Oakwynd Feedback

Honestly, the locking wouldn't be such a bad thing if they just limited it to raid encounters, leave the grouped named/lower level stuff alone.

After reading the new TLP ruleset, it seems like there are some decent ideas that have potential, but they have either not been fully thought out and/or have been poorly communicated. Let's go in order:

Legacy Characters: This is a cool idea in theory, but practically speaking it makes no sense given that all encounter lockouts are shared on an account-wide basis and not per character. So you cannot raid on multiple characters that are on the same account. Now this would make a lot more sense if they either 1) made lockouts character-based and not account wide; or 2) allowed for linking of accounts for the same owner. Option number two has the added benefit of increasing additional subscriptions (and bag pack purchases) for the company as well.

Encounter Locking: This again seems like something that should have been tested or discussed before announcing. In less than an hour post-announcement, the forums are filled with all the potential griefing that will occur. You thought policing KS battles was tough, wait until you see this. People can aggro entire zones and kite them around endlessly, people can CC named mobs and just hold them hostage and/or sell to the highest bidders that are fortunate enough to receive a group invite, and the list goes on and on.

And then think about the shortfalls that result during normal gameplay in the group setting. The monk puller who is splitting mobs can no longer do so as the NPCs will lose aggro and go back to their spawn point. The enchanter who casts single target or AE mez with a small chance of an automatic memory blur has now cost his group mobs as they will be locked and run back to their spawn point to be re-engaged. For this to have any hope there would need to be safeguards implemented for the group and griefing scenarios listed above. Some sort of timer would help against the bad behavior tactics, but I don't have a great solution for the normal grouping issues.

There is also the "random acts of kindness" that are now totally out the window. I still remember over 20 years ago almost dying to a lion chasing me across the zone when a high level character killed it for me and saved not only my life but my run back to West Karana. No longer can an LFG enchanter in lower guk derail a train by mezzing the mobs. No longer can a random drive-byassist with a named mob occur. All that is allowed now is throwing a heal or buff. That is not the spirit of EQ.

This change also seems to dissuade multiboxing, even though it is a huge cash generator for the company. For example, a guy boxing two characters would often drop one and have it out of group to make room for a friend or guildmate. And while that will still obviously happen, the out of group character is now entirely worthless - unless it is a healer who apparently can still contribute as normal even out of group.

Evolving Bonuses: This part is a cool idea, although the way it is written makes it unclear exactly how large the bonuses are. Instead of doing total percents, perhaps just list the bonus given. For example "Ruins of Kunark +25% Loot Modifier."

Other Suggestions: Of course I cannot help but advocate for a free trade server after seeing how Mischief made gearing mains and alts so much easier. Although I do understand the concern that you don't want to have competing servers, the non-random loot is enough of a distinction to not cannibalize Mischief.

Wonder how long a bard could kite the entirety of a zone.

Dire Charm the PH.

Instead of paying for loot rights you’re gonna be paying enchanters to gate for kill rights.

Clearly you didn't spend time on Mischief....

You are going to get bards pulling entire zones again because no one will be allowed to peel a mob off and steal it this is the most amazing thought out stuff ever.

There seems to be 2 camps here. (Not in game, we don’t have camps there.)

One that hates FTE as a general rule.

But the other that is concerned in how this is to be implemented, as it does risk breaking some things that made EverQuest amazing. The passerby enchanter or shaman buffing a party can still help with their buffs, but what about landing a tash or a slow?

The newbie running from a mob and the caster that steps in and roots it and finishes it off before it kills them.

The reality is friends have been made in this game because of the situations occurring and someone ends of saving the day. I think people are rightly concerned with them launching this and not covering whether it would hinder the toolsets people have been using to do good.

There is plenty of toxicity in this game, I'm personally fine with them looking at ways to improve some of those but not at the cost of what makes the game good/fun and social. As much as we might grow weary of the player base in a general sense, no one wants a dead server to play on and it’s best if we make our voices and concerns heard now to head off an implementation of this ruleset that could harm those things.

I’ve got friends I’m looking forward to playing with here so I have a vested interest personally in wanting to see a ruleset that we can enjoy.

Hope it goes to Live server.

New expansion progress quest kill this thing. There is only 1.
Yeah I'm gonna stall this guilds progress, endurance this mob all week long

"Additionally, this server will be our first attempt at encounter locking. In short, once an NPC is engaged, it will be locked to that character, group, or raid. Characters not part of the lock cannot contribute damage. Spells from outside characters will not land on the NPC. If an actively locked NPC loses aggro for a short time period, the NPC will go home, reset, then unlock."

this is one of the worst "nice things" you could have possibly implemented
people play on your TLP servers to avoid the kidgloves rule set from p99, crossing the wires like this is just spitting in the face of your customers
additionally it runs back every change you've made to things like charmgating that allow players to take an NPC hostage until it's convenient to kill it. ancient jarsath being kited around in a circle for a few hours until billy from accounting gets home to tag the kill, etc

another unnecessary feature that seems like a blessing until you realize how much evil it can be used for. every raid-relevant NPC with rooted movement can be held indefinitely with this method

It's kind of pathetic how everyone's thoughts immediately turn to exploiting, griefing, stealing and trolling.

This is the second year in a row of mediocre TLP announcements. Last year Daybreak did not listen and left things as is. It has since flopped harder than a stack of pancakes at IHOP. I urge you to listen to the players interested in your game and not just the one's that are currently playing, especially those on previous TLP's not wanting their server to die. If people truly love playing where they are and who they are playing with they wouldn't be looking here in the first place for a new server.

Now on to my points about the server:
1. Why xp for alts? I'd much rather have it for my main ala Selo. There's no reason to slow down the pace anyway when people are done levelling in a day or two. It's not the focus of you're game or gaming in general anymore. Besides, that's offered on P99.

2. Encounter locking might slow down power leveling a tiny bit but it won't end it. And what you are doing to the non hardcore crowd is astounding. No longer will anyone be able to set up in a dungeon to farm anything because someone else can run up and be .01 sec faster tagging the mobs and getting the loot. You just asked for a customer service nightmare with this one.

If you really want this type of server my suggestion would be to call it something along the lines of the play and get more server. Get more xp, more coin, more faction, more spawns, more loot...you get the picture. And starting out with one bonus is really not inspiring. Maybe someone else in these comments can offer a better suggestion...have at it as I know this community has tons of ideas you could have used. Oh, and saving a good ruleset for next year is a bad business plan. You never save a good idea because the current one could be your last. If nothing changes best of luck with this years TLP. I'll pass for the 2nd year running.

Situation: I'm a Cleric in LGuk in a group without an Enchanter.
Task: IVU to a camp with an Enchanter to buy a Clarity.
Problem: The enchanter pet breaks while I am being buffed and it hits me.

Well, now I have aggro and I'm the first to engage. Do I sit there and die? I can't IVU back to my group, I'm being hit. The enchanter can't charm or mez it. Their group can't snare or root it. What happens now. The mob kills me then walks back to wherever the enchanter first charmed it?

I'd rather have personal loot and loot keys on the market place.

So, is the only argument against free trade on the new server that it _might_ possibly hurt mischief? Because that server is two years old and so far advanced in terms of content... not to mention the expansions it is on are basically raid logging expansions.

And, if this server having freetrade is enough to draw people away from it then they were already probably going to leave anyways.

Its not like you can't Dire Charm a PH in the current ruleset.

A bard can kite an entire zone today. There isn't a benefit now, and there won't be a benefit after encounter locking is implemented.

This absolutely destroys power leveling on pretty much all types. From the shaman that pulls all of Unrest, use a DS pot, and Torpor while a bard sings Chants out-of-group to The Deep AoE pulls with chanters stunning out-of-group, its all dead.

Good post!

Imagine the trolling you could do with that.

Drag a mob you can handle over a group that can’t and stand on them and let it rain hellfire while you keep it parked over them.

Not advocating that, it’s a concern that I see happening if the mobs spells land on the players it’s not locked too.

But on the flip side, healer outside the group not being able to gain aggro and be hit for it would also be problematic.

This TLP will officially take the throne as the dumbest possible TLP ever to be created. I cannot believe that in a board room of people thinking up ideas someone actually said "Hey guys what if we do a classic server with encounter locking and XP boost", and other people were like OMG YES that sounds amazing. They should have thrown that guy/girl out the window, and dared someone to say something that stupid again.

All the hypotheticals aside this is going to radically change mob behavior. About the only good thing I can see is that it'll be the end of training but I don't think it's worth it

I really don't want this coming to any other server