TLP Expansions

Discussion in 'Time Locked Progression Servers' started by BudLightKnight, Oct 9, 2019.

  1. Machen New Member

    They should take the zone geometry and mob models from classic, slap the items and mob stats from GoD onto them, and call it Gates of Classic.

    From one of you advocates for this idea, I'd love to hear some specifics. How would this play out? What lore/area of the world would be explored? How would it be different from the original post pop expansions? How would it be the same?

    Half the live content from SOD is retooled stuff from older expansions anyway, in part because of nostalgia, in part because in many years they haven't had the resources to develop a whole bunch of fresh new zones. Go look at the number of actual new original zones in the last 5-6 expansions. Even if the dev team immediately stopped developing new live content and threw themselves into developing a TLP expansion, you aren't going to see a Velious type expansion. At best you'd get something the size of Velious, but only the parts east of Kael Drakkel -- Iceclad ocean, Eastern Wastes, Great Divide, Thurgadin, MAYBE TOFS or Velk's Lab if you are lucky, and a bunch of heroic missions and raid instances using those same 5-6 zones. Even if they did it, most TLPers would hate it, say that it is nothing like Everquest is supposed to be, and refuse to play it. Meanwhile, sacrificing all their dev resources to make this means they'd lose all their remaining live players.

    There are not many suggestions put forward on these forums that could literally bring about the end of Norrath, but this is one.
    Oakenblade likes this.
  2. That0neguy Augur

    Dude, she just did an interview where she stated nearly half the revenue comes from TLP. As well as at GDC saying it made up 40% and has been growing year over year.
  3. Febb Augur


    Then she contradicted herself from a previous interview.
  4. That0neguy Augur

    From when. 2006?
  5. Oakenblade Former ForumQuest Champion


    Citation still needed.

    I saw an interview where she said there are almost as many TLP players as live players. But number of players is not even close to being the same as revenue.
  6. Roxas MM Augur

    what i tried to make clear before and everyone is missing thinking about an expansion for TLPs is the simple fact that it's not only an expansion for 1 new server at a time, but also the fact this new expansion will be viable for 3 months max, depending on how long the lock out will be for expacs on that new tlp server.

    You really think an expansion ( which takes a year to make, with the current dev team ) will be acceptable by all players? you dont think all the players on life, and the players on the older tlps that dont want to start over again and suffer through a year of auto attack killing stuff to get to slightly more interesting fights, will be exited by this new expansion?
    The amount of people on live that will drop from eq then will kill the game completely ( since they are like half of the revenue right ?).
    Besides that, people on TLP buy new expansions as well, if only for illusions, bags, mounts, etc etc.
  7. That0neguy Augur

    Why is it only viable for 3 months? The xpac could add content to all xpacs, or be completely separate and still provide long term value to TLP players. It could be content that is scalable. The possibilities are pretty wide. Don't just think xpac = 5 new levels, AA's, and some new zones.
  8. Febb Augur


    I believe it was the interview that Oakenblade is referring to. However it doesn't really matter as an expansion for a TLP server would be huge mistake as I have pointed out.
    Corwyhn Lionheart likes this.
  9. That0neguy Augur

    The interview he refereed to is one I did that says the players are about even. Its practically on the front page.
    The one where she said they made up about 40% of the revenue and were growing YoY was from a panel at GDC earlier this year.

    You have not pointed out anything on why they can not create content for both playerbases.
  10. Febb Augur


    Yes I have. You just seem to want to ignore the obvious.
    Oakenblade likes this.
  11. That0neguy Augur

    No, never happen, doesnt make sense. Yeah those are great points!

    This is exactly what they do today. Expanding to make sure they hit all customers and seems to make good business sense.

    Because past expansions were designed bad, the team shouldn't make one for TLP because it will be bad? I guess it your reasoning here. Seems like if that was true it would hold up to a Live expac as well.

    I take it back, you made excellent points. I concede.
  12. AcemoneyFV Augur

    They will never do this. The best you could hope for is more quests added into older zones.
  13. Febb Augur

    I see you completely ignored the post where I laid it all out on why it would be a bad idea. What's with you ignoring things? You don't like debating or something?
  14. Dahaman Augur

    Adding new quests, and series of quests, is a great way to add new content to the TLP and Live servers.

    Has anyone ever created their own "D&D World" and populated it with adventures? Developing that world takes a lot of time. Once it is developed, it is very easy to add a few NPCs here and there to run a second or third campaign. Using previous campaigns as historical information to follow on campaigns adds great depth and nostalgia!

    EQ can do pretty much the same. Add a few NPCs here and there in old content, add new quests, add quests that spawn new boss mobs, add quests that take people to old places, add quest series that tell a story, etc. That's just fleshing out the EQ world a little and there isn't a thing wrong with that.

    Ideally, create one "TLP expansion" to add content. This expansion and content would be available to all servers, live and TLPs. Apply an expansion tag or flag check to content to become available when a TLP server gets to that expansion. The expansion is added to slowly over time and does not need to be released as a major expansion. This could be the work of as little as half a person adding a few quests or NPCs per month. This person can simply pillage old NPCs, old graphics, and very rarely needing big time resources for content. Solicit ideas from the EQ Community as a resource for ideas and research.

    In this fashion, they can continuously add new/old content for both live and TLP servers in what should be a very easy and extremely cost effective manner.
  15. Falconii New Member


    You are correct. It's likely the TLP revenue exceeds the Live revenue. You must subscribe to play on TLPs. You can F2P on Live.
    oldkracow likes this.
  16. Oakenblade Former ForumQuest Champion


    [IMG]
    code-zero likes this.
  17. oldkracow 9999 Is the Krono Account Limit

    Even though I think live is a dead end for EQ stopping the resources for development for it might be a bad idea at this time. DBG is going to be split up anyhow or compartmentalized so that might be the bigger factor on how they handle dev resources.

    They are better off dedicating some resources to TLP to split it off from the live server format they are using so they can better customize that experience without affecting live. Then once that is complete to start adding content into the old expansions (classic to POP) in the form of polishing up older zones , quests, extra dungeons or some extra raids.

    Try to sell that as DLC on each new TLP for added income so after (x) expansions of that type of less intensive development they can branch out a new exp after (x) expansion wherever that point may be.
  18. Accipiter Old Timer


    I think you are married to your position regardless of the facts. If the facts are that TLP and Live numbers are similar, and that you can only play on TLP with a subscription, then it follows that TLP makes as much money as live.

    If, however, the facts are that Holly meant subscription numbers are similar then clearly Live generates more revenue because Live players pay for expansions.
  19. Oakenblade Former ForumQuest Champion


    And have a winner. This was my point all along. We don't have these facts. I've played on both live and TLP. I still play on live and was on Phin as recent as a month ago. I know that 6+ boxing is very popular on live. And I'm pretty certain (speculative) that most people aren't running f2p accounts because it cripples your toon (prestige gear and AAs). I also know that since people have figured out ways to circumvent truebox code that boxing is getting more popular on TLP, however there's only a few popular servers.

    If you look back through the thread after reading this, maybe you'll see that I never had a position to be married to in the first place. My input has been primarily to poke fun at those who strictly play TLPs making baseless assertions.
  20. Dahaman Augur

    Assumptions:
    - subscription rates are similar for TLP and Live Servers
    - only Live Servers buy expansions at $35 per
    - all DBG store purchases are excluded (they probably happen more for TLPs, so conservatve)

    $120 Subscriptions: $120 / [$120 + ($120 + $35)] = 43% revenue from TLPs
    $180 Subscriptions: $180 / [$180 + ($180 + $35)] = 45% revenue from TLPs
    Krono Subscriptions: $216 / [$216 + ($216 + $35)] = 46% revenue from TLPs

    Even if only 25% of revenue came from TLPs, spending 5% to 10% on TLPs to keep them fresh makes potential sense. It might be worthwhile to develop some older content to keep TLPs "fresh", albeit IMO limit it to new quests and new NPCs rather than whole new expansions leading a while new direction.

    I do think they should invest into some sort of "content detector" though. Pop up a window to list the potential quests and tasks that a zone offers that might be applicable to a character. Making the content a little easier to find would make the game friendlier to the new bodies.