Thinking of making a server...

[ValKillmore]

Hey guys lurker here finally decided after playing on a few to make a customer server, been wondering where i should go with it, i know 'go with what you like, and people will play' thing but i'm trying to gather ideas...

I'm a fan of World of Warcraft so I was thinking something like this;

Option 1: Make a World of Warcraft in Everquest type server, same 'type' races, same 'type' classes with same abilities, armor, etc things like that.

OR

Option 2: Doing a minialmist server what this entitles would be like, the first set of gear you would get would have 1 hp, 1 mana, spells would cost like, 1-4 mana, mobs would hit for like 1-5, things like that, SUPER minialmist..

What do you guys think?

[ValKillmore]

Or I thought of like another server with total customer progression with customer classes thought that would be cool too....

[Jcr4990]

Originally Posted by ValKillmore

Hey guys lurker here finally decided after playing on a few to make a customer server, been wondering where i should go with it, i know 'go with what you like, and people will play' thing but i'm trying to gather ideas...

I'm a fan of World of Warcraft so I was thinking something like this;

Option 1: Make a World of Warcraft in Everquest type server, same 'type' races, same 'type' classes with same abilities, armor, etc things like that.

OR

Option 2: Doing a minialmist server what this entitles would be like, the first set of gear you would get would have 1 hp, 1 mana, spells would cost like, 1-4 mana, mobs would hit for like 1-5, things like that, SUPER minialmist..

What do you guys think?

Take it from someone that was in a similar position back around mid October. Unless you're 100% okay with your server taking a LONG TIME to develop. Start with the base EQ formula and make small tweaks to your liking as you go. It takes far more time and effort to make a fully custom server than most people realize (including myself) before they actually make an attempt at it. Coming up with super cool ideas for a server is the easy part. Figuring out implementation within the eqemu framework is a whole different story. Don't get me wrong you can do a LOT of super cool stuff. But if you go the super custom route you'll almost inevitably run into the situation I have multiple times "Oh shit I really wanted to do x or y cool mechanic but the client is hardcoded to do something else and I can't really get around that".

Starting from vanila EQ and tweaking spells for various classes to have a more WoW like feel wouldn't be super hard if that's the route you wanted to go. Just as an example though if you want to implement a WoW rogue style energy bar and combo point based skills? Good luck. Not saying it can't be done but it's not easy. I attempted editing the source code that controls endurance to set it to a max of 200 and remove the endurance loss on jump mechanic and make it regen super quickly to mimic a WoW energy bar. Even if you're able to do that 100% correctly the client is hard coded to show something totally different so your endurance bar on your UI will show an entirely different value than what you actually have serverside. Your other idea about super minimal numbers is cool on paper but presents quite a bit of difficulty in achieving class balance (if that's something you're concerned with).

Not trying to rain on your parade or anything. You should definitely play with it and try to make something you enjoy. Just wanted to share some insights as I had similar thoughts about making a very custom server that I started on just a few months ago. I'm still working on it daily with a friend of mine and we've put in pretty extensive hours and it's nowhere near done.

[ValKillmore]

How i would do rogue is each ability costs a FLAT amount of END (controlled by a script, let's say 33% endurance), and to gain endurance you would have to use sinister strike and it would grant you like 25% endurance, ranging out the damage would be a bit difficult but ive thought and written down about 8 pages of 'how would it work' for WoW stuff that ive gathered from other servers about the only thing id need help with i think would be the change in the main db where str would control the damage of melee abilities and int controlling caster and things like that, other then that i think a WoW server would be fun as hell! - or id make rogue have 100 endurance and make all abilities cost you know 33 endurnace etc, saw that possible in db =)

In the same token, a Minialimist server would be super fun too, nothing out of control at all everything controlled majorly through gear, i think that would be super fun.

IN THE SAME TOKEN!!!! A completely custom server with like battle mages and dwing clerics!!! THAT would be sick, too!

That's why I'm throwing feelings out in the community to see what *some* people would play on if i get lots of people saying wow in eq would be fun then ill start on it and itll take however long it takes, i have 4-5 people who are deving with me, and between the all of us we cant make up our minds on which one sounds more fun.

i do thank you for your input and insight though! =)

[Jahosphat]

I don't think you realize the undertaking that you're proposing. To do a completely custom server, let alone a semi custom server takes a lot of time and dedication. There's plenty of good ideas out there but a few that can execute on those ideas.

Question is, an EQ wow.. why not just play wow? And the mechanics would be extremely hard to pull off. I'd love to see it though.

Minimalist server.. I guess is fine. But what's the point you take every stat, heavy value divided by whatever and you get your minimalist server..

Curious what others say.

[ValKillmore]

Originally Posted by Jahosphat

I don't think you realize the undertaking that you're proposing. To do a completely custom server, let alone a semi custom server takes a lot of time and dedication. There's plenty of good ideas out there but a few that can execute on those ideas.

Question is, an EQ wow.. why not just play wow? And the mechanics would be extremely hard to pull off. I'd love to see it though.

Minimalist server.. I guess is fine. But what's the point you take every stat, heavy value divided by whatever and you get your minimalist server..

Curious what others say.

You underestimate my power?! (lol), nah I get what it takes to do a completely custom server, i guess i should have stated in the beginning, i have a server up that me and my friends play on thats pretty heavily customized, we dont wanna release it to the public because everyone on it start at gm levels to spawn certain events or skip events and what not its pretty custom, we have custom classes, stats, spells scaled by stats, things like that so we have the knowledge of HOW to do it, and an understanding on HOW LONG it takes to put a project out, we just want an idea of what people thought of doing on of those servers, no point in doing a server if people are like; 'That idea is stupid as aids.' -- see what i mean?

obviously it would not be like Ragnoros do this, and stuff it would be wow tied into eq and eq tied into wow a lot of what wow does is impossible to do with an old client like eq, i know some of the limitations of the client but like having the same idea of spells every 2 levels (rank spells), damage range like normal eq, and other things like that just seems... fun, i dont know, call me strange.

Exactly! All the server I've played on, the Custom ones, I get to like 1.2 million hp (Obviously not an exact number, just giving an example), and do 9234782935723523985 damage a hit, and i think thats stupid to be frank 'cause theres a cap that you can hit and eventually you will hit it so if you do a minimalist server, think of how far you can go t100 only offering 1300 hp (13 items x 100 hp) you can just keep going and that t100 toon could just walk through t1 - 80 probably with little to no problems, see i think that would be fun i mean im honestly partial to 'you get gear you get more powerful' i like that feeling but even on a minimal server you would feel more powerful when you got more gear, id feel....

anyway! I'm super interested in opinions!

[ValKillmore]

oh also to answer your question, because wow is aids and i like eq =P

[Lane]

Create something that you would enjoy playing on. What any one else thinks is irrelevant. If you are passionate about your idea and put in the time and effort, there's a good chance you'll create something special.

-Darksinga