So I've been following this EQEmu project named Sanctuary for a long time. Ever since its inception, it has promised a game about the journey and not the destination - kind of what we experienced in classic, but not quite the same content. I've been a big fan of the concept myself but could never get the ideas down on paper while also working on code and content.
I've talked with the guy who runs it (Zerjz) and he's pretty much sharing in the same philosophy for custom content that I have; almost a 'Sanctuary' for those players that want this type of game. So I'm sharing with you today an advertisement for an EQEmu server, something that I recently started contributing to: Sanctuary.
It's low pop, but don't let that fool you: It's classic-style EverQuest re-imagined with new content. From the introduction area, to the custom classes, to the open, persistent non-instanced world philosophy, this server is truly remarkable.
You start off in a zone called purgatory with nothing but starting food and drink; you have to punch, cast, and destroy its inhabitants to use tradeskills to craft yourself a weapon and armor.
There's a few quests, but all of the server highly depends on the tradeskill system. You gain experience for combining non-trivial tradeskill items, and you also gain benefits from items that you craft using the system.
To give some examples, you might find two pieces of dirty leather, then refine them in a tailoring kit, then combine those two pieces of leather into a glove to wear. The community has been sharing recipes that they discover with each other. GMs do not run around telling people what recipes are available, nor can you readily search for them - they have to be discovered using deduction and reasoning.
The core classes play primarily like EverQuest classes, with a few variations in names and available spells.
For example, the Alchemist (shaman class) has the ability to craft potions and throw said potions at NPCs. This uses the ground targeting mechanic present in the newer EQ clients as well, so you're actually targeting a ground point AOE for the potion. Another example includes wards placed on the ground with a ground target that radiate light healing every 10 seconds for 60 seconds.
There are plans for subclasses too, like the Adventurer's Merchant class. An Adventurer can become a Merchant, whose gear is primarily dependent on the amount of money they are holding. They get an ability to throw coin at the NPCs, depending on the amount of coin thrown (The amount is selected by right clicking on a "Heavy Platinum Coin" in your inventory repeatedly), they can deal damage depending on the value of money sacrificed up to 5% health of the NPC. Obviously an expensive class to play, but the option is there.
Other classes are traditionally more EQ-style classes, like the Assassin which plays like a Rogue. They get Escape, the AA, early in life. Most melee classes also get AA abilities early, such as dual wield passive AAs, and they all cost 0 points as the level cap is 50 and there are practically no AAs to be gained.
The actual combat content fills in with the style of the game; mobs can drop tradeskill components, as well as direct equipment upgrades. Most content is balanced around soloing, but grouping will make the game largely easier. There is a 3-box limit on Sanctuary so that people do not box armies. In the future, content will be designed around having to do individual tasks on specific boxes to discourage the want to box multiple characters. Visual cues as opposed to actions that can be reacted to quickly by multiboxers.
There's also my pride and joy; the housing/farming system. This allows players to buy their own plots of land for large sums of platinum. Each plot of land has a weekly upkeep cost. If you forget to pay your rent, someone can purchase your land and take all the items on it. There's also a weather-dependent farming system. Crops can be planted and grow naturally if the zone is raining, or if you use a bottle of water, you can water them and they will grow provided there is water present on the plant. Depending on the growth of the plant, a higher yield will be obtained from the plant. There is also the chance you get your seed back, or obtain rare harvests from specific plants. You can plant crops anywhere in normal zones, but they are only protected in the housing zones on your plots of land. There are also house items that have visual appearances (and a full system exists to move/adjust the position/rotation of these objects) and some special, combat-earned house items may have click effects that grant buffs and more.
Overall the server has some really good initial polish, it just needs some people willing to check it out. EverQuest: Rain Of Fear is the only supported client, you cannot use Titanium on this server. You can get ROF2 by downloading EverQuest Free To Play from Steam. You can also use their patcher to patch eqhost and required files after the Steam download from their website,Sanctuaryor here directly:http://goget.education/rof2/launcher...ryLauncher.exe
Here's the information for the server from the EQEmu server list:
I've talked with the guy who runs it (Zerjz) and he's pretty much sharing in the same philosophy for custom content that I have; almost a 'Sanctuary' for those players that want this type of game. So I'm sharing with you today an advertisement for an EQEmu server, something that I recently started contributing to: Sanctuary.
It's low pop, but don't let that fool you: It's classic-style EverQuest re-imagined with new content. From the introduction area, to the custom classes, to the open, persistent non-instanced world philosophy, this server is truly remarkable.
You start off in a zone called purgatory with nothing but starting food and drink; you have to punch, cast, and destroy its inhabitants to use tradeskills to craft yourself a weapon and armor.
There's a few quests, but all of the server highly depends on the tradeskill system. You gain experience for combining non-trivial tradeskill items, and you also gain benefits from items that you craft using the system.
To give some examples, you might find two pieces of dirty leather, then refine them in a tailoring kit, then combine those two pieces of leather into a glove to wear. The community has been sharing recipes that they discover with each other. GMs do not run around telling people what recipes are available, nor can you readily search for them - they have to be discovered using deduction and reasoning.
The core classes play primarily like EverQuest classes, with a few variations in names and available spells.
For example, the Alchemist (shaman class) has the ability to craft potions and throw said potions at NPCs. This uses the ground targeting mechanic present in the newer EQ clients as well, so you're actually targeting a ground point AOE for the potion. Another example includes wards placed on the ground with a ground target that radiate light healing every 10 seconds for 60 seconds.
There are plans for subclasses too, like the Adventurer's Merchant class. An Adventurer can become a Merchant, whose gear is primarily dependent on the amount of money they are holding. They get an ability to throw coin at the NPCs, depending on the amount of coin thrown (The amount is selected by right clicking on a "Heavy Platinum Coin" in your inventory repeatedly), they can deal damage depending on the value of money sacrificed up to 5% health of the NPC. Obviously an expensive class to play, but the option is there.
Other classes are traditionally more EQ-style classes, like the Assassin which plays like a Rogue. They get Escape, the AA, early in life. Most melee classes also get AA abilities early, such as dual wield passive AAs, and they all cost 0 points as the level cap is 50 and there are practically no AAs to be gained.
The actual combat content fills in with the style of the game; mobs can drop tradeskill components, as well as direct equipment upgrades. Most content is balanced around soloing, but grouping will make the game largely easier. There is a 3-box limit on Sanctuary so that people do not box armies. In the future, content will be designed around having to do individual tasks on specific boxes to discourage the want to box multiple characters. Visual cues as opposed to actions that can be reacted to quickly by multiboxers.
There's also my pride and joy; the housing/farming system. This allows players to buy their own plots of land for large sums of platinum. Each plot of land has a weekly upkeep cost. If you forget to pay your rent, someone can purchase your land and take all the items on it. There's also a weather-dependent farming system. Crops can be planted and grow naturally if the zone is raining, or if you use a bottle of water, you can water them and they will grow provided there is water present on the plant. Depending on the growth of the plant, a higher yield will be obtained from the plant. There is also the chance you get your seed back, or obtain rare harvests from specific plants. You can plant crops anywhere in normal zones, but they are only protected in the housing zones on your plots of land. There are also house items that have visual appearances (and a full system exists to move/adjust the position/rotation of these objects) and some special, combat-earned house items may have click effects that grant buffs and more.
Overall the server has some really good initial polish, it just needs some people willing to check it out. EverQuest: Rain Of Fear is the only supported client, you cannot use Titanium on this server. You can get ROF2 by downloading EverQuest Free To Play from Steam. You can also use their patcher to patch eqhost and required files after the Steam download from their website,Sanctuaryor here directly:http://goget.education/rof2/launcher...ryLauncher.exe
Here's the information for the server from the EQEmu server list:
Here's a video of the housing system. Much different from EQLive's
