Longer unlock server thoughts

So much hate for taking the game slow. Mad rush to chew content and get to the next tier of loot. Enjoying EverQuest and playing chill is a thing of the past. It's mildy sad that the idea of being part of an MMO community means so little. It was a good run. R.I.P. MMORPG

No hate. You're just ignoring the good options people are giving you. There is a lot more to EQ than just the TLP servers. Give Agnarr a try. Roll on a Live server and join one of the casual-play guilds. Not everyone on Live servers is a raider. TLPs are not a good fit for very casual players, A slow unlock server wouldn't get you what you want anyway -- most players would pay attention for a few weeks and then disappear for six months (Real Life), and then come back and complain the server is STILL too fast. But some people want to complain that the square peg isn't fitting into the round hole.

Yeah, hate to see people rush to such conclusions when they don't get or have receptive feelings towards what they want. We all love Everquest here. We aren't really all that different. We all just need to adapt and grow with the times my friend. 4-6month expansions just dont foster any kind of community unless its really well established. We already have this with multiple long standing TLPs. The fact that you missed out on the early parts of those servers is on you. Its fleeting anyhow.

When folks say that they want a slow unlock server they don't really think too deeply about why they want that and what it would take to actually achieve it.

Q. Why do they want it slow ?
A. Probably because their real-life does not allow them to keep up with the majority of the player-base on these TLP servers.

Q. What does a slow unlock server request seek to actually achieve?
A. In practise what they hope to get out of it is a server where everyone who is not themselves is slowed down so that they can stay at the same level of achievement & progress as the rest of the players on the server, the reality is that this has never worked, slower servers bleed players far faster than the "optimally paced" TLP servers that are the bulk of the modern TLP's, TLPs that are too slow self-select for a certain pace, and slow players will ALWAYS get left behind, secretly they know this, but their hope is some ruleset can prevent this - this is a self-delusion.

Q. So is asking for a slow-unlock server ever going to make it happen?
A. No, all of the available evidence points to there only being a tiny minority who even want that slow pace, it is a request that entirely based on entirely unrealistic personal wants and needs rather than those of the wider community. The only thing this idea has going for it is that the slow unlock folks may slightly outnumber the PvP TLP folks - if EQ ever reaches the position where it can afford to run ultra-niche small servers, perhaps after it has cloud-based server-systems which can concurrently run multiple unique rulesets on single servers the company may be able to explore doing that for these ultra-niche communities.

Q. Is the small-community who want a slow unlock TLP even sustainable?
A. No, absolutely not, to make a server for such an ultra-casual, low attendance, inconsistent or intermittent off-peak or seasonal audience their server would require a vastly larger number of players than a standard-paced TLP server requires for survival. AKA Player concurrency.

Without that vastly larger overall number of players in the server-pool it will spend the vast majority of its uptime populated by only a tiny number of players, because the player-concurrency of a casual-oriented server is a whole lot lower than the norm.
This would lead to a game-world that would feel abandoned, or dead for almost all of the time.
Players would have such widely varying play-schedules that they would hardly ever run into one another across the large number of zones & levels EQ has.
They know this, but they actually don't understand their needs are parasitic in nature, dependent upon the wider player-base, their slow playstyle is only possible with a far more motivated, consistent & engaged community playing alongside them - they can find that on a live server where expansions are opened yearly, but it does not exist on TLP due to the faster pace of unlocks there.

Yeah. I know it's been done before. I mentioned partaking in my comment preceding the one you were responding to. I don't know how popular it would be in the era of modern TLPs. But I would still find it fun. There is a ton of content between SoL/PoP and modern EQ that is completely alien to me but that seems boring to do solo/boxing, that I would be interested in progressing through with a friendly group. But also I'd love to take my time and go through original EQ through Velious content again.

Accidentally double posted a comment.

I can't see an option to delete the comment.

It makes krono farmers money.

I suggested as much and would be interested in playing EQ on a modern server this way. But the "Old & Slow" is probably a bit uncalled for. I think we can both agree that there is a crazy amount of content between original EQ and the most recent expansion, and most players on TLPs see only a small fraction of it.

But are there people actually leveling on Agnarr in groups? When I tried to play in 2022, there were only 1-2 people on between level 1 and 50 at different times of day.

How about we try to get a group of 20-30 people to form a casual/progression guild on a modern live server as an experiment?

Literally nothing you said makes sense OR has anything to do with the thread. There is not hate for playing the game slow. Piles of evidence of previous and current TLPs show there is very little demand for longer unlocks and it leads to a dead server. This isn't hate, this is just data.
Your perspective of people who chew through content is skewed. A lot of people that chew through content do it so that they can chill. Who wants to worry about finishing progression for weeks/months?
Are you saying that unless everyone plays your way, you can't be part of an mmo community?
It was a good run. RIP Someday1245.

I really don't understand how server unlock schedules should effect the way you play if you want to play slow? It is still there to do. You are exactly where you were when you logged off. So is the content. If your argument is that everyone else has progressed further then you, then are just confirming that it is correct to pace the game faster than you play it. A year or two ago I made a few toons on a live server and played it at my own pace, ignored boosts and power levels and just played through the game. Had a blast. It didn't matter to me that other people were hundred+ levels higher. Why should it? By it's very definition, you can't be hard core/cutting edge and play super casual. You will just be happier if you accept that reality.

I don't understand how players wanting a slow unlock server has some of you breathing so heavy. Like we haven't had and will continue to have all the server options in the world that cater to consuming as much content as you can as fast as possible.

Ragefire started out with 6-month lockouts for the first few expacs (3?). By that, once we beat the expac, then we'd have a vote six months later on whether to open the next expac or not. So, time locked voting progression. Now our lockouts are in three-month schedules. I think three months is OK for most expacs when there's a lot to do, but even then we get a lot of people that disappear until the next launch.

Definitely would be interested in a much slower unlock rate but with fast xp. Would like it to focus on raid and loot farming. The server wouldn't be interesting to heavy gamers but should have enough people with restricted play times joining this server. I wouldn't mind subscribing for 15 a month as long as I can maintain a social life and not have to regularly play catch up.

The sense of community is missing when you are way behind everyone else. Like on live, the sub-100 world is pretty much deserted. A person can move through content at their own pace, but it's sort of depressing to level up in one deserted zone after another. When you're in a zone with lots of other people, it can feel like you're part of something greater.

One thing that may help with this aspect is the persona feature. The players who zoom through content may go back through the content to level up their personas. Someone who goes at a slower pace may end up first grouping with Soandso on their initial zoom to the top, and then again group with Soandso as they level up a persona. And maybe yet again as Soandso levels up another persona. The personas may be a way to keep the lower populations more populated from the speedy players who level up multiple personas and redo the same content with each one.

Slow unlock obviously has a massive potential customer base if we look at those-servers-that-shall-not-be-named, especially the most recent one which completely smashes any TLP in terms of actual player count(that is, excluding bots/boxes)

Once again, If you take any of the servers when they are fresh, p99 green, quarm, etc... they all get massively eclipsed by the amount of players on a new TLP. Not to mention that it's literally free vs a paid sub TLP. Even given the recent dupe/exploit and all the issues Darkpaw has, you know the TLP is going to be around as long as the company is. As opposed to an run by a psychopath with a history of abandoning projects and/or being vengeful.

2100 real players, each an individual person, is more real players than any TLP has had on simultaneously to the best of my knowledge.

If we exclude the parts that make them not reliable, they're completely reliable.

If we exclude the parts that make them not reliable, they're completely reliable.