The Sleeper has been awakened! We are going to open up a second progression server named The Sleeper on June 28th alongside The Combine. The rulesets of both servers will be identical. Also, we are opening up a second naming server for The Sleeper which will be available on Wednesday, June 21. Names will have to be reserved on each server separately. Long-term populations are hard to judge at this point so let me take a minute and explain our thought process on this second server and what might potentially happen.
Do we have the initial interest level to merit a second server?
The maximum number of simultaneous players for The Combine is set at more than double the usual number of players that are on simultaneously during peak hours on normal servers. That number of simultaneous players is much higher than any EverQuest server has managed at any time in our 7-year lifespan. On a normal server only about one-third of players actual play at peak but we should also assume that this will be higher (at least initially) on the progression servers. What that means is that we have to believe that about 6 times our usual number of simultaneous players or more are interested in playing in order to justify a second server. This is a pretty big number. The only information we have to go on is the number of accounts that have created characters on the naming server and our own intuition. You have to remember that there is some number of players that will reserve a name but never actually log in. On the flip side this does not include any people that plan on coming back to EverQuest to play on the server but have not yet reactivated their accounts. Bottom line is that we think the interest is high enough to merit a second progression server.
Will we have the population necessary to sustain a second server?
Maybe. The amount of debate this server has caused is incredible and it also very clear that there are a lot of different viewpoints on how this idea should be implemented. Add in that whenever a new server is opened the interest in the first days is dramatically higher than the long-term population and you have a recipe for confusion. Our current theory is that the first days will require this second server but the population will probably settle down into a single server's worth of people. Although a cap on simultaneous population is technologically necessary, we need to do what we can to accommodate all the players that want an opportunity to try out the new server.
What happens if the population continues to be enough for two servers?
That would be great. I wonder which server will unlock Velious first.
If we do need to merge the two servers, how would that work?
If both servers are at the same stage of progression then The Sleeper will get merged into The Combine. If the servers are at different stages then the server that is behind will be merged into the one that is ahead in expansion unlocking. If there are naming collisions during a merge then the naming preference will go to characters on the host server.
If you have any questions please hop onto our forums and ask away!
Progression Server Discussion.
Chris "Raghnell" Lena
