Sez it all about TBLFollow

Every time I've entered the entry zone for this expansion (on FV) I see between 1 (me!) and about a dozen people in the zone. That's it! The entry zone of a brand new expansion! Previous expansions have probably had 100-125 players in such a zone i the early weeks.

In any case the zone is certainly not well-designed to support lots of groups, what with the connected islands linear design.

This is the entry zone for a linear expansion where everybody has to do work in this zone in order to advance to the locked zones that come after it.

I think back about earlier expansions and how packed the entry zones were, even for expansions where they did not lock content behind progression quests and tasks.

This cannot be a good sign for the success of this expansion. I suspect a lot of players are not even bothering to buy it, or to try it, for the time being.

What's the sense in offering a new expansion with mostly locked content and almost nothing for newer or lower-level players?

I don't get it... /ponder

Edited, Dec 31st 2018 9:38pm by Sippin

Yeah, I think they're pretty clueless.

Given the popularity of TLP servers, you'd think they'd throw a few bones to lower level players. Altho they probably don't have the staff or the budget to ever again do an xpac as superb as Serpent's Spine. Locking zones behind really difficult progression missions: yeah I get the basic idea behind this. You don't want raid guilds beating the final boss in the first two weeks. But this will happen anyway, or soon thereafter, because raiders will burn thru the progression quests very quickly.

I think it's a suicidal self-defeating design considering the current status of EQ and MMO's in general. I bought this xpac for my main because on the FV server I can then acquire expansion group gear for all my boxed toons without having to buy them the xpac. Heck, I have yet to do much at all in the two previous expansions because of the difficulty level of mobs and the involved quest needed to become immune to the aoe's trash mobs cast in EoK (I think lol). Honestly I don't have the free time nor the inclination to jump thru all these hoops just to see new zones. I don't want to come across whiney. I've paid my dues in the past as a raider. But I consider TBL basically a raider's expansion and I think mainly raiders will be the players buying it. You have to wonder how many more copies they would have sold if they designed it without locked progression, more open world zones, and at least a little content accessible and useful for sub-106 players. And note I don't play any toons sub-110 so I'm not "begging" for myself here lol. But I am pleased I will save all the money I would have spent buying this xpac for my boxes and alts.



Edited, Jan 1st 2019 10:00am by Sippin