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Time Lock Server ?...No it's a Mega Server
delete5230
Member EpicPosts: 7,081
A few months back I decided to take the plunge back in time. Everquest 2 back to its roots. A second chance to play a classic.
Well this by far was not the case !......Several reasons, but I'll only cover the worst.
Mega Server.......Because of this alone, the game doesn't go back to its roots, false advertisement at it's best !
Disjointed community......They took a community based game and separated the community. Figure that one out, try and make sense of that !
Other false advertisements:
- They added new zones, granted the starting zones needed improvements, and all new added zones are extremely small and heavy instanced. They simply pasted them in as a cheap filler...... It's not locked in time.
- Cash Shop is still their. Sure you can sub and SOMEWHAT ignore it.......It's not locked in time.
Daybreak games ( SOE under a new skin ). Is pulling the same crap they always pulled. Change a few things and call it a new game. Add an expansion and call it a new game..............I liked EQ2 back in its time, but the marketing was always shady !
Comments
Good example,
I was around level 8. There was a small instanced cave. I went in and found a few bandit's around a table. I agroed them and got killed almost instantly.
I Youtubed the event, and found others doing this with several others.....Simple right ?
Well, I logged back in and waited for others. Understand in my Mega server realm their were only around six players spread out total it seemed. I had a choice of like 5 copies of the Megaserver, I went to each and couldn't find one with a few players to complete this mission, I had to drop it and move on............This is Mega server technology !!
Never forget 3 mile Island and never trust a government official or company spokesman.
Some more good points Wiz,
Why is it soooooooo hard to find JUST one good mmo that isn't tainted with corruption ?
It would actually be better if all of EQ2, minus the TLE, were to be on a megaserver, but it isn't. Multiple channels =/= megaserver.
As a separate aside, if you want to find something "evil" or "corrupted".... odds are you'll find it even if it's not really there.
I would guess that is the main cause as to why things change with so called "classic" re-boots. If there is simply no way to get the old crap to work with the new crap, and if you can not get the game to play nice with new hardware and new code you either have to call it a day (and have a angry mob howl at you.but no money coming in...) or you change enough to get it to work but little enough that your claim still holds some water. (and have a angry mob howl at you but at least see some return on the investment)
No if you had the responsibility of a company, and by extension more than a few peoples livelihood... Would you take option A or option B. (personally i´d go with option C and tell the people that they will not get a "classic" server at all... But that is just me)
as for "tainted" with "corruption"... I see we have a graduate from the Shattner school of dramatic acting.... Just make sure you do not rupture anything applying that much pressure.
This have been a good conversation
I mean going in to them and expecting everything to be reset to 0 is extremely naive.
Mega Server: This one is easy to see the reasoning. They expected to have the same issues that arose in EverQuest with areas being extremely bottlenecked with all areas so packed to finish quests that quest mobs would be overwhelmed. (Granted for EverQuest, this was camps/mobs being overwhelmed and the arrival of the dreaded boxed mage armies.) Easiest solution? You guessed it, instancing.
Disjoined Community: This isn't exactly true. When I got to play on the progression server for a few months, I happened to see quite a few guilds and random people who were more than happy to help others. But there were a lot of trolls on the server. Trolls have been way more prevalent thanks to the influx of population from the newer MMO's.
Starter Zones: Granted this system worked better for EverQuest more so than Everquest 2 for the simple fact that they could easily lock the new starting locations (Gloomingdeep Mines and Cresent Reach) until the needed expansion is unlocked since the original starting areas were standard zones.
Oh yeah, as for the cave you were talking about. I am guessing that was the instance for the last quest on the Isle of Refuge. Because of the fast leveling or people just starting there to get a few levels before leaving the other zones so hardly anyone would do that quest. I done it myself solo, but had to be a couple levels higher than required. Best thing to remember is that everyone just wants off the island and out of the starter areas ASAP.
Also, if you remember, these servers share the same information with the live servers when dealing with zone info, items, npcs info, etc. which means what affects one server affects all servers when change happens. If you remember, they were originally going to just re-itemize the original city zones, but scraped that idea for the newly remodeled cities we have now. Which meant they had to add two new starting areas that would be itemized closer to how Gorowyn and Greater Faydark are. Enter New Halas and Darklight Woods. Since changing a major part of the code to allow Freeport and Qeynos to be starting cities again would change it for all servers (not exactly a bad thing, I can go on all day about certain zones remodels, namely Freeport in EverQuest) they can't close off the newer starting areas except for Gorowyn and Greater Faydark as those were not on the main islands from the original content. I know New Halas wasn't either, but they had to keep a balace between good and evil starter zones. (Which is also why they remade the original refuge island.)
Cash Shop: Other than subscriptions, they have to make their money somehow. Do I enjoy it? Not really, but I don't care it's there since it doesn't sell everything (If i remember right) as the live server cash shops do. Potions, Services, Bags, House, and Appearance items aren't that evil. I think they had armors and harvests there, can't remember. Still not bad as I am happy to go out and harvest items and I enjoy getting my own gear. The game is what you make of it.
It is something similar to what the older members of the population have been wanting/demanding/screaming for for some time. A chance to, as a group, relive older content without the newer content open until they want it there. Granted most of us have been wanting an actual recoded classic server or a standard server locked at a certain expansion point. It's still a shot at it. As a matter of fact, I am happily reliving my days through my first MMO, EverQuest, on the Phinny progression server. Although I didn't start until right after Velious came out, I'm having a blast. Do I realize it isn't a nostalgia trip back to my original glory days? Yup. It is still a chance though for me to make my way through content I never got a chance to experience. Naggy, Vox, Phinny, Inny, and PoSky in classic. Temple of Veeshan in Kunark. And PoGrowth and PoMischief (The original zone) in Velious. Only gripe I have about Phinny is the fact that a new expansion unlocks every 12 weeks without any requirements and with my work schedule I usually get to only play on my off days.
MMO's change, there is no denying it. They can't just gut them and give us back the original like we want because of how they are coded (We know this for fact from EverQuest as Ragefire kept crashing during the first few days from them removing the Gloomingdeep Mines Lantern from our inventory so they had to keep it in the game), and the man power and resources it would take for them to do it since some things like zones, abilities, and mobs would have to be recreated from scratch as they don't have an original save file of the code on hand.
I along with a lot of people would love to go back to the very beginning again, but know that unless a miracle happens we won't get that.
So no, personally I don't view this as a cash grab or gimmick. I see this as a chance to let us go back through the game content with everyone else who wants to and have fun doing it.
Currently playing EverQuest 2
And then on to visit old Freeport with the old graphics and theme music.
Guess that is still gone?
"going into arguments with idiots is a lost cause, it requires you to stoop down to their level and you can't win"
Megaserver involves other servers too like what they use in GW 2 where you might be on one server which has a name but you can still play with people from other servers with different names. Here there is only one progression server that has the same rules like PvE or PvP and they are not playing with each other at all nor are they playing with people from the live servers. So mega server is not the correct term at all.
I found going back to Everquest 2 a great treat and I am grateful to having the chance to play on the progression server and also understand the limitations this project had as they also have the current code that affect all the other live servers to deal with. I am quite certain they do not have enough people to actually take on many of the tasks that involved in the conflicting codes. Every time they tried to change things like removing the loot that did not apply to the progression server as it involved a later expansion it caused a conflict on the other live servers. Perhaps they could have done a better job but in my opinion since they are giving me what I wanted a chance to relive Everquest 2 again albeit not quite like I remembered it I say ''beggars cannot be choosers''.
They are doing the best they can with what resources they have and yes they need to make money too. I am very grateful that they made this progression server in spite of it not being like I remembered it playing in November of 2004 I am very happy to be part of the game for awhile.
...................................lol@DBG
And with all this. All thissss !. Well written by the way
It's still a Mega server taking players out of their element, and the game is way off its mark of what people were hoping for a classic version of Everquest 2.
Thousands of people assumed Time Lock Server meant a classic version. With this assumption, thousands flocked to this part of mmorpg.com. Thousands of people flocked to Daybreak games, and a lot of people passed thought the game again.....Most short lived, and most likely the only ones that embraced it were the current diehards of the game.
TLS = classic ?.....No, not really......And don't assume anything in life.
Also it is not true they represented that it was classic in fact before they launched the server they were very clear about the rules and what they could bring back and they allowed voting on it including the cash shop vitality potions. They never said they were going back to launch at all in fact they clearly said it was not possible.
If you followed the discussion when they idea was pitched they were not even going to bring back the starter island. One man was responsible for recovering the code to enable that miracle to happen and even then some conflicts were not avoidable and some quests had to be removed. Also when you played in 2004 everyone had a archetype class till 10 then you had a subclass at 10 I think and at level 19-20 you choose your final class. Many classes were also restricted by alignment on launch, all this has been changed over the years and the TPS is current with all the changes. So I do not understand where you got the idea that this Time Locked Progression server was classic. If anything it was clearly understood it was not.
I believe EQ2 was the first game to use multiple instances of zones
If you are going to sit and nitpick how the game isnt exactly as it was in 2004 (when it was never advertised it would be anyway) at least have an idea of how the game was in 2004
The game was most popular around KoS and EoF, maybe RoK. Most of the changes to the core game were long in place by then (and a large reason the game was more popular)
The game is not as it was originally.
1) Crafting is not interdependant
2) Combat is not the same
3) Leveling is way too fast
4) XP Pots should not be there
This is basically EQ2 with less content, nothing to do with the classic one.
2. I really dont remember, I thought it has always been a GCD based game with severe ability bloat. I don;t remember combat being a strength at launch.
3. Yes. This is true in every single MMORPG today sadly
4. I don't see why ANYONE would care about this. Its so unbelievably irrelevant.
The amount of people that wanted classic EQ2 is tiny. Why would SoE/DBG recreate an experience that had a colossal exodus within the first three months? Hey, remember that time I jumped on a bicycle with no seat? Yeah, that hurt. Lets do it again!
Very profound statement !
" This is basically EQ2 with less content, nothing to do with the classic "
Which - as others have said - isn't what the term "megaserver" means today.
And back in 2004 it was "SoE's hope". Would things have been different if they had tied the game to EQ1? One sub for both at launch, a link between the two - import a character through a portal say. Ideas like these were suggested on forums back then with the worry being that many would not abandon (the effort they had put into EQ1 and the guilds that had been created.
1. I didn't experience the original but from all descriptions: good riddance
2. I think I would have liked to experience the original "pick a base class, then choose advanced class at a trainer at level x". I miss having all my stats actually mattering, like in EQ. The ridiculously over-bloated list of abilities is something I could have done without; that never changed.
As for visiting the old neighborhoods in FP (and Qeynos for that matter), they're still "gone" in terms of normal areas you can visit (I miss those places, too). However, you apparently get sent into them for quests at certain points. So you do get to go back, just not as a regular world area. I wish they would reimplement them again. Not sure why they haven't. There was always plenty of content in those areas for a lower/newer level character.