New progression server so soon?

I am all for a no-box progression server that takes the mistakes made on Lockjaw/Ragefire and fixes them but why so soon?

According to the timeline Lockjaw will only be 1 month into Kunark and there will be a new server? Unless the new progression server starts at Kunark and allows transfers off of LJ/RF, I am not pleased with it.

From a business prospective, this announcement is going to cause you to lose a lot of a money. Let me explain.
1. The folks that really want this server and are somewhat casual aren't going to want to continue to progress their characters on LJ/RF if they know an upcoming TLP with a ruleset that suits them better is coming relatively soon. They will unsub until this new server.
2. Many people don't want to spend the time to re-roll on a new server this soon and play through classic AGAIN after we just exited classic.
3. This will devastate a lot of guilds if people move over to this server in mass. When guilds get devastated and servers get drained of their player base, people quit at an accelerated pace.

Am I just thinking too far into this? Will we not even notice it when the new servers come in? I think we will notice it because we noticed an unexpected decline in population when EQ2 TLP came out. DBG are really stepping on their own feet by coming out with TLP so closely spaced together because they aren't maximizing the revenue they would be getting. I think the minimum time between new TLPs should be 2-3 months after Vellious comes out on the current TLP or even 2-3 months after PoP comes out. Anything before that will be extremely discouraging to me.

I plan on playing on both servers. I hope they release it even sooner than winter!

Bring it on!

I wish they did it today. I hope that these servers are left full of bots and boxers trying to peddle their crap to each other for Krono, realizing they have no one left to prey on. Coming to the realization that, damn, they have to go get jobs to pay for all 8 accounts.

What new server?

https://forums.station.sony.com/eq/...etter-july-update-and-whats-coming-up.225472/

Holly mentioned a possible new TLP in the winter.

it's mentioned in the latest producers letter.

Ah I'll go take a look then, I never notice those letters.

Im all for it ( Although I wish it wasnt a no box server or 1 per comp server that I think will be exploited ) Ive always hoped for a new one every two years or less since 5 years in between is crazy. A lot of eq players are server hoppers and always start a new one again because they enjoy the startup. Ive noticed the same thing in a browser game I play. This income from special ruleset servers is very important I believe. It might be in their best interest to make a new one every six months to a year. A ton of people quit these no matter what in the first year and getting those players back and spending money without much of a sub lapse must be a goal for them. I believe the big money is in slower progression servers like fippy/vulak and ragefire/combine.though.

id be interested in this server, pending the exact ruleset. i will be tired of classic by that point, so i wouldnt want an extended period without kunark at least for sure. id still want sometime of classic for that progression sense, but no more than a month.

A no-box server won't happen.
Although the majority of Boxers are using a 3rd Party App called "[Unmentioned 3rd Party Software]" to play multiple accounts on One Computer, some Boxers like me, use No 3rd party Apps and Box the old fashioned way ( in my case, 3-Box on 3 Separate Computers, 3 Keyboards and 3 Mouses ), but Boxing this way, 3-Boxing is the limit for me.
If you make it so it's 1 Account per IP Address, then you'll shut out Families playing together.
Although it's easy to Spoof an IP address (to use a "Fake" IP Address), it's also easy to detect one.
Perhaps if they limited the number of Accounts per IP, then they should set a limit like 4 or 5.

They wont use IP to limit the number of accounts. A simple check of running processes on your PC is all that is needed.

WOW!....I let my account time out just a few days ago because if how I felt about Ragefire/Lockjaw (That was all of it, but it was a good 50% of the reason) and now I read this!?

I had no idea they valued my business so much! It warms my heart;> j/k...hehehe

I do think the small number of people willing to go through the hassle of boxing on multiple computers will drastically reduce the number of total boxers on the server. Much like it used to be "way back when" before the hardware outpaced the EQ software for most people. People will still box, of course, but it won't be the "norm" and the natural design of the classes to "need" others in a group will come to the forefront of common play. Reputation will matter a bit more, which is good IMO.

A very low population of boxers will help the community, overall, in a lot of ways all by itself. Add in guides, PNP, and a slow progression will also help bring back a closer feeling of nostalgia, IMO.

I never planned to even think of reactivating before next summer to let the dust clear on all the drama on TLPs, and the company in general really, but I'll be watching and might come back this winter...as long as DBG becomes more stable than they have been the past few months.

The state of the "company" is still a major factor for me, although.

I would not be surprised to see a new one each year from here on out with slightly different rule sets each time. These are definitely money makers for daybreak.

...and the 20 year anniversary TLP is bound to be very popular.

I'm concerned that none of the protections currently in place on RF/LJ will be in place on a no box server. Particularly, the load balancing of all zones and enforced roatations. As TL is quite fond of saying, they're quite capable of monopolizing content without boxes. The new server *must* have at least the same protections as lj/RF.

Before all the naysayers come out of the woodwork saying that "spying" to detect cheat programs is illegal. This could easily apply to multiple accounts on the same computer (which would be considered cheating) with added verbiage.

Essentially, whenever someone plays a game, whatever is in the EULA, is agreed to by the user. If someone does not like it, they do not have to play.

Electronic Arts EULA
D. Consent to Monitor. This Software may incorporate Punkbuster Anti-Cheat technology by Even Balance, Inc. DURING ITS OPERATION, THIS TECHNOLOGY MAY MONITOR YOUR COMPUTER’S RANDOM ACCESS MEMORY (RAM) FOR UNAUTHORIZED THIRD PARTY PROGRAMS RUNNING CONCURRENTLY WITH THE GAME. AN “UNAUTHORIZED THIRD PARTY PROGRAM” AS USED HEREIN SHALL BE DEFINED AS ANY THIRD PARTY SOFTWARE, INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION ANY “ADDON”, “MOD”, “HACK”, “TRAINER”, OR “CHEAT” THAT IN EA’S SOLE DETERMINATION: (I) ENABLES OR FACILITATES CHEATING OF ANY TYPE: (II) ALLOWS USERS TO MODIFY OR HACK THE GAME INTERFACE, ENVIRONMENT, AND /OR EXPERIENCE IN ANY WAY NOT EXPRESSLY AUTHORIZED BYEA: OR (III) INTERCEPTS, “MINES”, OR OTHERWISE COLLECTS INFORMATION FROM OR THROUGH THE GAME. IN THE EVENT THAT THE GAME DETECTS AN UNAUTHORIZED THIRD PARTY PROGRAM, THE GAME MAY (A) COMMUNICATE INFORMATION BACK TO EA, INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION YOUR ACCOUNT NAME, DETAILS ABOUT THE UNAUTHORIZED THIRD PARTY PROGRAM DETECTED, AND THE TIME AND DATE THE UNAUTHORIZED THIRD PARTY PROGRAM WAS DETECTED; AND /OR (B) EA MAY EXERCISE ANY OR ALL OF ITS RIGHTS UNDER THIS AGREEMENT, WITH OR WITHOUT PRIOR NOTICE TO THE USER.


Blizzard EULA
4) Consent to Monitor. WHEN RUNNING, A GAME MAY MONITOR YOUR COMPUTER'S RANDOM ACCESS MEMORY (RAM) FOR UNAUTHORIZED THIRD PARTY PROGRAMS RUNNING CONCURRENTLY WITH THE GAME. AN "UNAUTHORIZED THIRD PARTY PROGRAM" AS USED HEREIN SHALL BE DEFINED AS ANY THIRD PARTY SOFTWARE PROHIBITED BY SECTION 1(C)(ii) ABOVE. IN THE EVENT THAT THE GAME DETECTS AN UNAUTHORIZED THIRD PARTY PROGRAM, (a) THE GAME MAY COMMUNICATE INFORMATION BACK TO BLIZZARD, INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION YOUR ACCOUNT NAME, DETAILS ABOUT THE UNAUTHORIZED THIRD PARTY PROGRAM DETECTED, AND THE TIME AND DATE; AND/OR (B) BLIZZARD MAY EXERCISE ANY OR ALL OF ITS RIGHTS UNDER THIS AGREEMENT, WITH OR WITHOUT PRIOR NOTICE TO YOU.


Steam EULA
4) ONLINE CONDUCT, CHEATING AND ILLEGAL BEHAVIOR. .............Steam and the Content and Services may include functionality designed to identify software or hardware processes or functionality that may give a player an unfair competitive advantage when playing multiplayer versions of any Content and Services or modifications of Content and Services (“Cheats”).......................


Trion Terms of Use
24. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS. You hereby acknowledge and agree that: A. WHEN RUNNING, THE GAME MAY MONITOR YOUR COMPUTER’S RANDOM ACCESS MEMORY (RAM) AND/OR CPU PROCESSES (INCLUDING MAC ADDRESS, SYSTEM OR CONFIGURATION FILES, CRASH DATA, ETC…) FOR UNAUTHORIZED THIRD PARTY PROGRAMS RUNNING CONCURRENTLY WITH A GAME. AN “UNAUTHORIZED THIRD PARTY PROGRAM” AS USED HEREIN SHALL BE DEFINED AS ANY THIRD PARTY SOFTWARE THAT, WHEN USED SIMULTANEOUSLY OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE GAME, WOULD CONSTITUTE A VIOLATION OF SECTIONS 1, 2 OR 11. IN THE EVENT THAT THE GAME DETECTS AN UNAUTHORIZED THIRD PARTY PROGRAM, TRION MAY (I) COMMUNICATE INFORMATION BACK TO TRION, INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION THE ACCOUNT INFORMATION, DETAILS ABOUT THE UNAUTHORIZED THIRD PARTY PROGRAM DETECTED, AND THE TIME AND DATE THE UNAUTHORIZED THIRD PARTY PROGRAM WAS DETECTED; AND/OR (II) EXERCISE ANY OR ALL OF ITS RIGHTS UNDER ANY TRION AGREEMENT, WITH OR WITHOUT PRIOR NOTICE TO THE USER.

You have a good point. I don't think it would happen near as fast as it did on RF/LJ, but it could happen. It would take a bit more effort and coordination, though. Would they be willing to do that with other servers available that are much easier to control? *shrug*

Good point you made. The "protections" as you say, at least in part, may be needed more than some think. Something to think about.

If boxing is against the rules, then even if you're able to box on 2 PCs I would assume it's still a reportable violation.

The hard and fast rules aren't even drawn up yet. (that I know of anyway) I tend to think it is meant to be more of a "discourage" than a total effort to "prevent" the practice of boxing.

It is with that in mind I think it will DRASTICALLY reduce boxing, but of course not wipe it out. I could be over estimating the effect of it....that is why I'd try it out for a month and make a personal judgement on if it's a server for me, or not then.

I think the goal of all of this is to prevent someone from boxing an entire raid.

Boxing two accounts on two computers is not that challenging/hard.

Boxing three accounts on three computers requires some skills.

Boxing four accounts of four computers is difficult (I would imagine most would agree)

Boxing five+ accounts on five+ computers is nearing the impossible (with any degree of usefulness).