The next TLP should unlock expansions as soon as previous one is beaten, lets see how fast it can catch up to live.
Kind of feel like the only thing that'd stop a tryhard guild from beating the game in a week is the time-gated progression of certain expansions.
Brilliant! A TLP for one guild named <Batphone McPoopsock> and sod off everyone else. Name the server "Tweak Week"
Literally.. that was the concept of the Original Progression servers. They had additional requirements (complete all epic 1.0/1.5/2.0's, all 3 Velious armor sets, etc..) Also, it wouldn't be a "TLP" then, because it wouldn't be a TIME LOCKED Progression server. With AoC availability, I'm certain that server would die out pretty quick. Original through Velious would be blown away in a matter of days. Luclin would be a little slower for VT.. but not by much. then boom, PoP in about a week's time? Not saying it wouldn't be interesting.. but it would blow through things so fast, people would be discouraged playing. Especially with level increase expansions.. being stuck farming from the previous expansion before switching over to clear the new one.. you just develop an overlap. From previous Progression server history.. these would also end up being two guilds (one per server) dominating the progression and basically playing their own private EQ. There's a reason there's never been another Sleeper/Combine, Voting TLP's have stopped, and preset time release progression servers have become the norm.
So one month after server launch SoF is open and then the racing guild(s) start facing attrition because it's not as fun to farm keys/flags as it is to crush expansions 2-3 times a week. Makes more sense as a Quarm style event server, you have exactly 3 months, throw in rewards for Slayers and maybe even stuff like Kunark Archaeologist so the people who don't play 40+ hours a week have viable goals.
Every new Live server starts with a race to level cap. There hasn't been a new Live server in more than 10 years (Vox was the last). That should tell you something.
I’m not even sure what the incentive is to make it to live… by the time you get there, you have all but the current content available anyways. Given the time it takes to actually get to live via TLP - the reward doesn’t add up and the mechanics all but make the new “live” server DOA.
Yeah I'm aware that the first Progression servers were this way. They gave us RoI which has been the top guild in EQ since then. Just seems like something different like this could be fun, The Race wouldn't really begin till you started getting to the later expansions and had to manage lockout's weekly for flags etc. It could be a seasonal/event server, whatever ya wanted to call it. Same requirements as the original tlp's had would be good, have to complete certain expansion quest lines to consider expansion beat epics etc. Maybe have a unlock on a day the following week after last expansion beat, Could cause a fun race each week.
Voting TLP is terrible, since no one expansion is a majority stopping point. Most people will either want to stop later, or left because it's past where they wanted to stop; so the vote will almost always to proceed.
We stopped the release once.. as a server collective vs the bot armies. It only delays 2 weeks (next voting period) but it was enough to send a message. I can't think of any other time a vote progression server didn't just auto pass them. There's nothing really bad about the voting TLP's.. aside from it being more difficult down the line to unlock future expansions (TBL is going to be "fun" if there's even enough raiders left by then) and that the voting period can be a bit confusing as to when the vote will open and when the xpac will launch. (We think TDS is due to unlock OCT 30th on RF). Other TLP's always know when the next expansion is coming and that it will always come, even if the current expansion is not beaten.
Honestly when I saw "race" in the title for some reason I imagined a server where zones would not be open for specific periods. GFay starting wouldn't be able to go to Butcherblock or LFay for a period of time. Freeport only has access to NRo and Commonland for a the same time. Only slowly would zones open and be "discovered" with port spells being available only when a zone opened
