2 new TLPs announced for 20th Anniversary

I'd like to see the pick thresholds lowered to 6 or so on the casual server, this would help appease the anti-boxers and allow people to experience the content when they want to. I'm sure it would increase the server load some, though.

We may not do open recruitment, just our returning members in the last day have us over 150 possibles and 60 confirmed players.

Server Hardcore : New extansion all 3 month and no aoc
Sever Casual : New extansion all 12 month and aoc

Word on the street is you only raid with 120 minimum.

Server Hardcor
Truebox
PVP FFA + - 4 Levels
1 Item Loot
Plat Loot
No AOC
No Rules
No QQ

Server Casual
Quick EXP
AOC
No Truebox

I am completely, 100% against slow expansion unlocks on the casual server, unless it starts at TSS or some far out expansion, which I think would undermine a TLP. I do not see this as "casual" at all, I see this as content preference. There are a number of people who, for reasons I cannot comprehend, prefer to do classic over and over. I do not actually know these people in game, I've never met one who wasn't also a krono farmer, but I believe the preference exists amongst more honest players. However, every person I've talked to in the past 2 days has said the same thing: "I will not do classic again, ever." Of course, I don't believe them, if the price is right. But the price will be wrong with slow expansion unlocks.

Both of these servers are going to be significantly harmed by starting in Classic, again, for the 3rd straight year. Having to endure that for even 12 weeks is punishment, longer than that produces a stillborn server. Similarly voting never worked. 12 week expansions are not really a problem, usually. A few exceptions:
Classic+Kunark should be 12 weeks on its own. PoP/LoY/LDoN should be released together, and also be 12 weeks. Otherwise the weekly raid locks produce a workably casual server, the primary issue being that not enough loot drops to satisfactorily and enjoyably gear up a raid force in just 12 runs (perhaps less for irritating keyed zones like VP, Ssra, VT, Elemental Planes and Time). Forcing mobs to drop significantly more of their loot table per kill would address that, without forcing us to endure the same old content for months at a time.

While I have no interest in it, I would think the Hardcore server would be more focused on content racing and the ePeen meter. I would think rather than fixed unlock intervals they would adopt a system focused on opening content as soon as they beat it. They would intentionally be underlevelled and undergeared, and would be working hard to keep up and maintain a stable guild. That's pretty damned hardcore, and I think it would be very popular for competitive players. I think expecting players to put in 40-50 hours a week on this server is probably not unreasonable, and we know the top guilds will be it far beyond that. Hence raid lockouts for AoCs would be essential (and I think AoCs would be essential, or one guild will dominate and the server will die out, AoCs will allow dark horses to rise from xpac to xpac).

Casual to me is about having to invest less time in the game and being able to do more with whoever is on, rather than having to field hundred person guilds. By standards of MMOs expecting people to put in 10 hours a week is pretty damned casual. However you have to make some changes to high end targets assuming you have 1/3 to 1/4 the population online simultaneously. MoTM has to go (except maybe in OW?), and the players will need the best gear they can get to do this in-era.

I don't mind going through classsic once again. It's th base game I fell in love with.

It's going through the kunark slog again that gives me pause. Kunark is just terrible and did not age well in the slightest, especially in the raiding

For casuals:
Truebox
Fast xp
Start at Luclin for 4-6 months with 3 month unlocks thereafter
Combine Ldon, LoY, and GoD
Combine PoR, DoDH, and DoN
Unlock all classes at start.
Bonus raid loot OR remove keying/flags

For hardcore:
Normal xp
No truebox
Starts at original
Content unlocks 1 week after it's beaten by 2 guilds, or 2 weeks after beaten by 1
2 day raid lockouts

People have posted what they would like, but what is the problem these new servers are trying to fix?
Is Casual play and nostalgia for the thrill of the 1st years of EQ the same?

What do Casual Play people want?
Can only play 12 hours or less a week.
Like to see raid content they missed 1st time around.
Not have to have the best gear or be 1st just part of the fun.
Enjoy the community, not being the top whatever.

Challenge is how to keep the subscriber base interested, the player base up and active.
Faster leveling means maxing out faster.
Higher drop rate means gearing out faster.
What keeps the server populated once you get what you want from the current content?
How do you bridge the gap between players that can play 12 hour a week and those that can play 12 hours a day?
Is there enough of the 12 hours a week people to still have an active player base online during prime playing hours?
Hasn't that always been the problem for Casual players, getting left behind as everyone races to max everything.
What will provide active players in all levels so anyone can get group?
EQ2 tried EXP bonuses for the 1st few hours a week you played, then EXP went down.
That did not work.

Not sure unlock rates is the answer.
25 expansions
2 Month unlocks = 6 expansions a year
Even if you group some of the expansions together it still takes almost 4 years to current content.
Who is going to expect to still be playing 4 years from now? Will there be a 25th anniversary?

this question, or some version of it, has been being asked since 2004. in short: I do, and yes

6 months is too long for any progession server that isn't permanent locked. 3 months minimal for hardcore or casual. Heck, try 1 or 2 months for a change.

If casual players put in less time/hours by definition, wouldnt that server have to have slow expansion unlocks?

Anything fast and casual players would miss out on entire expansions in era. Rapid exp would result in out leveling most content that largely appeals to casual, take your time, see the sights playstyle

This is why I bring up expanded loot drops, repeatedly, as well as removing MoTM. If you simultaneously give players the tools to play with the best gear, and remove MoTM, in-era content becomes a 20 man effort. Out of era content...eventually it goes to solo. Which is actually OK if you consider that trying to get an epic out of era is rather hard, given that no one particularly wants to go kill Trak anymore, for example. And this is a problem casuals have, particularly alts of casuals.

This is only OK with AoCs, OW would be abused and miserable.

What you can't do is make the unlocks so long that 90% of the server is not logging in anymore because people are bored or want to do something else, something that casuals are much more inclined to do. I really think 12 weeks is exactly right, and weeklong raid lockouts are exactly right for casuals.

But there's always the trouble of defining what casual means and what hardcore means. Personally I think hardcore means competitive, it means winners and losers. Casual I think means tourists on a time budget. I'm definitely a tourist, I couldn't care less about being part of the #1 guild and my time is limited. But I do want to have the gear, and I do want to kill the dragons, and I want to roll all the alts and play as all the classes. I do not see having the gear as a status symbol, it's a tool to accomplish my goals. I do not want the mobs to be nerfed in any way, except for MoTM which doesn't affect mechanics much, just raid size.

Do you have big Arena PvP plans or something? Why would it matter?
Gear during active progression gets swapped out so fast as you progress that it would be negligible within a very short period of time. Gearflation starts to take off around that time too.

Gonna throw in my 2 cents JUST IN CASE the devs read this thread and take ideas from it. I'm a casual and the most important thing to me on the new server is fast xp. Everytime I log in I want to feel like I accomplish something (I know there are plenty of things in EQ besides leveling but leveling is the main thing). AoC is good for obvious reasons. Pickzones are good so I have to compete less with box armies or poopsockers. Truebox is good so I don't have to see box armies like on Ragefire taking everything of value. I'm fine with people using separate computers to make a box group.

To the people that worry fast xp will mean casuals stick around for less time, that's too simplistic of a viewpoint. The truth is, 99% of people playing on these servers are not fresh blood, expanding DBG's market, but old like myself that have played since '99 and keep "quitting" and coming back over and over and over because there's something magical about EQ. Getting to max level and max gear will not change that desire to play EQ one bit. Sure, maybe if I had max level toons with max AA and all BiS Time gear on Agnarr I would be less motivated to log in. But I've been playing on Agnarr since it opened up and my main is lvl 63, has 13 AA's and I don't have a single BiS gear or single piece from Time (and I'm in Zurdula, Inc which raids Time all the.....time hehehehehehe)

As a casual, when I log in to EQ, if it takes too long to find a group (can be because friends aren't logged on, not in a guild yet, offpeak hours, server went down etc) I log out and watch Netflix or play one of my other 400 steam/uplay/origin/blizzard games. I don't just sit shouting LFG or sending PM's to everyone that might be able to group for 2 hours. I'm a casual and an adult. I don't want to waste my time on a videogame that is already not a productive use of my time lol.

Also, as a casual and an adult, I'm not looking to get lost in Norrath anymore. I'm not here to read up on the Lore of the Sleeper or how Velious came to be. I'm not using words like "m'lady" or "salutations". I want to invest in my real life and I want to ENJOY/HAVE FUN in my videogame worlds. It's not fun when you are LFG for hours. It's not fun when you grind for 6 hours to make half a level. It's not fun when box armies take all the good camps. etc

So for me, a 30-something dad of 3 that has a couple hours each night to game, I want as fast xp as possible, AoC, Truebox and no keying. I don't care about fast or slow unlocks. If I'm stuck in Classic-Velious for a long time, that's great. That means gear is not useless after a few weeks. If xpacs unlock fast that is also great. Why? Because I've done this 20 times already and it's lost the awe and wonder of when I was a kid (that's ok).

Last thing, my brain almost broke when I read someone's comment about the people on the "ultra-casual" server being the laughingstock of EQ. Like they were serious. Like there are people out there that care about their "EQ cred." that is crazy. But I guess that may be the case. Just almost broke my brain trying to comprehend that.

Anywho, can't wait for March 16 and the ultra casual server. I will be there with at least 2 krono ready to go. I will abandon Agnarr for it mainly for the initial rush. Just like I abandoned Phinny for Agnarr. And if the Ultra-Casual server is not locked at some point, I will have my fun and head back to Agnarr. Ain't nobody got time for thousands of AA's

In all honesty, does it really matter? I mean seriously. Who cares. The games 20 years old. The content has been beaten a gazillion times over. Just play the game and have fun the way you want. Nothing else matters.

#pixelsmatter

#pixellivesmatter

I see myself on the casual server as my "second server" as Phinigel is my first and i love it there.

I expect half the people on the casual server to be phinny and agnarr peeps using the server as a side project which is fine with me.

DB does have a history of giving rewards on live servers based on accomplishments on a TLP. They did this on eq2 with heritage quests on the TLP giving rewards on live servers.

Wonder if this will be a part of either new server. Seems reasonable

This sounds so definitive, I'm glad you corrected me.
Please explain how racing to the end game is enjoying the journey (as stated in my hopes for ultra-casual to be).