Progression Server Poll Results: What's Next?

Overview and Poll Results


First of all, we want to thank all of you who participated in our poll for this new server. We had great participation numbers and it shows how much excitement you guys have for our game. We appreciate it greatly.

Of those who were interested in the new server type, we had four options:
Existing Rules

This, the simplest option, was to simply start a brand new progression server using the same rules as the existing Fippy Darkpaw and Vulak`Aerr servers. A vote to unlock the next expansion would be triggered two months after the unlock tasks in the current expansion were complete. A lot of you are interested in this.

Locked Progression

This was a little more nebulous. We would start the server as normal, but at a specific point -- maybe Shadows of Luclin, maybe Planes of Power -- all progression would cease and the server would stay at that point. This option received about the same percentage of votes as "Existing Rules."

Seasonal Challenge

This was the option that would be the most different. This would be a server with a defined start and end date, with a competitive aspect that could carry the rewards back to a standard server or on to the next season. We're excited by this idea, and a lot of you are, too -- this result was about even with the previous two options.

Slower Progression

This option, however, was the clear winner, roughly doubling the response from any of the other three server types. So this is the way we're going to go. There are still many things yet to be decided, however, and it's going to start in this thread. I'll go into more detail about how the server can work and then we'll ask for your suggestions as far as which options will make it to the polls.

How Will Slower Progression Work?

Background


Here is how the current progression servers work:

1. The server is opened with the base game unlocked. Once players complete all of the progression tasks (things like killing Nagafen and Vox), a timer starts. When the timer ends, a vote will pop up allowing the server to unlock the next expansion.
2. For Original EverQuest, Ruins of Kunark, and Scars of Velious, the unlock timer is 3 months. For every expansion after that, the unlock timer is 2 months.
3. Lost Dungeons of Norrath and Legacy of Ykesha are special. They unlock on their own timer after Planes of Power unlock. The next "real" expansion to open is Gates of Discord.
4. Votes can start every other Monday (March 23rd is a possible vote, for example), and last two weeks. If the unlock timer ends without at least a full week to vote in the current poll, it will wait until the next poll to activate.
5. Any Priest of Discord will allow you to vote, but you must be within 20 levels of the current level cap to do so. This is to prevent ballot stuffing by people who aren't active on the server.
6. Votes are tallied by account. You can change your vote until the poll closes, but the option you have selected at that point is what counts.

Options for the New Server

Time to be Locked


As stated above, the current progression server waits 2 or 3 months before the next expansion can unlock. This time is arbitrary and can be adjusted by any amount. Here are some options we've thought of for the new one:

1. Half Speed (Slowest): We take the original time between expansions and cut it in half. Ruins of Kunark came out 13 months and 8 days after EverQuest, so the progression server would wait 6 months and 19 days before Ruins of Kunark could be unocked. This means that it would take 8 years from the time we open the server for it to catch up to where live servers are now.
   1. Kunark: 6.75 months
   2. Velious: 3.75 months
   3. Luclin: 6 months
   4. Planes of Power: 5.5 months
      1. Legacy of Ykesha: 4 weeks after PoP
      2. LDoN: 10 weeks after PoP
   5. Gates: 7.75 months (after PoP)
   6. Omens: 3.5 months
   7. DoN: 2.5 months
   8. Depths: 3.5 months
   9. PoR: 2.75 months
   10. TSS: 3.5 months
   11. TBS: 2.5 months

1. Maximum Nostalgia: 6 month unlocks until Gates of Discord; 3 months afterward. This ruleset would take six and a half years to reach where live servers are now.
   1. Kunark: 6 months
   2. Velious: 6 months
   3. Luclin: 6 months
   4. Planes of Power: 6 months
      1. Legacy of Ykesha: 2 weeks after PoP
      2. LDoN: 4 weeks after PoP
   5. Gates: 6 months (after PoP)
   6. Omens and later: 3 months

1. Add 50%: Take the old values and add 50%. This server would take five and a half years to reach where live servers are now.
   1. Kunark: 4.5 months
   2. Velious: 4.5 months
   3. Luclin: 4.5 months
   4. Planes of Power: 4.5 months
      1. Legacy of Ykesha: 3 weeks after PoP
      2. LDoN: 3 weeks after PoP
   5. Gates: 3 months (after PoP)
   6. Omens and later: 3 months

Just about everything is malleable here, so let us know what you like, and offer suggestions for other ways to split the time. Once we get a general feeling for what you would like we'll put up another poll for everyone to vote on.

Vote or No Vote


The biggest feature of the current progression servers is the fact that the players vote on whether to unlock the next expansion or not. The good thing about this is that the server progresses at a pace decided by the majority. The bad thing about this is that sometimes the people who enable progression can't enjoy the results of that progress until the rest of the server is ready.

Another issue, one that has a technical basis, is that polls are not dynamic enough to start the instant an expansion should be available and go on for an arbitrary time. They have to be static on pre-determined dates, and in order to ensure that everyone has at least one week to vote they can sometimes delay an expansion's opening by almost 3 weeks.

So, essentially, the question is: do you want to allow votes under the current system, or simply unlock the next expansion after the locked time period has passed?

What's In a Name


Finally, we need a name for the new server. This name has to be completely unique across all Daybreak Games. We can't use names that have been used before in EverQuest or EverQuest II, nor can we use names from Landmark. Here are some dragon names we like, but if you've got names you like better, we would love to hear them. We'll put this in a poll as well unless there's a clear consensus here.

• Wuoshi
• Yelinak
• Vyemm
• Faydedar
• Gorenaire
• Sontalak
• Aaryonar
• Phara`Dar
• Zlandicar
• Ragefire
• Dozekar
• Kerafyrm
• Severilous
• Klandicar

Coming Soon


From the feedback we get from all of you here, and on places like Facebook and Reddit, we feel like we're headed in the right direction. We're after a rule set that will work for the biggest part of our player population that is looking for a new progression server. We will be starting polls in the game relating to these questions in the near future.

Woot thank you!

Looks good - minor quibble on the "Speed Options" though is they're all 1's not 1/2/3.

Anyone talking about the speed option they like will all say 1 as it stands, heh.

Lord Doljonijiarnimorinar

This is great news. I'm in for the slowest progression, at least until we sometime get a locked PoP server.

Lovin it

Slowest progression and vote all the way for me!

You guys need to make sure RAF exp bonuses are disabled here until around VOA when it came out. Also will need to make sure lots of last prog exploits like sham potions / fire opal / other things are disabled.

Looks good. I know a lot of people will be happy with long periods of classic/kunark/velious. My only concern is the later expansions dragging the server out but as long as the server isnt held hostage for entire timeframe and another new prog can be made in 2ish years it wont be bad imo.

I think 2 servers should be announced to help split population that will be merged later on.

Also should consider letting people pre-make their chars (reserve names) to help make things easier on launch. THe first progression let you do this I believe.

Just FYI for those not doing the math - Max Nostalgia for the "Classic Expansions" end up being almost the same length.

Ending month for each era:
Classic Era - 6.75 vs. 6
Kunark Era - 11.5 vs. 12
Velious Era - 17.5 vs 18
Luclin era - 23 vs 24
PoP era - 30.75 vs 30

They're almost identical, just more erratic timeframes on "Slowest". Extra 3 weeks of Classic extra almost 2 months of PoP - in exchange for a bunch less on the others.

I'd pick the slowest of the slow, but I'd still rather a locked server. Should just do one of each, since most likely 2+ servers are going to be needed anyway.

Will we be voting on whether or not we'll be voting?

I think it should go by Level cap tbh, because most of the loots are based around that sort of thing, then get phased out by the next cap. As in release them at the same time (which may help some with the congestion for non-instanced content.)

Could be something like:
Classic = 3 months
Kunark & Velious = 6 months
Luclin (distinguished from Kunark and Velious due to AA) = 3 months
PoP,LoY, LDoN, GoD = 9 months (LoY gets 1 month, LDoN gets 2)
OoW, DoN, DoDH, PoR = 1 year?

And so on.

Just bandying numbers out, I haven't really thought this through. Please don't hit me IRL or say mean things about me on the internet.

As a person who generally voted "No" on unlocks on Fippy (except two instances: for Kunark and on the GoD vote that actually passed), I'd rather see no unlock votes on this server. There were frequent issues with the voting system not working correctly, frequent issues with the expansions not opening properly at the end of the votes, and too much animosity between different groups on the server as a result of various votes. With expansions having longer unlocks this time, the No votes because of "it's too fast" will be diminished -- not eliminated, because anything other than "original release time" will be "too fast" for some.

I actually like the 50% slower setup, but I would like to see Classic a bit shorter due to the high-end mess previously, and I personally wish LDoN would just drop with PoP. On Fippy, it seemed like LDoN dropped around the time when PoJ trials were starting to clear up (rather than the spamfest that occured at each of the judges). And if there's any way to shorten the time in the level 70 expansions (can we pair OoW with DoN, and DoDH with PoR perhaps?), that would probably be good for the server population when we get there.

Excellent news that slow progression won the vote! That is the one I wanted to see the most. Now just to get the rule set tweaked a bit

Tweaks I'd like to see from the Fippy model

Time unlocks, not voting

• The voting caused a lot of problems with player in fighting and scheduling time off for expansion launches. I feel it would be much more beneficial to have the locks planned and well known to the players. Also unlock expansions at a normal time, not 12am.

Global experience penalty, not cap per monster

• The exp cap on Fippy was harsh and unfair to soloers and groups that took on higher level monsters. Players should be rewarded for their risk and effort. I propose sticking with the experience curve that is already in the game, but adding a global experience penalty similar to how test server has a global experience bonus.

Add instancing as an option with 7 day lockouts

• Fippy suffered tremendously due to bad player behavior. Guilds locked others out of content routinely and I'd like to see this changed. Too many friends quit because of the state of the raid scene on Fippy. I proposed an instancing solution in detail on the forums. The short of it is that NPCs would be added that would allow groups of players 36+ to summon an instanced version of the zone in which a raid target was housed. These instanced would have 7 day lockouts from the time the instance was summoned to prevent exploiting. The loot that drops in the instance could be altered or left alone, depending on player feedback. The contested open world content would continue to spawn at it's normal rate and give the competitors something to compete over.

Remove out of era content

• Quest, Items,Recruit a friend, Out of combat regeneration ect.

Very pumped for this server (or servers) to go live. Right now I am currently raiding all of Arx, PoWar, and CotF t2, two nights a week. I am done with group progression, have the augs I want, and right now the only upgrades for me are via raiding. This server will give a lot of us end-game raiders, some very much needed nostalgia fun in our downtime.

As for the speed of the server, I vote Half Speed (Slowest). I want to dive into all that old content and remember it how it was, enjoying every second of it, not feeling rushed.

Vote locking, I don't think there should be any. I think there should be the pre-determined dates you are going to release the expansions at, and keep it at that.

As for the name of the server, out of the choices you have listed, I vote for Ragefire or Zlandicar.

Can't wait for all this to get set into motion and go live.. thank you Daybreak and Devs!

Option #3 Add 50% and no voting please.

Knowing when expansions will release in advance would be a good thing IMO. Last time the voting drama was horrible. Also, even when there wasn't drama, the system didn't exactly work well consistently.

Of the given choices, the main reason I support option #3, is that 6 months is a long time for classic alone. Kunark and Velious made room for so many more players on the server.

If this server is to have a dragon name, I vote Kerafyrm. I do however think we can do better than that. Oh and if we ever get a PVP teams progression (which I would love) name that Fansy.

Finally, please launch 2 servers from day one. The last two times an overflow server had to be made after launch. This second server inevitably becomes anemic because most are committed to the first one already.

Dexar.

If it gets that far and isn't a locked in time server, I'd at the very least like to see a few expansions combine on release, that just didn't have enough content to count as full expansions:

1. DoN should be released either with OoW or about 2-4 weeks after OoW.
2. PoR should be released either with DoDh or about 2-4 weeks after DoDh.
3. TBS should be released either with TSS or about 2-4 weeks after TSS.

Also, I have no problem with any of the speeds in general but it sure would be nice to see Kunark come a little quicker and then slow it down. It adds a lot to the game.

This option is about as close to perfect as my little heart could ever imagine.

1. Add 50%: Take the old values and add 50%. This server would take five and a half years to reach where live servers are now.
   1. Kunark: 4.5 months
   2. Velious: 4.5 months
   3. Luclin: 4.5 months
   4. Planes of Power: 4.5 months
      1. Legacy of Ykesha: 3 weeks after PoP
      2. LDoN: 3 weeks after PoP
   5. Gates: 3 months (after PoP)
   6. Omens and later: 3 months

No Vote : No voting, auto unlock each expansion after the pre-determined time.



Server Name:



QUARM!

I'd like to add that while some of the slower options sound good, IE 6 months each, they work well for the first couple expansions. The later expansions I highly doubt anyone is going to want to sit in them for 6 months each. In fact I doubt many people will be playing on them at all.

As someone with a pair of Recruit-a-friend XP bonus accounts. PLEASE disable the bonus on Progression.

It's for catching up, not getting ahead. First to 'X' is a part of the fun, and someone able to gain XP 2-3x as fast ruins that.

I'm happy with the results, curious about his comments on the seasonal server .. sounds like they are planning on trying some of those too after they get this new progression server put to bed.