Why was pick changed?

Discussion in 'Time Locked Progression Servers' started by C3lowz, Feb 16, 2017.

  1. Hdizzle Augur



    Why would they change the pickzone system to make Phinny less fun, when the new server would have the same pickzone system? As far as I can tell, picks work the same way on TLP's, Live and most likely future servers of any variety.

    I hope you're right about the two boxing though. Three boxes is the best number IMO, but I could live with two boxes
  2. Mashef Augur


    Because if you can 2 or 3 box you can have full teams and run instances with less actual people. If exp rates are running at RF/LJ level you dont need as many picks because exp won't be as terrible as Phinny. With less terrible exp you can actually reasonably use other zones outside of the standard best ZEM zones.

    If it looks like a duck, quacks like a duck, acts like a duck it must be a duck.
    Hdizzle likes this.
  3. Gragory Journeyman

    The new server probably wont have this restriction. They will make an announcement about they listened to the player and have decided new server will have old pick zone rules. They need a reason to get people to want to play there.
  4. kthehammy Elder

    enough with the paranoia, lets stay on topic.

    I don't see a reason to pick over to a pick zone with these changes and especially future changes. It seems if you do pick you will only be punished in the end.
  5. Soltara Augur

    That does seem to be an issue yeah. It punishes people in pick zones when the base zones eventually thin out.
  6. Illusory Augur


    Machen, I hate to break it to you, but the writings on the wall.

    These changes were server-wide... On the live side they were to stop botters as I had theorized in other threads. For progression servers they are essentially wrapping up Phinny - eventually they will turn off the /pickzone feature altogether.

    Here is my theory once more,
    • EQ Live took a large community hit around the OoW/GoD expansions.
    • Previous Progression servers took a hit at the OoW/GoD expansions.
    • Phinny should follow this trend. (Their analysts are banking on it.)
    • If Phinny follows this trend, DBG will lose money. (As anticipated by the analysts.)
    • DBG is in it to make money. (New president needs to make investors happy.)
    • What better way to force customers off Phinny (and restart) is to promise a better experience (no pun intended) on another server right around the time OoW/GoD unlocks? Simple, make their currently instanced lives miserable.
    Phinny 2.0 will probably offer,
    - Improved XP Curve (Some will still need to buy potions.)
    - Improved Load Balancing, separate from live. (Some will still buy krono to trade.)
    - Unlocks will be more streamlined and the server will likely start in Kunark or Velious.
    Etc.

    I'm hoping that the above is totally incorrect, but from a logical stand point... It's all about the money.
  7. Machen New Member

    This just isn't true, no matter how many times you repeat it. Particularly that previous progression servers took a hit here. Fippy had roughly the same # of active raiding guilds at PoP, GoD, OoW, and DoDH launch. It wasn't until late DoDH/PoR that the Fippy population took a huge hit.
  8. Galleyan Augur

    It's not the first time Phinny got hit with the ol' bait n' switch tactic. :rolleyes:
  9. Machen New Member

    Why will this new server be a better experience in 5 months (earliest DBG has said it might launch) when at the time we will all be happily xping in our ldon instances on Phinny, with pick zones having been completely eliminated as a factor? And anticipating our Gates Vxed/Sewers/Ikkinz instances launching in a couple weeks?

    Seriously, wtf will they have to gain now, when pickzones will be completely eliminated from the equation in 2.5 months?
  10. Nuttmeg Augur

    RadarX, I'm not accusing you of intentionally misleading us; however, I do not believe picks are working like you think they are.

    Today, we had 63 people in the base tutorial zone, and no pick. The place was OVERRUN with players and not nearly enough mobs to go around.
    I'll bet you there were at least one or two invisible locked picks with one (or very few) players afk farming in them.

    Feel free to forward this question to the manager who gifted level 65 to her whining buddies that spent so much time piling up their corpse "bank"; "Who exactly was afk in pickx exping with their cheat software safely away from the honest players eye? Could it be the same guys that hit 65 due to her stepping all over you while allowing the abuse?

    Find someone you can trust man, and take a look at what's really happening.
    Laynie likes this.
  11. Trevalon Augur


    Oh come now Machen, you know as well as I do the reason Fippy didn't take the hit was cause Vulak did and people started migrating in mass to Fippy after PoP and especially OOW.

    Vulak's population tanked after PoP and once OOW was getting to the end it was pretty much non existent other than EoE and a few people hanging on in LOGA.

    Fippy lasted a bit longer, sure, because it was always the bigger server and when Vulak died large parts of Vulak migrated to Fippy, even before the server transfers opened.

    But to sit here and say that just as many people play EQ post PoP as do pre-PoP is a fallacy that even you have to admit.
  12. Heartland Augur


    Just as many people play post PoP as Machen posts to this forum every day.
  13. blehreh New Member

    Is DayBreak trying to make a case study for the Ivy League business schools on how to aggravate as many loyal customers in as little time possible? Does anyone remember the Qwikster fiasco?

    Once you give people something as liberating as /pick, you can't take it away without causing a good amount of consternation (and the way you're going to FORCE locked picks to become sterilized zones will make it even more frustrating because it is dependent upon variables players can't control). This is why we can't popularize public transportation in the States: for most of us, once you've had your own car, driving the way you want, when you want, you don't ever want to go back onto that smelly bus, no matter how much you can save.

    You opened the Pandora's box with /pick by giving EQers a freedom they didn't have before. Changing it in this manner will be exceptionally unpopular. You guys would have been much better off implementing this on the future TLP and being DIRECTLY up front about what you were doing and why (new ruleset), while leaving Phinny alone (or at least waiting til GoD/Omens for the /dz relief)
  14. Kemaal New Member

    Have any of you people that are complaining about this even played since this change? I spent 6 hours in BoT each of the last 2 nights (during US prime time), and never once had an issue traversing picks to find a camp, finding replacements for groups, etc. It felt no different than before pickzones were changed.

    I think y'all just like to complain.
  15. Kiani Augur

    This is not at all in their interests, and can't be the intention behind these changes.

    If people are happy on Phinny, they're invested, they'll stay there and keep paying. Why change that?

    If you want to open a new server, you have to be trying to get people who aren't already playing and happy. Making people on Phinny unhappy to drive them to a new server will backfire, and at least some of the people will quit instead, rather than restart.
  16. Finnster Elder

    dear RadarX,

    I understand the intentions for this change. And I guess the solution works well in some zones. But for quite a few zones, the limit to spawn new picks should be reduced. Plenty of zones are crowded with 20 people in it and overcrowded with 35. Nobody will zone in to make the population go over the limit.

    A prime example is Cobalt Scar. This zone isn't much used anymore, but it serves to illustrate the problem. Let's exclude high level farmers and consider exp groups only. Then you have 1 group killing wyverns and 1 group killing Othmir. That's 12 people, that's all this zone can sustain. Then Bam! 3 guilds race to NTOV and run through CS. 3 more picks open up, it attracts people and after everybody rushed through, there is 2 groups in each of the 4 picks. From my view, this is nice situation.

    With the recent changes, the groups in 2 of the picks will not be able to get replacement once somebody leaves. Not good.

    Even worse are your future plans: Once 2 picks get locked, they will not get exp or respawns anymore, forcing them out of the zone because the open picks do not have room to sustain them.

    please refine your plans to avoid frustration.
    Galleyan and Semah like this.
  17. Vexn Elder

    Well said Finnster. Seems like you guys didn't think this change through. Please revert back to the old way. With how popular this server is I'm almost surprised you'd try to screw with the one thing that makes it so popular.
    Galleyan likes this.
  18. Surly New Member

    Would also like to lend my voice of displeasure with pick change...

    Last night was in Temple of Solusek Ro, no camps open but luckily a pick opened up. Group picks over, sets up camp, within 30 minutes get the message that it is now locked and nobody will be able to join us. Main pick still had too many people to afford us a camp, and very shortly someone had to leave, lost our ability to piggy in cleric, and the entire group folds.

    In practice this is not a good change for the server or the EverQuest experience.
    Galleyan likes this.
  19. Machen New Member


    Actually, I don't. That's probably part of it, but I never monitored population on Vulak so I can't really speak to that. Anecdotally, we had may 4-5 in our guild out of >100 raiders that came over from Vulak around this time frame. So while it was significant, it wasn't a huge influx or something that saved us from oblivion. I can also say that there was an influx of new players from live during the Gates and OoW eras. Again, just speaking anecdotally, I ran into quite a few people personally who had come over from live in this time frame.

    So yes, some people quit during Gates and Omens, on Fippy. But the population was largely replaced by an influx from other places. Which is pretty much constantly happening at all eras on the TLP's anyway. Maybe the population on the TLP's overall dropped with Vulak hit harder; I don't know, it's outside of my experience or ability to speak to.

    What I've consistently argued against, and tried to show as false, is the idea that everyone quit at Gates, that there was a huge mass exodus of players, and only a tiny remnant remained from that point onward. This DID happen, just not until later, late DoDH and on into Prophecy of Ro. If, in fact, significant #'s of Vulak players migrated to Fippy in during Gates/OoW instead of just quitting altogether, that just supports and reinforces my position. If Fippy didn't take a hit because these players came over from Vulak, either way, those players were still playing in Gates and Omens -- just not on Vulak any longer.
  20. Narzak New Member

    So you locked the picks in order for the top end guilds to farm the PoStorms named so they can sell the drops. All you are allowing is making this game pay to win. Atabishi is prime example of this. He likes to roll in with his mage box army+chanter, cast memblur, then proceed to your named giants and sell the medallions so you cannot progress any further into the expansion unless you pay him. Great logical thinking DBG!
    Zneak likes this.