Dear Readers: ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Breakdown Hello, and welcome. O.K. Skipping to my conclusion first, I am very concerned a vote will not properly reflect the reality of the situation. An extended period of Classic alone might win if we do not act. The decision comes down to a vote on the Live Servers, and that is all that matters. If we want to get this server right, its imperative that people spread the word on Live servers. Tell them why they should NOT vote for a stand alone Classic release for an extended period of time. It's important to talk about these things to the people playing the game now, since they are the ones who will be deciding our fate. Talk to them in tells, in general, in ooc. It doesn't matter. Just get the word out. It's fine if people disagree, for that is not my concern. My concern is the people who are voting without ever having truly thought about it. Maybe your not talking me seriously, but I am afraid a classic stand alone for a long time might actually win. Why should you take this seriously? Let me tell you. I wrote about an idea for a classic or progression server in 2014 in this thread: Classic (Not Progression) server; For the Fans! It had a high number of views and replies over a long period of time. https://forums.station.sony.com/eq/...gression-server-rule-set-for-the-fans.208202/ Now I can't claim it was originally my idea, but it was original to me, for I had never seen any mention of it before. I am sure other people had thought of something like that before. However, there were not any good posts on it that I saw. Everybody was asking for a progression server because Fippy Darkpaw had long since died, and people were frustrated there was no response. Many of the ideas in Aristo's post I wrote about in my classic thread, and in Badgerlord's Rule Set 2.0 Primary Concerns long before they were common topics. I included details and strong support for these ideas. What happened? These ideas are now being discussed officially. Don't get me wrong here. I'm not saying they are solely my ideas or claiming credit or anything, and I'm not trying to sound cocky. I'm merely saying that I've been good at predicting possibilities thus far. So please, take me seriously when I say that a long Classic alone release might happen, and it might just destroy the entire server. Recently, people were getting frustrated there was no new information from Daybreak. I mentioned in a few posts Sun-Tues that we would probably see some updated information and polls from Daybreak this week (next week at the latest). What happened? We get new information from Aristo and Roshen on Wednesday, and we will have polls this or next week. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Analysis My concern here is the vote itself. How many people will vote for Classic stand alone for an extended period without considering the ramifications? Because let's be honest here guys; without thinking about it, a slower progression seems nostalgic and cool. However, if you analyze the situation, or have played on Fippy Darkpaw, then you know the nostalgic feeling of a slow progression of classic by itself is no nostalgic dream. If you haven't thought about, you are welcome to read an earlier topic. https://forums.station.sony.com/eq/...0-primary-concerns.219128/page-3#post-3201033 The Reasons 1. It does not appear that everybody who plays on the live servers reads these forums. Hence they may not think or consider an extended period of classic is a nightmare. 2. It also does not appear that everybody on the live server would play on progression, yet still have the power to vote. 3. There are also many people who aren't playing Everquest currently, who will play on the progression. These progression players will not have a vote. Take a minute, think about that real quick. Basically it means this vote might not reflect the true will of the majority. On Live servers regarding progression, many I've talked to say they don't read the forums. Many I've talked to say they will not play progression, and some have said yes. But, how many of the people who have no intention of using the progression server will abstain from voting? I'd imagine most people would vote just for the hell of it, and a lot of those people will not be playing there. And again, your missing a chunk of players (like my brother and friends) who will play on this progression but are not on Everquest. The conclusion is, spread the word! This vote comes down to who's voting on live and that's it. Many of these people on live have no clue to the problems that arose on Fippy classic. Perhaps they haven't thought about an extended period of classic for veteran players. Perhaps they haven't considered the fact there are only 3 real 45+ group zones for a max population server (and 3 raid zones). Perhaps they haven't considered a content bottleneck at level 50 for a max population server. It's very important these conversations we've been debating on the forums reach the Live server's ears. It comes down to a vote on the live servers, and if Classic for 6-8months wins, it will be a nuclear holocaust for official progression. If that's what players truly want, so be it. However, let them make an informed decision rather than a quick and thoughtless one.
The first poll could be: Do you plan to play on the upcoming TLP server? If they answer with no, they don't see any more polls. If they answer yes or maybe, they get the rest of the polls. No idea how difficult that is or if it's even necessary. But I don't like the idea of people having any say in something they're not going to participate in.
Another option is of course to limit the polls to allow them to only be seen by the Beta Server. Thus interest in the process is already established,
...Hello, and welcome. O.K. Skipping to my conclusion first, I am very concerned a vote will not properly reflect the reality of the situation. An extended period of Classic alone might not win if we do not act. The decision comes down to a vote on the Live Servers, and that is all that matters..... It is absolutely imperative that a very extended Classic period alone win and that is all that matters. The vast majority of potentially returning players, and particularly those who are *NOT* playing now on Live are former players because they got left behind in the uber-level-up race and the uber-guild-raid race. Those people who want to come back do not want the same old repeat nonsense of the ultra-competitive Xbox gamer who wants to race to the top for uber-phat-lewtz. All those hundreds of thousands of *EX* players who might want to come back want to play an Everquest game that *THEY* used to enjoy and the ultra hardcore leveling and raiding is exactly why they left. And......the colossal mistake being made is that those exact people (the largest potential market) are exactly those customers who have no voice here. You talk about vocal minority. Yes it's true "my type" is the vocal minority on these forums, but the ultra hardcore level-racers are the minority of the entire worldwide potential customer base, but because they are ultra hardcore, they are vocal here. On these forums, we casual immersion Norrathians are the vocal minority. Compared to the entire world outside these forums, that hardcore gamers are the vocal minority. So, get the word out, if you want Everquest to thrive, campaign for everyone to vote for an extended Classic period, only.
It's true that ex-players are the biggest potential market, however it is not necessarily true that most of them want an extended Classic experience. Only a properly worded and informed poll could uncover the truth, and the fact is, most people, if they were presented with a poll where the poll options explain little and they are given no other context, will probably vote for Classic simply because that's what they think a Progression server is for. The only times I have quit have been times when the raiding guilds I was in disbanded due to other players quitting, and combined with the burnout of having played non-stop for the last 2 years it was time to quit. I like the Progression server concept because it lets me get started on an even footing again, but I certainly am not here for maximum classicity.
In addition to what Hate said - also keep in mind plenty of people voted with optimism that something was going to be done to alleviate crowding at the upper end which has not manifested as of yet. If I knew that they would be leaving it Wild West with nothing to promote sharing, I would've voted for a quick option instead of slower as I did. I felt slower would be best if they did something to promote content being accessible (which I thought was completely logical to expect - DBG clearly sees it some though - just their focus is on different ranges than me) - so I voted that way optimistic that they could do things "properly".
Dear Fazool: I am not a hardcore player, nor was I ever. I played way too much in high school when I first started, but only up to a few hours a day on weekdays, and possibly more on weekends. I was not a hardcore player on Fippy. I never raided or participated in raids. I was there to enjoy the experience. I am all for a Classic only release, but only with the schedule being an "Accelerated" or Kunark Fast-Track. I discuss why in my post linked above. An EXTENDED classic alone experience is a true blue nightmare, especially with one server only being confirmed. My top options are Classic alone with an Accelerated Kunark. Or a classic + Kunark release together. I only wish that they didn't keep Kunark and Velious out for 8 months each. I think 6 months is enough. You have to remember the unlocks don't start until raid boss is defeated, which adds weeks onto the time. Classic 1 month, and then Kunark releases, Kunark 6 months, then velious releases, Velious 6 months, then Luclin releases, Luclin 6 months, then POP releases POP 6-8 months since they are including ykesha and LDON.
I don't think it's a big deal either way. I'd love to see things open with Velious, but there's a lot of fun to be had in Classic only. Enjoy the journey! You can always take time off on other servers if things start to drag for you and them come back. That's what many of us did on the Combine.
This reminds me of Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Rings. When Gandalf and crew go through the mines and find the dead dwarves. "It is as I feared then, he is dead." Here is this magnificent mine and all this potential, which all ends in tragedy. "Here Lies Ragefire, son Fippy, Lord of Progression."
If u dont like the 6 months or more locked in classic, i have an idea, start playing in 5 months. Cya then.
Simply not interested vardune, thank you for your concern however. I am about to write another topic here. I do hope those who intend to play have fun though.
