Solution to Oldschool-Server & Player Problems

Greetings Otland,

I've been watching discussion threads about oldschool servers and I see the hate, either there are people scamming others when it comes to donation, others are just corrupt or have a corrupt member on their staff, players have been complaining a lot about gaming on oldschool servers, lots of servers died and I felt like I never gave it a hand to help this community in such a way.

Here I am offering you not a completely new concept but something that comes to stay and make the ones that are actually seeking for a fair and honest server to play on have something in their hands they can rely on.

I might not have that huge name here on OTLand but I've been around for a long while now (I haven't taken part on posts before I created this account back in 2015) but I'm trustworthy and when it comes to proof I'm always here to show it.

Lets come to what I want to offer you, Tibia Oldschool Player > A stable Realmap (map, npc's quests and monsters from realfiles 7.72) with downgraded sprites to Version 7.4 to give you that oldschool feeling. We'll come to the rates that I have in mind later on once I get answers here, I plan not to have high-rates since I want something people can play for a long time and not reset it within months. I don't plan to earn any money with OTServer, at first I'm paying this off my wallet, I don't care, this is a hobby for me and I'm all in with that, you can trust me.

The rates that come to my mind are following:

EXP:
from 5x (probably until level 20~30ish) to 3x
Skill:
3x
Magic:
2x
ManaRegen:
2x-3x depending on opinions
Loot:
1.5x
Runes:
2x

Please don't forget to describe if you feel like playing and what are your wishes so I can have an idea of how many people I'm dealing with, I'd be happy to be able to count with as many opinions as possible!

PS: I do have in mind to have a cosmetic shop which will include buying houses bigger than x SQM, using premium outfits and addons for a REALLY SMALL amount of money to support the server billing (probably 5€ for 30 days of PACC), this will be totally optional and will have no influence in the gameplay at all. I would also like to have a feedback on that.

Kindest Regards,
Okke~

wont appeal to most people but the only reason i get bored of 7.4 OT's, Medivia included is because they're always PVP. Since day 1 playing tibia back in 2004 I've never been a fan of pvp, so if you made 1 pvp and 1 non pvp I'll probably commit to playing religiously

Thanks for your suggestion, Jason, it is like this, if we get enough players to play that I'm sure able to have a second instance for a non-pvp world with the same content, my goal here is to bring back the old memories but without the bullshit we're having on most servers.

Why you don't add an auto loot or a new form of looting? Keeping the game simple as it was in 2004 is safe but it had a many design issues. Improving the game is a key here. Why you don't add a new equipment system? Or imbuement system to make players able to customize their equipments and with customize their character? Why you don't add a prey system like rl that gives some small bonuses over random monsters? Vanilla old school is really boring.
There is no competition to Medivia at the moment.
Every old school server out there claims to have those 7.72 files and rl map. People need something to compete, to achieve. New custom ends to classic quest(like sword of the fury, basilisk, soul ruby in ankrahmun, serpentine tower, etc) , achievements , custom stories and dungeons, 7.7 dreamer challenger quest would be cool(any other oldschool server claims to have poi working) or maybe a oldschool version of inquisition(keeping the idea of a quest that is about fighting demons).

Autoloot would break the oldschool gameplay since you can steal loot from others, also would imbuement and prey, I don't feel like going the way cipsoft went into "improving" the game, they just fucked up, look at their player count after years. Improving the game will first take part once I get opinions from the players, there should be also polls once the server's got its community. This is just starting but I can say that I already have plans in my mind to add more systems that match, or better said do not influenciate on the oldschool gameplays, be it for example finishing quests that haven't been finished at the time by cipsoft and maybe bring back older content (calcanea, basilisk, colossus fortress, a few places inside hellgate and so on, I'm aware of most stuff as worked a lot on books and unsolved stuff as I played tibia back in 2003-2006). Thanks a lot for the feedback, yamakek!

Okke said:

Autoloot would break the oldschool gameplay since you can steal loot from others, also would imbuement and prey, I don't feel like going the way cipsoft went into "improving" the game, they just fucked up, look at their player count after years. Improving the game will first take part once I get opinions from the players, there should be also polls once the server's got its community. This is just starting but I can say that I already have plans in my mind to add more systems that match, or better said do not influenciate on the oldschool gameplays, be it for example finishing quests that haven't been finished at the time by cipsoft and maybe bring back older content (calcanea, basilisk, colossus fortress, a few places inside hellgate and so on, I'm aware of most stuff as worked a lot on books and unsolved stuff as I played tibia back in 2003-2006). Thanks a lot for the feedback, yamakek!

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Look up at their player count after years?
This is considered compliment every game that existed or was created when tibia was born are dead now. And tibia still keeps going even that player count dropped this is success imo.

Do you still think it is a compliment? I think the player database on OpenTibia is bigger than on RealTibia for more than 2 years constantly.

If you have been watching discussions about oldschool servers you should know that what you are offering is only what a handful of people want. So don't expect any more than that.

Sure, this is a dev-forum, we're indeed lacking oldschool players on otland but at least I'll finally deliver this handful of people what they've been waiting for.

Not really, there are alot more exciting projects for lowrate players. You are not offering anything unique, don't act like you are.

That's your opinion, let me quote myself from post #1:

"Here I am offering you not a completely new concept but something that comes to stay and make the ones that are actually seeking for a fair and honest server to play on have something in their hands they can rely on."

If you're not happy with what I'm offering then sorry, I can't help you.

Okke said:

Autoloot would break the oldschool gameplay since you can steal loot from others

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Is the stealing loot mechanics really important?

Okke said:

also would imbuement and prey, I don't feel like going the way cipsoft went into "improving" the game, they just fucked up, look at their player count after years.

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Prey System and Imbuement System were the best cipsoft improvements since ages ago. You can't throw it at the garbage just because it has been added by cipsoft. The current player amount is not a valid point because the best tibia moment was in 2007(not in 2004) when cipsoft added liberty bay(7.9) and added item/potion hotkey/outfit addons/poi(7.8).

Okke said:

Improving the game will first take part once I get opinions from the players, there should be also polls once the server's got its community. This is just starting but I can say that I already have plans in my mind to add more systems that match, or better said do not influenciate on the oldschool gameplays, be it for example finishing quests that haven't been finished at the time by cipsoft and maybe bring back older content (calcanea, basilisk, colossus fortress, a few places inside hellgate and so on, I'm aware of most stuff as worked a lot on books and unsolved stuff as I played tibia back in 2003-2006). Thanks a lot for the feedback, yamakek!

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I still think that people would enjoy more the old essence with newer and cooler stuff. The game must envolve, tibia in 2004 was really underdeveloped.

I just think that thinking old school was better is mostly nostalgia. The content was overly simple, the graphics terrible, but as we played as kids everything was new and mysterious. After we discovered everything and learned that tibia doesnt have as many secrets as we thought before, the magic is lost.

I dont think I would have nearly as much fun as I had back then in 7.4 even if I went back in time and played Cip's tibia. That's why Im not really fond of old school servers.

To me OT is a place where new things should be invented.

Yamaken said:

Is the stealing loot mechanics really important?

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Yes.

Yamaken said:

Prey System and Imbuement System were the best cipsoft improvements since ages ago. You can't throw it at the garbage just because it has been added by cipsoft. The current player amount is not a valid point because the best tibia moment was in 2007(not in 2004) when cipsoft added liberty bay(7.9) and added item/potion hotkey/outfit addons/poi(7.8).

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I didn't throw it in the garbage, I just think that it doesn't fit the oldschool gameplay as it is implemented by cipsoft, as far as I remember (I played tibia from 2003 to 2007) once tibia 7.72 got updated we started having people with cavebots around and tibia lost its fun, afterwards it was all a matter of "money making" and unbalanced vocations. I personally don't like the hotkey system as the game becomes a hotkey-slam game and all the euphory goes away since you can't misclick a potion or miss a rune.

Outfits are a great thing, yes, I'm sure I'll want to implement new outfits along new challenges and achievements, but the thing is to get a good player community before start developing and developing and developing, in the end if the marjority of the players do not want that it's not going to be worth. I'm careful with peoples opinion and knowing that I cannot make everyone happy, I'll do my best to satifsfy the needs of most players and every detail should be discussed before any feature gets added.

Yamaken said:

I still think that people would enjoy more the old essence with newer and cooler stuff. The game must envolve, tibia in 2004 was really underdeveloped.

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Thanks again for your marvellous feedback, I'm taking it into account and I also share the same idea, that's just the point I wanted to get and it's the chance to make something more enjoyable than what tibia has become over the years.

Siegh said:

I just think that thinking old school was better is mostly nostalgia. The content was overly simple, the graphics terrible, but as we played as kids everything was new and mysterious. After we discovered everything and learned that tibia doesnt have as many secrets as we thought before, the magic is lost.

I dont think I would have nearly as much fun as I had back then in 7.4 even if I went back in time and played Cip's tibia. That's why Im not really fond of old school servers.

To me OT is a place where new things should be invented.

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Thank you for your feedback, I appreciate it a lot, as I just answered Yamaken: It's the chance to hear what people seek, discuss the matter of importance, check impact into the game, if it's a good idea and people are happy about it it will for sure be implemented for the sake of a good server that we don't have out there at this time.

Yamaken said:

Is the stealing loot mechanics really important?

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Any mechanic change matters a lot. People come to play oldschools servers to play something they are familiar with. You don't have to relearn anything. Once you change some feature you automaticaly frustrate part of your player base (that's already small), since they will came to the point of expecting things to happen in some way, and have it happening in a totally diferent way that frustrate them (eg.: being unable to fight over loot).

All this little changes add up, and them you have a shadow of what the game was, when the main objective was to generate a nostalgic experience. If you don't think stealing loot mechanics are not important, it's another sign you shouldn't touch it. Any mechanic change should be in a important aspect of the game, be really easy to pick up, and don't fuck up any aspect of the game (because it matters for some people).

I like stackable runes and flasks, but it's not really a change that will attract players, but will drive some away.

LaggyNoob said:

wont appeal to most people but the only reason i get bored of 7.4 OT's, Medivia included is because they're always PVP. Since day 1 playing tibia back in 2004 I've never been a fan of pvp, so if you made 1 pvp and 1 non pvp I'll probably commit to playing religiously

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@Okke I think this is your biggest challenge. Oldskool Tibia has its charm but it's not perfect. Pick any old version and you will have flaws that CIP changed in later versions. You might not agree with all Cipsoft's changes but that doesn't mean leaving it as it was is a perfect solution.

If your solution to PK/PA is to open a second server down the line, you will make your biggest issue even bigger – you have a small player base.

Worr said:

@Okke I think this is your biggest challenge. Oldskool Tibia has its charm but it's not perfect. Pick any old version and you will have flaws that CIP changed in later versions. You might not agree with all Cipsoft's changes but that doesn't mean leaving it as it was is a perfect solution.

If your solution to PK/PA is to open a second server down the line, you will make your biggest issue even bigger – you have a small player base.

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I agree totally with you, the point here was just to move on with well-thought solutions for new systems implementation instead of just copying everything CIP did, which in my opinion was a huge mistake, I won't go for anything that destroys the mechanics or smoothness of 7.4 Tibia.

In reply to you in my other Thread, I've reworked a lot of the client and started the Test-Server yesterday, you can check it out. (it'll run for a week)

[France] Voidcore - 7.4 TEST-SERVER [Realmap, 3x Stable, No P2W Policy]

or Voidcore

No offence but this "idéa" is no solution. Its just another 7.7 with 7.4 mechanics. I dont see how this solves anything?
Edit: Fact is that most oldschool players are growing up and the "modern" Tibia players does not want to play "old Tibia". I'd say the majority of the real old school lovers play on Medivia. I mean, still around 800~~ players each and every day and no resets and the content is interesting.

Tony32 said:

No offence but this "idéa" is no solution. Its just another 7.7 with 7.4 mechanics. I dont see how this solves anything?
Edit: Fact is that most oldschool players are growing up and the "modern" Tibia players does not want to play "old Tibia". I'd say the majority of the real old school lovers play on Medivia. I mean, still around 800~~ players each and every day and no resets and the content is interesting.

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Well that's your point of view and I respect it, I'm just pointing out that I had an awful experience on Medivia where the whole server is becoming custom, it's too much new when it comes to content and I didn't have the chance to see it growing because I didn't play back in the days, I gave a few tries on Medivia, the problem is that you MUST PAY to do anything, you cannot travel by boat anywhere if you don't give money to Iryont, you cannot use a haste spell, that's pretty boring and I don't feel like manasitting for a week to be able to buy a premium rose just so I can do all the things that I could do on my server for example (where I don't play) without handing out any money or not having any P2W item that can be bought from shop.

I wont reset Voidcore once the test-server phase is over, I'm just fixing the smallest details so I can give back to community what they don't have, a server with someone that takes care of it, a good administrator that read and answer all suggestions, thinks before adding any content that might destroy the game mechanics, cashers only get cosmetics and housing from shop and of course is reliable, you can be sure that you'll log in next day and everything you had will be still there.

Thanks for your opinion.
Kindest Regards,
Okke~

Tony32 said:

No offence but this "idéa" is no solution. Its just another 7.7 with 7.4 mechanics. I dont see how this solves anything?
Edit: Fact is that most oldschool players are growing up and the "modern" Tibia players does not want to play "old Tibia". I'd say the majority of the real old school lovers play on Medivia. I mean, still around 800~~ players each and every day and no resets and the content is interesting.

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Click the onlist list..sort by level and see it for what it is lol dont be dumb xD

@Okke
Just do some cool events every day to keep players around for as long as possible.. CTF.. zombie event.. king of the hill... lots of random ones... coordinated battles.. etc
give ppl more goals.. tasks.. pvp tasks.. leaderboards of different stuff.

playerbase of old school tibia atm literally will play until their team loses then just spam dead when there team gets outdone. so i'd say servers who haven't been established for years like Medivia will continue to die due to the player base.