The Next TLP: Progressive XP

PROLOGUE: let's please NOT use this thread to argue whether there should or should not be another TLP, or whether RF/LJ should or should not be merged (assuming they could be), or whether or not there are even enough people to justify a new TLP. That's verboten. Off-topic. Thanks in advance. ;-)

For arguments sake, let's assume there *will* be another TLP,, based on obvious business reasons, as well as historical facts, namely: TLP's are popular, TLP's bring in good money, and people have shown NO PROBLEM in abandoning hard work on previous TLP to jump to a new one that they perceive is better. All undeniable *facts*.

So given that, here's what I would like to see on the next TLP, something I call *PROGRESSIVE EXPERIENCE*.

The idea is simple. The XP rate starts very, VERY slow, so that the hardcores really have to put in the effort to get the server firsts. For the first two weeks, it would be a "classic" rate, or about half the rate of Phinigel. It would be a real challenge and a significant accomplishment to hit 50 in 2 weeks, but it would certainly be doable.

XP rate will increase by 33% every 2 weeks, cumulatively. The era would last 4 months, or 16 weeks. That results in the following XP rate progression:

Weeks 1-2: 1.0X (Classic / P99 rate, roughly, or 1/2 Phinigel rate)
Weeks 3-4: 1.33X
Weeks 5-6: 1.77x
Weeks 7-8: 2.35X (about same as Phinny + XP Pot)
Weeks 9-10 : 3.12X
Weeks 11-12: 4.16X (about same as Phinny during 2X)
Weeks 13-14: 5.53X (about same as Phinny during 2X w/ XP Pot)
Weeks 15-16: 7.36X (about same as Ragefire / Jockjaw, or 3x Phinny)


Of course, the XP rate resets back to 1.0X with the opening of each new era.

Also, the server would be *immune* to XP events.

Finally, for good measure, while I am dreaming... ;-)

LIMITED BOXXING / NO ARMY SERVER:. That means Alt-Tab boxxing is allowed to 3 client instances only, and no use of 3rd party software or hardware repeater solutions allowed. When connected to that server, you can Alt-Tab box, but only to 3 accounts. So basically the same as Phinny, with the same enforcement mechanisms, but you allow the client to spin up 3 instances instead of just 1.

Remove loot lockouts from raid instances. They are an unnecessary complexity.

Raid instances and open world should have *identical* difficulty across he board (I'm looking at your PoS). Again, this was an unnecessary complexity. If this presents a loot farming issue, increase difficulty to match. This idea has rubbed me wrong since day 1 and is, IMO, a band-aid to a bigger problem.

Everything else would be the same as Phinny.

Discussion please...

I would jump to this server in a heart-beat. I think it would be, by far, the most popular TLP ever. The eras are only 33% longer than Phinny, yet the progressive XP will encourage more alts. Plus there are a LOT of people on RF/LJ who won't do Phinny either due to XP rate *or* inability to box 1-2-3 (ie NOT armies), and they will come as well. In many ways, I feel by adjusting the XP rate over time, this server would be the closest to providing something for all play styles. It challenges the hardcores early on more than any other TLP ever. It gives the casuals a chance to catch up with even the most casual play styles.

In general, instead of trying to offer different TLP to different playstyles, I think DBG needs to focus on finding the ONE RULESET TO RULE THEM ALL, so that the *most* players will play there, and therefore the population will be great there. Let the others die because, for the majority of players, they are inferior rulesets.

Discussion?

It's an interesting thought on all counts. Though I'm not sure about whether or not it's possible. Unfortunately that's all I have to add for now.

Cool idea, but you'd need to tweak the experience levels. Experience should never be slower than Phinny. This still reeks of placating the small group of people who have endless hours to pore into leveling. There's no need to continue to cater to these people. They are the minority.

If you want the most popular TLP server of all time, you leave the experience at RF/LJ level and you offer instanced raiding with 3 month hard unlocks (6 months for Luclin/PoP). No need to overthink it.

It's certainly possible, but I don't think we'll see another TLP for at least 2 years. If we do, I'd be shocked. The current model is pretty simple:

2 options:

Option 1: FAST EXP, CREATE ALTS ALL YOU WANT, DEAL WITH BOX CREWS, DEAL WITH NO INSTANCES, AND HAVING TO COMPETE FOR CONTENT

Option 2: "SLOW" EXP, CREATE ALTS ALL YOU WANT (But will take more effort in leveling them) NO MAJOR BOX CREW ISSUE, WILL SEE SOME BOXES FROM TIME TO TIME, INSTANCES A PLENTY, CAN COMPETE FOR OPEN WORLD CONTENT IF SO DESIRED.

Both options present pro's and con's, you get to pick your poison.

I would probably play on RF/LJ over playing on the server type you propose. What a nightmare of a ruleset.

You'd basically be amplifying the primary excuse that you've brought in other threads up as problem issues for Phinigel by way of your ruleset.

[On Phinny] The argument some folks (not me) are making is that slow XP encourages front loaded playing. If you're not X level by Y weeks in, forget even starting on the server it's worthless. Therefore, nobody to play with as time goes on. Server is a ghost town. etc. etc.

[Your Ruleset] Discourages playing at the front end, encourages playing at the back end. This means all the "Hardcore" will level and raid as they always will regardless of ruleset, and all the casuals will go "If I wait until the last 4 weeks I can zip-zoom-boom to max level ez-mode. I'll wait". You create an even weirder behavior because on expansion release, people will groan about how XP just dropped out by some 80%+ and "See you guys in 8 weeks". The server would be a ghost town for the first few weeks each expansion unlock

So you've basically kept the same issue, amplified it to be even worse, and moved it to the back end of the expansion life cycle.

Then you allow boxing more than one character per physical machine? You must really hate group xp.

What a nightmare of a ruleset...

I would like to 2nd.... NO MORE TLP SERVERS for at least a year or two

Week 17: the 1st mob you kill = insta 50

It's a uniformly terrible idea.

Yes, it placates them by intent and design, but only for the minority of the era (which is reasonable since they are the minority of the players). That's the beauty of this solution...you're only challenging them for the first two weeks. Four at the most, *where it matters for server firsts*. For the next two weeks, XP rate is as fast as Phinny. For the last 10 weeks, it's faster. Substantially faster for the last 4 weeks.

Again, the idea concept behind this design was to establish a ruleset that caters the the largest tuple of player desires, and therefore draws the most players:

- faster unlocks but not so fast that there isn't time for casuals (XP ramp feeds into this too)
- hardcore server first races that are not over in 2-4 days
- time to smell the roses, but not so much time that you are bored, because XP ramp encourages alt creation
- small-scale alt-tab boxxing (bring in more players) without large scale armies (which drives people away)

I agree, such a server would be the most popular to date (certainly more popular than Phinny), but would it be the most popular *possible*? In particular, you would still not pick up the many, many people who like to 2-3 boxx. Some of those players certain did come to PHinny an are running multiple PC's. Others did not. I think they could be catered to without undue harm. Just as I believe a progressive XP will not only bring back the prople who fled Phinny because XP was too slow, but will actually be *more* appealing to the hardcores who like Phinny for the very reason the race wasn't over virtually overnight!

But I do agree, Phinny with 2.5x-3x the XP is a better Phinny...you won't get any argument out of me here.

I just thing a sliding / progressive XP is even better. Such a server has a little something for everybody.

Are you sick of the slow xp? Then work on tradeskills for the first few weeks. Then adventure later.

There's really a lot to like. I've run this by a LOT of people in private discussions on Phinny, and so far feedback has been pretty darned positive.

Prediction: prepare to be shocked come May/June 2016 then. ;-)

I for one will not be...but then again I've been in this business a long time...

The idea is creative but let me be blunt: I am on these servers to slay dragons and gods, not to grind goblins and frogloks, so personally I would pass on this.

No.

New TLP would be nice as follows

• Starts with classic + kunark, sit here for 200 days (100 days per expansion)
• Level 1 - 30 (2x) phinny xp rate
• Level 31 - 50 (1.5x) phinny xp rate
• Each new expansion 100 days
• Once Velious hits you adjust the exp rate slightly
• Level 1 - 50 (x2) phinny xp rate
• Level 51 - 55 (x1.5) phinny xp rate
• Just keep adjusting the xp rate as new expansions come out in order to allow (new - alts) to catch up without getting so far behind they quit.

That's what I'd resub to personally. I enjoy alts, just not on phinny.

When I see this, I see needing to spreadsheet in order to play efficiently and my brain immediately shuts off.

I'm here to have fun and not have to overthink things unless I want to - seems unreasonably complicated for no real net gain.

Do these minorities really believe that time commitment = challenge? Most people consider challenges to be thing that require skill. Having a life in which you can commit 20 hours a day to a game isn't the same as having skill. Maybe we should either think up a new term for this, or they should rethink what's challenging and what isn't.

You say that like it's a bad thing...it is not. It in fact fixes one of the big problems with Phinny because everybody socked hard and took advantage of 2x XP, and now that it's over, many won't consider an alt because of the combination of fast unlocks (new stuff on the horizon), instance raids (stuff to do), slow grind (did it once, that was painful enough). The exception are those hardcores who are boxxing / twinking / PLing (and there are fewer of those as they need multiple PCs).

Here we are half way through Phinny Classic, and have you walked through Misty / Commonlands / Nektulos? Not empty, but pretty much empty. There is no incentive for a person to come to this server at this point unless he's going to be PL'd. None. With my idea, there is a *tremendous* incentive to showing up late, and where is the harm in that? It drives the population. It drives the item economy. These are all *good* *things*...*great* things in fact!

This server would not suffer the current Phinny flaw. The population would be more spread out, making it easier to find a group throughout the era as a whole. Furthermore, the limited 2-3 boxxing would also make finding/filling groups easier as it makes starting groups easier. However; by the time the era draws near, due to the XP ramp, there will have been plenty of time for casuals to gear up, and level up. Maybe not in raid gear, but certainly in group gear, whether won or purchased.

Another viewpoint: on Phinny, when it was determined by *many* that the (unannounced) XP rate was simply too slow, they left. Many left for their second time in 6 months. On my server, they could have simply taken a 2-3 week break. Or tradeskilled. Or farmed. Or whatever. There would be far less of a "rush" to get XP, because cheaper, easier XP is always just 2 weeks away. That's a good thing. Not a bad thing.

An experience ramp in *no* *way* diminishes the effort of those who got there first early on in the era, as there are PLENTY of advantages to getting there first:

- bragging rights
- first to market an time on market
- lack of competition (both for kills an on market)
- with these short unlocks, the first guild to win open-world kills is likely to be the king of the hill for that era.

I hate to say it, but this ruleset would be great for RMTers as well. Krono sales would be far more even throughout the cycle, because demand for high end trade-able group gear would be pushed into later weeks, and would run for longer period of time.

It's hardly perfect, and that's the point: there is no one server that is perfect for *everybody*. The key is to strive for the *most* players in *one* server. This idea that you can have 3, 4 or even 5 active TLP servers and offer a plenthora of unlock schedules, voting vs. non-voting, fast vs. slow, mage-army vs. not. Instance vs not. It's hogwash. It is absolutely unsustainable.

N TLP servers that are all within 3 eras of each other is N-1 too many. It's that simple. The situation was barely working before Phinny. Now it's broken.

If the next server is simply Phinny with RF/LJ XP rates, then you will lose half the Phinny players (including many who went back to RF/LJ already), and be left with 4 unsustainable servers, which is worse than 3. ;-)

Please keep in mind: I am not advocating for a new server. I'm saying a new server is inevitable because I have these things called thoughts. ;-) I can see the companies exceedingly transparent business plans, and just like I correctly predicted a EOY TLP last July, I believe I am correctly predicting a mid-year TLP right now. Why? Companies like money.

On last thought...what was the BIGGEST GRIPE / QUIT MOTIVATION with RF/LJ? Hmmm??? Was it perhaps....ARMIES?!?!? Lack of raid instancing? Well, what did the company do? They created an ARMY FREE server with raid instancing...but, the caveat is they did so in a way that replaced the Krono sub revenue source with another revenue source (pots plus krono gear buying source necessitated by faster unlocks).

Well, what was the BIGGEST GRIPE this last time around? Clearly it's...XP. How can they fix XP in a creative way that won't piss off the hardcores, give the elites a reason to do casual *again* (2x effort an no loot lockouts), but won't piss of the casuals, will in fact *cater to them* over time (XP ramp), and will win back some of the sub Kronos (3-boxxing), and extend the gear Kronos further into a slightly longer era cycle, which drives a healthier RMT aftermarket (which also drives initial Krono revenue)?

Progressive XP. That's how. My server design achieves all of those goals. Is it perfect for everyboy? Of coruse not. There is no such thing.

People seem to think that long-term sustainability of the *individual* TLP servers is a design goal of the company, and therefore make suggestion along those lines..

It is not. In fact, striving for that goal is counter to the bottom-line.

The goal is money. Sell as many kronos as possible. Sell as many pots as possible. Sell as many backpacks as possible. \

What does that is a new server every 6 months, with the promise of this being the end-all be-all of servers, relatively fast unlocks (fast unlocks drives tradeable gear which drives Krono sales), lots of reasons for you to go there, and most importantly, you*fix* the big reason why people left the last time around (XP rate)?

Like it or not, that is most likely the case. That was the case the last time around with Phinny, and I have seen *nothing* to make me think it won't happen again. To the contrary, I believe there is plenty of circumstantial evidence which suggests it absolutely will happen again.

I believe this server design, while obviously not perfect for everyboy, would be even more popular than Phinny, and would be the healthiest TLP to date.

Whether it kills the other TLPs is moot. See above, it is *not* *a* *concern*. MONEY is the concern. *R* *E* *V* *E* *N* *U* *E*. The last 2 are already on life support, before SoV!!!

If long-term sustainability was a concern, Phinny would not exist. Repeat that until it sinks in.

Those who are simply assuming that since Phinny is perfect or close to perfect *for them* that there won't be another TLP for "1-2 years" are, quite simply, delusional. There were people who thought that on RF/LJ 2 months ago...

Sorry to break the bad news to you, but I find it unavoidable at this point.

I agree. If I wanted to work that had, I'd go get another job and get paid for it. Or I could go back to playing that spaceships game.

Phinny + rested EXP rate and I think you're golden...

I feel the same way. Not that it is overly difficult to understand, it just feels pointlessly complicated.

For a player like myself who likes efficiency, if I know the exp is really bad at the start and will get faster over time, I'm simply not going to play until later when I can invest much less time for the same result. I'm guessing I can't be the only one who feels that way. Not sure why DBG would make a server that comes out of the gate with ruleset that discourages people from playing.

I agree, challenge was a poor word. Perhaps stamina or dedication? Neckbeardification? ;-)

Agreed, it isn't about making it "hard". it's about separating the devoted from the insanely devoted. With RF/LJ, as a hardcore elite, you could take a day or two off of work an max level. With Phinny, you could take W/R/F an be max level by Sun night.

Playing 90-100 out of 130 hours is pretty impressive, but not exactly difficult if you have no life, stamina-wise. It's a challenge schedule-wise.

The same person who was 1st on RF was not the same person on Phinny. For the same reasons I bet the same person who was first on Phinny would.

It's a whole different ball game when you need 300 play hours to hit 50. That separates then men from the boys, so to speak. An as such, I think it is a challenge that would serve as a gauntlet to be thrown down to the elites.

Yet, wait 6 weeks, an you have fast XP, that only gets faster. ;-)

Again, the idea is to come up with changes to the ruleset that presents a little something new for everybody, and is therefore something that the majority of players can get behind, while at the same time bringing in those that were previously disenfranchised.

I'm not sure this does that, but I can't think of anything that has a better shot at it..,