Velious launches May 30! That’s the big news announced in yesterdays streaming bonanza. Let me back up just a bit. Project 1999 is a private EverQuest server set in the ‘classic’ EverQuest era. The server launched in 2009 when the founder had finished playing Vanguard and decided he missed the original EverQuest experience. To this date, Project 1999 remains the best way to legally play the original EverQuest experience.
Project 1999 (P99 for short) has been in Kunark since around this time in 2011. Albeit the best expansion in EverQuest history, that’s a really long time to be in the Kunark expansion. Nevertheless, the population and community have thrived. I have played P99 on and off since about 2010, loving the go-to nostalgia rush and enjoyment I can find in the Norrath that I remember so fondly.
Okay, back to last night.
Last night there was this big live stream even with the founders of P99 and some of the top brass. Although listening to the stream was… trying (to say the least) on my patience… they finally got to the point of announcing that Velious launches May 30th on P99 Blue (Red is the open-pvp server).
During the announcement it was revealed that server population records were broken in real time on the server. I was on the server along with 3 other Keen and Graev Community members: Bartillo, Damage, and Yotor. We were all in East Commonlands and North Desert of Ro during the event and let me tell you there were indeed a lot of people there. Funny enough we all thought it was coming out tonight (for whatever reason) so we packed ourselves on the dock in NRo.
Several other big announcements were made. Namely…
- Velious content will be released on the regular Velious timeline. This includes removing the hybrid class exp penalty 2 months into launch of Velious.
- P99 will go no further than Velious. There will never be cats on the moon.
- CUSTOM CONTENT will be released in the future after Velious runs its course. This includes new NPCs, items, quests, zones, etc. They want to create a never-ending classic EQ experience even if that means moving forward custom.
- Team PvP server (Tallos Zek back in the day) will come eventually
Some of the biggest and best news of the night: PROGRESSION SERVERS!
After Velious has been out for a while, they plan to launch a new server that will progress at the rate of live EverQuest meaning that EQ will launch, a year later Kunark, 6 months later Velious, etc. When Velious is out for a while they will then fold that server back into the main P99 server and start over again. I was incredibly excited to hear this news — it’s exactly what I’ve blogged about several times over the past month!
I’m thrilled about all of the news. My EQ itch is back stronger than ever. I’ll continue to level my Enchanter, and I may even start a Bard alt. Seeing so many people care about the game brought back lots of memories. Good times then, and good times to come.
Hype! I am very excited for a fresh server, hopefully that will launch around the time I get back.
Also a server on the classic timeline shouldnt be plagued with all the inflation issues p1999 suffers from remaining in kunark for so long.
Yeah, the inflation is pretty crazy right now. So much cash floating around now and simple items are going for way more than they should as a result. 10p for a stack of bone chips is incredible.
I am pretty excited for the team pvp server also.. If i remember Tallos Zek was something like this:
Dark Elf, Troll, Ogre, Iksar vs Dwarf, Gnome, High Elf, Wood Elf vs Barbarians, Humans, Halflings, Erudites, Half Elfs
“To this date, Project 1999 remains the best way to legally play the original EverQuest experience.”
Really? Are you sure about that? The legal part I mean.
Seems highly unlikely but I wouldn’t claim to understand the legal situation. I’d be very interested to see unequivocal proof of the legal status though.
@Bhagpuss: They discussed this during the Q&A last night as it was brought up by several people. SOE has agreed to let them be since:
Their deal they struck with SOE (according to them) is that as long as they do not charge players for the service or distribute the game files, they can run the server. For the players, this is 100% legal. Own EverQuest, log in to this server. For the people who run it, they say it’s legal and technically due to the loop holes I believe it is.
I highly doubt there’s a deal. At most an unspoken agreement and SOE having done nothing to stop them before. Take into account the official forums deleting mentions of them and I think you can safely say that the only thing keeping P99 safe is the money loss Daybreak would incur shutting them down.
Oh it’s unspoken for sure. There would never be a formal agreement. If they COULD shut them down, they most definitely would. They can’t. They would if they could. Bottom line, it’s legal for people to play. Hop on and enjoy.
Thanks for clarifying that. I had heard of the “gentleman’s agreement” but it hardly amounts to legality.
About the only reason I’d make a character on P1999 is to revisit the real Freeport and take some screenshots and video. I do think about doing that occasionally. Other than that, I prefer EQ as it is now. It’s more fun to play than ever in my opinion – I just wish they’d make some zones with better lighting!
I think P1999 is probably safe mostly because the market for a real 1999 experience is not commercially viable. Classic/Kunark/Velious is a real specialist interest and only going to become more so as we get farther away from the “golden age”. Good luck to them anyway. I hope the Vanguard Emu project turns out as well – that’s one I will be using if it does.
does it worth to start playing in this server right now? im asking this because probably there arent a lot of players and they are already max level.
would you recommend me to start in this server or wait for the server that you said on your other post? (a server starting in vanillia and getting 1 expansion every year)
@thecrow there are a lot of players.. 1700 people were online last night. And players of all level ranges out in about.
I was leveling in crushbone yesterday (a level 5-15 or so zone) and there was tons of people in that all making groups and leveling together
mmm….big temptation. but i love to start in a fresh new server, everyone lvl 1, good economy, no power level, guilds recruiting everywhere, and everyone playing on the same zones…
i’ll wait until p99 releases a new server, or a new official server is released, or something like that.
@TheCrow: I prefer the fresh experience as well. That’s why I’d jump at even a more modern fresh progression server for EQ. However, P99 for a fresh player is still amazing. People are nice, helpful, there’s ALWAYS people in every zone. Like Bartillo said, Crushbone is always packed. Unrest is always packed.
@Bhagpuss: Vanguard EMU could be a LOT of fun. I’ll definitely play it.
This makes me wish I still had my EQ titanium discs, but I lost them a long time ago :(.
Those two years of Kunark (give or take) were worth the wait. It’ll be interesting to see whether the Paladin / Shadow Knight population takes off after the hybrid penalty is removed. (Sorry Rangers, Luclin and AAs will never be a thing.)
In other news, we might see the Monk and Shaman populations possibly surpass that of Druids.
Drathmar, you can still obtain a copy of Titanium via other means.
@Damage: Ya I found that out after looking into it. Ended up rolling up on the Blue server.
Hi all
So I’ve played a few MMO’s in the past, starting with DAoC in 2001 & playing about everything since along the way, with the last being FFXIV
One game I have never played is EQ. Question for you is, am I best to start on a server such as this? or grabbing the latest available copy of EQ or EQ2 & playing. I know its a very broad question, but relying on some of you veterans to give advice. Money isn’t a concern, $15/mo for entertainment has & always will be cheap
Cheers
@Hatch: Okay, that’s somewhat of a tough one. You did play DAoC in 2001 so I’ll assume you can remember back to the early days of what it was like to play an MMO. Project 1999 is similar to that, except EverQuest was significantly more difficult, and the interface and user-experience much less friendly. If you are patient and wanting to learn, and still able to harken back to the older MMO days, then I highly recommend Project 1999. I do not recommend the current EQ or even EQ2 for the “EverQuest” experience. Those are still good games, but not the classic EverQuest.
If you are looking for the original experience, dated mechanics/features and all, then P99 is great.
The progression server rolling into the main server is a great idea. I’m definitely going to jump on either this or the upcoming official EQ progression server, I just need more specifics on the latter before making a decision.
“There would never be a formal agreement. ”
Never say never!
https://forums.station.sony.com/eq/index.php?threads/an-update-announcement-from-project-1999.219953/
http://www.project1999.com/forums/showthread.php?t=191146