Recently, the team over at SOE's EverQuest announced that they would be adding a new server type in the form of a 51/50 server. EQ's Senior Game Designer Ryan Barker answered our questions about this new server and other alternate ruleset servers.

MMORPG.com:

Recently, it was announced that EverQuest would be implementing something called a 50 / 51 server. Can you tell us what that’s all about?

Ryan Barker:

The 51/50 server is a server where players start at level 51 with 55 AA points available immediately upon creating their characters. Each character will also start with a level appropriate gear set and all of the spells available for those levels.

Read the Server Type Interview

SoE is the most entertaining company in the business. And I'm not talking about its games. 

hmmm may have to dig around for my old EQ account info and resub and give that server a try.

The people at SOE really are completely clueless.  They never did understand what made people love EQ.  It's the same thing that makes people long for a "classic" server.  The number one thing that hooked people, that kept them coming back, was the pick-up-group play in well populated zones.  When you could just log in, show up in a zone, see a number of groups looking for more people, hook up with a group and have fun.

SOE completely destroyed that type of play over the years and never even understood what they were doing.  What they were doing, of course, was driving away the vast majority of their player base.

Even now they could still regain a good portion of those players but they still don't understand what happened or why people left.  And they won't even consider making a classic server because they think that people just want one for nostalgia and so would only play it for a short time and then, having had their walk down memory lane, they would leave again.  They are so clueless.  Nostalgia is a part of the longing for a classic server but what people really want is to have back the old grouping game of EQ that they loved so much during the leveling up process of the old days.

I bet if they relaunched vanilla EQ as a separate game and focused on keeping the grouping game alive instead of killing it off in favor of raiding they would not only get back a lot of their old customers but they might even see a resurgence in the popularity of EQ and draw in a whole new generation of new customers.  But they never did understand what most people liked about their game so I don't expect them to figure it out now. 

Oh well. Looks like the easy mode crowd wins again.

I just don't get starting at level 51.  But then again I like to earn what I get.

Heres to the I want it now, don't want to work for anything, and my mother told me I was special generation.

*** Shakes head and walks away

Originally posted by kb4blu

Oh well. Looks like the easy mode crowd wins again.

I just don't get starting at level 51.  But then again I like to earn what I get.

Heres to the I want it now, don't want to work for anything, and my mother told me I was special generation.

*** Shakes head and walks away

 

Welcome to the next generation.  I never though I would say it but "DAM THEM KIDS".    I am only 26 but I am glad I was rasied as well as I was.  I was taught that nothing is free in life and you had to earn everything you got.  It made me a better person.

I am scared to see what happens when this new generation hits the work force and has to do some real work to earn a living.

so they made their poll after u had to login as a subscribed customer?..surely just soe-fanboys voted...and they voted a f*** up ruleset similar to their current gameplay since they are still subscribed

xcuse me soe, how dumb are you? shiploads of customers are out there waiting for classic but how on earth could they be heard without being able to vote ???????????????????????

congratz, u fail, no money for you.

Hmm I've very tempted to resub to EQ1, may even try to talk my boys into it aswell =) be nice to get back into the old game again.

Originally posted by mitic

so they made their poll after u had to login as a subscribed customer?..surely just soe-fanboys voted...and they voted a f*** up ruleset similar to their current gameplay since they are still subscribed

xcuse me soe, how dumb are you? shiploads of customers are out there waiting for classic but how on earth could they be heard without being able to vote ???????????????????????

congratz, u fail, no money for you.

I agree with you.  I resubbed last week and been waiting to hear which server won because my roommate and I wanted to play EQ again.  So we will just start on a random server.  Would love a classic server which is what I voted for.

Originally posted by Neanderthal

The number one thing that hooked people, that kept them coming back, was the pick-up-group play in well populated zones.  When you could just log in, show up in a zone, see a number of groups looking for more people, hook up with a group and have fun.

SOE completely destroyed that type of play over the years and never even understood what they were doing.  What they were doing, of course, was driving away the vast majority of their player base.

Great post. That is exactly why Combine was so much fun: going through old zones, which were full of people, finding PuG's to do the old content. And you just can't replicate that experience doing progression on a regular server, or even EQMac. Its a real shame that we probably won't get to do it again, especially because MMO's are so stale right now. I've tried all of the newer games, and would rather play Progression than any of them.

 I'll tell you what drove EQ players away,  TIME.

It's been around 10 years, it's old and who's going to stick around THAT long playing one game.   

Even at it's peak everquest only had like 450 thousand subs,   that's nothing in today's market.

Soe only made the poll available to paying EQ customers, and then only put it on the game, not on their website.

The reason progression didn't win is because all the people who want to play progression aren't currently playing.

Of course if i have a 80 w/ 1000aa's or whatever is good now adays, im not gonna want a progression server, im going to want a server to try out alts, which is exactly what they got.

I've been excited for a progression server since january, guess its back to wow. And I'm sure I'm not the only one saying that.

Originally posted by kb4blu

Oh well. Looks like the easy mode crowd wins again.

I just don't get starting at level 51.  But then again I like to earn what I get.

Heres to the I want it now, don't want to work for anything, and my mother told me I was special generation.

*** Shakes head and walks away

 

 Ya know, I am old school MMO player and avid gamer. I played EQ when it first came out and loved it. But those type of comments just isolate old school MMO players into an "us vs them" mentality. It makes old school players look like grumpy old men. Ya know, the ones who sit on the porch and say things like "those damn whipper snappers are ruining everything". It just comes off to others as grumpy, condescending, bitter and resistant to change. Let the companies know what kinda game you want in an intelligent manner instead of just blaming everything on the newer MMO players as it get's us nowhere.

If I don't like a certain type of music or band, I don't listen to it. Nor do I blame it on "the new generation". Everyone has different tastes, nothing makes your or my preference more valid then someone elses. I don't talk down to other people who prefer a different style of game. We all love the same hobby here whether your hardcore, casual, veteran, new comer, "carebear" and etc. Things change/evolve and so has MMO gaming. Some things have changed for the better and some things, not so much. So I'm not going to blame everything on the "mommy told me I was special" generation when something isn't made the way I want it to be.

The bigger the MMO market is, the better chance we will get a classic hardcore style MMO. If the market gets so small, no one is going to take a chance on a sandbox or hardcore MMO. They will only stick with what is considered safe.  So when we shun every MMO/company that is trying new things that may expand the market we are shooting ourselves in the foot by blaming it on the newer MMO players IMHO. Obviously there is a market for both types of MMOs.

Originally posted by dippitydodah

 I'll tell you what drove EQ players away,  TIME.

 

It's been around 10 years, it's old and who's going to stick around THAT long playing one game.   

 

Even at it's peak everquest only had like 450 thousand subs,   that's nothing in today's market.

450k subs is still something in this market considering that is more then so many other MMOs have. For example, AoC and WAR, EQ2, LOTRO and etc.

Of course, compared to WoW worldwide numbers it seems miniscule but that is still more then enough to make a profit, cover infastructure costs and continue to develop the game.

As usual SOE goes for the "I want it now" players.  And as usual they did not do their research to find out that that type of crowd never sticks around long.  The server will be dead in 6 months.  John Smedley strikes again.  How can a CEO be so clueless?

Originally posted by dscar23

Soe only made the poll available to paying EQ customers, and then only put it on the game, not on their website.

The reason progression didn't win is because all the people who want to play progression aren't currently playing.

Of course if i have a 80 w/ 1000aa's or whatever is good now adays, im not gonna want a progression server, im going to want a server to try out alts, which is exactly what they got.

I've been excited for a progression server since january, guess its back to wow. And I'm sure I'm not the only one saying that.

Yeah, I went to the EQ forum and read a thread discussing why people voted for 51/50.  All current subscribers of course.  The two main reasons that kept coming up were:

1.  To test run different classes

2.  So that people on the existing servers wouldn't leave to play on the new server and drain raid guilds of active members.

I can understand why existing players would feel that way but what good does it do for SOE?  It isn't going to help much to retain existing players because for them it's just an alt test bed and it is going to bring in damn few new or ex-players.

Also, to comment on the thing about EQ's subscriber base at it's height, if you look at it as a percentage of the existing market share of the day it is a lot more impressive.  There are a lot more people playing mmorpgs now than there were then so those numbers don't seem as impressive.  But in it's glory days EQ was the WOW of it's time.

Originally posted by Stikato

Originally posted by Neanderthal

The number one thing that hooked people, that kept them coming back, was the pick-up-group play in well populated zones.  When you could just log in, show up in a zone, see a number of groups looking for more people, hook up with a group and have fun.

SOE completely destroyed that type of play over the years and never even understood what they were doing.  What they were doing, of course, was driving away the vast majority of their player base.

 

Great post. That is exactly why Combine was so much fun: going through old zones, which were full of people, finding PuG's to do the old content. And you just can't replicate that experience doing progression on a regular server, or even EQMac. Its a real shame that we probably won't get to do it again, especially because MMO's are so stale right now. I've tried all of the newer games, and would rather play Progression than any of them.

Yes, because watching two guilds run ramshod straight through content and open things months before anyone actually wanted it, that was great fun.  How long did Combine last? It went through how many expansions in that time? That's not what most people who played progression wanted.  I'm one of them. I left after Velious opened up because I realized it was just going to be the same crap over and over again.

Originally posted by punkbrad7

Originally posted by Stikato

Originally posted by Neanderthal

The number one thing that hooked people, that kept them coming back, was the pick-up-group play in well populated zones.  When you could just log in, show up in a zone, see a number of groups looking for more people, hook up with a group and have fun.

SOE completely destroyed that type of play over the years and never even understood what they were doing.  What they were doing, of course, was driving away the vast majority of their player base.

 

Great post. That is exactly why Combine was so much fun: going through old zones, which were full of people, finding PuG's to do the old content. And you just can't replicate that experience doing progression on a regular server, or even EQMac. Its a real shame that we probably won't get to do it again, especially because MMO's are so stale right now. I've tried all of the newer games, and would rather play Progression than any of them.

 

Yes, because watching two guilds run ramshod straight through content and open things months before anyone actually wanted it, that was great fun.  How long did Combine last? It went through how many expansions in that time? That's not what most people who played progression wanted.  I'm one of them. I left after Velious opened up because I realized it was just going to be the same crap over and over again.

Yeah, you're right. Progression wasn't perfect. It was still the most fun I have had playing MMO's in the last 5 years.

Combine lasted around 2.5 years, and all expansions were beaten. It may have happened too fast, but I would still rather do the same thing again than play on a 51/50 server.

Never played the original EQ.

I might actually give it a try now.

Originally posted by ionlyneedit

SoE is the most entertaining company in the business. And I'm not talking about its games. 

Have you heard of Aventurine?