Question about the Selo Server

If you had to choose between playing on a live server with regular live server rules, or a live server with bonus xp, bonus rares, and faster dz unlocks, which would you choose? Most live servers would probably lose a lot of population to selos in this scenario. Guilds that want to be competitive for game-wide firsts would almost be forced to move.

Cool so you would need to play on truebox and not cheat to win. Sounds healthy to me

Also FV already has bonus XP....

Yeah, that would go over great with live players.

Darkpaw gets to define what's cheating. It's their game. They allow things on live that they do not allow on truebox. It's not cheating if they allow it.

I dont think I understand your stance on this Machen, Live players would flock in droves to Selo since they'd have to be server first and get double loot, but also really hate their lives because its sub required and truebox?

Yes, this is exactly correct. Forcing live players to choose between boxing and bonus loot/xp would piss them off.

Thanks for clarifying =D
Personally I'd consider that enough of a pro/con to expect a number of live players to stay where they are, but I dont play live or shoot for Game Firsts so what do I know =P

Ultimately Realms of Insanity, Machin Shin, Crimson Tempest, Triton, Township Rebellion etc etc etc are not going to pay $5k - $10k to move an entire guild for extra EXP and bonus lockouts with Truebox, its just not going to happen. So Selo is just another event server with custom rules like FV, Brekt and others when its journey to Live ends.

It's simple EQ psychology. EQ players always go for the easiest/most efficient route, even when it's not the most fun. You see this on the TLP's with players treading the exact same leveling paths over and over, never exploring anything new. You see it on live with players always going for the missions that give the best bang for the buck. Old Man Mckenzie missions were a perfect example of this, back when they were first introduced on live--for nearly a year everyone on live ran the same three guk/solb instances every day, rarely venturing out to any other zone, because it was the fastest way to aaxp. Never mind that it was mind-numbingly boring after about 10 runs. In fact, players tend to think of themselves as being penalized if they go any other route. You see it with players on the TLP's speaking about the "solo penalty" when really it's just a lack of bonus that grouping gives you. Or on live when one particular method of xping is nerfed and it feels like the world is ending. (EG when they nerf previous expansion mission xp when the new expansion launches.)

So you'd have this tension. On the one hand, the best and fastest route to level, to beat expansions, to gear your toon up will be on selos. On the other hand, players will have to give up their preferred play style. Almost everyone on live boxes, many of them have been boxing for 15+ years, they have their characters all set up and everything is familiar. They have history and far more emotional attachment to their characters, boxes included, than most TLP players understand or appreciate. Simply throwing up extra computers isn't a real solution for them either. Suffice to say that boxing in the early eras of eq with the truebox restrictions, and boxing today on live with similar restrictions, would be light years apart in terms of complexity and difficulty. There's a reason that Daybreak never tried to introduce a live truebox server. (Brekt would have been the perfect opportunity to do so, but they chose not to go that route.)

Effectively, what it works out to is that players that want to continue to box as they have for many many years will feel that Darkpaw has levied a huge penalty against them for keeping their preferred, familier (and fun) playstyle. If they keep playing the way they have come to enjoy, they are penalized loot and xp (and probably game wide victories, depending on how future expansion progression is set up.)

Bottom line, if Darkpaw forces live players to make a choice between two options that each have a huge, painful downside, that's not going to be a good situation.

Maybe not immediately, but if a guild on Selos starts beating them to the expansion wins because of the faster lockouts?

Besides, moving characters is free if you plan ahead and collect your Darkpaw cash for a few months. We've had whole guilds do it on the TLP's a number of times...