With SoL coming soon I expect the slog of raid logging will be eliminated and the server will pick up some. I want to raid SoL and PoP again, as I've missed it the last 3 times. However, I have a slew of toons on mischief at 70 already so I'm torn between hopping back on there. Do you guys have hope for Yelinak to pick back up or would you just advise people to go to Mischief for activity?
Every new expansion will bring back players, until they get the gear they want and the AA's, then it will slow down again.
Depends how much you want to do the luclin/pop content in era vs being on an active server that'll make it into the later content. I'd recommend staying on Mischief if you are enjoying it there
I did enjoy Mischief for the most part. It's just a strange era for the classes i actually enjoy. I'd mostly go to Yelinak to enjoy my enchanter days again while they're still alive.
I am a new player, or rather returning player ( after over a decade away). I have asked myself and researched this same question. In the pursuit of that answer, I have ended up rolling toons on both servers. Mischief seems to be a universal server that caters to most peoples play style. The randomized loot is the big push here, it makes it a bit easier for more casual level players to enjoy the spoils of each expansion without having to be a top tier raider and camping rare spawns. It is also a TLP so true box is in effect here, which is a major reason as to why I have chosen TLP servers vs live. Boxing isn't for me. In the end I believe it is the general rule set of Mischief that keeps it active. Then there is Yelinak. It is one of the youngest TLP servers and just about ready to hit SoL(shadows of Luclin) this puts it very close to where I recall most of my original days. I play here at the low end and don't seem to struggle with grouping. It's just old school rules, if you wanna group, get your butt to the zone and actually try grouping with people there, or form your own party. I think I enjoy Yelinak slightly more because its close to where I wanted to start up, still active on the low end and provides a sense of accomplishment when it comes to gearing your toon, due to the more traditional rule set. At the moment I currently play Yelinak when not actively gaming with my friends on Mischief. If the server stays stable ( and it has had a high pop every time I have checked the server status along with Mischief), then I may decide to main on Yelinak. That's my input. Hope it helped.
I mean, if you want to raid through PoP, Yelinak will be busy enough. Its pop will nose dive after that though. It's already medium about half the time and dipping into low per eqresource.com. The LDON-GoD stretch causes major attrition on TLPs. It won't be kind to Yelinak. After finally surviving it on Mischief, there is no way I'll ever do it again on a normal ruleset server. The rulesets for next year's TLP could affect either server. Another Mischief spinoff could affect both. Yelinak has relaxed truebox going for it, but I don't know how much that will help since new servers will get it too. (And maybe older ones.)
It feels like Yelinak population died way faster this time around. I thought Velious was going to bring in some people but that didn't happen really. I don't think many people can stomach Classic starts anymore, especially not 2 months of it. By next year they will probably release a random loot ruleset since it was most popular and I hope its not a classic start.
I rolled a Enchanter on Yelinek perhaps a month ago. Have been enjoying my time for sure. I've only grouped once (in MM), and it was recently. Pretty fun. I put up LFG all afternoon yesterday and didn't get a group. Fortunately I do a lot of tradeskills and farming for tradeskill drops, so I don't get bored. EC tunnel population ranges from 50 to 150, depending on the time of day. I rolled on Corinav the last week of Kunark on that server, then ended up hard core raiding in Velious all the way through Prophecy of Ro. That felt good; I never did much raiding past old world back in 2000. Nice to scratch that itch. I don't like how new TLP come out in the beginning of summer. Really don't like that; I want to enjoy my summer not sit at a computer all day. I wish they'd start new TLPs in Autumn, instead of spring.
I want to try a TLP but I remember the old days with my cleric spending more time hitting the hotkey "Level X Cleric LFG" over and over. I don't think I can handle this again, but if I can solo with an enchanter and still be useful in groups (eventhought you didn't get one the other day, so you always have this trouble or just that day?) I'd be very interested in playing again. I know some classes solo (druid, necro, mage) but beyond mage maybe none of them interest me really. So maybe enchanter is my class?
GoD is one of the absolute best expansions on TLPs. For you mischief players, LDoN was only 4 weeks long. That 12 week run is nothing compared to the 9 months at level 70.
Being how Yelinak is just another Phinigel clone, I would expect it's population to decrease considerably when the next Phinigel clone opens up. So if you want a server for long term later expansions, Mischief is the easy answer. If you like to recycle classic-pop every year, Phinigel clone server #4 is the easy answer.
Mischief is by far the healthiest population of a server i've ever seen going into DoDH. By this point on Coirnav we only had about 3-4 active raiding guilds. Mischief still has probably 20+.
Play whichever you are having the most fun on. I stuck with Mischief, because frankly, 37 people in EC tunnel is absolutely shameful for a new server, even at 8am. There is no one to group with or play with on Yelinak, it's why I left.
Until the devs decide to listen to the talking heads who lack any awareness/foresight on these forums, and they release a Mischief clone. Then it would be RIP Mischief. With any bit of luck, devs will realize that just making clone servers every year does nothing but disperse the population until eventually the newest server isn't all that healthy from the get go (Yelinak) and not make the same mistake with Mischief-like rule set. They really need to just keep making new rule sets to attract different types of players. Maybe when a particular rule set is deep into the game they can think about releasing a clone. That's the best way to maintain healthy servers and cut down on overhead.
Yelinak population is way higher than Mangler and Coirnav during this time ( I played on all three) Yelinak is not a clone of Phippy since we have shorter expansion timeframes and higher XP rates ( are you new to TLP’s?) currently and in Omens we will the first server on TLP history to have RELAXED TRUE BOX… everyone including everyone is asking for this feauture Yelinak is going to thrive thanks to its unique feature that we are all super excited for ; don’t miss out and join us , or go to Mischief to farm more Kronos to and join the casuals that can’t play standard tlps
Either Stay on Mischief or do /testcopy and tool around there. you don't have to worry about "true box" so you can run a full group off 1 computer if you want. Mischief is well past SoL and PoP so you would have to be doing it all solo. If POP and SoL are what your after you will probably have to wait til the next set of TLP's is released.
There is nothing unique about Yelinak, sorry to burst your bubble. If relaxed truebox is your big selling point, Rizlona exists. And Vaniki has full unlocked boxing now. Do you even TLP bro? Speaking of Mischief, now that is a really fun and unique ruleset. Great server, highly recommend.
https://www.everquest.com/guides/eq-what-is-a-progression-server They should update the Progression Server Guide, it says nothing about Vaniki being relaxed or full boxing: "Vaniki Launched: May 25, 2022 Ruleset: True-Box Level Locked, Time Locked Progression Server - Accelerated rate of expansion and level unlocks up to level 60 at which time expansions and level unlocks return to a normal rate of 8 and 12 weeks. Level is capped at 10 levels below the original level cap of the newest opened expansion, and only one EverQuest client may be run per computer. Experience: Progression (Faster than Classic, slower than Live)"
Agreed, though it is explained on Vaniki's FAQ page. https://www.everquest.com/news/eq-vaniki-server-faq
