EZ Server

Thinking about coping our EZ Server to run a 2nd EZ Server for PVP.

• All characters wiped
• All items tradeable
• All items not lore
• All spells unresistable
• Limit 1 character online per IP
• No MQ2 Allowed
• No Instances
• PvP any level limit
• PvP loot item(s)
• Allow charm, mez, stun, slow on mobs
• Boss HP, Regen, and Damage reduced by up to 50%
• Drop Rates maybe 20-50% higher up to 100% max
• Faster Exp Rate
• Trains and Corpse Camping Allowed
• Hacking and Fowl Language Not Allowed
• Nexus, Surefall, and few others will be safe zones

Would need a network with a different external IP address for port forwarding to make this work, unless there is some trick to getting 2 servers to run off the same IP that I don't know about yet.

I'm sure some elite group of friends will rush to the end then try to block others, happens on every PVP server.

Will force players to group together since only 1 online per IP.

Feed back welcome. No point voting or posting if your not interested. Just curious how the population would be. I'm guessing 10-50 online at any given time.

Which class would you play, and why? Which class do you think will pwn the most in PvP?

cleric or paladin...nuff said! on live cleric (if you know how to play them) are pvp gods and cannot be killed paladins come in close second then probably monk for the top 3.....NOWWWW if you keep the ez code you'd probably see a crap ton of SKs / Pallies running around maybe wizzy too idk how well a wizzy vs PC would go with the resists and such wizzy may be able to 1 shot any PC that stands in the way if resists are too low...

but i'm down for it sounds fun :)

I'd probably make ALL spells -1000 resist adjust for more giggles and action.

noooooooooo more people need to vote YES you're crushing my pvp dreams =( lol

meh, i dont really enjoy EQ pvp, but maybe will give it a go just for laughs

i'd play a monk or an enchanter b/c i played both on live as a team and they where a blast you wouldnt belive how many ppl accualy bought the FD as a real death when in a war situation and with Wu stikes *in old days* it made pvp the best and most fun i've ever had *think it was the stun that helped* and enchanters...charms nuff said*

The main issues with PVP are the class balancing (balancing PVE is hard enough) and incentive to actually PVP. There needs to be some incentive to make PVP meaningful, otherwise whats the point? Also if youre going to limit it to one toon per household, then you'll have to double or triple the drops imo.

I just dont think youre going to have the time to do what it takes to make a good PVP server.

While I would not be interested in starting over on an EZ pvp server, it has me wondering if the Arena works here.

I will honestly never understand what people see in PvP without rewards. Especially in such a great PvE game...

Modified the OP with new info about how I might set it up. I still need to figure out a dedicated machine to run it. Could be fun. Would be at turn key system, just start it up and let it run. Updates would only be done on the blue server, unless doing a massive once a year catch up update if players already get to the final tier on pvp.

I have a question about AOE damage. Take for instance warrior. You can put aoe augs in the weapons for the aoe damage and taunt. In instances where there might be a co op raid what will that from damaging the other pc's you are on a co op raid with?

Well the idea sounds more interesting now that you updated the OP. I would suggest you also remove the lore tag on all items so that players could keep some backup gear in the bank in case the gear they are wearing gets looted. Also I think it would be best to enable charm/slow/stun. I would definitely play that server! This could also attract many new players from other servers as well, so I wouldnt give this poll too much weight.

I think there would actually be very little PVP action because the server population is so small and people would have to work together to get anywhere. Anyone trying to constantly PVP will find themselves outcasted and left in the dust. Despite that fact, I still think the server sounds very appealing.

To answer your question about what classes would be the best, wizards will be PVP gods with the -1000 magic resist. However in PVE sk's and pallies will be the gods. Pure melee would take a back seat to everyone, but honestly I dont see that as a problem because class balance will never be perfect.

Ideas added.

Also, might edit spells to allow stuff like Snare, Fear, Charm, Mez, Slow, etc to hit up to level 70 or higher for pvp and raids.

Not sure yet if I'm going to do this. Need to figure out how/where I'm going to host it, and if I have the time to host it, etc.

Yea being able to stun/mez/charm/fear during PVP would be great. Would make enchanters a viable option no doubt.

Wouldn't be able to mez necros like they did in old school, but fear/charm/stun might work :)

Anyways, too much on my plate this weekend. Will try maybe next weekend at earliest for pvp server.

Also, bandwidth is more of an issue than hardware. Need to find a way to host 2 servers off 1 IP.

The port the client uses to connect is hardcoded.  You can't host two servers off the same IP because there's no way for both servers to receive data on that port.

There are various ways you could deal with that, depending on your ISP/Router setup, but the bottom line is you need to be able to have two public addresses for two servers.

Figured, which is why I'm going to limit 1 IP per online on a lower bandwidth ISP.

Thanks for the info.

Hunter

Terrible idea. For having a cookie cutter server you actually have something decent and PVP is not something this server would balance towards in any fashion.
However as a fun lark of a project that you didn't plan on keeping up for more then a short period of time it would be fun.

how seriously do you think a 1per ip would work when people multibox on P99 on a rather active basis.
How about your no mq2 claim, is that something you think you could code to prevent or did you just plan on to blanket ban anyone that another cried wolf on?

[Pointing out that it would be a fun way to spend a week or two but long term it would fail more then xiggies niece at keeping her pants on]

Heard she is on number 2 already..

Yep she sure is. My current prediction is she will have 3 with another on the way by the time she is 20. Strip club employment should be between 20 and 25 if she maintains any kind of figure.

Nothing is hotter on a stripper than a c-section scar.

She didn't have a c-section, but no telling between now and then.

I'd come out of hiding for this.

My niece? She's not all that.

It sounds like bandwidth might be a big issue. It got me thinking about "serverfilter" and how that was implemented in EQ live to cut down on bandwidth usage. I dont think its currently implemented on EZ, or maybe its not possible with emu at all? Maybe lerxst could answer this one?

The short answer is if you have messages filtered on the client most of them aren't ever sent by the server.

There are two opcodes for it, one marked as login and a standalone one.  I would guess typing /serverfilter on the client would send the second, but both do the same thing.  I guess if you changed a bunch of filters and didn't relog then /serverfilter might make a difference.  It might also get sent automatically when you change filters.  *shrug*

Is there anyway to force it from the server? Asking because I would bet many people arent filtering the melee/proc spam in their client, just sending it to another chat window. If there was a way to force filter all melee/proc spam from the server itself, not having to rely on people doing it in their client - that might cut down on alot of bandwidth usage.

Damn it! This always happens, I wrack my brain for something snappy to say, and all that comes out is: Damn it!

Maybe those people don't want to filter it.  It's a choice.

Although I disagree with the melee and proc being filter from the server end this is a really good idea. I think melee, proc and magic damage/heal (all crits, misses, blocks, parry, etc. included) should be filtered from the player side. I personally like to be able to see that at times for parcing and such. However there is loads of stuff that does not need to even be in the game. I don't need to know that me, one of my party members, or my pet is smiling evily at a mob. I also don't need to know that my chest item is glowing because I am casting gate. And there are tons of other item speeches and useless emotes and whatnot. If there was an easy way for this to be filtered from the server side I think it would help with the desync issues.

Balthor and I were up killing T3/4 mobs with Meatbag one day. Balthor and I had I think 4 to 6 toons each and Meatbag had one. Meatbag kept desyncing and going link death every few minutes. Through out the conversation we figured out he had all melee and crits turned on but just filtered to a different window. Although he refused to turn it off and his issues kept on happening there have been others that changed this and it resolved their issues. Further filtering could only increase performance.

Yea I would guess that melee/proc spam takes up 99% of the bandwidth usage here, however it looks like we will have to rely on people using server filtering properly to reduce usage.

Being as melee and proc are text and graphics tend to be a bit bigger than text I would say melee and procs are no where near 99% of bandwidth used. I don't know anyone who would ever want to turn off their own melee reports or damage done to them. Take away the parry reports and block and all that but at least let me know that I am hitting the mob. For that matter I don't think there are any games out there that even lets you turn that feature off. Now if there was a way to filter out everyone elses (so you don't see other hits/misses) or set it up so it is defaulty turned off would be wonderful.

Graphics arent sent over the internet...

Im pretty sure melee and proc data account for 99% of the bandwidth here at EZ.

I bet I could save bandwidth if I turn off ooc server wide :)

So your character file, your armor, your movement, your spell glow effects are stored on my PC? The mobs, their movement, their attack animation, that is also stored on my PC? The world itself, yes is stored on my pc. That is why you can't place world items in everquest form the clients for everyone else to see. Graphics are sent over the internet. Your character graphics are not stored on your pc nor anyone elses but Hunters. Same thing goes for the mobs. So again, melee and proc do not account for 99% of the bandwidth here at ez or any other server.

Huh? All graphics are stored on the client pc's. The server simply transmits the NPC/PC location data and simple model type data. This is small stuff, no actual jpg files or anything.

In other words as Im moving across your screen, the only data youre being sent is my model type NUMBERS and color data. You are not getting data for every single pixel of my character. See the difference?

I'm pretty sure everything you mentioned is client side, except for character data and movement(where the server thinks you/mobs are). All graphics and animations are client side.

Ok actually yeah, that makes sense. Instead of sending the graphic to you it is instead sending a packet of information telling your pc to display this locally hosted graphic this way or that. In that case I can not refute at all that melee and proc being an extremely large part of the bandwidth on EZ. Sorry Cerwin, I was wrong.

I still wouldn't want my own melee and proc damage to be blocked from me being able to see it. Blocking others hits/misses/procs and all that jazz, hell yeah.

No harm...

Personally I filter even my own hits and procs unless Im parsing something. Not like I can really even see that data as it scrolls my screen at 20 lines per second. But I can see how some people might like it, nukers especially.

For the longest time I have had my setup with a melee window, magic window, spam window and chat window. Here on ez I have moved magic into the melee window and put auction and shout in my old magic window. The first thing I do though is turn off as much as I can that way I only see my own hits and hits me. The rest of that stuff I turn off so it helps with losing sync. Crits are another big one I always turn off. If there was a way I could see my own, then maybe but as emu currently is you can not filter everyone elses unless you turn all crits off.

I wonder if increasing the per hit damage that we do (both melee and proc) and then increase the delay till our dps was the same would be an option?

Good idea. Willing to try that although many players will be butthurt during the testing phase.

I run 12 characters and have no problem with lag? Guessing people are just too lazy to turn off filters?


I am a noob... will this only change for the PVP server? If so that a mighty fine idea so you can find a lower bandwidth IP for PVP server.

Honestly I don't think many people know about it. I think there are probably about 25% of the population who actually use the forums.

Hunter I would be glad to help out in any testing through parcing and whatnot like that.

So double or triple weapon delays/dmg, double or triple proc dmg? I would hope this change would affect both regular EZ and pvp EZ. Might be worth doing when you consider it could cut bandwidth usage dramatically. It would also reduce server processing, although I imagine RAM usage would be roughly the same.

Alot of people probably dont filter out their own damage dealt, including melee and procs, which is probably a large portion of the server bandwidth.

I'd rather see you disable OOC than change the weapon delay/proc rate dynamic.

If people are too lazy to use filters to avoid losing sync with the server that is their issue.  The server is fine, it's people unwilling to do a little leg work that are losing connection.

Even with everything filtered that I can find, I have issues with certain pulls, is there a way to disable EXP messages and the "Mob took 1500 damage" message that you get when a proc kills them?

I can run 18+ with filters on or off and no lose synch.... turn spells and sound off.../sigh

Damage shields on certain mobs will need to be buffed through the roof, though, if delay is slowed down, and with the numerous far-beyond-standard haste effects on EZ delay would still very easily be brought back down to the minimum, so those also probably will need retuning.

I am not sure about procs but I know there is no way to turn off your own damage nor the damage done to you, nor should there be. Now other hits, as in me seeing another toons hits/misses/procs can be turned off. I was surprised at how many people do not turn this off but instead just filter it to another window and minimize it.

EZ PvP sounds really fun. I'd definitely give it a shot, although i'm sure most would prefer to never play with this asshole again.

-Popcorn

I still think drops are going to have to be upped quite a bit more than whats in the OP. The tiering system of armor/epics/charms/etc makes losing those items a brutal punishment. Imagine having a piece of T4 armor looted and possibly having to start over at qvic for that piece.

I'd be all about this idea, but the fact i love playing a warrior as a main and with the way the servesrs ran playing a warrior would need to be fixed by you, or i'd be screwed, not sure where i'd put myself on pvp. I hate casters with everything and i'd either be a sk or pally, and honestly i'd rather put my time into ez blue. If you figure out a way to balance i need something to do when im burnt out on t6 :)

In the same way imagine being a skilled pvp'r and going from qvic to t4 gear w/o the armor grind. I feel that 80% or more of the ezserver population has no idea what utility spells they have from 1-60 and a lot of players will find they suck at pvp because of it (but honestly probably the only ones who will play on ezpvp are going to be the smarter players). 

My main concern is flash of light on UF client dosnt black out your action bars/inventory so you can still bag your gear if your getting roflstomped.

Was also thinking any thoughts on making the t1-t6 armor sets all/all? dont need to increase drop rates. Would give incentive on hunting all classes, not just teaming up with a friend and camping someone the same class as you to steal all his armors.  Maybe also add a ammo slot items for each class type (priest, tank, melee, caster dps) that you get at lvl 1 that will modify your stats to make up for all the tierd armor having the same stats.
Maybe make tanks get one that increase AC by some % and a low amount of mitigation.  Or add a stacking 10% movement mod to melee/tanks help them chase down people.
Would also probably be best to make charms no drop, id see /ragequit for sure if someone actually got a UC and then got ganked by a wizzy.

I like the idea of ezpvp, but its going to be a lot of work to balance things i feel. And in the end will it be worth it for the 20 players who might actively play.

I agree it would be too much work to try and balance all the classes, which is why I think they should just be left alone. Let the players decide if they want to play a class that will get destroyed in PVP, or they can play one that will be competitive.

The golden rule on this server might very well be 'dont equip something unless you dont mind losing it'. I would disagree with making charms no drop, because it will eventually lead to epics/scepters/shield of ages/RoA becoming no drop as well. And if that happens then what would be the point of PvP?

I personally wont be going beyond qvic or level 1 charm because it would be too much to lose. It should still be pretty fun though.

Imagine someone / group that are willing to race to the end of the game, get 750,000 HP, and be invincible against all 30,000k HP noobs? That'd be lol.

Yeah, I can imagine a lot of people stopping around qvic.

I don't plan to balance classes. No matter what I balance, change, etc, players will always find new ways to get an edge over each other, or complain about their class, etc. So its just a matter of what class you like, your tactics, and will power.

Thinking of what type of pvp tactics will be used when all spells made -1000 resist. Which spells will be used? Root? Snare? Fear? Blind? Pets? lol... best pvp might not even depend on gear.

Making bosses easier, and loot drop more often, might help with players gear getting ganked, and give some incentive to try for better gear since it'll come faster.

Just need a bit of time, and figure out what hardware/bandwidth I'll use. I'm sure it'll be interesting at the least.

Ready to roll my necro.... cant wait! lol

necro tap tank FTW :P
             or
necro fear kite
             or
necro anything i always forget about necros...they are pretty boss at pvp too lol