Is Oakwynd Already a Ghost Town? My First TLP Experience is a Major Letdown

*tosses in 2 cents*

I have thoroughly enjoyed Oakwynd so far. You cannot be trained, you have a chance to compete with people trying to take your freshly spawned mobs (doesn't happen often), gear feels rewarding to achieve and isn't useless after you replace it, leveling alts feels good (10% per char is more than enough... and scales rather fast for those who have multi 50's).

If you log in with a magnifying glass to look at every issue then you will not enjoy it. Relax, find what is fun for you to do in game (solo, group, sell, whatever it is) and do it. If you don't find anything fun, go spend your time in something else. GL!

Trying to say that the server is dead based on a few limited data points while the server status shows it is maintaining a high population makes it sound like you want to find ways to say the server is dead.

So far I haven't seen an issue; the only issue I see is the botters/krono farmers who lock down the choice camps 24-7 not because they need the gear, but just to prevent others from being able to farm it so they can try to profit. I've had little issues finding groups on my Druid at first and now my Cleric during peak EST hours.

Other than those people i haven't seen an issue with FTE, but I am new to EQ so basically every other MMO has had something similar, so NOT having it feels incredibly primitive to me.

oh no, you are entitled to your opinion of course, but this is not a new complaint, I've seen similar complaints ever since EQ started, and with the launch of every TLP server since the first ones way back when. You are making this sound like you think this its "Big News!" .. but to people who have played EQ for years its just the same tired old complaints rehashed with the release of every TLP.

So you're attacking me for being bluntly honest?

On Mischief it was never the norm to be like well, it's midnight, so I better log off for at least 13 hours, or otherwise I'll be wasting my time. In fact, I remember Mischief was insanely populated all hours of the night and day all the way through Velious (I took a break during Luclin, so I can't say what that was like).

But Oakwynd was pretty much dead within the first week. I literally solo'd to 50 as an Enchanter with LFG on, and now that I'm leveling a Cleric, another Enchanter, who I've befriended, has made a pact with me that we will always group if we're both online because he has had so much trouble finding groups.

And no, it's not like the clock will strike 2AM and suddenly Mischief comes to life. Quite the opposite, really. I didn't just conclude that the server was dead as the clock strikes midnight, but rather, have learned over the course of the last few weeks of playing on Oakwynd that if your group falls apart after midnight, your grouping experience is over for the night 90% of the time. (Edit: I'm talking about 40+. Perhaps Unrest is still happening during these hours, but leveling random alts before hitting 50 feels bad on a server that is based around unlocking legacy experience).

Literally leveling a Cleric ATM, was in Royals a couple of nights ago, and wanted to go to sleep. Saw another Royals group desperately looking for a Cleric, so I stayed awake and kept on going because I knew if I left, my group would never find a replacement and that their EQ experience would be over for the night.

This is just the truth. Oakwynd sucks too because everything now has a completely AFK player sitting on every rare spawn, while their pet solos the encounter for them. On previous servers, it would be like well, I can't get a group, but the dead server is awesome, let me log onto my level 50 Enchanter and go solo farm some cool stuff. But not on Oakwynd. Everything is literally AFK farmed indefinitely. It reminds me of P99, but with actual bots instead of human players.

I want to say that another thing that they really dropped the ball with when they launched Oakwynd is that they didn't initially include Heirloom loot in the rules. I think the hype would have been a lot higher if people knew about this, but I think most people saw the original rule set, declared Oakwynd to be a boring server, and went and played Diablo 4.

Even though I followed the news, I didn't even know about Heirloom items until I was level 50 and in my first Planes raid, and I still have to explain to people in my group every single day that items are Heirloom now and they're always dumbfounded and blown away by this. Like yeah, us no-lifers know about it, but I would say the overwhelming majority of people who would play an EverQuest TLP don't have any idea that Heirloom loot is a thing, which almost certainly makes this TLP an upgrade from Yelinak.

Depending on the playstyles of the population it is entirely possible for a "high" population server to feel dead. "High" is also a super vague label. It could be 1500 people, it could be 5500 people. Both could qualify as high, one would feel far less populated than the other. Rizlona hit high, but felt like a ghost town to a solo player. If more folks on Oakwind are boxing or sticking to pre-made/friend groups it could very easily feel dead to the lone player. Which is a very different experience from other TLPs, but is likely going to be the norm moving forward. Fewer and fewer people are rerolling alone, they bring their friends with them.

Basically, both sides of the argument can be right. It is possible for a server to be "high" population and still feel dead.

You're both pretty.

This describes Oakwynd pretty accurately, especially late at night. Like at a glance it'll look like there's a lot of people online or in certain zones, but in reality they're all AFK box players.

No. They're in guilds. By this point in a server's life cycle, at least 90% of the player base has joined a guild. If you have not, then you're the outsider.

They announced Heirloom before server launch. I was so/so on the FTE stuff, but when I seen the Heirlooms I knew I would at least try it.

But yeah - they didn't really advertise the concept like they should have, I agree.

https://www.everquest.com/news/eq-oakwynd-launching-soon

When FTE was announced a lot of people were instantly against it and became emotionally invested in the server failing.

Sprinkle in some confirmation bias and people are going to see what they want to see that confirms to them that the sky server is indeed falling failing.

New member signing up to advocate for letting the bots return is pretty hilarious too.

That's because your portrayal of Oakwynd is ever so slightly different than someone emotionally opposed to FTE. Their arguments seem to change to whatever fits their negative delivery the best and right now it is player population.

The problem is people are straight up willfully ignorant of obvious factors affecting Oakwynd's population versus predecessor progression servers. Aside from extenuating circumstances (E.g. - A virus inspired lockdown, alien invasion, or WW3 lol) every new TLP will have a lower population than the previous regardless of ruleset.

Why do you people care? Cripes, don't play on it. FTE is obnoxious to me, so I wouldn't have played it anyway, so why should I care other than worry about it making its way to live?

Did a quick survey of the 11 TLP or special ruleset servers up now to see how many were in general chat and this is what I found

(worst to best)

Coirnav - 14
Agnarr - 90
Vaniki - 99
Ragefire - 103
Mangler - 149
Thornblade - 155
Rizlona - 193
Aradune - 342
Mischief - 430
Yelinak - Chat to full to join, Chat 1 - 23
Oakwynd - Chat to full, Chat 1 to full, Chat 2 to full, Chat 3 to full, Chat 4 - 399

Yes Oakwynd sure seems to be the Ghost town server for sure!

As I said before, it can be full and still feel like a ghost town depending on peoples play styles. The server doesn't feel bustling. It just doesn't. The spark that was present on other servers is missing. I assume it is because most people came over with friends from previous servers and don't feel the need to engage in pugs or with people they don't know. I don't think that is because of FTE, I just think that is TLPs moving forward.

what's that, like 2k players?

private server numbers

It was never going to be a succesful server. The population shows high because in comparison to all other dead servers it is still high. That being said, the server is, as predicted DOA. It has no future beyond the initial krono rush. Better off waiting until 2024 for the 25th anniversary and seeing if they can produce something that isn't total garbage.

Yeah, oakwynd is dead on arrival. Best bet is to see if they create a ruleset next year that folks want to play on.

lol @ using general chat numbers as an indicator for success!

Yelinak about to get the Relaxed Fit Truebox bump.