SOE: Classic Server a "Definite Possibility"

[Yieu]

As a member on our forum pointed out, the MMO news site Massively recently interviewed the new EverQuest producer Thom Terrazas, and he had some interesting things to say regarding the possibility of a Classic EverQuest server.

In fact, he stated he thinks there is a "definite possibility" of a Classic server, and recognizes the popularity of the idea! This signifies great progress toward achieving our goal, as while the prospect of a Classic server has been popular with the old school players for quite some time (and even some newer players who did not have the chance to experience it), we have not seen many comments hinting at it becoming a real possibility until now.

Here is the relevant quote from the interview:

Massively: What's your opinion on the idea of a "Classic Server" that sometimes gets thrown about, one that's locked down to only the first handful of expansions indefinitely?

Thom Terrazas: That's kind of the thing that I touched on before, just my own experience in the game. That's when I remember the game most, and I think there's definitely a possibiltiy of that happening. It's already a popular idea. With every expansion that has come out, sometimes it can take a little bit more effort to get through that content, and you might not have the time that you used to. I think when you can touch back on something that you can remember, starting out again as a group, a bunch of friends, it's really cool to go back and do that. So I think there's a definite possibility of that.

Full article: http://www.massively.com/2009/05/27/...-as-everquest/

The rest of the article is also interesting, as Thom touches on his nostalgic feelings towards the early game and the possibility of other alternate ruleset servers.

So keep spreading the petition to help make a greater impact when it is finally sent in! We now know it is a "definite possibility" and that they are definitely listening to us. Let's show them how much we want this server, along with a clear definition of what we are looking for in a Classic server's ruleset.

[Sanshi44]

we can only hope

[Yieu]

Indeed! But comments such as Thom's are a vast change in direction from SOE's previous stance of almost no comment on the issue.

Of course his comments do not imply a Classic server will definitely happen -- but it does imply that if we show we really want it, the chance of it happening is greatly increased -- so the more signatures, the better!

[AwesomeShammy]

The real question is, what is their idea of a classic server? When they created the progression servers, they thought that would satisfy those of us who were calling for a classic server but we all knew those servers were going to be unlocked too fast for most of us to really savor the old world zones again. The whole gameplay dynamic needs to be changed back, too. If they just open up a new server with the zones we want included but don't change anything else, that won't cut it. I WANT it to take a long time to regen hp and mana, I WANT to be stuck studying my spell book when medding. I WANT the loot tables to be really, really stingy and not give me big rewards for killing things that are beneath me. I can still remember when you knocked yourself out for a few coppers and most of your money was immediately spent on things like food and water and maybe a meager weapon or armor upgrade. Saving up for big ticket items simply took too long so you learned to make do with what you had and it encouraged you to learn to make things and to find where upgrade items dropped because buying from other people was too expensive. You also formed stronger bonds with other players because they were suffering just as much as you were. Adversity brings people together. I know it sounds masochistic, but you really learned to appreciate every little thing because you actually had to work for it.

[cebben]

If they would create a server following these or very similar rules, I would probably buy four copies.