The issue is this: timed TLs are more "classic," yes, but it is a matter of whether or not devs wanna see gameplay end up much LESS classic as a result. It simply makes the "I'm not sure it's worth it to travel 20 min to that MM group" consideration turn into "no effing way." All this talk about classic-this classic-that, well groups were pretty well spread out throughout all dungeons, no matter how good (guk) or how much they sucked (befallen). Due to the population, groups are concentrated in key areas. I know you guys don't want this, you mentioned it when talking about sola exp and replicating the bonus to other dungeons. But the simple fact is that having timed TLs are making the gameplay decidedly LESS classic due to how it interacts with a low population.
For example, everyone and their mother between 12 and 18 are in oasis. Oasis was always a popular zone, but you had other options in 1999. But here, due to the population, you usually don't have any other options. Unrest is an option sometimes, but it's not reliable in any way.. So any, say, mistmoore group, is gonna have to recruit people from oasis. That extra time is enough to make potential group makes say "naa too far."
Currently the vast majority of players are focused in a few key zones. Oasis, sola, solb, and now on occasion guk. It's pretty rare to even have a MM group formed (though not exceedingly rare) even with instant TLs. What I've noticed since the timed TLs are in, is that I very rarely see MM groups formed anymore. It was already a borderline "is it worth it?" consideration with instant TLs, and has now turned into "hell no."
So the issue is this. In classic EQ you had multiple options for where to level. This was a key aspect of gameplay. In P1999 you have much fewer options due to the population. Adding timed TLs is more "classic EQ", but the result of it is a decidedly LESS classic gameplay. That is, the reduction in grouping options since people are much much less likely to leave their comfy boring oasis group to join a MM group that might break up 20 minutes after they arrive. We're not talking about nexus books here...the instant TLs didn't make the trip convenient in any way...just not as often inconvenient enough to totally remove any motivation to travel across the ocean.
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