Interesting ideas, but presumably you're not going to waste those hard earned tradable flags on level 46 new recruits either. Or really anything less than 65, because why waste if they don't seem committed to the server? But then in the time they spend leveling, why not just kill the normal versions that let you flag everyone 46+, alts and recruits? 12-24 tradable flags just doesn't seem enough for that effort if no new loot is involved. Maybe if it was a mechanism to permanently flag anyone with the guild tag. That'd be a big incentive to tackle once and be done the flags forever, then only need to kill lower tier bosses for funsies. Regardless, not really appropriate for TAKP. On the idea of things that don't belong on TAKP, having server produced DPS meters would be interesting for a time. The server should know how much damage was done to a mob from all sources (including nukes, DoTs, pets, AA pets, proc pets, etc), so having a function to list the top 10 damage players at mob death should be feasible. Probably would take player behavior in an undesirable direction, but as a limited time offering (one reset every 3 months?) I could see it bringing a lot of fun and engagement.
Server side parsing was heavily discussed in this thread. Would be a cool feature. https://www.takproject.net/forums/index.php?threads/very-modest-suggestion.11585/
The only way to truly know how many people would cheat, if given the chance, is to set up a PvP server. That will bring the cheaters out in swarms. I would bet that most of the trusted players who post here on a regular basis would be rolling up alts on the PvP server, and cheating their butts off. Many of the people here probably cheat on the Zek server, on live, but will never admit to it.
I've been part of this community for 15 years or so and I don't know anyone who would roll a toon on a PvP server, let alone cheat. Edit* I guess I do know a few scumbags, however "most of the trusted players" is a staggering and silly use of hyperbole.
I think you should spin up a server and test the theory. You can get all the files here: https://github.com/EQMacEmu
They can't stop the cheating on Zek server, even all these years later. If they can't stop it, I doubt anyone else can.
The first time it crashed, it would be offline for good, because I don't have the time, or the ability, to bug check everything to see where it went wrong. I leave that to people who know what they're doing. Also, if they can't stop the cheating on live, what makes you think I would be able to stop it? A few people might come for a few days, just to check it out, but would leave as soon as they saw how much cheating was going on. Zek is only for the hardcore cheaters, at this point, and any emulated PvP server would end up exactly like it.
