In what order will the "current" era of TLPs (RF, LJ, Phinny, Agnarr, Coirnav) die. And why?

Coirnav will completely die out when the next tlp server launches and you can quote me on that.

Depends where it's at in terms of expansion.....and rule set of any new TLP....

Lest you forgot or didn’t know; EQMac was a pop locked server, had lots of bugs (or quirks), and outside of a bi weekly server reset had almost no developer attention for the better part of a decade. New players (at least until the VERY end) were uncommon at best and few stuck around to raid more than a handful of months.

The only difference with EQMac that kept it alive and playable was that boxing was not prohibited and many of us opted to box 2 to 6 toons. Also interestingly enough there was no market place hence no krono currency.

If EQMac is any indication, I expect it our lovely TLP PoP-locked server to have more staying power than people give it credit for.

Well they all will die in time, as new games coming out that should take the majority of NA players away, leaving only the Krono farmers to renew for the next 20 yrs of EQ. On a non joking side of things, i dont believe the devs can repair this game any longer. I think the community and VM links have basically ruined any TLP for ever gaining attention again. If your into Krono farming go ahead but it wont be in Pantheon ill warn you now, and you wont be able to box 6+ toons like your doing now with Mqerk software. Have fun enjoy your 20+ yrs of kronos....

There is little doubt that Coirnav dies first. The majority of Coirnav players have very short attention span, they quit or jump servers every few months or they would not end up there. There is some new blood for TLP, but not much.

The reason i play on Coirnav was to actually start a TLP at the start. I missed the start on Phinegal and started mid velious so once I got burnt out around the time LDON / DON started I broke off and then heard about Coirnav and wanted to experience the entire lifecycle from start to finish. My plan is to stay with it as long as I can (likely until Pantheon launches) or until it catches up to live.

Why would people choose to start or transfer to Phinny instead of a Live server? By this time next year, it looks like Phinny will be caught up to the expansions where Live servers become fun/challenging, House of Thule. And by this time in two years, Phinny will only be 2-4 expansions behind Live (depending on how many "expansions" are released in that time).

From someone who rode the Agnarr wave hardcore from the last month before Kunark launch all the way to now, once you do EQ-Velious hardcore once, that's all you'll need for a long, long time.

Fippy server is next!
Current TLP are missing out. Fippy features:

1. 6 SKs insta-HTing 32k HP raid bosses
2. Multi day poopsocks
3. Dueling for rights to raid events
4. LotR trivia for rights to raid events
5. GM enforced raid rotations
6. Regular suspensions for guild leadership
7. Intense guild rivalry

I don't miss it, lots of good memories though. Maybe not "current era" but it still says TLP on the server list

Um, no? Why would they want to go to Phinny? Most people have no desire to play catch up in expansions they are unfamiliar with. They will do what they have always done, take a break from the game and come back when the next TLP comes out. No massive waves of people are ever going back to Phinny. Onesies, twosies here and there maybe, but most of them will get stuck in the catch up phase and not even make it to raiding. Unless they are going back to a guild of friends their chances of actually catching up are slim.

Since Phinny and Coirnav are time locked and don't require either voting or completing the expansion, those two will likely catch up to EQ, even if the server is dead. I expect their popularity to plummet once people quit the game since it has Truebox code and people will have fewer other people to play with and terrible options to box themselves as the expansions progress. If DBG plays it correctly, they'll merge it into an active live server or offer free character transfers (and the live servers don't have boxing restrictions).

Since I'm on Ragefire, I'm hoping we are able to progress to live.

Thing is, people on Phinny have already fully adapted to Truebox. Most folks box 2-3 toons pretty easily. The people who couldn’t adapt to truebox have already left. 2-3 is really all you need to be successful in most situations, especially when your toons are all decked out in raid gear. Additionally, if you do need more help you only have to find one other true boxer with their own little 2-3 box group. Single toon players are the exception on Phinny, not the rule. There are many things that still might prevent Phinny from making it to live. Truebox isn’t one of them. As you are on RF I can understand how it might be hard for you to see how people on Phinny aren’t bothered by having to use more than one computer to box.

For some people truebox has even become their preferred boxing method. Honestly, if they did away with true boxing I would still use a separate computer to box my toons. It’s just so much easier for me than alt tabbing. Nothing annoys me more than alt tabbing.

So dark ages, man! Real boxers use I S Boxer (perfectly acceptable software on non-TrueBox servers) and never alt-tab. Using multiple computers is just silly

EDIT: I did multiple comps on Agnarr and even got to the point where I didn't hate it too much. But after going back to Live, I doubt I will ever go back to TrueBox. It's just ridiculous to tie your shoelaces together for no reason at all. May as well just play without a mouse or without a keyboard if you want to artificially make the game more difficult.

There is nothing stopping phinny from making it to live. It is making it to live, whether it has players on it or not.

By “making it to live” I am pretty sure we all mean “making it to live with something of a functional population”. Because who cares if it makes it to live with no one playing on it.

To each his own. I find that a small wireless number pad and the right set of hot keys and I can be just as effective without the additional programs. I like being able to see and access both characters at the same time, without [Unmentioned 3rd Party Software]. I have used it, on the servers it was allowed on, still find that trueboxing works better for me. Doesn’t feel hindered at all.

However, the point of my statement was not to argue which method was better, something that will always be subjective, it was to point out that, after this much time, people have adapted to truebox. Those that didn’t, like you, have already left. It is unlikely that truebox will cause a mass exodus in future expansions.

I think the real question is, How many people would have stayed if Truebox wasn't a blocker? But we'll never know the answer to that.

I don't want to start a fight, because I agree with you: "to each their own".

But I think I S Boxer objectively better, not "subjectively". Not counting window management (which allows you to play on the same screen without alt-tabbing, or play with multiple monitors (I use 3, and all three were cheaper than a single separate computer), performance itself is far superior. One glaring example is that on a TrueBox server, all your accounts get booted if they act too quickly. Your own player inputs are literally throttled, so your "skill" becomes less and less of a factor. Just more artificially slowed down gameplay. Easy mode, for sure.

Congrats on becoming very good at working around TrueBox code. But I don't think any argument can be made for it being better from a performance point of view.

True boxing is a hinder to those that play the game fairly. The rest just bypass the system completely with 0 blocks. They find a work around. So why bother having it?

Its true come to the new TLP and do a /who check in each of the zones with trade loot you will see an over flow of chinese boxers and krono farmers with 6+ accounts. Not always in a guild mind you.

True box does a pretty good job at mitigating big boxers. If there's a player using em cue then gms need to intervene harshly. But Otherwise, your typical 6 boxer players 6 chatacters below average to average at best, and only at that high of a level when they can sit on their in 1 spot.