Oakwynd Information and FAQ

We have some players that don't want the new FTE rules.
We have some players that want the new FTE rules.
We have some players who want a Mischief clone.
We have some players who don't want a Mischief clone.

You can't give the everyone what they want as there are players who have conflicting desires for the next system.

Hence the whole the 2nd TLP Mischief suggested by many "paying "players that follows how EQ has been releasing TLP's and proves my point, its not like they dont have servers or the fact they dont have to program anything.. give the majority what they will pay for, its just good business. server Pops and Econo dont lie .

FTE is a whole different argument, it can be exploited easy (rangers/mages ect= its a wash imo and i dont care one way really or another (most MMO's have had this for decades) . however, on Mischief type,, gear can just be traded in case of a "oops" kill ect,, "oops" raid looting ect ,,, no need to put in a GM request
Considering epic fail to address anything about Boxing Bot Army's on TB TLP's it all just makes me lmao. Strain at gnats and swallow camels

Just because they can do something doesn't mean that they should do something or want to do something.

They have reasons for only releasing a single server this year and it doesn't matter if some players are not happy with it.

aye like Musk and Twitter , thanks again for proving my point
hows new UI working out ?
trusting that FTE will work out?
there is a reason we play Test Server as well.
finger crossing things will work out because that always ends well =)

I'd prefer the 2nd server to be Oakwynd server without the FTE, I wasn't a fan of random loot and Free Trade, I prefer not have easy street and get my own gear. I'd even be happy with a 2nd Oakwynd server starting in TSS without FTE, which would make sense as they say it is only the early eras with issues and seeing how the server is a year or so on with the bonuses.

I'm torn on starting on Oakwynd there is still a lot to acomplish on Vaniki. I'm likely to not try it but I may try it during my daytime when Vaniki is quiet.

I'm just hoping that FTE is a either a success on test and it proves our fears wrong or its an epic fail and it gets removed. I certainly don't want to see FTE with issues.

Trying something new is bad? If you are looking to play on a random loot server you still have the Mischief server to play on. If you are looking for something else there are plenty of other TLP servers to choose from. In the end they don't have to create a TLP server that will appeal to everyone every year.

Are the changes to Oakwynd complete?

The momentum for this server seems lukewarm. Which seems proportional to the limited response to player feedback that has happened so far.

Clearing a few things up would help:

* Are all the changes based on the avalanche of feedback finished?
* Has any consideration been given to the lowered spawn times suggestion that seems very popular?
* Is random loot a possibility?

Not going to ask about free trade, given the Heirloom half measure that feels off the table.

It would be nice if you could give Oakwynd something to give it some juice.

Oakwynd should be stand-alone. I believe it's going to be a great server. I don't think there should really ever be 2 TLPs released side-by-side unless the player numbers jump in some huge way. If Vaniki had been released as a single server, it would probably still be high population. 2 server launches notoriously leave one dead and in that case it was the one that was less "basic". In cases where an overflow server is needed (lockjaw, thornblade) they should immediately be merged when player numbers ebb enough (whoever had a name first keeps it, not a big deal to track that). Vaniki is one of the most fun servers but people just didn't really get it so went to play on the phinny clone. I doubt FTE is even going to be noticeable when Oakwynd rolls out, maybe once a week of play time. I'll be there so guess I'll see for myself. Speaking of Vaniki, I need to go top off another 60 to get another rat, used one up on yelinak.

Not sure if this has been asked yet; what is the plans for when Oakwynd catches up to Live? How is the Evolving bonuses and Legacy characters going to be treated (especially now that there is more than XP Bonus tied to the Legacy tag)? Is plan for it to roll into existing severs losing all the bouses, or will it be a stand-alone server with others having similar ruleset rolled into it, or will it be rolled into an existing server and all the bonuses applied to that server?

All the evolving bonuses will go away just as the perks of every TLP server have when it reaches live. The legacy character system will depend on what they want to do with it and if they are going to move it to all servers or not. If it is being put on all servers it will be kept otherwise it will be lost as another TLP only feature.

That is what I also assumed to be the case; especially for the Evolving bonuses. But the Devs really should clarify their plans for Oakwynd reaching Live, so everyone knows exactly what to expect (with the "things may change of course" caveat). Leaving it open and unknown as it is just going to create even bigger issues in the future. Since they said they are planning on releasing more information on the server, may be a good time to also address those questions. I would like to assume they thought that far ahead, so a quick 1-2 sentence answer will be easy to add in I would think.

Granted no matter what they say the forums and Discord are going to have an aneurysm, but at least it is out of the way now and when people have a melt down in the future others can point back to it and say "They told us how it will be so suck it up".

That is what has happened for every TLP server that has reached live and been merged into a live server. At this point I don't think there is any reason to assume otherwise as that course of action has been what they have always done.

Got to say and I am sure this has already been mentioned but TLDR. Anyone on the server from America will just get gifted every mob encounter lock because of ping. If anyone has been in a guild and tried bidding against Americans for loot etc in auctions can tell you that you got somewhere between a small chance and no chance of seeing the message and being first to reply.

by the time oakwynd reaches halfway to live, it will be a unique standalone server with great perks (i personally wish they’d be active sooner!). same could be said about mischief - merging that would basically be deleting the ruleset from existence.i hope they allow both servers to just continue to live on their own

guessing it’s 100% dependent on whether or not the server population is above the threshold to avoid a merge, which is something the devs can’t answer today

i guess one could foresee complex ruleset bloat on the server list (free trade, legacy, random loot, 25th anniversary, etc etc), but if people are actually enjoying and playing each one, that’s an okay problem to have

I feel like the Mischief rules require a fairly solid population on the server to keep the market alive and booming. It is much more about having lots of demand to meet the supply, thats what makes Mischief work. Having heaps of loot drop, and being able to trade it all, really only works when you have heaps of people on the server to keep buying.

If Oakwynd was just another Mischief clone, then maybe half the people on Mischief would leave, and the economy would collapse, and you would have two servers with not enough people on either. It would not work to just make Mischief the standard model.

Much more likely they will do a new Mischief server next year, big 25th celebration, and also because Mischief will be much further along the progression by then.

So, with that in mind, Oakwynd is an awesome way to try some new things. Cant wait to start from Classic and be among the first players to run with this set of rules.

F.V. (F2P & is old) and Mischief (TLP) have some of the highest Pops/Econo numbers, Free Trade they have in common (good or bad, its just your preference) still, numbers dont lie ( play / have played on MANY servers types & Test .. doing the Krono high/low trade thing shows alot =)
TLP's = many of us old crazies just love starting over ( regardless of ANY ruleset ).
FT= is share/help all,, N.T./Leg=its self .. pretty much the only Ruleset that makes a real difference
other than PvP. you want game changing? try "Bounty for BotBoxers" ( something that will never be done because RMT& Krono buys leveling and gear ALL TLP's and LIve . Thus making it a P2P/P2W game anyways
Oakwynd will have lots just because its another "fresh start " and many seem to bail for new TLP's.
( P2P servers you pay all the time on your race to the top V.S. Live F2P you can pay at endgame )

BTW .We did the whole server load thing with Dev's in "Landmark" .they could have just asked peeps to pop over there to Test the FTE , just saying. ( doesnt everyone have a Char on Test? you should ) =P
Why does P99 ect. have more peeps than E.Q servers?? . interesting considering TLP peeps "say" they want Original Experience of EQ (sorry that ship sailed long ago because the Game AND Players are not the same)

While some things are "new" to some EQ players, many of us been around testing/doing MMO's well over 2 decades have seen epic successes and fails.

You nailed it. This is likely how it would have played out if Oakwynd was free trade. As someone who played on Mischief but then played on Thornblade during about the 6-9 months period, I know that your description is exactly how it played out, albeit with Mischief high pop and Thornblade low (rather than two medium). Eventually TB baz just piled up with top loot and the only whales were the occasional transient Mischief "travelers" that wanted an item badly enough to server hop. When the next free trade server pops even that won't be an option.
I've said before, best thing they can do for Mischief is to announce early what year they plan on releasing a free-trade server. If they announced even today that the 25th would NOT be free trade, it would likely help Mischief's population from now until near the 26th year. If they announced Mischief would probably be the only free-trade until it hits live then they would help Mischief's population from now until live. It could be a smart way to retain TLP populations really, polarizing rulesets (like free trade or expansion locked or free-box) that are KNOWN to be unique for a given period. Recyclers are always going to hop but more people that loved that ruleset would hang around. Maybe if they are going to continue with the unique experimental servers then they should also come with a "best by" date that indicates how long they'll be unique.

Any updates after the multitude of issues on the test server with FTE?

FTE is certainly not in a fit state to go on Oakwynd.

Agreed. Encounter Locking in its current state on Test is completely broken. The stated goal of this feature is for the early TLP experience.
Q: What is Encounter Locking? What is the goal for Encounter Locking?
A:The Encounter Locking feature will allow the first person that engages an NPC the ability to prevent others from interfering with the fight. A primary goal with adding this feature is to mitigate issues we've seen regarding kill-stealing and training in the early TLP experience before content becomes more instance based as the expansions unlock.

It can't be expected to be fixed in the next 14 days to the extent that it will serve the stated purpose.

It has been under 24 hours since it has gone to test, they are likely taking the time to investigate and fix the issues that they can before they issue a response.