Quote:
Originally Posted by Moplex
I'll list some changes that make it feel like another game and no longer a private server of the game you intended to host :
-Nostale UI replaced by some ElvUI looking thing, which never looked good to begin with
-SPs have been reworked to something else entirely. If I wear a warrior, I expect my gameplay loop to be provoke > earthquake/spin/dragon; not whatever I was greeted by; I don't want whatever vision, you, another player, have for it, but the one the devs had, as bad as it might be, because that's how they intended their game to be
-I've been given every SP 99+14 at like, level 20; which sucks for progression, I get progression has to be faster on a p-serv, giving gear is enough, no need to give me nuclear-bomb levels of powers when enemies are already dying without a sp in two hits
-Speaking of enemies, and this is where my biggest problem is, they have edited values. My entire experience from lv1 to 90 was "something's off, they shouldn't have those stats", which makes your server one step further away from being nostale, since mobs are edited
Overall I stopped after a few hours, it felt like I was playing one of those early nosemu servers trying to make nostale something else; instead of making nostale... nostale.
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A few words from someone who watches scene for almost 2 years and currently works on his own server gamplay:
I think your feedback is very subjective and that's completely fair. It mostly comes down to what you expect a private server to be. From what you're describing it sounds like you're looking for something very close to the official experience, just with higher rates and less P2W. A lot of people want exactly that.
The thing is, historically, that type of server hasn't really worked out in the long run. Making an official-like server with boosted rates is actually the easiest route but also the one that tends to die the fastest or never really gains traction. There's always demand for it but in practice players get bored quickly because it doesn't offer anything new and they leave forcing founders to close the doors.
There is also very thin line for founders opening this type of servers. If you promote it as "official-like" you are expected to not go too big on something cool and new. That makes work more difficult because you:
- can't make drastic changes because you may lose players who want vanilla experience
- you can't get large playerbase for long term because everyone will
-- (if they want vanilla experience) sooner or later decide to go back to official servers.
-- (if they want something new what they expect from private servers) find something more unique and fun somewhere else
If you look at the scene over the years the only notable exception that managed to stick while staying close to the official formula was Vendetta server - and even that's more of an exception than a rule.
That's why many servers go in a different direction and start changing things - UI, SP changes (new combos, different flows etc), progression speed, mobs and their stats/purpose, implementing new systems, events etc. It's not necessarily about "ruining" the original game but about trying to give players a reason to play something that isn't just a faster version of official.
You also can't ignore the fact that even Gameforge has over time introduced features that feel heavily inspired by what private servers were doing first (even lately the marathon mode, some "weird" rift copies, faster box opening, raid reports. I might not be right but I think even battlepass is some sort of copy of what Olympus has had when they launched). That alone says a lot - the game needs something new. And private server teams, like the ones behind Eastmile or Olympus, aren't tied to a Korean publisher's pace or restrictions (like gameforge is. Thet don't ship what they want. They ship what Entwell wants), so they can experiment and push updates much faster (especially now in AI era where coding is just few hours of work instead of weeks as it was before).
Again, I'm not here to defend Eastmile (we'll be competitors soon). I'm just trying to point out that everything you described suggests you're looking for a completely different type of server.
To be serious: what you're looking for is very hard to find currently and arguably not even worth chasing in the private server scene. If your goal is a stable, long-term, official-like experience, you're honestly better off sticking with the official servers, where your progress won't disappear after a few weeks due to population drops or founders giving up on a project.
Alternatively, if you do want to explore private servers (which I highly recommend), you have to give these more custom ones a real chance - more than just a few hours. They're not designed to feel "right" immediately if you come in expecting same gameplay as everywhere else. I was never into "something new" not that long ago. 2 years has passed and I am working on a server which is pretty much nowhere near official experience.
About Eastmile, I tried this server myself over a year ago, and to this day, it's probably the best private server I've played on. My only real issue was the playerbase being too Spanish-oriented which just didn't work for me personally. I did not like it in the first place and I left after few days. Then I came back again after testing other servers (so I gained some "private server feeling") and I enjoyed it very much.
If you give one of the genuinely well-made servers (like Eastmile or Olympus) more time, you might end up enjoying it more than you expect.
If you still want something closer to the classic experience you could try DynZen - they've just come back recently. I'm personally skeptical about their long-term success but who knows, it might be exactly what you're looking for.
My subjective review of the servers (quite old but maybe it will help you in some way)
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Edit - one more word about:
Quote:
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Overall I stopped after a few hours, it felt like I was playing one of those early nosemu servers trying to make nostale something else; instead of making nostale... nostale.
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NosTale as a game is designed to be end-game focused. It has been this way for a very, very long time.
It doesn't matter what you do on official servers until you reach the end game. That is where the real story begins.
With private servers like Eastmile it is very similar.
You said "I stopped after a few hours" and I think this is not fair to make an opinion on something that you did not really gave a chance.
It's like going on a date with a nice girl different than any girl you dated before and leaving after saying "hi" because her voice was not what you expected.
As I said before in this very long message I write while being pretty drunk - give it a chance and I promise you that you will be positively surprised.
I used to have similar feeling about Eastmile (and pretty much every other private server) because I never gave them a real chance. I was quitting after few days tops.
First server I gave a true chance was Void where I played for multiple weeks. After I saw their end-game and how cool (and different from what I expected) it can be, I gave chance Olympus and Eastmile and both those servers felt totally different with this slightly "matured" mentality (after I understood what I am getting from those servers)
That is it.
Whoever reads this entire message - you are a creep man. I recommend going to a doctor