It was actually first. But, the game was very new then and there were LOTS of very new players (me for instance) who used the truly large number of zones to learn about the game. The development team was also huge by comparison to today. Enough bloviating, these now quite old zones still exist and any true noobs won't have seen them. Thus, they would be new to them. This game (in terms of players) is very heavily weighted towards the top end. Making a bunch of low level zones just won't be attractive to most players today.
And there's 20 years worth of content for the to go through while they level up to current max level. Returning players do not need to be pigeonholed into a single expansions worth of zones - albeit i enjoyed TSS when it came out and they did that. This is also when the game was still fairly new and the max level was also fairly low. Now with the game being top end heavy, most people having their max 8 characters per account, the return wouldn't be worth it to create new lower level zones. This discussion comes up multiple times a year. And the drive is always "well it would allow for higher level players to group with the lower guys since everyone is in the same zones/expansions". But that's not how that works. A 120 isn't going to group with a level 90 in a level 85 zone where nothing is of use to the 120. Not to mention there would/is better places to PL if it were to come to that. In short: it's not worth the investment to make newer lower level zones in new expansions that are designed for those who are current in the game. Not current? Go back through all the content that you've missed until you are. Simple.
It was a mistake to not releasing a new expansion with new and easy content for the lvl 100 heroic characters so there are many good reasons why it would make sense to release lower level content with new expansions and not only zones that are close to the level cap. It would be important for expansion sales to doing that with every new expansions but only adding one or two instanced zones with level dynamic content. One zone could be just a normal one but with mixed area content that is 5-10 level below the current level cap. That would lure more players into buying the newest expansion and it would also serve as a steping stone for making a subscription more attractive.
Why would they do that, when CotF is perfect for the job? With the levelling experience in new expansions I wouldn't want to play in new lower levels zones, when the older zones will give more exp.
CotF is only good until lvl 105 and only with LotD and it is far away from being perfect. The players only do DHHAs for the overrewarding experience and their simplicity. The whole HA concept does stink and is like driving into a one way road several times a day. Maybe you do remember the movie Groundhog Day ?!
When I was writing my answer I was thinking second in terms of content released with the original game being the first.
The issue was two fold: #1 - Multiple expansions with no level increase. In order to make TDS harder they scaled the same level mobs up in difficultly. This then effected the older TBM missions. #2 - The heroic missions where designed to scale beyond their initial level. That was a major problem because future expansions increased the power of those mobs well beyond a reasonable level. It might have been ok if they designed them like LoDN where each level range was static. But they didn't and was a major head ache for both players and developers. You need to go around and look at the people who are using FTP characters running 24/7. They are often in older zones, cycling though 100's of mobs an hour to generate plat. They are using FTP characters which where "something intended by game design" and is most certainly "being abused"
People use FTP characters because they either can't afford it, or want to play as cheaply as possible. They already have content available that is 5-10 levels below the current level cap. In fact they have 1-2 entire expansions worth of content they get FOR FREE. Why pay for the cow when the milk is free. You keep using the argument that "adding lower level content to the current expansion will drive people to move from FTP" and I just don't think its a realistic assumption.
Not to mention is it just takes purchasing the expansion to get the latest content and you could still stay FTP. If they have tradeable expansions like they have had in the past you can even get that without having to buy it.
Another TSS expansion would likely go over extremely well but unfortunately it’s not gonna happen. The execs simply would not commit that much capital back into this game for the 12-18 months that would be needed to make it possible. Despite the return and numbers EQ provides its maintenance / milking phase.
Why would it sell any better then expansions are currently selling? Lower level content wouldn't add much to live servers as there is already an abundance of content for them and it won't be seen on a TLP server for years.
Which is great when you're learning a new level 100 heroic char. Once you have learned a bit more about your new char and levelled up a bit you are then to move on to the likes of Frontier Mountains. All the different HAs at level 100 is far more interesting than sitting in 1 zone grinding the same mobs for days/weeks/months on end.
I would love another LDON type exp. By putting different rewards in different camps it forces people to move around and do each area. Ie have one camp do visables. another dose non-visable another dose weaps/shields. and have the last one do augs could even have each camp have its own evolving item that only gets xp form that camp's HA(or for fun make it so you buy the item at one camp but it only gets xp at one of the other camps)
Modern games, you can get to max level within a week from play consistently. EQ, there is a reason why this discussion comes up every year like you say. Failure on the problem solvers they hire to solve the problem. They listen to the same people year after year. Same issues year after year for past 10 years. Year after year.
Adding lower level content to a new expansion won't fix that and it will just make it harder to level up as you will have less zones to do it in.
How can you know that they do use FTP toons and not AllAccess and isn't it that everything can be abused somehow ? People also stay FTP because there is only a very limited need to get AllAccess when not buying the latest expansion. Both are parallel societies inside the same game that can and mostly do ignore each others which is a strange concept imo. AllAccess and new expansions are meant to be a bundle. Buying just one part of the bundle does not make much sense regarding the gameplay which is why one-time bonuses like keyrings and depots got added to expansions because the sale numbers went down, but that added more dissonance to an already dissonant concept: Only buying an expansion for a one-time feature during the discounted seasonal sale ? Does that mean that expansions are slow seller without bonus features ? ....
Yep, but it does not make sense to have a new expansion unlocked without AllAccess. Even with AllAccess it does often not make sense because the content is way overpowered for players without raid gear and tons of AAs.
There isn't a problem though. There is no lack of low level zones to level up through. It's just laziness on the players end.
