A fresh idea for a TBC server: give me your opinions!

[blukkiee]

OLD IDEA HAS BEEN SCRAPPED. OLD POST IS QUOTED BELOW.

Because of the lack of (good) TBC servers, I decided to start one myself.
The server will fully focus on being as close-to-blizzlike as possible.

Things you can expect:
- The server will be 2.4.3 (sunwell TBC patch)
- It runs on a ArcEmu core that I modded myself with various fixes
- Instances will be released by time. Karazhan and Gruul's Lair will be up on start. In the meanwhile I will be developing the next instance, release it when I know it's fully done (there might be bugs that players will discover, I will fix them asap. GMs will be watching or playing in raid so guilds keep exploits a secret to themselves).
- I will script everything myself. I've got 2 years of C++ experience in ArcEmu.
- Attunements are back! This is to give players a push and send them into dungeons. I never liked the idea of free epics, like most servers. Players should be proud of their character and not have 10 fully epiced characters and be bored of it in a week.
- MGT will not be available till you completed the SSC attunement. Items in MGT have a high item-level.
- Sunwell Badge gear is not available outside of raid-instances. You will find the vendor near a Boss in SSC or TK.
- PvP will be a big part aswell. Collision (LoS) is working.
- There will be PvP seasons that will last approx. 2 to 3 months.
- Events will be held for players to keep them from getting bored on the server. Information about these events on the website (to be released soon)

- STARTING GEAR will be 70% blue, 30% green. This is also in the view of getting proud of your character. Starting gear should never be good. Obtained gear should be.
- There will be a steady economy. Players will start out with 0 gold.
- Admins and GMs will watch the economy and balance it.

- There is a known hack where players can cast uncategorized spells. I've implemented a system where if players cast any uncategorized spells they will be kicked and banned instantly.
- I will hire GMs from Europe, the US and Australia to cover all times. There will be very strict rules for GMs though, but... They will possibly get payed!
- Donation rewards have been covered and will be released on the website when it's done.
- THE SERVER WILL START with at least 50 active people. There are 79 accounts and 197 characters registered already!

The list will be updated whenever I missed a point
Any questions or comments should be posted here, or via a PM.

Ever since TBC was launched, people missed the 40 man vibe when raiding. I've looked for servers that were dedicated and even near to hardcore, but I never found one till this day.
Then it struck my mind, I can make my own server!

I've had several ideas for the server, but the main thing would be: 40-man raids!

No more 10 and 25-man bullshit. Karazhan will be, for example, tuned to 20-man. Gruul to 40-man.
Just like the raid instances after that, they will ALL be tuned to 40-man.

I want the server to be, at least a bit, hardcore.
One thing to make it more hardcore than it was live is bringing back the attunements.

FAQ.

How will you accomplish this?
I'm an experienced scripter and I've been working with WoW Emu databases and scripts for a long time. I'm working together with 2 other friends on this project at the moment and we've got great ideas for this server.

How will the server look like?
- Players will start at level 70.
- You will start off with 0 gold. I want a realistic feeling on the server, thus an economy shall grow.
- You will start off with Dungeon 3 gear and random blues. But none world drops, none quest rewards and there will be NEVER... ANY epic sold. It's already easy enough to pick those up in a Heroic instance.
You will get epic mount for free, this isn't really anything special imo.
But flying mount skill will cost gold, ofcourse.
- There WILL be a teleporter, but ideas are to remove them later on or not even have him to start with. Give your opinions. It speedens up group/raid gathering though.

When will the server be up?
I am probably going to put it up in a BETA phase to begin with. In this phase, players are free to join and we will hunt down bugs to fix. When the BETA is over, those who have helped will receive items, that the people who join after the BETA, will never ever be able to get again. This is as a 'Thank You', and for those to feel special! It'll make a community grow as there's a goal to stay

Donating for items?
Most likely, yes... it's almost inevitable, but the costs won't be low to prevent donating fully epiced chars.
We won't be setting up Legendary Items for donation.

Server advertisement?
We got it mostly figured out. This post is one of them I guess
There will, ofcourse, be a voting option. We will make a panel in which voting will reward you items. Those items would be stuff like Non-combat pets and such. They will not help you in PvE or PvP anywhere to keep it fair.

Server Core?
We are setting up our MaNGOS version at the moment. But we might switch over to ArcEmu as I'm more experienced with Arc.
We chose MaNGOS for now because of Boss Scripts and working Class Spells.

Server patch?
We are not sure of this yet. At the moment, it is 3.1.3+ simply due to the fact that people can't be bothered to downpatch their WoW. And really, we'll be needing a community of at least 200 for a stable server activity.
2.4.3 is another idea, but that is still being discussed.

What about 3.1.3 talents, item changes and Death Knights?
We will disable most WotlK talents, as far as it is possible. Those that can't might actually help you in your 40-man battle.
Also, the item changes might be a fun addition. It brings more variety and a new way of looking at items. I see this as a plus.
You won't be able to choose a Death Knight class.

Any custom content?
Maybe there will be events held by GM's, like World PvP or even a custom boss that will be spawned for one day each month.

YouTube - Necris: LAN Boss
(example of one of my custom bosses, done with my friends)

If you feel there's things unanswered, FEEL FREE TO ASK!
I'm watching this thread daily for your responses. That's why I posted this after all.

PLEASE: DROP YOUR OPINIONS AND IDEAS!!!

[stoneharry]

You need to get a community and a good development team before going for it, you can have any server idea, anything works, but it's all about how you sell it and advertise. The website defines your server more than anything else, if a player doesn't like it they will instantly hit back
It will take a long time to get any decent players and peaks of above 10, you just have to give it your best shot I suppose.

[richard12345]

I'd love to see more servers merging, most servers have peaks of 50, most servers dies due to population, If a few servers decided to go together they would be able to create something BIG instead of these small communitys competing against each other to their death.

[blukkiee]

You're right Stone, and that's why I want people's opinions here. I want to create interest in people here. Ofcourse it will take a long time for the server to grow bigger, there's so many of them already. I'll have to give it a shot anyway, if I really want it.

The only thing I'm worried about is the website. I'm horrible with HTML, CSS and PhP. I don't want to use a premade website, so I'll have to look for a website designer.

Merging is hard to do because of database transfering and stuff. People don't want to lose their characters.

[richard12345]

True that, but honestly, when servers can't even get a battleground started due to faction problems and population..I'd love to see a completely new pvp 70 server with focus on 1 server only, no donation items, admins going together creating something big instead. This would be the best idea (i guess) if you want to do 40 men raids again.

[mcsweeney63z]

I'd love to see more servers merging, most servers have peaks of 50, most servers dies due to population, If a few servers decided to go together they would be able to create something BIG instead of these small communitys competing against each other to their death.

This really should happen more often.

[blukkiee]

True that, but honestly, when servers can't even get a battleground started due to faction problems and population..I'd love to see a completely new pvp 70 server with focus on 1 server only, no donation items, admins going together creating something big instead. This would be the best idea (i guess) if you want to do 40 men raids again.

Yeah, we will focus on one server. Spreading people over multiple servers is the worst thing that you can do. Donation rewards are still under concideration.

[The-Eradicator]

I'd love to see more servers merging, most servers have peaks of 50, most servers dies due to population, If a few servers decided to go together they would be able to create something BIG instead of these small communitys competing against each other to their death.

The problem with that is power. People who run their own servers don't want to have to listen to other people's input.

For example: I run my own server, and I have a vision on what i'm trying to achieve. I don't need random funserver tards ****ing it up. The same applies to the *good* servers, and other servers aren't worth consideration.

[Vindicated]

The problem with servers dieing lies within two groups of people. The administrators need to fork out the money for a dedicated, a domain, and webhosting. They also need to properly advertise. The developers need to do more than fix 3 or 4 bugs and compile the core. They also need to get a good website made, as this can make or break your server. As you can see, the key is investment. For the administrators, the investment is money. For the developers, the investment is time.

[The-Eradicator]

The problem with servers dieing lies within two groups of people. The administrators need to fork out the money for a dedicated, a domain, and webhosting. They also need to properly advertise. The developers need to do more than fix 3 or 4 bugs and compile the core. They also need to get a good website made, as this can make or break your server. As you can see, the key is investment. For the administrators, the investment is money. For the developers, the investment is time.

And for the awesomest people around, the investment is money and time.

[Contox]

Looks great. For the Teleporter NPC Part. I think you should have it. But you shouldn't have anything else then Raids in it. For example you shouldn't have Orgrimmar and Stormwind in it.

[Ascelyn]

How will the server look like?
- Players will start at level 70.
- You will start off with 0 gold. I want a realistic feeling on the server, thus an economy shall grow.
- You will start off with Dungeon 3 gear and random blues. But none world drops, none quest rewards and there will be NEVER... ANY epic sold. It's already easy enough to pick those up in a Heroic instance.
You will get epic mount for free, this isn't really anything special imo.
But flying mount skill will cost gold, ofcourse.
- There WILL be a teleporter, but ideas are to remove them later on or not even have him to start with. Give your opinions. It speedens up group/raid gathering though.

First, I like this idea ALOT, Finally a raid server where you have to start from the beginning!
Second: I had hoped for a vanilla raid server, I miss doing MC and such, So why not make MC a lvl 70 raid? and AQ too and such, That'd be awesome.

Third: The starting with 0 gold is a good idea!

And last.. I dont think alot of people want to start out small and that is what I hate.. They leave as soon as they know they have to actually work for gear.. But well I really like this server

-Greetings Ascelyn

[WiePasta]

I would say its a MUST to have the server on the latest patch i have seen so many 2.4 server just die because no one bothers to downpatch.

And u Really need to focus on the advertisment part i mean the servers that isisnt on the top 25 on xtremetop100 mostly dies after a while because most people just search like "Top 10 private servers" on google then picks the top servers on the site.

And about this 40 man thing i think its more the bosses and the raid instances they miss not too run around with 40 man. I mean rading with 40 man was horrible for an officer or a Raid leader. its really hard to keep an eye on 40 man. So its more the Raid instances they miss not the amount of people they had to take with them.

I Hope u are thinking of buffing the bosses when u say u will let in 40 man to a 25 man boss. If u now Get a really populated server that will raid with 40 man it will be shitty boring to down a non buffed boss that still was easy to down with 25 man.

And doint add Teleporters mabe Give them all the flight path instead Or u will get a ton of QQ pots about a dead world PvP

[blukkiee]

Sup all, I've been busy the last few days but I've read all your comments.

- Yes, I will be buffing the bosses. This may include more than just increasing their Health (think about more adds, or more frequently).
- Teleports will lead to human/horde bases just like flightpaths do. This will not destroy World PvP. It will only be used for the speed. I will disable in-combat teleporting.

- It's not going to be a pre-tbc server, as pre-tbc just doesn't work, AT ALL, on 3.2.x+ patch. 2.4.3 (1.12.x even beter ofcourse but I can't recall any succesful 1.12 servers) would be better and there are already enough of pre-tbc servers on 2.4.3.
Plus, I myself want it to be TBC.

[blukkiee]

This server is currently in BETA, it will be a blizzlike server with Seasons, attunements and instances not being released all at the same time.
I will be scripting every instance myself.