Project 1999 & Emulated Everquest Servers: meet Project Quarm

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Pilsner: Nov 23, 2002

Video Game Aspie posted:

-How are people making so much money? I see things like Torpor, a kunark spell, for sale for 120k platinum. I've never even had more than a couple hundred platinum at a time, ever, and I really don't think people are getting so filthy rich by selling fine steel drops.

The prices at higher levels seem insane, but that's EQ. There is no big money sink at higher levels such as those in WoW (repairs, enchants, flights, etc.), except spell reagents for some classes, and when you're level 50+, the money flows in quite well due to gem and platinum drops. It's fairly easy to solo for an evening and rake in 1000p, and if you've done that for 4 months, well there's 120k for you, in theory. People who group a lot will also get random lucky drops, some of which can sell for up to 50k or more, like hiero cloak, haste items, fungi tunic, t-staff, you name it. Furthermore, since new expansions come at a snails pace (and possibly no more expansions ever), lots of people are "stuck" at having the best possible gear with nothing to buy, and thus the plat just piles up.

Even in my 40's I found it easy to rake in hundreds of plat per hour by soloing Oggok ogre guards, just hoarding platinum and selling Fine Steel. Everything before that was really poor house, though, so I know how you feel.

# ¿ Oct 14, 2016 09:29

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# ¿ May 13, 2024 21:36

Pilsner: Nov 23, 2002

poolside toaster posted:

Is there a high enough (and low enough) population to group or solo as one's mood demands?

I'm going to be laid up a month and I would love to have a chance to play a bard again.

Sure, although given the small world and small community, sometimes you'll be surprised at what is camped when you run around the world. At least when I played just before Velious was launched, stuff like Hill Giants, OOT seafuries, SRo AC, SolB Efreeti, all those classic camps (xp or loot) were occupied almost always both day and night. Many well-known good XP grind camps such as OOT gargs, OOT sisters, SolA gnomes, Oggok guards, etc., would also sometimes be taken, but not that often.

I solo'd a Monk from 1-50 untwinked (quite a challenge), and had rather free access to decent XP grind camps.

All in all, while it would be nice to do whatever camp you want, it's also nice that the game feels busy and a little crowded, part of the charm for sure.

# ¿ Nov 25, 2016 14:06

Pilsner: Nov 23, 2002

lemonslol posted:

How long did this take? Can you outline this?

aparmenideanmonad said almost precisely what I did:

aparmenideanmonad posted:

Auto attack a blue/light blue mob, abuse combat bind wound, use intimidation/ID in areas with favorable pathing, bind wounds up after every fight and then mend or AFK until you have a comfortable hp cushion to kill another mob. It's honestly no different than soloing normally except you have to fight weaker/lower level stuff or stuff that can be ID'd easily. If you're going hardcore and not even buying stuff in EC with money you make on the character there are some choice pieces of gear to camp. Otherwise you just spend some time grinding low level plat spots to get the usual cheap weapons and hp/AC gear available in EC (note that this is actually easier than leveling solo pre-kunark given how much better/cheaper gear is in kunark/velious). You might end up needing to go do this anyway to keep yourself in bandages.

You end up needing to be slightly overleveled on average for a given zone (compared to groups/twinks), and it obviously takes a lot longer due to slower kills and longer recovery. Monk is a relatively easy class for this due to solid cheap damage output with fists or inexpensive weapons, good defensive skills, decent max hp, mend, ID, bind wound, and FD for when the RNG makes you miss 20 times in a row while the mob lands max damage hits. I'm pretty sure moolchaba did this with a warrior and a rogue (both harder/more boring) on P99 because he hates himself and that's his idea of fun.

Particularly the fact that you can easily buy overpowered Kunark-era weapons for reasonable amounts of platinum (that you can easily grind yourself) makes it decent.

I will say though, it it wasn't for the in-combat bind wound "exploit", and the overpowered Intimidation (aka. Instill Doubt) on P99, it would be absolute hell.

To be more specific, here is how I leveled:

First, I rolled an Iksar Monk. The Iksar regen makes a major difference in this case, as their regen is double that of Humans (and even a little more above lvl 51). The rest of the Iksar racials are also pure bonus: Better sight, swimming, AC bonus and Forage. The major downside is of course faction, which plays a big role in the old world. As a Monk with FD, it's not that big of a deal, you can almost always evade being killed, but beware that you will have to endure some seriously serious faction grinds. I took on the task of killing around 2000 orcs in the Commonlands in order to get faction with NFP, so I could bank. Alternatively you can bank in Neriak with just a day of faction work (turn in Lightstones to the lady in South Ro), but it is a lot more nice to be able to bank in FP.

Grind Mend and FD as soon as you can, along with your latest kick/special attack. It won't be until the 20's that you are fairly capable with your main skills (Mend and FD), then you are more safe in general. While leveling, beg or save up cash as best you can and aim for a cheap starter weapon such a Trance Stick, Adamantite Bo Stick, Fighting Baton, Bamboo Bo Stick or whatever is easy to obtain. Next start aiming for HP rings and other cheap HP gear.

Leveling as Iksar is easy, start in FoB then move on to Kurn's in the teens. I stayed there until level 20, to train FD and skill it up a little before I risked the big journey to Antonica. After that, you don't really need to see a trainer until level 30 for FK, and finally 35 for Riposte, and you can find neutral trainers in Antonica.

After bumming a port from Overthere to EC, I started grinding Great Lightstones in EC/WC. I saved them up, got an SoW from the EC tunnel, then ran to SRo to the dark elf gypsy lady and turned them in for a little XP and Dark Elf guard faction. I think at level 21/22 I had enough faction to be able to move (almost) safely through Neriak, so I could bank - just beware of the wandering Wizard outside the door to the bank. After that I did the Red Wine quest for further faction with the merchants of Neriak. I like grinding, and EC/WC is a comfortable safe place buzzing with life, plus it gives you a lot of time to skill up FD, Mend and Intimidation.

After this my leveling path was (copy paste from another post of mine):

21-23: Gnolls (live and undead) in the southwest corner of EK; aviak guards in Lake Rathe; gargs in OOT
23-30: Random mobs in South Karana - great place for ID kiting (got 3 peggy cloaks that way)
30-35: sisters in OOT (decent xp, and mainly the best cash camp until the 40's, which was important for me as my first char)
35-40: more South Karana random mobs
40-45: Sol A gnomes; there are lots of them, just beware of damage shields; you'll need a 2-hander and good timing.
45-50: Oggok guards (inside), intimidation kiting, bind wound abuse, and very good cash from all the Fine Steel. A monk can vendor and bank; in theory a rogue could do the same, but it would be insanely risky to go to the bank, since they have no FD.

A big thing about Monks is the weight limit, which is 14 and slowly increasing to 20 at lvl 59, then 24 (https://www.project1999.com/forums/showthread.php?t=230843). If you're brand new starting with 0 plat, I would advise you to screw the weight limit and keep harvesting coin until you're encumbered before banking. EQ and particularly a solo Monk is super gear dependant, so you need that plat. Even at level 5 I would harvest silver and walk to exchange it, just because I'm such a Scrooge in a game like P1999. You will lose AC due to the overweight, but you can still kill and fight well enough, which is all you need to level. Investing in WR bags is great, I would start by getting the two solb/guk bags (Bag of Sewn Evil-Eye and Light Burlap Sack), and getting the Forager Bag from a reasonably doable quest. With the two big bags, you can save Fine Steel weapons and vendor them. A few more tips about being a miserly Monk:

* You can exchange all your loose gold, silver and copper by selling an item you're going to sell anyway (for example a gem) to a vendor, then buying it back. The act of buying from a vendor will use all your small coins before digging into the platinum. Repeat multiple times to exchange more. Only use items that are coded to have a 10% (the minimum) difference between buy and sell value from vendors. This way you can run around almost solely with plat.
* At higher levels, if you're fighting near vendors (in a city or nearby), where you get so much plat that it starts weighing you down, you can buy relatively gems from a vendor with your plat, then re-sell them when you return to your friendly bank some day. Gems only weigh 0.1 for a whole stack.

The holy grail is of course the Tink Bag, which you might be able to purchase in your 40's after enough grinding. It's well worth it. Also invest in a JBoots MQ ASAP, it is gold.

# ¿ Nov 29, 2016 13:43

Pilsner: Nov 23, 2002

I would advise doing the re-targeting manually also with a super quick tab + attack, the game is slow to do it via a macro. Here's the macro I used when I played:

/pause 3, /tar Zliz
/pause 1, /doability 1
/stand

If you have very low ping, you might be able to use /pause 2 in the first line, just experiment and see if it's reliable.

Can anyone recall if this was possible in real Classic times?

# ¿ Nov 29, 2016 22:49

Pilsner: Nov 23, 2002

Oh, and speaking of Rogue and Monk soloing, don't forget the wonder of Sneak pulling. When sneaking, you can throw at a mob, and the surrounding mobs will not assist you if you are indiff to them (due to sneaking and being behind them). It makes for a super easy pulling.

When I tested not so long ago, the Skipping stone still provided..... a certain benefit, shall we say, that made it great for throwing.

# ¿ Dec 2, 2016 10:45

Pilsner: Nov 23, 2002

moolchaba posted:

You can make exp on that quest till level 60. I went back to test at 59 and it took me 20 greater lightstones to get 1%. It was one of best spots to farm plat for my rogue and warrior until reaching mid 50s. Hill giants and Highland Lions too.

Did you try continuing to turn in and get another percent? Since the game displays your XP in percent at best, those 20 turn-ins might just have taken you from (for example) 999,500 to 1,000,000 xp points, which meant your display just jumped one percent as it rounds down.

I know it's EQ, but I find it rather unlikely that a quest will continue to give XP like that, since all quests give an absolute number of XP points.

# ¿ Dec 16, 2016 09:52

Pilsner: Nov 23, 2002

moolchaba posted:

I did almost 31k damage to Bouncer Prud. Hahahahahahahahaha

You did "fungi kiting" to kill him? drat.

# ¿ Dec 18, 2016 15:03

Pilsner: Nov 23, 2002

Orange Red Bull posted:

It does have a certain charm to force the game into a certain frame of time, and you just have to deal with it as it is. I mean, it will be playable since old EQ was such a slow and relatively easy game (if people just had correct group setups and followed some simple rules), and it was designed to be single boxed. But of course, the game took eons to evolve, I dare say the EQ Live client didn't really become nice and somewhat decent until around VoA with from-inventory clickies and such improvements.

I enjoyed my time on EQMac as well in spite of the ancient client, because you just had that feeling of "this is how it is, no way around it".

PS: "sibolit scail boots"

# ¿ Dec 25, 2016 18:31

Pilsner: Nov 23, 2002

Yeah let's not get carried away here, I remember playing with okay framerates, even during raids, and I had to fight since I was a Rogue. I always had a fairly decent computer, though, but not top of the line either.

# ¿ Dec 26, 2016 20:18

Pilsner: Nov 23, 2002

I've observed the GM busting in person. I was grouping with a guy in OOT killing Sisters, and he had an extra character he just used to unload heavy loot on. Suddenly a GM pops in and says "please don't move, this is a boxing check, just a moment", and 5 minutes later the guy whispered me that he was being suspended for 30 days, gently caress this, etc. Boom, he was gone.

It seems harsh, but I think it's fair that they have a strict principle and stick to it. It takes a lot of effort beyond what the average joe will or can do, to tether/VPN/ShowEQ and all that, so the vast majority of normal players play legit.

# ¿ Dec 31, 2016 15:38

Pilsner: Nov 23, 2002

cmdrk posted:

anyone have suggestions for where to quad in the early 30s as a Wizard?

finally got my Staff of the Wheel as well, woot. questing is a helluva drug.

Overthere is great and easy for 30-40, in the west and southern part of the zone. Camp at the Skyfire zone ramp and hunt from there.

There are basically two ranks of all the common mobs in OT:

weak (lvl 29-34):
a stoneleer cockatrice
a Sarnak berserker
a thorny succulent
sabretooth tigress

strong (lvl 32-39):
a spiked succulent
a Sarnak knight
a stonegazer cockatrice
sabretooth tiger

You'll learn to pull equal mobs and which are most annoying. Watch out for the wandering guards.

Also, I strongly advise you to do the Staff of Temperate Flux Quest for the ultimate drive-by pulling pool. It's an insta-cast clickie, castable from inventory, and is invaluable for quadding.

# ¿ Jan 3, 2017 11:14

Pilsner: Nov 23, 2002

Usually Wizards don't begin quadding until lvl 29 where they get Bonds of Force, the AE snare spell. Doing it without snare sounds like more trouble than it's worth.

I haven't done the math, but I'd say the main draw of quadding isn't really the mana efficiency, but rather that it feels nice to get a big chunk of XP every time you slay 4 mobs, plus it's challenging and fun, compared to mindlessly nuking one mob at a time. It's like a little hunt and strategy every time you venture out to round up four suitable, equal level mobs and run around in huge circles nuking them down. You can also do some sit-run-sit medding on the way if you need. Just keep them snaaaaaaaaaared!

# ¿ Jan 4, 2017 21:45

Pilsner: Nov 23, 2002

aparmenideanmonad posted:

The mana efficiency is what makes it lucrative XP wise, so that's why I always did it. A wizard spends around 2-2.5x the mana to kill four mobs instead of one before 51, and after that it's around 1.2-1.5x the mana for 4x the xp. The novelty wears off after a few quads in a new area (for me anyway). Every once in awhile when I'd get tired of staring at specters, chickens, or dinosaurs, I'd go try grouping, but it's just terrible to go sit in a group, get less xp, and not be able to afk as readily...well not without people getting mad at you anyway.

Druids have slightly more efficient other options in root-rotting and, at higher levels, charming/fear kiting, but barring a full on AE group, quadding is where it's at for wizards.

Yeah but besides the mana efficiency from the AE spell, you have to factor in all the extra time spent finding suitable mobs (easy in some zones, troublesome in other zones), rounding them up, snaring them, plus dealing with resists (have to finish off stragglers), dealing with snare running out (not so relevant for Druids), accidentially running into a 5th mob and all that. I don't think it in total gives more XP per time played, but as said it's just a lot more fun than single nuking (which is truly awful).

I also just remembered I quad kited Dwarf guards in BB, I guess it was in my 40's?, back in the day. That was decent XP also. They are good since they are a fixed equal level, whereas many other Classic zones have a crazy varying mob level, where you can run around and bumb into anything from level 10 to 30 in the same zone (hello South Karana). Part of the charm of the old world, but goddamn the old world just wasn't designed for outdoors XP'ing.

# ¿ Jan 5, 2017 12:42

Pilsner: Nov 23, 2002

insulated staircase posted:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kpqxi_V3jfQ

everquest

Lol, what does that even mean? He ran through mobs and threw a stone at the boss, then jumped into the lava, does that give the entire guild first permission to engage the boss? Or are they expecting Vulak + a train of drakes to run to the Aary prep spot? I thought Vulak was rooted?

# ¿ Jan 20, 2017 10:11

Pilsner: Nov 23, 2002

moolchaba posted:

Jeez man. Was this screen captured off an N64?

Look at the upload date and quality. Video and capture has really come a loooooong way in 10 years.

I wonder what the earliest captured EQ video was..... it would be like the Zapruder film of MMORPGs.

# ¿ Jan 27, 2017 09:39

Pilsner: Nov 23, 2002

insulated staircase posted:

flurry is an extra round of attacks per proc i think and they proc it alot. this kills the tank.

I believe flurry is actually up to 4 extra attacks, so very worst case, a mob that can usually quad (4 hits) can fire off 8 hits in one round, which is brutal.

# ¿ Jan 27, 2017 21:26

Pilsner: Nov 23, 2002

please knock Mom! posted:

Yeah I mainly solo anyway with monk or ranger, probably ranger this time around if there's mercs.

please knock Mom! posted:

Aw, true solo ranger was always kind of a chore... then again, maybe something grindy wouldn't be bad.

Uh, have you read up on what P1999 is about? It's a Classic to Velious emu server. No mercs, and soloing a monk or ranger is a huge chore, not just kind of. :P

Orange Red Bull posted:

http://www.notaddicted.com/fansythefamous.php

Ah yes the unfunny Fansy on the terrible SZ server. I don't see any video there?

# ¿ Jan 28, 2017 17:39

Pilsner: Nov 23, 2002

Secular Humanist posted:

Who the gently caress chooses the music for these eq videos? I wish I could just hear the god drat game audio instead of some obscure metallica cover band playing enter sandman wtf

Welcome to YouTube anno 2006. Par for the course.

# ¿ Jan 29, 2017 01:57

Pilsner: Nov 23, 2002

Ashenden posted:

Upper Guk is amazing exp at 20 and practically deserted, would recommend to anybody having trouble finding a spot. Thanks Athropos for the suggestion. Asked the guy at Squire to message me when done and he just handed me a RBF. Got the Elf wearing Elf-Hide Gloves thing going on now. Would also be down to group and camp Warden, really want the Troll-Hide Belt from him. Get your Necro to 20s Athro. Think I might stay here til I can go to HHK at 26.

Once I hit the 40s someday we should try to do a goon Lower Guk group, I know how much you all hate it. Seeing Mauzer's Shaman tear through levels makes me feel like I should go faster.

A guy once wrote that could level a Troll from 1-50 (and beyond I guess) in just the three zones of Innothule, UGuk and LGuk. The level spans in the old dungeons was so crazy.

# ¿ Feb 7, 2017 09:50

Pilsner: Nov 23, 2002

shirunei posted:

It only took me way too many hours I'm never getting back and a yearlong test of endurance but the best looking EQ robe is now mine.

Sorry buddy but you're factually incorrect :colbert:

(Cryosilk Robe / Robe of the Whistling Fists)

Amish posted:

Very pretty!

I dug up this screenshot from about 17-18 years ago. I kept this robe in my inventory as a cleric because I liked how it looked.

Apart from the horrific Luclin models (it could have been at the most 15 years ago), the robe was probably Robe of Living Fungus, in case you want to look for it again. It's cheap to buy on P99. Good starter robe for monks also.

# ¿ Mar 8, 2017 10:20

Pilsner: Nov 23, 2002

suuma posted:

I'd say Bind Wounds is pretty much only useful for Monks and maybe Warriors due to how the skill caps work. They're pretty expensive early on and in classic they don't heal past 50% (75%?) health. If you can find a magician who can summon them for you, go nuts (they'd only cost mana).

You also can't be attacking/getting attacked when using them, though there is (was?) a "bug" that allowed you to do that with a macro, I think.

I has certainly worked for years (BW while being attacked), and it massively improved melee soloability, but I can't prove that it still works, as I haven't logged in in over a year. Reading a thread here, it seems that players BW'ing are now considered sitting, and will be hit for max damage now:

https://www.project1999.com/forums/showthread.php?t=222964&page=3

# ¿ Mar 10, 2017 18:40

Pilsner: Nov 23, 2002

Dirt posted:

I tried the first one they did...

Siets posted:

I tuned into a random stream just to observe it when the first profession server (Ragefire?) had launched. The streamer was in Mistmoore and in the short two minute span I was watching I saw no less than four separate 6-box mage squads roll through.

P99 or bust.

Zaphod42 posted:

Yeah unfortunately if a server doesn't restrict boxing then other people are definitely going to do it, and I don't want to, and that puts me at a disadvantage. Plus it means most people aren't looking to group but rather just solo everything with their box group.

P99 or bust.

That's precisely what they learned from their first slew of prog servers; boxing ruins it, because some people apparently have no problem paying $100 per month just to grind old poo poo in EQ (or maybe the ability to RMT items offsets it, I dunno). The latest prog server, Phinigel, only allows one active account per player per computer, and since Fippy/Ragefire, they have done quite a bit of tuning to players and NPCs, in order to make it more balanced. They have also introduced raid instancing even on old stuff like Vox and Naggy, which you may or may not like, but for the majority of players, it's a godsend. Bosses are also available in the open world, for those who want to race.

# ¿ Mar 19, 2017 23:01

Pilsner: Nov 23, 2002

P99 is definitely worth trying out for a while, if anything for the nostalgia. A lot of really like it was in 2000, the old Freeport, the tough starting out, corpse runs, no free lunch, etc. It's free to try and your char won't get wiped, so give it a try and see. You'll probably burn out at lvl 3 though, if you don't have some discipline.

# ¿ Mar 20, 2017 09:33

Pilsner: Nov 23, 2002

Zaphod42 posted:

But back in EQ's hayday, there were a good 20+ servers, so even if you were doing something on one server, the other servers had their own boss spawns and were almost like their own instances. I guess the fact that your characters were locked in to one limits that a bit, but IDK.

You could say each server was an instance.... for the 1 or 2 top guild(s) on the server. :P Other second-tier guilds had to take the scraps, and the remaining pleb guilds had to wait a few expansions until they could raid. I remember up-and-coming family guilds would cheer at having beaten Trakanon and Vindicator during late Luclin, lol.

EQ actually had approximately 43 active servers (both PvE and PvP) in 2001. I've been nerdy enough to do a complete list (except the latest prog servers) and history overview of all EQ servers here:

http://www.zlizeq.com/Game_Information-Servers_and_Versions

# ¿ Mar 20, 2017 21:21

Pilsner: Nov 23, 2002

Yeah hurry up and log in to any account you have and claim a free Heroic character. Then create a Bard and zoom around the old world with super run speed, levitation and tracking, and kill old bosses and named mobs you run into. Tons of fun.

# ¿ Mar 29, 2017 14:52

Pilsner: Nov 23, 2002

lemonslol posted:

Can someone tell me what was so special about what the P99 dudes did with P99? I mean in terms of programming, not nostalgia. They took their own DB maybe the PEQ one and slimmed it down using archives of old EverQuest patch notes, and then what is the anti-boxing thing? The spell files, etc. Does anyone know? I had this idea to spin up a real quick pvp server to pal around with some of my bros on Red and IRL, and while I have no problem setting up the server, and editing the database, it would be nice to know some more stuff.

I'm not that experienced with EQ Emu'ing, but as a developer, it's easy to imagine that the anti-boxing code is something they've written themselves, in the actual server code, not just some entries in the database. Whenever someone logs in, the client sends info to the server, so the server can always tell when two connections from the same IP are online. That's the simple version. To detect if a person is boxing two accounts on multiple IP's (using two computers where one is on a VPN), you'll need to program fuzzy logic that for example tracks if two characters are always in the same zone for long periods of time, frequent trades between two characters, and so on. Shouldn't be that difficult to program, in my opinion, but it'll require programming skills plus understanding of how the EQ Emu server fundamentally works.

I'm sure a lot of the P99 functionality is also programmed, not just database entries. I don't know what the default EQ Emu server supports, but for example, if there's no straight up database setting that toggles pets poofing upon zoning, they'd have to program that specifically in the server. It all depends on whether the server already has a toggle for it. They are also still tied to how the client works in many aspects. This is something some whiners on the P99 forums don't understand; the distinction between the client and the server, and some things are just impossible to change without making a custom client (virtually impossible).

Also, the "special" thing P99 did, overall speaking, was simply a ridiculous attention to detail and every effort put into making it classic, both with regards to database configuration (monsters, zones, items, etc.) but also functionality. EQ Emu is an all-round emu started ages ago, and has been slowly developed to sort-of match Live EQ, so I imagine that when P99 took a clone of the EQEmu code perhaps 10 years ago, they started by developing "backwards" towards the Classic EQ experience. Props to them.

As a developer, I'd also love to hear more from people about how the thing works.

I've snooped through the source code and standard EQ emu database some times, it's fun to see.

This brings up another issue: The fact that P99's modifications aren't open source. If the leaders decide to go postal some day, or start slacking with the backups and lose their code, it's just gone forever, and no one will be able to benefit from it, nor modify it in the future. That's a major bummer.

# ¿ May 4, 2017 13:48

Pilsner: Nov 23, 2002

Dirt posted:

If you want to solo a mage you literally only need one item. Torch of Alna.

You can chain pet fire pets solo until 49 really easily.

If you are around today post here and Ill login and give ya some plat to buy the parts for it. I don't really play anymore, but Im home today working on stuff so ill be around.

Just a little question: How do you chain cast pets using the Torch? Do you use a macro to "click" the Dismiss of the torch just before the next summon pet is cast, or is it just for the focus effect?

# ¿ May 30, 2017 22:24

Pilsner: Nov 23, 2002

Daaz posted:

As i Cosmo-Kramer through the second door

Laughed my rear end off at this.

Let me you guess, you held the move forward button down, heading for the door, while furiously spamming left mouse click to open the door, making you do that "pop" through as the door opens? :lol:

# ¿ Jul 21, 2017 12:21

Pilsner: Nov 23, 2002

Sankis posted:

Was it concurrent player count? That sounds about right for the era, I think. Each server had like 1500 on at peak.

I remember many servers peaked at over 3000 concurrent players before they started to hide the player count. Let's say 2000 average, and maybe 30 active regular servers, so I think around 50k players concurrent is pretty realistic around Kunark. However, they hid player numbers already in September, 2001, and it's pretty certain that EQ's subs went up after that.

Also, quote from Wikipedia:

quote:

While the exact statistics on EverQuest subscriptions are not public, computer games analyst Bruce Woodcock estimates, based on public sources such as press statements, that the game had 200,000 subscriptions in March 2000, one year after initial release, with an increase to more than 450,000 subscriptions by July 2003. However, the same analysis points at a sharp decline after mid-2005, back to 200,000 in May 2006

I have no doubt that the active population got slashed by at least 50% the day WoW launched. I remember several �berguilds that straight up switched to WoW.

# ¿ Aug 28, 2017 11:49

Pilsner: Nov 23, 2002

Sankis posted:

This stuff made Everquest one of my favorite MMOs to just walk around and explore. The other was Asheron's Call which did something similar.

While I love exploring in EQ these days, where my character is a feign-deathing power house, I always felt EQ discouraged exploring for most classes, since death was so brutal and harsh. Even as a Rogue back in the day, with Sneak/Hide, I stayed so much on the safe paths, because I know how weak I was if I was caught off guard, and even with Jboots or SoW, it was extremely dangerous to walk in unknown territory. Even at lvl 60, with raid gear, I could only barely solo a lvl 50 mob, and two at once? Run for the hills.

Looking back, I can't believe how few places I went in EQ while /playing 200 days over the span of 2 years, but I took revenge and have checked out almost every place in the past 8 years after re-joining.

# ¿ Sep 3, 2017 20:19

Pilsner: Nov 23, 2002

Justaddwater posted:

Got an Enchanter up to 12. I've forgotten how unforgiving this game could be.

Any suggestions for making PP? Really need to buy some gear (Should it be a mix of + hp/mana/cha or focus mostly on +CHA?). I've been hoarding CC belts up till now so that should at least pay for spells. Sisters in Lfay or Lightstones in Eruds?

Toon is Justaddwater.

Around lvl 15, you can fairly safely grind in EC and WC. Kill wisps for Greater Lightstones, hoard them, and turn them in by the bucketloads to the Dark Elf gypsy in South Ro (quest: https://wiki.project1999.com/Evil_Research) or another gypsy lady in NK (quest: https://wiki.project1999.com/Research_Aid), yielding approx. 10pp per stone and a little XP, and Dark Elf faction, which can be pretty handy. You will also find lots of CB belts, DF scalps and other stuff that is pretty decent newbie money.

In the high 10's / 20, you can go to OOT and farm gargoyles for their eyes, great cash.

But yeah as said, don't sweat plat farming so much at low levels, but I recommend the EC/WC grind until lvl 20, just because it's a nice, easy comfortable zone with lots of people, and you can get buffs and hand-outs from all the people at the tunnel mouth. It just feels so homely.

# ¿ Sep 20, 2017 14:09

Pilsner: Nov 23, 2002

FayGate posted:

Whichever one of you goonfuckers is the GL of Kittens Who Say Meow kindly quit poo poo talking me to literally every person you meet. Out of the three interactions I ever had with you the blood level of alcohol/benzos must have been so high that you promptly forgot about those conversations the following day in each instance. Wouldn't say that makes you a very good judge of character. Worthless junkie.

Hello https://www.project1999flames.com

# ¿ Sep 24, 2017 00:42

Pilsner: Nov 23, 2002

ekeog posted:

I'd play Project Project 1999, where P1999's timetable was meticulously recreated.

Hahaha.

Including replicating unintentional bugs throughout the past 5 years on P1999 that were not on Classic Live, but also the old Live bugs that were purposely replicated on P1999 as Classic bugs, and balancing it with the intentional non-Classic nerfs made for P1999.

# ¿ Sep 29, 2017 13:47

Pilsner: Nov 23, 2002

kzersatz posted:

Personally I dislike the original release schedule for live.

EQ -> 3mo wait for Kunark, promptly followed by less than a year later Velious was pooped out.

It always felt like Kunark was planned for the original release, but never ready, as it follows many of the same construction, design, and functional similarities as the OG release, but given a bit more polish.

Say what? EQ was released in March 1999, Kunark in April 2000, Velious in December 2000, Luclin December 2001, PoP in October 2001. There was over a year of true Classic until Kunark.

I don't really know if I agree that Kunark seems like it was supposed to be in Classic.... I'd say it's very different, in regards to a ton of things: Melee power, loot power, more raid targets, "easy" outdoor zones worth a drat leveling in, and so much more. Kunark was just a great thing.

# ¿ Sep 29, 2017 21:46

Pilsner: Nov 23, 2002

A Strange Aeon posted:

I never played at that high a level, but wouldn't it make more sense and be more in keeping with the spirit of the game to find a ranger buddy to do the tracking and pulling?

"In the spirit of the game"? Oh, such newbie words to speak. It would also be more in the spirit of the game not to have 24/7 batphones, trackers, ShowEQ and all that running to instantly kill contested raid targets, but alas...

# ¿ Nov 18, 2017 22:46

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# ¿ May 13, 2024 21:36

Pilsner: Nov 23, 2002

EVIL Gibson posted:

Also to always make sure you don't fail a FD due to you attacking, use a macro.

First line: /attack off
Second: /doability #

Last time I played, I found that macroing FD with other commands causes a slight delay before FD is executed, which didn't feel comfortable. I think the game does a roughly ~250ms pause between commands, whether you have actual /pause commands in there or not. Thus, I always used the raw FD button.

# ¿ Nov 20, 2018 09:51

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Video Games > The MMO HMO > Project 1999 & Emulated Everquest Servers: meet Project Quarm

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