[DEVS] A plea to Instance either Ragefire or Lockjaw?

Devs, please take the time and read my plea.


A "true-box" server with instancing is an awesome idea, but i'd really love either Lockjaw or Ragefire with instanced raids. I get that the competition was part of the game, as holly described it, but this was 15 years ago. And while some people still have both the time and drive to both poopsock, run eachother off the road with drama and accusations and most of all races, some others may not find that part of the game interesting or even compelling anymore.

I can only talk for myself and my guild, but i wouldnt be surprised if there was more around with the same attitude on the server. Not only your game has aged 15 years, so have your players. I'm a dad, with a job and a wife. I have to visit family, cook dinner, shop, play with my girl and everything else the ordinary life of a 30 year old homan being needs to do.
Whenever i do have some time to myself, i like to boot up my machine and log on some accounts and play EverQuest. I could (and am at times) start LFG'ing and waiting an hour or so for someone to either join my group or me to join theirs, but as you'd probably know, time is scarce. So playing on Phinny is also out of the question, as we wont be able to either box and make meaningful playtime in the time we do have to play.
And in that same sentence, trying to plan a raid, incooperating spawn windows, rotations, races, powpsocking and whatever just in my OWN time schedual is really hard. Trying to get a full group of people, in similar situation as myself is impossible.
But having a hard time finding the time to do these raids isnt equal to wanting to do the raids. I'd LOVE to see and do the bosses in Ntov, Sleepers Tomb, Ssra, Vex Thal.. You name it. but as it stands now, i will be forced to do them out of era. 1 maybe even 2 expansions after it has been current, could be where we, as a small casual and non-hardcore guild, would be able to do this stuff.

"EverQuest have always catered to the hardcores. Just because you don't have the time, doesnt mean that everyone else should suffer under your care-bear rules. Also who cares what you think!! ... Sorry have to go, Batphone, whatsapp and facebook lit up, NTOV HERE I COME!!"

Sure, i might not even be the majority of unique players wanting this. But i do pay for 5 accounts and have active subs for them. I do contribute to your company. I do contribute to the community in-game, helping new people and participating in the general chat (despite the trollness it can contain.

But most of all, i love the game. I love the nostalgia and the events and the lore, and i really want to see everything again (in era where its the challenge it's supposed to be).

And as it stands right now, i will not see a single one of the bosses, do a single one of the encounters, laugh at a single one of my guildies for messing something up and wiping everyone. I wont be able to do any of this in the current state of the boxable servers.



Please..?

I would prefer them added to Ragefire, too. I would also like a 3 month unlock timer with no votes.

Join a better guild?

Also, implementing instanced raiding on rf or lockjaw wouldnt be fair to those that don't want it. Those that DO want instanced raiding have their own server now, those that don't stay on the first 2 TLPs.

I'm not against adding instanced raiding to Lockjaw or Ragefire. However, what you want is already provided to you in the Phinigel Server. If instanced content is so important to you, then re-roll and get exactly what you want.

Except this is not the case as Phinny does not allow boxing w/o having multiple machines or finding an illegal work around. The op clearly states he plays 5 accounts so that with his limited time, he is able to actually get something done, sans raid in era. Clearly, Phinny does not offer to him that which he seeks.

I would also like to add, I would ask that harbingers be considered for epics if there is to be no instancing. As it stands, certain epics, such as a warriors is stranglehold by the top end guilds due to perma farming dragons, especially a green scale which is only available from Sev and Trak. It makes absolutely no sense (which when it comes to dbg/soe, makes perfect sense) that these harbingers would go live and not onto tlp where they are needed most. This being said, if this were to be implemented, a harbinger for a green scale drop should be added as well, thanks in advance.

xp update to phinny!!! Now is your time!!!

Indeed, just reroll to the proper server. I'm sure entities on the server will give you help along the way when they're available - and the xp is being relaxed today.

There's no better time to switch. (Unless you're gonna roll iksar, prolly worth slacking 2 weeks rather than spending SC on such a brief race change)

i wish they had just instanced lockjaw and rage rather than doing a whole new server, but since that didnt happen...

phinny is the server you want if you want instanced content. there are still people leveling in all ranges on phinny. in the last month i took an SK to 50 with no issues finding pickup groups, and in the last week ive had no trouble finding groups on my lowbie paladin, who is now a righteous 16. you dont need to box to get stuff done on phinny. i know of several former 6 boxers that play on phinny who were wary about giving up boxing, and all of them have been pleasantly surprised by the no box server rules.

sadly, i dont think they have, or ever will, release the "perfect" server for me, but phinny is pretty damn close. i just with it was a *slightly* slower pace, 4 months per expac is the sweet spot to me.

And if you need advice on setting up an array of boxes (although it's hardly needed here) - I can point you at solutions around $135 per machine.

No way! Gotta roll now if you wanna be an Iksar with a Dark Elf mask!

The whole point of having to spend even $135 for another machine to box when the stock UI has the boxing function built in is beyond insane.

Thought I'd heard RF/LJ kept them for a few weeks post-Kunark launch?

At face value I agree with you. Instancing rocks and is the sole reason I came back to EQ, specifically as to not deal with the extreme socking that is inevitable otherwise.

However, I disagree with significantly changing servers up from what they were specifically advertised and turned up as. For instance, Phinny is advertised as a ~3 month unlock. I'd prefer a 4 month unlock. But, Phinigel was turned up this way and people specifically came here under the understanding of a 3-month unlock. It would be unfair to change it mid-stride.

Same deal w/instancing. RF/LJ did not release with it, and it was intentionally done. To add instancing now removes the competitive sock nature of the servers. Just like some came to Phinigel for the 3-month unlock, some started on RF/LJ knowing they'd get fierce competition on the open world raid scene and wanting it. It would be unfair to change it mid-stride. Same deal with adding or removing a voting mechanism. TLP boxes should stay consistent with their original rulesets.

Re-rolling to Phinigel would be your best bet. I know it doesn't support same-machine boxing, but you basically have to decide whether boxing or instanced content is more important to you. I don't see another TLP server coming over the horizon anytime soon.

This is completely false as there are still open world bosses to be contested, which for the most part are not because of the dominant guilds, TL and FI respectively. So this point is actually not a point in favor of keeping the status quo but more a point for instancing because nothing will change except that people with limited time and resources will get to experience content they pay for, win win for everyone except those who like to block others from content just because they can and for some reason makes them feel better about themselves.

Eh, in this day and age though - you can easily repurpose the PC once you're done with EQ into various functions though - already got another $50 of hardware earmarked for this one (that is my forum one when I'm offline - playing XCom2 on my real machine currently) if/when I decide I don't care to box on Phin anymore or they relax the restrictions. And that $50 will turn it into an HTPC/DVR.

If you can't find a longterm use to justify it that's another matter - but, I bet most people if they soulsearch could find one. (i.e. that 10 yr old nephew that doesn't have his own PC for writing reports - grats kid, you can use office without disrupting mom and dad now! Or whatever... hell, anyone who pays enough taxes to itemize could donate it afterwards for a tax write-off, and with how bad such places are at evaluating electronics, got a feeling they'd OVERVALUE it for the write-off)

This is going to be mean but, the fact you think Trakanon drops a Green scale tells me you don't deserve or need a warrior epic. Also on Lockjaw so many warriors not in my guild have their epic I have to wonder if you're even trying.

Been a week already eh?

how does the stock ui have boxing functionality built into it?

no thanks keep that instance content away from Ragefire

Pretty sure he's speaking as an old school person - reason boxing wouldn't work initially back in the day on a single machine was because the UI would prevent switching windows itself. It no longer has that roadblack, so while it doesn't "have added functionality" compared to original it no longer has that roadblock.