Seasonal Server Discussion

I don't have much to say about this topic but my opinion is I am not a fan of the idea, understanding the basics of EverQuest, Just don't think its a good fit.
I used to do the Diablo 2 Ladder runs and I do Path of Exile races currently, aside from that in WoW when they introduced arena's for the first time and competitive play (MLG/ESL) 3v3 arena now just casual arena for glad.
It fit those games, like it belonged, well the WoW and pvp can be a touche subject depending on who you ask. This is just me but I just feel like the fits not really there.
I think it's a neat idea though but I would prefer they just leave it as an idea. I just feel like it changes the core of the game, not always for the better.
I know its not in this forum but its been mentioned by another person how they felt the devs in other games and in eq dipped their hands way to much with nerfs and buffs, but that's exactly what is going to happen, you will see a whole new level of min/maxing that's for sure. Which can be cool. but it can be bad too.

It's because people think like this, that I even have a profitable business built only toward this niche demographic. At one point in time, nobody thought Madden NFL would be considered for sponsored game play, but my first client was a Madden player and he currently makes more off the donations of his Twitch feed than he did as a police officer (based on a yearly income). That isn't even including the tournaments he goes to or when EA asks him to test new products at their expense.

Yes there would be a new level of min-maxing, because that is what happens in competition. This server would be for competition and not for reliving the classic EQ feel. That is what the "other" TLP server would be for. This server would not possibly work on its own and it can only work in tandem with a "normal" TLP.

It would also solve a lot of problems for a "normal" TLP, because it siphons a majority of the trouble makers. Risk vs. Reward.

It isn't the players who start off making a competitive game work, the company has to set it up for the players to take advantage of. This is why LoL took off so easily, even though the majority of players in the MOBA market were playing DOTA and were awaiting DOTA2 and Smite.

Riot created an excellent F2P game that based its income off of skins and speedier advancement (characters, runes, etc - these were purchasable without IRL money). They took that game and marketed it toward kids and the MOBA gamers laughed at them. Those kids are now in college and the game has gained so much popularity that you can now get a full scholarship just for winning tournaments - which got them even more fans.

If you lower the barrier to entry and offer rewards to competitive people, they will play. If you don't, then yes, it will fail miserably.

There are several gamers making great incomes off Twitch and YouTube that aren't playing "typical" competitive game models. Minecraft, Gary's Mod, ArcheAge, Guild Wars 2 PvE, H1Z1 (even with the rampant hacking) are all prime examples.

It has nothing to do with a game model working or not, it has everything to do with how the model is sold to the public.

Yes, I am well aware of that like I said, I played competitively mostly with WoW, I play a little Hearthstone too, a lot of games make incomes off twitch, its not the game, its Twitch, I stream as well or did till my ISP brought the wrath of khan down on me lol. Apparently unlimited isn't really that unlimited but that issues been solved.
Breaking into the community as a unknown is very hard, you'll spend months maybe even a year playing before you'll start getting a following some of my favorite streamers have been doign it for over 2 years, still don't have a sub button, they get the odd donation here and there but thats it.
so I am waiting for the right game, most likely it'll be Overwatch.
WoW as a competitive game is dead, its only a blizzcon event, a lot of regions can't compete because of gambling laws, which screws up everything because people in those states will compete anyway potentially knocking legitimate players, then you had a lot of questionable actions by some players (last 2 years have been horrible; I was merely a spectator most of my pvp/tourney stuff was back in early burning crusade, we just wanted the cool pet / title for being top 1000)

Anyway lost track, still don't think its the right game for it. I don't really want to see EQ go down that hazy grey path.

Ofc Garry's Mod is popular, its the flag ship game for Trolls.
Oh further proof that twitch can be a damn awful place because of kids. Nothing like watching my taxs dollars wasted by kids.
http://www.dailydot.com/esports/swatting-twitch-trend-prank/

You realize I do this for a living, right? I'm not some kid in their parent's basement driving a used clunker and playing around with PhotoShop and Twitter. The reason these streamers fail so hard at generating watchers, is because they don't understand how to generate watchers. That is why my business makes money.

My clients do not come to me with donation buttons and most of them only have a Facebook page and I might be lucky if they have even touched Twitter or Instagram. Granted, the younger they are, the easier it is for me, because they have a better understanding of social media and how it works. They just tend to be horrible at understanding what to, what not to and when to post something.

I create an identity, set up social media, teach them how to use it effectively, create a professional looking brand and teach them how to interact with their watchers. You do not have to be good at gaming to make money off Twitch; you just need to look professional, interact and be entertaining.

If I had a dime for every streamer that cried they had no followers after X amount of years, but I go watch them play and they do things like: not greeting new watchers, not answering questions watchers ask, have poor or ZERO graphics and the only thing they ever say is "oops, I died". I would be filthy rich.

WoW has just as many streamers and YouTubers making money as Call of Duty, that is hardly dead.

The gambling laws are not region specific, they are state specific. I live in one of those states and so does the collegiate LoL team I handle, but the law does not forbay them from competition. It is also incredibly easy to go across the state line and compete. On top of that, professional gamers typically travel a lot - it isn't uncommon to travel from the east coast to the west coast in the course of a couple weeks.

There is a huge difference between gamers who make their living playing games and those that just compete.

Ok so who are they and who are you?

Staying on Topic, I think Irbax makes two strong points.

1.If launched in conjunction with a more traditional TLP server, the seasonal server should draw the more hardcore ultra competitive crowd.

2.A guild attempting to be big fish in the small pond on the sister server which is slower and geared to the casual plyer would have zero credibilty.

To make sure point 1 and 2 happen the prize needs to something of value or people wont care(is basically the point irbax was making and also that there is a market for such things)

Dbg can have and should have some fun with it if has a sizable amount of votes, make one version pvp and get creative with the triggers to win. Make the next one Tradeskill based to win. Make one a combination /shrug

You realize this is considered harassment for real life information and breaching client confidentiality.

Even linking my business related information on here would be breaking the forum ToS and considered SPAM.

There is a reason I drop detailed hints about whom I handle, without saying who they are. I will neither post my personal details nor the personal details of others on a public forum. It's incredibly poor ethics you even demand it.

I have nothing to prove to you, but I will satisfy you with a bone and in a way that will not get my forum account banned. If you can't or won't do it, then it is your own fault and nothing will help or convince you of anything.

I can not say that I am sending you to someone I manage or how long I have managed them for. I can send you to someone and you can ask them directly who manages them and for how long they have been managed for.

I contacted "someone" that is a high profile player in the Madden NFL community. He is known as HaShugz and was the MUT Invitational Champion. You can even find his likeness in the Madden game itself. Currently his social media still leaves a lot to be desired, but through "someone" he will be re-branding over the next 6 months.

He is a very nice and laid back guy and will be more than happy to answer any of your questions (within 48 hours, but usually a lot less).

HaShugz Twitter - You can access his Twitch from there, even as a top player, he does not have a donate button... yet. Just sharing a gamer's Twitter page~

Tell him Irbax_Smoo sent you. Peace out.

I don't know who that is, never heard of him. But NFL? That's fine. There are a lot of games you can play to get "famous" from. When reckful got banned form wow this year he started streaming himself playing pokerstars ? I think I don't know. but its consistently front page listing. Not him specific just the channel and people playing it, like Violence, she plays it when shes not doing her CoD thing.

You don't need a donate button. Most people start off that way sure.

But you got mostly guys who are famous before Justintv aka Twitch or Xfire (which I streamed on - awful btw lol but it worked I like their software better then OBS its lighter. anyway.)
Guys like Swifty, who is huge in the Youtube community. I don't know if he still does. I think he does. I don't youtube much, unless awesome kitten videos show up on facebook.

Click and you will find out. Ignorance isn't an excuse.

I did that why I said I don't know him. I watch a lot of channels but of only content that interests me. Speed run games, WoW, some CoD, bit of Halo and League a few other games when I am bored. But this proves my point.
I am an average watcher, I have my niche group of people I watch. Some from the old days before Twitch/amazon and a few new people now. I don't even recognize him from ESL or MLG. But to be fair I pay attention to top 10 players if I care at all ever since they tossed WoW out because they didn't call it a competitive game I never really bothered any more., all my time is wrapped up in being a PAX junkie. Those damn Pins... I am gonna need a twelve step program. I am also fairly out of touch with it with that side, since I stopped trying to compete with the exception of MTG, thinking I might try the online version.

I really like the idea of a double server launch using the competition server as a means to attract those of competitive personalities and allowing those who would like to enjoy a progression server at a different pace to do so.

I also like the idea of personalized/unique armor skins to be claimable on the victor's account(s). Then on a server reset they would be able to play with these skins without giving them an advantage but also allowing them to be instantly recognizable as previous victors.

As far as deciding who wins. A common scenario on a new server when there is still no clear #1 guild is:
Guild_A decides to start a raid for Boss_01. Guild_B learns of this and shows up as Guild_A is prepping for the boss. What follows is the kind of thing that would need to be dealt with prior to the server launching.

Do we just allow both guilds to zerg rush the boss and whoever does 51% damage, thus given credit for the kill, is the winner?
Do we allow everyone who participated in the event be a winner? Probably not.
Do we give the server a final window after the boss dies where anyone who kills the mob before the server is locked is given credit? I'd prefer it be locked on completion, or very soon after (a few days).

Another thing to discuss would be what happens after a server completes?
I could see giving all the winners a server transfer to FV(with gear), or to the progression server(naked) and capped at (progression server expansion max level - 1 expansion). So if Progression was in PoP(max 65), the transfered toons would be -1 expansion (Luclin) so level 60.
This would prevent an issue where prog server finally opens PoP only to have 20+ people transfer in at level 65.

I'd personally like to see a Seasonal Server that automatically unlocked the next expansion upon completion of the current expansion thus giving the top tier people the dilemna of choosing between staying behind and farming the previous expansion or immediately hitting the next set of content. I want to see a running score on the everquest home page with current stats of who has completed which server firsts and what the next goal to go down will be.

Keep it simple, a goal that can be reached inside 6months to a year. Then server wipes, do it again.

Round one, " First one to kill Quarm wins" pvp enabled. Something like that would be crazy popular.
Round two, " First team on the moon" perma death! Defeat velious expac.

Possibilities are infinite, but it wouldnt appeal to everyone which is why they couldnt just have this kind resetting, revolving server. It is a unique idea that no other mmo has though...

I like the idea of a seasonal server in the sense that by the time it gets stale we just hit the refresh button and start over, relieving pressure and the want for another server 1 or 2 years later. Im sure there are cons too. It isn't everyones cup of tea. Would be nice if we got a couple servers but they need to differ from eachother. Some dev input is what we need now.