What is the difference between Traditional vs. Progression Server?

Discussion in 'Tips, Tricks, FAQs, and New Player Discussion' started by SoulcatcherII, Jan 8, 2020.

  1. SoulcatcherII New Member

    I had played a free account for three weeks on Everquest. Now I am playing on a paid account. I am also looking at the selection of servers available, including a Progression Server on their Kalidim site.

    I started a new character on the Progression Server to see what it's about. I noticed that you start in Freeport. After a few quests I went over to Neriak and didn't see any different quests over there.

    I was wondering what is the real difference between Traditional vs. Progressive servers for EverQuest?

    The Progressive Server is seen as an "expansion". Aside from the beginning of the game are there additional quests and content on the Progressive Server than the Traditional Server? If so is it only a handfull of additional quests on the Progressive Server or alot of additional quests and material than the Traditional Server?

    Does the Progressive Server have material from previous dungeon releases?

    Are there additional options for characters on the Progressive Server?
  2. dorotea Well-Known Member

    The character creation page should have a link to an explanation of how the server works. I won't try to go into detail that duplicates that,

    In MMOs as a rule progression servers go up to certain content and certain levels. You cannot go into areas that came into the game after that content. Every now and then, by forumula or vote or the judgment of the developers, new content and new levels are added. Thus large areas of the world won't be available until the server progresses to them. The level cap will be below the level cap anywhere else until the server catches up. Features like flying mounts and mercenaries will not be available until the server catches up to the expansion that introduced them.

    Again - this is intentionally generic. I have never played on the progression server here (I have in other games) and so choose not to describe it.
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  3. SoulcatcherII New Member


    When you create a new character and look at the Traditional Server the explanation that you get is:

    "Traditional server with all content accessible".


    For the Progression Server it says:

    "Expansion lock servers"

    ...and a link for it says:

    "Unique gameplay adjusted to suit the eras
    Limited account bonuses, marketplace, claims and classes
    No Battlegrounds server access"

    I also looked at the explanation at https://www.everquest2.com/news/eq2-kaladim-tle-server-faq-2019 and https://www.everquest2.com/news/kaladim-tle-time-locked-expansion-server-2019 for further explanation on Kaladim server.

    Also when I searched around I noticed players talking about playing "old Everquest" when I saw posts about Kalldum servers.



    So here's the questions that I still have:

    I knew someone who played the game Everquest in the late 1990's. Back then it wasn't something exclusive online. It was sold in stores on discs "the old fashioned way". When I hear about playing "old Everquest" on Kalldum is it referring to the game back in the late 1990's?

    With regard to 16 weeks of expansions on Kaladim are the expansions available for 16 weeks and rotate or are there new expansions released every 16 weeks?

    The Traditional Server says that it has "all content accessible" so if I was to buy something like Blood of Luclin would I also be able to play it on the Traditional Server or only on the Progressive Server because the Expansion Server is where expansions are featured as mentioned at https://www.everquest2.com/news/kaladim-tle-time-locked-expansion-server-2019 ?

    When I looked at an explanation of expansions at https://eq2.fandom.com/wiki/Category:Expansions_and_Adventure_Packs it looks like that the "free server"/Traditional Server already has some of the packs. If content is available on a rotating basis on Kaladim would that mean that the material that can also be found on the Traditional Server also be rotating on Kaladim?

    Previously I had thought that expansions like "Kurnak Ascending" were expansions that you can still purchase. Am I incorrect about this?
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  4. Dude Well-Known Member

    This is not Everquest, so no it will not be the EQ of the 1990s. It will be somewhat like EQ2 around 2006ish.

    The expansions open up every 16 weeks. They never go away after that. It's a progression, not a rotation.

    The traditional servers are the only place you're going to be able to play BoL content.

    You cannot buy individual expansions. If you buy BoL, all previous expansions are included.
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  5. Avithax Well-Known Member

    There are more Gnolls in Antonica on a non-progression server because barking ordinances.
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  6. SoulcatcherII New Member



    Thank you extremely much for the information!

    I had started characters on the Traditional Server before subscribing to the game. I then started a "test" character on the Progressive server to see what it's like. Now that I know that all previous expansions are included with Blood of Luclin I'm just going to buy the Blood of Luclin expansion and keep my characters on the Traditional Server. Personally to me it looks like you get alot of different gains and advantages from buying the BoL expansion to the extent where you get more by getting BoL then switching to a different server.
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