The in-game calendar specifies a launch time of 4:00PM to 10:00PM... is this accurate? I would have expected an AM launch, to coordinate with patches. Any information would be appreciated!
Without specifying a time zone, it's hard to say, but EST expansion launches/unlocks tend to be in the afternoon as far back as I can remember.
The calendar should be adjusted for your time zone. It's always listed as 4pm-10pm Central time (or 5pm-11pm ET) because they don't promise it will be "on time" by listing a specific time. It's always been an afternoon time and at least on Agnarr and Coirnav was either right about at that 4pm central start time. Sometimes expansion NPCs can take 15min or so to spawn though.
Mangler is very populated. While the loot/plat farming bots are quite annoying, they are tolerable and I truly expect this to get better as expansions release. Also, we (my husband and I, who box) have met a few good people (other couples!) on Mangler and it's been extremely reminiscent of original EQ… people I've actually added to a friend list and do a /who all friend when I log in Prior to Mangler we were on Brekt, which I also loved. At this point we have decided to stay on Mangler. If it all goes south there, I would return to Brekt OR give Test a solid try. Overall, I'm very happy with my first true TLP experience.
Manger is populated, people are having fun and P A U L programs are being banned, life is good on Mangler.
The way the time range was explained for PoP on Selo was that zones might open up but it would take some time for NPCs and or various other things to spawn/populate. PoP was a crapfest - 1000 people standing at zone ins to PoK and it was a couple hours before PoK and PoT were stable enough to actually zone in and go do stuff for more than a few people.
