May is the worst month for TLP releases.

I know most people who even frequent these forums are lifers. Why would you even come to a forum if your busy playing?
But for some of us (most of us) who live anywhere North of Texas or California, May is the absolute dumbest month to release new TLPs.
Honestly, I want to play a new server 9 months out of the year, hell I would even play in the summer too, but there is no way I am starting a NEW TLP right before summer, when I am much more busy doing stuff in our world, rather than in Norrath. Don't get me wrong I would still play, but it would just be less frequent.
I have been waiting for the last few months for DarkPaw to say "Surprise, we are releasing a new TLP for the winter" but with the new 2022 schedule just released, I feel like they don't even think about the fact that anyone who lives even a bit North ( A LOT OF PLAYERS ) won't play when you release the servers right before the summer months.

Like... Split them up, and release at least one for us during the winter - this is a ridiculous business decision.

They are busy with real EverQuest in the Winter.

This forum would be pretty pointless if it was filled with people who don't play. What an odd take.

May isn't the best month, I'd agree, but any month is likely bad for someone or some reason or another. I'd rather a May launch than an actual summer launch for example. Or an Xmas launch. March-April probably MY ideal launch window, but YMMV as every person's circumstances are different. If there are queues in May maybe they don't want a more "ideal" time because if even more people tried to join a launch they get even more headache / CS issues?

You don't have to play day one to make them krono.

The first 3-4 months of a TLP there's nothing to do anyways, better those line up with the summer.

May launch and you not playing in the summer means you get to miss Classic. Sounds like an absolute win. You get to chill in the summer, miss the worst era of EQ, and still get to play a TLP in the winter.

The fact that you clearly state you both do things and the summer matters tells me that you don't represent the typical everquest player.

They aren't called basement dwellers just because Fall rolls around.

May is when launching a TLP fits into their schedule the best. Lots of folks will play even though it is summer.

Plenty of us don't live our summers any different than we live our winters.

Think of all the skin cancer DBG helps us avoid.

Hats off, 20_year_old_game_decision_makers!

Yeah I understand that, bunch of echo chamber answers here - keyboard warrior fingers IGNITE. (Not directed at you)..
The point is May is the spring, people are looking forward to getting outside more. A whole lot of people would rather start in the fall or winter.
Congratulations on living inside all year, most of us don't, but still want to be devoted to a TLP.

Copying an exact server that was already done last May and just splitting them up for one in winter would be pretty easy I think and get them more subs..

But IDK

You don't have to start on the first day. Is it really a race anymore?

if you're devoted , stay on the server you're 'devoted' to now.

WELL, TLP is real EQ. More effort in to TLP and a new EQ remake less effort into Live.

Live is just for like the one thousand players or less dispersed over 15 servers that peak at 100 players at a time. Half of which are probably F2P box accounts. Tha'ts why the expansions are just re-hashed old content. Not enough people buy the expac to warrant new content.

Laughable comment. Live gets most dev time each year.

The TLP recyclers don't get that development for TLP simply involves creating some gimmick that can assure Krono sales are generated for the longest period of time and nothing else

Way to make assumptions. EQ TLPs don't really require all that much of a time commitment. My second hobby is Combined Driving. Which is maneuvering a horse drawn cart through obstacles at high speeds. I am outdoors plenty training and caring for my pony and practicing our skills. You can still have an outdoor life, full time job, and play on a TLP.

It's amazing at how ignorant that comment was. Mischief/TB is essentially supported by a single Dev (Ngreth) who is also in charge of all itemization and TS stuff on live. Almost the entirety of Absor's calendar year between expansion launches was devoted to development of raid and group missions for the new expansion.

The new expansion may have the same location as older expansions, but the zones are completely new. Anyone can log into live and see that. It's not like they are just copy/pasting old luclin zones and giving it to us on live. It's quite literally an entirely new zone with a similar floorplan of the original (and still not even the same), built completely from scratch. In all, devs need to create brand new zones, items, textures, NPCs, AAs/Discs, quests and everything included, naming everything, art, etc.

Also, 3 of the 7 zones in TOL are entirely new. They never existed before so they didn't even have basic things to leverage like they did for the revamped zones. 100% built from scratch so they needed to design the entire layout of the zones on top of doing everything else.

I know that. I'm saying that the money is in the TLP and the business model is wrong. The devs need to refocus.

Correct. TLPs net more money for the organization. It needs more time and focus. Reading comprehension if hard for many of the forum warriors.

What more do you want them to do for TLP's? Out side of a special rule set each year there is not much else to do as the point of them is to relive old content not see new content.

What baseless statement is this? You have zero idea of their revenue stream. Also, you stated live is just a 1,000 players dispersed over 15 servers. Which again, is just a baseless claim considering how 35+ reported guilds have beaten TOL content and each guild carries at least 70-100 raid mains. Also, everyone and their mother knows the casual playerbase is much larger than the raider playerbase. A vast majority of them [the casuals] are gold because you see them going through TOL and wearing Gold-Access only gear.

Sorry Sancus for quoting you, but I feel this appropriate.

@Indigo_quarmite based on this, it would seem live raiders are the money makers...The TLPers make the money? Which ones? The ones that disappear after 3 months and stop being gold for 3/4 of the year?