In 2 years, what would you like the next TLP ruleset to be

I just want to touch on this point... Leveling in the elemental planes or even BoT or nightmare is much better then LDON leveling. They are horrific.

Note that TSS is the first time in EQ Live's history where a comprehensive overhaul to this progression raid model went into effect. This is why the TSS expansion started with Level 1 content all the way up to level-cap where defeating back-content was no longer required for current-era raid content progression. This is why the group level gear from TSS is/was as powerful as it was, and why the open world mini-raids such as Avalanche etc exist.

In the TSS era, this was the first time in EQ history where players were able to entirely ignore all prior expansions, doing first the Group-level end-game gearing quests, followed by the Mini-raid content with rewards suitable enough to jump into the expansions actual progressive raid content without backpedalling to the prior expansion's raid content in order to be able to break into the current expansion's raid content.

This was going to be my suggestion. First, I haven't seen anyone (at least anyone who is then taken seriously) suggest that any server that includes PoP should not also include LDoN. Second, pardon me if I'm mis-remembering (I didn't play on Phinny), but GE was only a fantastic leveling spot because it was relatively easy to AE group (kinda like Chardok on P99). BoT and other pre-elemental grouping spots were still ridiculously popular back during PoP era.

I distinctly remember BoT being a very popular leveling spot when PoP was in era.

The issue of theoretically stopping a progression server in the middle of a series of expansions which share a level cap can be summarized in the age-old argument of group-geared vs raid-geared power disparity.

The first expansion launched which increases the level cap, throughout eq history, is the point at which player power of raid-geared toons vs group-geared toons is its greatest point, and starting from TSS onward, development time was expressly devoted to narrowing this margin of power disparity, with each subsequent expansion without level cap increase serving to narrow the power disparity margin even moreso. This is why group gear from TSS is a bridge to where players can group-gear then tackle mini-raid content (see Avalanche's loot table), which serves as a half-step preparing a fledgling group-turned-raiding guild into a raiding guild.

This is why Defiant gear, and the revamp to Lguk shortly before Defiant gear was introduced provided huge upgrades via enameled plate gear, and silk gear, and blackburrow's revamp provided huge leaps in player power to group geared players at that time; it was implemented in order to gear-reset groupers that were falling so far behind raiders that they were hardly even functional in the group content that each expansion provided. They were gear resets designed to eliminate the progressive raiding-gearing model encouraged by the raiding playerbase to the grouper's dismay. If you were playing at the time, and frequented the forums, you would remember huge threads on the forums with Gwyddon, Battleblade, Dandin and the like attempting to persuade the development team to abandon the groupers on their quest to narrow the margin of power disparity with Gwyddon coining the term "Casual Communist Revolution" to describe the group-level playerbase clamoring for the power increase necessary to enjoy the new expansions at all.

Before TSS the playerbase begged the question, how does a grouping guild become a raiding guild, without being forced to backpedal to prior raid content just to gear their tanks and melee dps suitably enough to tackle current raid content? (since the rewards from backpedaled raid gear were already nearing becoming obsolete to casters with current-era group-level foci who had the option to just ditch meleeDPS and tank classes from lesser guilds and join raiding guilds fully functional in group-level gear during the application/trial member process.)

Note, that when SOD launched, on EQLive, the group gear progression from gearing at tier1 to tier5 provided players with group gear that was just a smidge lower than the tier1 raiding gear. While an attempt was made to provide an all-inclusive grouper-to-raider transition during the TSS era, the power gap between TSS group-geared players and the content designed for them as a stepping stone into current era raiding still had a considerable hurdle between group-content and raid-content, and that the "mini-raid" content was considered to be quite challenging to a full group-geared raid in that era. Furthermore, the mini-raid content rewards were still considerably below the caliber of gear that raiders came into the expansion with from PoR and DoDH raiding.

SOD was the first level-cap increasing expansion to provide a gear path to groupers that brought them RIGHT UP to the start of the raid gear progression within that expansion. Compare Tier5 group gear to Tier1 raid gear, and you will see mod2s are capable of being capped for the first time in group gear progression, finally, and the difference between AC and HME on tier5 group gear is only negligibly less than the rewards from Tier 1 raiding in SoD. At that time, raiders had been capped on Mod2s since OOW in the case of some classes.

New TLP

• PvP Teams
• One Item Loot (No weapons, no bagged items)
• Max 3 pickzones of any zone
• AoC Lockouts are 15 days
• 12 week unlocks
• LDoN/LoY are not counted as their own expansions
• Agnarr exp rate w/o bonus exp ever being on the server.

This is the way I see it happening too, and is probably the best expansion rule sets.
I think they need to do something with the OG TLPS however, merge them with current TLPs when expansions line up etc.

Having say: Ragefire, Phinny, Agnar (pop lock + GoD) then xname server (PoR locked)

That would leave them with 4 TLP servers.

Beyond that I dont think the TLP crowd is interested in the expansions.

Look at the power gap between BIS group-level gear in OOW and Raid-Gear from GoD. Note that BIS Group-level gear from OOW is sidegrade and often weaker than Vex Thal raid gear.

http://everquest.allakhazam.com/db/quest.html?quest=2988

This creates a situation where OOW groupers (especially tanks and melee dps) are forced to backpedal all the way back to elemental planes in POP to start gear progression after BIS group-gearing in the current expansion. This creates a situation where group-geared OOW casters do not care much about the rewards from backraiding to POP because the focii rewarded from POP raids are already 50% decayed and these current level group-gear rewards are available to them: (making them functional enough to enter the raid scene)

http://everquest.allakhazam.com/db/quest.html?quest=2984

Now, compare PoR era and DoDh era group gear to GoD era raid gear.

http://everquest.allakhazam.com/db/quest.html?quest=3375

The margin is considerably smaller, with PoR era group gear being a side-grade to GOD era raid gear, which means that they can raid the start of Current level content, for current Focii, without having to backpedal to content that includes caster focii that are already nearing being obsolete.

The last expansion in each level increase bridges the transition from group-level gameplay, to entry-level current-level raid content. It isn't until way later in the design of everquest level cap increasing expansions that this issue is corrected.

We can only dream!

I don't understand why there isnt a TLP PvP server considering it's almost a "no ruleset" atm on the TLPs in regards to KSing/camps etc.

Aside from the Al'Kabor server being resurrected...

A Quarm-ish server.

• Start 51/50
• Agents of Change
• Pickzones
• EXP is Live server basically. The goal should be to do the content not to grind it and beat yourself over the head with the easiest exp zone (hi Howling Stones/Griegs end/Deep/PoFire)
• Achievements with rewards similar to Quarm for various completions. Either AAs or Raid Currency as rewards for each achievement. With rewards for server first and for regular completion. Allow people to stack up rewards for getting both server first and regular kill, and for doing group and raid achievements. Throw some server first achievements on some of the Quest/Tradeskill/Group Progression steps too.

Raid Achievements:

• PoTime Clear
• Tacvi Clear
• Anguish Clear

Group Progression

• Elemental Flag (not really group but easily PuGable)
• Ikkinz Group Progression Completion
• Muramite Trial 6/6
• Top AA Achievement for your class in the era

Quest/Tradeskill

• Epic 1.0
• Aid Grimel
• 7/7 at 250 Tradeskill (PoP cap)
• LDoN Charm Augment Maxed
• Breakdown in Communication
• Epic 1.5/2.0

Neckbeard Award

• All of the above completed. -- Reward is like a Quarm pet illusion or a Tunat/OMM illusion.

After about 16-20 weeks of this launch DoN + DoDH + PoR Together. Anyone coming late to the fun can create a 60/100AA template character.

Raid Achievements:

• Vishimtar Kill
• Demiplane Clear
• Deathknell Clear

Group Progression

• DoN Progression AAs 1-5
• Dreadspire Key
• Theatre of Blood Key Completion
• Top AA Achievement for your class in the era[

Quest/Tradeskill

• Mask of the Hidden Quest
• Skull of Den Lord Completion
• 7/7 at 300 Tradeskill (DoN Cap) + 7/7 Trophy Max
• Black Orb of the Scrykin

Neckbeard Award

• All of the above completed. -- Reward is like a Vishimtar pet illusion or a Ayonae/Mayong illusion.

After about 12-16 weeks of this launch TSS + TBS Together. Anyone coming late to the fun can create a 65/200AA character.

Raid Achievements:

• Ashengate Clear
• Frostcrypt Clear
• Solteris Clear

Group Progression

• Solteris Key
• Top AA Achievement for your class in the era[

Quest/Tradeskill

• TSS Augment Maxed
• TSS Charm Maxed
• Shield of the Otherworldly Quest
• Jonas Dagmire's Hand Quest
• Solteris Ring Maxed

Neckbeard Award

• All of the above completed. -- Reward is like a Lethar (Dragon) pet illusion or a Beltron/Solusek illusion.

Something like this. Goals for people of all stripes who play the game. EXP isn't the goal here so just screw it, live EQ EXP rates. Just lots of raid / group / quest / Tradeskill goals to go along with the inevitable gear, spell and augment camping that will occur.

Phinny 2.0
-with xp as per Agnarr
-with Gloomingdeep Tutorial flagged GoD era
-4 month unlocks would be fine, as long as LoY/Ldon open partway into PoP (rather than standalone... and consider this with any other expacs based on missions that aren't 4 months of fun on their own).

THe Obvious;
Pulling all races and classes into SoV would be a very unsurprising nightmare for the devs.
Starting anywhere but Classic(tm) is a GREAT idea.
Warrens/Stonebrunt is another GREAT idea. Amazed it even needs mentioning and has not happened.
Meh again races are a bear.
Kunark items I have no opinion on.
12 weeks seems to work fine.
xp rate is cool
TB code, I dunno hoping for better or at least some improvement.
/pick is now required same with AoC
All for every QoL that can fit from your list.
GoD and OoW I missed those and from what I can tell did not miss much except aggravation. Guess it is "fixed" but I swear those zones on Live just aint right. IMO
Send the damned ego announcements to their own channel so we can file 13 them.
Might be fun, hope to still be around in two years.

Luclin Locked pvp server, open with classic+kunark (I'm getting claustrophobic on agnarr).
12 week unlocks.
You guild is your team, anyone not in guild you can attack (friendly won't show up when using target nearest enemy).
All races/classes unlocked at launch.
Live exp rates. (The grind is to real for me nowadays).
All loot is droppable but lore.
No looting corpses. No rezing. No exp loss from death.
2 week instance lockouts.
Pick zones work the same way they do now.
No pots from dgb store.
Truebox.
New aa like orgin that sends you to a giant arena for pvp fun anytime.
Let me know if I missed anything important, oh and prepare to be owned.

Pantheon.

This is probably my ideal server as well. I don't really care about Gloomingdeep. 3-4 months is about right for me too. Maybe a little longer (5-7months) for PoP + LDoN.

5-7 months is way, way too long.

Kunark exists in the Kunark/Velious/Luclin scheme as a place to level your alts and get them clicky epics. Its pretty worthless beyond those two things

GoD ended up as a homeless bastard child that would have seen a level cap increase and significantly fewer scripting issues if half the test team didnt take Blizzard's alpha/beta phase WoW invites and tell sony to piss off. Qvic+ is a great intro to Omens raiding, and the earlier zones were solid content at 65, but they never did play well the other way around (except for BiC aug). I mean, its fun and giggles and whatever to have trash mobs that can 1 round a tank any time they feel like it and have more HP than raid bosses in the previous zone, until you're trying to raid there.

Though why you would end content at Omens, and not Better LDoN (Dragons) is beyond me. I can see not wanting Darkhollow or PoR though. Having lived through them, I like to forget they ever existed. Its better that way. We killed dragons so well the next expansion introduced them as a playable race and things got fixed and life went on.




I would love to see a server that starts with LDoN/LoY and 65 and ends with DoN. Some of the best eras for 6man and raid content and doesnt have the year of waiting to get there.

All I can say is I have bought hype before, good hype really, only to have it turn out badly on ground breaking games. So when I see it I will get excited about the game if it pans out.

Yeah hoping for a winner there.

All true as it was originally, but GoD plays just fine by itself at level 65 these days. If you haven't played through it previously on progression, especially Fippy/Vulak where the tanking changes from TSS played an impact, I encourage you to give it a go on Phinny or one of the other TLP's. Add in the more recent dps changes and if anything GoD will be a bit on the easy side.