Leveling up really doesn't feel like a valid metric any more. Every expansion from here on has 1000+ AA, 4 tiers of raiding to progress through, and notable power jumps each time. Leveling up 5 levels will be done the first night for most focused raiders. Feels like post-SoF, you really enter modern EQ, and they should just stick to 3 month expansions from here on. Give more time to grind out that ton of AA, and to get geared up for guilds that don't aggressively split (aka, all the guilds on Phinny that aren't OGC).
The bad news is, it will be irrelevant in 2-3 more expansions at the current rate of server attrition. And the next 3 are level increase expansions with a 3 month timer as is, so it is almost certainly an irrelevant question for Phinny.
Forgive me if I'm wrong. But I sure remember some patch notes telling that expansions with no lv increase like Call of the Forsaken had been extended to 3 months?
I dont know that I agree with this. Yes there is some attrition, but UF has been the first "hard" xpack for the server where guild with 25 people cant just power through. Those guilds left, and those players, aren't quitting anytime soon, we have made it 3+ years and while I am sure some people will leave due to RL, their guild disbanding, new servers etc I think Phinny will still have a healthy population for a while yet if not until we hit live unless something very large happens. So yeah, 2 month unlocks on 1 year content is still relevant, it couldn't hurt to go 3 months here on out just to mitigate the shear amount of content we have coming with each release. Will it be game breaking? No probably not, most people have played Live, and the majority weren't in the top 5% guilds who bear content in era anyway so they are ok if we don't mash through content beating everything in a week. Sure every guild is different and has different players and goals but I think you would be surprised by how many people are just here for the ride on a server that gives new content at a reasonable rate through xpacks they never got to see on live, if anything the 2 month crunch will hurt the server more than the difficulty since many people dont have the time to put in 800+ AA's every xpack, fortunately for most classes only like 3-400 are class required but still it wouldn't be terrible to give us a little more time in the xpacks that don't have level increases. We will see how things shake out but I will bet you Machen we still have 4+ guilds running content in a year, and that's still better or at least comparable to a live server.
I know you want to believe this, and i get it, but you have lost about 20% of the guilds on the server each expansion for the last 2-3 expansions, if you look at the # of guilds killing stuff during the first week or two of each expansion. 14 guilds in TBS, 11 guilds in SoF, 9 guilds in SoD, only 7 on the board now three weeks into Underfoot. At the current rate it will be 5 in House of Thule, 3-4 in Veil of Alaris, and 1-2 come RoF. People do leave and go do other stuff, even after 3+ years on the server. At any rate, I hope I am wrong and Phinny goes the distance.
Maybe you're right maybe you're not. Here is the biggest thing you're missing in that equation, most of the guilds that died during those times were running skeleton crews and were already on life support. We have progressively gotten into more content that requires that 40+ man raid force with gear and because our player power isnt as stupidly ridiculous as it was through TBS guilds that were on the edge are dieing off / merging with other guilds. Now that said you could be right, I can't see the future and maybe all my estimations are way off but right now I don't see OGC (60+ raiders), EoE (unknown numbers but seem to be clearing fine and have a history of keeping going on TLP), Resolute (54+ raiders), Rosen (54+ raiders on DKP page), or LoTA (54+ Raiders) going anywhere in the next 6-8 months. Attrition happens but the healthy guilds are VERY healthy now after taking in the guilds that closed shop. Arcane (around 40 raiders) and CoC seem to be doing ok as well since being on the board at all in UF is an accomplishment for any guild that didn't max gear in SoD. Only time will tell how things actually go, I am merely saying righting off an adjustment of the amount of time in each xpack needing to be more than 2 months just because Phinny isn't pulling in as many people as the new TLP's, these arent exactly hard changes for DBG to make (changing a release date should be easy) and it's worth talking about. Outside of that consistent 3 month unlocks helps all the casuals who aren't in the raiding guilds as well get group gear and enjoy the xpack, as lets be real this may be the last time a semi healthy server makes it to these expansions.
This is exactly the problem. Eventually you run out of guilds closing shop, and then when the remaining guilds are struggling, attrition ramps up dramatically.
I don't think phinny needs any schedule changes like OP mentioned, plus youre almost at 4k AAs, youre fine. If anything, I think we'd eagerly welcome more key/flag boosts like we got with UF; I know it's made our flagging lives much easier and seeing the loot flow is impressive. Kind of a perfect storm for attrition with UF launching right around Selo's/Mangler. Most everyone that's on phinny now is in it for the long haul though. I'm really curious to see who all makes it through.
The good thing about Phinigel is the early population factor that thrived much longer and healthier than Fippy ever did. In turn, this resulted in a much higher population throughout the eras (I think SoD on Fippy had Citizen, Darkblood, and EoE that just transferred over prior to SoD), Darkblood folded in Underfoot, and then EoE in HoT. I anticipate upwards of 3 guilds hitting live in force. We're planning on directly supporting select guilds through Underfoot as well, including up to directly keying for Convorteum, I've found that that generally increases the retention rate on the server, and I'm pleased we've been able to work together and help as necessary. With that said, I'd be okay with a static 3 months instead of two, although I think Daybreak is more likely to change the keys/loot to emulate an expedited experience.
One thing also to take into account. Fippy didn't have to compete with numerous new TLP's launching in later stages, even though as you say, the Fippy was much more prone to attrition due to its ruleset. We've come a long way. Much longer than most had hoped for. Many in guild I'm in, are now surpassing their old Live Characters and moving into to somewhat unknown lands. Underfoot has finally delivered what a lot of us had waited for since we started here; A serious challenge in Raid Events!. We wipe a lot, We Learn a lot - and eventually, have the ultimate satisfactory of finally defeating the events. My only real concern is the Veil of Alaris flag progression. And yes, for those of us who started playing with Ragefire and then Phinigel.... Nearly 4 years of playing EverQuest regularly is starting to climb up on you - no question about that. I'm trying to adjust a bit with grinding a bit less "Must complete all quests omg!!" The Attrition with new TLP's are noticeable and a lot of the small guilds have consolidated into the bigger guilds now. But what I've also learned is that when these Phinny Veterans have played the first months of a new TLP and they realize that its just a replay with more boxing than before, some come back. Not all of them, but some actually do.
My guild has never put our kills on the board. We're not a big guild, and we're certainly not top end. But we've also never bothered with posting our kills.
So the only difference that would make it add a guild or two to each expansion. The trend is still the same, sharply downward.
I think we can all agree there is a downward trend, as with all TLP's. The thought though is that those that wanted a new faster EXP TLP already left at UF release to Mangler / Selo. Many left before that for other TLP's or whatever. At this point I think we have a shot at a steadier decline at this stage more in line with Live. Will we still lose people? No doubt. But I think the sharp declines are mostly over, TLP jumpers are mostly gone, though if more TLP's release some people will jump ship as with any new shiny thing but not in droves like happened with Coirnav release. I know past experience, Fippy specifically, has told you that we will decline into a zero guild server, but I don't think that will be the case. I think we hit live with 1-3 guilds still raiding, maybe not in era like we do now but still alive and kicking. And maybe not, its certainly possible something else hits the population hard and we end up a dead server, but thats not the feeling I get from talking to other guild leaders, random people I group with or just the server in general, people are mostly happy and excited to see content they never saw on live. We shall see but I remain optimistic about our future and therefore will lobby for changes I think will improve the server, like fixed flagging, load balancing and steady 3 month releases.
Looking at historical TLPs and taking that as a 1:1 analysis of exactly how things are going to go is almost certainly a disservice to a real conversation about Phingel's long-term survival. That being said none of that has to do with what OP brings up, which is making all future expansions 3 months. That's a quick and easy fix which allows players enough time to grind AA and progression in era regardless of level cap increases. There are 0 expansions from now til live that don't come with a minimum of 1000 AA's to grind through.
Phinny still a TrueBox server? I assume they have no intention of changing rule sets once servers are launched. Really love House of Thule expansion and would enjoy playing in it. Didn’t get much time in that era on Fippy.
