IRL - EQ 2025 TLP Ruleset

[Sic]

https://forums.everquest.com/index.php?threads/2025-tlp-ruleset-changes.303744/

Thank you to everyone who provided constructive feedback and regarding this year’s TLP Ruleset. The game team has taken it all into consideration and has decided on the following changes for the Expanded start and Unlocks.

• Expanded Start
  • Launch with Ruins of Kunark to Shadows of Luclin unlocked and level locked to 50
  • Increase level lock to 51 after 8 weeks
  • Increase level lock to 55 after 8 weeks
  • Increase level lock to 60 after 8 weeks
• Unlock Planes of Power after 12 weeks
• New expansions unlock automatically every 8/12 weeks
• Expanded Start
  • Start with Ruins of Kunark, Scars of Velious, and Shadows of Luclin unlocked and level-locked to level 50.
  • Enjoy access to a more varied level 50 experience with Iksar and Vah Shir available on launch day!
  • Spend 24 weeks experiencing everything our first 3 expansions have to offer before the level cap is increased to 60.
  • Planes of Power unlocks 12 weeks later, followed by additional unlocks happening at the regular cadence with a compressed level 70 range.
• Resource Hunter
  • The hunt is on for daily, zone-wide bonuses!
  • Every day at midnight Pacific, a limited number of zones in each unlocked expansion will be assigned a random bonus.
  • Find the zones to find the bonuses and share your discovery with the community!
  • Bonuses may include any of the following:
    • Increased EXP
    • Increased Loot
    • Increased AA EXP (In level 50+ zones)
    • Increased Coin Drops
    • Reduced NPC Spawn Times
    • Increased Rare NPC Spawns
    • ... and more!
• Name Reservations
  • Want to make sure you get your character's name before launch? Name reservations will once again be available via the /reservename command. The following dates indicate when you'll be able to reserve names for the new server, and how much /played time your character needs from an existing server to be able to reserve the name:
    • April 30: 200 days played
    • May 7: 100 days played
    • May 14: 40 days played
    • May 21: 10 days played
  • Keep in mind, characters cannot reserve their name if they have changed names in the past 30 days.
• This TLP will launch at 12:00 P.M. (noon) PDT on May 28, 2025!

Now that the high-level bullet points are listed. I'd like to take a moment to talk about the story behind the story with this TLP server. First off this is an experimental server, so we're trying some new things combined with some classic things and also bringing back a few of the experiments from years past.

Expanded Start. It's been a request for some years where some players wanted to have more expansions unlocked from the start (here's looking at you players that main Iksar and Vah Shir). With this year's expanded start, players will have access to more player races, locations, and tons more content with oodles of loot to obtain right from the start.

Slow Initial Unlocks. The fact is the population on every progression server declines as more and more expansions unlock. So, to keep a healthy server population for a longer period, we are extending the unlock time within some of the early expansions. We hope the slower initial progression leads to a longer, healthier progression server over the lifespan of the server.

Resource Hunter. The concept behind this ruleset is to expand the experience of hot zones to a new daily method. We hope that it will not only bring the thrill of finding new special areas but also bring the community together in the hunt. The Resource Hunter ruleset of random daily bonuses should not only encourage playing in a variety of zones and exploring more of Norrath, but also make it more rewarding to roam in different zones than you might normally on a TLP.

Encounter Locking. While it initially had some controversy, looking at the lifespan of Oakwynd it has been seen as a net good for the server. We received enough feedback and analyzed the data, and it appears to have ultimately benefited the server enough to try it again.

Legacy Characters. We're big fans of this ruleset. We tried it and we liked it overall, so we're doing it again. It will be interesting to see how it works in parallel with the Alternate Personas feature.

 

[WillardJ85]

Still not a huge fan of this ruleset personally, but at least they listened to the overwhelming amount of negative feedback regarding the 24 weeks of level 50, so that's something -- and it's a definite improvement. At least I assume this means you can start grinding AAs after 8 weeks, instead of just getting max level and being stuck there for 6 months.

That said I still feel like this is a hard sell, none of the things offered are even remotely comparable to the loot fiesta and hype behind last years TLPs. I also feel like they are trying to do a vaniki 2.0 but without any of the achievements / rewards -- I just don't know if enough hardcore/sweaty nerds will show up to compete for stuff while super underleveled. Vaniki forced all guilds to funnel basically all of their loot onto maintanks, which meant that everyone else was expected to just mass wipe and bind rush raid targets while being severely underleveled/undergeared, with absolutely no chance of even getting any loot. This time it will be the same minus the achievements/claimables and the double loot inherent in Vaniki's ruleset... might even be difficult since the vaniki resist changes aren't in either.