Been out of the scene for quite awhile, RL stuff and no time for L2. But, now I am looking to get back into L2 and maybe get a server going. Being a fan of the older chronicles it would be C5, C6, or possibly HB.

But if I am going to put in the time I would like to see a decent sized player base, is there still enough players left?

This won't be some plugNplay pack it will be official files with an OG extender dev that can make the needed changes and fixes.

I am also considering blockchain integration for a few different reasons as I believe it can benefit players and it would be fun. It can be used to prevent duping and can also somewhat remove trust from the equation, especially important when it comes to the marketplace and buying some rare / hard to get items.

You had me.

Then you ruined it with blockchain. Wish you luck.

Curious as to why, could you explain a little?

No, you will never attract people to your server with any blockchain integration. There have been so many rug pulls involving blockchain that the perception of it is skewed. People won't take you seriously at all.

I have to agree with folks above, I also don't find the blockchain idea intriguing enough to make me to join the server... Generally speaking I'd say yes, there are still enough players (after all, Reborn x1 started late last year and it had over 10k on launch), the issue is attracting them to your server. And I'd say it's more about having a solid marketing budget more than anything

I think maybe there is some confusion between "blockchain" and "Crypto". I'll explain in detail once I have a bit of time but it is not about Crypto. What I have in mind would in a way be an anti-rug in a way as characters and some items would exist on the blockchain and the people who these things belong to would be able to prove ownership through the blockchain.

There is nothing to gain from rugging the server / community. The only Crypto involved ingame would be a few cents in Crypto required for transactions to register characters and items on the blockchain. A bonus side effect of this is item duping should not be possible for items that have been registered on chain.

I get the skepticism, but, if I am able to come through with what I have in mind it could also attract a bunch of new blood into the game from the blockchain community.

Real Items Ingame

The blockchain I have in mind for this is Raptoreum, it is built for things like this and they are already doing something over there which would be a good fit. They have a bladesmith as part of their team and he has been forging blades on live stream, laser scanning them, and than creating models which can be imported into Unreal. Each blade is registered on the blockchain and the corresponding asset acts as a proof of ownership and authenticity.

This could allow owners of these blades to bring the virtual replica ingame, for me that is pretty epic being able to use the hand forged knife you have in real life inside the game. Again blockchain makes sure only the owner in real life has the blade ingame.

Note: These knives would have similar stats to existing weapons, they won't be anything imba.

I had a similar idea when L2 came out. Imprint each item crafted by a dwarf with his name. This way every item created could be tracked. Certain crafters could gain status. But it required a small different approach. Have special abilities added. But anyway. You are still dealing with in game money. Calling it block-chain or crypto changes nothing.

And once you do that you loose the trust of real die hard players.

The only Crypto involved ingame would be a few cents in Crypto required for transactions to register characters and items on the blockchain.

Your own words betray you. What you are suggesting is a cost to even register a character.

Just to be clear registering characters or items on the blockchain is optional, it is not required to play.

I like your idea with crafters, that is interesting and something I had not thought about.

Then I wish you good luck sir. And next time put the optional in, Not having said it makes it sound mandatory.

But you are still allowing micro transactions which still sours the taste. Everyone here is tired of corrupt gms and admins.

Not saying you are one, but the track record is dismal with money involved. And especially if the server funds are at risk.

I decided against the integration, it is a lot of work and time which I do not have much of these days. Probably will offer Crypto as a payment choice for "donations" though as from my side of things it is less hassle.

So I suppose now the choice is which Chronicle. I have I believe files for C5, Interlude, and HB. I am not sure C5 is an option, if I remeber right they were locked up pretty well by Mcrabben when I got them from him. I had planned to run a server with them, I even bought the Nanaki server box from him at that time. I used it for a coffee table in my basement for years lol.

I haven't talked with mcrabben in probably 12+ years so no idea how to get hold of him.

So which chronicle would you guys like to see?

Edit: I also have great H5 files.

Just start that C5 server and let me know because I'm in

Whichever chronicle you choose, I strongly suggest the following: try to find some other server owner with whom you could cooperate. It's just so sad to see so many servers struggling with population just because every server owner believed they had the right idea... There can be 5 servers struggling with 100 online or there can be 1 with a nice population

Other than that, from these chronicles I believe HB might have the highest chance of success, as I am currently not aware of any other active HB server at the moment. Ideally: do some research, try to find some old HB servers that closed, check if their owners can be contacted - and ask them if they would be interested in some cooperation or at least if they could reach out to their former playerbase via whichever email or some social network they have about your new server to endorse it. I believe this kind of homework does far more than the "technical" side of things.

All good ideas Herlitz. But I have had terrible experiences with trying to get almost any kind of info from other server owners.

And dont even ask for code. They all want to one up each other and are very secretive. And why would a previous owner contact his old user base for another server?

Unless they are bragging about their own custom features, you won't get crap out of them. They figure they toiled, coded and did this all on their own. So why should they hand anything over to someone else.

The L2J community is almost the same when it come to sharing. It is mostly cut throat and code stealing.

Wouldn't suppose they'd do it out of a sheer will, they'd need to be interested in some sort of cooperation, or, well, the price would have to be right But if you were to open an HB server and you could somehow reach out to players from a dead HB server, that would be a gold mine for potential players

I would love to do a collab with some other owners, but I would be pretty surprised if anybody would talk to me about it.

I have been sifting through private servers that opened over the last few years, and what I see is mostly cookie cutter style projects. Minimal effort using plugNplay files that most do not really seem to understand and relying on the pack provider for fixes, added features, etc, as they either do not have access or they do not know how.

GMs and events pretty minimal other than what is automated. Seems like mostly attempts at quick cash grabs / rugs.

Am I wrong here?

Working through my files and trying things out so far H5 is by far the most complete and battle tested. The Hellbound files are going to need a fair bit of work.

So I guess I need to decide where to spend the time.

1.) Use files which are well proven and focus on building the community, making regular GM run events, running the project like it should be run.

2.) Use less proven and developed files and spend my time digging up old data, development, and testing, and risk losing that time if the server flops.

Ultimately clans, alliances, and community I think are what for the most part make or break a server?