Next TLP Proposal - 2 servers - One starts from classic - The other starts from TSS (or similar later part of the expansions) - The unlock timer is 2-3 times that of the existing “standard timer” Let players enjoy their favorite era for a longer time.
Long Unlocks have been suggested dozens of times before, by a small handful of players. They just aren't popular enough given that for them to be successful they would require more players than a standard-speed TLP, a lot more, and there just aren't enough of you slow unlock fans around, you are a tiny niche of a niche game and the playerbase is fractured across all of the Live & TLP servers. We've had a lot of TLP so far & the slower ones are less successful at retaining players than the 12/8 ones, and the very fast ones were not as successful either, which is why the 12/8 ones are the most common unlock speed used. Rather than a slower unlock speed some players do ask for a faster XP rate, which means they can pack in a bit more free-time and play a little more casually while keeping up with the bulk of players. Agnarr or live are much better suited to players who enjoy having more time to play, but the big desire most fans of "slow unlocks" have is to not fall behind, but you can't force everyone else on teh server to play as slowly as yourself, it just does not work.
Good ideas! I want account wide unlocks. If you do it once, that's it--either that or disabled key'n characters entirely! Hot take? Yup. And, I could totally get onboard with longer release windows. IE: Classic and Kunark launch together and we wait 16 weeks for Velius and then another 16 for Luclin, and after PoP 20 weeks+ The breakneck speed of releasing eras burns people out and honest to God, it chases people out of the game who might otherwise stick around. The uber tryhards will tryhard elsewhere if they get bored--and I'd assume they'll be back chasing Krono once new launches occur, but casuals are really what keep a server alive and they'd stay longer with release windows that didn't flip by so dang fast. I think the OP is on to something there. And, Mischief has the best ruleset if you're looking for a model
The idea that "casuals are really what keeps the server alive" needs to die along with wanting longer release times on a TLP. If people really wanted the full experience of a TLP, that is going to live, they wouldn't want to stay in the lvl 60/65 era for years. Find one of the servers that is stuck in those era's and stay there. Stop pushing for bad ideas for TLP's.
Is 3 months breakneck is your mind? because month 3 of a TLP expac is always a ghost town. The majority of people do not want 3+ month unlocks. This isn't up for debate. Darkpaw will continue to release TLPs every year because the want the influx of money I think it matters as what you consider casuals, but you are right, longer release times is a non-starter.
Most guilds experience more attrition during 12 week expansions then 8 weeks. It's harder to keep player interest and engaged during the longer period of time.
I would LOVE a longer period of time between unlocks, but as has been stated many times already, it just doesn't work for the health of the server. Even short term. I think that the more realistic approach for casuals, is to organize prior to a new TLP launch. Find other players that also prefer a longer unlock timeframe. Then, form a guild that will do slow rate progression. It's been done in the past on new live servers, though they did inevitably fail. That was due to a myriad of reasons, but it doesn't mean it wouldn't work better on a fresh TLP.
With Live servers now also having Agents of Change there really isn't anything stopping a "casual" raiding progression guild existing on a Live server, all they need is to all agree to stick to a timetable & set rules for what content they stick within during each "step" of their progress, they could go as slow or as fast as they like & they could use the forums to gather like-minded pkayers together for it. But that won't happen, instead long unlock fans will continue to delude themselves they are not a tiny few players in the whole EQ TLP community and continue to hope against all available evidence that their dream server has more than a snowball's chance in hell. Maybe they could join the PvP adherants in some focus groups the devs are looking for on the CRC.
Please no long unlocks - the current 2 month itself is quite long. Also, I think all the seven PvP adherents are taking a break, please don't remind them to post their "If a PvP TLP is released, it would be 10000000s of players" delusions!
What is your definition of hardcore? The difference isnt what you define as hardcores and what you define as casuals - The difference is the MAJORITY of people on a TLP do NOT want longer unlocks.
Bruh, Mischief is coming off of 3 months of SoF, into 3 months of SoD, then we only get 2 months in the best expac ever made. Sad times.
25th anniversary, how about a straight 25% bonus 25% to xp 25% to AA 25% to loot 25% to rares 25% to lockouts (doesnt do much, you mostly raid content on a weekly schedule) 25% to faction etc
True,, but Mischief is unique in it's ruleset - it's thriving population even now proves it, Oakwynd is a ghost town outside of peak hours, and we are just in Velious
Okay. According to what you said, most people want to play from Classic to Live at the current unlock speed, but are they actually doing that? You shouldn't be interested in a new TLP because you're happily playing games on a certain TLP right now, right? If I can understand you as best as I can, it means that people like to play from Classic to POP for a year and then start over again when the next TLP opens, over and over again. Is that correct?
You miss the point I was making previously, the number of players who want long unlocks is small and nowhere near enough to populate a server well enough to make it successful from a financial perspective. There might only be enough to actually make a guild. SO they'd be better off piggybacking onto a pre-existing server & they wouldn't even need to pay a sub into the bargain for a few expansions. And yes, the crowd who usually populate TLP in large numbers could easily do exactly the same but they aren't going to need to when their numbers do actually support plenty of TLP running concurrently already & will still be able to populate another in May, ruleset depending. It's exactly like asking for a PvP TLP, where there is just not enough players to support one, they too could form a PvP "cabal" on one of the live servers if they wished to but they would struggle to fill one guild let alone several to make PvP interesting.