Never done the actual progression server stuff in EQ. Quit EQ like 17 years ago but I've recently (a week) been playing on p99 green. Thinking of subbing to do this new TLP.
What kind of audience is normally in this? I know people who like to rush content will obviously be on there. Are there more casual players on there drinking in the nostalgia than content rushers? Pondering if I should stay on p99 or play this considering I wont likely be a regular raider.
It is generally like P99 early on - there's a lot of friendly people if you play casually and don't chase endgame. If you *do* chase endgame, expect heightened competition.
Eventually most 'day-1' starters will be in endgame in about 2-3 weeks. That's when things start to get a bit rough in contested, open-world areas with camps like Efreeti, Ghoul Lord, Frenzy, Ass/Sup, Hammerhead, Hadden, Hill Giants, Ice Giants, Seafuries, etc.
At that point you will really want to avoid those areas unless you wish to fight or deal with toxic players. If you are on the fence about playing, I would wait 2-3 weeks to really roll a character and use the initial launch to reserve your name. Raid progression in classic is basically non-existent. Gear catchup takes a matter of a few days upon hitting max level, as long as you're not a class like a Bard (You will basically need the Selo's drums eventually), Rogue (Crystalline Spear is non-optional, and why would you roll a Rogue in classic anyways?!). For those 2-3 weeks of launch, items like Cloak of Flames will be hot commodities and the chance of you getting one in a guild is slim to none anyways unless you're, say, a monk or warrior main tank. It's worth noting, too, that items like Puppet Strings will be in use, although they will likely be saved for charm turn-ins in Kunark.
A big advantage over P99's raid scene, however, is the concept of raid NPCs being instanced on lockout timers. If you're not part of <Uber Guild Taking All Open World Targets> that you can't possibly compete with, (Unlike P99, all contested NPCs are DPS races on TLP servers.) you may enter an instance that contains that raid NPC with all of the loot. This opens up raiding to very casual players.
I would be very wary of joining just any old raid guild without doing your research on the history of the players running a guild. If a player, officer, or leader in a guild is known to trade their items in for real money and 'cash out' their character's items, you may just end up as a slave for someone else's RMT scheme as what happened with a lot of prominent TLP guilds. Even though they get exiled from their guilds after cashing out, the damage is done and especially if they are in a leadership position, you risk not having a guild the next day and wasting a lot of your time and effort.
This phenomenon stems from one big problem in these TLP servers: There is a real money aspect to EQ's TLPs in the form of 'Krono farming'. Normally players are supposed to buy 'Krono', an item which grants 30 days subscription time, from Daybreak's store to transfer to other players. However, an absurd underground market for Krono has formed in which players that don't spend a dime but corner specific camps and undercut the Daybreak price of the Krono. These players farm items of significant value and trade them for Krono. On the black market, Krono goes for anywhere from $8-11 instead of the $18 per Krono that Daybreak offers.
Ultimately Daybreak makes a profit on this either way. It's only their problem when it affects another player. RMT'ing is technically against their terms of service. ie; trading real life money to other players for Krono instead of items for Krono. They routinely ban people with too much of it, whether or not they were actually real-money trading or not. If you're engaged in the practice for too long, they will likely crack down on you eventually. This part of the game will stress you out. EQ is a lot of fun outside of this minigame and I highly suggest avoiding it if you wish to maximize your enjoyment of TLPs.
Generally, people involved in this form of RMT make below the federal US minimum wage while doing this, but occasionally you'll see someone cornering the market and making upwards of $3-8k a month. During the lifetime of a server, it's not uncommon to see someone brag on other forums about making six figures in a TLP.
Aradune is supposed to have GM support available, so it's yet to be seen if they will actually police DPS races, training, raid mob engagements, harassment, camp stealing, etc... it's in a very grey area and no information was released on *how* the GM will enforce the rules, only that they will be available.
Historically though... prior to this server, you had a better chance of being banned for calling someone a racist or homophobic term, or telling someone to kill themselves, rather than actually training someone. While it's normally good to keep your mouth shut, if you act clueless or apologize to the person in question with sincerity while training them deliberately, you actually have a higher chance of getting away with training them. We'll see if that continues into the next TLP.
and become the Michael Jordan of Everquest?
