EQ TLP - Vaniki (Level-Locked Progression)

Arbitrary

Arbitrary

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Zyke said:
So I just got back into EQ after literally 20 years away, and I started up with a friend on FV to try it out. We've been having a pretty good time just levelling up in the nostalgia zones and not really trying to go full efficiency. We were discussing joining the new TLP in May (the normal-ish one, not the level lock one). Can anyone explain what to expect? I see Mischief is still really popular - what makes that one so good, and should we expect a ton of people on the new one when it launches? Or do people not mass migrate to the new TLP's when they come out like I'm imagining? And how long do the communities usually last before they start to fade away?
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Mischief has extra random loots on all named and all raid targets on top of being free-trade. That means almost nothing has the No Drop tag. That was a new ruleset and it was/is really popular.

Yelinak is going to have a ton of people at launch. Zones automatically spawn additional instances or "picks" when they reach a threshold of people (varies by zone) so you tend to have people gravitate towards the better zones for grouping. If you're looking to do Vox, Nagafen, take a run through Sky etc. than Yelinak is what you're looking for. Unlike EQ in that era you have maps, advanced loot, improvements to some spells, weaker pet defenses and other changes.
 
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yerm

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Zyke said:
So I just got back into EQ after literally 20 years away, and I started up with a friend on FV to try it out. We've been having a pretty good time just levelling up in the nostalgia zones and not really trying to go full efficiency. We were discussing joining the new TLP in May (the normal-ish one, not the level lock one). Can anyone explain what to expect? I see Mischief is still really popular - what makes that one so good, and should we expect a ton of people on the new one when it launches? Or do people not mass migrate to the new TLP's when they come out like I'm imagining? And how long do the communities usually last before they start to fade away?
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To add to what was said, most TLP servers start to see a population drop once planes of power is beaten. My observation is that its uneven and you'll have like one guild only lose a few people for half a year and another implodes, or one guild lose all its casters and no other classes, but it sets in usually between LDON and OOW and stays until maybe TSSish where people still there tend to stay for the most part. Expect a TLP guild to make it to at least planes of power and likely break up sometime in the level 70 range, while the friends you make along the way will probably do similar.

Another thing to note with these TLPs is that you tend to have different server cultures at different times, so you may end up with a lot of chatty boxers at night or you may have a real whiny karen evening shift, hard to predict. You also tend to get a LOT of people who fizzle after the first few weeks of each expansion. So you'll want to try to get your grouping type goals met right away and not fall behind, as a lot of your friends will start to only show up for raids (and some disappear for a month) until next expansion.

Last and most important advice: join a fucking guild! Don't be the guy who complains about not finding groups or having nothing to do while playing alone (unless you box a lot). If you meet some cool people, guild with them. You can read back through threads here to see what I mean: people talking about how much fun they're having while the guy with no guild says "wtf this shit sucks" don't be that guy!
 
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Arbitrary

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Also, it's an order of magnitude easier to go hard during the opening through the weekend than stretch it out over a couple weeks of casual play. If you can set aside some big blocks of time when literally everyone is leveling it's a big time saver.
 
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Kharzette

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Ugh berserker race choices. Dorf I guess?

For faces we have the fruit picker, alcoholic mom, angry 2nd grade teacher, plus size model, church deacon genderswap cosplay, same plus size model face again, grizzly adams genderswap cosplay, and the health-at-any-size activist.

The assassin camp will be busy.
 
Arbitrary

Arbitrary

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Kharzette said:
Ugh berserker race choices. Dorf I guess?

For faces we have the fruit picker, alcoholic mom, angry 2nd grade teacher, plus size model, church deacon genderswap cosplay, same plus size model face again, grizzly adams genderswap cosplay, and the health-at-any-size activist.

The assassin camp will be busy.
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Berbs are rather pretty.
 
Zaide

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Honestly this is the first time a fresh TLP hasn’t really enticed me. I don’t think it’s the ruleset because I love standard TLPs and I think the level lock concept will be fun too. Something about Mischief just keeps my full focus.
 
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Zog

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Zaide said:
Honestly this is the first time a fresh TLP hasn’t really enticed me. I don’t think it’s the ruleset because I love standard TLPs and I think the level lock concept will be fun too. Something about Mischief just keeps my full focus.
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If you left it would definitely be a morale gut punch. I mean honestly if you have a good thing going it would be hard to walk away from that. I feel i made a mistake being in GIG because i didn't make as many long term friendships that i wanted to.

I always said EQ is all about friends and playing with people, the content is just a playground.

While i did make some friends in gig the drama that surfaced occasionally from being in that type of environment often left people feeling excluded which fractured the cohesion of the people playing.

I wouldn't be surprised if the smaller dkp guilds had a lot more player retention and longer term friendships on mischief even if they didn't progress their characters even close to as fast.
 
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C

Cymbaline

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im opposite, Mischief feels like fisherprice 4 year old easy mode, Eq isnt a hard game but mischief has been BIS all round and not seen much challenge in anything yet, which is fine to see the content and expansions, i like the random loot just feel the amount of it that drops has lessened my enjoyment.

Edit: no i am not joining rapiers.
 
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Regime

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Bigor33 said:
im opposite, Mischief feels like fisherprice 4 year old easy mode, Eq isnt a hard game but mischief has been BIS all round and not seen much challenge in anything yet, which is fine to see the content and expansions, i like the random loot just feel the amount of it has whats lessened my enjoyment.

Edit: no i am not joining rapiers.
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Sup Keon
 
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Rajaah

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forehead said:
For someone who never played past PoP

Would GoD start totally change the leveling path or are people still going to be doing the normal starting zones/dungeons?

Is Gfay>CB>Unrest still a viable path or is everyone going to be on some extraterrestrial planet getting mad exp?
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Vanessa said:
There's a reason when GoD was new back then, we called it GoDamn.

Mobs are:
  • Hard hitting
  • HP beefy
  • Equipped with innate racial DD procs like Ukun Claws
I'd question someone's sanity to level in GoD; ever. People will take the usual paths to 65.
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IIRC, the only time GoD factors into leveling is when the cap is 65 and you're 65. Kod'Taz, Tipt, and Vxed are like the best AAing zones in the game, followed by Plane of Fire. (Edit: Were, before Splitpaw). However you need to be able to handle said GoD zones. Raid-geared 65s can clean up on AAs in those places, while everyone else is better off sticking to PoFire.

Barindu and Riwwi can be really good normal exp in the 61-65 range, but only if you're geared. That's the only time GoD zones are good for actual leveling. GoD has absolutely nothing worthwhile for leveling under 60, and once OOW comes out Wall of Slaughter obsoletes all of the above listed GoD zones.
 
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Rajaah

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Sieger said:
GoD won't directly change the leveling meta since it doesn't have a ton of relevant pre-60 content. It does have a couple zones that are sub-60 but even on live where they are sometimes hotzones they are never the fastest in their level range. LoY being out could change the meta some because there's a bunch of leveling zones that come out with that, and there's also some of the weird zones that usually aren't available initially that will be with a GoD launch: Jaggedpine, SolC, ChardokB etc. I have never really tested the LoY and random etc zones versus the normal meta for a Luclin or earlier server, so no idea if they shake things up (at the very least they give people more options, so the people who aren't racing to max level will have more zones to find xp in if it's crowded.)

For 60-65 the meta will either be revamped Splitpaw (which opens in LDoN but with some of its mobs and items not available until GoD), or maybe PoN or something into Splitpaw. It gets murky because at some point shortly after PoP on a TLP, the mid-tier PoP zones open up without flagging (meaning places like BoT etc), but it could be one of those things that is based on "x months after the server has opened Planes of Power." Either way, if a lot of PoP is locked behind progression flags then obviously those zones won't be available in a leveling rush to 65, so it will likely be a test to see if a Tier 1 PoP zone like PoNightmare or PoValor is faster XP than Splitpaw--in general I know Splitpaw is fast but there are some caveats--all the mobs in Splitpaw are mez and charm immune so and I actually think they hit relatively hard. That's irrelevant in the typical progression of when the zone opens, but naked characters struggling to 65 it might be a problem, but the level 61 PoP pet caster pets are pretty beefy so maybe you'd just pet tank them down.
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Oh yeah, I forgot all about Splitpaw and how that's a thing now. It pretty much obsoletes GoD zones for exp in-era and it's better than Wall of Slaughter too. MPG/RSS is how I like to do 68-70, but Splitpaw is probably better than that too. IIRC the last time I did that level range I did Splitpaw until like 72 and then went to TSS.

So Splitpaw basically obsoletes GoD/OoW/DoN/DoD/PoR exp zones. However you're gonna get better loot in WoS in the mid 60's. Also, banging out rapid-fire Creator missions in DoN might be better exp/hour if it isn't nerfed, plus it gets you crystals to buy gear/augs and important faction. Splitpaw's weakness is that while the exp is great, the loot is kinda dick outside of a few particular items that you'll probably get quickly.
 
Rajaah

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Animosity said:
www.everquest.com

EverQuest Producer's Letter April 2022

Now with more
www.everquest.com www.everquest.com

Rulesets out! 2 servers.
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1649625319402.png

He/she is holding some sort of sword and it's covered by a cloth. What's that about? New epic weapons in development and they're giving a hint of what one of them is gonna look like?

As for the new servers...they're dropping on May 25th, the same day as the EQ2 TLP. So anyone considering trying both out is gonna have to choose now. Kinda lame.

Vaniki server looks interesting enough to try out, not sure how well it's gonna work though. I'd have changed it to start with everything up to SoL unlocked and unlock PoP/GoD at the 55 raise. Seems excessive to have like 6 expansions all unlocking at 60.

Yelinak is bland, but it's the normalcy people like, so it'll probably pull a majority of the TLP crowd away from Vaniki. I can't believe they're doing 16 weeks in PoP yet again, even though the length of PoP has killed the server population in TLP after TLP.
 
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Rajaah

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Cinge said:
Doesn't that make casters even more useless? Being even farther behind a boss level?

I dunno, doesn't seem much fun to me. New sure. But raid wise seems bad. Sure group wise going around and getting loot from farther expansions could be interesting. What are you going to raid at level 40 for a month? Trying to 150 man OW stuff and pray? Maybe can go against mobs with no AEs, but anything with an AE is going to demolish your raid force I would think(no one is going to resist a thing). Also you are missing a lot of spells from after 40.. And that trend just continues. Sounds like I would just get frustrated basically zerg rushing OW stuff, as I dont see how a instanced group is going to do it, being that behind. iirc early dragon kills with a lot of people in 35-45s was because of mage pet, which you cant do anymore. Can't even enter the planes until the 2nd month.

Also what about gear later with all the recc/require levels on it or AAs. AAs unlocked right away, but you cant get any until 51 iirc. And then some of the ranks have level requirements. Even quests, PoTranq armor, qvic armor, to even do the quest you have to be 60 and 65 iirc? Which is 10 weeks for the first and 18 weeks for the 2nd and by then up to PoR is unlocked. I dunno maybe you are just supposed to find things that have no level requirements and just open world mobs you can mob down.


Seems like I am passing on this one. I expect the normal server to be the popular one this time around.
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For what it's worth, it said they're easing restrictions on casters not being able to land spells on higher level mobs on Vaniki.

Still considering running a magician for this, want to see how low-level various raid mobs can be downed at and chances are it's gonna take a lot of magicians. Especially if resistances really are eased so I can actually land spells on mobs 10 levels higher.

We'll find out very quickly if rolling a caster on Vaniki is a completely retarded idea. Them giving us 4 weeks at level 40 (which a lot of us would get by the end of day two) leaves plenty of time for re-rolling once we find out our class is useless.
 
Korzax Stonehammer

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Zaide said:
Honestly this is the first time a fresh TLP hasn’t really enticed me. I don’t think it’s the ruleset because I love standard TLPs and I think the level lock concept will be fun too. Something about Mischief just keeps my full focus.
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All the krono?
 
Zaide

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Bigor33 said:
im opposite, Mischief feels like fisherprice 4 year old easy mode, Eq isnt a hard game but mischief has been BIS all round and not seen much challenge in anything yet, which is fine to see the content and expansions, i like the random loot just feel the amount of it that drops has lessened my enjoyment.

Edit: no i am not joining rapiers.
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Amod Amod can we ban this retard who is impersonating an EQ streamer?
F5E7A1F1-ED4E-4F75-8966-5D424B979C35.jpeg
 
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Rajaah

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Mrniceguy said:
Most of it's damage comes from a 3k per tick dot. But you can setup HT rotations where one SK HTs and then when it wears off 30 second later another SK HTs.
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I was able to solo Nagafen with a 52 SK on a live server one time. Took a lot of tries, but HT accounted for a lot of my damage over the fight. Also had access to the HT disc and the lifetap disc which also added a lot of damage. The hardest part was the last 25% or so when I was out of tricks and just trying to stay alive while whittling him down the rest of the way.

Keep in mind this was a live server which means I had full level 50 defiant gear (unsure what the TLP equivalent gear would be, maybe NTOV, maybe VT).

Point is, with GoD HT and no MOTM, a few SKs at 50 will be able to DROP Nagafen. We'll see what resists look like at 40.

F it, maybe instead of Magician I'll go SK again...if I do this at all
 
Rajaah

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Xevy said:
Think the Vaniki server was to help alleviate the issue most of the expansions have: low to mid level content that is completely unused by the time the expansion unlocks. Crystal Caverns? No ones using that by the time Velious Hits. PoNightmare? Maybe boxers and soloers. Natimbi? No one, ever. All sorts of weird PoR zones? Maybe Drakkin alts that aren't PLed.

Guess this is there way of getting people to new places they would basically never use because they're outleveled. Not sure it's worth an entire server, but I'm guessing that's what they're trying to do. Maybe they'll get some feedback like "OH SHIT CRYSTAL CAVERNS IS SO COOL" and they'll up the ZEM for future TLPs.

Probably not, probably just fucking threw a dart at the intern suggestion box ideas and hit this one.
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You're right, maybe that's the intent. One of the reasons I wanted a TSS start server is because TSS has so many good leveling zones that get little to no use anymore. A leveling server would expose people to a lot of content they might not even know about.

I guess this is the next best thing. With the cap at 65 when TSS comes out, awesome zones like Sunderock Springs and The Steppes are going to be getting a lot of use (they're designed for like 62-70 IIRC) instead of everyone just leaping over those zones and pouring into Direwind/Valdeholm/etc. People might also use Buried Sea missions for AAs/gear because 75 group gear will actually be really good at 65, instead of just leaping over all that content to run Solteris. Etc.

I think LoY is gonna get some use for leveling on here which is great because LoY zones are some of my favorites in the game and they rarely get any use. People will meta to 40, but LoY might be solid for 40-50.
 
yerm

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One of the nice things about a 40 cap with GoD era pets and xp and what I assume any "spells land easier" effect will have on charming, is it'll take like 3 evenings to casually hit 40 for many people, or one solid day if you have the time and good group. I don't see why you couldn't swing by and try stuff out. No reason to quit your mischief/thornblade guild. The investment needs and therefore risk (wasted time) here is the lowest of any tlp ever.
 
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