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Massive Everquest Server Merger
EvilBastard writes "Sony Online Entertainment has announced the next round of server consolidation, where 36 Everquest Servers will be merged over the next 6 weeks, with 18 servers vanishing for good. Servers to vanish include Veeshan, Karana and Mithaniel Marr. Where two servers merge, the server with the highest population keeps it's name, however some characters will have the option to add their server as their in game title. This is the third server merge that Sony has performed, after the earlier combination of the 4 PVP servers and an earlier proof-of-concept merger."
This is obviously because of dwindling player numbers as players move on to newer games (such as EQ2). Eventually, of course, they'll have one sparsely-populated server, but what happens after that? Will they eventually drop the game entirely, ala Phantasy Star Online, will there eventually be a future where the single EQ server is free to play on (as the maintenance overhead all but disappears), or will something else happen?
What we're seeing here is what will probably be the natural death cycle of all currently popular MMORPGs (as opposed to the artificial death of DC PSO due to the death of the DC). This is going to be worth watching whether you play EQ or not.
the beginning of the end. Not that I actually like the game mind you (Id rather play jezzball), but MMORPGs took their que from this beast. May it rest in pieces.
"When life gives you lemons, don't make lemonade. Make life take the lemons back!" -- Cave Johnson
I'm sure EQ will continue on, but it certainly wasn't like it used to be.
I played it up until the "Planes of Power" being my last expansion I bought...but I really miss the "good old days" back before Luclin.
Yes, I liked it when it was a pain in the ass to get a port out of West Commonlands after auctioning in East Commonlands tunnel. I liked that the world seemed so much bigger. That if you Started in Qeynos or Halas it felt like a million miles aways since you had to run all the way to the Karanas to get a port (or head to Toxxulia). I liked that you had to take a boat and everything else.
You see, it seemed to be a PLACE. When you were in Kelethin you actually felt you were somewhere because pockets of people were there and in other cities because it wasn't so easy to get around. The cities were busy because people were coming and going to the bank etc etc. Now, Qeynos is all but dead...Freeport is a ghost-town...Neriak which used to be such a beautiful city, is empty.
Everyone just binds up at the Plane of Knowledge now and gets a port to whatever zone they need to go and and grind grind grind. The thrill is certainly gone.
Well, that's just me. I haven't played in a long time.
"Leo Fender was in a 'state of grace' when he designed the Stratocaster." -- Paul Reed Smith
It's also been interesting to watch as a marketing exercise from SoE. As WoW, EQ2, etc. all spawned there wasn't much of a hiccup in the game, things just moved on - despite the game having radically changed from its roots. Take note builders of level oriented MMORPGS; As your characters get older, they will get bored, you can keep throwing new levels, larger Monsters, etc. but in the end if your model is "level up and pay the monthly fee" - its a short ride. Enjoy my cash SoE. Bring on GuildWars!
i would love it if they released a singleplayer version of the game for the rest of us to enjoy :) with perhaps limited lan capabilites for those that want it. i would love to explore all of EQ by myself :)
sigs suck
EQ1 isn't dead, but it has taken a heavy hit. The mergers were going to happen... just as one day they will happen to the current round of MMORPG's. I left for WoW for a month or two but found the game just as tedious (if not to me a hair more). So I just went back to Everquest. EQ1 has become a graphical chatroom to a lot of people in a lot of ways. Those ties after all these years are hard to break. I don't expect EQ1 will die off anytime soon. Alot of the more casual gamers are holding onto it for as long as they can.
"why don't you just slip into something more comfortable...like a coma!"
Is this a potentially a harbinger of things to come for SWG's underpopulated servers?
They didn't even offer a free month during their 6th anniversary this year, unlike the previous 3 years. Along with EQ2, this is just another sign that they don't have faith in their own game anymore.
So when will they stop being dicks about releasing unpatched, old-school server/rules...
Previous competitor MMORPG releases have only made EQ's populations dip mildly each time. But the Oct/Nov 2004 releases of EQ2 and World of Warcraft is the first time EQ has suffered a massive sudden decline. I estimate EQ lost two thirds of its players based on the player count in populous zones like Bazaar and Plane of Knowledge on my server. Players haven't been allowed to see the actual server population numbers for a long time now.
The good news is the population hasn't fallen a lot since that time. EQ isn't dead, just reduced.
Fast-forward to 2008: Sony announces EQ2 for the Macintosh and begins to consolidate EQ2 PC servers.
Hell, Sony ignores Mac users so utterly that even the damn web site brings Safari to its knees, LOL.
Maybe they could sell the 18 extra server clusters to Blizzard; they could certianly use them. =/
Please consider making an automatic monthly recurring donation to the EFF
In a game like this, what the players say/think they want, and what they players actually will enjoy or what will keep them playing, are generally not the same thing.
I wonder if that woman who named her baby after a character in EQ is going to be affected by this ^^
Show this to your friends and family that don't know what a real hacker is
Is this more a case of performance increases to hardware infrastructure being able to support more players? Wouldn't it make sense to merge every few years to take advantage of not having to support 10 boxes when you could support 5 instead, as an example?
"I'm a leaf on the wind. Watch how I soar."
-Hoban Washburn
Rodcet Nife was one of the original servers. I'm surprised it's going to merge with Quellious and then surrender the name... so many people know "Rodcet Nife" and the big guilds that once were on Rodcet.
I don't think they're merging based on historical standing (which server is older), but rather based on existing population.
I think that's a slight mistake, in that while it's easier from a technical standpoint, Rodcet outranks Quellious in age. The new server should have been named Rodcet, IMHO.
I don't play anymore so my opinion doesn't count. I quit after PoP came out. I just got disgusted by how hard you had to work to get anywhere with all the keyed zones. I could never get key'd and got bored with the 4 zones I could go in!
I played EQ2 for 3 months, but I got sick and bored of that too. It's just a grindfest, really, and the amount of nerfing that goes on is disgusting. Things getting made worthless/unusable without warning (petrified eyes), the stupid timesinks and camping required for some quests (the guise of the deciever quest, for example), items being removed from the game or made ultra rare which were KEY items for the high end content (robe of the invoker).... it seemed like I was paying a fee to get screwed over cause I could not dedicate enough time to get all the "uber" stuff before it got nerfed.
Bad SOE. No more monthly fees for me.
Tepp
Is EqEmu
.NET and it works.
I have NO idea what version of EQ this was designed for, but it's long dead now.
If you're interested in server emulation, the best right now is Ultima Online and the famous RunUO server . It's pretty much perfect and all you need is
Mithaniel Marr gone? Something about that hits home.. Even though I stopped playing EQ1 about 7-8 months ago. 4 years on MM and now its gone?
.Aayenn
I played EQ for 3.5 years and yes I like it but my style of play ( mostly daytime and breaks for family) was not conducive to leveling. I then switched to Star Wars Galaxies at server start and I vowed to make a name for myself there , Well to make a long story short I did and because I used the SWG forums in my roleplay I was prema-game banned from any and all SOE online games ( I was not really all that bad) for alledged forum misuse. So when SOE has to bow to the fact that they are not all that anymore well what would you do if you were me, I tell ya - Muhahahahahaha Love that Jestor! WoW I feel good!