Simple rule and mechanics probably just a few lines of code change. No bizarre Malibu Barbie servers, where every npc is named Ken. That sucked. The retire or die trying server. At each level cap (50, 60, etc.), a character becomes unrezzable once they ding that level. You are perma-corpsed, your body eventually summoned to OOT cube room, with the others. You die lvl 60 during Kunark era? That character is gone. Forever. Once a new level cap comes, those who kept their char alive have at it once more. Onward, to the edge! Some may feel surely, my summoning mage is completely safe. Well, maybe it is. Have at it! Griefing a cap lvl player in a raid zone will earn you a yellow announcement of your triumph! "Xenongas has killed the old fool Bannaner! Good riddance to him!" This will impose severe restrictions on cap level spells on this server.New strats. Bonus: this can't be difficult to code. Negative: sorry paladins. Now you really suck. That is it. That's the only diff. Select any other tlp, adjust exp rates, whatever. But this game, when you see a cap level player raiding, you are likely seeing a dead man auto-running.
So basically a server where everyone will just stay 1 level below cap by suiciding constantly; necros will have a field day with it and probably could charge to sacrifice people instead of paying them.
That has been addressed by my team. 1) At the level below cap (eg, lvl 59) deaths do not cost any exp. It just keeps moving, you get exp. Like cruel life itself. 2) necrotizing lvl below cap is limited to once per char per lvl cap. Not class breaking at all. QoL booster: being able to rez a lvl capped mule, in a merchant related zone, is one way to retire your char until the next levl increase. Probably need to "retire" giving you a grey name text, making you old and useless only able to cast self buffs, and even then only after stam zing. That solves the delevling problem, unless one wants to devel to stay at 2 levels below cap (eg, 58). But once you ding 1 lvl below the lvl cap, that exp can't be undung.
What about death touch mechanics? Also on a lot of pulls death simply can't be avoided, especially during kunark/velious.
Just keep your DT takers (and everyone else) 2 levels below cap; problem solved. Would be funny to watch the top guilds rosters get completely wiped because someone decided to bring friends to an open world raid target. Of course everyone is just going to stay two below level cap or just not play characters until next level raise with these rules. Staying under level not going to be an issues since most early game raid targets can easily be taken out 5 levels under cap.
Keep in mind, at cap-minus-1, deaths cost no exp. The much more damning remark is your last one: "Staying under level not going to be an issues since most early game raid targets can easily be taken out 5 levels under cap." I'm assuming no one would raid with a lvl cap char. So that means no lvl cap spells/abilities, until next lvl unlock. The challenge of not having access to lvl cap skills and spells would require interesting new strats, which can resume after the next lvl unlock. That was the gimmick. But if as you say (all?) era content is pretty easily managed at lvl cap minus 1+, this idea sucks. And given you are likely right........ I tried.
Easily the dumbest and most useless idea I've seen proposed yet re: new TLPs, and that's a big achievement. Have a gold star.
permadeath servers suck imagine some one hacks the server when they know the best guild on the server is fighting a raid boss they all go ld when they come back they are all dead,mass quitting in rage,and it would be a nightmare for customer service.
I got a whole drawer full of them, buddy. I've been sippin' on juiceboxes and flashin BIS while talking nonsense for decades now. It's The Path.
It's an interesting concept but I think it would be much simpler if the servers were just level capped at 2 levels below the current cap. That would give you the increase in difficulty you are looking for an a different spin or challenge on older content.
Perhaps go ahead and test it out on a server with the few other like minded people. Let us know how it goes. Nothing is stopping you from self-imposing this experiment on your own. It would be far easier to just limit the raid size if people really wanted to ramp up difficulty. That, too, could be done by self-imposed restrictions though.
One caveat: increase the negative HP for the 'downed' state to like -3000 when at the level cap. Now there's a real opportunity for a group or raid member to 'save you' from permanent death. Encourages traveling with friends and smart play. I could get behind it.
