Class population breakdowns

[Dakel]

I saw these great class population diagrams here (http://wiki.project1999.com/Project1999:About)

http://wiki.project1999.com/Project1999:About

Just wondering if there were any more up to date ones? I don't know why, I just find them fascinating.

Some random thoughts looking at these...

I wonder if some of the unpopular classes are that way because they're broken, or just very difficult?

Rangers for example. Even in lower level classes, very unpopular despite being an interesting class overall.

Evil vs good. SK's are unpopular, but necros are hugely popular. Ok, so that's because Necro's are like solo chars on crack. Still, SK's are unpopular despite being really great tanks.

Bards. Seriously a confusing one for me! They can solo, and bring a lot of value to groups. Very cool. I also find it interesting that right from the start of EQ, it was said that Bards can solo or be part of a group. Yet, to me, their solo ability seems more like an accident of game mechanics. Did the original dev team really want Bards to be able to kite? Or did they anticipate they would solo in some other way? Either way, why aren't bards more popular? Is it just because they all get carpal tunnel?

To a lesser extent, the Ranger class is the same. I know they're difficult because well, sadly, they tend to die. So much agro and so few ways to mitigate it. Soloing is possible though, and a good ranger is good at DPS for sure. I've known some really great rangers that can solo very efficiently.

Maybe it's just that those classes eke out the margins. The core of the game is designed for group play, so those classes tend to rule the day. Warriors, monks, rogues, enchanters, clerics, shamans. All solid group classes and tend to be popular.

Solo artists tend to go with the most efficient. Necros and Druids. Ok, just a thought on druids...my first char long ago was a druid. I had no idea they were overpowered, or easier to play than other classes. For me, when I realized that and saw it. I no longer wanted to play that class. So many powerful spells! I guess they were the good solo artists to offset the evil necro ones? Would just love to know what the game designers had in mind at the start, and then how things evolved. Did it turn out the way they wanted?

So, does that mean that rangers are just second rate at everything? Easier to solo with a necro, easier to group as a monk or rogue for dps?

So, popularity is maybe a result of...

Group friendly classes overall do better. All of them, even the less popular. Solo artists do less well, and tend to gravitate toward the most efficient options. I think that would explain all except the poor little bards...

Ok, so that's more than a few random thoughts but there it is.

[Troxx]

Such graphs are also less relevant given the age of the server, the fact that many people have multiple high level alts ... and of course ... Chardok AE. If the server were younger you would get a much more accurate idea of what people would actually choose as their main character.

[Jimjam]

I find /who all (class) count an interesting tool. Sure, it doesn't tell you who is an alt and who is a main, but it does tell you which characters everyone prefers to play at one time.

You might get your results tainted by some people who are not boxing alts in EC for tunnel reasons though.

[Dakel]

Good point Troxx! Age of server is definitely a factor. I guess the early class population breakdown may be the most revealing.

Elf, I'm not as familiar with the redundancy in Velious. Would love to learn more about that!

[Triiz]

Bards. Seriously a confusing one for me! They can solo, and bring a lot of value to groups. Very cool. I also find it interesting that right from the start of EQ, it was said that Bards can solo or be part of a group. Yet, to me, their solo ability seems more like an accident of game mechanics. Did the original dev team really want Bards to be able to kite? Or did they anticipate they would solo in some other way? Either way, why aren't bards more popular? Is it just because they all get carpal tunnel?


Bard is hands down the hardest class to play well in the game, that's why there aren't more of them especially at the high end. I really doubt the original dev's intended for bards to be pulling whole zones hence the nerf later in Live timeline, but there are several other ways to solo. Fear kiting, chant kiting, charm kiting.

In summary, roll bard, have a lot of fun, then when you hit 60 spend your days looking down on non-bards for choosing easy mode.

[Baler]

Shm, Ench, Druid, Monk are the most populated classes

And a lot of people are on their 2nd, 3rd and even 4th plus character at this point.

Here is a graph of Data I gathered in 2015 of may 13th, 15th and 16th. I know not a huge span of time.
http://i.imgur.com/AjySsSE.png
Maybe I'll start a fresh one. I'd bet it trends the same or very similar however.

[Troxx]

Bard is hands down the hardest class to play well in the game, that's why there aren't more of them especially at the high end. I really doubt the original dev's intended for bards to be pulling whole zones hence the nerf later in Live timeline, but there are several other ways to solo. Fear kiting, chant kiting, charm kiting.

In summary, roll bard, have a lot of fun, then when you hit 60 spend your days looking down on non-bards for choosing easy mode.

When my bard hit 60 I basically had to put him on a dusty shelf. Not being willing to join the caustic raid scene here - I quickly ran out of things to do. Disregarding ae kiting (now seriously nerfed), bards still level faster than most classes in EQ with charm + dots. I enjoyed grouping but once you hit lv 60 and max xp (was fast for me) ... there's not much else to do.

[Trophy Scars]

play what you want man, trust me.

[Dakel]

I totally agree Trophy Scars! Right now I have a monk, bard, ranger and mage. Love all of them. If a class I like is popular so be it. :-) No worries there.

I'm mostly curious about the balance of classes in general and how it evolves over time. I'm also just curious about why certain classes seem so under played. Bards in particular but I think I'm starting to learn that!

[Triiz]

When my bard hit 60 I basically had to put him on a dusty shelf. Not being willing to join the caustic raid scene here - I quickly ran out of things to do. Disregarding ae kiting (now seriously nerfed), bards still level faster than most classes in EQ with charm + dots. I enjoyed grouping but once you hit lv 60 and max xp (was fast for me) ... there's not much else to do.

Yeah I hear ya, in a similar place with mine but I think that applies to most classes if you refuse to participate in the shit show we call a raid scene. I've honestly thought about re-rolling a second bard since leveling the first was the most fun I've had in EQ, but still holding out a tiny bit of hope I'll find an alt that's as fun as bard.

[Dakel]

Troxx, so if the raid scene is bad, and you ran out of things to do with the Bard, what class do you play now and does it allow you more fun at the top end of the game? I see you have an Iksar Necro?

[Triiz]

Troxx, so if the raid scene is bad, and you ran out of things to do with the Bard, what class do you play now and does it allow you more fun at the top end of the game? I see you have an Iksar Necro?

I know you didn't ask me, but don't let the fear of having nothing to do at 60 deter you from playing a bard if that's what you want to do. The trip to 60 is a blast as a bard.

[Jimjam]

I looked at people 6-59 of each class and found this:

bard 53
cleric 41
druid 101
enchanter 64
magician 35
monk 53
necromancer 74
paladin 22
ranger 25
rogue 45
shadowknight 38
shaman 63
warrior 29
wizard 31

[Baler]

^ yup here are my results twice from the last 24 hrs. This includes level 60's.

I hope it's formatted right.. HH:MM is server time. /time
Time warrior paladin shadow ranger monk rogue bard cleric druid shaman wizard necro magician enchanter Total
2017/06/30 14:58 36 15 21 22 50 30 46 35 109 63 40 61 42 52 628
2017/07/01 01:10 38 28 28 31 69 42 60 56 119 80 35 71 49 78 784

[Jimjam]

You seem to have missed a column of numbers, you have hundreds of enchanters but no total :P.

[Baler]

You seem to have missed a column of numbers, you have hundreds of enchanters but no total :P.

You are wrong the numbers are there.
Echanter - 52, 78
Total - 628, 784

It's not easy to get the formatting correct on the forums when it's coming out of a csv file. But the information is there.
You may have to scroll over.

[Jimjam]

Ah, I see the class titles are one tab further along than the numbers on my browser! My mistake indeed.

[Dakel]

Thanks Baler! Very interesting stats and thanks for posting them! Overall it seems fairly balanced. Really enjoying the overall 1999 experience so far.

Still not sure what to play this time around myself. I'll likely have to solo quite a bit this time so it certainly narrows the choices.

Very interesting to see how the class populations have evolved over time. I think it's a credit to the game design and overall care by project 1999. Kudos.

[Tankdan]

Dunno about you all but when I came back to P99 I rolled a cleric and rogue because YOU PLAY TO WIN THE GAME. I asked myself "What class will help me DOMINATE THE OTHER GUILD?" And it worked out okay.

Cant go wrong with cleric and rogue.

[Dakel]

Triiz, wow! Thanks for the feedback. Did you mostly solo with your bard?

[Pyrocat]

If you really want to play the rarest class/race combo pick Erudite Paladin / Erudite Shadowknight. Someone did some research a while back and found that those were the rarest.

[Baler]

^ Erudite Paladin would be amongst the rarest of all race/class combos
sk is more popular then pally.

Funny enough Erudite plate graphics are actually not that bad looking.

[Triiz]

Triiz, wow! Thanks for the feedback. Did you mostly solo with your bard?

Yeah, mostly by charming which is great if you like to play for 1-2 hours at a time. You can kill pretty much non-stop then afk for a few hours to "med" your mana back since bard mana regen is terribly slow. Bard is really fun in a duo/trio too though.

[username17]

Yeah with the age of that server the numbers get skewed. The main way I keep enjoying this server is making, gearing, and leveling new alts. I've been here since 2010 and I have 0 60s (Sacc'd them down). I generally get an alt to the 50s and then roll something new. I'm closely approaching the point where I need to start focusing on 60 on all my alts because most of my toons are 50+.

[Troxx]

I know you didn't ask me, but don't let the fear of having nothing to do at 60 deter you from playing a bard if that's what you want to do. The trip to 60 is a blast as a bard.

Yeah I miss playing mine. Far and away the most fun class I've played on p99. While not overpowered in the same way my 60 shaman is ... I'd argue my bard is comparably powerful in a different sort of way - it just doesn't translate as well to high end premier group/solo/duo content the same way. I honestly wish they had put in the 25 mob limit earlier. We would see fewer bards globally and more of the bards who actually played would understand their class to a greater degree.

All around stellar class. Group friendly, raid friendly, powerful (though labor intensive and skill required), and I'd argue still the fastest soloing class for xp in the game without aoe swarming. No self ports but selos + drum makes you mobile enough to zip around fast enough to minimize time looking for a port. From 55 on I could still manage to kill 10 dark blues (15 minute respawn) with a good 3 minutes of meditating downtime before repops happened - could maintain this for a good 2-3 hours before taking a prolonged afk to med up. Alternately I could do 6 mobs per 15 minutes and never run out of mana.

[Keggernuts]

Dakel thanks for starting this thread. It is really interesting.

[Trelaboon]

The great thing about this server and it's age, is it let me know exactly what sort of play styles most interest me. Back when I was playing live, I always assumed I'd like casters....my whole life I thought t sounded fun to run around in a robe and throw fire, and classes like Warrior and Monk never appealed to me, with their complete lack of spells and very straight forward play style. Turns out, my two favorite characters on p1999 are my 60 Monk and 60 Warrior.

I'd love to go back in time and play either of those classes on live, instead of my boring ass Druid

[Jimjam]

Yeah I miss playing mine. I caught you on your bard in Splitpaw the other day!