Waiting for the best TLPs in 2023? It's already here!

Discussion in 'Time Locked Progression Servers' started by Lucerin, Jan 10, 2023.

  1. Lucerin Apprentice

    TL;DR up front. One of the largest, if not the largest, TLP server/communities is still thriving wonderfully, and we'd like you to consider us as an option for your home in EQ this year. The below post is to contextualize where we are as a server, and what to expect as a new/returning player.

    I digress...

    It's nearing the countdown days until the next TLPs are announced, and I wanted to take some time to write a post to talk about Mischief. If you're thinking about getting back into it, or starting fresh, on behalf of the 25 or more guilds still plugging away - we're here and ready for you. Whether you're interested in world firsts, weeknight raiding, weekend raiding, European, late night, small-man content, GDKP, or drive a box crew (or a mix of those) we have a guild who wants you.

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    It's a little more than three weeks to go until our time at level 70 expires. The Serpent's Spine releases on Thursday, February 2nd at 5pm ET. The age of modern EverQuest is upon us. If you're looking for a server bustling with activity, but not interested in camping your 100th pair of GEBs at Djarn, we might be the server for you.

    [IMG]

    What is Mischief? And what is randomized loot?
    "The Mischief server is a new experimental server that randomizes loot. Rare NPCs will drop loot from other NPCs of a similar level within the same expansion. Raids will drop loot from other raid NPCs of a similar level within the same expansion. We may add other special case randomization. Rare NPCs have a greater chance of spawning." - Mischief Server Announcement, 2021

    Mischief is also a free trade server. Many items that are normally "no trade," are tradable on Mischief; including end game raid loot.

    If I'm starting fresh, what's the leveling scene look like? How hard will it be to catch up? Are mercenaries in?
    Those are all questions many players who are looking at an established TLP ask themselves. There's much concern regarding "missing out" on important progression tasks, gear, or advancement that will perpetually keep them behind. No worry!

    The leveling scene is always robust. But, on Mischief there are primarily two obstacles - one, we have more options than a fresh TLP. There are many places open now that players can choose to grind upwards. You will see a lot of people working in those tried and true zones, but ultimately, there's less competition between experience parties. Two, Mischief's loot rules have fundamentally shifted the difficulty of obtaining gear that makes reliance on full party leveling crews unnecessary. The bazaar is always extremely full of options to cheaply get in and get going. People don't sit in LFG on Mischief. They get out there and make it happen. So, meet people where they are. Get in and get leveled. Additionally, most raiding guilds on the server accept members regardless of level.

    Tip: Use the command /who all. e.g. "/who all 10 15" to see all players between level 10 and level 15. Shoot them a message and link up for grouping experience. LFG is for people with the patience to not be getting experience.

    AA auto-grant currently issues Shadows of Luclin and Planes of Power AA's. With the release of TSS experience rates will be equal to current live servers, and hot zones release for level 65 and under content.
    Prospective XP Bonuses: Brew Day Events (17 March-30 March), Stomple's Day (7 April-10 April)

    We'll be in the level 75 era for approximately five months. There will be plenty of time to catch up, and because raid gear is randomized in loot pools, there are many options for small groups of people to obtain better-than-group gear here; whether you source them from the mob directly or from the bazaar. Comparatively, our raid gear sells for less in the bazaar than other servers' group gear.

    Mercenaries won't enter the scene until 14 September, 2023 when Seeds of Destruction launches.

    Bags, bags, and more bags...
    Nearly each day Mischief has a Hunter Achievement raid going to share achievements for free 12-24 slot 100% weight reduction bags from Gates of Discord through Prophecy of Ro.

    Community Collaboration
    On December 8th, Prophecy of Ro launched on Mischief. While only a few guilds officially rush completion starting on launch hour, we came together with all available players from 19 guilds across 7 zones organizing a 500+ character cooperative force to ensure bottlenecks in progression tasks would be negated.

    Below I've listed a majority of Mischief guilds in alphabetical order with raid nights and notable niches:
    • Avengers of Mischief - Monday; 1pm-4pm ET (7pm-10pm CET). Day time US / Night time Euro. Boxing encouraged. Expansion launch/completion adds additional hours.
    • Back That Cash Up - Tuesday, Thursday & Sunday; 10pm-1am ET. GDKP (Plat raiding.)
    • Big Natural Crits - Thursday & Sunday; 2pm-5pm ET (20-23 CET) Remaining targets FFA for the week. Boxing centric guild. 3+ toon required.
    • Boxing Life - Tuesday 9pm-11pm ET, Thursday 10pm-12am ET & Saturday 9pm-11pm ET. Boxing centric guild. 5+ toons preferred.
    • Dragon Food - Sunday, Monday, Tuesday & Wednesday; 8pm-11pm ET. Open Bid DKP. No boxing.
    • Elf Sim - Friday 8pm-11pm ET & Sunday 6pm-9pm ET. Seriously casual (or casually serious)
    • Epic Blunder - Sunday & Thursday; 9pm-1am ET. DKP. Casual raiding. Multiple boxes allowed. No additional hours for expansion launches.
    • The Faceless - Wednesday & Thursday; 8:30pm-11pm ET. Open bid DKP. Fast Casual Raiding. Expansion launch/completion adds additional hours.
    • The Finishing Blow - an enigma wrapped in a mystery
    • Imperceptible Goals - Sunday, Monday & Thursday; 7pm ET.
    • Lemmings Unbound - Tuesday & Thursday; 2pm-5pm ET. Sunday 1pm-5pm ET. Casual EU / Midday US. DKP. Optional GDKP raids.
    • Loot Goblins - Monday, Tuesday, Thursday & Saturday, 8:30pm-Done ET. Open Bid DKP. Alts, splits and boxing utilized. Expansion launch/completion adds additional hours.
    • Magic and Mischief - Monday, Tuesday & Thursday; 8pm-12am ET. Multiple split raiding. Boxing allowed. Expansion launch/completion adds additional hours.
    • Major - Wednesday, Friday & Sunday 8pm-11pm ET. Suicide Kings loot, Casual in-era progression, competent boxing allowed.
    • Making Murder - Sunday & Tuesday; 7:30pm-10:30pm ET, Friday 7:30pm-12am ET. Closed bid DKP. 1 Box allowed. No extra hours for expansion launch / completion.
    • Mutinous - Tuesday & Thursday 9pm-12am ET. Expansion launch/completion adds additional hours. DKP.
    • Noble Heroes of Mischief - Tuesday, Thursday & Saturday; 9pm ET. Closed bid DKP. Casual Raiding and Progression.
    • Nox Terrorem - Tuesday & Thursday; 11:30pm-3am ET. West coast/Pacific. Casual Raiding and Progression. Boxing encouraged.
    • Oathbreakers - Tuesday & Thursday; 8:30pm-11:30pm ET. Alt Raid - Sunday 8:30pm-11:30pm ET. Closed bid DKP. Multiple split raiding. 1 Box allowed. No additional hours for expansion launches.
    • Old School Noobs - Sunday, Monday & Friday; 8:30pm ET. Family style. No level requirements. Random loot rolls.
    • Permanently Exiled - Monday, Tuesday & Thursday; 9pm-12am ET. Suicide Kings loot. 1 Box allowed.
    • Primeval Might - Sunday, Tuesday, Thursday & Friday; 1:30pm-4:30pm ET. Casual Day time US / Night time Euro. DKP.
    • Rivervale Metro Police - Sunday & Tuesday; 10pm-1am ET. Closed bid DKP. 1 Box allowed.
    • Time x Money - Tuesday, Thursday & Sunday; 10pm-1am ET. GDKP. No main locking.
    • Treasures - Monday & Wednesday; 8pm ET. GDKP. Expansion launch/completion adds additional hours.
    Guilds on Mischief come together to coordinate on playing nicely, avoiding bottlenecks and cooperating to aid each-other in progression. Along with the significant increase in total GDKP raiding via guild loot rules, several guilds have public GDKP raid schedules. Recruiting information can be found in the Official EQ Discord under #guilds-tlp-servers. We are a very active and helpful community within the #mischiefchannel as well.

    Mischief Streamers:
    Bigor
    Godric
    Longhoss
    Nightfuryy
    Rowun
    Zaide

    Mischief-centered EverQuest weekly podcast "Forever Quest" hosted by Godric a.k.a Purple Elf Productions.
    Meridian, Brildon, Appren and 24 others like this.
  2. ISmellLikeInnySwamp Augur

    Ctrl + F - "Thornblade"

    :(
  3. Yinla Ye Ol' Dragon

    What is GDKP?
  4. Lucerin Apprentice

    In lieu of guilds having their own currency people earn on raids, the bidding is done in platinum and split among all raiders present. Basically, there are several guilds who have survived and thrived this entire time by using platinum as their guild's bidding currency.

    You normally see this on regular loot servers for past expansions to get others involved in farming content for chase items that don't drop as often. On Mischief, free trade creates an opportunity for a platinum guild currency to thrive.
  5. Waring_McMarrin Augur

    From my understanding it is paying for loot with gold and that gold being split to the rest of the raid with the raid/guild taking a cut off the top.
  6. Protocol Dragon Defender

    Great work with this post Lucerin! It’s really amazing to see a server clear the level 70 slog with 22+ active raid guilds and a number of smaller purely casual or niche guilds on top of that! I am proud to be a part of it and I look forward to seeing how robust our community will remain over the next few years.
    Calandria likes this.
  7. Classiclizard Apprentice

    Mischief has been an amazing experience and scratched the 1999-2000 elf nostalgia itch better than several years of casual P99 play and brief stints on conventional TLPs. The server's unique rule set eliminated many antiquated EQ bottlenecks (contested camps for zone keys and chase items like GEBs) and has allowed far more players to enjoy raid and high-end group content as a result. Due to the increased availability of gear, it is far easier to experience a broader range of content (especially on limited play schedules).

    The rule set respects your time far more than other server types, and the next several months will prove a great opportunity to enjoy level 75-90 content with a vibrant community of players. If you're a busy, grown adult with competing responsibilities and interests, Mischief is a great venue for adventuring in Norrath (and supports a huge range of play styles).

    As a classic EQ purist who previously relegated all post-Velious content to the dumpster, I've been surprised how well designed and fun several later expansions have been (especially Omens and DoDH). Many of us will be progging through the upcoming expansions level 75 for the first time, and it will hopefully be a blast.

    Most importantly, remember to roll Iksar on Mischief. You will regret playing as an inferior race. Similarly, remember to disable Luclin character models and revel in the retro pixelated glory of classic EQ models. Chose wisely softskins and see you in Norrath!
  8. Calandria New Member


    Or, you know, play what you want. It's your game after all, enjoy it the way you want to enjoy it ;)

    Seriously, I am enjoying Mischief way more than either my live server, or the last TLP I was on (Fippy) The loot rules make it easy to catch up if you fall behind, or are starting from scratch now insstead of starting when the server was new.
  9. Gugagan Lorekeeper

    • Avengers of Mischief Mondays (and Wednesdays at the start of expansions) EU / Midday US, from 7 to 10 pm CET/1-4pm ET. Boxing allowed/encouraged on raids, but any nice/good player is welcome to Avenge Mischief with us :)
  10. ISmellLikeInnySwamp Augur

    This Mischief ruleset sounds really fun. Daybreak should create a Mischief clone this year with a classic start!
  11. yepmetoo Abazzagorath

    The fact that Thornblade is still around, and probably about as healthy as a regular TLP server would be on its own by now, is a testament to this being a popular rule set.
    Protocol likes this.
  12. ISmellLikeInnySwamp Augur

    I've seen Mischief dip to medium pop quite a few times in December and January, while Yelinak's population was at high. It will be interesting to see how long Mischief's population remains at a steady high once Mischief and Thornblade merge. I wish the server(s) best of luck.
  13. Waring_McMarrin Augur

    That does line up with a new expansion on live which can draw players who play on both server types back to live.
    Yinla likes this.
  14. Lucerin Apprentice

    Added!
  15. ISmellLikeInnySwamp Augur

    I can still remember watching your first Youtube/Twitch video about Mischief. You said something along the lines that Mischief is "the" server to stick with to live. I'm still surprised that it's going strong.
  16. Pappasalt Augur

    Good tidings from Thornblade...the redheaded step child!
    Lucerin likes this.
  17. yepmetoo Abazzagorath

    No merger for you!
  18. DeBasilisk New Member

    Hi! I originally played an Iksar Monk on Tunare in the original Kunark through PoP days, logged in here and there over the years and played a bit on Ragefire a couple years ago because I had some old friends playing there, but they have taken a break so I left. Ive been feeling the itch and thought the Mischief rules looked interesting so I rolled an Iksar Necro a few days ago (and started at the true home in Cabilis, no freaky gloomingdeep tutorial for these scales!). I do a lot of soloing because I like to advance fairly slow and savor a lot of old content and quests, but I also like to participate in group combat or raids here and there. Super casual, and due to family and work I’m unable to commit to frequent regular scheduled raids, and to be honest, am not very seasoned (and probably not a huge asset) at them anyway. I have no skill or experience boxing, scripting or anything like that, and have never done 95% of the raids in the game. About all I can offer is chit chat, words of encouragement and a fair amount of Iksar lore.

    Tldr - Been playing since original Kunark but basically still a casual noob. Would any guild be interested in a player like that?

    Also, @ClassicLizard is correct in his assessment of the superior race. May the Greenmist of the faceless ever fall upon your scales my friend.
  19. Appren Gnomercy

    But...but...fighting over mobs in Guk and getting trained at Efreeti?

    I love Mischief, and highly recommend people to try it out!
  20. Manafasto Augur

    I will be starting so far behind =/, I usually only play one character.