A Randomized Loot Server [Classic Progression][Free Trade, Boxing]

[schuckenstein]

INTRODUCTION

After playing the first week of Teek launch I really wanted an open-box alternative with the same ruleset (like I'm sure a lot of people on this forum). I love classic EQ, I love to box, and random loot is a lot of fun but unfortunately, DPG will never give us an open box server so I decided to look around on EQEMU and there wasn't really anything similar on there either. Like many others before me, I decided to put on my beginner dev pants, install the EQEMU server, and try to make something that resembled what I was looking for. Just so we are clear, I started this not knowing anything about SQL, Perl, Lua, or EQEMU servers in general, and after probably 100+ hours of trial and error, searching the internet, looking at other people's Perl and Lua scripts, reading a lot of Red Guides & EqEmulator.org forum posts I can say I am pretty happy with how the below server has turned out. The only thing that is missing at this point is more people to play with/trade with so if you're looking for a randomized loot progression server come check us out!

SERVER INFO

Welcome to A Randomized Loot Server [Classic Progression][Free Trade, Boxing]. This server is mostly a legit classic progression server with a few custom features. Below you will find the feature list and more information about the server mechanics. After reading if you feel like this server is your cup of tea then check out ⁠Discord and either download the customized ROF2 client or if you already have a CLEAN copy of ROF2 you can get a patcher there (credit to FVProject) which will get your client pretty close (If you use the patcher you'll still need to download the old skeleton, wolf, and elemental models + classic spell icons).

SERVER FEATURES

• Classic era EQ (Current Expansion: Classic, Pre-Kunark)

• Classic zones (Freeport, Nektulos, Lavastorm, etc.)

• Old NPC models (Skeletons, Wolves, Elementals, Orcs, etc.)

• Classic spells and skills.

• No drop & Lore tags have been removed from items.

• No loot drop on death. A corpse is still left for Rez.

• Bind anywhere.

• Modified Exp rate. Slower than the default EQEMU rate but not p99 slow.

• Open box with no IP limit. MQ2 allowed just no active hacks.

• Randomized loot drops.

• Special improved chase versions of items.

• Dedicated server with 32 GB RAM and 1Gbps down/up internet.

MORE INFO ON RANDOMIZED LOOT

Similar to Mischief and Teek servers most of the named mobs on this server will drop randomized bucket loot. The loot buckets are in level ranges (1-10, 11-15, 16-20, etc.) and are separated by expansion. Classic will drop Classic loot, Kunark mobs will drop Kunark loot. A spreadsheet with loot breakdown can be found HERE. (Credit to Bobbybick who did the Mischief/Teek Spreadsheet)

MORE INFO ON SPECIAL IMPROVED CHASE ITEMS

There's nothing like camping for loot and then finding that ultra-rare item that not everyone has. On this server, there is a chance to get just that with improved versions (Exquisite & Flawless) of every item dropped in the game. Exquisite items have 20% increased stats at a 4% drop rate and Flawless has 40% increased stats at a 2% drop rate. These items can only be found on the named mobs that drop randomized loot.

[weestman]

Trip report: Been playing here for a week or so. Here are my findings:

PRO:
- GM is active, responsive, and fairly knowledgeable!
- EXP is a little slower than I'm used to, but it makes the leveling feel good, and it only took a week or so to get my group to level cap (50)
- The Exquisite / Flawless items is a cool touch - It makes me want to farm mobs I never would really consider because WHAT IF I GET A REALLY AMAZING ITEM!
-Community - everyone is helpful. I'm grouping up with a paladin and his group today to try to kill fire giants in SoldungB for word drops so he can upgrade his mage pets
- Free druid ring ports up to level 5! I love this. My group is evil, but we did all our leveling up to 20 in crushbone / unrest without any trouble. We can pay the npc at the butcher ring now to go south ro to upper guk if we want, or we can find one of the druids or wizards online and ask them for free ports
- Definitely evokes old-school nostalgia with some great quality of life changes like extended targeting, the druid porters, the not-quite-classic spell list (spells are awarded every level or two, not every 4 like old old oldschool eq) and the ability to see NPC and PC buffs.
- I dont think you can de-level from exp loss, which is pretty cool, because holy cow I die a lot when I'm doing stupid things! Makes me feel like It's okay to struggle through LGUK or try kedge keep
- Loot drop system is awesome. Normal mobs drop normal loot, but named mobs drop loot by bucket (level range) which means if you dont want to farm solsek a you can get drops from upper guk or najena if the mobs are the same level range. It's an amazing feature.

MID:
- Spell Research. What can I say; it's old school research. There's no spell scribing, so getting color skew, or the level 48 water pet for mages or ice comet feels like an epic achievement.
- Bazaar! The old bazaar is active, but there isnt a huge population yet. A few merchants , but it would be awesome if there were more people, right now it feels a little clunky
- Druid port NPC feels a little clunky with regards to the bazaar, since it costs a little plat to get there after level 5, but it's free to port out to any druid location. Double edged sword I think, which is why it's in mid.
- It would be nice to have a DEV ROADMAP, so we can roughly know when to expect changes to be implemented and expansions to drop (not really an issue because the dev is pretty good about just openly chatting on discord)
- Low(ish) population means peaks times are social hour and off-times can be kind of slow in terms of chatting


CON:
- Cazic Thule is being revamped for 1.0 so it's not available, which severely limits the places you can go from 40-50 to pretty much LGUK and SOLDUNGB
- Rathe Mountains is being revamped to kick the frogs out and move the giants back in so it's not 'live' yet, which is fine, but I miss killing giants.
- GM Could be a little better about communicating changes. Like, there's a 50% exp bonus for 24 hours today but there's only a small announcement in the discord, and nothing in the server-updates channel. Small thing though.



TLDR SUMMARY:

If you like old-school TLP servers (currently in CLASSIC PRE-KUNARK) with Quality of Life changes/fixes that still has a nostalgia feeling without the nostalgia tedium, that lets you box a full group and hunt for rare drops in a cool way, this might be a good place for you.

I've been having a lot of fun!