WoW: Private Adult Server Project

[Tessera]

PROPOSAL: Our Very Own Private WoW Server -- For Adults Only


We've been talking about this for a few weeks now, down in the (hidden) members-only area of this board. What I am proposing is the creation of a private World Of Warcraft server. This server will be 100% free... it will not cost you a penny to play on it.

In fact, we legally can't charge any money for it... because to do so would be a violation of Blizzard's copyright. Legally, ActiVision/Blizzard are the only people allowed to make a profit from WoW.

But it is -not- a violation of their copyright to set up our own private, customized WoW server. Nor is it a violation of any laws. This has already been decided by the courts, when Sony Online Entertainment tried to file a lawsuit against "EQEmu," an organization of free EverQuest servers. SOE lost that case, on the basis that the private servers in question were not charging any money to their users, nor were they interfering in any way whatsoever with SOE's ability to conduct their normal business. That court decision has been verified... so if any of you think that ActiVision/Blizzard could somehow make trouble for people playing on their own private WoW server, then guess again. Regardless of their macho chest thumping and empty threats, the actual fact is that Blizzard has no legal recourse... just so long as none of us make any money from what we do, with legal software that WE HAVE ALREADY PAID FOR. The server software itself has been custom written and is based upon data which has been extracted from the game files and databases that are already installed on our computers. In short: we bought it -- we paid for it -- we are not "stealing" anything -- so we can pretty much do whatever we want to with it. So long as we are not interfering with Blizzard's business, then they have absolutely nothing to say about it. I repeat: a legal precedent has already been set in the courts (SOE vs. EQEmu).

So now that the boring legalities are out of the way, here is what I would like to propose:


(PART I) Outline -- A Private WoW Server For Adults

Everyone should be aware by now that I'm a modder, who is entertained by the addition of adult content in my games. To that end, I have created quite a few high-quality adult mods in the past. But it isn't just nudity that entertains me... I also appreciate content which has not been censored and/or dumbed down for "younger players" (read: kids). One of the main reasons for why I have latched onto Vampire -- The Masquerade: Bloodlines so strongly is because it is truly a mature game. It has adult language, adult themes, sexual content, nudity... the works. It's an R-rated game for mature players like myself. That is why I spent so much time out of my life trying to repair and enhance that particular game... because in my view, rare gems like VTMB are well worth the effort.

WoW, on the other hand, is a game which has been systematically dumbed down by Blizzard ever since its release. At first, WoW was a significantly more difficult and challenging game than it is today. I remember when it was considered a great feat to be able to solo level your character to 40 within a week. But these days, you can accomplish the same feat in one or two nights, if your toon is only moderately twinked. And in general, the content and scaling of WoW has become decidedly "kids stuff." So be it. If Blizzard wants to make games for the Fisher-Price crowd, then that's their trip and I could care less about it. Yippy yay for Blizzard and their pre-adolescent consumer base. If that's what they want, then they can have it.

But what about the adult players, who have been more or less shoved aside by Blizzard over the years..? WoW could still be a very entertaining game for people of our maturity level... if only it was "rewritten" a bit for adults. Well, this is precisely what I am currently working upon: a very large and involved project, whose ultimate goal is to revamp large sections of the game in order to raise the overall maturity level a bit. Not a massive overhaul, mind you... because the core of the game is fine the way it is. Just a bit of an "adult upgrade," so to speak.

I'm well-known as a "nude modder," so let's get the most obvious question out of the way first. Will this server include nudity..? You betcha... I'm creating an entire set of custom skin textures, banners, wall art, signposts and posters myself. Will it include mature language..? Yes... but I am going to work very hard to make sure that any changes we make to the NPC text does not sink to the level of being sophomoric and gratuitous. Will it include custom quests with a mature flair..? Eventually, yes... once I figure out all of the nuts and bolts. Will it be a solo-friendly server..? Yes it will, simply because I do not expect us to have a huge population of players. So we may need to re-scale some of the content, if and as needed. We'll just play it by ear and then see what changes, if any, need to be made.

Will the players be able to make suggestions for custom content, or get personally involved in any of the changes that we make to our private server..? Absolutely... but only if you can demonstrate that you have the knowledge and ability to handle this type of work. I could certainly use the help... and I would welcome it, from anyone who would like to actively participate in the "behind-the-scenes" aspects of this project. Just shoot me an e-mail and tell me about yourself and your qualifications. We can take it from there.

Anything and everything is possible, on our own private WoW server. Quests can be adjusted or changed... raids can be modified, or created from scratch... the visual quality of the game can be updated and enhanced... just about anything you might imagine is feasible. It all comes down to what the majority of our players want, and whether or not the technical know-how is there to accomplish those desires. Like anything else of this magnitude, I would expect our server to gradually evolve over time... as we add bits and pieces of customized content here and there.

And throughout this ongoing process, the underlying goal will always be to produce an in-game environment which will be by adults -- for adults. NO KIDS ALLOWED. I can't tell you how many times I have heard an adult player say something like "WoW could be a fun game -- if it wasn't for all of those bratty, idiotic kids overrunning the place." Well yeah, no shit... I absolutely agree. The game itself is fine... it's the COMMUNITY of your average WoW server which totally turns me off. And I am FAR from being alone in that perception. I would hazard a guess that the majority of adult players who have shunned and/or abandoned WoW did so because (1) they were sick of being exploited by Blizzard and (2) they grew tired of a childish community dominated by greedy and boorish little "WoW babies."

Well guess what..? We can fix it.  


(PART II) The Perks Of Playing On A Private Adults-Only WoW Server

So then, what would be some of the advantages of playing on a private WoW server for adults..? Here is just a short list of -some- of those perks...

(1) No kids will be allowed on our server... hence they will not be there to annoy you, nor inhibit you from relaxing and expressing yourselves freely.

(2) No more censorship. There will be plenty of mature eye candy and mature content of all types. All of us will be adults... so let's have OUR kind of fun.

(3) Custom items will be available. Some of these will be rewards for the winners of special contests that we concoct from time to time. We might even let you give it a custom name.

(4) Certain items which would normally only be available to the owners of "Collector's Editions" of the game will likewise be made available, via contests or custom quest rewards.

For example, I have already been thinking of one such contest. Just take a look at this little guy here...



That's a Mini Diablo pet. Normally, he was only available to those of us who purchased the very first Collector's Edition of WoW, back in 2004. Technically, he is no longer available on Blizzard's servers. If you didn't buy the original CE, then you can't have a Mini Diablo pet (there was also a Baby Panda pet and a Zergling pet). Well guess what..? I have a better idea for our own private server: a contest. And the winners of that contest will be given their choice of ANY of the collector's pets from WoW's original Collector's Edition. As for the nature of this particular contest, I had an idea: I am going to hide a bunch of Mini Diablo pets in various places... all over the game world. During the course of your travels in Azeroth and beyond, you will no doubt stumble across one of these cute little monsters... tucked behind a sofa, or hiding inside a dusty crypt somewhere, or in any number of odd and out of the way locations. So if you ever happen to find one, then just grab a pencil and paper and jot down his exact location. And when you have found at least a dozen of them, you can then submit your list to your's truly. If your list turns out to be verified and correct, then you will receive a free collector's pet of your choice.

That's just one idea. I have plenty of others. And I'm sure that some of you have your own ideas for similar and entertaining contests. I am ready, willing and able to entertain whatever fun ideas you might come up with.

(5) Adjusted difficulty scales, loot scales and access to raid dungeons. What this means is that I will be taking a look at each dungeon and raid on a case-by-case basis, and then decide whether or not any aspect of that situation needs to be altered in difficulty. Now before any of you jump out of your chairs and say "Do you mean you plan to make this raid ez-mode..?!" ...well, let me reassure you by saying that *I* of all people would never seek to make ANYTHING be ez-mode. I happen to detest WoW's ez-mode crappola. If anything, I can imagine quite a few situations in which the difficulty would be scaled UPWARDS... not downwards. I'm sure that the top raiding guilds on Blizzard's servers are very pleased with themselves for defeating the Ruby Sanctum... but in my personal opinion and speaking as an old-school raider, the only thing Blizzard did was to jack up the numbers on those raids. The actual "strategy" itself is lame and childish... as befitting a game which is dominated by 12-year-olds. Well, I would like to remedy situations like that... and with your help, we will. Any and all input from experienced WoW players is welcomed. But I'm gonna need help on the scripting.

(6) Additional transportation options are being added. On a small server with a limited population, it may not always be possible to find a helpful mage willing to port you and your group to your desired location. Well never fear, because we've got that covered. In various strategic areas throughout the game world, I have been adding a "Travel Agent" to key locations on the maps. You'll like her, too... she's ten feet tall, half-naked and she looks just like Alexstrasza from the Wyrmrest Temple in the Dragonblight. As a matter of fact, she IS Alexstrasza... but she has been heavily modified by yours truly (she is showing a LOT more skin now).

Here is a look at our new travel agent. You'll find her all over the place... in all of the major cities, as well as in various locations where I felt that she was needed the most:



She certainly is easy on the eyes... LOL. But more importantly, she will be very helpful in the early stages of our server, so that the players can get around a little easier. If we eventually gain a more sizable and balanced (class-wise) community of players, then I will gradually begin removing our Travel Agents. I believe that the community should depend upon each other for help... but until we get enough players, a cute Travel Agent will certainly help to make the game a bit less tedious. This particular bot was scripted by the creator of the Trinity server package that our server is being built upon. I simply changed the model to something a lot more pleasing, and then re-skinned her so that she can really strut her stuff.

(7) Sympathetic GM's who actually listen to you. Well for starters, I am the only GM on the server right now... and I definitely care about whatever the players have to say, including any and all complaints that you might have. And to an extent, I also care about what the players want. I say "to an extent," because one always needs to be wary of people who might be asking for a free ride. This is a game, folks. The purpose of any good game is to be PLAYED until you become good at it. So if somebody sends in a petition that says "Can you please come kill so-and-so for me..? He's toooooo harrrrd..!!!" Well umm... no, I don't think that I will be doing that for you, sorry. Get a group... get better at playing your class... and then do whatever it takes to take that mob down on your own. BUT... if you are having some other problem that is clearly something that you require help with, then have no fear... your request will be handled promptly. Suggestions for improvements will likewise be given serious consideration.


(PART III) So What Are We Waiting For..?

It has been quite clear to me... and to thousands of other players like me... that Blizzard has pretty much undermined and nearly destroyed everything about WoW that was -ever- appealing to adult players. Hell... their latest expansion ("Cataclysm") has all but destroyed everything that was once charming and enjoyable about this game. They've damned near flushed all of the most important Warcraft lore down the toilet... replacing it with even more lame and unimaginative kiddie crap, which is about as deep as a mud puddle. Blizzard and their fanboys like to say that those changes have taken place because "the game is evolving." Oh bullshit... if anything, WoW has been steadily DE-volving ever since March of 2005, when Blizzard suddenly realized that they could make a fortune by dumbing down their MMO and making it "more accessible" (read: stupider and easier) for kids. Well yay... I'm glad that Blizzard has made billions of dollars by selling colorful baby food, to unsophisticated youngsters who have been conditioned to accept mediocrity as the norm. They have also managed to ruin quite a few children's lives in the process, by encouraging kids to isolate themselves in their rooms in front of a computer all day and night, instead of getting out into the world and experiencing a more normal and natural maturation process. No wonder most of the kids who play WoW are so poorly socialized. It amazes me that no one has filed a class action lawsuit against Blizzard. Or maybe someone has... who knows. They certainly should.

But what about the rest of us..? Well that is exactly what *I* have been asking, ever since my "Mage Union" fiasco back in 2005. I knew that I was right... I knew that the game was being dumbed down and homogenized... I knew that Blizzard had played bait-and-switch at the expense of hundreds of thousands of mature players. And now, I have finally decided to do something about it... not only for myself, but also for anyone else who would like to join me on a private server of our own.

So whattya say..? If any of the above ideas appeal to you at all, then let's give this a shot. If I get enough response from all of you out there, then I am 100% in favor of us actually going forward with this plan. Our own server... based upon the Lich King expansion... which has custom content, an adult atmosphere, a mature player base and a responsive administration.  

In the meantime, I will continue to play on this server (it is already being built) and fine-tune it as much as I can. Right now, I'm having a blast. But I know that a server this good should not be kept to myself alone... hence my proposal that we open it up to a larger community of adult players.

If you have read this far, then you are no doubt at least a bit interested in this proposal. So the next step is to contact me directly, and state your interest in a more concrete way. You have nothing to lose and plenty to gain... especially if you would like to play WoW in an entirely new way.

Interested players can contact me in several ways:

(1) Join this forum board and then openly express your interest within this thread.
(2) Send me an e-mail at: tessera@tessmage.com
(3) Join this board and then contact me discretely, via private message.

I think it's a great idea. Now we just need to find enough mature players, who share a similar desire for a private game world... one that is significantly different from the kiddie crap on Blizzard's servers.


I'll close this proposal by showing all of you what your own characters might look like. Here's a look at one of my new skin textures, for the human female player characters:




Okay... so the caption is rather silly. Forgive me. But not too shabby, eh..? And there will be much more to come.  


Respectfully submitted,

- Tessera -

[Will Never]

Interested !

[Tessera]

Excellent!   

See if Moraelda might also be interested. Should be right up her alley.

[Will Never]

Ok

[Tessera]

Now then... I am sure that many of you are wondering exactly how all of this is going to work, technically speaking. Well have no fears... because I am going to set thigns up in such a way as to make it very easy to hook up to our private server.

Basically, it will work like this:

(1) First, you need to obtain a "plain vanilla" copy of WoW... up to and including the Wrath Of The Lich King expansion. There are several ways that you can do this. If you already own WoW and its first two expansions... and if you actually have the original installation disks... then it's simply a matter of installing the game plus its expansions and then NOT LAUNCHING IT. More on that in a bit. Another way to obtain the game is to head over to The Pirate Bay and search for version 3.3.5a of WoW. I happen to know for a fact that a pre-configured version 3.3.5a WoW installation exists over there... but I am not going to go quite so far as to tell you what to do. Suffice to say that you can obtain a safe and virus-free 3.3.5a version of the game for free, if you so choose. That is entirely up to you.

(2) Next, your game MUST be patched to version 3.3.5a and NO HIGHER. Our server is going to based upon version 3.3.5a of WoW. So you will need to locate and obtain the 3.3.5a patch on the web and then apply it to your new copy of the game. Or... as stated above... you -do- have the option of downloading a free copy of WoW 3.3.5a from The Pirate Bay. Regardless of how you decide to go about it, we simply need for you to have a complete and UNPLAYED copy of version 3.3.5a on your hard drive.

(3) Note that you can have two copies of WoW on your machine at the same time. By setting up version 3.3.5a as a second installation (if you already have WoW on your computer), you will NOT create a conflict with your existing copy of the game. This is because we are going to customize version 3.3.5a, so that it never tries to connect to Blizzard's own servers. It will connect with OUR server instead... hence, Blizzard's network will be totally out of the picture. So do not worry... you will not be jeopardizing your current version of WoW by setting all of this up on the side. They will be, for all intents and purposes, completely separate entities on your computer... the same as if they were two totally different games. And no... there is no magical way for Blizzard to find out if you have multiple copies of WoW on your machine. The only way to do so would be for their software to actually SPY on your entire computer... which, incidentally, is a violation of federal law. So no worries... they won't bother you. Because legally, they can't.

(4) Once you have a clean 3.3.5a version of WoW on your computer, then the last step will be to download a patch from tessmage.com and then manually install it, which will be very easy to do (simply copy/paste the patch files into your WoW folders). That's it... that's all there is to it. You simply install our patch and your new copy of WoW will forget that it ever knew about Blizzard. Instead, it will try to connect to OUR server when you launch it. And of course, our patch will also include all of the custom content that we have so far... with future installments on the way.

(5) Once everything has been set up on your machine, then you will need to create an account. Or more accurately, we will need to create an account for you. This is simply a matter of PRIVATELY telling the administrator (me) what account name and password you desire. I will then create your new account for you, which takes all of two minutes on my end. And as soon as it is created, it will then be available for immediate play. Just launch WoW and log in the same way you do on Blizzard's servers... using your new account name and password. Nothing could be easier.

(6) Lastly I need to stress that you should NEVER try to launch your new copy of WoW until AFTER you have applied our custom patch. If you launch it before installing our patch, then the game will try to connect to Blizzard automatically... which in turn means that it will then try to patch itself with Blizzard's latest patch (instead of ours). If that happens, then your new copy of WoW will be garbage... and you will need to start this process all over again from scratch. So the rule is simple: DO NOT LAUNCH THE GAME UNTIL AFTER YOU HAVE INSTALLED OUR CUSTOM PATCH. Just let it sit there until it is ready.


See..? Nothin' to it. Get a copy of version 3.3.5a of WoW, apply our custom patch to it, create a new account... and then just log in and play away to your heart's content. It's certainly less hassle than the way Blizzard does it... and for good reason: we're not a bunch of greedy pricks, trying to take your money. Far from it. So since we could care less about who you are or how much money you have, we are therefore going to make it extremely simple for everyone to hook up and play the game.

So far as rules are concerned, my rules are really very simple: just behave like adults and don't grief each other. Same rules that we have here on this board, in fact. Aside from that, I could care less what you do. Just have fun together... that's all I care about. You can use whatever language you want to, so long as you are not harassing any other players. You can use whatever strategies you desire to defeat raid bosses, so long as you do not try to actually hack anything. You can form guilds and name them anything you want to name them... although in some cases, you may need assistance from a GM, if your desired guild name contains any profanity (in special cases like that, it will require GM approval).

I am also going to lower the number of required signatures from 10 to 2, for those of you who may wish to form your own guilds.

Female players -might- get a couple of extra perks on our private server. Why..? Well, because I've watched girls getting mistreated on Blizzard's servers for the past six years... and at this point, I think they deserve a break. If you are a female player and if you have ever been harassed by some childish, misogynistic dipshit on a WoW server, then you know exactly what I am referring to. So perhaps we'll institute something akin to a ladies' night... that sort of thing. As to what the exact nature of those perks might be... I'm all ears. Give me some reasonable suggestions and I will indeed consider them.

I could go on, but I think you get the point. It's gonna be OUR server... it's for adults only... and we can set it up any damned way that we please, until the majority of players are (hopefully) happy with the results.

The first phase of this project is already underway. The second phase will be the beta testing of our new server... so if anybody would like to volunteer to help with the testing, then please let me know ASAP. Experienced WoW players only, please... because during the testing phase, we'll need people who know what they are looking at and can therefore determine more accurately whether or not it needs to be fixed and/or adjusted.

Once all of that preliminary stuff is out of the way, everyone else will be welcomed to join us. Whether you are a seasoned WoW veteran, or even if you have never played an MMO of any kind in your life, I think we can all find something to enjoy on a private server of our very own.

Let Blizzard keep the kiddies that they cater to... but the adult players out there should definitely consider this proposal. Our WoW -- our way. With no bullshit of any kind. It is as simple as that.

[Alkanoonion]

I am always up for free gaming, after all I paid for the %$^#games and then if I want to play I have to pay more...

do you need hosts for the server or are you using one of your old pcs?

[Tessera]

do you need hosts for the server or are you using one of your old pcs?

There are several options available, so far as how the server will be hosted. I'm still trying to decide which option is best.

But one way or another, we'll be running the server on a modern machine that is blisteringly fast... so no worries about lag.

[Tessera]

I've been running around, doing various fixes and adjustments to our server...

Here is what I have accomplished so far:

(1) Many of the mobs have been moved to their proper locations. They were spawning in the wrong places. There are still lots more to find and adjust.. but I'm on it.

(2) The female guards in Darnassus ("Darnassus Sentinels") will now walk around at a slower pace than normal. I did this because their walking animation just looks sexy as hell... and I wanted it to REALLY look sexy. So by slowing down their walking speed, the wiggle in their hips is a lot more obvious now. The next step is for me to re-skin them... heh heh. Seriously though... they look noticeably more relaxed and attractive now.

(3) The Auction House is working perfectly in all locations. No items on it yet... but I'll worry about stocking it later, if and when we get more players on the server. But it -does- work.

(4) "Stitches" in Duskwood was malfunctioning... so sadly, he has been removed until I can figure out what the problem is with his pathing. I suspect that his entire script is missing or broken.

(5) World dragons bosses (the Emerald Dream dragons) are up and they have been set to respawn DAILY, as opposed to once per month or whatever the Blizzard default was.

(6) Onyxia and Ragnaros are now debugged (I hope) and "working as intended," to use Blizzard's own spiel. Rag is still a tough fight... so you had better come prepared.

(7) All of the Burning Crusade raids appear to be functioning normally. Also, game-wide faction gains have been slightly enhanced by yours truly, simply because I think faction grinding is bullshit. Blizzard wants people to keep playing (and paying), so they have lots of mindless grinds in their version of WoW. But on our server, I am adjusting the faction gains so as to make them more realistic and less tedious. I mean... let's get real for a moment. If you kill all of the Deadwood Furlbog's enemies, then it seems to me that they oughta LOVE you afterward. We should NOT have to kill all of their enemies fifty-five times before they love us. So for the sake of REALISM, I am adjusting the rates of faction gain upwards, all over the server. You will get more faction per kill, per quest, etc.

(8} Additional travel agents have been placed in remote zones (such as Feralas). Basically, if the zone is rather far away from conventional travel routes, then I'm placing a travel agent there. Incidentally, the travel agents will add new locations to their list of places AFTER you have first visited those places on your own. I don;t want it to be -too- easy. So for example, at first you will not see a travel option for Booty Bay. But after you have visited Booty bay on your own, then you will see that option become available from our sexy travel agents. It's kinda the same as the way flight paths get added to your list of travel options, in that respect. Visit it first, and then it becomes available forever.

(9) I've added more custom artwork. Mainly pin-up girls and the like. For example, wait until you see the new Stormwind banner... LOL. I'll be giving a similar treatment to all of the major cities. Eye candy is always good.

(10) Many of the cloth armors for female players have been rendered either totally or partially invisible. For example, in that screenshot at the bottom of my OP in this thread, my mage is actually wearing armor in every single slot... you just can't see some of it, because I have rendered it totally see-through (invisible). So now you can wear your gear and still strut your stuff at the same time. I'll take a look at the leather, plate and mail armors, too... eventually. It's easier with the cloth armors, because most of them are simply painted onto our characters. But some of the other armor types are 3-D meshed... hence they may or may not be able to be significantly modified. We'll have to see what I can do with them. Armor mods will be an ongoing project.

(11) Certain items needed for tradeskills are being added to NPC vendors. Normally, you would need to go to another player to get these items made. But on a small private server, there may or may not be anyone available who can make those items for you... so I am adding them to ONE and ONLY ONE vendor per tradeskill. So for example, if you are an enchanter and you need silver, gold and arcanite rods for your enchanting, normally you would need to find another player who is a smith or an engineer to make them for you. Well for the time being, that is no longer the case. You can simply go to one of the NPC vendors in Ironforge and she will sell you any and all of the metal rods needed by enchanters. She also sells the formulas for making them. I will be doing similar things for all of the other major tradeskills.

(12) The walking and running speeds of many NPC's were incorrect. They are being fixed, if and as I discover them.

(13) The base running speed of all players has been increased slightly. I never thought that it was realistic for ALL of the mobs in this game to be able to outrun our athletic little toons... I mean seriously, does anybody believe that a leggy night elf can't outrun a 3-foot tall merloc..? So I have set our base running speed to something slightly higher than the default. The bottom line on this issue is really quite simple: I don't believe in harassing the player, just so the AI can give us another cheap shot. What would be the point in running at all, if everything in the game world can catch us..? So anyway, you will be able to outrun most of the trash mobs in the game now. But be aware that some of the uber mobs can still catch you... which is as it should be. It's a fine line, of course... because there SHOULD be some danger in the world. That's how we learn to play defensively. So I'll continue to monitor this particular issue and adjust it if needed.

(14) The databases are gradually starting to get optimized. Right now, the server is running at warp speed. No lag of any kind whatsoever.  

(15) If we get enough players, then I will set up a custom web site for our server. I am also looking into the possibility of building an "Armory" function for it. It all depends on how complicated it is to tie it into the server database.


So far as purely cosmetic changes are concerned, your suggestions are always welcomed. Just let me know if there is anything special that any of you might want.  


BELOW: an example of customized tier 7 caster armor...



Sorry about the silly guild name... but I did it to illustrate that we will have more latitude, so far as what names are available for our guilds.

[anariel]

While I can't promise I will have all the time I would like to devout for this, I am interested in helping with the debugging (but please, don't make me level another toon when we end the "beta phase"... I don't think I will be able to survive it xDDD), and I will be interested in playing (but know that there is about 8-9 hours of difference between america and my place).

Seeing as the low-population we are aiming to have, I'd advise to extend the Auction House's times, maybe to a week tops. Also, it's probable that people will have one or two "private guilds" for their mules (that is, a single toon with a guild, devoted only to store thingies and to be near the auction house).

Oh, just a little correction: the tiers. In WotLK, the tiers are: some dungeons, some heroic dungeons and "Frozen Throne dungeons", Naxxramas & Malygos & Obsidian Sanctum, "Frozen Throne heroic dungeons", Ulduar, Trial of the crusader, and finally the Lich King's himself (and then Ruby Sanctum).

Probably the most difficult encounters to make right in the database will be Halls of Reflection and, to a lesser extent, the Saron Pit (or whatever was the name of the previous one).

[Tessera]

The Ruby Sanctum is ridiculously difficult. Blizzard really jacked up the numbers in there.

I also suspect that it is not quite complete yet. Some of the triggers in there appear to
be malfunctioning. We'll have to get together and take a closer look at it.

The Obsidian Sanctum, on the other hand, appears to be working.

And yes... all of the armor that you see in my previous screenshot came from either the Lich King encounter, or Naxxramas.
Her dagger is item level 250-something (I forget) and it's nothing less than godly, with something like 700+ spell power on it.

[Ratcatcher]

I'd play and I'm pretty sure i know a few who would be interested.

Heck, knowing me, id probably be on 20h a day, eh!

[Tessera]

Excellent. Everybody will be welcomed... just so long as they are adults (18+).

So spread the word.

[Tessera]

I just installed a huge update to the server database today.

This update was compiled just 3 days ago (March 5th)... so it's about as up-to-date as it gets right now.

There do seem to be quite a few bug fixes. That's good.

But we lost all of the custom changes that I made to the server... and we also lost our topless travel agents. That's bad.

So umm... back to work... LOL. I'll get it all sorted out soon. This will teach me to make regular SQL backups. 

[anariel]

We wary about database upgrades. If you know how to do it manually, it's better than using an autoinstaller which might be overwriting your custom modifications.

Anyway, in a pinch you could just alter the flightspeed of the gryphons/chimeras as a "quick and dirty" solution. Or just copy the script, alter it to make it a teleport instead of a flight, and ready.
Of course, I don't know if it's possible to do it, or even easier than do it manually, but just some ideas... ^^U

[Tessera]

The mob in question is the Forsaken Courier. Normally, she starts walking from Go'Shek Farm in Arathi and then walks slowly all the way to Tarren Mill.

Well... she had no pathing data at all. No path... no pathing nodes... nothing.

So I've been fucking around with it for the past three hours and I finally figured it out. And now I REALLY have a headache...

First, I had to create a new entry in the npc_add_on table in the database. A special entry, just for the Forsaken Courier. So that the server would know that she's actually supposed to DO SOMETHING, instead of just stand there like a dumbshit in the middle of the road. In this particular case, the server had to be told that the Courier is supposed to walk along a pre-set path.

A path which for some reason did not exist.  

Then... and this was the sucky part... I had to run the entire distance from Go'Shek to Tarren Mill, laying down HUNDREDS of waypoints all along the way. I could have gotten away with a lot less, but I wanted her movement to be smooth and believable as she was rounding corners, or changing inclinations, and so forth. So basically, I just made a macro key that issued the commands for creating new waypoints for the Courier on the map. And then I ran the whole fucking distance... all the way there and back (because she has to walk in a loop)... laying down waypoints (pathing nodes) as I went.

After doing all of the above, the stupid undead bitch is finally walking along the route that she is supposed to take. I swear... she must have the longest path in the entire fucking game. She basically walks the entire distance of two full zones and then back again. What a fucking pain in the ass.

But anyway... that's done. 550 new goddamned waypoints for one stupid mob.

[Alkanoonion]

Good work tes, don't forget to backup the table as that would be a pain to redo.

[Tessera]

Yup, I've already learned the hard way to make regular DB backups.

I'm still not finished with the Courier. I've gotten her to do what she is supposed to do... but her entourage of four Forsaken Bodyguards are still just standing there in the road and refusing to accompany her on her route. So... now I gotta get into the creature_formations DB and figure out how to add those Bodyguards into a formation with the Courier as leader. Hopefully it won;t be nearly as much of a pain as the previous step was.

After that, I'm going to try to fix Stitches in Duskwood. I'll probably have to do the same thing... run the whole distance from Raven Hill cemetery to Darkshire and lay down pathing nodes along the way. The difference with Stitches is that he is a triggered, quest-related spawn. So I'll also have to add "events" to various pathing nodes (aka waypoints), so that his appearance triggers various events in the immediate area.

I want this shit to WORK, dammit.  

[Tessera]

Well... the response to this proposal has been anemic.  

A few people have expressed interest, but not enough to warrant the time and expense of setting it up.

So... I guess that's that. I'll keep playing it on my own and just enjoy having WoW as a single-player game.

Many thanks to the three or four of you who responded favorably... but unfortunately, there doesn't seem to be enough interest in this idea. So I'm gonna withdraw my proposal at this time.

You may continue to post replies in this thread if you wish. But officially, I have decided not to go forward with setting it up at this time, due to a general lack of response.