Should we bring back charm gate?

Total # of players on a server and total # subbed are not the same thing.

They also keep cranking out TLPs for a reason.

Do you think they are making less money on live because it is FTP? If so, why do they persist with the FTP model? If it were bringing in less, the logical business decision would be to revert to the subscription model.

And, just because they keep cranking out TLP's does not mean that TLP revenue exceeds live revenue. Someone posted recently that the Devs recently stated at a live event that TLP revenue is about 30% of EQ revenue total. Significant, but not the biggest slice of the pie.

I think I am one of probably many reasons.

It's been said many times, the most successful EQ player(s) are the basement dwellers who faked a soft tissue injury so they could collect SSI while playing EQ 24/7. I would add to that people that play in teams, violation of ToS of course, so their character can be online 24/7. Then there are the outright cheats using third party hacks.

So what's a fellow like me to do? Answer is pretty simple, I go to Market Place and chug Clarity Potions and Potions of Adventure like a madman. I easily double the amount I spend on EQ for a month or two on a TLP server so I can keep up.

I'm not sure what the basement dwellers do. They could very well be buying Kronos and potions too. I seldom see people under the influence on a live server, just TLPs.

They persist with the FTP model because it keeps the population higher which is beneficial for everyone: there's more toons active to potentially sub at some point and it gives subbed players more people to group with, box, etc.

Why do you think freemium battle games like Clash of Clans, Galaxy of Heroes, etc keep the FTP model? Or any other multitude of games.

If the place ends up solely people paying to play then there's less, or no, people for them to play with and they quit (aka stop paying).

Also a citation to the live event quote would be great. Not hearsay of another player. An actual quote.

Answer is simple. Because it ultimately makes them more money.

It isn't about the number of players, in the end. It is about the number of dollars.