Everquest - Live Servers

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Fight

Ahn'Qiraj Raider
4,555
5,360
That would be great. I never liked trying to do anymore more than a 2 box. Just wasn't fun. Two player characters, four mercs. Let's do this.

What Mercs do they have now? Warrior, Rogue, Wizard, Cleric? They should add more, for flavor.
 

Pharone

Trakanon Raider
1,125
997
Here's the thing. I really, really love the Mischief server. But... let's be real here. The next couple months are going to suck balls while it's in PoP hell.

So, I'm considering spending some time on a Live server and casually playing here and there when I want. In other words, no raiding, and no guild... just a solo experience with my mercs.

That brings me to some questions for those of you familiar with Live EQ these days.

  1. Use merc tank or run my own tank?
    1. If I roll my own tank instead of a merc tank, which class?
    2. Wouldn't mind running a SK or Paladin this time.
  2. Use merc healer?
    1. If I roll my own healer, which class?
    2. Guessing cleric, but I would rather play a shaman.
  3. Which merc DPS is best to use?
  4. Not really interested in just power leveling up. I'd like to enjoy the ride along the way.
    1. Which expansions are worth playing through
    2. Which quests are actually worth it
    3. Which long camps are actually worth it
  5. Which server?
    1. Seeing as I have no desire to raid on a Live server for the foreseeable future, My guess is that being on FV is a must just because being able to buy raid gear makes the group content a lot easier. Am I wrong?
  6. Big question here that I doubt anyone will say here, but you can send me a direct message if you care to answer this one...
    1. I hear that boxing multiple characters on one computer with assisted-automation is a big part of the Live servers. Is that true, how do they do it, what are the risks, how much does it cost?
    2. I have no issue alt-tabbing between characters, but it would be interesting to see how the rest of the world plays lol

This all being said, I fully intend to shift my attention back to the Mischief server when Gates of Discord comes around. When ever I hit another lull in fun content on Mischief, I will be playing on my Life server crew and vice versa.

Honestly, I think that the Mischief server is THE server for the long term, but the main thing that detracts from it, at least for me, is the turebox requirement. I have 4 computers avaliable to play on with 4 monitors on a monitor tree, so it's not a lack of hardware that ruins it for me. It's the moving from keyboard to keyboard and mouse to mouse that annoys the shit out of me. I want to multi-box on ONE computer, and you can't do that on Mischief with out running the risk of loggin in one day to find all your work is for nothing due to a suspension or ban. Fuck that. Fuck putting hundreds of hours in to something that can be taken away in the blink of an eye.
 

Fight

Ahn'Qiraj Raider
4,555
5,360
If you wanted to get Heroic characters (85) and play on FV, I might play a bit. I don't have a lot of free time, but a few nights a week it would be fun to grind. I believe I have a Necro, Berserker, Beast Lord, Shaman, and Bard in the 85-100 level range.

I really liked House of Thule, Veil of Alaris, and Rain of Fear. They felt like fully fleshed out expansions with progression, story, and gear content. Around Call of the Forsaken, they shifted to a different formula where things seemed like they were much more limited in scope and designed in a spreadsheet. But even then, I guess there are great zones in each of the subsequent expansions if you know where to go and what to do.
 
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Pharone

Trakanon Raider
1,125
997
If you wanted to get Heroic characters (85) and play on FV, I might play a bit. I don't have a lot of free time, but a few nights a week it would be fun to grind. I believe I have a Necro, Berserker, Beast Lord, and Bard in the 85-100 level range.

I really liked House of Thule, Veil of Alaris, and Rain of Fear. They felt like fully fleshed out expansions with progression, story, and gear content. Around Call of the Forsaken, they shifted to a different formula where things seemed like they were much more limited in scope and designed in a spreadsheet. But even then, I guess there are great zones in each of the subsequent expansions if you know where to go and what to do.
I am likely going to roll a SK, Shaman, Mage combo with 3 mercs It will definitely be on FV.

In the past, I have used the merc tank/healer to level my crew which will get you to 70 easily, so I will probably bypass paying for heroic characters.

I would rather go with a Monk instead of Mage, but in the past when I have done this sort of thing on a Live server, I ran in to issues where getting all 3 characters to the same spot for whatever quest/mission/etc ended up being a serious pain in the ass due to the lack of Z-index auto-following. Why they have never added the z-index to /follow is beyond me, and it sucks horribly anytime you have to swim or float up/down to get somewhere. With a mage, I can get the mage to where I have to go, and then CoTH the other 2 characters.
 
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elbas

Molten Core Raider
111
163
Could totally see them adding a "merc perk". $5 a month extra and you get a second merc.
That seems worth it. Maybe F2P would pay $5/mo but All Access would get 1 additional merc for free. That would be a way to encourage F2P players to sub. Maybe it unlocks after 85 or something where players start hitting the wall. Boxing seems like a lot of work to me--more than I would want to put into playing EQ. If I hit a wall with my solo character, I'd probably quit rather than start boxing.
 

Kirun

Buzzfeed Editor
<Gold Donor>
18,554
34,423
Boxing seems like a lot of work to me--more than I would want to put into playing EQ.
I used to think this too, until I started 3 boxing from 3 separate PCs. Honestly, once you do that, EQ has about as much required "input" as most, "modern" MMOs. It'd be easy as shit if I could do it all from one PC. Honestly, I don't know how the fuck people can play EQ on 1 character without ripping their eyeballs out. That shit is boring as fuck, unless you're the main puller.
 
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LachiusTZ

Rogue Deathwalker Box
<Silver Donator>
14,472
27,162
Here's the thing. I really, really love the Mischief server. But... let's be real here. The next couple months are going to suck balls while it's in PoP hell.

So, I'm considering spending some time on a Live server and casually playing here and there when I want. In other words, no raiding, and no guild... just a solo experience with my mercs.

That brings me to some questions for those of you familiar with Live EQ these days.

  1. Use merc tank or run my own tank?
    1. If I roll my own tank instead of a merc tank, which class?
    2. Wouldn't mind running a SK or Paladin this time.
  2. Use merc healer?
    1. If I roll my own healer, which class?
    2. Guessing cleric, but I would rather play a shaman.
  3. Which merc DPS is best to use?
  4. Not really interested in just power leveling up. I'd like to enjoy the ride along the way.
    1. Which expansions are worth playing through
    2. Which quests are actually worth it
    3. Which long camps are actually worth it
  5. Which server?
    1. Seeing as I have no desire to raid on a Live server for the foreseeable future, My guess is that being on FV is a must just because being able to buy raid gear makes the group content a lot easier. Am I wrong?
  6. Big question here that I doubt anyone will say here, but you can send me a direct message if you care to answer this one...
    1. I hear that boxing multiple characters on one computer with assisted-automation is a big part of the Live servers. Is that true, how do they do it, what are the risks, how much does it cost?
    2. I have no issue alt-tabbing between characters, but it would be interesting to see how the rest of the world plays lol

This all being said, I fully intend to shift my attention back to the Mischief server when Gates of Discord comes around. When ever I hit another lull in fun content on Mischief, I will be playing on my Life server crew and vice versa.

Honestly, I think that the Mischief server is THE server for the long term, but the main thing that detracts from it, at least for me, is the turebox requirement. I have 4 computers avaliable to play on with 4 monitors on a monitor tree, so it's not a lack of hardware that ruins it for me. It's the moving from keyboard to keyboard and mouse to mouse that annoys the shit out of me. I want to multi-box on ONE computer, and you can't do that on Mischief with out running the risk of loggin in one day to find all your work is for nothing due to a suspension or ban. Fuck that. Fuck putting hundreds of hours in to something that can be taken away in the blink of an eye.

There are a few programs people use to multi box.

Parsec and multiplicity are the two programs I used
 

Kirun

Buzzfeed Editor
<Gold Donor>
18,554
34,423
There are a few programs people use to multi box.

Parsec and multiplicity are the two programs I used
I found multiplicity to be a pile of shit. The input lag was waaaaay too massive for me to be able to make good use of it. Maybe if I had Google fiber it'd be a different story, but even with a decent wired connection, the 1-2s of input lag just made it easier to set the laptops up on my "main" desk area.
 

Tuco

I got Tuco'd!
<Gold Donor>
45,320
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I used multiplicity to great effect on aradune. Made multi trueboxing not even that much different than single pc boxing, at least with the low speed of original EQ gameplay.
 

Tuco

I got Tuco'd!
<Gold Donor>
45,320
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I am likely going to roll a SK, Shaman, Mage combo with 3 mercs It will definitely be on FV.

In the past, I have used the merc tank/healer to level my crew which will get you to 70 easily, so I will probably bypass paying for heroic characters.

I would rather go with a Monk instead of Mage, but in the past when I have done this sort of thing on a Live server, I ran in to issues where getting all 3 characters to the same spot for whatever quest/mission/etc ended up being a serious pain in the ass due to the lack of Z-index auto-following. Why they have never added the z-index to /follow is beyond me, and it sucks horribly anytime you have to swim or float up/down to get somewhere. With a mage, I can get the mage to where I have to go, and then CoTH the other 2 characters.
Sk / sha / mag is one of the top trios in the game, will be really good. Good luck. You don't need to use heroic chars, leveling to 85 is ez and will save you some $$$. Especially on FV.

You'll be switching between healer and rogue mercs depending on content and how geared your sk is.

I use inner space boxer, it's like 15$ every six months or something.

 

Tuco

I got Tuco'd!
<Gold Donor>
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Yup. Maybe it gets better with the "paid" version? I used the free, 30-day trial to determine if I wanted to pay for it or not. There was extremely noticeable input/video lag when trying to do anything on my "remote" laptops. Just couldn't deal with it and set them up on my desk instead.
Did you have the laptops connected via an network switch? The video lag is minimal, like within 50ms or something. Better than RDP or VNC.
 

Kirun

Buzzfeed Editor
<Gold Donor>
18,554
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Did you have the laptops connected via an network switch? The video lag is minimal, like within 50ms or something. Better than RDP or VNC.
Yup. They were both wired. I don't know if the laptops are just too shitty or what. But, I feel like anything you're going to use to box EQ is going to be a potato.
 

Tuco

I got Tuco'd!
<Gold Donor>
45,320
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Yup. They were both wired. I don't know if the laptops are just too shitty or what. But, I feel like anything you're going to use to box EQ is going to be a potato.
this is the laptop I used, it's really weak.

Dell Latitude E7270 Intel Core i5-6300U​


 

Pharone

Trakanon Raider
1,125
997
I logged in to my old toons on FV last night, looked at all the full bags, and logged out lol. I ended up raiding on Mischief last night instead.

I'll probably create my new trio this weekend on FV.
 

Araxen

Golden Baronet of the Realm
10,215
7,560
EQ has 14,000 viewers on Twitch due to Larry getting a Coke sponsor for his stream today. Twitch put him on the front page.

 
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Reactions: 3 users

Fight

Ahn'Qiraj Raider
4,555
5,360
Larry is awesome. One of the genuine nice and fun guys. Glad he got the push.
 
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Reactions: 1 users

Korzax Stonehammer

Blackwing Lair Raider
721
389
EQ has 14,000 viewers on Twitch due to Larry getting a Coke sponsor for his stream today. Twitch put him on the front page.

I was watching that. I thought the counter was broken. He was at over 16k at one point, for a naked death run in a 22 year old game. Awesome stuff.
 

Muligan

Trakanon Raider
3,209
890
How has the new expansion been thus far? I haven't heard much other than it was a fairly short which seems to be the case with all of their recent expansions. Not sure there was any reason to expect much but was curious.