I believe my usage and reasons for setting up and running my own server are not unusual.
I play with a group of friends and we don't want to create an entirely new EQ world. We just want the whole EQ world as it is, or at the very least, periodic additions to total content. We don't want to spend 40 hours a week coding new content after working 40 hours a week developing applications for someone else. I'm 55 years old and would rather play EQ rather than spending every non work hour writing new code and spending countless hours capturing packets from live. A few hours here and there for tweaking is fine...
Yet we want the ability to add things that others do not have. For instance, we've added a rezzing NPC in the guild lobby. Not only that, we've added buffage characters that are all around the big chair in the center of the guild lobby. These make it much easier for small groups and solo characters.
Regarding the server itself, I have the hardware sitting around and so far, it works fine for up to 20ish people, but that's the most we've ever had on. There are 6 people on fairly regularly and the server gets the job done.
The key point I'm trying to make is that the "copy and paste" server content has not significantly changed in years, yet there are servers that have done the work to create that content, and almost match live. I'm not necessarily looking for more FREE content, but there really do not seem to be any options. I don't see anyone offering database and quests (or a server package) for sale. The options seem to be stick with "copy and paste" or spend hundreds, probably thousands of hours customizing a server.
The content up to OOW is interesting, but how many times can you play characters up to level 70 with that same content?!
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