What makes a good funserver?

[Gastricpenguin]

Where do people get the idea that obstacle courses are necessary for custom servers? They aren't even enjoyable!

What would I like to see? Core modifications, kick ass scripted items, and things you wouldnt find in ANY other server. What do I mean? Take the ZombieX mod for Cod5. I'm not suggesting you make a zombie mod for your server, I'm just saying you should make something original (albeit cod5 did already had singleplayer zombies :P)

What I've done (and never brought to light):
Rage mode - Every 10th critical hit triggers rage mode, which increases damage and speed.
Lifesteal weapons - Weapons automatically refund a small portion of health per hit (based on damage)
Mana restoration - Same concept, but spells restore small amounts of mana

[darkwiz787]

Something that takes WoW and doesn't just make it easier and more accessible, but rather expands on it.

[upside00]

Malls are great even for blizzlike servers. Most people don't mind grinding some things, but other things they don't want to. I'd have a twink set of gear at every major leveling hub, and always max out people's bags, give food/potions of an appropriate level, and things that most people on blizzlike hate grinding out. If it's instant level server then make the starter equipment no more than greens. Trust me on this. If you start people in blues most of the time they'll skip a ton of content just because they can.

Events are huge for retainment for players. I still log onto this one server that sucks overall but has great events just because they're fun. The main thing is try to set up an event that can "run itself" without constant management. Clearly defined goals and rewards. Easier to do on a PVE server obviously, but opens up more possibilities on a PVP server for fun(and harassment).
||||kinda tied together
Obstacle courses are easy to design and people like them. No brainer. Hell, block off places around the world with giant mazes full of mobs that have some kind of worthwhile item at the end would probably be a huge unique thing on a server. Custom made instance with just a little bit of work and it'd be out in the open.

Always make a main hub for players to gather around. For level 70 servers this should be Strattath. Lvl 80 Dalaran. Lvl 60 it should be a custom area or Org/Stormwind for each faction. Trust me on this, it helps out raiding and pvping tremendously. Caution == Creates slightly more asshat behavior to police.

Low level instances are insanely underused. If most of your players skip them, replace mobs' loot drops with stuff from the things players are raiding and script them in line with the "prefered" instances. Those low level instances are already designed for you and it's easier to fix problems in them than creating your own.

I recently quit a pre-tbc server cause the admin refuses to open Naxx, refuses to fix a few of the bugs in AQ40/20 and all the server did was run BWL/MC/Onyxia 800 times a day. That's fun for a few weeks but after you're full of t2 or t3 pvp is the only thing left.

Custom BGs if possible. There's a lot of unused space out there in Azeroth and I think all you'd need to do is add a teleporter, add some walls, and set up a flag or capture point or "Kill this NPC" and you'd get players killing each other for hours having fun. Make getting initial pvp set easy, make getting later ones harder. Lots of balance needed on this one because Horde seems to always dominate private servers.

Don't try and go crazy with custom items and "class" gimmicks. You'll have to do so much on the other fronts that these really shouldn't ever come up till much later. Obviously custom items can be a retainment tool and fund raiser for your server. At the same time they've likely destroyed hundreds of servers because players innately hate other players that have stuff they cannot/refuse to get. "No unfair advantages." Keep custom stuff as cool stuff not pvp or pve related weaponary stuff.


Good luck! The main thing is knowing exactly what the people on your server want then giving it to them in a short period of time while making it as unbuggy as possible.