Project 1999's 3 Biggest Problems | EverQuest

[@TheGeoff]

As a pretty casual wow player, I gotta say I find EverQuest to be absolutely fascinating. The raid encounters look like an absolute clusterfuck in the best way

[@lisafan6365]

Same. I envy those who have real nostalgia for the game. I'm too lazy to learn it at this point but love the videos. If only as a kid I had the courage to ask my mom for the game with the giant cleavage on the cover...

[@annslow41]

@@lisafan6365 thing is it takes sooo much time. I started a few characters on p99 this past week, and between learning how to actually play the game and the slow level progress (probably because I don't know what I'm doing) it's feeling like I'll never make it anywhere on my chase unless I no-life it. Def can't do that

[@aclevertrevor6450]

I started on WoW in 2006 and now I’m playing EverQuest and all kinds of other MMOs. EverQuest is pretty awesome! WoW became so stale imo.

[@TheSentry66]

I think if you want immediate level ups in P99 you do have to no life it. The alternative is the slow steady route - enjoy the journey.

[@kingragnork]

​@annslow41 when I first played EQ at the age of 11 in 2001, it took me over a year to reach max level. The fun is the journey, the end game is fun too. If you aren't having fun with the journey because you feel you must rush to end game, then idk what to tell you. Try to enjoy the games adventure.

[@CiphecDec]

Just because you get 60 and get your epic on P99 it doesn't mean there is nothing. Most people have several characters. It takes years to get the best in slot items for your character so there is always something to do. I tend to go around on my rogue and roleplay telling players the lore about where they are fighting. Also the why would you group if you can solo?! Are you kidding me? Most people try to group. If you boil each level down to 1 zone then you are limiting yourself. Blackburrow, Crushbone, Mistmoore, Unrest, High hold, Permafrost, Kunark zones, Dalnir Kaesora and so on. There are always options.

[@IonBlaze1]

Hiya cipher dec. Nice to see you again. Thank you for the contrasting points :)

[@CiphecDec]

@@IonBlaze1 you know it my friend.

[@exgrinder]

When I get to 60, I plan on spending most of my time just helping other. Helping newbs in EC. Helping guild members with Epics. Helping others level! And slowly get BiS with my Paladin main. No time for alts as a working Adult. The fact that P99 does have “finish line” actually makes it MORE appealing for me the live that is a never ending catch up, or TLP that is an enormous race that will demand every second of your waking time or FOMO. Great vid!

[@tric5122]

There is still the velious items and getting the VP and sleepers keys. there is a lot of content still to do at 60.

[@magikmareng1]

@@exgrinderpeople like you inspire me

[@thevoiceofthemountaineers]

I wish I could go back to 1999 and relive the good ol EQ days, when nobody knew shit and everything was scary. Cant ever go back.....

[@IonBlaze1]

Yeah way different back then. Limited choices of what to play & no guides

[@thevoiceofthemountaineers]

@@IonBlaze1 I’ll never forget when my friends and I got it and played in on dial up lol….first time we saw an Ogre Warrior with epics it scared us all to death lol

[@Ryoland]

its nostalgic, but not the same, not even close...

[@jn2400]

That first day as dark elf on the newbie log watching warriors and wizards run by. Then I saw it...the flowing black robe ..

[@bobthor9647]

You could be one of the first people to try Pantheon rise of the fallen

[@Gyledresch]

As a player with end game toons on multiple TLPs and on P99, I disagree with almost all of your problems that P99 faces. 1. The scarcity is a lynchpin in the drive to play P99. The fact that White scale, or Green scale, or any number of epic items or elite level gear are so challenging to get makes the pursuit of them one of the primary driving forces of playing a server like P99. 2. Every video game is a dead end, you get nothing out of any of them but the enjoyment of playing. You don't get upset that you can't play your Bioshock character anymore, or that all the levels you put into Cloud Strife went to waste. The point about never progressing beyond Velious could be debated, personally i think there is a case to make for letting a server progress to Luclin because the level cap and gear stat caps are maintained, but that is it's own discussion. 3. Why group? Be on P99, have an open slot in a half decent camp, and start asking quadkiting druids/wizards or fear kiting necros if they want to join your group and see how fast your spot gets filled. If it takes more than 2 tells ill give you 1k. Everyone wants a group. The three actual problems P99 faces are these: 1: Low Levels are dead. Even on green, not enough people play at low levels for new players to be able to consistently group, leading to an overabundance of solo classes, which also depletes groups. 2: Wealth Concentration: It's not as bad yet from dearth of time on Green, but on Blue especially there is a top 1% of the top 1% that hold an ungodly amount of gear, coin, and quest items. The reason Torpor is 100k on a server that has been stuck in Velious for a decade is not because there are not enough Torpors, its because if you sell it for less a billionaire will buy it and resell it for 100k, or they will just sit on it. 3: Turbo-Neckbeards. OMG this bard in my group couldn't even DPS, charm, Mez, and manually twist 3 songs, what a fucking newb. Did you see that idiot chanter mez himself with AoE mez instead of chain stunning? I hope he never plays this game again. This shaman is seriously medding? Doesn't he know he can canni-spam? I kicked him from the group and made him watch us kill with 5 peeps. People on P99 don't train, they don't KS, and they don't camp steal like on Prog servers, but they know everything about classic Everquest, and they often treat people who don't like they are subhuman. Especially at higher levels.

[@IonBlaze1]

Hey thank you for typing out this well put together response Nicholas. You brought up points I didn't consider.

[@Gyledresch]

@@IonBlaze1 I got caught up in my post and forgot to say thank you for making the video, i enjoyed it very much.

[@TheAtomicDimebag]

Treating others like subhuman players is another huge factor keeping fresh high levels out of groups. Fear of messing up and being called out.

[@DontHateMeCausImSexy]

Give me 1k bitch. Hard af to find a party. Everyone wants to duo or trio with their friends.

[@arc-sd8sk]

great post

[@clwnthr]

Although I play P99 atm. myself, I have to mention the Shards of Dalaya server, which actually does a lot of these exact things better than both the P99, TLP and Live servers. They have active GM presence as well, and are actively enforcing a maximum of 2-boxing rule. The obvious problem for SoD is population of course, but it actually also has fresh seasons beginning each year, I believe, with the current second one running nine months from Jan. through Sep. All good stuff, it's just way too empty sadly, although there were seemingly a higher population with the initiation of season 2. Its season 3 (probably starting around the end of December as well) could be a great one if people were to spread the word. Of all the Emulator servers, Shards of Dalaya is definitely at the very top, with some really great features added to the game. Personally, I'd like to see a Luclin classic server with some QoL-changes catering to players with less playtime. As is, there are a lot of factors actually punishing less active players, which is always a bad thing, as it eventually leads to those players disappearing, and it's actually those exact players who make up the bulk of being able to group on ones way up. As for your video and comments here, Ayo (and thanks for it, btw.), it's always a matter of ones desire/need/taste. Mostly though, it's a matter of actually remembering to enjoy what's actually the enjoyable parts of such a game. Which is for the most part just grouping and hanging out. What TLP servers cater for, though, is more or less just rushing content, which rarely actually makes for a good time. Just the opposite, as the grouping experiences you're mostly having in these videos. In a group, one is much more valuable than in a raid, especially in EQ with such large raid forces. So while raiding can be quite fun, much more so with lesser numbers, it's actually often not what makes for the very best experiences in such a game as EQ. Why it can be recommended to tone ones desire for loot and status down, and actually start enjoying the little things much, much more, as in the whole leveling process, and all the social experiences and grouping there are to be had in EQ. There are even a lot of e.g. quests along the way which will never be actually 'worth it', but yet can be very rewarding and fun to actually complete while they're still offering a challenge to be had. All things to take into consideration when trying to find this thing they call "fun" in a social video game. And thanks again, Ayo, for all the great content here.

[@IonBlaze1]

Thank you so much for the well made comment. I've heard good things about the SoD server. Zones are reworked & classes are different. I totally agree with your part about group vs raid usefulness. Always preferred grouping over raiding cause your class makes more of a difference. You get to show off more.

[@clwnthr]

​@@IonBlaze1 ​ Aye, there are a lot of good aspects to the SoD server, although the exp might be a bit on the fast side. There are always pros and cons though, and I'm sure SoD has other cons as well, but at least the server has quite an active dev. team behind it, still putting out regular updates and improvements, which is always a really nice thing. There's actually a quite nice list on SoDs differences on the SoD wiki under "Differences between EverQuest and SoD", for anyone interested. One of the really great things is the added group exp. bonuses. "Group XP bonuses... 2 players in a group get the same XP as having 3 to 6 players. Besides consideration of splitting loot, there's really no reason to not add a 3rd player or more to a group. As a matter of fact, more players in a group result in higher chance of named spawning." And e.g. "Adventuring Bands": "Adventuring Band- You can form a band with other people, so that all of you will share the XP gained, even if not in a group or online. Max level gap between adventuring band members is 10 levels."

[@beastcoaster9340]

Thanks for your videos. You have a great voice and the guitar just shreds.

[@IonBlaze1]

Oh thank you so much. It's just stock music from a paid site but yeah it's awesome

[@arc-sd8sk]

great channel, great video, thank you for your service !

[@IonBlaze1]

Lol it hasn't even come out yet. But thank you

[@arc-sd8sk]

@@IonBlaze1 lol meant to type "videos", but the point stands!

[@Dorn-Dvinn]

If the best quality of EQ is player interaction and players of Daybreak EQ are toxic with Daybreak not caring, while p99 players are nice with the devs quickly banning exceptions, why would anyone play the Daybroken version?

[@IonBlaze1]

Yeah there's tradeoffs. Gotta deal with it if you want to raid on a schedule & see later expansions.

[@minniefluffmeowsington151]

So I have played hardcore both TLP and p99 (where I am currently) over the last 4 years, with about 2 years in each. A raider with epic in the top guild (or 2nd) on both servers. *ATTENTION NOVEL INCOMING* Love this series and idea, I have lots of thoughts about the issues you stated even having some clips saved for essentially the same video: 1. Endgame (The Raiding mainly) - You're right. You have to devote your life to it to excel, but I guess that's the "appeal of p99". It's hardmode to the 1000th degree, by a wide margin the most punishing, difficult, and taxing game I've ever seen. Due to the scarcity of things you have to devote literally years sometimes to get the best items. This, in and of itself isn't necessary a "bad" thing if you're into that, *however* it causes structural things to happen within the game that are just frankly worse than TLPs. It causes an awful economy of rewarding the top 1%-5% of the player base, and specifically 1 guild. On the Green server, Seal Team got Vulak 68 times in a row before another guild (Kingdom in alliance with Castle and Safe Space) finally got Vulak twice last month after a year of no other guild getting the best target in the game. This disparity was caused by Seal Team's size and substantial gear advantage for having Veeshan's Peak uncontested for the entirety of the Kunark expansion. While ST is/was very good, this disparity creates a gigantic snowball effect in which all other competing guilds hemorrhage their best players (understandably) because who wants to spend 95% of the effort to receive 10% of the gear. Also, frankly, awakening the Sleeper 4 days after another guild attempted a Warder for the first time, simply so no one else could ever kill one, is the single most toxic thing I've ever seen in a video game, it was so egregious PC Gamer even wrote a long feature article about it www.pcgamer.com/everquest-players-break-sacred-mmo-code-by-waking-up-20-year-old-dragon/ . Imagine that, being so toxic in a video game THAT YOU MAKE THE NEWS. This also doesn't get into some of the other indirect things about the early non-instanced raiding on p99. "Leap frogging" guilds to steal targets, sniping kills, trains, lawyer questing, and simple stand offs that make raiding on p99 an absolute chore. To a degree, much of this is the "progression" phase of p99 and eventually at the end of the timeline attrition of the top guild and catch-up of other guilds in size and gear mitigates this somewhat, but frankly the endgame raiding during progression phase of Green was one of the worst things I've ever seen in a video- It was freaking terrible. I will say though, getting the gear is far *far* more rewarding than anything else you're likely to do in a video game. So I don't necessarily think the scarcity model of gear is entirely a bad thing, it's just the BS around it on p99, particularly before guild parity is achieved, is miserable. 2. Dead End - What I find interesting though is actually your #2 "Dead End" on this list I feel to be the *exact* opposite. I played TLPs for about 3 years from Classic to Depths of Darkhollow (10ish expansions?) and eventually I quit specifically because all my accomplishments felt worthless. I had one of the best Shaman on the server on Coirnav, eventually achieving one of the earliest epic 2.0s and Full anguish gear (including the chest and OMM ring) before the next expansion came out, but within 3-6 months those INCREDIBLE items (minus epic 2.0, that's always good) were nearly worthless and my character was bad again. Ironically, *that* felt more like a job than p99 ever did, because I knew I had to keep playing and raiding forever for my character to stay relevant. The last few months I've barely played p99, but whenever I log back in my characters are still incredible and I can keep chipping away at my quests/items/XP. The paradoxical thing is since P99 is so harsh and nearly impossible to complete (you could play 12 hours a day for 10 years and not have the best gear) It doesn't feel as much like a Dead End, there's always something to come back to. However, *if* Everquest was able to create a type of TLP server that maintained a population and a mechanism to pick up with older expansions (or the ability to jump to a newer server at that point in the progression if you haven't logged in for 3 years and don't have any gear beyond Omens of War *HINT HINT HINT HINT*) then I can see TLPs being good in this respect as well. 3. Why group if you don't have to? Yeah you're totally right, p99 is way *way* committed to the original numbers of classic. The tiny experience bonus +2% per member isn't NEARLY enough to justify grouping if you can help it. I solo'd a rogue with a fungi from 1 to level 51 in 3 weeks, and it has taken me about 6 months to go from level 51 to 57 grouping. I leveled a druid necromancer and enchanter 50-60 in about a month solo, grouping was at least twice as bad possibly 3 times as bad, the numbers just don't add up and there's no reason for it- just make the Experience bonus higher. IMO the biggest issues with p99 are: 1. CLASS BALANCE - Funnily enough you didn't even mention this and I think its by a wide margin the worst thing about p99. Some classes kinda suck and some classes are completely broken, stupid OP, too good. Enchanters are basically a GM class whereas Rangers are barely viable and have no real role other than niche things that can be done by other classes too (weaponshield and track?). This actually equals out a bit in endgame raiding, but group level content is completely trivialized by class imbalance and ironically, group-level content is by a wide margin the best part of p99. 2. Endgame raiding (in some ways the p99 ruleset is more to blame than the actual mechanics of the game, you could just do a form of rotations and p99 would be pretty awesome honestly). Discussed above. 3. Experience, specifically group experience. It's just too slow, I mean I know it's classic, but come on, it's too grindy. My ideal server is actually a combination TLP/p99 and I'm kind of shocked they've never done it on live: TLP - p99 speed progression server: TLP server but the speed is classic, basically what green just did but keep going- Luclin would release right now then Planes of Power in about a year. By far my biggest complain with TLP is the pace, I know some people love it, but as a professional with kids and a career, even with instances I just can't keep up with 3 month unlocks, and as I mentioned earlier the pace is so fast I felt like my accomplishments were meaningless. This would be fixed with a slower pace. Potentially 30-day lockouts rather than 1-week. It ends up being the about the same amount of "in-era" raids, but much less frequently. This makes the Open World raids that much more competitive and encourages people to actually clear things OTHER THAN THE TOP ZONE. One of my biggest complaints with TLP was that how it was basically just clearing the top zone 12 times per expansion and never seeing any of the other content of an expansion (other than the first week when you did the progression parts, but still probably not any other nonrequired raids). So in Luclin, chances are you rarely did Rumblecrush, Akeva, etc, in PoP you probably didn't do much other than Plane of Time (maybe Elemental Planes), in GoD it would be Tacvi and maybe Txevu, in Omens I literally never did the mini raids in other zones, you just did Anguish and MPG Trails, possibly some King/Queen Riftseeker... you get the idea. With longer lockouts this does a few things, 1. it makes the open world competition that much greater (could set rotations or make "bag limits"- aka can only kill the same target 1 time in a row) 2. it would force guilds to clear entire expansions and prior expansions rather than just the TOP content once a week 3. it would leave more time to explore other parts of the game.

[@IonBlaze1]

Thank you so much for the well written comment. I casually did P99 end game but had no clue about the details you gave. Jeez that sounds rough. Interesting ideas you got for fixes :)

[@thereluctanthireling]

So much agree with on this, great post. I'd actually try a TLP if it was a slow expansion launch similar to Green.

[@WeezeBadfishHalen4]

​@thereluctanthireling isn't project quarm a slow progression server? Kunark is just now coming out and project quarm has been out a year now I think?

[@scroob72]

I sold my original EQ raid character for $800 back in 03. I was on the original E'ci server before it merged into Tunare in Grey Horizon guild. It's something I regret on a regular basis because I still play MMORPGs to this day with years invested, but nothing beats the experience, time and years (6) on EQ and progressing. I wish I could still log into my original account and see my characters in their full glory. Thank you for posting these videos, brings back some great memories as KZbin was almost non-existent in those days.

[@throwitatthewall6289]

I played on E’ci too. Do you remember the Ashorty raids? Thats what I was doing before I quit or whatever happened. Maybe EQ2?

[@Drew_2308]

"check every 2-3 minutes..." oh you sweet summer child, Lol

[@fahrradmittelfranken8207]

"P99 does not handle overcrowding well" yeah the 300 player server really struggles with full zones

[@Hayseed1976]

Epic. Gratz in the mask! Love the toilet paper analogy. Love it well done! Absolutely love the hole.

[@IonBlaze1]

Thank you for the kind words Hayseed :)

[@HatedSigma]

I'm loving this recap of Yelinak, I was right there with you even in the same guild and then Kunark happened...

[@darczee1]

😂 That smoothie 😂 thank you Ion, once again you don't disappoint. Such a pleasure to watch your uploads. Thanks mate, cannot wait for more content!

[@IonBlaze1]

Thank you for the compliments Zool!

[@Darcstarr]

I think a lot of those facts apply mainly to experienced or life long players. For newcomers like myself where p99 is our first encounter it actually holds up. Even with the wiki and Alla readily available I find myself just playing it out and asking in game players themselves for info and tips while I'm grouped with them. My strategy in almost every group I'm in, especially if its a new zone, is to talk about the party a little and learn about the zone and mobs therein. The information is generally accurate and if not theres always another person in the group to correct it.

[@demris15]

I’m definitely divided on progression vs p99… I’d love to see exp increased for grouping, anything else is unrealistic… DBG won’t change anything for progressions, they are just taking advantage of the nostalgia. A true classic server with no boxing enforced is my dream though

[@IonBlaze1]

Thank you for sharing that Demris.

[@undignified2843]

I agree. I ultimately left live. Agnarr was a great server to keep that nostalgic feel without the progression leaving you in the dust as it is pop locked forever. But now I play P99 blue, green AND Lazarus( highly, highly recommend you give project Lazarus a try ;)

[@charlesmartel3995]

Both ways to play EQ have big problems. I hope you are honest and frank about the problems.

[@IonBlaze1]

Yup you're right. I'm gonna talk about problems P99, tlp, & live have. Last episode is how they can be fixed.

[@kevinusta7534]

The smoothie punishes twice. It's almost impossible for me to pass!

[@IonBlaze1]

It was NASTY. Thank you for watching Kevin :)

[@j-sin3344]

Im glad YT put your videos back in my feed. I havent seen any for a while and havent see these, hope all is well. Enjoy the content. If you need your name on Tunare lmk, Ill give it back. I never played a Bard, but started one after watching your vids and sadly wasnt able to come up w/ my own name so ended up paying homage to you. Hes only 121 so far, but definitely a LOT of fun. I just hate how he is ALWAYS the first target on agro list when I pull mobs. He does die a lot too...

[@ehliaskarim1520]

Love the series. It’s crazy seeing the people you were leveling with because a lot of these (including pizzalicious who I grouped with in the hole at 2 of those same camps) I must have just barely missed you a bunch

[@Airraidcd]

I remember playing EQ in 2000 when my brother introduced my first mmo. Played it for 4 years fun times on fennin ro server was paying 12 dollars a month for a subscription. Was in a great guild every weekend raids so we all grinned to get our toons to raid level. I remember coming home from work eating then playing til midnight. Ever crack that’s how this game was so addictive. It was fun and really still now enjoy playing mmo games and I’m 55. Glad this game didn’t come out during my college days or I probably wouldn’t finish college.

[@the_arbitrator]

Fennin Ro here as well

[@a5noble2]

"They have to put a tracker on it and check every 2-3 minutes!" Nah they want you to constantly be watching the screen, even to the point of announcing your bathroom breaks. And on the CoTH races it needs to be within 1 second of spawning... hence why auto fires and pixel detection cheating were such a problem.

[@IonBlaze1]

Oooof that's even worse that I thought lol.

[@Dadaph]

Started playing on Yelinak, but at about lvl 15 with my Paladin, I sorta just returned to p1999... It's more nostalgic to me, comfort food. Yelinak had remakes of half the zones, quests had nerfed experience, no lightstone quest, no Lay Hands, impossible to buy weapons like Ghoulbane (and the quest isnt in yet), I couldn't get groups because I wasn't boxed and played odd hours(being European), and I got killstealed a lot, as being a paladin, my DPS is low. But I love paladins, it was what I played back in the days... Hoped to get to 30 before Kunark hit, but could barely get to 17. Will probably give it another try some time, but meanwhile in p1999 I got to 40 and had a blast re-experiencing the past. p1999 has problems though, and Yelinak had things that did make the game more enjoyable, like not needing magic weapons to kill wisps, or not needing to recover items making it more fun to take chances and explore dungeons. I thnk my perfect EQ game would be a mix, though personally I never really enjoyed the content after Velious, and the way teleports worked in PoP was one of the main reasons I quit the game, as I'm all about the journey, not the destination.

[@WesleyWyndam-Pryce]

I've done several TLPs and only P99 Green. Green launch and the months that followed were so much better than the toxicity of DBG's EQ TLPs classic-PoP.

[@Dadaph]

@@WesleyWyndam-Pryce Yeah, the toxicity is my main issue. Yelinak was my first TLP and I looked forward to it for several months. And a lot surprised me... I don't really mind the new zones so much by themselves (honestly really enjoyed the new version of Misty Thicket). I wouldn't mind quests are nerfed or removed, I can adapt. I wouldn't mind missing LH either, though it is a Paladin staple and a life saver. I enjoy some quality of life stuff like getting a spell every level and not having to do corpse runs to recover items. Magic slots not being reset on death etc... all that is cool. It's a different game from p1999 and that is honestly really good. I love p1999 having played both on blue a few years ago, and now on green since around the Kunark launch. But I'm cool with enjoying different games or different aspects of the same game, so my experience with Yelinak is kinda hearthbreaking. The killstealing, the toxicity, all that is my main issue. It makes me not want to interact with anyone. I noticed I just avoided other players as much as I can, and that's not a cool way to play an MMO.

[@clwnthr]

@@Dadaph Couldn't agree more.

[@IonBlaze1]

I did a pally too for a bit. I hated to see that ghoulbane went no drop. Some changes that weren't that great like quest exp nerfs. I think LoH is an AA ability now. Lighstone quest gets added in Kunark. I hear pallys get a lot better once AA's come out.

[@Dadaph]

Cool, got 3 bags of Greater Lightstones I went to NK with to turn in. Decided to hold on to them just in case that happened, so free plat right there. I know all of Paladins being difficult, at least in the first couple of expansions, because that's what I played between 2000 and 2003. But it's also what I know and love, and I made more or less the same character on both p1999 green, Yelinak, and live...

[@jefffriedman6942]

Absolutely none of these RL punishments compare to a bad corpse run.

[@jacobs.7205]

Loving the content as always. Curious to see where this leads went the Resurgence guild. I've had some less than pleasant interactions with a few. I'm over in One Last Time so I may be biased. We'll still have our fun though.

[@IonBlaze1]

No you're not biased. Hammackj also put out a video criticizing some of the members. The leaders are nice but I think some members are bad apples. Sorry about that.

[@dakinesurfer85]

Love your videos! And thanks for inviting us into your life at the end. It adds a touching and heartwarming feel to your wholesome videos! I really appreciate that 8)

[@IonBlaze1]

Thank you Scott. There's gotta be stakes!

[@xkallubar]

1. Stuck in velious forever. 2. "No! It's mine!" 3. "I HAVE BEEN KILLING THE SAME MOB FOR 10 HOURS AND I AM ABOUT TO BURST!"

[@WesleyWyndam-Pryce]

Works better as a leveling journey than hanging at endgame, imo. You don't hear as many complaints or underground RMT corruption until you're there. It's just straight up fun with heavy doses of normal frustrations - Wiping over something dumb and then doing it again while looking for your corpse.

[@FalconKyule1]

I know im late to the party, and only halfway through but ill chime in about "Why group when you dont have to?" I mained a necro for years. Outside of raiding I grouped because I was either bored or, more often, i wanted to be lazy. Know how easy it is to be a necro in a group? I can almost nap. Group pulls mob, i send in pet, maybe lifetap, and a dot occasionally(mobs should die before a necro dot can do much, thus a waste of mana on trash pulls). I grouped out of laziness. Thats why.

[@boot-strapper]

grouping leads to faster xp... 6 people means probably closer to 10x the kill rate vs soloing.

[@IonBlaze1]

Yeah if you're in a good group, you can outpace soloing :)

[@kurticusmaximus]

My favorite EQ content creator!

[@IonBlaze1]

Pshaw thak you Kurt

[@nickjohnson9640]

Awesome video. Thank you. Has me considering a progression server for the first time seriously. The FOMO on conquering content and the pressure to keep up is pretty immense, but with the addition of exp bonuses and instanced content it seems a little more feasible for the folks that love the game but aren’t kids anymore with tons of time.

[@IonBlaze1]

Thank yeah. Yeah it's probably the least time-sinky version of EQ. If you want to experience everything that is. Just pick a guild that raids at times good for you.

[@gnorley]

Love the lore at the beginning! I have played EQ since 1999 and I'm so casual I have never reached max level with my main. The issue is that I log in and there is nobody to play with. Consolidating the players into one mega server and then give new and returning players a reason to play, EQ can resurge.

[@bryanhaen6750]

That was a cool video good production 👌. Thanks for the entertainment

[@IonBlaze1]

Thank you for watching Bryan

[@darens440]

P99 problem: playing with an IRL person in same house requires an IP exemption. Then when you have this you can be further scrutinized/accused of boxing. A random test might be done and if one of your players fails they just ban your accounts. Bye bye! I am all for no boxing but can i just play the game with my kid once in a while and not be in fear of a ban hammer?

[@Subvaries]

I agree with you on end game scarcity, and group exp. However I disagree that everything is meaningless. With the goal post never changing you can take your time and experience all the game has to offer. It’s ok if it takes you a year to get to 60. It’s ok if you want to explore or do lesser known quests. If the goal post never changes, then you aren’t left behind. This is one of my biggest issues with TLP’s. You quickly get left in the dust if you don’t keep up.

[@yuchinxia8030]

watching your video makes me relive my days back in 2000-2003.

[@Nickelback8469]

One positive about Project 1999 is that since it’s locked to Velious, players are able to level several classes and not gimp themselves out of being able to participate in the top content. I love several classes; Shaman, Cleric, Druid, Paladin, and Warrior. If I wanted to play all of those classes in a TLP, I’d need to get the time stone. In P99, it already can take years to get to max level with the top gear, so even if I get one of my characters to that point, I have other characters that I can go back to and do the same.

[@maxpower2511]

P1999 is good because it is the most "classic" experience you will get. Also, rules are enforced. The bad is: 1) Endgame is terrible. I do not have the time to put in like I did when I was in college. 2) Experience is SLOW. Would like to see a 25% boost on weekends and maybe some boosts during the week 3) Things like racial/class penalties still exist. This was bad in 1999 and it is bad now 4) Does not follow everything classic...i.e. necro pets using FS daggers to decimate or the resist system which is bad.

[@IonBlaze1]

You added some really good points. Racial/class exp penalties just suck. I think grouping should get a bigger exp bonus. Each mob only gives you like 1/5th full the experience. Maybe like 1/2 the exp would be better.

[@My_Toy_Soldiers]

Class exp penalties no longer exist on p99. Race ones do, though.

[@Nickelback8469]

Without racial xp penalties, there’d be no reason not to play as an Ogre/Troll/Iksar for any of the classes they can be. It’s already bad enough with how Iksar Monks and Necros far outnumber their counterparts of any other race, but their racial innates are so powerful that an xp penalty is warranted

[@maxpower2511]

@@Nickelback8469 Well, Big races have big issues in dungeons. So there is a tradeoff. Iksar have problems too because they are hated all over. I like my monk but it's a pain to bank. So I think by giving up the luxury to bank pretty much anywhere and not slogging around in places like Guk outweighs the good. Also, Iksar are usually twinks anyway

[@lifewater]

Loved the video. I really feel different about the p99 content ending. If I was younger I would’ve been on your team there but now that I’m older and after playing MMos for 3 decades now, I’ve learned more is not better and sometimes it’s best to stop and enjoy when it was near its best. Otherwise you get retail wow, a great game that lost its way

[@nailbomb4443]

Every damn time I watch your videos it makes me want to play EQ again. I just don't have time for p99 and all the TLPs don't ever get locked

[@IonBlaze1]

Haha jeez that's a bad problem lol.

[@antondovydaitis2261]

Love the editing.

[@IonBlaze1]

Thank you Anton :)

[@MotorSwapDan]

This was a blast, funny and fully entertaining

[@Sourcecode01]

God damn I can't get enough of these video, it's your way of narrating and editing, I want more! you actually made me give this game a go after all these years, it's the one I skipped.... on live and the first 2-3 hours I wanted to quit it was pissing me off, I kept going and after 6-8hours I started loving it :) apart from BAGS!!! where dafuq do you get bags?

[@adamjoys2616]

That part when you had 5 mobs mezzed... that dance, that's why I play Bard. Love that feeling, the control :)

[@Znagol]

I once died at bed camp because the necromancer I ressed chose to faint death instead of protecting me.

[@brentbliss7075]

If the gms have a shit about the toxicity of raiding it would be better

[@BlackSkeletonDragon]

Whenever we get a Bard in group, I cringe. If one does not know how to play a Bard without aggroing everything, every time, it's a nightmare. I've played with some bards who have actually mastered such a class, and are a benefit to the group. They are highly rare to find. If they do not know how to effectively play a Bard, everything gets crazy and on the edge. This is usually what happens. Love this video! Thank you. My favorite game in all gamedom!!!! SUBSCRIPTION ADDED :)

[@true_plays_games]

Guk is an absolute masterpiece of a dungeon. I could live there forever!

[@Catashe123]

I always thought it funny that Guk was supposed to be the old Troll city and yet trolls can BARELY fit in the hallways lol

[@mjd3879]

I'm not going to argue that the expansions after velious didn't have a lot of fun. But project 1999 was based on the classic experience of everquest, at 2022, you can probably argue most expansions are the classic experience. But the reality, is the game took a dramatic turn after Velious, and to polish the original classic expansions to the quality of the original takes a shit ton of dev work. The experience of the first 3 expansions on these servers are unmatched. TLP and live are a joke for the early expansions.

[@IonBlaze1]

Yeah the game did change a lot. It's nice that there's still one way to play old-schoolish EQ

[@sadizz455]

this really makes me regret not starting on Yelinak release. when will the new TLP server come out? or the mischief server? that one seemed relatively fun.

[@WesleyWyndam-Pryce]

Mischief is great and still going strong. A lot of the worst behavior from early TLPs are gone. You'll be living at level 70 being cap and AA grinding until roughly February, but that's not at all bad if your starting fresh. I am taking a small breather so as to not get burnt out before TSS, which is arguably one of the best expansions in Everquest, and the content between Omens and TSS is.... well.. not amazing gameplay.

[@IonBlaze1]

Usually every year or 2

[@onneechan6414]

I dunno if that was addressed, but Guise of the Deceiver is the mask that drops pre-nerf, Mask of the Deceiver which is bard/rogue drops after :)

[@Nfrealmusic95]

Ionblaze we need an updated version of this playlist on a newer server I have watched all these videos on repeat for quite some time now. Hope all is well with you brother💯🖤

[@bobthor9647]

Pantheon rise of the fallen is an old school indy mmo, most classes have first 50 hours, more chill players are wanted to test now and early access in December. $50 gets you in the game now, +all of EA and full game. Cool music and ok graphics

[@vegasvanga5442]

I feel like it's been 20+ years; it's probably time to consider P99 it's own game entirely

[@gjb741]

Have you ever tried a Emulator? There are a few that have vast endgame and lots of social aspects. It seems to be the home for those that can’t neckbeard the endgame on the weekly batphone.

[@IonBlaze1]

I'm aware of p2002 & sod but I've never played them. Mostly stuck to where the population bases were.

[@clwnthr]

@@IonBlaze1 Which is more than reasonable, as population and interactions are everything :-)

[@noweifarms]

The Hole! Miss the tension.....good vid

[@jasonpreziosi807]

FIrst off... I recently discovered your channel and I've been gobbling up videos. Great content! As someone who has played live in 99 and left during PoP, but only just returned a few months ago for the first time. Your line about everything being meaningless and playing in a museum was a real gut punch. Wow you really put it into perspective. I'm still loving my return leveling up but it's true the magic will end.

[@jayr7613]

People have never waitied even 2 years for a bard epic piece.....

[@blahlbinoa]

I like p99, but it just feels empty to me. It's a good place to hang out and go on a nostalgia trip if you're looking for it, but for a long term thing it just can't hold me as long. It would be neat if they tossed out a "purple" server and had it go to Luclin as an April Fools joke and if it became popular enough they could just keep it there, but I've seen some mean people on their forums come out of the woodwork if you mention anything past Velious.

[@IonBlaze1]

I wonder why Velious is such a sticking point? Smedly & McQuaid's influence. But Luclin wasn't as much of a departure as PoP.

[@blahlbinoa]

@@IonBlaze1 I've seen people say that's when the game became the easiest. I've played around the time PoP came out and felt the hardcore-ness of it that made me keep coming back today. I think p99 can do Luclin justice and make it fun, but the hardcore fans don't want it, and that's ok!

[@choosetolivefree]

If it feels empty what do you think releasing more expansions would do to population dispersion on the server? Seems to me your idea of releasing luclin would only cause the server to feel even more empty. Really, the problem is that most people like yourself just want to roll up and be invited to a group. The key to playing p99 is forming your own group, most of the time. I've played p99 for more than 10 years now, and if I want a group i form one myself by sending tells to random people. I've had many many hours of great times this way. Most people just aren't willing to put in the effort and want it handed to them on a platter

[@dd-tc6ip]

boys,. this was how it was when I played EQ on its original release... welcome to jungle

[@brianlhughes]

The P2002 aka Wayfarer's Haven is an interesting choice for playing EQ today. It uses the same client as P99 but goes into a couple expansions past PoP. Nice helpful community but most people solo playing 3 of their own characters at a time.

[@thereluctanthireling]

Love the channel and content you put, the videos are all so well done. The critiques of P99 are fair, but I don't think it is a dead-end game because it takes so LONG to get anything on that server haha....it keeps me playing there where I don't think I could keep or enjoy the pace of the TLP's.

[@raphaelsolo]

Oh please tell me the "This has to stop now" video was filmed on Aradune. It would be the most wonderful comeuppance ever.

[@Greldek]

You should try Wayfarers Haven its a nice balance between TLP and p99. Its currently in Gates and going to Omens where the devs said it will stop. 3box max strictly enforced. this allows people to solo to max lvl with boxing, and camp some hard mobs, but there aren't 6 mage box armies locking everything down 24/7.

[@chillinxbowhunting1787]

Is that a private server like p99.🎃

[@iconoclasteq416]

@@chillinxbowhunting1787 Yea. Another KZbinr called Dragonslayer Models and games just did a summary video of it.

[@yizudien1696]

Try project Lazarus, it is actually a fun server that does a lot to keep things interesting. P99 is beautiful for all of the reasons you mention, it is like the original. I played EQ since its release back in 99, and the game cost 9.89 dollars a month to play (989 Studios and all). Guk was a huge fight back then, and when Mage/necro could solo frenzied after kunark it was a PITA because you could get everything but loot drops (as long as you could deal with mini trains from a necro running to your camp then FDing. It is cool that now the TLP do have the option to spawn your guts after downing the undead dragon in the instance (first versions didn't so you would always see a level 1 bard down there). However TLP is still much easier than 99 because they didn't remove all things from EQ (some they couldn't), unless you are really bad as a guild it is really hard to fail most raids (except fear which you covered, the break-in is rough after that pretty easy). Maybe the roamer dragon in Kunark is tough for the first kill because he hits so hard, but most of the others aren't all that bad.

[@randmtsk7512]

I really enjoyed your lore discourse before each zone. How did you find out about the lore of the zones?

[@kalebclemons]

the time invested in old school eq is vastly exaggerated. and if ur so salty u can only get to lvl 60, with p99, then come onto a live server and try the real endgame of EQ. it will take u a decent amount of time to get everything caught up and done, but u can blaze to 120 and be raiding pretty fast without doing past expansions and what not, but if that is ur thing, there is SO much content u havent experienced. and exp is balanced in a group, because u can kill many times more mobs, especially in classic. ur view of exp is skewed. find a zone u can take a group in, there is more than just 5 zones to lvl in.

[@IonBlaze1]

Thank you for the comment :)

[@classified5790]

I enjoyed meeting you. That was a fun Hole group. :)

[@IonBlaze1]

Thank you for the help classified :)

[@toxofoz6233]

Why was the monk not breaking the spawn? As one of the top monk pullers on my server back in the day i would never let anyone else break a spawn.

[@michaelpatterson7062]

Enjoying your vids

[@richkanzig432]

Your videos are giving a big wave of nostalgia. I don’t think I’ll ever have the time to commit to playing P99 or TLP, so these videos are scratching the itch. A little clarification, you said that EQ GMs used to enforce playing nice. Maybe they did for a while after I played (2000-2004), but early EQ, the only things that were really enforced were hacking and training for the most part. There were no camps, and 51% of the damage gets the mob. The main difference is those early servers were very much communities and your reputation mattered. If you were a dick, you’d have a lot of trouble finding groups or even a guild. So, most of the play nice stuff was self-policed. The GMs were pretty useless in that regard, by policy.

[@IonBlaze1]

Oh thank you for that info & the comment :)

[@gardenofseeden]

Great narrator!

[@WesleyWyndam-Pryce]

P99 - Endgame sucks. The journey tops all. TLPs - Deal with no rule enforcement and have fun, if you can or pick a TLP that's in Omens or beyond. Live - Great fun if you have friends. If not.. good luck. The last few expansions are even harder to make work without help and boxing is nearly a must.

[@IonBlaze1]

Thank you for sharing all that & coming by :)

[@ricolove8255]

P99 was no lifers . We went hard and it cost a lot in RL

[@lionart5230]

As much as Everquest has some very interesting RPG mechanics and is being perceived as progenitor of MMORPG's, rightfully so, I really don't think that timegating spawn of monster/boss is a good idea. And even if you do timegate it, you should use sensible respawn time. 7 days, 4 in month, 48 or so in year... Item drops are probably chance oriented too. I understand it creates scarcity and each item is more valuable, harder to obtain but it doesn't feel right. I can easily make very hard item to obtain, I will just give it 1 in 1000000000 chance to drop in mob that spawns rarely. It's not hard to make this, it's not just player friendly design. Game of chance and huge competition. As you mentioned, people do have lives outside the game but I guess it would maybe appeal to people who make game their life instead and want to get this feeling of obtaining something almost unobtainable despite all odds. It's not healthy either mentally of physically to do so. It doesn't sound like fun either, just rite to brag/special achievement that was special due to how time gated and luck dependent this item or boss kill was. Also I don't agree with point 3. It's normal to have amount of experience halved due to more people being involved. What do you gain? Faster kill, maybe even possibility of making this kill happen at all due to buffs/heals/mitigation/damage split you receive in party.

[@IonBlaze1]

Thinking about it, yeah the RNG loot & rare spawn camping just suck. It's one of the worst parts on the game. I get it that the designers needed time sinks so you would keep a subscription but it's not that fun. You make a good point about the exp. Thank you for coming by Lion

[@mathewmiller4617]

I love how you are solely responsible for all the deaths in the group lol

[@blenrythblenryth3949]

So to points 2 and 3 on prject 99: I think part of the alure is that you CAN finish the game essentially. You can get everything and play just for the fun of it. You don't feel like your "behind" and need to "catch up". Is it for everyone? no. I started on project 99 recently and likely will make a different toon on live eventually. I just like that feeling that Im not going to be behind everyone and always have to strive for the next new thing. Its more....relaxing I think. And when I do want to do that I can go to live as well! Easy Peasy. As far as the experience I do agree.....in part. While you get less exp per kill for sure your kills go much faster. Im a wizard for example. Right now I can kill one MAYBE 2 mobs (tho not recommended) and then have to meditate and get mana back. (Eventually will be 4 mobs once i get snare and jboots). Thats a LOT of down time. So while I only get a small amount of exp per kill in a group the groups killing mobs a whole lot faster. Basically Im getting 3 or more times the experience within the same time frame because we can do bigger pulls and just keep pulling. Maybe for other classes its better solo but as a caster (especially a wizard) its extremely slow solo. So far ive actually had a great time grouping. Sometimes Im waiting to get in a group or something but honestly I am lvling faster on p99 and getting more groups then i ever did live back in 2000 lol.

[@alemorikec]

So- with Zaide not racing for first to 50, it took 2 days for someone to hit max on launch?

[@arc-sd8sk]

P99 rules but don't even try to raid unless you hate your life imo

[@IonBlaze1]

P99 is such a great time. I think 2 changes would make it the BEST version of EQ.

[@ricolove8255]

You new ninjas complain but imagine back when it was called ever crack and fall asleep at a zone line and wake up to 30 corpses and massive xp loss . My old play mates from 99 and 2000 hate it now . I love it the same . Best game ever . Brutal . RPG should be .

[@Shakfu86]

Did I see selo's cast indoors?

[@IonBlaze1]

Yup. SOW works indoors & outdoors on official servers. Nice luxury from P99's rules.

[@mjd3879]

it is crazy how CC in battles basically were removed. Easy answer why? Not mainstream enough, makes dungeons too hard. Welcome to 2022 mmo gaming.

[@IonBlaze1]

Yeah it was sadly dropped

[@Nickelback8469]

Pulling and CC either disappeared or was made the complete responsibility of the tank. Tank is my favorite role and I’ve tried several modern MMOs and have been pushed away by how demanding it is for a new player. You’re expected to lead the group through dungeons, manage the number of enemies in a pull and your pull timing, keep up aggro on everything while DPS just flail through their optimized combos, all the while trying to manage your actual job of staying alive.

[@CosmicChris]

This seems pretty fun honestly. But I fear I'm too spoiled by FFXIV with a controller. Would it ever be possible to play this type of MMO on PC with a Controller comfortably? I know that always sounds weird to most. Even as someone who does some PC gaming, I always end up needing controller support due to "I have terrible coordination otherwise.". I understand if the answer is a resounding. "No." But I genuinely would like to try a game like this that isn't just the big juggernauts at the moment.

[@NonExclusive6669]

I tryed playing p 1999 again but when i try to join a server i get error 1017 and returned to log in screen sadj ever run into this ?

[@alphadragongamingFTW]

Have you tried project quarm yet?

[@ironghostrotation]

How can I get on p99 all KZbin videos offering the vanilla ew code are all old now and taken down is there an easy way please I wanna get my druid on

[@Anonymous-b3m]

Eeeesh, I just started playing on P99...and now I don't want to anymore. lol

[@soulure]

What's the lower guk assassin camp name?

[@crowsbridge]

Why do you want to get to level 50 asap? I always enjoyed the lower levels

[@anarchond]

3:27 g ice bones were always strong resisters.

[@papasears1982]

TLPs are great for people who want to get as much in with as little time possible. P99 is old long ass EQ grind. Its capped at Velious and im fine with that. I could play veilous cap till the day i die. If you want a faster EQ kinda classic exp go TLP

[@IonBlaze1]

Thankfully there's options :)

[@LakeCaldera]

The way you format your videos is confusing. You show random footage and then 11 minutes in get to the advertised point of the video.

[@bandini1999]

Late to comment here, but as an end-game raider on p99 blue, I respectfully disagree with a lot of these points (believe it or not, I have a job and a family and hobbies outside of p99). P99 is one of the last active servers that is NOT instanced, and a lot of us who play here do so precisely because we like it that way. End-game items on p99 are not guaranteed and are hard-earned through time invested, competition, persistence and strife, which makes them that much more valuable than an item that is more or less guaranteed on an instanced server. It's not everyone's cup of tea, but that's what the TLP servers are for. I can see how a casual player might view p99 as a "dead end" but competitive raiding changes that entirely. It's also worth noting that anyone can apply to a competitive raiding guild, and even a casual player who can't attend every raid can offer something on a limited play schedule and still reap the rewards. Competitive raiding requires sophisticated coordination between players who must bring a raid target cleanly into camp before the competing raid guild(s) beats them to it. A lot of the engages are very complex, and each week different scenarios and obstacles occur which players must work together to overcome. People invest a lot time in learning these engages and in exploring new ways to gain competitive advantages. Again, not everyone's cup of tea, but if you think p99 is a dead end simply because it's locked at Velious, then you're ignoring an entire level of richly complex gameplay that occurs at the end-game. As for grouping, green is no doubt more crowded than blue and I can empathize with the struggle to find a group on an overcrowded server. I'll also agree with your point that some classes can solo better and earn exp more efficiently than others. However, doesn't the fact that you can't find a group on green due to all the camps being owned by groups mean that grouping on p99 is, in fact, quite healthy? Moreover, there are plenty of quests and targets on this server that, no matter how good of a solo class you are, how skilled of a player you are or how well-geared you are, you will never be able to kill without a group/raid. You seem to imply that everyone here is just soloing there way to 60, getting bored and then quitting, but this couldn't be further from the truth. TLDR; While I was once a casual player myself and understand where you're coming from, I believe these arguments are grounded in naivete and inexperience. Casual players, out of frustration, tend to demonize the end-game and the raid scene without ever giving it a chance. It's tough, it's difficult, it's competitive, but many of us who play here don't want a raid scene where everyone gets a participation trophy. We like it this way.

[@anzo06]

whats the music at 25:25

[@Cynidecia]

I can't get p1999 to work on Linux with wine. That's a problem.

[@jayr7613]

ALL MMOs have a dead end. If you're end game in retail and you have your epic and are geared up, what is there to do.......nothing. Same answer as what's there to do in P99....

[@connected_user]

Shouldn't the P99 devs just continue with the next expansions after Velious? As long as they keep the no boxing rule and stay true to the game.

[@noweifarms]

Velius was the last best expansion..........I played through DON before retiring......velius was the beginning of the end. Just my humble opinion.