how far you can get in velious with your dual box and later on in groups & raids.
I dont know the GM Provocating other than from his posts. But I've been looking for a server with an admin who is reliable. He's the best out there. Great Server.

Come on over and give it a try,
Best regards,
Khokon

I appreciate your comments Khokon, I saw you were on last night with Smyrna but I could not play. And you are right, we are reliable and I will do everything in my power to keep it that way. I intentionally do not mess with the content much, if at all. Things like the defiant I remove because as you said, it makes the old world armor trivial. Not messing with the content keeps things from getting out of balance. I do not want to change things mid-stream so this is it, I will not be changing xp rates, there will be no triple experience weekends or any non-sense like that. I will not be rewarding people because the server was down for two weeks, stuff like that. Since I have been on U-Verse the longest we have been down was maybe 2 hours, and that is because someone hit a telephone pole.

Yes, it will be challenging but that was draws me in as a player. There are only so many times I would want to send a set of bots in, it is just too clicky, I feel like I am playing WOW. So far my Druid Tenawulf is level 41 and the path has not really been that hard. I am getting to be a snare kiting expert again and that makes me happy. We are using the veteran AA's to help level a bit. It does encourage you to play daily to get that 30 minutes of double XP, it also makes you want to play multiple characters, I switch toons a lot. Honestly it is the most fun I have had in a long time and I think things are perfect. If we never get a high population, that is fine. I want dedicated players that are resourceful.

I like the concept of your server, Provocating. However, the prospect of dual-boxing without /stick & /stick hold is not so enticing.

I often have the problem of box-inflation on PEQ. I'd like to stick to dual or trio boxing, but I can't help myself and always revert to my 6-12 boxing ways :oops:

A server with a forced limit of two boxes sounds awesome! I'd love to see how it pans out. It will be difficult, of course, to get things done with a small economy in the state the server is in currently, but doable, provided the second box. Traveling is a pain without /stick, though. I understand that if you allow MQ2, you're going to have a difficult time policing just what functions players call- but /follow is dreadful!

Is there any chance you might consider the use of MQ2 strictly for the /stick functionality (not even to mobs, just for accurate following purposes)? It would be a huge improvement for play-ability and long-term enjoyment (less frustrating travel).

Well since I am not versed in /stick maybe you can give me a link or someone could elaborate. In general I am not against anything that does not give a player an unfair advantage over other players, or require code or database changes. Also when you start allowing one thing, it opens up avenues for other things in the future. Sometimes it is better to just have a blanket policy. I will be making it to 65 on all of my characters without even dual boxing, given time. No one should be in a rush to level, stop and smell the flowers, take in the EQ lore and nostalgia.

/stick

It can be used to unfair advantage, imo, in combat, in that it has the capability of automatically placing your rogue, for instance behind the mob. The character would move with the mob, as well. But no combat functions are built into /stick. It's basically a powerful, more accurate /follow. It would prevent many a falling death, or run-past-through-a-mob situations that /follow creates due to latency.

edit: and yes, I understand how one things can potentially lead to another. It's your server, your rules, I was merely inquiring.

I would definitely take the stance on not allowing it, I think the players attracted to this type of server would probably also agree. We are resourceful players so we will find ways of getting there the old fashioned way. Sure we will die a lot, already have, but we will get there. The first player to get to 51 to start AA's, or the first one to get to a master tailor, they will know they accomplished something.

Haha. Ah, well, I may have to try anyway :D

The prospect of leveling a Tailor and a Blacksmith to craft Acrylia Reinforced gear does sound fun. That's how I got my start on PEQ . . . except, I hired the tailor :oops:

Well please stop by. I play a nice mix of characters right now, trying to farm some newbie armor and collect materials for trade skills. We are all helping each other get started, looking out for mats. The vendors in every zone retain sold items so even during a server restart, we can check and see if other players sold something we may need.

I will not be playing for long periods until maybe the 26th or 27th, because of the holidays. From Dec 27 ~ Jan 4 I will be playing a lot. There is one character in the bazaar selling damage shield potions, and sow potions. Smyrna is doing quite well making potions, helping us out. Those potions are making a world of difference helping us get leveled up. When I get to a point of being able to farm items I will also keep a guy in the bazaar during the day to help out anyone coming in.