What is your dream TLP?

This would get my vote as the best idea to come out of this thread.

But I'd want to see it within a server rule format that doesn't include turning it into a loot pinata.

I kinda like a loot pinata because it increases the chances of everyone in your guild getting what they want (which is the point of playing on a tlp for a lot of people right? To go back and get that loot they always wanted but never got?), but I would be okay with mobs dropping just their normal loot PLUS a number of items equal to their normal loot, but random.

So if a mob drops 1 item normally, they would drop 1 item +1 random.

If a mob normally drops 4 items, they would drop 4 items + 4 random, etc.

This "seasonal server / acumulative bonus" Idea is not new.

And just like the last time it was suggested it is a very bad idea that incrementally increases the power creep problem & make the game even more boring & dull than it already is for TLP re-rollers.

The game needs to combat power creep (AKA OP Monks on TLP from 1-100 for just one example) not add to the problem.

That is a fair assessment, so 4 months… 2 for xp, 2 for loot /shrug

Actually, no. I'd argue that isn't the primary draw or point of old school EQ at all. If anything the fact people can even do that, and as such has basically seen it get adopted as a default baseline expectation anytime somebody lays out a server idea, is just enabling the continued existence of one of the primary gameplay downsides that come out of instancing game content that wasn't designed with that in mind.

That being the power creep (especially early on). Where pretty much every guild is going in to every expansion and it's encounters being completely over-geared for it's content on day 1. Which of course turns a lot of progression into more of a being there to go through the motions effort then the potential memorable experience it used to be at times.

Ahh. You mean *for you*. It doesn't bother me one bit to see a dozen people running around kitted out in BIS gear at the end of an expac going into the next. I really like that EQ is an organic difficulty game, like Dark Souls. If you want to challenge yourself, do raids with fewer people or with less gear. If you want to have an easy low-stress evening, go in with a full 72 kitted out on BIS gear from the previous expac. AoCs mean everyone can raid their own way and outside of just a few cases (sleeper, open world) and not impact anyone else.

I really like going back and doing stuff I missed last time.

Yeah, for me. But I'd guess there is actually a lot of people out there besides myself feeling similar about the power creep issue at this point. That would be a lot more intrigued by a server idea that offered a more focused solution to that, with some compromise made to keep casual interest, which wasn't tied into gimmicky trash.

I'd be interested in a server that deemphasized raiding. The catch is that it would have to be able to bottle up the experience of logging into EQ again for the first time and experiencing greater faydark again for the first time. Oh my God this place is huge! Oh my God there's another zone!? I don't think that they can pull that off. There isn't a ton of adventure left in EQ.

Power creep has been an issue for 23 years and instead of address it they just kept piling it on. It isn't going anywhere until they address it on live. Hopefully they will through a thoughtful level squish that addresses the creep and bloat in multiple areas of the game, especially in systems that were never designed to scale or last for 25 years like spells and aa. I'm not holding my breath.

It's easier to cater to a casual crowd and let the hardcore folk self challenge as was suggested above than it is to cater to hardcore but have some gimmick to keep the casuals playing. Unless you have some kind of idea you think would accomplish that?

so if i train you, you report me, you can no longer report me for training ever again?

+300% coin drop and +50 xp rate for trolls and negative penalties for every other race such as:
- Halflings and dwarfs move 75% slower for having smaller feet.

No, you can petition all day long. There just wont be any GM support provided in player disputes on this server.
Clarifying on the Hardened/Casual status, those flags would be per character. Sort of a balance for friends to come in with, and a reward for the loyal ones. Casuals could recieve their own rewards, rated at maybe .5% exp/flag ect.

Oh, so you're just like tripling down on terrible ideas, got it.

You can't please everyone, Frankie.

So the only option is, please the second smallest niche of players (next to pvp bums).

If that's how you look at things sure, feel free to just take the post as "ideas" that you can interchange or discard. I dunno obviously it's my post but, I think a 10% perma exp buff for the long term players sounds pretty cool.

As the saying goes - Given the opportunity, players will optimize the fun out of a game.

There would be nothing easy in the real world scenario about trying to form a guild of hardcores around the idea that you are going to purposely play a game in a sub-optimal manner. By and large it's just not in the mental makeup of most of those type of players.

I do think there is enough EQ fatigue built up over the last half decade though that a decent amount of common ground can be found though. I mean take the guy's suggestion of wanting deemphasized raiding. Depending on what that looked like I wouldn't be against it as a "hardcore" player and your rather typical I'm either all in or on my way out type. Especially from a what does it look like 3, 6,10 months in perspective, and once I reach the inevitable point that I'm hanging in there a lot more for the social elements then I am because I enjoy clearing TOV for the 12th straight week.

Alt friendly TLP
-progression achievements and keys are shared by all characters on an account
-if character A earns an AA point then characters B/C/D/etc... on the account also get an AA point added to their personal AA pools
-if character A earns 20 raid currency then characters B/C/D/etc... on the account also get 20 raid currency added to their personal raid currency pools
-leverage the fellowship exp bonus mechanic so all characters on an account receive bonus exp until they match the level of the highest character on the account
-etc...

Basic idea would be that alts on the same account would be similar in terms of character advancement to the player's main at all times (at least once you're out of the really early expansions). Main benefit would be the ability to build balanced group and raid comps depending on turnout with less dependence on boxes, especially for more casual guilds once the server populations start dwindling. Also adds play variety at an individual level, you can experience multiple roles and classes without taking time away from advancing your main. And yeah, obviously there'd be shenanigans like a raid guild telling all their DPS to go <op class of the expansion> for a raid, but hey, that'd also be kind of fun to see in its own way.

My favorite kind of TLP would be
Time Locked Raid TLP

So basically its like live, where NoS T1 raids
https://everquest.allakhazam.com/wiki/eq:Raiding_in_Night_of_Shadows
Unlock Schedule

NoS is started on December 6, 2022

• Tier 1 - 07 Jan 2023
• Tier 2 - 04 Feb 2023 Guess from Beta
• Tier 3 - 04 Mar 2023 Guess from Beta

So say 8 week expansion progression

Vox, Naggy, Phinny you can't do them until 2 weeks in.
Plane of Hate can't do it until 3 weeks in
Plane of Sky can't do it until 4 weeks in
Plane of Fear can't do it until 6 weeks in

For the same reasons that Expansions on Live have unlock schedules, I really enjoy the unlock schedule.

Just because 6 guilds beat Tier 2 right when it opened, doesn't mean they can go to Tier 3 and beat it same day too. Unlock schedules are nice balance to the game.

This way, say
2 DAYS or less get to 50
7 DAYS IN geared to do raids and since we are geared, we sign our NDA and give it to guild leader and participate in trial runs using /testcopy with the guild, do naggy runs on test. So we get that beta raids experience like on Live.
WEEK 2 naggy/vox/phinny open, we know the drill because we did beta/testcopy
should be real quick, all beaten in a day and lots of time left.
A DAY AFTER WEEK 2, time to prep for Plane of Hate, we know the drill, /testcopy
WEEK 3 opens, we know the drill because we did beta/testcopy, hate should done really quick because we went through it many times, many wipes we know what will work.
A DAY AFTER WEEK 3, prep for plane of sky, everyone /testcopy, fill out the NDA to the guild leader, practice practice practice
WEEK 4 comes around, we beat what we can of Plane of Sky, get as far as doable.
A DAY AFTER WEEK 4, /testcopy its time to practice Plane of Fear raids
WEEK 6 comes out, we beat Plane of Fear the same day.
After WEEK 6 until WEEK 8(Kunark)Nothing but grinding the raids if you want too or just play on Live, until Kunark comes out. Do whatever floats your boat now.

Oh btw,
the raids drop X20 the amount of usual loot (if beaten same day it opens).
the raids drop X10 the amount of usual loot (if beaten after the day opens until 3 days after it opens)
After the tier unlocks back to usual loot, so highly encouraged to beat the raids DAY 1, ASAP when they UNLOCKED on the unlock schedule.
Just like how we do on Live with the new expansions
So its quick paced TLP, raid focused. Raids open up, keep up. Can you beat everything the day it opens.
When T1 raids open, can you beat it same day???
When T2 raids open, can you beat it same day???
When T3 raids open, can you beat it the same day???

See if you missed the raid, help another guild beat the raid, plenty of rewards to go around. Goal is to stay caught up. Less grinding raids, just one and done, the others are just for for fun now. One every so often is a day of serious raiding going on. Plus that beta experience of /testcopy and signing NDAs, if choosing the route of the serious serious raiders, like server first kills. Day 1, FIRST KILL raids. Because this server is gonna be packed, theres a lot of competition. Everyone is raiding same day. Everyone wants to be part of the raid/guild that says we got X20 loot drops! No one wants to be the guild that fails on DAY 1 when raids unlock. Miserable X10 or if still can't even do it, back to usual loot drops, x10 raids or x20 raids behind those that were able to do it DAY 1 or ASAP.

Beat the raid DAY 1 that means you technically beat it 20 times in one setting, so better practice /testcopy, it wont be fun failing it on DAY 1 of the UNLOCK schedule and missing out on the X20 loot drops.

oh btw, AoC, and open world, open world raids they too drop X20 DAY 1 of being unlocked. So might be competition in open world.

This was an interesting read, and for a special ruleset TLP not the most bizarre idea I have ever seen.
It would certainly help smaller guilds ensure that they can field a working composition so long as players were willing to flex classes.

I've seen other posts that had some element of these ideas but this is the first I can recall that put it all together like this.

I'd expect all lockouts to be shared along with flags etc.