Stop asking for a TLP merge, it's not necessary.

Discussion in 'Time Locked Progression Servers' started by Xanadas, Jan 10, 2013.

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  1. Xanadas Augur

    There is no point in merging the two servers. Yes, Vulak is a very quiet server (personally I like that). If you are wanting more people around to group with or interact with, join a stinkin' guild! If you think there are no guilds, then you'd be wrong. There are several guilds with lots of people in them and one specifically recruiting newbies to do some self-imposed progression starting in PoP. I'm in that guild and there are anywhere from 20-40 people on at any given time. If you want to log in and see 100 people standing around doing nothing, go log into WoW.

    I just don't understand the motivation for the merger. Just about all raid content is instanced so there's very little interaction between guilds that way. Finding random pug groups on either server is pointless, so hence what I said above - join a guild. The incessant crying for a server merge is not going to do anything except save Sony a little $ on their electricity bill, which I wouldn't actually put past them...but I digress...
  2. Toquillaw Augur

    Yup, Vulak is a very, very quiet server. I also like that. We don't get many new players either, but I do try to let them know that if they are looking for lots of groups they might want to try Fippy as well and see which server is more to their liking. Oddly enough, quite a few responses I get are along the lines of "actually I like a quieter server". Some people like the wide open spaces.

    And, it's also important to remember that few people who are busy playing bother to come here to post on threads for starting new servers or merging. And it really could and should be an ingame vote.
    Xanadas likes this.
  3. SnapVine Augur

    just out of curiosity, where are you seeing "incessant crying" for a server merge?

    i think playing on a server with an unarguably empty bazaar and too few players to satisfy my taste is boring, you think its super fun. that's fine, i don't think we're ever going to agree on it.

    create a way for server xfers between the two and i'll resub 7-8 accounts and buy a bunch. Lets do this!
  4. Xanadas Augur

    If you read just about any thread under the TLP forum, at some point in the conversation somebody inevitably calls for a merge or laments the lack of a merge, as if either would solve some imaginary problem.
  5. Vonador Journeyman

    I think people are simply calling for a new batch of progression servers more than anything else.
  6. Krizem Augur

    Yeah, I think some people assume if they merge the servers it automatically means a new progression server. I would hope next time they do progression they run two servers at different speeds anyway instead of repeating what we just did. I'm not sold that there's a magic number of servers they have to have...afterall they opened up that Vox server out of the blue. I think they figure most progression types are resubs and maybe they up gold subscriptions 25% or something with the buzz of progression and its just not time to reboot yet.
  7. Vonador Journeyman

    That's the part that honestly flummoxes me. I'm sure there would be hundreds, if not thousands, of current non-subscribers that would instantly re-up after word of a new progression server reaches them. There would be a couple thousand extra stragglers who would weigh their options, and eventually re-up as well.

    How much does it cost to implement a new server? They were ready with Vulak'Aerr right after Fippy launched, so the assumption is, not much. A game like EverQuest in particular benefits from progression-type servers because of the significant nostalgia factor and the overwhelming 19-expansion world that newcomers are asked to inhabit, effectively limiting the game's growth to returning players. Except, of course, during progression server announcements/events.

    How much does it cost SOE to *not* implement a new progression server? Probably about $45,000 the first month, and approximately $20,000-$30,000 every month thereafter. And that's being conservative.
  8. Haak Augur

    This statement is right on the money. I'm personally lurking on this site and watching. I won't be back until a new progression server goes live (I played on Fippy last year). I'll gladly give Sony my money again...but both the current servers have gone beyond what I enjoy with EverQuest. So now it's just waiting for the merger (if it happens) followed by that server (or both) to die off so they can roll out something shiny again and see their memberships jump.
  9. Arctic_Slicer Journeyman

    Vulak'Aerr needed a merge back in the spring of 2012. I knew it and everyone else I talked to on the server at the time knew it as well.

    I played on Vulak'Aerr quite heavily from launch day to a few weeks into the Gates of Discord era. During most of that time I was guild Leader for Friendship Network which was a smallish guild of off peak hours players that did some Fear/Hate/Kedge raids towards the end of classic into Kunark and became more of a casual grouping guild until we merged with Reload Ing Pleasewait, a Taiwanese guild, during the Velious era. For about 6 months RIP was the #3 raiding guild on that server and we beat all of the Velious(Everything but Tunare), and Luclin content and were making pretty good progress towards the elemental planes before the guild population became too low to continue to raid(A combination of EQ going Free to Play and Diablo 3 caused most of the Asian players to go elsewhere).

    A few of us remaining in RIP joined EoE through the launch of GoD but due to my play time being limited to 2-8AM EST I wasn't able to participate in most of the raids they were doing and finding groups was becoming increasingly harder with me 3 boxing my way through LDoN normals on a few occasions because I couldn't find anyone who wanted to join me. A couple of weeks after GoD release I realized I wasn't having fun anymore and unsubbed my 4 accounts. After I unsubbed I decided I was going to talk to Hamshire and tell him I appreciated the opportunity to join EoE but wasn't having fun anymore and calling it quits but he was AFK for the night so I decided I was going to talk to him about it tomorrow but my disenchantment with EQ was so low at that point that I never made it back online to tell him or anyone else that I had quit and I actually feel pretty bad about it now as I didn't really was to just "disappear" but that was the state of the Vulak'Aerr server when I quit back in the summer of 2012 and I can only imagine it being even worse now.

    As to the talk of wanting a new progression server that is something I fully endorse. In fact the only reason I even checked in on these forums is because someone told me that they were going to release a new progression server but sadly that appears to only be a rumor. On that note if they do another progression server they should just do it time based; no requiring certain mobs be dead, novoting, no drama about how to vote and how the vote went ect. Simply Kunark is released on X date maybe 3 months after launch, Velious is simply released on x date maybe 6 months after Kunark is released or what ever time line they decide. Simpler would be better; it would be less stressful for everyone and everyone knows what's coming and when.
  10. Nolrog Augur

    There would also be many people that would quit because you would have killed Fippy/Vulak. Plus, there's only so often you can draw water from that well. There needs to be sufficient time between them to entice people back. I don't think we're at that point yet.
    Sinestra likes this.
  11. Arctic_Slicer Journeyman

    Obviously the most important consideration would be the impact of a new server on the population of the current ones. That said how many still active on Fippy/Vulak would actually start over on a new server since they seem to be content on their current ones? Also what is the definition of a "dead" server. Vulak'Aerr was pretty dead when I quit with pretty much just 2 active guilds left on the server.
  12. SnapVine Augur

    Anyone who still hasn't quit due to the low population on Vulak probably never will.
  13. SnapVine Augur

    Defining dead is moot and just starts a bunch of ranting from people who want to argue. Some people will be happy if they are the last 6 online killing spiderlings.

    I personally felt Vulak was dead and left when:

    - There was no economy (~15 traders in bazzar and ~5-6 of them run by one guy)
    - Raid content that was interesting to me being available that neither of the two guilds were killing. (No guild fit for what I wanted to do).
    - Almost zero opportunity for a pick-up group.
  14. Vonador Journeyman

    I couldn't disagree more. Why would people on Fippy/Vulak care? They are so far ahead as it stands that another progression server shouldn't affect them at all. And, at worst, a couple of people in the playerbase become furious and rage-unsubscribe. Well, I don't really understand that viewpoint either. Other people would like the classic-re-roll experience again; you're angry because SOE is affording them the opportunity that you enjoyed so thoroughly that you still partake in it? That's pretty selfish.

    I'll be honest; those players will be back in some capacity. The allure of the original progression server was enough to draw them in; perhaps they continue with their Fippy/Vulak experience or they start anew. Frankly, if I had any power in SOE, I'd set up a rolling-progression system wherein, at around the anniversary, a new progression server with perhaps a different ruleset (FFA PvP? Diety PvP? Vote-progress PvE?) would open up. That'd create a surge of subscribers at a particularly significant time in the game's existence annually, and would stop the shouts of a 'perma-classic' server. If you want to play classic forever, you can just re-roll every March!

    It would also remove the vitriol certain Fippy/Vulak types would feel towards those who want a fresh start, and get what they wish. It's in the itinerary, see? And it makes sense, too, because it gives new players an actual springboard to enter and play this fantastic game, thus increasing the reach of the brand. It's inaccessible to me as it stands, and I played from opening day until around mid-2004; I can't imagine how impossibly overwhelming the world appears to people trying EverQuest for the first time.
  15. Toquillaw Augur

    I would welcoem a new progression server for no other reason than to see when the first threads start (again ... and again) that NewProgtown isn't as shiny new as they want, they "didn't know" about it at the start because they didnt read the email, or some other excuse. I figure if we get NewProgtown up by March (ie near the anniversary), then we should be able to see this same thread started by October.

    :p
  16. Thanarin Journeyman

    I would love for you guys to get the server you want without destroying the population on Fippy but I don't think that's possible. Tons of people would leave Fippy / Vulak as they are just playing there for lack of a better option. Personally I couldn't handle the drama of classic / Kunark again so I'd never leave but in an entirely selfish way (I'll admit it) I hope others are "stuck" (for lack of a better option) with me here for a while.

    Also I think anyone who thinks it wouldn't affect population hasn't played much on Fippy recently. I hear people talk about it all the time.

    (Edit -- grammar)
  17. Sinestra Augur

    Every single time a new regular server, progression server, or ruleset server has opened players from current servers have left their homes and joined. It does have a very large effect on them.

    That doesn't make them inherently bad, but many people over the years have commented on the boards here that they weren't unhappy with their old servers, they just got the option to do something new and they did it.
  18. Argosh Augur

    You're not alone. There are others posting here that obviously think the same way. I can understand too why some would not want the population to drop on their server if they want to continue moving forward. I played on Vulak and seen first hand how unfun a low population server is. That said, I have to agree that it does seem a bit selfish. If players would leave their current servers to play older content then that's where they would rather be. Having players feeling "stuck" "for lack of a better option" doesn't make any sense to me. I can't think of a reason why SOE shouldn't provide what their customers would prefer.

    This is the very reason why servers should merge in my opinion. Let the players that wish to continue from both servers join together and let those that wish to start over do so. The option should be available and players will decide where they want to be.
  19. Fizzle Augur

    I quit playing EQ because i found Fippy is dull and boring these days. Im a very social player but dont like the commitment of a serious guild. If they do start a new progression server i would be back in a heart beat. I dont care If I have to pay $50 a month for 1 account and I know im not alone. SOE your losing money
  20. Vonador Journeyman

    Isn't this exact thread about how people like their quiet servers, and how they don't want to merge with another server to keep their peace and quiet? Well, guess what? Sometimes, you get what you wish for!

    Hopefully, I get what I wish for within the next 90 days. A new progression server would be faaaaantastic!

    And, furthermore - I would pay double the normal cost of a monthly subscription to have a new, officially-sanctioned progression server without a second thought. And I KNOW I'm not alone. SOE must know that they're losing money. They *must* know - right?
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