Interesting old (but relevant) EQ web paper

[Itchybottom]

Thott's thoughts on Kunark (http://www.afterlifeguild.org/Thott/kunark.php)

[Ihealyou]

I was surprised he said it took 40-100 days /played to reach 50. I never played in classic, but here I'm pretty sure it took Uuur a little over 20 days to reach 50, and I definitely wasn't a fast leveler. I can't imagine taking 100 days to reach 50.

[Chanus]

I logged on my first character (rolled in May of 1999) a couple years ago... level 21 with 24 days /played.

It was different back then... leveling was just one of the things you did.

[Chanus]

Or rather, there have always been the power gamers, but there were enough truly casual players that you could get away with not having to race to the top in order to see other people.

If I remember right, this character was a Druid and had 130 or so skill in Fletching.

[Extunarian]

If I remember right, this character was a Druid and had 130 or so skill in Fletching.

That sounds familiar. When I first started I went through 2 or 3 characters before sticking with a chanter. One of which was a monk that got to level 14 and had something like 80 points in fletching.

I think there were just a lot of us who didn't know anything, and didn't know we were "doing it wrong."

[Seeatee]

while a very interesting read, I largely disagree with him, maybe im just strange, or sick in the head, or easily amused, but I absolutely love to grind, I remember fondly sitting in a KC group for 5 or 6 hours a day for weeks, I always enjoyed grinding very much.

in fact, some of my fondest memories in EQ come from the OoW era, getting the 6 way camp in MPG at 8 or 9 in the morning and grinding AA there til midnight or 1 am on the weekends.

[pogs4ever]

about crazy # of /played days:

"doing it wrong" hahaha, thats what made eq so fun. there were a bunch of people that would walk back to qenyos at night because humans/eru couldn't see shit and the problem was only worse when we used to play on shitty crt monitors. i spent a lot of time building up useless skills sitting around town, personally i was 'master' at every speakable language in the game.

it was way fun when we didnt know anything, i remember using that cloth map to get around and being kind of disappointed that features on the cloth map weren't in the game yet. then along came everlore, eqlizer, thottbot, etc.

needless to say, i had a lot number of /played days on my erudite paladin which i rerolled at 30 because that was about when i found out i was "doing it wrong"

about thotts kunark problem:
i disagree too, the dungeons were always awesome, and the were several unique spawns that were kind of FFA (skelly wizard in the moat at KC, giant golem thing in the beggining hallway at oldseb, etc.) also, there were a lot of drops that were just random off any mob in the dungeon, like in COM, or SS boots in KC. That being said, i never felt like i was just grinding exp since there was always a chance to get something nice, this was something i felt kunark did right.

karnors was alway my favorite, because you could easily tell the difference between a strong and organized team because of how far in the dungeon you could go because of the sheer difficulty. also something that kunark got right.

[Rangerous]

about crazy # of /played days:

"doing it wrong" hahaha, thats what made eq so fun. there were a bunch of people that would walk back to qenyos at night because humans/eru couldn't see shit and the problem was only worse when we used to play on shitty crt monitors. i spent a lot of time building up useless skills sitting around town, personally i was 'master' at every speakable language in the game.

it was way fun when we didnt know anything, i remember using that cloth map to get around and being kind of disappointed that features on the cloth map weren't in the game yet. then along came everlore, eqlizer, thottbot, etc.

needless to say, i had a lot number of /played days on my erudite paladin which i rerolled at 30 because that was about when i found out i was "doing it wrong"

about thotts kunark problem:
i disagree too, the dungeons were always awesome, and the were several unique spawns that were kind of FFA (skelly wizard in the moat at KC, giant golem thing in the beggining hallway at oldseb, etc.) also, there were a lot of drops that were just random off any mob in the dungeon, like in COM, or SS boots in KC. That being said, i never felt like i was just grinding exp since there was always a chance to get something nice, this was something i felt kunark did right.

karnors was alway my favorite, because you could easily tell the difference between a strong and organized team because of how far in the dungeon you could go because of the sheer difficulty. also something that kunark got right.

Karnor's, was for me, the true test of my bardness on live. I remember a bad pull, and having to mezz 5 targets, and keep up a charm while half the group ran screaming to the zone line before they realized there was not train :)

[Airdefier]

funny this was posted considering Kunark seemed to be everyones favorite expansion.

[Chanus]

Velious was always my favorite.

And I know I'll be dragged out into the street and shot for it, but I really enjoyed Planes of Power and The Serpent's Spine as well. Those would be my top three if I had to rank them, in that order.

[Itchybottom]

Velious was always my favorite expansion. Parts of Luclin were awesome too, but as a whole, not so much. Kunark, was a lot like Luclin for me. Too much unexplained, too much spreading players too thin. Kunark was good for the anti-social.

[Rahnza]

The lore, atmosphere, and zone/dungeon design of Kunark was the best of EverQuest. A lot of that article is true though, too many of the zones are for low-to-mid 50s and the 50-60 grind was soul-crushing.

[Taluvill]

Velious was always my favorite expansion. Parts of Luclin were awesome too, but as a whole, not so much. Kunark, was a lot like Luclin for me. Too much unexplained, too much spreading players too thin. Kunark was good for the anti-social.

I think thats how a lot of people feel. as much as Kunark/velious were my favorite as well, Parts of Luclin/PoP were incredible and really made for a bunch of great experiences. Personally, I really enjoyed charming ravens in PoN and killing things = P. Might sound petty, but meh, i was young at the time.

If you took out certian parts of Luclinb/pop, like:

- Lower the exp bonus in Paludal to put it more in line and not make it the ONLY good exp zone for that level.
- Pok books and pok all togather
- Nexus is fine, but you cant TP anymore.
- no bazaar
- Need to do a large change with AA's. Maybe make it so you have a limited amount of points to spend, maybe lik a specialization type thing? like talent tree's for wow? I dont know if thats the answer, but something needs to be changed with AA's.
- With PoK being gone, make spells drop from higher mobs like in Kunark/Velious. Would give the economy a boost there too, and make spells harder to get.

All of this, among other things, need to be fixed for satisfying luclin/pop release. I think a lot of people would be fine with the game outside of these few things, although everyone has their personal gripes.

[Rahnza]

Probably said this a bajillion times on these forums but a customized Luclin/PoP past Velious would be great. Nexus portals aren't too bad, they're still slow enough to not really trivialize anything. Bazaar has to go, Paludal needs to be nerfed. AAs were fine. Vex Thal needs an overhaul as well. At the very least, the bosses need unique abilities and strategies so Vex Thal isn't just spend x amount of hours and gain x amount of loot guaranteed.

PoK needs to go, should just make Tranquility the hub zone of PoP. Could just put the quest NPCs from PoK (Aid Grimmel, spell turn ins, etc) there as well.

[Taluvill]

Or, you could just make PoK completely gone, and make PoT the zone with all the quest guys. put a PoT book somewhere in antonica or something, in the EC tunnel?

[Rahnza]

That's exactly what I just said.

[Taluvill]

My bad, didnt read your post thoroughly. Regardless, that would still kickass. Im still torn about whether beastlords should completely just go, but its whatev.

[Levon]

It's just a bunch of min/maxer whiney bullshit.

I think I had 100 days /played on my primary character by the time I dinged 50.

[Mosharm]

I echo Chanus's response, it was different back then. Few people knew what quest was what. There were no maps or guides. It took me a few hours just to get out of Ak'Anon :). Then once I was out I just ran around trying to see all the sights.
I just looked up my first toon and only made level 45 after 72 days :o. As a side note it looks like I was the 18th Enchanter on Fennin.
http://eqplayers.station.sony.com/character_profile.vm?characterId=472446568127

[Chanus]

At one point I was the #3 Dwarf Cleric, excluding max level characters, on the Nameless.

:D

[Henini]

reading this article , I couldn't help but thinking that guy never made it to 60 and probably not even to 55.
his point of views and comments are very "noobish"

2-3 days per dungeon?

c'mon there are more then 2-3 camps per dungeon first off.

you could spend a month in seb and still not have worn out the novelty of the place, cuz you go from one camp to an other, and it's so big.

sorry but 58+ doing reets and juggs, is really something the first couple of times. Even doing shroom king...

anyways...

[Rahnza]

reading this article , I couldn't help but thinking that guy never made it to 60 and probably not even to 55.
his point of views and comments are very "noobish"

2-3 days per dungeon?

c'mon there are more then 2-3 camps per dungeon first off.

you could spend a month in seb and still not have worn out the novelty of the place, cuz you go from one camp to an other, and it's so big.

sorry but 58+ doing reets and juggs, is really something the first couple of times. Even doing shroom king...

anyways...

It's Thott haha.

[Rahnza]

My bad, didnt read your post thoroughly. Regardless, that would still kickass. Im still torn about whether beastlords should completely just go, but its whatev.

They could become relevant with some customization. Berserkers are completely hopeless.

[Henini]

It's Thott haha.

and?

anyone that says after 2-3 nights in seb there is no more to see has some serious issues.

That's the problem with kunark.

I don't care who you are or what you have done. and if you been in seb you know what I'm talking about.

[Henini]

beastlords should completely just go

bst can slow, so they are still relevent on live today. + they do ok dps

Not that i'd ever play one, to me they just don't fit-in in EQ. but like you said, whateva

[Henini]

yes, I double posted... .wait tripple

[quellren]

and?

anyone that says after 2-3 nights in seb there is no more to see has some serious issues.

That's the problem with kunark.

I don't care who you are or what you have done. and if you been in seb you know what I'm talking about.

Since it isn't actually posted anywhere explicit:
Thott was an Officer (co leader?) of Afterlife, one of the most hardcore raid guilds on EQ. They and guilds like Fires of Heaven often claimed world firsts for many of EQ's most difficult mobs.
Most of the parsed data and theorycrafting about EQ mechanics that I've found on the net over the years comes from Thott.
Say what you want about his opinions, but the guy was anything but a 'never-made-it-to-max-level-newb'

[Henini]

I stand corrected, and I remember thott.

never the less, I stand by my opinion regarding kunark dungeons.

AND,

you can be killing dragons and gods and not have seen half the content in EQ.

you can be lvl 50 and never have set foot in a dungeon and be logging in only for raids like a lot of people do once they are max level. (or 60 or whatever the current cap is depending on erra)

and

cuz your an excelent strategist and your guild was #1 for a long time, doesn't mean you hold absolute truth over everything. you can still be wrong about stuff some times.

just like I was wrong about calling him a noob. he is wrong about kunark dungeons.

they are all much bigger then any in classic, and the ones in classic can still take a week to go and camp everything. just look at lower guk. between dead and live, you have a lil while before you have "seen it all".

solb , between kobolds/spiders/imps/fgs... don't come and tell me you camped it all in 3 days.

[Rahnza]

idk I've definitely seen 100% of the content Classic - Velious.

[quellren]

reading this article , I couldn't help but thinking that guy never made it to 60 and probably not even to 55.
his point of views and comments are very "noobish"

2-3 days per dungeon?

c'mon there are more then 2-3 camps per dungeon first off.

you could spend a month in seb and still not have worn out the novelty of the place, cuz you go from one camp to an other, and it's so big.

sorry but 58+ doing reets and juggs, is really something the first couple of times. Even doing shroom king...

anyways...

You and Thott are kind of arguing the same thing from different points of view.

One major point of his Kunark Problem is that a player could feasibly level from 51 to 60 and never see any content other than that one dungeon. The very nature of exp grinding doesn't encourage exploration or really even doing anything other than the leveling treadmill. You pick out Sebilis, but I dont feel like Sebilis is indicative of Kunark. Karnors' is much more realistic, theres not a lot of variety in KC, its dogs, in some form, in some room, a small contingent of Undead, or the raid on VS.


I don't disagree with you that 2-3 days to 'completely use up a dungeon' may be off, but realistically, if in the example of SolB, you did Royals for 3 hours, then BnB for a while, then the next day got lucky and got in on some Fire Giants, you'd feel like you had a pretty solid handle on the place.

[fugazi]

Kunark's problem was that too much good content was hidden .. and players werent actively encouraged to go out there and see it. Honorable mentions:
-Dalnir
-Mines of Nurga
-Temple of Droga

..and for any non-iksar, many of the outdoor zones such as Warslik Woods. Everyone huddled together in Sebilis and Karnor's Castle, probably because finding Chardok was too much for most peoples navigational skills.

Imagine how great Kunark would've been if the team had been a bit more experienced and had a more coherent vision. Oh god, I used the word vision, my bad ;D

[Wizerud]

Probably a good thing for him that Blizzard, the company he went on to work for, didn't take any of the advice or suggestions that he came up with in that paper.

[Glorfinrod]

Didn't they? In WoW you are never in one area any longer than it takes to make all the yellow exclamation points go away and you are hand-held from quest hub to quest hub. Sounds like the polar opposite of how he described kunark to me.

[Sparkin]

Kunark's problem was that too much good content was hidden .. and players werent actively encouraged to go out there and see it.

One player's problem is another's solution. If I was designing an MMO, having lots of great hard to reach content that players actually have to work to find would be a main ideology. It makes the world more interesting.

[Hasbinbad]

and?

anyone that says after 2-3 nights in seb there is no more to see has some serious issues.

That's the problem with kunark.

I don't care who you are or what you have done. and if you been in seb you know what I'm talking about.
Word.

KC + Seb > Luclin imho

[fugazi]

Didn't they? In WoW you are never in one area any longer than it takes to make all the yellow exclamation points go away and you are hand-held from quest hub to quest hub. Sounds like the polar opposite of how he described kunark to me.

What's even nicer is that you don't have to bother reading the quest text no more. You just pick em all up, check the map and go a killing. How a MMORPG turned into a more visually pleasing Facebook game :p

[mimixownzall]

You and Thott are kind of arguing the same thing from different points of view.

One major point of his Kunark Problem is that a player could feasibly level from 51 to 60 and never see any content other than that one dungeon. The very nature of exp grinding doesn't encourage exploration or really even doing anything other than the leveling treadmill. You pick out Sebilis, but I dont feel like Sebilis is indicative of Kunark. Karnors' is much more realistic, theres not a lot of variety in KC, its dogs, in some form, in some room, a small contingent of Undead, or the raid on VS.


I don't disagree with you that 2-3 days to 'completely use up a dungeon' may be off, but realistically, if in the example of SolB, you did Royals for 3 hours, then BnB for a while, then the next day got lucky and got in on some Fire Giants, you'd feel like you had a pretty solid handle on the place.

And his arguement against, is my arguement FOR Kunark.

If someone wants to stay in one dungeon because he/she likes it so much, they can. I don't want the game to force me to go somewhere else. Someone wants to explore, they can. If I like KC and want to spend 12 hours a day there to get 60, I can.

A developer's job is to appease as many people as he can to make the game enjoyable for as many people as possible; I feel they had done that with Kunark (once all the whiners were done bitching about the jump in weapon quality).

[mimixownzall]

..and for any non-iksar, many of the outdoor zones such as Warslik Woods. Everyone huddled together in Sebilis and Karnor's Castle, probably because finding Chardok was too much for most peoples navigational skills.

I think the main problem was that there wasn't really anything to draw people to Chardok. Our group went there to get a sheild from the entrance area for our druid; we got one and left. If they had more desirable drops, more people would have been there.

Honeslty, exept for that sheild, I cannot think of another item out of there =/

[Henini]

Chardok crawling is actually pretty fun, it's a nice zone to explore and exp in.

but yes, it's out of the way and not much drops there. you can totally avoid it if you just care about the number next to your exp bar.

just don't turn around saying kunark sucks because you didn't bother to take your time leveling and discovering the game.

No one will hold your hand to go and discover the world.

yes, in wow they take you by the hand and have you run around to click npc's for free exp. lots of people play wow. I think it's boring as fuck. there is also very little magic in it. I always called it the McD's of mmorpgs
lots of nice colors and happy meals, but very little taste. still, kids love it!

[guineapig]

Honeslty, exept for that sheild, I cannot think of another item out of there =/

(My apologies for not formatting this better):

Item Stats Classes How/Where Level
Argent Defender Dmg 33, Dly 49. +20 Mana Ra P Sk Wr Overking Bathezid 50
Burnt Wood Staff Dmg 8, Dly 20. Mg Multiple Creatures 33
Edge of Cabilis Dmg 25, Dly 50. Ra P Sk Wr A Sarnak Caedosaur 40
Golem Tear Ring +2 AC +2 Str +6 Wis +10 Mana All Classes A Chardoki Golem 45
Incarnadine Boots +18 AC +6 Str +6 Dex Sk Wr Prince Selrach Di'zok 58
Incarnadine Breastplate +35 AC +15 Str +15 Dex +5 Int +25 HP Sk Wr Overking Bathezid 50
Incarnadine Greaves +18 AC +6 Sta +6 Agi Sk Wr Korocust 60
Incarnadine Helm +19 AC +5 Agi +5 Int Wr Sk Multiple Creatures 55
Insignia Protector +20 AC +10 Wis +10 Int +5 Cha +10 vsMg +10 vsFire +10 vsCold +20 Mana N E Mg Wz Queen Velazul Di'zok 55
Ivory Imbued Collar +8 AC +5 Wis +2 vsMg +2 vsFire +2 vsCold +10 vsPos +10 vsDis +10 Mana Sm A Sarnak Templar 46
Jade Inlaid Crescent Axe Dmg 32, Dly 40. +6 Str +6 Agi +6 Dex +25 HP Wr Ra P Sk Multiple Creatures 58
Jagged Blade of Mourning Dmg 13, Dly 25. +3 AC +10 Dex +10 vsMg Ra P Sk B Ro Wr Multiple Creatures 45
Jagged Chokidai Spine Dmg 9, Dly 25. +4 Dex Ra Sk B Ro Wr Multiple Creatures 35
Runic Carver Dmg 18, Dly 37. Ra P Sk Wr Multiple Creatures
Sarnak Arcane Fetish +2 Dex +6 Int +5 Cha All Classes Multiple Creatures 45
Sarnak Battle Shield +25 AC +5 Str +5 Sta +10 vsMg +10 vsFire +10 vsCold +40 HP Sm D C P Sk B Wr Multiple Creatures 45
Sarnak Battlehammer Dmg 30, Dly 40. Wr Multiple Creatures 45
Sarnak Skullsplitter Dmg 12, Dly 26. +8 vsPos +8 vsDis Ra Sk B Wr A Sarnak Myrmidon 47
Shard of Darkness Dmg 10, Dly 28. +5 vsPos +5 vsDis Sk Queen Velazul Di'zok 58
Silver Swiftblade Dmg 16, Dly 24. Ra Multiple Creatures 47
Stave of Shielding Dmg 17, Dly 28. P Sk Mk Multiple Creatures 46
Symphonic Saber Dmg 11, Dly 23. +5 Int +10 Cha B Multiple Creatures 40
Vibrating Gauntlets of Infuse +23 AC +10 Str +10 Sta +20 Wis +5 vsMg +5 vsFire +5 vsCold +5 vsPos +5 vsDis +50 Mana C Overking Bathezid 55
Vibrating Hammer of Infuse Dmg 25, Dly 35. +8 AC +20 Str +10 Sta +10 Wis +5 vsMg +5 vsFire +5 vsCold +5 vsPos +5 vsDis +100 HP C Overking Bathezid 55
Withered Staff Dmg 11, Dly 24. E Multiple Creatures 38
Worn Crescent Axe Dmg 24, Dly 40. +3 Str +3 Agi +3 Dex +10 HP Ra P Sk Wr Korocust 60

------------------------------

Some nice items for mains and also some nice twink items for alts.

[Glorfinrod]

Not to mention all the epic pieces.

[Aba to the cab]

(My apologies for not formatting this better):

Item Stats Classes How/Where Level
Argent Defender Dmg 33, Dly 49. +20 Mana Ra P Sk Wr Overking Bathezid 50
Burnt Wood Staff Dmg 8, Dly 20. Mg Multiple Creatures 33
Edge of Cabilis Dmg 25, Dly 50. Ra P Sk Wr A Sarnak Caedosaur 40
Golem Tear Ring +2 AC +2 Str +6 Wis +10 Mana All Classes A Chardoki Golem 45
Incarnadine Boots +18 AC +6 Str +6 Dex Sk Wr Prince Selrach Di'zok 58
Incarnadine Breastplate +35 AC +15 Str +15 Dex +5 Int +25 HP Sk Wr Overking Bathezid 50
Incarnadine Greaves +18 AC +6 Sta +6 Agi Sk Wr Korocust 60
Incarnadine Helm +19 AC +5 Agi +5 Int Wr Sk Multiple Creatures 55
Insignia Protector +20 AC +10 Wis +10 Int +5 Cha +10 vsMg +10 vsFire +10 vsCold +20 Mana N E Mg Wz Queen Velazul Di'zok 55
Ivory Imbued Collar +8 AC +5 Wis +2 vsMg +2 vsFire +2 vsCold +10 vsPos +10 vsDis +10 Mana Sm A Sarnak Templar 46
Jade Inlaid Crescent Axe Dmg 32, Dly 40. +6 Str +6 Agi +6 Dex +25 HP Wr Ra P Sk Multiple Creatures 58
Jagged Blade of Mourning Dmg 13, Dly 25. +3 AC +10 Dex +10 vsMg Ra P Sk B Ro Wr Multiple Creatures 45
Jagged Chokidai Spine Dmg 9, Dly 25. +4 Dex Ra Sk B Ro Wr Multiple Creatures 35
Runic Carver Dmg 18, Dly 37. Ra P Sk Wr Multiple Creatures
Sarnak Arcane Fetish +2 Dex +6 Int +5 Cha All Classes Multiple Creatures 45
Sarnak Battle Shield +25 AC +5 Str +5 Sta +10 vsMg +10 vsFire +10 vsCold +40 HP Sm D C P Sk B Wr Multiple Creatures 45
Sarnak Battlehammer Dmg 30, Dly 40. Wr Multiple Creatures 45
Sarnak Skullsplitter Dmg 12, Dly 26. +8 vsPos +8 vsDis Ra Sk B Wr A Sarnak Myrmidon 47
Shard of Darkness Dmg 10, Dly 28. +5 vsPos +5 vsDis Sk Queen Velazul Di'zok 58
Silver Swiftblade Dmg 16, Dly 24. Ra Multiple Creatures 47
Stave of Shielding Dmg 17, Dly 28. P Sk Mk Multiple Creatures 46
Symphonic Saber Dmg 11, Dly 23. +5 Int +10 Cha B Multiple Creatures 40
Vibrating Gauntlets of Infuse +23 AC +10 Str +10 Sta +20 Wis +5 vsMg +5 vsFire +5 vsCold +5 vsPos +5 vsDis +50 Mana C Overking Bathezid 55
Vibrating Hammer of Infuse Dmg 25, Dly 35. +8 AC +20 Str +10 Sta +10 Wis +5 vsMg +5 vsFire +5 vsCold +5 vsPos +5 vsDis +100 HP C Overking Bathezid 55
Withered Staff Dmg 11, Dly 24. E Multiple Creatures 38
Worn Crescent Axe Dmg 24, Dly 40. +3 Str +3 Agi +3 Dex +10 HP Ra P Sk Wr Korocust 60

------------------------------

Some nice items for mains and also some nice twink items for alts.

All fail in comparison to the mighty Herbalist Spade

god have mercy to those who were tagged by a warrior flailing that around

[fugazi]

Chardok was also damn hard and unforgiving. Druids could teleport and have an easy run back to Sebilis, there were always other people to assist in possible corpse runs and the camps were somehow clear to everyone.

Damnit, now I feel like doing a Chardok crawl ^^

[Noselacri]

It never took 100 days of leveling to get to 50. That might be the amount of time most people spent on their way there, but that's because we did all kinds of crap and didn't care so fervently about hitting 50 as quickly as possible. For a lot of people, getting to the maximum level wasn't even really a goal, because that's when your progress sort of stops. If you don't raid, there's not very much valid content at 50, it's basically LGuk and SolB, so to someone with four or five dungeons available to them and not in a hurry to get to the top, leveling isn't a pressing need. Even so, if you wanted to get to 50 asap, it took a few months at most, probably 20-30 days played. 100 was when you stopped to smell the roses and craft arrows the whole time.

[fastboy21]

yeah, as people have said...

1. i think he simply exaggerated the number of days played. i doubt he actually did a survey or had any data available.

2. there were much much more people doing things other than leveling. i knew people during luclin that had been playing constantly since launch that had never gotten to max level. they simply did things other than leveling...one of the allures of EQ was that there were plenty of things to do other than level. this is kind of hard for newer MMO players to understand because leveling is the primary goal of so many MMOs released today, but in EQ (at least during classic EQ) there were plenty of ppl content to roam and explore and quest and socialize day in and day out.

I don't see the point of revisiting this article other than for nostalgia purposes. the mission of p99 is clearly not to "fix" classic EQ, but to recreate it. That includes all the complaints and faults of the original game. The solutions in the article, likewise, can not be implemented because that would also steer the project away from its stated mission. at least that is how I have interpreted the statements from the devs in the past...

kunark is going to be interesting on p99, and the reality is I don't think any of us know what it will really look like. nobody has really done this before, and it's new territory on the map. there are all kinds of problems that p99 will face that will interfere with generating an "authentic" kunark experience, but we will just have to see how it plays out.

[fischsemmel]

I logged on my first character (rolled in May of 1999) a couple years ago... level 21 with 24 days /played.

It was different back then... leveling was just one of the things you did.

This was my experience with my first playing of EQ. I didn't start in classic, it was the very early days of Kunark, but when I played my enchanter back then... it was just to play. It wasn't to level up. I roleplayed, explored, died a lot and spend hours trying to get back to my corpse, tried to sneak into hostile cities with illusions and invis just cause, etc. Along the way I earned some experience and slowly leveled up.

[KilyenaMage]

Everyone will be in Seb / KC. Farming chardok and HS will be $$$.

The variety of items in kunark, especially for melees, is what really makes it so much fun.

In contrast to kunark, velious will be interesting - since there is no level increase.

[Kayd]

I was in a large group of people in EQ that started the day the first retail servers opened, the bulk of whom were starting to hit level 50 around 10 a year. Overcrowding was one reason. I spent more than a week on one level alone hunting centars in the Karans because with over 130 people in the zone it was so hard to find mobs. Kunark changed that, and overcrowding vanished nearly overnight.

I have to say the author of the article may have a point. The word "level grind" did not become real common in the EQ vocabulary until Kunark. The level rate may have crossed a line that some people just couldn't handle.

[Duma]

Thott's an asswipe like Furor. No one with an IQ over 85 took anything they said seriously, except Brad. Everything they said or did was nothing but self promotion and deception to try and weasel their way into furthering their career at the industries expense.

[Chanus]

kunark is going to be interesting on p99, and the reality is I don't think any of us know what it will really look like. nobody has really done this before, and it's new territory on the map. there are all kinds of problems that p99 will face that will interfere with generating an "authentic" kunark experience, but we will just have to see how it plays out.

Not exactly. There's not a lot fundamentally different with Kunark being released here and it being unlocked on the Live progression servers.

People already know the strats and guilds are ready to begin pushing the end of Kunark content.

It's not going to be anything special or mind-blowing. It's going to be those at the top finding new places to fight over and the rest of the players spreading out amongst new places to level.