"Ultra Casual" server

There seems to be a lot of talk on this forum about the pending "casual" server but what we are actually getting is an "ultra casual" server. There is a huge difference between a "casual" and an "ultra casual".
I have been playing since launch and have ranged over the years from Ultra casual in the beginning to Casual, to Hardcore casual and now finally back to Ultra casual. I have played on the Combine from the beginning to the end and on Fippy from beginning to Underfoot and currently on Lockjaw from the beginning. As an "Ultra casual" I and most like me rarely if ever post on these forums but what I want from a new TLP is nothing like what the hardcore casuals and the Hardcore want the new Ultra casual server to be like.
I don't want, or need fast experience but I don't want crippling slow exp either, Ragefire/lockjaw exp was just fine.
I need long unlocks, it's not about leveling to max level as quickly as possible, it's about having time to do the quests in era, to farm for tradeskill items in era and to camp items to improve my character in era. 3 month unlocks are too quick for most of the expansions, there is no point in playing on an "ultra casual" server with fast unlocks.
I need to be able to box, I have been boxing since launch and only played one account for the brief period on The Combine when my career allowed me to be a Hardcore casual. As an "ultra Casual" I need to be able to log in and to immediately be doing content while I look for group or raid situations for the couple of hours that I have to play. Not once on Fippy or Lockjaw has a box army ever had a negative affect on me. As an Ultra casual I usually just find an out of the way spot and level and farm tradeskill items and then hit up the loot camps when the Hard cores have moved on. Never once in all the years that they have existed have I ever used a Krono. I could care less what other people do with their in game currencies.
I would love AOC's, it would give my "ultra casual" guilds an opportunity to do raid content in era. In 20 years of playing this game, I have never killed Vox or Naggy in era, AOC's would give me and my kind that opportunity.
Essentially what I would want would be a Ragefire/Lockjaw with picks and AOC's and minimum 5 month unlocks on the all the content originally designed for 1 year and 4 month unlocks on all the content originally designed for 6 months.

I feel like the "ultra casual" part has gotten lost in the shuffle.

Any time anyone introduces something along those lines people flip.

Lot of people are going to be disappointed when DBG does exactly what they told people they were going to do:

Introduce a server with ultra casual ruleset.

And some of us are going to be pleased, or enjoy whatever the compromise ruleset ends up as.

The issue for DBG is keeping both servers interesting. They don't want people run off Server A cause all the leets on server B are bored.

It would seem, long unlocks and truebox are the big two factors. While putting both rules on one server will certainly keep people off said server, I'm not sure long unlocks and truebox as a combo are any fun.

If the only differentiator between "hardcore " and "ultra casual" is just truebox, i'm not anyone would pick a server with truebox over an identical server without.

OP gets it. I'm another of those filthy ultra-casuals. I don't get much time to play, and I'd love to actually raid the early expansions in era, as I didn't originally start raiding until PoP, when I earned my way into a EP/Time guild. I also agree on his idea on exp rates. If it's too fast, you out level zones, quests, etc. If it's too slow, I'll just quit again.

I agree with OP, except would prefer 6 month unlocks across the board; none of this well its this for this expansion and that for that expansion, and after this expansion we will do this except this expansion will be that. About only thing I would like to see is Classic and Kunark released.together and LOY and LDON released.together (which imo should be the way all Progression servers should be).

I think everyone is on the same page about the XP, no one is thrilled with slow XP rates, even the "hardcores" don't care for it. We have all done this many times before, it's nothing more than an artificial slow-down to sell more XP pots.

Disagree with your assessment of box armies though. Truebox needs to stay. Fire up a laptop and 2 box if you must, but I don't want to return to the dumpster fire that was RF/LJ krono farm squads.

I agree with LOY and LDoN released together and the 6 months unlocks would not be a deal breaker for me either. I've been playing for 20 years and will likely continue to play until the game ends on it's own, so long unlocks don't deter me.

I would not play on a truebox server, that would be a deal breaker for me. Tried it on Phinny for a bit but just spent too much time LFG as I play odd hours. Truebox is fine if you play 6pm till 10pm nightly.

A server without truebox....
Welcome to box army heaven of RF & LJ the server we all fled for a reason.

You could literally load up a second laptop, roll an Enchanter or a Cleric box and have instant groups at any time of the day. It's not hard people.

Everyone bailed cause 6 month unlocks and no AOC's. Box armies didn't help but they are on truebox servers, live servers, these new servers, doesn't matter if its one player boxing 24 toons or six toons boxing 4. I'm positive one of the new servers will have truebox. The issue is how do you keep people off the truebox server all the casuals want.

Its not hard, its annoying and silly Lol. I won't ever call someone's view annoying or silly, I get the want for truebox.

I think the fairest, most reasonable compromise is

Hardcore is Phinny:
Truebox
AOC's
add in FV loot and FAST xp to keep players off the casual server.

Casual:
Ragefire with AOCs?

This ^.

If they take truebox OFF and leave the long unlocks, is that going to draw whatever DBG considers "casual'?

Long unlocks plus fast xp and truebox on means you're soloing to lvl cap if you join late. Everyone will be at the endgame quicker (no low level groups) and less people will be leveling boxes and alts. That's a surefire way to scare off casuals.

Some of you are trying really hard to make Casual synonymous with non-truebox/mass boxing....what you meant to ask for is a solo/antisocial server...

DBG considers Casual synonymous with people who hate boxers taking camps and losing races to raid targets. They quite literally created multiple servers with boxing penalties and instanced raids.

If the "ultra casual" server has truebox, I hope the hardcore server is underwhelming because no one will be on a boring server, and oh yeah its truebox on top of it. Boring defined as Coirnav with worse or longer unlocks.

This is what an "Ultra Casual Player" has time for playing EQ basically 2-4 hours a week. So what needs to happen is making the time window per expansion release appropriate to that schedule. what can get accomplished in 2-4 hours a week game time in EQ? Virtually nothing much. Basically that is the core of the dilemma, it isn't about boxing it isn't about what expansion. its all about the time window someone has to play 2-4 hours a week to get their character on par with end game and not be left behind. That is it.

Correct, they are essentially asking for the server to shape up like EQ Live.

Part of what makes early EQ special is the community and reliance upon one another, making friends as you go and building relationships with people you had a good experience playing with. Boxing your whole group from the start encourages a very modern-day EQ experience, playing in your own little bubble, without interaction of other players.

Non-Truebox encourages people to play more toons to have more power at their fingertips (for convenience, ease of play, whatever reason), which equates to far more fighting over camps and DPS races to strong-arm the best loot camps and XP zones.

As someone who played both Ragefire and Lockjaw - and every TLP since then, the server atmosphere is so much better on a Truebox server, its not even comparable. It is unquestionably worth booting a second machine and playing a 2 box combo with a highly desirable class like an ENC or CLR if you want instant groups as an ultra casual player. Play whatever you want as your main.

It's far better to log into a healthy, engaging, active EverQuest community that actually socializes as a 2 box casual player than it is to log into an anti-social farmers playground with your 6-18 toon army and see who can run their 3rd party programs better.

Boxing won't help your lfg woes; it'll actually make it even harder to find groups. Instead, you will just get a bandaid that lets you play by yourself. A far better option is to improve the tools and/or incentives around forming and playing in a group with other people.

I don't think people realize just how true this is. Some casual players will absolutely box if able and dislike restrictions. So will hardcore players. Who do people think is actually going to be more likely to make a bunch of boxes: a "hardcore" player who is dedicated to winning, playing a ton, making purchases (eg pots & bags), and looking to compete? Or a "casual" player who is either not putting in much time and/or not very ambitious about winning and just looking for a good time without animosity?

I mean by definition the act of boxing requires you to spend incrementally more on subscriptions, and perform either a lot more research and setup (to get commands/scripts/whatever online) or commit significantly more attention and effort to playing (if physically controlling each box directly). I am totally understanding of casuals boxing, but I just cannot accept the idea of someone being "ultra" casual while putting in that much effort and money!

If you make loot plentiful, exp fast or faster than agnaar and let casuals experience all raid content they don't care if the so called "hardcore" want to join the server.

• For instance long lock-outs.... the hardcore hate this since they play so much they get bored and always quit and come back... Casuals don't care because they play at a slower pace.
• Turn on FV loot and lower the raid lockout to like 4 or 5 days, more loot overall for the entire server, casuals don't care, hardcore do because they want to brag about BIS to someone on a forum somewhere......
• Boxers sitting at competitive camps... casuals hate this, hell most people hate this, truebox solves about 95% of this issue, the last 5% of folks need to taken care of by DBG if they will or won't I cannot comment on.
• Keys, no casual wants keying on a server, hardcore use it as a way to block content...
• Raids like sleeper, make it available AOC as every version so even slow guilds will get to experience it.

I'm even thinking that DBG is running an income experiment to see which group's server will be more popular. If you are hardcore I'd suggest joining that server, otherwise DBG might get the idea that the casual ruleset is the most profitable going forward, which I'm guessing is going to be more popular one by a long shot.

I don't visit the forums often enough to know what all your acronyms mean....I see AOC in all kinds of posts about the new TLPs, what the hell does it stand for?

You wouldn't get "on par with end game" on 2-4 hours a week even if they gave you a year in each expansion. There are things you just can't do in Everquest with that little time.