Server Ultimatum Suggestion.

[Hellguh]

Well, let me start off by saying that this server has a great base structure. But, as with any WoW private server, with time comes changes. This server really needs a change in my opinion, because I'm sort of getting tired of everything already. I have a list of everything that I believe should change. I hope you guys read this all for it may be long. See list below:

1st change - Hyjal. Now, there is just no structure in Hyjal at all. 1 second the Horde is dominating, the next second Alliance is dominating. The guards to the bases are pointless as they can all be wiped out and then everything can get camped, and your hearthstone can get interrupted (Forcing you to exit game and relog.) My suggestion? Completely relocate. Where? Searing Gorge, or maybe Eastern Plaguelands. This would bring back the old level 60 outdoor PvP feeling, and also it would have a lot of space for the masses of players to spread around in. This way, there are more 1v1's rather than repeated ganks/HK farming. There can be bases up in the hills, and rather than killing base guards for questing, make people go get HK's or kill specific NPC's within the PvP area. For example, Alterac Valley has quests where you collect armor scraps and such from NPC's. Maybe set up something like that, and spread the NPC's out for more 1v1's. For Eastern Plaguelands, do the same thing. This is an excellent map (Better than SG in my opinion) and it would also bring back the old level 60 outdoor pvp nostalgia. The only thing I would do different in Eastern Plaguelands is maybe add a boss NPC, or have a few rare NPC's roaming around with frequent respawns for quests. <-- Kind of bad idea, actually. But still throwing it out there.

2nd change - Mall. The Shattrath mall is hardly used, which is good for low FPS players and all, but I still believe there should be seperate Alliance/Horde malls. In the main cities, of course (Orgrimmar and Stormwind/Ironforge). I say this because the cities aren't used at all, and that really ruins a lot of fun that could be had on this server. You could sneak through the city as a rogue, attempting to find people that are alone and gank them. Of course, I'm not sure if this already exists but I've seen it on other servers, make sure you can instantly res right where your corpse was. That way if people get owned by someone in the city, they can revive quickly. This brings me to another idea, rather than having the questgivers for outdoor PvP areas directly in the PvP area, have them spread throughout the city. This way, people are spread across the city doing/taking dailies and it makes the PvP idea more fun. The PvP areas would have multiple item drops from mobs/slaying quests that give you multiple currencies required for gearing up. Also, don't limit season four to those who are good at arenas. It's really not fair. That's why I threw this idea out there.

3rd change - PvE. This is the biggest, most annoying problem I have with this server. Of course you're going to get those people that will just say "Oh, it's a PvP server, don't like it then get out." My response to them - You have to PvE, before you can PvP. That's how it's always been all throughout WoW (Obviously not on an instant level 70 server that gives you a bunch of stuff) but PvE really does matter a lot, even on a server such as this. My suggestion? To restore PvE, you must change PvP. This means, you can't just hand people Season 2. I mean, you can, but look at what it did to PvE. PvE hardly exists, and it's always the same instances over and over, and it's always mainly for BoJ. What I recommend is giving (starting out) people a wide variety of 60 - 70 rare items (throw some epics in there of course), and having them actually earn honor for Season 1, S2, S3, and BoJ/Honor for S4. Keep the enchant/Gem vendors around too, so the people without sockets in their gear (yet) know what they're missing out on. Now, I also suggest making it generally easy to get S1, or maybe just starting with s1 weapons or something. With everybody having pretty good gear, you don't feel as accomplished when you sit there and earn all that gear for a small damage increase. Also, you start with rare PvE items, so perhaps add an epic vendor that goes from cheapest to most expensive. Or seperate epic vendors. Whatever you guys feel works for you. I'm just throwing out ideas that you guys can branch off of. I also understand that many crybaby noobs would say "Oh, you're not handing out anymore like you used to! I quit!" BUT, you should take into consideration that many people would appreciate the structure of the server. As long as you guys don't resort to adding custom items (god forbid) then we're good. I HATE custom items/servers with customs.

4th change/suggestion - What I would reccomend, for a complete Ultimatum server with guided upgrades and such, would be to have a very high-rate leveling/pvp server where you level quickly, and instances/Best in Slot raiding items are required. (I'm going off this because I love level 60 Feenix WoW, and I'm trying to merge level 60 structure with level 70 items/weapons). So when you get level 70, farming gold would be pretty easy due to the increased rates, and you can level professions somewhat easier. You would have a whole economy going, as you would not have an enchants/gems vendor. (Maybe throw in a rare item vendor that just costs gold so people can get started on PvP/raiding rather than getting stuck) Then, at level 70 you PvP for just honor. No PvP quests with BoJ, all badges must come from instances/raids. The harder the raid, the more BoJ. And of course you would get the items that come along with the raid. S3 and S4 would require BoJ AND Honor points, while s1 and s2 would just take honor to get. And before, like I said I'm just throwing ideas out here for you guys to branch off of. This server could use a big change in my opinion. Vacant cities? Lack of professions? Unbalanced PvP areas? Unstructured item earning? Not much PvE? These are problems, minor and major, that I see with the server.

[Imperium]

Not in the mood for reading, but I'm sure you make valid points.

With the release of Smolderforge WOTLK soon, I(among others) are hoping Henhouse's attention will be put towards that realm. Not only does the expansion leave a lot of growth room, it also brings a number of customizations to the table.

For instance, replacing Hyjal as world pvp(for the love of god HYjal better not even be in Wotlk) not to mention, a more structured arena system other than RD/W everything.
Also, a bigger playerbase can be achieved with Wotlk, since most people think it is the most balanced and fun Expansion of WoW. In terms of players, we're sure to soon a ton of new faces, and perhaps old ones.

I agree that TBC is in need of change but... What can be changed? I think the realm itself is at it's peak, there's nothing left to be done - except, move things around and call it innovation which will not satisfy anyone, and which is why Henhouse hasn't done it.
I'm a strong believer in the religion of WOTLK - it will be our salvation(maybe).

[Rawrza]

a bigger playerbase can be achieved with Wotlk, since most people think it is the most balanced and fun Expansion of WoW.

Death Knights are pretty OP but I guess that's just my personal opinion, let's not debate that since it's off topic.

agree that TBC is in need of change but... What can be changed? I think the realm itself is at it's peak, there's nothing left to be done - except, move things around and call it innovation which will not satisfy anyone, and which is why Henhouse hasn't done it.

There's a good amount of stuff that can be done.

Custom Content

You'd be surprised the amount of it you can create with the limited tools we have provided to us as a private server.

Mobs/Bosses: You can combine existing display IDs for mobs with existing spells and a little creativity (and scripting, of course) to create all new creatures.

Areas: There are loads of currently unused areas in Azeroth for us to experiment with and build custom zones in. Hyjal is a good example of this.

Items: The ability to create custom items is one often overlooked and only used for donor gear and little novelty items. We can place our custom mobs and bosses in unused areas and give them custom loot the players can use to earn an added sense of progression. There are ways to do a PvP token system on most emulators (and if there's not one by default there's always a way to do it manually) where we can have players earn custom tokens that add up to buy custom gear.

There's still a ton of options left for the server, just need a little creativity. I've personally created whole quest lines using the tools at my disposal before, and I'd be willing to do it again. There are ideas I never got to use.

[Imperium]

a bigger playerbase can be achieved with Wotlk, since most people think it is the most balanced and fun Expansion of WoW.

Death Knights are pretty OP but I guess that's just my personal opinion, let's not debate that since it's off topic.

agree that TBC is in need of change but... What can be changed? I think the realm itself is at it's peak, there's nothing left to be done - except, move things around and call it innovation which will not satisfy anyone, and which is why Henhouse hasn't done it.

There's a good amount of stuff that can be done.

Custom Content

You'd be surprised the amount of it you can create with the limited tools we have provided to us as a private server.

Mobs/Bosses: You can combine existing display IDs for mobs with existing spells and a little creativity (and scripting, of course) to create all new creatures.

Areas: There are loads of currently unused areas in Azeroth for us to experiment with and build custom zones in. Hyjal is a good example of this.

Items: The ability to create custom items is one often overlooked and only used for donor gear and little novelty items. We can place our custom mobs and bosses in unused areas and give them custom loot the players can use to earn an added sense of progression. There are ways to do a PvP token system on most emulators (and if there's not one by default there's always a way to do it manually) where we can have players earn custom tokens that add up to buy custom gear.

There's still a ton of options left for the server, just need a little creativity. I've personally created whole quest lines using the tools at my disposal before, and I'd be willing to do it again. There are ideas I never got to use.

just gonna give you a big, red X on that custom content idea.

SF is the most retail like server, which is why we have our playerbase, custom content leads to bugs and crashes and unfun stuff. the thought of custom loot makes me cringe. there's no balance there at all. Henhouse I think has stated before the use of custom items will never be made onto SF

[Rawrza]

just gonna give you a big, red X on that custom content idea.

SF is the most retail like server, which is why we have our playerbase, custom content leads to bugs and crashes and unfun stuff. the thought of custom loot makes me cringe. there's no balance there at all. Henhouse I think has stated before the use of custom items will never be made onto SF

Thanks for your input. Bugs and crushes can be prevented by one of two methods:

1. Good scripting. I'm not half bad myself, and given some time to get my bearings again since it's been a while I don't think that would be a major problem.

2. The opening of a small test server, perhaps one that spawns you in a weird default spot that only someone with teleport privileges can get out of so just GMs and devs can test the content and crashes will only affect the test server. Since it would only be a couple people (or one) on at a time and would only be up during testing it wouldn't be too resource intensive.

On the top of custom items, it was merely an example of one of the many things we could do. I would like to point out however that if done right it can be balanced. I've done it before. Not every custom item has to give 5000 attack power and 95% dodge chance.

I certainly wouldn't change any existing Blizzard content around, so it would still be Blizzard like, just with some extra stuff to do once you're done with all of the Blizzard stuff. I love 2.4.3, it's imo the most balanced time in WoW, but the problem with a static game version is you're limited in content to what Blizzard had in 2.4.3 and what you can create.

[Kaloyo]

custom items is what ruins servers so please none of that shit, custom items are for 11 year olds.

new areas to pvp in or something? sure. why not bring in azshara crater... the bg? or even karazhan crypts.

[Rawrza]

custom items is what ruins servers so please none of that shit, custom items are for 11 year olds.

Sure, [Dark Dragon Dildo Sword of Vengeance and Rage] with a billion attack power and +9999 All Stats is for 11 year olds. It's about actually designing balanced gear, which I've got more than enough experience doing. I've seen it done wrong more than enough times myself, so no worries.

[Kaloyo]

custom items is what ruins servers so please none of that shit, custom items are for 11 year olds.

Sure, [Dark Dragon Dildo Sword of Vengeance and Rage] with a billion attack power and +9999 All Stats is for 11 year olds. It's about actually designing balanced gear, which I've got more than enough experience doing. I've seen it done wrong more than enough times myself, so no worries.

what balanced gear? really? there's no such thing as balanced custom gear. a s2 person WITH skill can defeat anyone in s3/s4 without skill or average.
$5 isnt hard to obtain to donate. some people just enjoy working for their gear while others just want it right away.

vanilla and bc is all about the skills > gear. maybe if you started off with full d3 and no s2 or s1, then it'd be unbalanced.
i get your experienced but custom gear ruins shit.. i dont care how "balanced" it can be.

leave it as it is.

[Rawrza]

i get your experienced but custom gear ruins shit.. i dont care how "balanced" it can be.

You've repeatedly failed to elaborate on this.

How does balanced custom gear ruin shit? Because it's not "Blizzlike" ?

You want Blizzlike... on a funserver? That's like peanut butter and Windex. Blizzlike being Windex, because funservers are delicious.

[Kaloyo]

explain balanced custom gear.