Server Discussion - Non Truebox rule set.

Discussion in 'Time Locked Progression Servers' started by dreamweaver, Oct 25, 2019.

  1. Machen New Member


    While this is true, it is worth keeping in mind that the previous 34 everquest servers also made it through the same old world content without instanced raid content. There is more than one factor at work here. AoC's made a HUGE difference, but it's not like this game was suddenly succesful for the first time ever when they introduced aoc's.
    Dulu likes this.
  2. mark Augur

    i have been on many raids where people are boxing healers due to not enough mains,if its a truebox my main will be a mage but if not truebox my warrior and 5 different classes will be my group,i cant rember how many 2.0 epics my self and the other 2 boxers on the last nontrueboxing tlp helped guildie get ,on raids we used to have 30 to 40 non boxers and we filled up the spots needed,many a time i would have my crew out of the group in the pit and other exp areas and played with 5 real people,the issue with boxers and botters his when its about farming krono and ruining other peoples game play.
  3. mark Augur

    also not all of us are in the usa or europe and raiding in the morning suits me because i work nights so i get up to play eq and then exp and on my days off i might be on for 12 hours or 18 if a new server.
  4. Bout Tree Fitty New Member

    In the Past Heavy solo 4-5 box grp's , especially with the addition to F2p has made things on live aggravating to say over the years, But honestly, If people are willing to pay 15 a month for a box to play on a Premium server, I wish they would. I would like to. Its a shame when logging a friends toon or a box can make a group happen instead of 30 minutes of hoping then a gradual night of sadness and feelings of ranger gating IRL
    Fraggly likes this.
  5. Thorak1234 Lorekeeper

    Yes, please!
  6. Exmortis_MT Elder

    I personally play with a small group of friends, and we play at our pace, boxing is a must if there are no mercs to fill in the group. TLPs are great for grouping until the population either out paces us or just plain leaves. Thus being able to box in the extra spots is a must have. We don't run 75man armies like some, we all run 1-3 chars to fill in the group based on who can play when and what may be needed.
  7. Stagentti Augur

    Ya...people seem to forget folks started boxing on live for a reason and TLPs are going to hit that point too in the later expacs
  8. Darchon_Xegony Augur

    Several TLPs already have hit that point.

    Remove Truebox on servers that have unlocked Seeds of Destruction and therefore Mercenaries. If a player can pay platinum to fill a crucial role in a group with a mercenary, then Darkpaw should let players pay $ to fill a crucial roll in a group with a box.

    This should be applied immediately to Phinigel, Miragul and Selo. You will certainly see an uptick in account subscriptions and players on all three servers.
    Whizbang and jeskola like this.
  9. Aneuren Tempered Steel

    I think it should be done even sooner than mercenary release, really. Especially since a huge portion of the player base always drops off and rerolls when a new TLP is released.

    They should lift the Truebox restriction as soon as a new TLP is released at minimum, with SoD release being the outermost date if no TLPs are released in the meanwhile.

    This message typed on my brand new keyboard, I had to test it out on my favorite online forum!
  10. Pinino New Member

    Shoulda Made a Non Truebox FV server long time ago would easily become one of the most populated server youve ever made...
    Whizbang and Fireclav like this.
  11. oldkracow 9999 Is the Krono Account Limit

    But does that server make more $$ then recirculating the same old TLP over an over again every year? :rolleyes:
    Skuz likes this.
  12. Excruciator_Test New Member

    I would sub 6 accounts for a non truebox server. However, my logic tells me it would be mostly populated by multi boxers. It would likely be better to make it truebox at first So...
    I would sub 3 for a truebox that scheduled an unlock to non truebox after DoN was defeated then I would sub to 6. (DoN is about when boxing was critically essential to not LFG for hours and hours every day.) Also, to clarify. I am one of the boxers that groups with people. With open world zones, the boxes would add benefit outside of the group. Our groups were epic and very fun due to this.

    My real preference though would be to forget how progression servers are classically done and move to a new progression style.

    Like this: There are several eras of progression going on on one server. Each era would be capped at an expansion and frozen in time forever with a "copy" or "version" of your toon (gear, level, aa etc. . .) Once you chose to move on to another era of progression you could then go back and play your toon where you left off, as well as bounce back to your latest version of your toon in the newer era with exp gain from the session played on the old era intact on the new era toon. (and all other version of your toon in all other eras). A buildup of a universal alternate currency would likely be required as well that can be redeemed somehow. This would allow you to experience any era you felt like (without penalty or detriment) and have it feel like your game play was "in era". There would be no missed eras as you could simply relive the era whenever you wanted. The transition would need to be seamless, like when you zoned into a previous expansion's zone, you could select the era to enter the zone as ( kind of like pickzone but with eras).

    This could replace the need for having endlessly new progression servers as anyone could simply start out from classic whenever they wanted with the classic era experience intact. Kunark, same deal, Velious, whatever you wanted. Any other expansion set, same thing etc. . To maximize the fun, the first "run" would have to unlock every future era. After each era however people could stay in the previous era if they wished and continue their progression at their pace. This would likely solve the server population die off since people wouldn't have to leave the server to play how they wanted.

    Anyway, something like this would be the best eq experience that I can think of. It would be like ultimate EQ. All zones and all expansions would be a viable place to play rather than a ghost town. I think it would revitalize EQ into a better than prime state. We wouldn't get as bored with current content or with old content. A few servers like this could service the entire EQ population since it could easily be a live server and a progression server at the same time. I bet there would be a surge of people re subbing that haven't subbed in years because their idea of what Everquest "is" has been dead for however long. This would resurrect it in a dynamic way that fits so many more peoples' EQ requirements than just another (temporary) progression server.

    Everquest needs something big. It needs something "new" but also "old". The reason being is that every new expansion kills the fun as well as the need for the previous expansion/s. All the zones from before become irrelevant. All the old content is marginalized and thus outdated. They literally kill the old game that people loved and in its place a new game that is different now exists. This is why people itch for progression servers. But progression servers do the exact same thing all over again and thus the game dies for people once again. (and again and again and again...) This would fix that as well as fix so many more issues that make EQ no longer fit the "bill" for people.

    I really like the idea that people have had about truebox until a certain expansion, then non afterwards. AoC of course, but some limits on requesting them aside from lockout times (though I think they need lock out time tweaks as well). The goal is to avoid massive insurgence of raid gear into the economy. Something like requiring a total level count to request the zone. Maybe like this: 10 people are in a raid requesting an instance. All are level 60 but the required level sum is 700 (add up everyone's level) This would make it so no one could farm dragon loot in later eras solo unless the dragon loot was now close to trivial. (each successive expansion could lower the level count needed by a percentage or something). Or it would be nice to add checks on class mix. If your raid was made up of 33% or more of mages while in era. Too bad. No AoC instance for you.

    Anyhow, take it or leave it, this is my EQ pipe dream that I hope one day to see happen. If for some reason someone from Darkpaw Games likes this idea, you have my email address. I have more ideas on how to make it work as well as technical knowledge on what it would actually take to make something grand like this happen.

    Excruciator
  13. Fraggly Augur

    Please show me the history of any server that had 20+- guilds actively clearing and able to farm end game content when they were live like Phinigel. I have memories of welfare Vex'Thal's on Bertoxxulous where the one-three guilds that had time and players with enough time to clear it would let the server tag along for the entry area. No previous era's endgame content was any different. One-three or so guilds, sometimes with DPS race competitions, other times with a rotation going to prevent people from quitting.

    https://phinnyprogress.com/

    Gaming has changed since the year 2000, group gaming doesn't satisfy people anymore. Scores of people not being able to do anything endgame classic-PoP because some people with unlimited free time were able to completely monopolize every boss without instancing was not nearly as prevalent as it is now. All 20+- guilds on Phinigel would have still cleared classic-luclin endgame without truebox code. AoC was the difference.
    Skuz likes this.
  14. Machen New Member


    Thanks for linking Phinnyprogress.com to me, I didn't realize such a website existed. The guy that started that must be some kind of genius.
  15. Aneuren Tempered Steel


    Then again, it is a comparative analysis; there are different levels of success.

    Something was clearly different on the Phinigel server to have brought about that kind of a sea change. And considering that Truebox has been a proven failure in eliminating the problems it was created to solve (mass boxers still rampant and active hacks still rampant), the most likely variable remains the addition of instanced raid content during classic eras. The toxic end-game culture that was prevalent on Fippy, Ragefire, and Lockjaw, was completely removed from the equation.

    Fippy actually gives us one of the most potent case studies - the failed PoP lock votes that came about as the casual's rebuke to elite guilds monopolizing all raid content. I know you haven't forgotten the weeks of open-world flagging runs that mysteriously started after those failed votes. There was never the mass die-off in server population on Phinigel and Mangler, two servers that never experienced the open world struggle that pushed people away in droves from the non-instanced classic TLP servers. I wasn't around on Coirnav, but I wouldn't be surprised if you told me that the same trends had been observed there.

    Phinigel had a far stronger server population that lasted for a far longer time than previous TLP servers. Mangler is following the same trend. The fact that both servers are persisting despite the rampant hacking and mass boxing across both of those servers simply reinforces that when players have a fair chance to experience all raid content, a good many other flaws are far more tolerable. Does this surprise anyone?

    So I guess I would end with a question - how do Phinigel players now feel about Truebox? Is it an overall help of hindrance to them in their quest to progress through in-era raid content?
    Skuz and Fraggly like this.
  16. Fraggly Augur

    Self-proclaimed, i guess...? TY for your insight as to how truebox allowed more guilds than ever before to have a satisfied roster.
  17. LDEffectsMe Augur

    I say the solution is simple... Just like Mangler and Selo's launched together... Launch 2 new TLP's. One Truebox and One non-truebox. See which one garners the larger population. That'll settle the debate once and for all. :D
  18. mark Augur

    the system has to be reworked find a way for rmt not to interfere with people exping,the more active accounts the more money for darkpaw also the bazaar his a problem you loot an item you dont need, go to sell it and theres 1000 or more for sale i gave up on bazzar.
  19. Darchon_Xegony Augur

    It is a hinderance. Remove it after SoD on servers where much of the content is instanced and there’s not much open world competition for specific quests or named mobs that lasts any extended duration.
    Fraggly likes this.
  20. Fraggly Augur

    No doubting the larger population would be on the Truebox, i don't think anyone would argue that point. A standard server that doesn't require beating an expansion and a 2 week voting period, with AoC and picks would be nice is all. if 3 months is a drag, adding time to beat later expansions and 2 weeks of voting which has to roll over to a certain day of the week is more of a drag. I'd be all :)'s with a truebox and standard release with typical rules.