New tlp server

-Non true box
-Random loot
-FV loot rules
-Classic 1 month
-Kunark 2 months (only 2 months to get all boring content out of the way during summer when peoples play times are low)
-Starting with Velious, release all expansion within that level range for 6 months (velious-luclin released at same time, PoP-God released at same time)

Main thing for me that would be really awesome is one true box server and one non true box. Rizlona is starting to get to the expansions where people quit playing.

Not a bad concept honestly.

I just hope they offer a non-truebox server this time around with a similar rule set as Mischief/Thornblade. The glorious thing about releasing 2 servers is people can decide which they want to play on and which one they don't. Keep both sides happy.

Would batching these expansions basically be the 'level-locked' concept then? It does sound interesting.

My only thought when it comes to starting with a later expansion is; Let's say we start in Velious with max level of 60. People would be inclined to rush to 60 and focus on Velious era content and aside from a few epics, no one would want to play in Classic or Kunark as far as end game content goes. So, you'll lose some interest from the player base who enjoy Classic and Kunark content. It's a great idea when you think about it at first, but once you consider the reality of it, it could be detrimental to the server.

We all have our wants/opinions on the next server, some very similar. Here's what I would like to see happen, but some of it I don't think they will do.

Start in Classic, but allow access to Beastlords and Berserkers on launch. Plenty of gear already itemized in game for them minus a Beserker epic (which is fine, small price to pay to get the class in game - plenty of great weaps until then).

Non-Truebox
Mischief/Thornblade ruleset

Classic - 8 weeks (gives folks plenty of time to get 50 and enjoy some classic raiding)

Kunark - 8 weeks (same - gives folks time to get 60, complete epics, and raid VP)

Velious - 6 weeks (no level changes - no aa's - just content, so shorten the time)

Luclin - 6 weeks (no level changes - AA's come in - mostly content - with random loot Emp and VT keys come fast)

Planes of Power/LoY/LDoN - 10 weeks (release all 3 at the same time - new levels and new aa's + flagging system that takes a little time for most)

GoD - 6-8 weeks

And just continue with the 6-8 week timescale depending on if the expansion releases more player levels (OoW good example of 65 to 70 - new aa's and 2 new epics - OoW would be a good 8-10 week expac).

Nobody is ever happy. Aradune and Rizlona launch had 2 very different boxing rules and those were some of the most toxics times in the last few years. Aradune was full, Rizlona was not and people clamored for a 2nd Aradune and refused to even consider playing on Riz. Then the next year they made 2 identical servers and Mischief was full and Thornblade was not and people clamored for a merge because Thornblade was "DoA". They can't win.

Cognitive dissonance. The EQ community suffers from it.

I actually think Thornblade saved Mischief from bad queue lockout PR. It served its purpose, and if it gets merged this summer, no harm done. Those who wanted a smaller server got it, and those who didn't probably realized it only takes two weeks to get max level and buy all the no drop gear to catch up, and are on Mischief now.

It seems like they have the hardware for two new TLPs since there are a number of merges happening since last release. It makes sense to go with one true boxed, and one box-friendly.

Given the amount of development that has gone into the mischief loot rules, I imagine the next two servers will have mostly similar rules. If the studio can continue to get a return on that investment, they can justify the continued development cost as the team adjusts loot rules all the way to live. If they only have one server (a Mischief/Thornblade merge) running those rules, its hard to justify the work involved.

I'm going to guess there will be another Mischief, same rules as mischief, for those that missed the launch. I'll guess the second server will be a true box Mangler clone, for the always nostalgic group looking for another fresh start. Maybe something with slightly shorter or adjusted lock out timers, to free up the hardware faster in the future.

They were toxic because they slipped up and gave the truly toxic parts of the playerbase what they wanted, a way to weaponize petitions

This is true, but even the forums were super toxic for that launch, not just the weaponized GMs/ PetitionQuest. Helped keep Mangler healthy though so at least some good came from it. The more people who get to see the post PoP content the better.

Yeah, Karendune brought out the worst in both game and forums.

I was pretty excited to start on Mischief, and get to experience stuff I hadn't even years ago. Such as Classic dragon kills. I was too low level to be invited to a raid, and I leveled so slowly back then that by the time I was high enough level and had a few pieces of decent gear, they implemented the level 52 cap to engage them. I missed out on all the raid content for Velious, and most of Kunark and Luclin back then too. Well I got to do all those things on Mischief, and to be quite honest, I'm not even keen on doing PoP planar progression again. But we have to start somewhere.

Eight week unlock for the initial and second expansion unlocks. Afterwards, unlocks with no level cap or significant AA increase, six weeks. All else eight weeks.

• Start with PoP/LoY, berserkers available as well.
• LDON/GoD would be the last paired release.
• Random loot rules, same as Mischief, though I am very open to removing the free trade aspect, and I realize I may be the only one.
• No True Box rules.It's been proven time and time again that True Box only affects people that WILL play by the rules. Aside from just using multiple computers, there are ways to get around it and only use one machine. Instead, I'd much rather DPG retask resources to detecting commonly used cheating software, and then actually get rid of those people.

Why pair PoP and LoY? Well, access to four spells from LoY (temperance, stoicism, Pureblood, and Blood of Nadox), more zones to gain xp at lower to mid levels, and access to the remove curse spells in the library. LDON introduces augs, which would unbalance the game up to PoP I think. While I am open to removing the free trade aspect, it's not a deal breaker. I also believe it is very possible to open all class/race combinations. Something something robes/armor visualizations. Default cloth appearance for robes if that race has no robe caster class originally, such as barbarians. I think the only real hurdle would be monk animations. However, at least one p99-ish server has made the all/all race/class combo thing work. Maybe they can be consulted for their expertise.

Using multiple computers is playing by the rules. Using software to get past it should catch you a vacation. I have no idea how so many people are getting away with VMs and other stuff.

I think this part is hard to do. Releasing berserkers before GOD requires development changes. Releasing them with GOD doesn't. Why not have Pop/LoY/LDoN/GoD all launch at the same time? That's a absolute ton of content right there. You'll want a solid footing in PoP before going too deep in GoD, but you could be raiding elementals and time one day, and pre-end-game-GoD the next. Could be pretty cool.

I currently use multiple computers. I don't consider that to at all be cheating. I also don't consider using five mini-PCs to run boxes to be cheating. Like you said, it's the VMs and "That Which Cannot Be Named" software that is the problem.

My intent was pacing. I don't disagree that having a GoD initial release would be fun for a lot of people. The only "developmental changes" I can see involved with berserkers is populating their trainers/GMs. Just turn them on. As far as the berserker epic is concerned, well then activate the NPCs and drops in all zones, and have LDON open on day 1, because as far as I can tell, Hate 2.0 is the only zone that's not in the game to that point.

I am all for a classic start with Beastlords and Berserkers. What sort of development changes would be needed?
If they say ahead of time there will be no Epic for Ber/Bst until their usual release then it doesnt seem like the devs would have too much they needed to do. 1-2 Bst Spell Vendors and a Ber Disc vendor in the available starting cities and thats it. Enable the fear armor for those classes to be dropping again and call it a day. Most items that you would expect to be usable by bst/ber are usable. Yes they wouldnt have much to do in sky, or be able to get epics in kunark, but those seem like small setbacks to otherwise being able to play classes that usually arent out for 6months to a year+ on tlps.

(Some choice spells might need to be allowed early for beastlords. Maybe just pet spells+ shaman spells in classic? then the pet heals in kunark when mages get their pet heals, and then the rest bst specific dd + pet procs in luclin. very similar to how rangers basically only get druid spells in classic and kunark until a bit later they start getting there own lines of attack buffs and .5sec dd's. Again, feels like a small price to pay)

I would definitely love this as well. I think beastlords and berserkers don't get much love on these TLPs because of the late start.

However, not knowing the backend structure, its hard to say what would be needed. My guess is everything they do specifically for a TLP, they ensure will work for following TLPs, as you wouldnt want resources to only go to one server. That can't be justified on a budget.

Given this is 1999-2002 architecture, there are probably some type of flags or attributes that would have to be adjusted for each npc/spell/scroll/vendor that you'd need available earlier than their currently flagged expansion release. You'd need to make sure that works differently for this type of server, vs another classic TLP. If they have that infrastructure in place, then its just the time for someone to go through the various databases to flag them all appropriately.

Again though, is this a one-time server? Is that infrastructure in place? Do they have an inkling of this being popular enough to be repeatable next year? I'm guessing the answer to those has been the reason we haven't seen this yet, even when its been asked for since Phinny launched.

Edit: one last note. The engaged EQ people understand this change, however, its only 2 of the classes that it affects directly. Those not engaged that are lured back by marketing may not understand this nuance. So it sounds like a lot of work for one feature that isn't an advertising tool to lure subscriptions. It would need to be combined in an overall greater marketing campaign/feature set. For instance, Mischief's main features were understood (random/free trade). You don't need to be an EQ expert to get that and be drawn in. Just a thought.

Selos had vendors on it that never existed on any other server. If they can make these they can make a spell vendor
https://everquest.allakhazam.com/db/npc.html?id=54807

Very true, lots of good points and yea I have no idea. I do remember them very adamantly saying not too long ago that there would never be a free trade TLP too. So hopefully their creativity for mischief/thornblade can lead them to find a way to bring in these two classes in classic. It was only aradune in which they stopped having the armor drop in fear, so that seems like a quick reversion, and as for spell vendors and gms, you are right, who knows what that code/databases look like now versus when they were initially made. I would assume that if they did make the change, they would keep it tlp after tlp? Devs dont seem very interested in trying to make sure everything is as it was 22 years ago. They dont turn off QoL features that have since been implemented.

Weird. I play on Thornblade and I don't see people clamoring for a merge. I have seen several people xfer from Mischief to Thornblade however. And as far as Rizlona, I played on it for awhile and it stayed pretty packed and is still currently high pop. Your point is pretty moot.

The point is they shouldn't force everyone to play on a truebox server. In all fairness we should have the ability to box on 1 pc like we have done for years now. These are TLP severs, not EQ Classic servers like P99 that try to bring the true originality back. If people want truebox so badly so it's more like "how it used to be" then they should remove all the QoL features and make it liked it used to be. Then see how much people enjoy it.