Players like this complain, merc, box, and bot to avoid payers that don't yet understand their class and how it best interacts with other classes. Only TLP will give a new or returning player the real grouping experiences to become a pro. Many players will have learned more about their class by level 20 TLP than they would ever learn on live being "powerleveled" 1-50 by a tank merc.
This is true, things like the j1 merc and defiant gear are relics of a time in between a decade ago of having "no help" with leveling....yet still before the release of heroic chars and the AA "auto-grant", resulting in "too much help" leveling. So you have 2 different means of powering your way to 90% of max level that you really don't need anymore, noe that there are heroic chars and the autogrant aa. But these powerleveling relics are still in the game and players don't realize they should avoid using them on Live servers if they truly want to enjoy a more challenging classic zone experience. The only other issue is there is no way to slow down the leveling on live to learn stuff, work on weapon skills, etc. You think lv 51 is the "cure-all" because u can set 100% of exp to AA, until you realize you can only unlock so many mediocre AA's at lv51 until you hit a ceiling of AA's and need to level up again If they made the J1 tank much weaker from lev 1-50 that would help, and give people a way to slow down or stop their exp pre-51
Gives you a chance to experience EQ as close to as it was originally as is presently possible. It let's those who have never experienced those early expansions a way to group through them while also allowing those relive their rose colored past. As for the above conversation regarding the quality of player being better, there is nothing to support that. Power leveling has rarely ever actually had anything to do with how well a person can play their toon. You could completely remove power leveling, mercs, heroic characters, and AA auto-grant; but you would still have lack luster players compared to those who played back the first time through, because not only have people changed how they play the game, but the game itself has changed innately in addition to everyone knowing how everything works.
This is a great post with the keys being "if you can find a group". I would love to play live, I have a 90 monk and a 95 shaman on live. I have tried to return to live many times, but each time I do, I find myself in a group by myself with my 2 characters and 2 mercs. That is not fun for me at all. I enjoy grouping and raiding with real people and on the progression servers I get to do exactly that. I would jump back to live in a moment if I could actually group and raid (once leveled) and not just play a group by myself.
Those of you whom are bashing progression. Most likely are 105's throughout 10 accounts and have no idea what the progression server is or about. Let's not bash something that incites people to come play and pay for the game. Live servers are absolutely tear-jerkingly boring. The community is full of people whom either are afk 90% of the time , or ignore you if you ask any questions. Then if and when they do reply it's some smart remark that has no relevence to the question. You're all elitest and you dont bother to group even when on the off chance you are leveling up an alt due to the fact you have an entire multi-box group. So that genuinely leave only one option to players whom are not at the end of the game. Progression isnt old eq. It's new EQ with the ability to experience every expansion and progress through the game. Instead of being capped stats at level 1 , and bulldozing everything. It's quite sad really how most of you whom speak so badly of the progression server. Have somehow forgot the game was fun due to the community. You guys play the game as if it were WoW with worse graphics. l33t l00t and rush to max. Not enjoying anything at all in between. Then you sit at max waiting to raid once a week. Yet complain about staring at a wall for a 50% chance to get a mob spawn...you're staring at guild halls for days on end. Oh i see you have some dailys to do. Like a job you routinely continue to do the same thing over and over. So what makes Progression fun? Because it's everything EQ wasnt before , and then everything it was as well. No corpse run , exp is pretty decent , people to play with , real progression in gear and content. It's not just a boring grind for 105 levels with the same gear you had at 10. You work hard and earn everything you get. Thats the appeal. If you can't understand that then its not the "newbs" that don't know how to play EQ but instead you.
When I joined a live server over 5 years ago for 1st EQ experience, I found EQ live overwhelming, and there was no social interaction to be had. I was soloing and it was a chore. I lost interest. When Fippy server was made available I rolled a toon and I was getting groups instantly, and a Guild Invite. I got a lot of guidence for vet players. Experiencing EQ in a social contect kept me engaged, and I got to develop as a player over months in small chunks of content. As a result, I've played a lot more EQ than I would have soloing live. Thats the benefit for Prog for this player. Even this time around I am still learning new stuff, experiencing new content in Basic EQ . Chatting, supporting guildies, raids.... all been much easier on Progression for me.
Nostalgia brings a higher population out. There is always a group to find and people to talk to. OP is not expected to "understand." The game was fun in 1999 and it brought a challenge. People wanted that challenge again where everyone is on a simliar playing field. Is it fun killing gnolls while your wearing Defiant gear using a 12/24 sword? To some yes, to some no. Edit: Plus it gave Daybreak $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ without having to spend a expansions worth of time to get the server up and running. Now they can just chase bugs and population issues. And it'll make everyone elses game better. I know you probably lost friends/guildies to the TLP but they'll come back once they have to start spending hours to AA)
Cash grab? Maybe. Doing it for nostalgia? Possibly. What I do know is in one week of TLP i've made more friends and had more fun in this game then several years on my regular server.
I have no played over time characters above 65th level. I did partake of the free 85th level characters. I'm not against progression, I just see it as a waste of time attempt to recaptire the past/first tme playing EQ. I have never zoomed to maximum. I take my time. I have gamed on progression. I found it boring boring boring. I deleted that character and went back to gaming on live. I had more fun on live in one afternon than days on Ragefire. Don't raid either. No time for it as its mostly late at night. I game to relax, and I don't see raiding as relaxing. Even created several more characters on live servers. That brings me up to about 160 characters on 5 accounts on live servers.
Wow, lots of feedback, thanks! I played 1999-2003. I played on Veeshan and Test server. During that time it was one of the most crowded servers around as it had active raiders (FoH) and a strong Asian player base, so 24x7 it was crowded. I get the nostalgia of unrest trains, crushbone trains, lockjaw ruining your day, grouping, and 60 player raids to kill vox/naggy. I just didn't understand why you can't do the same thing on live servers. I can see now what people are talking about to some extend. I did opt to go to a live server (Xegony) and start from scratch. I haven't had a problem finding a group so far. I get why you don't need to group on Live, it is far too easy to level, lol. On the other hand, I can see that a lot of people are doing the 85+ thing and it is a new game to me. As far as looking back goes, most of the boards then were consumed with complaints about trains, broken classes, exploiters, customer service, not finding good groups, people KSing all the time, or no one could get into a raid zone cause FoH had it locked down -) Seems like nothing has changed to me. The boards were always a lot worse than the actual game -) Do the progression servers reset the game to the old ways? So you have to do corpse runs now? All the UI enhancements are gone? No raid channels and maps and find command? You have to use things like sense heading, etc? They reset all the player skills and class spells and such back to what they were during that time period? Or is it just a matter of only activating zones every few months and they keep all the patches they've made over the years?
I was gonna say, "don't you know this?" There was someone with a name similar to yours posting on the TLP, but alas, different person To answer, nope, no corpse runs, the UI enhancements are still there, maps are still there. It is just set in classic era EQ. It is not P99
On live most people are 100+ so the older, low-level zones are mostly barren. I am playing on TLP at the moment currently because I, and I'm sure many others, got tired of the burn out of being maxx level with capped AA's and the constant raid game. The TLP's are like classic EQ on crack. No corpse runs for your gear, no need for sense heading, all global chat channels are available. Advance looting system is in place, and no more hell levels. However most of the skills and gear are locked for the classic era. As we vote to unlock the expansions in order, the gear, spells and levels for that particular expansion are progressed as well. You couldn't be more right about the forums and the smack talk, that's for sure! It's like we've all reverted back to 1999, when we were a bunch of squirrely 15-year olds. Part of the fun is watching it all happen... I gotta say, I've gained 5 pounds from all the popcorn I've eaten while watching this Wild West EQ saga go on. I still play on live here and there, but what reminiscence there is to be had on TLP is rather enjoyable to me. Not for everyone, certainly... but I am diggin' it
You know, whatever it takes to keep this game going. I really forgot how much I missed it after all these years. Later games just don't quite have that feeling.
look up project 1999, how to join and what not, lots of us classic players play there, its classic EQ and its great!
Not reading all the non-sense replies, but here is why I play progression...... 1. a chance to start over without all the benefits of (Level 100 alts, billions of plat, and tons of marketplace gear) 2. a chance to play with people.... ( very rarely grouped with people on a LIVE server when you are trying to level up.... on RageFire I am always finding groups of people to play with ) **Note: sometimes zones are over-camped 3. a chance to play Everquest without twink gear........... No fabled, no Defiant gear 4. a chance to re-play all the old content, with new friends. REASONS NOT TO PLAY Progression: 1. Sometimes the zones are over-camped............ this only has happened a couple times where there are so many people in the zone that all the groups are full and there are no mobs to kill. *, Estate of Unrest, Planes of Hate 2. Mage armies.................you will run into the situation where you want to group and xp, or maybe you want to help kill(and also have a chance at loot)...But, you cannot because there is 1 person using script programs ( 5 mages and 1 cleric ) who make it difficult for other people to enjoy the game. 3. A lot of fighting, training, and taking....... This point is not so terrible that I do not play. At least once a day, someone will train you to take your camp....... or they will take mobs from you........ ---- this #3 is not so bad at lower levels. But nearing level 50, you will see this problem more and more. Especially from established guilds.....
I think it funny that the word "pro" is being used in Everquest. A game with no real melee combat system... no rotations that have to be maintained for max dps... the fact that you can play multiple characters at once shows how trivial this game is. I play everquest for the community and the adventure, not the difficulty... if that were the cast id still be playing Rift... or Wildstar... even World of Warcraft is more difficult at combat mechanics... The reason I play on TLP servers is because i MISSED all the Content and would like to actually go through it and not just skip over it.
DUDE!!! What made EQ what it was, WAS the adventure and the difficulty about distance and getting your body back. Everquest is the ONLY game i know that the LEVELING IS the fun... it IS the adventure... not just rushing to get max level to just finish the content and wait for more... there is a community, people make life long friends, meet future spouses and make lasting memories.... I remember when in was in LOIO (lake of ill omen) and my friend had lent me his Fungy tunic to help me level... i was on dialup and went LD came back DEAD... i couldnt find the corpse... i had to hire a bard to track my corpse before my friend found out i lost his priceless Fungy!! this was back in 2001... and i remember it like yesterday
