Also would a non boxer be able to manager here? What is the actual player population during peaks hours?
Leveling up is going to be difficult for most melee based classes without at least dragging a long a support box in the form of a healer. If you plan on playing a class that has some decent solo ability it’s rather easy especially considering how easy it is to get high level buffs in PoK before heading out to exp. There’s always people leveling up so if the timing is right and play times match up sure it’s possible to find someone to group with in a regular basis. I recently came back from a 3 year hiatus and wanted to run a rogue as my main. I’m not lvl 60 yet but rarely ever box. I do have a level 60 shaman for doing easier stuff if need be. I can’t speak for all guilds but for me. Once I hit the 50s it’s fairly easy to find groups in guild. I tend to get groups that have no one three boxing a lot (or sometimes people will bring characters along and keep them out of group for buffs / extra dps or heals). as for real population it’s tough to know how many of the logged on displayed are boxes characters. Also idk if that count includes traders? What I do know is that this server is unlike any other in terms of generosity and people willing to help a stranger out. People regularly give out gear / money to new people to help them get rolling along. No one ever asks for donations to cast buffs or ports etc. People regularly call out no drop loot that might be rotting somewhere. People will generally go out of their way to help you. Especially if you’re new to the server and actively chat in alliance. Once you’ve made some friends. Need help with an epic mob? People will probably help you out no problem as most of them can be handled by a single group. it’s really a cool place. If you’re on the fence you got nothing to lose but some HD space installing the game
I am on the fence as I am currently on p99 but i feel it is limiting. I want a server taht will have more xpacs
I can say for certain that most everyone here is super friendly. It's interesting, having played games like World of Warcraft etc, there is a different "feel" about an EverQuest based community. Games like WoW tend to punish friendship and promote elitism because the stronger you are the more impact you have on your "faction." Here, it's a bit different. No one cares if you're a troll or a gnome. No one cares if you're super great or not. Everyone just has the same goal: Just have fun. I think Pane summed it up best though, it will be challenging if you're not going to box any other toons. It was something that I also struggled with when I came here. But most trios are super happy to merge with other trios or bring on another DPS. I know I am always happy to have someone else join because I personally hate pulling, kiting and swapping between ALL my toons if I don't have to. So, a single boxed player is always a welcomed commodity because they can help with pulling lol.
As a P99 refugee I'd say go for it. I was also an anti-boxer but now I'm here I run three characters and I love it more than single box now. The community here is excellent and it's one of the more positive EQ experiences I've had, certainly better than the average in-game P99 experience (and way better than the overall community attitude). People don't monopolise camps as much, people buff and donate, people are generous with their time. Give two-boxing a try at least and I think you'll enjoy it.
When my wife and I started here we each played just one character since we were a duo, but later on regretted that decision. We would prefer to single box, and do with our kids when they want to play, but if we were to start over we would at least have each boxed 2 characters. That being said, if you want to single box there are certainly the usual solo options; necromancer, druid, wizard, shaman, etc. Any of the solo options still offer a good chance to group up IF (!) there is someone in your level range to group with at any given time. Soloing to 40ish with buffs from PoK isn't bad at all. Once you hit 40, others who box will invite you to their groups for the fun of meeting someone new (and the group XP bonus), and getting into the 50s and to 60 isn't too bad at that point. Server population here is low. I look at the number of players logged in when I hit the forums, and its usually (when I check) around 150-180, with Bazaar traders tallied separately in the stats. I would say its pretty fair to take the server population and divide it by 3 at any given time, yielding about 50-60 real players typically playing 3 characters. Typically in my travels I rarely see anyone playing single in any given zones outside of PoK or the Bazaar; most who are getting xp or AAs, or simply farming gear, are playing 3 in any given zone. Admittedly what I am saying is anecdotal, but my guess is that I'm not too far off. I have seen a few more 2 boxers recently, however sometimes those seem to be doing so simply to camp a specific item for a quest from a green con mob where the 3rd box isn't needed or already has the item. Maybe on Friday and Saturday nights when server population in terms of characters logged in (not traders in the Bazaar, which are counted separately) hits 200-240ish. Staff could almost certainly provide average and median server population numbers that would give us a better idea month-to-month and year-to-year how many characters are logged in on average, and those numbers generally divided by 3 would obviously be more accurate in terms of how many actual people are playing, over and above how many characters are part of a box crew, than my spitballing.
Actually I assumed that Bazaar traders are not included in the "Total Players Online" stats, since they seem to be counted separately in the Server Status sidebar. However, I admit that assumption may well be wrong.
There are five active raiding guilds here at the moment. One raids Euro times, one raids a mix of Euro and US, and the other three raid US. The peak number of actual people playing the game probably happens in a US evening when four guilds happen to all be raiding at once. Those four guilds probably field 25-35ish people (more toons, obviously) on typical raids, so I'd guess 100-140ish people at peak. Plus another, idk, 20-30ish unguilded people leveling up, grouping, etc.? It's rare that four guilds raid at the same time, though. At a wild guess, I'd say a good US weeknight probably has more like 60-80 people playing at once.
https://unixgeek.com/eqemu.html I believe total players server count includes bazaar traders. It's like: 160 total players online, of which 60 are bazaar traders.
Nice link, Rimi! A bit off topic, but if anyone's familiar with all those servers, I'd be interested to know how they compare in terms of server age, box limit, the era they're currently in, and the era they'll eventually hit. Off the top of my head... P99 blue: ~10 years old, 1 box limit, in Velious now and forever P99 green: ~1 year old, 1 box limit, in classic now, eventually will hit Velious TAKP: ~5 years old, 3 box limit, in Luclin now, eventually will hit PoP Wayfarer's Haven: this is P2002 rebranded, right? ~3 or 4 years old, 3 box limit, in LoY now, eventually will hit ??? ProjectEQ: ~4 years old?, ?? box limit, in OoW now and forever?? The Hidden Forest: ~3 yeas old?, 24 box limit?, eras are fuzzy due to lots of custom zones? EQ Reborn: ?? years old, 2 box limit, in Velious now and forever?
This may help Pithy: http://www.eqemulator.org/index.php?pageid=serverlist click on the [View] links for more info has a link to the server website, which has info on server mechanics/rules etc I don't think ProjectEQ has a boxing limit, and they allow MacroQuest2. As per the MQ2 guides on their forums, and this guy's post: http://www.projecteq.net/forums/index.php?threads/boxing-experience.16857/#post-80035 "I played solo for awhile before I added boxes. I play 24 characters, and have a trader and a tracker. Some players have 54 (maybe more?). The number you run is up to you."
PEQ has no box limit, and most people on there box enough toons to raid the fun stuff (through OoW). MQ2 is used for buff and heal management, because it's simply not feasible to alt+tab or HotKeyNet and autofollow 23 toons on your main tank, or run a CH chain by yourself and also dps a raid mob. I'd say PEQ probably has a similar population to us of real people, but I haven't logged on in several years.
I think whats stopping a lot of players from switching over is because of their investment into their char(s)/server. we also have more rules i believe. Which is nice because eqemu is a poopshow. Devs on other servers dgaf. We have wonderful devs. 24 box tho? jesus. Would take me 2 hours to get them all on autofollow and another 3 hours to get them to a zone
I'm sure no mouse wheel keeps the majority of people away, or make them leave after 2 hours of play time.
They intend on adding more expansions but the population (essentially one raiding guild) leads me to believe they arent going any further. Its a shame, the classic world runs great on RoF2 and the qol features are subtle but amazing.
My brother has been solo playing about 2 months after a 15+ year hiatus. He's a 44sk right now and says its more often he can find a group than not. If he cant find a group, he can usually get enough MGBs to solo decently. That said, I 2box and have been encouraging him to do the same so we can get that sweet 4man xp bonus.
