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  • A TLP without truebox has thawed (Very Vanilla ready)
    Frostreaver

News - 2026 EQ TLP's Frostreaver & Lethar

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We have been listening to your feedback and suggestions and have decided to create some polls of some of the rulesets you all have said you enjoy for our first Time-Locked Progression server of 2026!

Our first TLP, Frostreaver, will open in May and will have a ruleset voted on by you! We will be making a polling forum where we will post several polls on a select number of rules, so you all can collectively decide what you all think the best choices are for Frostreaver.

We expect all forum guidelines to be followed in these threads; attacks or insults to others for their vote will not be tolerated. We do encourage healthy debate; you never know when a point you make will draw someone to your side. To that point, we will be allowing you to change your vote until the poll closes. Each poll will remain open for one month, at which time the final votes will be a determining factor in that ruleset being chosen or not.

If incompatible server rulesets are chosen, we will have a re-polling to pit them against one another in a follow-up poll to see which is more viable. An example of incompatible rulesets would be PvP and Encounter Locking. We will add a reminder note in threads that have a chance of being incompatible with another ruleset up for polling.

Polling will begin in the forums, which can be accessed at https://everquest.com/vote, starting NOW and will continue until January 16, 2026, at 12:00 P.M. (noon) PT. You will need to have an active and valid membership to vote in these polls. Please be sure to log out and back into the forums prior to this date to ensure you can see these new forums once they go live.

Our second TLP, Lethar, will open in The Serpent’s Spine and have a new ruleset we call Personal Loot. We will have more information on this server when it gets closer to launch. This server is set to open in August.

We are excited about this collaboration with you all in determining the ruleset for our May TLP!


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Does MQ work? That depends on their ruleset - truebox/relaxed truebox is a NO

www.redguides.com

Policy - When does MQ work on servers that transition into "relaxed truebox" servers, or removed entirely?

MQ is not supported on Truebox servers. A relaxed truebox server is still a truebox server. If/When a server transitions to complete removal of truebox restrictions, MQ would then be supported. This requires 2 things: 1. the server added to mq (which might not be the same day) and 2. the...
www.redguides.com www.redguides.com

any bullshittery of dumbshittery in this thread about truebox circumvention or baspend shit is just gonna get deleted. please don't make that happen

also: just so it *doesn't* turn into bullshittery/dumbshittery - Rizlona *actually voted on MQ being usable*, so take their "come vote on stuff" with a grain of salt - at least this is public

If you're passionate about TLP and about wanting to be able to use MacroQuest

>>>>>>>>> VOTE HERE <<<<<<<<<
 
Free_Sid said:
I have never done a new server. Do you transfer your toons over or just start new ones?
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Usually you just start a new character on the same or even a new account if you want. But since it is TLP the account does need to be all access. So most players just use the existing account

Sometimes they will offer a transfer to the new server, if that happens it will show in the advertisement when it's close to launch
 
the launch option polls are at odds with literally every other poll. 36 weeks to pop does not seem to be wanted but dbg is obsessed with keeping the reroll population happy. i assume its because they make the most money on tlps from them. on the servers ive played on the habitual rerollers leave in luclin anyways. and if they dont they leave when ever the new one opens up.

the thread on it is like 70% people asking in one way or another for a faster launch schedule and to split the poll into launch on what expac + how long until pop / do we do the fang breaker level lock system. it also has 4-5 more pages of posts then the others.
 
i do find the poll results for no truebox mildly humorous and yet satisfying.

it just goes to show how vocal the minority against boxing is .... perhaps this time theyll actually launch a TLP without it for the first time in a long time. i personally will never leave test server but it would be nice to see the playerbase maybe get what they want at least on one server
 
they rigged the rules in favor of truebox and now its winning. i went ahead and put all my accounts vote against truebox but im only an 18 boxer
 
fakename said:
they rigged the rules in favor of truebox and now its winning. i went ahead and put all my accounts vote against truebox but im only an 18 boxer
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another crappy way to see what people want - should have used some weighted ranked choice rather than "if the total of all these other options *wink* are more than xyz"
 
i agree ive said since basically day one that to many polls vote split and they should of went with a weighted option. some polls are just bad as well like the unlock schedule and what expac to start the server on. i also think some polls like the what expac to start on are less about what the community wants and more about what will dbg let us have. the what expac to launch on is a prime example. they put their foot down and said it will take 36 weeks to get to pop period. and if you wanna start in luclin youre getting fang breakers crap level unlock system. i would of voted for luclin if i ment i could have 36 weeks of lvl 60 luclin instead of 8 weeks at stupid break point levels. with how it is i voted for the standard classic - pop

them adding the caveat 3 weeks into voting that if the vote split in truebox outweighs the vote for no truebox then truebox wins is also more about what dbg is willing to give us. they saw they made a mistake and the community does not want truebox so they added in a rule to garuntee truebox. they basically said joe reroller matters more then everyone else and he doesnt want to see god or omens before he rerolls and he hates boxers because noone wants to group with his druid so now everyone else has to play by those rules until he rerolls
 
I have fought the fight for no truebox as best I can over in the poll thread but it's definitely losing now. Hovering at 49.9-50%. Ultimately I think it will end up losing just because of people's negative views towards boxers. Speaking as someone who both manually six-boxes and makes use of KA/MA depending on my mood, I'd honestly prefer the lack of truebox just so manually boxing doesn't have the extra step of my software KVM hotkeys to move me from screen to screen - to say nothing of once again having to redesign my battlestation to make six monitors viewable (or two, if Relaxed goes through in the end).

I'm not a fan of the lightspeed unlock pace the community wants, either (4/8), or the insanely slow to PoP pace of 36 weeks regardless of start. I'd much rather see something like a 5/7 or 6/8 pace, starting in Classic with it in place (8 weeks Classic, 8 weeks Kunark, 6 weeks Velious/Luclin, gets us to PoP in 28 weeks).
 
Randomly, just in case people don't know - you only need a silver account to vote. Anything you've previously had a subscription on. I have zero active subscriptions and all my previously-active ones could vote. Daybreak says you have to be Gold, but it's not true.
 
madimp said:
Randomly, just in case people don't know - you only need a silver account to vote. Anything you've previously had a subscription on. I have zero active subscriptions and all my previously-active ones could vote. Daybreak says you have to be Gold, but it's not true.
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Classic DBG's :doh:
 
madimp said:
Randomly, just in case people don't know - you only need a silver account to vote. Anything you've previously had a subscription on. I have zero active subscriptions and all my previously-active ones could vote. Daybreak says you have to be Gold, but it's not true.
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The forums are so messed up I expect to see some free to play able to vote. I have fully paid up accounts and cannot vote. I could not even post or edit my posts for weeks. Then some "captain" fixed that
 
I've had an account that I used solely for EQ2 that I now am unable to log in to and have been for a few years despite a couple of tickets being sent in about it. No matter how I reset the password, it just gives me "invalid credentials" every time. The entire account structure over there is borked to hell.
 
madimp said:
I've had an account that I used solely for EQ2 that I now am unable to log in to and have been for a few years despite a couple of tickets being sent in about it. No matter how I reset the password, it just gives me "invalid credentials" every time. The entire account structure over there is borked to hell.
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Yes, I have seen that issue. These are related to forum permissions. My accounts are fine.........for now, unless I lose my temper again and mouth off
 
All we can really do is see what DBG does with the results. Its kind of exciting if they honor the way the votes has all seem to have gone. I'm a bit worried for TLPs in 2027 that will need to follow this though.
 
For a summary, this is how the votes have turned out, so people don't have to click into all the polls:

No Truebox (51.3% of the vote)
Beastlords + Berserkers in from the start (91%)
Starting in Velious, 18 weeks of Velious, 18 weeks of Luclin (35.2% of the vote) - I might actually do the Shawl and Ring this time around with 18 weeks of Velious
PoP+LoY unlock together (90.2% of the Vote)
Omens of War + Dragons of Norrath unlock together (71.6%)
Gates of Discord unlocks 4 weeks after LDoN (71.7%)
Prophecy of Ro + Depths of Darkhollow (81.4%)
8 week unlock rate post-PoP (30.1%)
Encounter Locking is in (61.7%)
Free Trade is in (83.5%)
Open PVP is dead (79.7%)
No Item Level Requirements (replaced with Item Level Recs) (84.6%)
Focus Effects active from launch (88.9%)
Live XP Rate (64.5%)
No Level Locking (81%)
Random Loot is a go (65.9%)
Evolving Bonuses are go (88.6%)
Challenge Achivements are in (76.4%)
Resource Hunter is in (89%)
Legacy Characters are in (85.8%)
Server is going to Live (78%)
 
Smartiez said:
I think it's crap that they posted about 90 min before the end on the fix to get your other accounts to work. I did get 7 votes in, not the 20 something I wanted to use.
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They posted a fix? Would you mind saying where that was? I still have numerous accounts that could not vote, could not edit and some other issues that were all happening together and would like to see if that fix, fixes them'

Oh, I did find a post on how to fix NEW accounts but nothing about how to fix older accounts.
 
Redmonkey said:
They posted a fix? Would you mind saying where that was? I still have numerous accounts that could not vote, could not edit and some other issues that were all happening together and would like to see if that fix, fixes them'

Oh, I did find a post on how to fix NEW accounts but nothing about how to fix older accounts.
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There were a few posts about DMing Angeliana to get your voting ability unlocked spread through the threads and in the TLP forum threads. But for the record, here is Angeliana giving the 'fix' of logging into the game with that account after the forum account is created.
 
Kind of starting to wish level locking had won, if only to remove the level-based bonus to resists, and to raise level caps on spells like Charm and Stun by 10. Why yes I would like to use Boltran's Agacerie to charm level 63 NPCs. I know it's dumb since we'd be doing up to Gates at level 55 assuming it'd follow Vaniki's schedule but a girl can dream of the resist system overhaul.
 
I have been wanting to post my thoughts on this topic for quite awhile, but I have been hesitant because I fear that my post might lead straight to Fippy's -- so I will try my best to avoid that path, while also being honest about the outlook of the upcoming TLP server(s). This post might be a bit long, so feel free to just skip it.

Firstly, I spend the majority of my time playing EQ on a variety of live (or near live) servers, being a dirty cheater like the rest of us. I absolutely love the Redguides community, and I am certain that without MQ I would not have spent even a tiny fraction of the amount of time in Norrath as I have over the last many years. On the flip side, I have also played every single TLP that has launched since Aradune -- while playing on TLP servers I have always followed the ruleset of the server; playing either 2 characters or 6 characters, each on a separate computer. No macroquest, no showeq, no cheating. I enjoy the break from live EQ, I embrace the nostalgia for awhile, and while unassisted boxing is a bit difficult and at times even tedious, it is also a fun challenge.

When they first announced the ideas and polls for the upcoming TLP, I was excited; not because I trust the average player, but because I don't trust Daybreak. They have shown a remarkable ability to get even the simple things wrong, look no further than the release of Tormax -- everyone knew it was going to be dead on arrival. People were clearly bored with the standard clone ruleset, and everyone was incredibly excited for the return of the Mischief ruleset. Next up they launched Fangbreaker, which featured fairly successful rules like the new resource hunter, but also failed spectacularly at enforcing a 2 box limit called Restricted Truebox (1 account per computer, 2 accounts MAX total). Unsurprising to the majority of us, they tried to half-ass enforce this the first 24-48 hour of the server -- but after that they just stopped giving a shit. Every single high level zone had people blatantly 6+ boxing, and the only people that were punished by the ruleset, were the few people that actually abided by it in the first place.

Now looking ahead, and with the result of the various polls available for analysis, I feel that there are a few scenarios that could turn this into a disaster. First of all, I genuinely hope that they plan on whittling down some of the bonuses. More isn't always better, and frankly I don't think people realise just how ridiculous some of the combinations are; on fangbreaker, the resource hunter bonus (random bonuses in random zones, changes every 24 hours) could roll upwards of 300% extra. The good thing was that this meant you could level and hunt in zones that you normally skip because they give awful experience, are out of the way, loot is too rare, or whatever the case may be -- I think that idea is healthy for a server and variety is always good. However, 300% bonus exp simply meant that you pretty much had to be in that specific zone or be incredibly inefficient, it was simply too much. Add in the potential for live exp rates (which also won the poll) and you could end up with people getting max level in <12 hours, even semi casually. From a server health perspective mid to long term that feels quite detrimental. Player retention during 18 weeks of Velious and Luclin, where people only log on for raids since they maxed out everything quickly, simply won't be good for the server -- and frankly, I suspect that they will lose out a fair amount of income from people no longer feeling a need/desire to buy exp potions and the likes.
However, my biggest concern is actually Truebox. I understand that this is likely to be a contentious topic, especially on this board. But I genuinely think that if a single server is launched in May with no truebox, and MQ is readily available from day one, it could potentially turn into an unmitigated disaster. It is quite clear that Daybreak rely on TLP servers to keep the lights on, the servers are incredibly popular and the average player will spend a lot of cash in-game compared to on live. The average TLP player is fairly casual, they enjoy the nostalgia and they play one or two characters while joining social groups and guilds to re-live the experience of their past. The last part of that is integral, as they absolutely abhor anything they consider cheating or even just 'unfair'. Even if you follow the truebox ruleset and box 6 characters legitimately, you will get reported for cheating, you will get trained, you will receive various abuse. So a server full of fully automated groups could unfortunately result in Daybreak losing those customers for good. I think it goes without saying that there will also be a much higher rate of reporting (extra work for GMs) than previous TLP servers by a fair amount. I guess the tldr is that I fear the inevitability of a huge clash between the TLP purists and the MQ community, and nothing good will come as a result of that conflict. I understand that a few peoples experience with MQ/TLP stem from Rizlona where you could mostly be left alone and sometimes even engage in conversation with other "users", but the caveat that Aradune launched simultaneously is important to note. Aradune kept the purists and non-cheating elitists far away from Rizlona. Also, as a final note, I understand that this is highly speculative; but I think the main reason most people use MQ is because it allows you to actually progress and achieve things on semi-dead/dead live servers. LFG is simply not an option, and it hasn't been for quite some time. I experienced this quite a few times when I first got back into the game, and it was depressing to log on for a couple of hours and experience no progress whatsoever. This is however, a complete non-issue on TLP servers, so a part of me is at least slightly concerned with the intentions of those wanting to use automation on a fresh TLP server.

I just genuinely worry that the long term health of the game is at stake, and as a result we could see either an escalation in anti-cheating measures, the intervals at which punishment occurs, or perhaps even a significant reduction in how long the game remains profitable.
 
For what it's worth, I don't intend to jump out the gate with automation, but I'll still be six-boxing and doing my thing. The game's simply not that difficult until about PoP+ that requires it - it just makes it easier. A couple socials with /pause 5, /assist main, /pet attack, then some /pause X /cast 1 in a row are more than sufficient til far later in the lifespan of the game, especially with /autoskill baseline. It might be a little different with a more melee-heavy group but even that I feel is solvable with proper positioning (pull past your melees so they're always facing the back of the mob in camp so all you really have to do is swap, hit your assist macro, swap back - takes like 300ms at most if you're active).

About the only thing I'd miss this early in a server lifespan without actively using MQ is movement.
 

Our first round of polls resulted in the following winning options. These are the winning rules you all voted to be on Frostreaver and these are what will be set for it. Since the conditions were not met for a runoff round of polls, no additional polls will be done.



Expansion Unlocks:

  • What expansions will be available when the server opens?
    • Winning vote – Standard + Scars of Velious Launch
  • Should this server ever STOP unlocking expansions?
    • Winning vote – No, the server should continue unlocking expansions until reaching Live
  • How often should expansions unlock after Planes of Power?
    • Winning vote – Standard +: Expansions should unlock every 8 weeks
  • Should Beastlords and Berserkers be available at Launch?
    • Winning vote - Yes
  • Should Gates of Discord unlock faster?
    • Winning vote - Yes
  • Should Legacy of Ykesha unlock with Planes of Power?
    • Winning vote - Yes
  • Should Prophecy of Ro unlock with Depths of Darkhollow?
    • Winning vote - Yes
  • Should Dragons of Norrath unlock with Omens of War?
    • Winning vote - Yes
Special Rules:

  • Should this server have Truebox?
    • Winning vote - No, clients per computer should be unrestricted
  • Should this server have Open PvP?
    • Winning vote - No
  • Should this server have Encounter Locking?
    • Winning vote - Yes
  • How fast should Experience Gain be on this server?
    • Winning vote – Live (Fastest)
  • Should this server have Free Trade?
    • Winning vote - Yes
  • Should this server have Level Locking?
    • Winning vote - No
  • Should this server have Disabled Item Level Requirements?
    • Winning vote - Yes
  • Should this server have Early Item Focus Effects?
    • Winning vote - Yes
Bonuses:

  • Should this server have Evolving Bonuses?
    • Winning vote - Yes
  • Should this server have Randomized Loot?
    • Winning vote - Yes
  • Should this server have Challenge Achievements?
    • Winning vote - Yes
  • Should this server have Resource Hunter Bonuses?
    • Winning vote - Yes
  • Should this server have Legacy Characters?
    • Winning vote – Yes


Thank you to those of you that participated!
 
News - 2026 EQ TLP's Frostreaver & Lethar
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