Discussion - Test Copy or Start Fresh on Test

[Gekko]

I have heard that after years of the subscription / Krono grind on Live some folks like to retire into the sunset and play on Test after doing a copy.

That got me thinking. If you copied a toon to Test (for arguments sake let’s say it is level 100) and you play for a while and gained some levels (let’s say it is now level 110), if you decide to go back to Live you would have to “re-grind” those levels before another copy or else lose the progress you had made on Test.

For discussion, I was wondering if folks have ever started from Level 1 on Test? If so, what were your thoughts or reasoning? I have often viewed Test as an experimental sand box, but if memory serves me, I believe there were discussions several years ago about some folks playing exclusively on Test or perhaps doing a combination of FV and Test.

Too much morning coffee still in effect. Be well. Happy gaming.

 

[E9er]

Anything earned on test is over written on a fresh copy of the same character. The only way you can retain anything from a test toon when doing a fresh copy is housing their gears/augs/pots and what not before doing then copy. So you don't have to refarm all of that. All in all though if you copy over a toon yes you will need to re level those characters. You can only retain gear already farmed.

 

[Algar]

I will answer your question and ramble on about 6 other things you didn't ask:

All of my current test toons started at level 1 with zero interaction with any other server (i.e, not copied). I wanted a large number of gold characters to test/create rgmercs configs without dropping hundreds and hundreds of dollars to do it.

Eventually I moved some gear/items/plat over via mules/etc from another server, but it was all attunable stuff/spell gems/etc.

Playing on live/test simultaneously:
Hopping back and forth isn't really feasible, a mistaken testcopy from the live server character could cause you to lose a ton of work on test. The best bet is to never log back into the live toon once you've made the decision to copy and live on test. You can delete them, even, but it may be risky to reuse the name (I have read a single first-hand account of someone doing that and it overwriting the test character regardless... doesn't make much sense to me, but just sharing it.)

For gear/gearing/economy:
Some people load up and twink level 1 toons on FV and transfer to test, not personally my thing. The bazaar, when it is stocked (it is less so nowadays due to population), has just about anything for 1pp, up-to and including chase gear. Mats are freely copied from live servers, so raising tradeskills/etc is a breeze. Asking nicely in general chat will get you plat, bags, mounts, spells, armor, and anything else, although, you may have to ask when certain people are around (if at first you don't get an answer, try again later).

As far as grouping/raiding:
There are raid guilds, but the ones that are public don't really seem to be particularly cutting edge (they do, however, seem to be some really cool folks). There have been mq-friendly raiders and groupers out there, but there are also people who actively hunt down stupid mq'ers when they are bored. I would imagine this is the same as any other server.

Free gold status:
The account advantage of test is that you are considered to be a gold subscription (I say considered because you don't get things like the free heroic on test, you can't game the system that way). Prestige gear without paying, full AA, augs, etc. You still have to purchase expansions.

Low MQ uptime:
However, you need to be aware that test server MQ uptime is low over the last few years. I'd estimate 50-60% (compared to the 90-95% of live). I would check out the Test MQ build thread for more information on why that is. For people that must play eq with mq every day, that may be a dealbreaker.

I have heard that after years of the subscription / Krono grind on Live some folks like to retire into the sunset and play on Test after doing a copy.

That got me thinking. If you copied a toon to Test (for arguments sake let’s say it is level 100) and you play for a while and gained some levels (let’s say it is now level 110), if you decide to go back to Live you would have to “re-grind” those levels before another copy or else lose the progress you had made on Test.

For discussion, I was wondering if folks have ever started from Level 1 on Test? If so, what were your thoughts or reasoning? I have often viewed Test as an experimental sand box, but if memory serves me, I believe there were discussions several years ago about some folks playing exclusively on Test or perhaps doing a combination of FV and Test.

Too much morning coffee still in effect. Be well. Happy gaming.

 

[ChatWithThisName]

I have heard that after years of the subscription / Krono grind on Live some folks like to retire into the sunset and play on Test after doing a copy.

That got me thinking. If you copied a toon to Test (for arguments sake let’s say it is level 100) and you play for a while and gained some levels (let’s say it is now level 110), if you decide to go back to Live you would have to “re-grind” those levels before another copy or else lose the progress you had made on Test.

For discussion, I was wondering if folks have ever started from Level 1 on Test? If so, what were your thoughts or reasoning? I have often viewed Test as an experimental sand box, but if memory serves me, I believe there were discussions several years ago about some folks playing exclusively on Test or perhaps doing a combination of FV and Test.

Too much morning coffee still in effect. Be well. Happy gaming.

If you make a guild on test and then test copy that character. It will overwrite the character and you lose the guild.
Make a new toon - even if it's just to make a guild so that you have permanent access to the luxuries that come with a guild hall. You also have someone to dump money/items onto from test copies.

A toon that originates on test starting from 1 has no effect on the "re-grinding" if you decide to go back to live. You still have to re-grind on live if you abandon a new toon that you leveled up or an old toon you test copied and leveled up. Progress made on test is locked to test regardless if it's a new or test copied toon. Unless you just want to make a toon from 1 then there isn't a valid reason not to test copy your toon, even if that means you decide to go back to live and have to redo some things later.

 

[519helvis]

cwtn and algar have pretty much given a good summary of the server, i would just like to add that however you decide to play you still need to buy expansions if you wish to go above the f2p level. that being said there is no prestige ruleset for gear even at the f2p level. i also as a fulltime player try to avoid open world zones with people in them and even though test has a small population i still do not go afk for extended periods of time. enjoy test! i love it

 

[TinyBubbles]

If you have a toon you won't/don't play on live, then that is a good toon to copy over and play. If you think you would want to play on live and test with the same toon, then I would recommend to copy over to test and then pay the 1500db to get a potion of amnesia and change the toons name on test. Yes, that would take a bit of real life money to do.

On test, you can grind 1 to 25 if you want, or when you are on the 1st level toon on Test server, type in /testbuff and go from 1 to 25 (spelled, basic gear, a couple bags). If you have a group of 6 (Tank, healer, mezzer, dps, dps, dps/adps) then going from 25 to 125 can be done decently quickly using whatever version of RedGuides automation you want to use ((RG Mercs Lua, Kissassist, or the class specific plugins (pay for which classes you use, one license for that class can be used on every other of that class. You aren't limited to just being able to use it on one toon.)). XP on test is 2x that of normal servers. So, when we have bonus xp times, on test you double the double.

Something I would recommend if you have the plat/resources on live, is to buy a Prize: poignant/practical/prodigeous potion. More is better, one can be done, but I'd make a few /testcopy toons to get more moved across. Those potion packs have 5 50% xp potions in them. Keep copying the potions over and giving them to your toons. Remember you can use Lesson as well to save 1 use of a potion a day.

If you wanted, you could set yourself an account that has various levels of a TANK on it so that you can PL a group of 5 fairly quickly.

Enjoy.

 

[Tim2051]

As someone who has played on both live and test, I think they captured it above well.

Summarized: a copy from live with the same name will override the same name of toon On test. So if you’ve progressed that toon on test, prepare to lose progress.

Something that I see overlooked a lot… heroics (depending on which kind), if deleted, can be re-used. For example, I had three of them on three separate accounts, I created the holy trinity, test copied them over, then deleted the original, which gave me back the heroics. To which point I created another trinity (but variation in which acts) and test copied, rinse, repeat…

By doing this I have 3 accounts all with a tank/healer/cc at level 100 sitting and waiting for me to come play them sometime. Hope that made sense.

 

[Mugly]

I will answer your question and ramble on about 6 other things you didn't ask:

All of my current test toons started at level 1 with zero interaction with any other server (i.e, not copied). I wanted a large number of gold characters to test/create rgmercs configs without dropping hundreds and hundreds of dollars to do it.

Eventually I moved some gear/items/plat over via mules/etc from another server, but it was all attunable stuff/spell gems/etc.

Playing on live/test simultaneously:
Hopping back and forth isn't really feasible, a mistaken testcopy from the live server character could cause you to lose a ton of work on test. The best bet is to never log back into the live toon once you've made the decision to copy and live on test. You can delete them, even, but it may be risky to reuse the name (I have read a single first-hand account of someone doing that and it overwriting the test character regardless... doesn't make much sense to me, but just sharing it.)

For gear/gearing/economy:
Some people load up and twink level 1 toons on FV and transfer to test, not personally my thing. The bazaar, when it is stocked (it is less so nowadays due to population), has just about anything for 1pp, up-to and including chase gear. Mats are freely copied from live servers, so raising tradeskills/etc is a breeze. Asking nicely in general chat will get you plat, bags, mounts, spells, armor, and anything else, although, you may have to ask when certain people are around (if at first you don't get an answer, try again later).

As far as grouping/raiding:
There are raid guilds, but the ones that are public don't really seem to be particularly cutting edge (they do, however, seem to be some really cool folks). There have been mq-friendly raiders and groupers out there, but there are also people who actively hunt down stupid mq'ers when they are bored. I would imagine this is the same as any other server.

Free gold status:
The account advantage of test is that you are considered to be a gold subscription (I say considered because you don't get things like the free heroic on test, you can't game the system that way). Prestige gear without paying, full AA, augs, etc. You still have to purchase expansions.

Low MQ uptime:
However, you need to be aware that test server MQ uptime is low over the last few years. I'd estimate 50-60% (compared to the 90-95% of live). I would check out the Test MQ build thread for more information on why that is. For people that must play eq with mq every day, that may be a dealbreaker.

Another advantage is perm 100% xp boost. Another advantage is there is really no economy because plat has no meaning on test. Seriously you an just ask in general chat and you will have 2-3 million plat in your inbox in minutes. Most things in the bazaar sell for a 1 plat or less. There were a few people that sold "raid copies" Which were fully raid geared toons copied from FV, not sure if that is still happening or not. The server population for the most part is extremely helpful because there is almost zero completion for camps or "server firsts". There used to be a pretty good raiding guild but apparently they fell apart.