So it seems we've been given the option to vote on proposals with varying unlock schedules all the way through TBS and beyond. There are threads arguing that we should shorten DoN, PoR, etc. I don't get it. Why are we arguing about how fast the unlock will be for OoW, DoN, PoR four years from now? This seems like a heck of a lot of wasted time. A large portion of the people on this forum may not even be playing EQ when OoW comes around. I recommend we make the voting process more dynamic. I suggest we implement a system that allows the (at the time) current players on the server decide how much time to spend in the subsequent two-three expansions. I'm sure this could be improved upon, but here is the concept: 1) Decide how long we do Classic + Kunark + Velious + Luclin at server launch. 2) In 1.5 years, launch a poll asking how long to spend in PoP + LoY + LDoN (3-question poll) 3) ~3 years (or whenever that era is coming to an end), launch a poll asking how long to spend in OoW, DoN, DoDH, and PoR (4-question poll) 4) Continue every 1-2 years as necessary This system offers the following benefits: 1) Eliminates the guesswork and disagreement over what the server(s) will look like years from now 2) If there is more than one server, the population of that server can elect the pace THEY get content at the time of its release (rather than guessing about how they will feel years in the future) 3) Votes from non-progression server players and people who have quit aren't included 4) Seems like minimal burden on the devs (I'm not sure) I'm sure it can be improved, but I think this is a good base. Thoughts?
That's an excellent idea Aurmoon. Could be done in two tiers or something - "How long do you want the next block of expansions to go?" for the first vote. Then once determined break it down into "How would you like the following expansions split for the (X years, Y months) that was decided upon in the earlier poll?"
How is this better than a straight do you want the next expansion to open poll? The issue is that the people who are voting for these ridiculous unlock lengths aren't going to play beyond velious, pop, or omens at the latest, and their opinion of 6 months per expansion should not be applied to later expansions. The precedent seems to be very hands off with the progression servers once they are launched, so people are rightfully eager to address these inevitable issues now.
no vote once the server opens. at all. get all the timeframes for each expansion worked out before the server launches, so theres no surprise.
No I agree with the OP. It makes sense. You probably won't be playing in four years so why should you decide this kind of thing? Hell, the current devs probably won't even still be working on EQ by then. Though that argument might go either way for this
since ive been on fippy since day one, and am still playing there, i think your assumption about me is incorrect~ plan out the unlocks ahead of time, dont leave anything to votes after the server launches, cause you are just asking for trouble imo
I'm inclined to agree with OP actually. If this server's raid scene isn't horrifically toxic, I plan to play for years. But I don't know how I'm going to feel 6 months from now. The nice thing about voting ex ante for content timers is that it removes to unlock-blocking voting. Example. 30 days before Velious is released, a poll opens asking how long we want Velious to last. 4 months, 5 months, 6 months. Notice that "No Luclin" is not an option. Luclin IS coming, we just get to decide how long we can realistically enjoy Velious before we chew our own feet off. We have way more information about how long we can stay in one expansion, because we've just been through Kunark. If Kunark was too short, we can ask for 6 months. If people are getting frustrated, we can ask for 4 months. I do agree with the OP that people who will not be participating in content should not get to vote on how long we get to experience that content.
I'm against this idea, but I think doing it by eras rather than by expansion would be a better choice, at least for the major ones (LDoN, LoY, and some others should be slightly different) Otherwise people might start arguing "Hey, we said 5 months for Velious, 4 months for Luclin, so we should be able to choose 3 months for PoP! Why are you restricting us devs?!?!" But then you get into "what era groupings to use?" and suddenly we have another vote...
You know I have been giving this some thought and while I initially agreed with OP, I have some doubts and I'd like to explain why. The unfortunate reality is that the 3.0 TLP(s) may really get the limelight through Classic, but through Kunark and especially Velious, it's extremely likely that staff attention will taper off, and by Luclin the servers probably don't even come up in weekly meetings anymore. On Fippy, in spite of the numerous issues we did have (out of era gear, spells, alchemy exploit, etc.), we were kind of the "golden boy" of Sony for a brief moment in time - just a few months really - and then we got shoved in a corner and forgotten about. They did finally let players transfer off the TLP 2.0 servers but it was long overdue (tbh I don't know transferring off mattered in the first place) and that was basically the last thing Sony ever did for those servers. Whatever we can talk the devs into now, we need to do it. These discussions will never happen again. Roshen will be replaced just like Piestro was; producers and developers will move on to other projects; hell, DBG might sell the franchise just like SOE did. Every inch they offer we need to take, everything we can get coded in from the get-go needs to get coded in prior to launch. If we're lucky we'll get some interaction on extremely red button issues during classic, but don't even count on that (the alchemy exploit lasted weeks before getting patched on 2.0 - millions if not billions of plat entered the economy before they fixed it). It's extremely likely that anything the say we'll be able to vote on down the road will get canned once someone else is in charge somewhere on the corporate ladder. If this were years ago when EQ was still SOE's pet, maybe we'd see promises realized, but I think we better take what we can up front and then just buckle down and play. Figure out the unlock times, hardcode them in, and then let the server run itself without any babysitting required. It will be better that way.
Really curious--how exactly do you propose we take anything at all from DBG? In 15 years of playing this game I haven't seen this happen yet.
