The definitive TLP rankings

Kinda of surprised they hadn't tried one of those again for those that really love the racing aspect. Guess it would only be done by a small contingent of players though.

Vulak and Lockjaw were both overflow servers which eventually merged into their slightly older twin brothers, so I see no need to treat them separately. Fippy/Vulak didn't get close to Live before it was merged. Ragefire/Lockjaw might have the same fate, it's not clear yet. Mischief/Thornblade are also twins, of course, but they haven't merged yet, and it's also not clear that will ever happen.

My personal thoughts on the servers I have played:

Agnarr was a blast for me personally because it came out right about the time I came back to EQ. It was a great first TLP for me because it was a replay of the expansions I went through back in 1999 onward. After the guild had Time on farm a while it quickly lost it's appeal.

Selos: The expansion unlock and raid unlock schedule was really near perfection for the amount of time I typically put into the game when I am actively playing EQ. I think the only thing I would adjust to the expansion schedule is to bundle some of the releases that didn't raise level cap and make them slightly shorter than the sum of their Selos duration.

Aradune was just kind of vanilla for me. I didn't join a guild or play there very long. It felt like nothing special really was drawing me to the server. And, one of the biggest unique "rules" about the amount of boxes seemed to be entirely unenforced.

Vaniki was a cool idea IMO and I had a lot of fun pushing the envelope on group content. I like the idea of some TLPs completely mixing up the game play somehow and adding new difficulty. I am a big fan of things being made harder not easier. Vaniki made the game feel different and to me that is way more fun than a repeat. It was more of a group focused server instead of raid focus and maybe that hurt it's popularity. I will admit that my opinion may be biased since I played am enchanter which was incredibly powerful in early Vaniki group content. But, obviously not many people shared my opinion on Vaniki and the server is now a ghost town.

Mischief has been fun for the loot piñata and I intend to stay to see some of these later expansions. Random loot is a really fun and good idea. However, the additional loot I am not a fan of. If it were a Selos speed server maybe. With the amount of loot + free trade the market is absolutely saturated with stupid amounts of gear. While a lot of people are a big fan of this, I think it takes away from the gratification you get from earning something that is difficult to achieve. So while most people rank Mischief as super high, I don't really agree, and I don't think it should be repeated anytime soon. Especially not while it still exists to be played on.

Oakwynd opinions: It seems kind of meh to me. The only mod that seems somewhere interesting to me is increased repsawn rate. I think that alone would be something to develop a server around. Hyper respawn would add a new twist, and new challenge and would solve some of the more annoying issues in TLPs regarding competition and mob density. I don't really know what to think of the FTE controversy yet. There are so many dramatic opinions it is hard to even have a reasonable discussion about it. Will have to wait and see how this one plays out.

I think in general, people always think they want things to be excessively easy, handed to them or available to be purchased with a credit card. But, I think what they don't realize is that challenge, adversity and difficulty are really what gives you the feeling of being rewarded. That was part of the formula of what made EQ a great game and I am a huge fan of TLP rulesets that makes the game MORE challenging not LESS challenging. The vast majority of TLP players know the game inside and out. Give them some new adversity. Who the hell wants things to be easier on the 8th playthrough? It boggles my mind that people want a Mischief repeat.

Im not sure what this list is trying to quantify. Is it popularity? Or impact?

If we are talking about impact, I have to say Ragefire and Phinny have had the most impact on the TLP scene. /pickzones and Agents of Change are a direct result of the toxic cesspool that was summer 2015 on Ragefire. Phinny then released in December of that year and blazed a path forward.

Phinny was basically a beta test for all modern TLP servers. Many of the changes, especially the QoL changes we have seen on TLP, are a direct result of those players on Phinny. So many of the things that did not go right on Phinny were fixed for future TLP servers. There is a reason that your basic TLP ruleset is referred to as a "Phinny clone"

DANG huge miss by me on Fippy. Forgot about - I actually ran a business during that one and missed it. Up there around Agnarr/Sleeper

Aradune actually broke DPG it was so big. Don't listen to leaked numbers. Couldn't even log in to the server for MONTHS. It was catastrophic. Ragefire was a ghost town soon as Phinny launched. It didn't hold water long term but during 2020 pandemic it was peak EQ.

For impact I full agree.
Phinny is easily the #1 greatest server ever in terms of bringing AOC to the game. Impact it is peak. Mischief maybe #2 if they make mischief clone/inspired servers. If it is a standalone the impact is obsolete. I can see the argument for Ragefire/Lockjaw and the creation of /pick as number 2. without AOC/Pickzone EQ was sunset 6 years ago.

Phinigel during TDS had 3 active guilds remaining, 1 EU (Rosengard III) 2 US (Original Gangster Club & Resolute).

Mangler has retained significantly more players, though had it switched off Truebox I expect it would have retained even more than it has now.

Well done to everyone still playing there for sticking around.

I'd argue Ragefire was what brought AoC & Pickzones into the game, Phinigel was just where those things debuted rather than being what inspired them.

Phinigel's players were responsible for a great many small QoL changes that really laid the ground work for all of the TLP which followed to find success.

I think Vaniki while largely unsuccessful in terms of engagement will have a lasting impact upon TLP server design for years to come, there are important lessons to be learned from it.

Mischief showed that taking a risk on rulesets can & does pay off, and I hope that all "special ruleset" TLP are not diluted by caving to the demands of the recycler crowd who will never care about any TLP or ruleset enough to justify swaying opinion to have multiple concurrent servers like Mischief running because they will never make it to live status on any of them, for that crowd all that they want is the sugar-buzz of the fresh server & the seemingly unlimited grouping that happens in a TLP's initial few expansions before the jaded feelings return.

Mangler still has 8 guilds actively raiding:
AD, Mess, TGR, HD, DoR, PA, Europa, and KNK

He meant 3 guilds clearing content in era, raiding guilds, had hundreds of guilds, but three still clearing content in era (largie guilds too). Nothing has been close to Phinny, go look up how many guilds cleared content in era using phinnyprogress compared to others in every era, I 100% concur with Phinny being number 1, and some of the number 2 contenders have valid arguments as well, Mangler, is probably 5th, sorry to break it to ya But Mischief/Thorn, Ragefire/Lockjaw and Selos all get to complete for 2-4 I think.

AD, Mess, TGR, HD, and DoR have all cleared TDS and are currently farming the content. The other 3 are actively raiding Arx and still progressing through he content. Mangler still has 6 weeks left in TDS, so entirely possible that the other 3 guild will clear the expansion in era.

Why is it called Karendune? That's a little past my time on TLPs lol

The 'enforced' two box limit lead to a _lot_ of people asking to see the manager, aka petitioning people for boxing anytime they were annoyed with other players

You uh... might want to do that yourself, spoilers, it's not as many as other servers.

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Ragefire has to complete , in era, or it stalls out. It is the last of the true progression servers, before TLP really became a thing. There's no magical day that every expansion unlocks, like all the newer servers..

While Phinny has 3 guilds at about the same progression level, vs Ragefire's 2, none of the content is able to be "skipped" by waiting 90 days.

Ragefire is sort of the "line in the sand" between the old progression servers (no gimmicks) and new (experimental) TLP's. I wouldn't count RF in for any real statsitic there. Yelniak is more along the lines of competition with the new ones.

Agnarr also is its own entity and shouldn't be judged vs the other TLP's.

They could/should run another Combine/Sleeper style. Unlike those servers racing each other, just have one and track the individual accomplishments.
OG=>PoP: AoC + OW wins
Epic 1.0=>2.0
Epic Retelling
Xpac Slayer
Xpac Conqueror
Xpac Master (replaces Slayer tracking)
Xpac Challenger
Xpac Vanquisher
Anniversary Raids
Death and Dragon^3

etc...

Add in some special bonus for the person (individual-based arch's) and guild checking off the boxes.
That would be a spicy server.

Put a hard cap of like 2 years on the server to see how far it can advance in that time frame; maybe give it same XP bonus as Zek/FV since it really would be more a sprint style server. Would be extremely interesting to see how far the server would be pushed before 2 years was up.

Obviously you have not, it is MUCH greater than all subsequent TLPs.

Mangler has twice as many guilds clearing the content. Mischief looks like it could retain more than even Mangler did.

1. Mischief
2. Selos
3. Aradune/Phinny/everything else with this ruleset
4. Vaniki cause it was unique
5-13. Everything else.

I don't know how you all aren't burnt out on classic and kunark at this point. They have to be the most boring era of EQ after getting that initial nostalgia hit. I can't imagine spending time in unrest, guk, and seb again for more than a month.

Selos was beautiful. 1 Month expansion unlocks is something I wish they'd bring back. Combine selos with Mischief would be the dream considering mischief expansions tended to end quick with all the loot. There was a lot of sitting around bored there waiting for the next one.

Miragul was a big "Why?", and Vaniki was interesting just because it mixed things up even if it was horribly managed.

I can see Ragefire being killed off sometime early next year.

Oakwynd will be TLP #14 then? Geez didn't click for me there were over 10...