Probably 90% or more of the servers that pop onto the server list don't last more than 3 months. Most of the time the admins just lose interest for one of any number of reasons.
Unexpected downtime is always a possibility on any server, but it is extremely rare on PEQ. There are a few other servers out there that have been around for a while now and are well populated but none of them have the record that PEQ does. I think the only ones that come close are KMRA and VZ/TZ. Though, there are some that were created within the past year or so that should be very reliable and have little threat of being abandoned anytime soon. If you look at the server list, just check out the ones that have 20+ players on them. Most of those are sure to be fun and should have minimal downtime. My server for example, has been up for about 8 months now and the longest downtime it has had was about 1 day. Other than that, any extended downtime has been limited. I probably have 98%+ uptime or so. And, many of the other popular custom servers seem to have similar uptime rates. I have played Zeb, EZ Server, Scars of Amerous and my server Storm Haven and I would recommend any of those to anyone. They are all alot of fun and each offer their own unique experience.
The competition of custom servers for players is pretty high right now, which is why certain servers just can't keep enough players. With the ease of getting a server running and thanks to tools created by people like GeorgeS, making a custom server is easier than ever. Anyone with a strong will and a little technical skill and creativity can make a server. Of course, one of the main factors is how much time and how many developers are available to work on the server.
It is too bad that there is no easy way to combine the efforts and teams of the more popular custom servers to make one monstrous server. Using the existing content from each server would be nearly impossible, managing it all would be a nightmare considering each admin would want to fight for control, and too much work has gone into each individual server to scrap them and start a completely fresh project. So, that isn't really an option, but it would certainly be badass lol.
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