Casual, Hardcore, it doesnt matter

You can classify the servers with any adjectives you want, the reality is a much larger population will flock to whichever server has the fastest xp/unlocks if they both start in the same era.

We know this to be true. "Hardcore" players are not just one vein. Many of them just play a lot of hours and would be happiest farming krono on a highly populated casual server through Velious. The idea that the players who have time and choose to commit it to EQ would play on a server called hardcore just because its named that would be a poor idea indeed.

Nobody wants to see 1000 posts on this board after launch of the new TLPs from actual casual players upset that their server is full of hardcore players and they keep getting pushed off camps in ever pick zone, etc. The only way to avoid this is make the hardcore server so enticing to the players fortunate enough to have great amounts of time to be logged in and run multiple machines(if truebox is in).

My solution is a simple one. Figure out whatever parameters you want for the casual server first, but crowd source through some polls what hardcore players want. You wont get a consensus answer, but hopefully enough of a picture is painted to fine tune a launch point to create a completely different experience than a more traditional/casual TLP would offer. Trying to guess this off the cuff is bound to push a vast majority of the total population to one of two new servers.

I'm not really sure what can be done design wise to the servers to make "hardcore" gamers choose it over the one labelled casual to be completely honest.

Example 1: No keys or flags for entry to any zone
Reason: This makes it so that casual gamers don't have to compete with hardcore players to complete keying/flagging quests which is great for someone with a limited play schedule.
Problem: Hardcore gamers are going to choose this option as well because quite frankly everybody hates keying and flagging. There is literally no reason anyone would choose a server that forces keying/flagging quests over another server that is identical and doesn't require any keying/flagging.

Example 2: Higher/Lower experience per kill
Reason: If you set the experience per kill higher on the casual server thinking that it will be more beneficial to those players that have limited time to play the game.
Problem: Faster experience is not something that only casual players want. The hardcore players are going to choose faster experience as well because what they play the game for is the end-game content mainly. They are going to choose to bypass the leveling process as much as humanly possible.

Example 3: Shorter replay timers on raid instances
Reason: This seems casual friendly because it allows casual gamers more opportunities to gear up in era due to being able to raid the in era content per expansion.
Problem: The problem is that hardcore players are going to choose this server as well because in the end, it means MORE LOOT per expansion.

Example 4: Longer lockout timers on raid instances
Reason: This seems like a good idea for casual players because their guilds will be able to clear raid instances a little at a time over multiple nights throughout the week instead of having to get it all done in one raid session.
Problem: Hardcore players are going to choose this option as well because it allows them that same freedom of hitting content over multiple nights rather than all in one session. Just because a player is hardcore, does not inherently mean they have no family, kids, job, or life. Time is precious and all.

Here ya go....

Setup a brutal rules server with a racing end goal somewhere at x expansion.
Offer 40 lifetime subs to the winning guild.
Which limits guild size at 40.

Make it so you can't play on the casual server if you join this one.

Maybe that is incentive enough.

A pretty true statement.

Of course, if the new casual server was jumpstarted into GoD via Agnarr…

I don't care how much of a hardcore Krono farmer you are... you're past the point where it really matters.

Then spice it up with No MOTM (you're past the point where this matters), Regular Boxing(you're also past the point where True Box matters), Free Trade, and a permanent Triple XP Bonus, and you have the recipe for fun, while really cheesing off the hardcore.

Just the wailing from the Krono farmers alone about not having a casual server in Classic to mine for 3 months would be glorious music to everyone else.

make krono no-trade on the casual server

I wrote and erased almost the same post as the OP about 3x yesterday. I just didnt want to start another thread about the new TLPs. But I agree. Moreover I consider this 20th anniversary decision to be a pivotal moment in EQ.

Imho I feel this will be the last HURRAH! for many EQ players. I think that people are excited for the new servers and if DBG hits the target on the bullseye they could see a modest upsurge in volume. But...if they miss, they would damage the game just as much. People are going to look at it as "THAT? is what you offer us?" and then "THAT? is what we have to look forward to?" and that will dwindle the population as they decide that EQ is no longer for them. Building the hype may work in their favor but it could also work against it. If you expect to get the big present for christmas and get it...your overjoyed and happy....but if you get a lump of coal...your not happy..and angry.

The decisions on what to include and offer on these 2 servers are very important. They should be a consensus of many people and not just a few. Ultimately there is no way to make everyone happy. They need to make the most people happy. Someone is getting a lump of coal. It is unavoidable.

I would just like to point out to the Dev's that I have been very good this year and don't deserve a lump of coal =)

Just go back to the early Combine days on Hardcore. No waiting time for new expansions to open, just accomplishments for each expansion including many of the time consuming ones (all Epics, Velious armor, Ring War, Breakdown on Communication, etc). A leader board for everything. Relatively slow xp. Some sort of in game prizes for accomplishments. Maybe even Krono.

Bottom line, design it so that whoever can put the most time in is the one who stays on top.

Casual server limited to 14 hours of logged in game time per week!
Hardcore unlimited login time

get over it dude... they aren't catering to Agnarr and allowing you to transfer/clone all of your characters onto a new TLP that starts at GoD

That is a wet fantasy you have, it will NEVER happen lol

Actually, you may have hit upon the one thing that would get a particular type of "hardcore" player to choose to play on the hardcore labeled server; expansion unlocks based on current expansion completion (or some variable time based on it). Add in a leader board and prizes for each guild to complete expansion first, and you have a winner.

Now that all being said, one very important thing that needs to be pointed out is that in that scenario, I am defining "hardcore player" as someone who wants to compete to be the first guild to complete each expansions content. That is key here.

As talked about in other threads on here, the definition of hardcore player is not a singular thing. There are many different versions of hardcore player as it applies to EverQuest.

There are many hardcore players that will NOT go to that style of server because their idea of being hardcore is not only being the first to complete content in era, but to also dominate said content. They want to be the ones controlling the inflow of gear to the server, making krono, and effectively being the most powerful guild on the server. Racing through the expansions would be anti to that style of game play because the content is effectively only relevant for about 2 to 3 weeks each at most. There is no domination of current era content. It's just a full on race to the end with no time to relish what you have accomplished thus far.

So, yeah it all really boils down to what definition of hardcore DBG is going with for this hardcore server.

And they aren't catering to you and allowing you to imprison Casuals in Classic for 3 months while you build your Krono stash.

That is a wet fantasy you have, it will NEVER happen lol.

Hardcore gonna be pvp. Ultra casual gonna be fv. Writings on the wall.

Nope.

Casual will be a Ragefire clone with AoC.

Hardcore will be a race server, with 30 day minimum, no AoC, brekt loot rules.

Neither will fix the levitation exploits in plane of Fire.

This. If you have 2 servers opening up and one has super fast unlocks, hardcore players will flock to the faster unlocks. Casuals will leave a server that unlocks too fast. It's even why they changed the Combine to have a one month (IIRC) wait to unlock after completing the expansion.

I disagree that Casuals care about shorter replay timers. In the last Casual guild I was in, there was never a raid night where we didn't have options of what to raid. I've never seen a Casual player complain that replay timers are too long. That's a hardcore thing. Shorten replay timers on the hardcore server.

Casuals won't play a server that locks people in Classic for 3 months while they get soaked for Krono anymore. That ship has sailed, its been played out, if for no other reason then the shine is off the whole Classic Start and its smelling like day-old ham. In such a situation, they simply will play something else. You won't notice it, because you never saw them. In the biz world, its what they call leaving money on the table.

Its why its ideal to jumpstart a GoD-opening TLP server using Agnarr. You get access to everything LDoN and earlier to play around in, and the markets are all super-saturated with a metric-ton of items that have been farmed up over the last two years. It also scares Krono farmers to death that this might even be considered, because there goes their meal ticket. At least they could still sell Krono for plat or plat for Krono, but that's chump change compared to a Classic-opener.

Save the Classic-opener for the Hardcore Server. If you really gotta scratch that Classic itch, there you go.

Only crack heads that play a ton get bored with slow unlocks. Slow unlocks are a great way to not have hardcore folks play on a server they get bored playing 40+ hours a week doing the same things over an over.

If you play 10 - 15 hours a week as an ultra casual with agnarr type experience levels it will take you approximately 10 weeks to get to level 50.

Ultra casual is going to be slow unlocks + agnaar or better experience trust me on this.

You really want to transfer your characters off of Agnarr and onto a TLP pretty badly.

Lol... keep thinking that. As stated, I haven't played Agnarr in 18 months and that toon is in Kunark-era gear. Whether my character gets cloned is largely irrelevant haha.

This is simply the way you get to post-Classic TLP openers. They'd be stupid not to use what they have available and even dumber to continually burn people out on Classic-Start TLP's. That horse has been thoroughly flogged.

Its the 20th... actually generate a new server TLP server type. As a bonus, it will take little to no work.

What if the Hardcore server has 50% slower exp gain, but unlocks content every month, and the casual server has normal exp gain but unlocks content every 4 months. The hardcore players don't want to spend 4 months locked in every expansion, and can deal with the slower exp. The casuals are hindered more by slower exp gain, than they are being stuck in an expansion for a longer time...

Definitions of Casual/Hardcore change from person to person. So no poll is going to get a consensus answer. Even if it did, just because you create a server matching that consensus doesn't mean you won't still get some "Hardcore" players that prefer the casual rule set (or vise versa)

Who's getting soaked? You mean the players who buy krono specifically to sell in-game so they can buy gear? Who/what is making them do that? You've got the economy backwards.