Longer unlock server thoughts

I used to be in the longer unlock camp, but I realize now after a couple TLPs that the majority will still race to max level and you end up with raid logging and eventually more guild attrition in the end. This is especially true during the very brutal L70 stretch and double so if you are a caster. There will still be a feeling of falling behind for those that struggle with play time for leveling purposes. Longer unlocks will not magically make more people appear to level with you at a slower pace, other than maybe your guildie's 18th alt/box.

I like to see a compromise between the two honestly , just a additional month + the normal unlock.

The reason is unless you are in a cutting edge guild it gives a additional month for farming to complete sets or on key based zones time to get the entire guild keyed and farm.

Also there is a bit of leway if someone in the guild , does have rl stuff that comes up.

This does not include new content time for people that have not seen xxx expansion , gives them a chance to figure things out , check out new zones and not be zerged through a expac.

A slower unlock server is doable. Just make a rerolling agnarr clone. Classic - > PoP at whatever speed, merges with Agnarr, & starts all over.

In the name of variety, chaos and spice I propose:

• Mobs on a 5 minute respawn timer
• Mob types are always random from any mob type in the expansion including named
• A chance for any single placeholder to spawn 2 or 3 mobs instead
• Mobs have a chance to spawn with +1 +2 or +3 levels
• Random loot

No, I don't think this will really happen but, anything to make EQ feel different at this point would be fun

We got 2 "different" servers once... that the people that launched it had no clue what was "casual" and what was "hardcore" is a whole other story...

Add the hardcore raiding no unlock timer, usual trade rules, relaxedtruebox etc. whatever exp rate on launch, just don't make it too silly slow... double raid key drops/key part drops, halve lockout timers. make it so they can unlock next expansion when "select" raids have been completed 20x (or whatever number makes sense) so 20x naggy/vox/phinny each to unlock Kunark, all the kunark bosses 20x each for velious... full NToV clears 20x + 2 diff kings + a few of the other dragons/Tunare 20x for Luclin and so on

Add the casual gamer 6 month trilogi launch, 4 months everything after that, slap LoY/LDoN in under PoP and make it 6 months, semi-random loot (1 normal loot, 1 random loot), free trade, FTE, relaxed truebox, all classes at launch (add in a GM so they can get skills, rest (spells etc.) they can get when the respective expansions launch unless it is buyable in earlier expansions. don't change epics, again they are doable as usual. Good exp rate... don't remember which was the fastest progression server exp wise? That will encourage alts etc. standard lockout timers for raids, double keys (they are still much faster than original so need the extra drops to keep up)

haha why not just give us god mode then. This sounds like my child when I say "what would you like for dinner". "Chocolate ice cream with cookies and donuts on top" - Sure, ok kid eat your FRICKIN' broccoli now and shut up.

Put all of the "Longer Unlock" fans on a TLP & there will maybe, possibly, be enough of them for one US EST guild.

Is that enough to justify spinning up a TLP server for them Darkpaw?

The answer is likely no.

I wouldn't want to skip classic entirely, but I'd actually rather only have 6 weeks of Classic/Kunark/Velious. I'd actually extend GoD to 12 weeks. It's a really good xpac now when you actually come into it geared after so much Time gear. I felt like it went too fast on Mangler.

Honestly OP, just go to p99 or Quarm. Way better servers with way better communities. And you are not alone. Plenty of people want the same as you, most have went to these servers because live / tlp is a joke now. And the live / tlp community is even worse, as you can tell by the responses in this thread. Just go to one of those servers and let the retired neckbeards with no families sweat for 6+ hours a day running the same race every year here.

I would love a Agnarr type server that ends at OoW and ends true box, has free trade and FTE.

I want a server that can go as long as it can before Defiant armor starts dropping...

Defiant Armor ruins the environment to me.

I personally would love medium unlocks, with no voting however. Say 3mnths no level / 5mnths with level progression. But not everyone feels that way. I loved voting server but Ragefire is an example where the player base hinders the progression, so longer unlocks that auto drop is the perfect medium to Mischief, which is a little fast for my liking. Even 3/4 would be nice.

Not every sever has to be fast nor slow, but they release one ever year it seems so possibly same ruleset twins with different unlocks? If nothing else be interesting to see how population fairs.

Have to say Mischief is the most population successful TLP in my memory for its xpac of House of Thule. But its loot ruleset is for sure a big part of it.

average out this 7-page thread and you get the current Darkpaw unlock schedule - same as the metrics they've gathered for the last 18 years of progression servers.

I agree 100%. Even with my play time it is hard to play during later expansions because of how much time is just dedicated to grp progression. I would love to play for 3-6 hours every night but that just isn't possible for me.

This has been beat to death.

Longer = worse. It's proven in population numbers. People can barely sustain for 3 months of an expansion. It's not even a debate. DPG loses more subs overtime when people have nothing to do. Roster boss / attrition kick in around week 8.

YOU might benefit, but the WHOLE of the population that still plays or wants to play is not partial to longer.

They are better off increasing loot drops and exp rates to offset shorter unlocks. This alleviates the problem of people feeling the need to play more AND prevents people from letting sub lapse for a month and risk losing them and not coming back for the next expac. They can play the same and get the same results. It's a win win solution.

I sort of disagree with you good sir. The drops in subs would usually be a month or so before the next unlock, but they would return. At that time they would probably just roll new accounts on a different server. The last time they had longer unlocks was like Ragefire and the only reason that server died was because phinny came out with AoC. AoC was a game changer at that time especially since Ragefire was in PoP and was locked down by the top guilds.

Where I do agree with shorter lockouts would be from classic-luclin.

Problem is once you unsub you gone. Tried and true. Tested and proved. Seen it in every guild in every TLP I have been on which is almost all of them. People don't return until the next time they are interested in a TLP.

Maybe post pop/god/oow needs longer lockouts - I don't know anything about the game post OOW so yeah either way lets just crush through the opening part of this thing without out right skipping it.

With the faster unlocks you feel like you can never take a break and once you're behind starting in OOWish era's it takes a lot to catch back up.

That's the point of increased exp rates. Once you are done AAing and finish your epic there is literally nothing to do. You can raid log and avoid burnout. This applies Classic-OoW.

Again maybe progression gets pretty complex past OoW - then I would say sure expand those expansions to 12 week unlocks and keep them longer.

I am purely focused on not wanting Classic-GoD to take 12 months. Most people can't even get that far because of burnout. Longer expansions in that era isn't going to alleviate that.

Longer unlocks make things worse from what I've seen. Instead, I'd say make a minor tweak to autogrant xp. I've seen quite a few people disappear for a few xpacs then reappear later but ultimately drop out again because they feel too far behind. I'd say in addition to the normal autogrant AA, add 10% AA of whatever max AA is for current xpac. Just put the extra into the pool of AA and it can be spent on critical things. For non-AA granting xpacs, throw in 30 AA or something. Reasoning is that for many of these xpacs we're doing it in 8-12 weeks instead of a year. I personally had zero issues on Mangler getting max AA in a few weeks, and I acutaully think it's not that hard, but some people just see that big number, attend a couple raids and don't parse well and get really disappointed and leave again. I think this could mitigate that without cheapening the AA grind for those who log in regularly too much.

People have nothing to do in 3 months or less because they want o rush to 50 in like 2 to 3 days then get their epic and do all the raids like in a week so of course there won't be anything to accomplish so within a weel they get bored and no longer log in so either make the xp rate so slow it would be like 99 all over again or make the unlocks longer both can be done imho but of couse not at the same time