I played from 3.5 Beta till Luclin, took some years off then found the wonders of Eqemu. Ive played on pretty much every server available, sometimes till end game and sometimes for only an hour. I've yet to find that "sweetspot" that fills the void within me. So what do I want?
Well I think one of the biggest problems for me is server population. Ive found some great places to play, but the servers are dead, and two or three sixboxers that dont speak English dont count
I really miss that social interaction aspect of the game. Sure there are tons of servers with a healthy population, and great people to boot, but the server styles just never seems to grab me.
Alot of the higher pop server have some great content, but its all end game oriented. Thats awesome, but I dont box. I play one character with a bot, when available, and to alot of these places that dosnt cut it. If you dont have a six man raid box going, your pretty much useless to them.
So now i find myself bouncing from server to server. Playing what solo, low level content I can, get board because noone else plays there, or not on my time, and leave to find something else to keep my A.D.D. happy
"Ok, so population, thats one thing. Why not just stick it out?" I'm glad you asked.
Content. It seems like no matter where I go, the servers have this insane XP rate, where im out leveling what custom quests and drops are available befoire ive even had a chance to enjoy them. Pushing me back into that feeling of "if your not raidng for T8 gear or whatever then this isnt the place for you." Personally I love the low end crawl and discovery that comes with making a new character. The joys of getting that new +1 Sword and spending time bashing Orc (or Gnome
) heads in.
Ok then.
1) Unique custom content and drops. Quests, loot, etc.. Lots. Sure old school gear is cool, but weve all been there done that. And camping Guk for an SSoY for two days..no thanks, tired of it.
2) Xp rate of like 1.5-2x I mean lets face it. Were here to enjoy ourselves, but I dont have the time of 10+ years ago, So a little kick is Ok. Just dont level me to 50 in an hour
3) Boxing and MQ. Heres a tough one. MQ - No. To easily abused. Having the Map function showing where the named mobs are was really awesome when i fist tried it, but the many other options of the proggie make it a game breaker. I'd rather not even have it as an option. And Boxing..well maybe a limit of one xtra IP so you can at least get a healer going if you tank etc. Bots are ok I suppose but from what ive experianced and caster type is Horrible at mana conservation. Yea, I know there kinda supposed to be that way I guess. Just kills me, pun intended, when my healer is spamming me the minute I take one hit, then goes OOM when I Need them. We all know this heh. Me tho, I'd rather have a bot then boxing. Kinda forces people to group up, or at least strongly encourages them. But if no one else plays there, how can that even happen..
4) RolePlaying- just seems like its a dead art. I'm not saying you need to know the complete history of Norrath, hell if I knew anything about coding and createing a server I wouldnt even refrence Norrath. Create a whole new world, something Akin to NeverWinter. Where DM's create whole new experiances and adventures from scratch.
5) Stay out of the same old damn zones. Guk, CB, Unrest, Paludal... These are Great places, dont get me wrong, but Damn! Every freaking server just about, uses these same areas as leveling points. Argghh! EQ is Huge! Take me somewhere I've never Been or havnt been a million times already..Please!!
6) I think I've about lost everyone at this point as this has become nothing more than the incoherent ramblings of an old man, lost in the memories of days gone by, and talking in circles never making complete thoughts... Where am I anyways?
Custom content
Slow it down
No MQ
No Six man box teams
Roleplay/Create a New World (Alot of work, this I know)
Unique Areas
Population (never gonna happen - too much competition)
And as an example ChaosSlayers(sp?) Alt-Prog on THF was the closest thing I have ever found meeting my criteria. Had an Awesome time with it..just noone else played it when I did. So it just felt as tho I was playing Elder Scrolls with some global chat in the background that had nothing to do with what I was doing at the time, just turned it off.
Just my 2c No disrespect in any way to the many different servers where tons of love and hard work have gone into making their dreams a reality. Props to you all for it.