EQ TLP - Vaniki (Level-Locked Progression)

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Zaide

TLP Idealist
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If they want to increase the amount of players who stick around, a TSS start is the way to go. The population has several major die-off points and the biggest is the level 70 era.

GoD is another one, but a lot of that is having LDoN as a lead-in, and GoD->OoW itself is a decent era.

However DoN->DoD->PoR is a really redundant era where the only AAs are in DoD and player attrition really sets in. I like PoR myself (mainly due to nostalgia and enjoying the Sunwell-ish vibe some of it had back in the day) but without AAs it's another drag on player retention at a time when they've already gone through several drags.

TSS start skips all of that 70 era, puts people at the beginning of the modern game style, and gives guilds a ton of routes they can take while competing with each other. Do you farm OoW for BPs and epics first? Is GoD worth running for tank gear at launch? Do you bother with DoN/DoD? Maybe one guild decides to try doing PoR content undergeared at 75 and skips OoW. Maybe you go straight for TSS raids despite being in noob gear? I mean there are a lot of possibilities.
90% of the TLP playerbase will see "TSS start" and ignore it completely or take to the forums to REEEE. Server would be DoA like Miragul.
 
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Rajaah

Honorable Member
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Yarr i have the best idea ever.
They should do an LoY start.
All level 30+ mobs outside of LoY are despawned until Krasnok dies.
First guild that kills Krasnok gets vanity old human model eyepatches.

That's pretty funny, but I like the idea of challenges like this. A server where no mobs over level 30 spawn until Nagafen and Vox are defeated, challenging players to do it at like level 35. Or a Kunark server where nothing spawns until Trakanon is defeated, forcing everyone to do that at level 51. Etc etc.
 

Rajaah

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Could see GoD start with level lock being interesting to try out. What's the lowest level you can AA at? 50 or 51? You'd probably want to lock it there to start. It'd be interesting to see what you could clear with a raid of near-max AA 51s, it'd at least be different from what we've done before.

51. However, all the good AAs are at 55 or 59.

A level 51 with maxed-out AAs would have like, 10 more resists and Run 3.
 

Rajaah

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90% of the TLP playerbase will see "TSS start" and ignore it completely or take to the forums to REEEE. Server would be DoA like Miragul.

I disagree, but you're probably right. And that's depressing, because they don't know what they're missing out on.

TSS has a few things in common with Kunark and Velious in terms of design elements (Ashengate is basically a new Temple of Veeshan, for example). It's kinda too bad it isn't the expansion after PoP, player retention would probably be a lot less of an issue.

After Buried Sea is what it is, SoF is pretty great too, and then you have SoD->Underfoot->House of Thule that are just a damn fine era to play around in. I think SoF might be my favorite expac out of all of them if I had a gun to my head, so a TSS start going into SoF with a nice population is something that I'd love to see. If it would work, that is.
 

Rajaah

Honorable Member
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You need more gimmicks than "start at TSS" to get people to bite.

Yeah, I think I said "TSS server with FV rules" earlier. Could even go beyond that, like all items usable at level 1, to give it more of a Mischief-like hook.
 

Arbitrary

Tranny Chaser
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Yeah, I think I said "TSS server with FV rules" earlier. Could even go beyond that, like all items usable at level 1, to give it more of a Mischief-like hook.

I bring it up all the time but I want these TLPs to adopt a Path of Exile style challenge system where as you do shit and check boxes you unlock cosmetics, titles, etc. The existing achievement system is most of the way there already. Combine the release of that new system with a TSS start server and release it in September or October. Have additional prizes for the guild that clears the expansion first. Make a big deal about it.
 
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forehead

Trakanon Raider
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391
I’d like a Mischief server that starts at Kunark and releases 2 expansions at a time.
Vanilla/Kunark
Velious/Luclin
PoP/Ykesha etc
 
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Arbitrary

Tranny Chaser
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They can still sell me on an EQ+ where they go through and revamp vanilla with more challenging encounters, updated loot tables, a new loot table, another pass at class balance, etc.

I've seen what people can do with hacked roms for free.
 
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Creslin

Trakanon Raider
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1,072
I’d like a Mischief server that starts at Kunark and releases 2 expansions at a time.
Vanilla/Kunark
Velious/Luclin
PoP/Ykesha etc
That makes sense up until TSS but after that it would just mean you skipped half the expansions entirely because no one is gonna do any of like SOF if SOD is out.

level capped would be interesting provided they decrease all the level reqs on items to align to it. I feel like velious or luclin start would make more sense though since after luclin the catch up items from group content really make raid items from luclin and prior start to be irrelevant. Lots of zones are still level capped too which would actually be interesting because you could potentially have a period of time where like 60 is the cap and you can raid some of POP but not time.

they would also need a huge balance patch because if the idea is you raid while 5 - 10 levels lower then get ready to relive plane of sky levels of casters sucking for the entire life of the server. The entire raid would be monks and rangers
 
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Rajaah

Honorable Member
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I’d like a Mischief server that starts at Kunark and releases 2 expansions at a time.
Vanilla/Kunark
Velious/Luclin
PoP/Ykesha etc

That makes sense up until TSS but after that it would just mean you skipped half the expansions entirely because no one is gonna do any of like SOF if SOD is out.

level capped would be interesting provided they decrease all the level reqs on items to align to it. I feel like velious or luclin start would make more sense though since after luclin the catch up items from group content really make raid items from luclin and prior start to be irrelevant. Lots of zones are still level capped too which would actually be interesting because you could potentially have a period of time where like 60 is the cap and you can raid some of POP but not time.

they would also need a huge balance patch because if the idea is you raid while 5 - 10 levels lower then get ready to relive plane of sky levels of casters sucking for the entire life of the server. The entire raid would be monks and rangers

Let's see
Classic/Kunark together - Very good
Velious/Luclin together - Very good, can go right into AAs and Velious will still get some use, just not nearly as much, and mainly by B-tier raiders.
PoP/LoY/LDoN together - Good, if only because it'll save some time. I assume LoY would buck the pairing convention for this one round since it always gets added to PoP anyway now.
GoD/OoW together - Very good, these were supposed to be one huge expansion in the first place, according to some. GoD would still get plenty of gearing-up use.
DoN/DoD together - Good, prevents a lapse in having new AAs, and shortens the 70 era.
PoR/TSS together - Decent, prevents another AA lapse, however PoR would likely get very little use since TSS has such an abundance of raids and is a bit of a gear reset.
TBS/SoF together - Decent, prevents another AA lapse, but TBS would get like no use except by lower-tier raid guilds.
SoD/UF together - Decent, this is a point where stronger guilds are doing UF but a lot of guilds struggle, so SoD would get a ton of use.
HoT/VoA together - Bad, this is the point where the pairings become a content overload and cause people to skip large amounts of it, which will then give you attrition.
RoF/CotF together - Good, because CotF is a mess and a drop-off point for population.
TDS/EoK together - Bad, this is a massive content overload, TDS's raid zone would get like no use, etc.

Rest after that are also Bad tier. But it's a cool idea for a while, and the population would probably start to drop off around when it stops being a good idea anyway (post-UF).
 

Elderan

Blackwing Lair Raider
579
400
I still like a Luclin start the best unless they could do classic with the bazaar open which I know they wont.

Level locks are just a bad idea. People will get to max level and quit until the next level unlock if there is no loot to be had. For example if they do level a level 10 lock for 2 weeks whats the point? like 1 day of casual play and then hit cap and log out. Yes some retards will be trying to kill nag with like every level 10 on the server but that wont really hold most people.
 

moonarchia

The Scientific Shitlord
20,897
37,866
Vanilla start. Mercs from day 1. FV loot rules. Cut the xpac durations in half from Mischief. Cut pick spawn thresholds in half.
 
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Mahes

Ahn'Qiraj Raider
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5,214
Vanilla start. Mercs from day 1. FV loot rules. Cut the xpac durations in half from Mischief. Cut pick spawn thresholds in half.
I would increase XP as well.

So no randomness. I would like to see how a server with the above rule set and complete randomness would do. Still have raid gear be lootable from raid bosses but no actual table association at all. Nonraid for nonraid and raid for raid. In short, yes a tier one mob could drop a max tier item. Just adjust the tables for percent chances. a Weaker mob would be less likely to drop a max item but it could still happen. I would also separate the tables for quest based items. If the mob could drop a quest based item, it is capable of dropping any quest based item but it would not share the loot table with armor/weapons/augs.

I think that would be fun.
 
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yerm

Golden Baronet of the Realm
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15,348
I still like a Luclin start the best unless they could do classic with the bazaar open which I know they wont.

Level locks are just a bad idea. People will get to max level and quit until the next level unlock if there is no loot to be had. For example if they do level a level 10 lock for 2 weeks whats the point? like 1 day of casual play and then hit cap and log out. Yes some retards will be trying to kill nag with like every level 10 on the server but that wont really hold most people.

I'd argue that on the contrary, people do that anyway, but it's on a larger scale as they quit for weeks or even months waiting for the next expac. If the level cap is going up every week or two, and there is never ever a period of over a month waiting for some change or addition, you can maybe curb that lulled feeling that results in so many people bailing for long stretches.


They should totally add bazaar to classic either way though. Fuck having to manually trade. Fuck, I just hate speaking to people in that context. "Would you accept..." no and don't talk to me unless you're gonna pay what I clearly said. "Can I offer you..." no and fuck you. I hate having to be that guy to buy shit sometimed even more. Anyone who prefers ec to the bazaar is probably a cunt and I hope you're offended.
 
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Zog

Blackwing Lair Raider
1,715
2,227
March was a much better time to launch a TLP... This May shit fucks the whole cycle. I blame cyberpunk and for what? Shit game that fizzled out faster than Miragul.