I want blood.... New Blood

[Sian]

That is very wonderful news !!!! All I want is more encounters and epic 3.0 hehe.

[Demental]

Unfortunately I dont have the quick-fix idea for bringing in new players or bringing back the old

I dont log in and play much myself, as Im burnt out on the current content, so new content is always nice to see.

An issue I notice is when I see new players, they don't want to (or are afraid to) box more than a few characters, if any at all and the most they'll really be able to do is hit 70 and grind out the early stages. I don't think there's a real fix for this, even if the population doubled I dont think the server would support a lot of people playing 1 character (this is true for any version of EQ I feel like though, with the exception of P99 which does well, but given the chance 90% of the population would box if able).

As with helping out new players, Im all for it. I tend to try and avoid PLing anyone (and have turned down a few people saying "Hey! Come PL me!" when offering to help when I do log in) and hesitate to burn someone through all the early raid tiers (although Im glad to if that's the way they want to play). But I see a lot of people drop off after they make it through the first couple of raid tiers. I know the big road block is the jump from VP to DSK1/2 for most people. One suggestion is to tune the raids down again, but I dont like that idea myself. Another is implement raid instances for these rather than guild, which I like. I'd love to run through the early tiers with anyone who needs (even if I can blow through them with only a couple of my toons) especially if someone happens to be stuck at a certain fight, my concern is whether or not it could be exploited or if people would exploit it.

But I think Lillu was right in saying that a big piece of it is circumstantial. My brother and I have played here for a while and tried to recruit plenty of real life friends who all say "Oh, sounds interesting" but never actually give it a try, their loss I suppose

Anyway, that's my $.02 on the matter and I'll end my rambling. The server is solid and the devs do an awesome job, I'd like to see a larger player base and even something that sparks a little more interest in it for me

[Dred]

Another is implement raid instances for these rather than guild, which I like. I'd love to run through the early tiers with anyone who needs (even if I can blow through them with only a couple of my toons) especially if someone happens to be stuck at a certain fight, my concern is whether or not it could be exploited or if people would exploit it.

I love this idea. I would like to see more zones go the way of VT rather than guild instanced. I like that in VT the mobs/bosses are up as long as no one currently grouped/raid invited has killed them in 24 hours. Maybe a zone or two like this at lower tiers would help new players stay around longer. You could make plans with someone and not have to worry about logging in and everything being down.

I also like the guide/mentor idea. Have a couple people that help new players with questions, quests, etc. I know a lot of people kinda do this already though. I know PLing has come up a few times and that is something I don't do because you just miss too much. Same with flagging tokens. I won't really sell or give new players a token greater than Vulak or Sleepers because they just miss too much good content. In my experience players new to server that get flagged to T8 or T9 within a few days of joining usually only play for a few weeks at most because they are bored after getting powered through the tiers and have very little left to play for. I don't know a fix for that. Just more of an observation.

As for retaining older players I would like to see more random events similar to holiday events or the Treasure Goblin. Maybe 1 weekend a month or so have a couple events for a chance to kill a special mob or something for a chance at random loot,distillers,etc. I know you guys are overworked as it is so I know that it probably isn't overly possible but it could be fun in any case.

[moguay]

Some reading...
http://www.eqemulator.org/forums/showthread.php?t=36712

Creation:
create [solo/raid/guild] instance - Creates an instance of the current zone that you are in
create [solo/raid/guild] instance [zone_short_name] - Does a remote instance create when you use zone short name

[Paranoid]

The idea of re-tuning entire raids is, in my opinion, not something that should be done. Maybe particular fights that are designed in such a way that may require multiple of a role (that is, a fight that requires multiple competent tanks or groups of people entirely), especially to those breaking into a zone, would be good candidates. Or, two progression paths: give the option of a zone buff to players who want -- say, no progression status (while rewarding those that complete it on full difficulty), fewer drops per boss or a lower quality of item, in trade for a scaling buff for how many players they have in the zone.

That is a lot, but it really lessens the requirement for donor/boxing, while rewarding the hardcore raiders. (Maybe even increasing the hardest difficulty by some percentage and doing special limited-time items at v that difficulty. That is, from the time that boss is first killed to three months, x item is available.)

Again, that does not nothing about getting new players here, but of all the players I have helped, maybe 1-5% have stayed because I always had to say "boxing is damn near mandatory, sorry."

[mystickitty]

I've tried to get real life friends and some of the old THF crew back many times. Some came back for short periods but not for long it seems lol. I miss a lot of people. I haven't been able to make it back around a whole lot myself lately so i can't say much on the matter.

I love helping out players any way I can. I tend to PL usually without people asking me directly but mainly because I just like to group and interact. I also try to get everyone to do the quests ect. in whatever zone we're messing around in though. I've had so much fun running around this server and helping people in any which way I can. Much <3 .

[Stickybuds]

I think the current setup/format of the server is fine really. THF offers custom raids on 24 hour repops with 9 tiers of difficulty and increasing gear/augs. I think if we could advertise this we could get some new players. Shin already created some videos for this purpose.

I think THF offers what a lot of EQ players are looking for, they just don't know where to find it. With the THF setup its easy to create a guild and raid on your own terms and own times. P99 has a horrible raid scene and I don't get why people that want to raid in EQ would look there for raiding when THF offers better raids than just classic EQ and are much easier to obtain in terms of time while still offering difficulty.

[Enrikk]

I love reading the perspectives of others!

I keep asking, what will it take for someone to come to the server, and stay long term? Of course, the answer is going to be varied, but I think if you look at the server population now, excusing myself, many are veterans that have handled it all, and are now refining their craft through boxing. I remember those long raids where wipes occurred, and they were usually hours-long endeavors as you waited for key players and such. Now, it's fun to be able to load up what you need, and then go tear into that mob using only your skills. That's fun.

Yet, speaking for myself, the T8 and T9 content is really complex, perhaps as it should be, and even the T7 content is as well. I'm still doing what I can in T7 to be ready to take on the rest of the stuff, and this is a grind. It's a good grind, of course, but I'm already hooked.

Then, I remembered ToV and Stillmoon - What was fun about them was that the gear in each was somewhat similar, but one was guild-instanced, and one was not. This gave me a progression outside of a guild that I could use to continue to grow, with others, when I couldn't group with my guild.

Then you go to T3, and only Sleeper's is offered, and only guild-instanced.

T4 is open, but who really raids that? I know that Fennin dies regularly, but what else? Then, there's no guild-instanced T4 zone.

T5 is back to guild-instanced only, in Eryslai.

T6 has options, I suppose, but they are spread out and varied; Fear and VP from fairy, Sol Ro from goblin in Vale, AFTER so many wins from LDON, and Tactics, which I'm told is open, sort of, but also scales higher than T6.

I think I could go on, but I want to close with the ideas; 1. I think there should be an information NPC that can answer questions about what zones are open for each tier, and 2. I think there should be several options, per tier, for people to work on, with some being open, and some being instanced.

I know this would be a tremendous undertaking by the GM's, but if you think of how a game like EQ is designed, a pyramid comes to mind, where most of your players form the base and the numbers get lower as the challenges increase. Still, there's much to do at the lower levels, and still much as you progress. Our current player base, I think, is more at the top, with few below. While those at the top think the server is amazing and are anxiously waiting for new high-end content, and some might come back, they are not growing the server. New people need to see a way forward without the need to rush to the high end, without feeling like a drain on someone else's raid. People like to feel needed, and important.

Forgive me if I rambled. I love the server, and selfishly want to continue playing it for many years to come. It wouldn't hurt my feelings if I were playing until I died, haha.

[Ephyr]

As a player who used to play on THF for a bit, and got up to DSK1, I remember really enjoying my time on THF. A couple of RL things kept me from playing for a while (was trying to buy a house at the time, as well as transitioning jobs etc) and after a few months of not playing THF just kind of fell off the radar.

Lately I've been interested in coming back but here's a few things from an old player that are tough for me, I get others may not see my issues as theirs so please keep in mind with your responses that this is just from my point of view..

A) DSK1 seemed overly complex, Redfang in particular to try and progress on at the time. This may have changed, but this stuck out to me as something I remember being particularly bad at the time.

B) Returning after not having played for a while, and not having retained my files, seems daunting. I'd much rather start from 0 and work my way up again. But the dilemma here is donor gear. Sure, with some work this is a relatively easy thing to overcome. But just my personal preference I guess.

C) RoF2 support. Server info says this is coming soon, but any updates?

D) MQ2 usage. I didn't heavily use MQ2 very much except for a very basic amount. Since the time I've played on THF my skills with MQ2 have grown, and I've gotten a lot more used to the capabilities. There may be a clearer post detailing what's allowed and what's not, but looking at the server rules it's a big vague and open to interpretion. Having a clearer defined set of usage for that would help players understand what is, and what is not OK, might give new/returning players a better understanding of what advantages they can partake of with MQ2 if that's their choice.

[Denizen]

Voki and I were OOC chatting last night and an idea popped into my mind that both he and I liked...

First off, many folks don't group with others much since, if they want to progress whenever they can play, the quickest route is usually to make your army rather than doing continuous LFG and not getting anywhere. So we've all developed habits focused on making a group to win and, after doing so, it becomes awkward to group up with others, scuttle most of your characters and then accomplish goals.

I consider LFG calling for hours to be as interesting and as soul eating as applying for jobs that aren't out there....I'd much rather do something than sitting around LFG...really sucks.

So the idea is, declaring one day a week when single character play will be emphasized. During that day individual single players can, at their election, be most likely to find others to tackle problems. This would also, parenthetically, be a great way to show people how to win encounters they don't already have experience with.

Anyway this is the germ of the idea...certainly it could be expanded on or modified but I thought I'd put it out there and see what folks think.