Still worth joining?

Discussion in 'Time Locked Progression Servers' started by Mithrill, Aug 11, 2022.

  1. Mithrill New Member

    Been away from eq for a long long time now, and just found out about progression servers. The latest ones were launched in May, almost three months ago. So I got some questions and hope to get some insight. First, is it too late to catch up to majority of players? I don't want to be soloing for three months before finding people of similar level to group with. Second, there are many guild recruitment threads for Yelinak and much fewer for Vaniki, can someone explain the differences in th population dynamics between the two servers? Third, what classes are most needed at this point? I notice many recruitment threads are closed to hybrids, and that's fine, I mainly want to avoid playing a class only to be unguilded because every guild is full of that class.
  2. Chyron Lorekeeper

    First, it is not too late to join either of the new progression servers, and there are groups on both servers all the way to max level.

    Vaniki is more experimental, and seems to be populated with people who plan to take the rewards back to their main server, whether that is Mischief, Agnarr, Aradune, Live, etc. This server probably has higher population spikes around raid times due to this. Yelinak is the more classic TLP experience, so it will have a higher population than Vaniki.

    In general on most TLPs, there are too many hybrid tanks on raids, and not enough in groups. There are always a lot of pet classes for the first few expansions, and then barely any 65+. Clerics are always worth making. Worry less about what is needed, and choose something you'd enjoy. If playing what is needed is what you enjoy, I would suggest cleric or bard for both grouping and raiding.

    All too often people judge the needs of classes based on raiding guild recruitment posts, but that is one small aspect that only affects people who are cold-joining guilds. If you already make friends through the grouping process, likely you can get into a guild regardless of the recruitment needs. Play to enjoy the experience, make connections and you'll find your class matters less than you think it does.
  3. Gheed Is not reading your response

    No Yelinak is a terrible server
  4. Rauven Augur

    If you're considering TLP, there is no better choice than Mischief. It is the only server (live included) that has multiple general chats (400 players per) every day. People are still making new characters and leveling to 70 in popular areas.

    The loot and trade rules ensures you can get up to speed rather quickly. Its not uncommon to see PoP/GoD raid drops go for 100-1000pp.

    We're about to go into Dragons of Norrath and so its a great time to get in, get to 70 and get your 2.0 knocked out.
  5. Moforyguy12345 Augur

    Michief is a dead leveling at 45-60. Just powerleveling constantly.
  6. Midnitewolf Augur

    I would say no. I have joined most of my TLPs around the Velious era and have not had any major issues, in fact there are a few advantages to be honest. The big one is that if you join classic era your starting from nothing and to be blunt the game has some issues in classic. Kunark fixes a lot of those issues by adding new spells and much better zones to level in from 1-50 and beyond. Velious then expands upon that correcting even more issues and giving you much better leveling options in the 50-60 range. Also gear is pretty crap in Classic with a explosion in usefulness in Kunark and enchanced even further in Velious. For the investment of a few Krono you can significantly twink out your brand new toon and boost your leveling speed tremendously in your drive to catch up.

    Also, the level cap of 60 remains in place until PoP come out so right now that means you have, I believe, a 21 week window to get to that cap before the race for levels begins again.

    The downside is you have kind of missed the window to be able to earn Krono effectively in game to bankroll your future due to krono inflation. Toward the end of classic, I was able to earn enough to buy Krono for plat fairly easily and bought nearly a dozen in the 1000-3000p per range. Now Krono is going for 14k per so unless you get some lucky drops, your buying Krono for cash.

    Another downside is getting into a good guild. You are correct it is much harder to get into a good guild the longer the game progresses. I am currently in one of the largest, if not the largest guild on Yelinak and we had our membership closed for quite some time. Now new members are very selectively engaged as we are only accepting those we group with and have positive experiences with with some focus on getting members who are playing classes we are in need of. Still, even with that we are accepting new members and I am sure others are as well. If your good at your class, fun to be around and generally a positive influence, you will get a guild if you are looking.

    The last downside I can see is one you get into a guild, your fighting an uphill battle with DKP. For example, I know many of my guildmates have been literally hoarding DKP from day one so that they can get first pick of gear in Velious so starting late your going to be up against monsters in the DKP realm when trying to get the top gear drops. On the other hand there is a ton of gear that a new player could use that rots because everyone already has it. For example, if you were playing lets day an Enchanter and joined my on an off night Hate run, you would probably have a full set of Insidious Armor in 2-3 weeks and you wouldn't pay 1 DKP for it because it is all ROT as this point.

    As far as classes on Yelinak anyway for general PUGing and leveling you probably want to avoid Wiz, Rogue and Druid. Nothing wrong with the classes, it is just that they don't often get selected for groups due to mostly unjustifiable prejudices. Enchanters are probably the most desired class right now, followed by Cleric and tank, any tank. War, SK or Pally, doesn't matter, there just doesn't seem to be enough tanks to go around at the moment. Shaman are a fairly good selection as well since they are desired for their buffs and slowing. Mages also are pretty well received since they bring almost the same boom as a Wiz without the perceived downsides. Necros would fall below mages a little bit, mostly because their DoTs work too slow to keep up with the pace most groups are killing mobs. They are still picked for groups quite often though especially in areas where they can undead charm. Monks are wanted a lot because their great pullers and do massive melee DPS when they aren't out pulling. Bards and Rangers are in a weird place in my opinion. Bards are kind of sort of always wanted but not, hard to explain. In this era they are decent pullers but not as well regarded as Monks and their buffing utility is amazing but their actual dps is not. In theory you always want one in your group, in practice, I don't see them being anyone top choice when a slot is open. Ranger is kind of the same. They are kind of a hybrid DPS/Tank and kind of mediocre at both. I think they are a good and useful class but it is rare I encounter them in a group and usually when I lead and need a replacement or to fill a slot, they are pretty low on the list of who I would pick first for various reasons.

    For Raiding, the story changes. There are not nearly enough wizards it seems so you would be in high demand as a Wizard if you can deal with sitting LFG for hours while trying to level. Chanters, in my guild at least, seem to be overpopulated. SKs and War as well. Never enough Bards either. Rangers still not really wanted. Necro is a good choice as is Shaman and Mage. Pally is unrepresented and have a very useful roll on raids so a solid choice. Druids only really used a porters unfortunately. Clerics will never be turned down.

    For both raids and random leveling/Pugging - Cleric Always. If you can stand just to be a healer always and ever, then Cleric hands down is the safest choice of class as you will never go without a group or guild, at least if your not a horrible player or a troublemaker.

    Hope this long post helps.
  7. Rauven Augur


    This is utterly false. I just had to login to live to spend loyalty points for a character doll because my character list was 11/11 with 65-70 characters and I have neither used PL nor Solo'd.

    There is also several picks open for Velketor's Labrynth and Grieg's End. You can even find several groups in Dulak's Harbor, Plane of Nightmare, and Plane of Valor. I've personally done grouping in zones like Plane of Torment, Veksar (great for tribute), Ssra Temple (avoid trapped areas without curse cures), and on occasion The Hole, SolB, and Old Seb.

    There's plenty of groups to be had, you won't find this on any other TLP nor will you see this on live. Mischief is where people come to group. All other servers are non-human bots and mercs.
  8. Skuz I am become Wrath, the Destroyer of Worlds.

    Honestly I'd say wait for the next wave of TLP to land unless you can identify a ruleset / server & guild that jive with what you're looking for and who are serious about helping returning players get back into the game.

    The alternative is diving into a live server right after L100 Heroics launch, buy one & find a friendly guild to level with.

    EQ is a great game in many ways but it has for far too long ignored helping players who returned or are actual genuine new players to catch up on whichever server they want to play on. The game itself has at various points in history tried multiple methods of "catching up" players on live servers but that effort mostly died after TSS and the TLP are basically all you get, and with those the "initial wave" is the best time to jump back in, form new connections & re-learn the game.

    There are players & guilds who help returners, however in many guilds the members are not interested in hand-holding you until you become adequate, they had to do it the hard way & so should you because it will make you a better player or you will quit & be some other player's / guild's / game's problem.
    oldkracow likes this.
  9. rangerous Elder

    There are still plenty of groups to be hand its only in kunark. Under cap level groups are pretty easily found thru the first month luclin on these tlps in my opinion. There are less players since a lot are at cap but that also means many zones and camps are less contested so it tends to balance out especially if you are flexible on where you exp and what classes you are willing to invite.
  10. oldkracow 9999 Is the Krono Account Limit

    Ditto wait for a new server, that's what I'm doing
  11. Overmedium New Member

    Honestly, it's as good a time as any to start on any server that is pre-Planes of Power. There isn't a lot going on and the levels are locked to 60 and people actually still go into old zones. HOWEVER, Yelinak ruleset is very boring and Vaniki is just weird.

    I've been told people play on Mischief and you can get geared up quick and cheap, but if you want to raid, finding a guild with a slot for the class you want to play may be difficult.
  12. Trevalon Augur


    I don't know a single guild on Mischief that is not recruiting. Mischief is entering later expansions, EVERY guild is recruiting. The ONLY class that might have a hard time getting a guild is Shadowknight because there are 100 billion of them. Otherwise your almost guaranteed a guild with ANY other class.

    Mischief probably has the best population of any server at this point in its life cycle. There are groups at all levels, new players are joining constantly (We just picked up like 5 new players that are brand new to the server in the last couple weeks) and gearing is SUPER easy making it very easy to catchup quick.

    If you have 0 desire to to later expacs, then sure, Mischief isnt for you, but if you have ever been interested in doing DON+ now is a great time to join!
    code-zero, Rauven and Appren like this.
  13. Vack Elder

    Yes it is still worth joining. Mischief is an amazing server. If you need a home <Noble Heroes of Mischief> is recruiting. If your an amazing person and not a shadow knight we will take you! Come have some fun DON just launched. Now is an amazing time to join. Send a tell to Vack.
  14. FranktheBank Augur

    Waiting 6-8 months to play on a new server is the dumbest possible suggestion. Trying to choose a class based on guilds you havent app'd to or even seen yet is also pointless. TLP class populations fluctuate. Play what you want and find a guild to support that. If you really want to be desired, it should be obvious... Play a cleric.

    Also, while Mischief is a great server, DoN is a terrible expac, dont lie to them.

    DoN is awful, but the previous expac, OoW, is still cleared by most guilds because of lack of content in DoN so you may be able to gear up fairly easily. The next expac, DoDH is fantastic, then the following one, PoR, is awful again. After PoR is like 10 expacs of solid EQ.
    Koshk, Tweakfour17 and code-zero like this.
  15. Triconix Augur

    PoR is 100x better than I remember it from live. It helps that the ARo event is way quicker than it was previously. I'll stand by my statement that I'd rather do POR all year long than ever setting foot in Classic-Kunark again. I'm basically doing POR back to back right now with Aradune and the limited time I play on Vaniki. Solid 5-6 months of it. Yippee!
    code-zero likes this.
  16. Protocol Dragon Defender

    Ayonae isn’t a 20 minute fight where you just wait to click your bane anymore?
  17. Triconix Augur

    No, you just burn her down and continue clicking the fetters as she becomes vulnerable. It's like 3-5 minute fight.
  18. FranktheBank Augur

    I'd also rather do PoR than classic or kunark. Because after PoR is TSS which is great. After classic/kunark is kunark/velious which is terrible.