Yet to get on to the server as I am away from home for a couple weeks. Was wondering what the population is like at the moment? Am hoping to roll a paladin or sk and not box. Will also roll a mage for soloing. Noticed a lot of people struggling to get up and running though, hope I don't have any problems with it. Are there plenty of people/groups in the newbie zones?
Population seems pretty good. Given the type of people playing here, it seems like there's a marked tendency towards zeroing in on the really good XP spots (CB, Befallen, Highkeep, Unrest, sola) and zones like Oasis are empty. I grouped almost exclusively from 8 the low 30s. From what I've seen, even if people are running a duo or trio they generally welcome additional players. You should give it a shot. I should note also that I left behind my cleric at 12 and I'm now 37 on the mage (mostly from grouping). You can definitely single box. I had a nice duo earlier this evening with another single-box player. It can certainly work. As far as getting up and running, I've been quite stable since I did two things: stop boxing, and forward all my ports. I don't know if either or both are coincidental. If you need help getting a client set up, ask around and you will likely receive info via PM or some other means. Tovok
Its been very stable for me the past couple of days. I 3 box and would usually lose a box when zoning previously. I think I've had one LD from zoning in the past couple of days. So, they are definitely making good progress. Every day I get more hopeful for this server.
200 was our max at one time....but more people are joining daily and the server is active all times of the day!
That's good news. I expect the population will probably take time to grow. Would be great to get up to p99 sort of numbers!
The blue server for p99 peaks is around 1400, and most of that is individuals since they don't allow boxing (some people still get around it). I would venture to say they have around 1250 or so individual players.... basically no way we are getting that high anytime soon but anything is possible (plus eqmac wasn't even close to that). P99 has also been around for many years and has been a very stable server, I remember playing back when the server pop was pretty low and it has slowly grown over the years. One thing I notice though is very few people on p99 seem to know about the alkabor project. Just in casual discussion with people I have mentioned it probably 10 times in the past 2 weeks, and 4 of the people I mentioned it to seemed really interested in checking it out. Also I'd imagine more people will join the later on in the progression we get.
I have played a bit on p99. It is good however I think this server I will enjoy more. Lots of zones from luclin I love and grouping in pop was alot of fun on live. I've heard a few people complaining about dieing too easily to lvl 1 and two mobs. Someone said he died 20 times and he had only reached lvl two! Is there any truth to this? Other people seem to be doing fine from what I read on these forums
Its probably true. Honestly though, its pretty close to what I remember when I started out on EQMac. I think a lot of people are too used to the plethora of emu's out there these days and that they're probably all tuned slightly differently.
The issue could be a lot of things. But I think the biggest cause is just how rng the first few levels are. Bad rng strings = certain death. I'm also very excited for this server, I think the idea of having AA is so much more appealing to getting max level and then that's it. The population seems very solid for only being "open" for 8 days. I think this one will shine.
I do think mobs hit a bit harder, but pet classes are also overpowered. As far as dying 20 times by lvl 2.....I will kindly say, if you are one of those people, might want to reroll a different class. Melee's are very hard to start out with, but that is true on almost any server you play. Melees suffer more from lack of gear than casters do, and right now there just isn't much gear.
Mobs tend to hit for max damage way too often at low levels (not high enough to verify if its the same later levels) and I tend to hit for 1 and 2s far too often. When my 1hs skill is capped at level 5 for example when im fighting a level 3 mob, i should be hitting around 10-11 dmg a swing (the majority of swings) with a 5 dmg weapon but instead im just hitting for mainly 1, 2, 3 dmg if im lucky a 7-10 dmg. Im told that they are always tuning it and will continue till its perfect. I hope they do because it makes it really hard to solo as a caster when you get killed in 1-2 hits and barely survive an encounter. Melee have it even worse.
One thing I've noticed in steamfont is the lack of level one mobs. There seem to be far too few skellys and kobold runts to kill at lvl 1 in the area to the left of the city near the kobold camps/ druid rings.
NPC max hits and attack delays are precise for every level 25 and under NPC in the game. (save for perhaps some extreme outliers) Over level 25, max hits are mostly pretty close, but I lack logs for certain NPCs like guards and named mobs in dungeons. Those hit harder than they should currently. The Steamfont roambox in the left area lacking level 1s I noticed on my gnome and I put it on the list of things to do. The right area seemed to have more. I suggest people use the book to level in butcherblock for the plat drops.
I currently play on P99 and its a blast, wonderful! I'd gladly hop ship if my friends (whom played on AK) weren't so in love with not boxing, and i could get my mac to go into windowed mode. For being as young as the server is right now, its going to be difficult to get anyone to log on and join.
