Feel like half the responses here are from decidedly *not* casual people.

If you're playing 5 hours a week *total*, a year in Classic is great. If you have to take periodic breaks where you go weeks/months with no login, likewise, a year in Classic is great!

That's actually why I switched to p99. I played on TLPs and loved it. Then I had a kid and didn't log on for 5 months. Then suddenly my warrior in his full set of crafted with an fbss and dual ssoys, who had been a total badass when I left, was unable to group tank unless I spent real $$ on krono to buy upgrades which....I wasn't going to do.

The slowness of p99 has and always will be more amenable to casuals than to neckbeards. Think that's a big part of the raid scene toxicity. A static server isn't big enough for 300+ people willing to log on for a quake to kill off every single raid target in <48 hours. So mistakes are made, and people step on toes, and no one forgets That One Time Weeks Ago when The Other Guys screwed em, and so forth and so on.

Same

5 hours a week is super low even for "casual" standards. This is EQ we're talking about. But even in that super low end of the casual spectrum example you're still going to be lvl 50 in like 3-4 months tops. Assuming you aren't an altoholic. You really think you're gonna have fun doing classic content at 50 for 8-9 months?

I think maybe we think we want things that we don't actually want :P

That is an option of course. It's just an option with a limited window. Unless you're the type that enjoys making alts and doing the same content over and over you're eventually gonna hit max and get bored of the solo/group content available at 60. It just is what it is.

After doing all of that though, you kind of hunger for something more, you know?

I'm tired of doing derv camps, OOT sister camps, running across North Karana and porting people. Just wish I could experience some of the other parts of the game here without guilds sniping and training others.

I'm with PatChapp. Everyone will get bored of anything, given enough time. I can't think of any single hobby that's solely adequate to keep my attention for twenty or thirty years.

In theory a max-level player should get bored with the non-raid game on P99 a lot more slowly than he would with the raid game for the simple reason that there is dramatically more non-raid content available. In practice, the max level non-raid game has some other issues keeping a lot of folks out. Pushing the envelope can be tough and most players flat-out suck. Dead weight can be carried along just fine in a 80 man zerg raid, but not so much in a duo!. Further, lots of players get pixel sick and nearly all the shiniest pixels are raid loot, so that also lures players in. However, for the minority of players who don't care overmuch about pixels and are good enough to function without fifty of their friends at their back, the non-raid game offers far more to do aside from staring at walls or playing other games while waiting for Discord to ping.

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I don't see why a casual player would want anything to do with progression servers, time-locked or otherwise. Such rulesets inherently favor the high-hours players since they're the ones who can get up and running within a matter of days or weeks. Meanwhile the casual scratches and claws his way up only to have his effort chucked in the trash can just as he finally gets to a decent spot. It's not for me.

Danth

everyone I know who plays p99 is rolling on Yelinak so there is that

Noone that I play with on p99 is rolling on Yelinak, so there is that also. /shrug

I know literally 0 people excited about or talking about playing Yelinak. It's like the 8th rehash of the Phinny TLP model with slightly different xp and/or expansion unlock rate. Vaniki is at least doing something new/different. Try some variety elf pals! You might be surprised

I'm excited for Yelinak.

This will be my first TLP, so it will be a new journey for me. Granted I am a bit nervous, as I know this will be my first rodeo while it will be probably the 8th for many, so I am probably already at a disadvantage.

I'm not really sure what kind of audience Vaniki is aimed at. I still don't fully understand that server concept. I just know I want to play progressively starting with the Classic era, and slowly learn the expansions as they come along. I actually didn't hate Luclin.

One thing I am not nervous about though is that I can rest in the knowledge that I can join a more relaxed, friendly guild, and know that it is going to get to do raid content without getting pushed around by Force of Will, Kingdom or Seal Team equivalents.

All I ever wanted to do is see and fight Vox, Nagafen, Innoruuk and Cazic-Thule, and earn something cool that simply can't be bought in the EC tunnel. And I have 0 confidence at this point that it's ever going to happen on P99. So I only really have one option left.