The 1 month unlock makes sense because....

TLPs all have had some problems that were similar between all servers.
-First the nostalgia wear off quickly as people start grinding in the mid levels
-Second the 2 month lulls after everyone has the xpac on farm causes people to lose interest.
With every TLP people just slowly trickle off and the biggest culprit is Kunark where there is little interesting end game content besides epic quest which most people have mostly done in Classic. There is nothing new and shinny to hold the casual players attention and they burnout from doing the same grind over and over till they go play another game. Short unlock will keep the lull from ever happening and keep people hooked as well as not holding people in EQ classic for 9 months

I usually trickle off because the unlocks are too fast for my casual play style. Kunark has fun zones, but it is always so rushed I hardly get to play there, and I’ve never had time to finish an epic in era.

I usually give up around Luclin because unlocks are too slow for my casual playstyle. And if the XP rates are faster, that will facilitate casuals to be able to play faster. They always have the choice to consume content slower, but people can't consume it faster on a slow unlock server.

Besides, with Pantheon coming in late 2019 or 2020, Selos is the perfect server, one last run through EQ's eras.

I’ll admit to finishing most of what I care to do in an expansion within the first months even on a server like Coirnav. But that is going at a break neck pace. The lull kind of helps counter those periods of heightened activity.

Ask any raid leader on any of the past TLP's with 3 month locks and they will all tell you that the lull is right around the 2 month mark. You'll always see a drop off of raid attendance that last month which is why 2 month is the better lockout time.

Also Kunark and Velious have been the major issue with those lulls in the past. Kunark just sucks once you've leveled to 60 and Velious was just a long 3 months with no extra XP or AA to grind. This server fixes those issues by starting in Luclin. 3 months hasn't been an issue after that point, but I can see wanting to speed it up a bit so it doesn't take 2-3 years to get into the middle expansion. At this rate those middle expansions will be passed in 6 months from server launch, that's just too fast.

As a casual player I’m in the same boat

All these hardcore players trying to speak about what I, the casual player, want. Just ask me?

Start in classic/kunark
Increased exp and rare spawns
3-6month expansion unlocks
Truebox

Dude this is post 1,000,000 of non-casuals trying to tell casuals what they want and why they do what they do.

Despite the claims of some who deem themselves casual the long lockouts always kill server population. If you only log on for an average of 2 hours a week you're a lot less than ultra casual. If you stay logged on 10 hours a week but most of the time is spent sitting in camps killing green mobs you are less than ultra casual.
There are plenty of people who are basically social players who use EQ as a 3D chat room and that's just as valid a thing to do as hard core raiding.
Casual gets online and does stuff but they don't have to do all the stuff. Being casual is not to have OCD about getting BIS and Epics on a main and a couple of alts before the next expansion.

if you were to ask a bartender if this guy comes in alot and her response is he is a casual customer what would that mean? would he go in there every day for a few hours and not drink? or would he pop in an be sorta how you described the less than casual players? My point being that you can't just change the meaning of "casual" to what you think it is. There is also no proof that long lockouts kill servers, there is however proof that the further you go pass dodh the more dead the server gets.

Pantheon coming out in 2019, lmao.

The only fast tlp resulted in a server-winning guild. It was the literal opposite of server death. Since then all tlps are slow unlocks and all tlps have floundered. Maybe phinny will do us all proud? Regardless... you are clearly wrong, since we are 1 for 1 on a fast tlp. Selo we will see if it goes to 2 for 2.

For a supposed casual you sure do have a ton of time to post, and a ton of very involved desires in the game. Most normal people regard casuals as the people who keep rerolling alts, like to explore or roleplay, just log in to play with friends, etc.

You seem to be hardcore and just have limited time to play. (cuts into your forum warrioring. I get that. Truly do.) Your ideas I am quoting would, IMO, be literally perfect for turning Mangler into a hardcore but low playtime paradise. Good luck.

A new expansion every month is just too fast. I could go for one every 6 weeks, but one every 4 weeks is just too rushed.

I have a bridge for sale.

You act though like you have never played on a TLP. Every TLP I have played on the casual players all drop off likes flies in the Classic Kunark and Vellious time. there is a little boom in PoP but after that people feel like they can never catch back up. on Agnarr you couldn't log in sometimes during classic by the time Luclin came they lifted the AFK boot. DBG has seen the pattern of Kunark and Vellious culling the populations of the servers and came up with what seems like a reasonable fix. The long lul periods also cause people to fall off as well who are casual and not as dedicated and once they leave they rarely come back. What was the last TLP you played on?

I am betting that the fix that removes focus effects can only be done as a game wide change, so they are starting Selos in Luclin so the focus effect removal will not effect it. That is more likely their motivator for the Luclin opening.

Clearly not a combine/sleeper player where everything opened in 1 month and you will be incredibly frustrated and rage quit after 2 or 3 unlocks. This has already happened and it was an abject failure. Your theory is similar to communism and socialism...great on paper but in reality it breeds utter contempt and failure at all levels.

Wasn't that before AOCs and there was no fast xp or double rare spawns. In addition this server has short lockouts so you can binge when you want. You are cherry picking my friend.

One month unlocks only make sense on a hardcore race server. On a casual server (an ultra casual server even) they are the definition of insanity.

This makes absolutely zero sense.

Ps, well be lucky to see pantheon by 2021.