I know we all want to get through the vanilla and DOF content as fast as possible and most are fine with a 12-16 week period in these. However once we get into KOS and beyond I would like a 6 month schedule. Past KOS the expansions have so much content that releasing a new one 12-16 weeks later just stinks. I know I cannot speak for all players, and I know there are players that will be max level day 1, have all the sig quest done by week 1 and then cry in chat about wanted the next expansion. I would just like this server to last for a while so it can be enjoyed.
16 weeks of DoF, is 8-10 weeks to many. DoF lasted less than 5 months when it very first game out 17 years ago. a 6 month KoS just ensures the server dies 2-3 months faster than it would have otherwise. You say you want the server to last for a while, but a slower expansion cadence has the opposite effect. Vanilla - 3 months DoF - 2 months KoS - 3 months EoF - 3 months RoK - 3 months (MAYBE 4) TSO - 4 months SF - 4 months DoV - 4 months The above should be an acceptable cadence for both the casual players and those who want a steady pace of new content.
I'm not going to pretend to know what everyone else wants...but for me... Vanilla and DOF at 3 months each makes sense, same with KOS. EoF added a lot for lower levels, and it introduced tinkering, so maybe 3.5 there. RoK for sure needs the most attention in my book since it introduced what I consider the best raids in the game. At least 4 months for RoK, maybe 6. TSO wasn't bad, but 4 months almost seems a little long. And 4 months is definitely too long for SF. I'm not sure about DoV since it seems to be the deathmark for TLEs now. That would push you out over 2 years...and then we can start all over...
Please, for the sake of all that is holy, I hope they do not drag DoF out. It's not a "bad" expansion per se, it just does not have the staying power of everything else.
Most of my guild mates and I were fine with 4 Months per expansion. I think the problem was Vanilla and DoF were very easy and cleared within days of release. They need to slow down players progression a bit. Make leveling take more than a day or 2 to reach cap for each expac, increase the difficulty of several of raid encounters, better items coming from Heritage/Signature/Heroic timelines giving players more to do, making masters and crafting rares more rare so players are not Mastered/fully expert with near BiS gear within days of launch/expac release. In the Vanilla era of Kaladim several of the raid and heroic zones weren't even worth doing because of the loot not being itemized. Bringing back access quests would also add to the to do list. (boat rides, zone access quests etc.) I feel with a little love from a dev in regards to itemization and a few tweaks made to the player progression speed and things will be better on Varsoon. Wishful thinking, I know, but I always hope for the best
I'd rather: 2months for Vanilla, DoF, KOS 3months for EoF, RoK, TSO, SF, DoV As soon as DoV is released, be able to claim free server transfer token for Kael or lives.
At this point if they want to expand the duration for the vanilla/DOF expansions they need to add additional content. Maybe a new contested raid boss? A group and raid set of gear for each class, with more tailored stat lines? (We do have to pay for our subs to play on this server after all. It would be nice to be thrown a bone) I know we all crave the nostalgia of the original EQ2 experience, but after being on the TLE train for years the first few expansions feel dull.
I would honestly be down for the way that they did Stormhold with player voting to unlock the next expansion pack. I know that they've steered clear of this since then but ... if I can get 2-3 months of tier5 and 1 month of DoF followed by 3-4 months of the following xpacs I would be unreasonably happy.
the biggest problem we had on Kaladim , was that we were stuck with one expansion for 8 months, I am sure that will not happen to Varsoon. I belief that the longer the next TLE server lasts the better for the devs, because it means less work for them.
KoS is a 3-4 month xpac for me. Good HQ's, group instances that actually require a group, fun instanced and contested raids, and of course the claymore line! Getting Deathtoll access, beating up Vyemm, getting wrecked by Hurricanus... Love that xpac.
The XP rate on Kaladim was still too crazy imo. If you went into Blackburrow or Stormhold and grabbed the quests, you outleveled the dungeon and your journal was still half full.
DOF would be fine at 4 months, assuming you couldn't level to 60 in sub 3 hours. Raid content wasn't killable day 1. Heroic loot wasn't best in slot, and there was some form of progression. There's actually a lot of content both heroic wise and raid wise compared to a lot of other expansions, it's just all too easy to prevent you from soloing it on a necro, or rolling in with any setup and cleaving it down pulling half the zone at once. As it stands now a lot of the cool items are worthless, namely ring of fate, all raid gear, etc. This complaint really stands for all content until ROK. KOS was cleared incredibly fast, and the only really "hard" mob was Matron, which people complained about because it hit too hard. You could absolutely cheese most of the mechanics, and formerly epic mobs were reduced down to heroics like Elemental Warder in Halls. I don't think it's appropriate to take 2 hours to clear labs, but when you can two group the entire game until ROK with bots - it just doesn't seem right.
Respectfully disagree, DOF only lasted 5 months when it first came out 17 years ago. There just isn't enough there to keep people entertained. Without adding new mechanics, T5, and DoF will always be cleared very quickly.
I read your post, and I still disagree. DoF does not have more content than any expansion after it. There was a reason it only lasted 5 months when it first came out. Previous TLEs were slower and less faceroll than Kaladim, and people were still bored 6 weeks into DoF.
It has more heroic instance content than KOS and EOF and ROK. I'm confused by what you're saying. Between cache, vault of dust, sanctorium, table, cazel's mesa, poets, scorn, caves of knowledge (8), court zones (3). Plus four contested zones (clefts, tombs, living city, shimmering). As far as raids which; if you knew DOF as you say you do I don't need to touch on. You would know it has more content overall, obviously it requires a bit of effort from the team to make it "hard" and relevant to 60. Cache/Vault/Sanctorium unless made difficult are 50-60 grind zones, except for farming mounts/plvling. But, still zones that have potential to be made useful. KOS has den, nest, vaults, blackscale, halls - 5 heroic zones. Sanctum, Place - Contested (2) EoF has Mistmoore, catacombs for 70 contested. Acadechism, obelisk, Crypt, Estate/shard of fear (6 weeks in) - (5) ROK has four heroic zones, a plethora of raid content, but most of it is epic weapon update fodder.
