If you could make one balance change to every class on P99:

[Wakanda]

Wizards get clarity-line of spells.

Magicians get root-line of spells.

Necromancers and Monks are both given innate natural regeneration. Give these passives some cool names like "touch of the grave" and "inner spirit." This doesn't stack with Iksar regen.

Enchanters are nerfed to make charm less reliable, forcing Enchanters into a support role.

Rogues can now use poison making to create an item called "crimson veil." When consumed this item gives the Rogue regeneration for 60 minutes. Would help Rogues solo since IMHO they are the worst class at solo'ing.

Shadow Knights get lich line of spells (I'm sorry but pulling/tanking as an SK is frustrating because I never have mana). I also think Harm Touch should be resisted less, and should work as a life-tap instead of flat damage.

Warriors gain out-of-combat HP regeneration (meditate?).

Shaman has torpor nerfed to it's original state that made it a much more niche and gimmicky spell.

Bards seem balanced already? Like maybe their songs could affect other groups or pets. Or maybe more races could play as bards.

Clerics and Paladins are given Bane DMG: Undead.

Druids can now teleport to all of the old broken druid rings (Rathe Mountain, OOT, Gfay, Permafrost etc.). The nerf to torpor is an indirect buff to Druids.

Rangers can now tame random animals from across norrath and summon them as pets. The class will probably still suck, but this would feel cool and thematic.

[Sizar]

Bards no longer get song interruptions when starting new songs...so annoying

[Ciderpress]

Bards can't obnoxiously swarm zones where other people are trying to level, so that when the bard eventually dies or drops a swarm for whatever reason, the other innocent people in the zone don't get killed by the mobs roaming back to their original spawn positions. (TLDR: stop. swarming. dreadlands.)

[Infectious]

Warrior: Ae taunt that last 6 seconds with a 12 second refresh.

[Ciderpress]

Wizards and magicians should just be one class.

[Sirban]

I want a button that just uninstalls the game on every class

[zelld52]

Bards can't obnoxiously swarm zones where other people are trying to level, so that when the bard eventually dies or drops a swarm for whatever reason, the other innocent people in the zone don't get killed by the mobs roaming back to their original spawn positions. (TLDR: stop. swarming. dreadlands.)

Stop. Swarming. City of Mist.

[Toxigen]

Wizards get clarity-line of spells.

Magicians get root-line of spells.

Necromancers and Monks are both given innate natural regeneration. Give these passives some cool names like "touch of the grave" and "inner spirit." This doesn't stack with Iksar regen.

Enchanters are nerfed with a cooldown on mez / aoe mez but make it unresistable.

Rogue poisons more accessible / useful. Make 4-5 poisons unique for different situations that are actually reliable and impactful.

Shadow Knights get lich line of spells (I'm sorry but pulling/tanking as an SK is frustrating because I never have mana). I also think Harm Touch should be resisted less, and should work as a life-tap instead of flat damage.

Warriors gain out-of-combat HP regeneration (meditate?).

Shaman has torpor nerfed to it's original state that made it a much more niche and gimmicky spell.

Bards seem balanced already? Like maybe their songs could affect other groups or pets. Or maybe more races could play as bards.

Clerics and Paladins are given some kind of mana regeneration, not as powerful as clarity tho.

Druids can slow mobs, maybe not as powerful as enc/shaman.

Rangers can now tame random animals from across norrath and summon them as pets. The class will probably still suck, but this would feel cool and thematic.

fixes in bold

[Naethyn]

Monks no longer get block and war/pal/sk block with shield equipped.

[azeth]

rogue poisons stay applied to your primary weapon til your character dies or the weapon is unequipped

[Swish]

Shadow Knights get lich line of spells (I'm sorry but pulling/tanking as an SK is frustrating because I never have mana). I also think Harm Touch should be resisted less, and should work as a life-tap instead of flat damage.

Pull with a level 1 lifetap (or bow), manage aggro with a few disease clouds spread across the mob's health percentage as it dies or as you lose aggro. It's next to zero cost <3

[Jimjam]

Bash stuns generate aggro like spell stuns - archtypical fighters in history and fantasy use sword/spear and shield.

Remove the 4 sec duration cap on player cast stuns. Just unnecessary nerf to the Markars (and to a lesser extent Tishan's) spell line.

Unbreak ranger mitigation. They seem to be running a completely different worn ac cap or returns system to other classes - even shamans seem to mitigate better?

Un-nerf lifetap so it returns to being unresistable.

Make Rune gen big aggro again.

- honestly so many un-classic nerfs due to recharging imo just remove recharging cos it was just an edge case bug not intended to be a cornerstone feature of raiding.

Maybe fix gimicky FD stuff too.

Sorry.

[Schmandis]

Druids should get an Animal Mem Blur

[Troxx]

One change that helped balance all classes:

Luclin

As much as much of the community hated kitties on the moon, Luclin went a LONG way to helping balance things … everything from some much needed and well placed needs (monk tanking) to alternate abilities which helped each class become a little more refined/defined.

[Troxx]

“Well placed nerfs”

Damn autocorrect

[Reiwa]

Monks no longer get block and war/pal/sk block with shield equipped.

Fiddle with dodge breakpoints to make proper avoidance tanks out of rng/rog/mnk.

[Vivitron]

Remove the 4 sec duration cap on player cast stuns. Just unnecessary nerf to the Markars (and to a lesser extent Tishan's) spell line.

What's the deal with that, anyway? The wiki note says some stuns are capped to 4 seconds, but never specifies whether the given spell counts. Which stuns are capped if any, and was it an era nerf or a p99 specific thing?

[Wakanda]

fixes in bold

I like this ;) I play like 3 classes (shaman, necro, enc) so I’m kind of oblivious about the issues most classes face, but think it was a neat idea

I went conservative with rogue poison ideas (huge thing on TLP obvsly) simply because I felt like ppl already consider them OP ;) I was just like well if ppl think they suck solo but are OP in raids and exp groups, just give em something for solo

I really don’t kno tho

[aaezil]

OP new at the game or something? Weird choices

[Jimjam]

I'm just thinking about my previous post, and how most soldiery through history used spears (even rifles with attached bayonets are basically glorified spears).

Spears work particularly well in massed combat - there should be some kind of advantage to using them in raids where you may have a phalanx of dozens of melee pushing in formation against a target dragon, giant, group of mobs. I have no idea how to implement that. Maybe spears should have a greater melee range - would be super handy for fighting bone dragons (which inexplicably have tiny melee circles), or maybe swung weapons should face penalties in cramped conditions, idk.

Just thought I'd drop in these ideas as this is a non-classic wishlist cope thread.

[Dundrige]

I would give Paladins increased melee DPS against undead. I like what Luclin did with the undead proc buffs.

Rangers get the same charm animal abilities as Druid.

Rogue poisons are much more powerful and useful.

Warrior's taunt have increased hate generated over other classes.

Clerics get badass nukes against undead. Think wizard-level.

Wizards have more interesting utility spells. Their evac when things get dicey is almost instant and brings the group to the zoneline. They get area of effect stuns, roots, fears, and snares that don't generate a ton of aggro. They get the Rune line equivalent to enchanters. Critical nukes occur more often on Wizards.

And like Gandalf, combat wizards can be a thing. Still as squishy, and the weapons available might not be as great, and not as much DPS as a pure melee, but think Paladin or Shadowknight level DPS with equivalent weapons.

Magician's summoned armor / weapons / items scale with level and actually get really good and worth using by level 60, even on well-equipped characters, but the spells require special items that might or might not be worth it to get for a temporary item.

Magicians, alongside their powerful damage shield spells, can also imbue other's weapons with various elemental damage procs... earth gives a root proc, air gives a stun, fire & water give straight damage, etc.

Monster summoning is a more powerful alternative to summoning pets for magicians. The pets you summon have the same abilities as the NPC they are copied from.

Magicians & Wizard's elemental based nukes do more than just damage. Fire-based nukes are a DoT afterwards, ice-based nukes mez mobs for a tick or two, but straight magic does the most damage right away.

Shadowknights get a special irresistible (except against named) ability to charm undead equivalent to their level for a few minutes in battle.

Shadowknights get a self-only damage shield line.

[Jimjam]

Shaman’s befriend/charm animal line should continue. Perhaps at 49 or 51 get the next level of charm.

[Tann]

Magicians epic is a elemental only Torpor like heal instead of giga pet.

[PatChapp]

Max shrunk warriors should get an evade bonus vs giants.
Big hands should miss little dudes more

[bcbrown]

Spears work particularly well in massed combat - there should be some kind of advantage to using them in raids where you may have a phalanx of dozens of melee pushing in formation against a target dragon, giant, group of mobs. I have no idea how to implement that.

Anyone with a piercing weapon equipped gets +1 or +5 piercing and defense skill temporarily for every other player in close proximity equipped with a piercing weapon.

[Zuranthium]

One change that helped balance all classes:

Luclin

As much as much of the community hated kitties on the moon, Luclin went a LONG way to helping balance things … everything from some much needed and well placed needs (monk tanking) to alternate abilities which helped each class become a little more refined/defined.

Luclin itself didn't balance anything. Those changes are something that could already be put into the game. Luclin sucks!

[Duik]

Magicians epic is a elemental only Torpor like heal instead of giga pet.

I like the way ya thinking.

[7thGate]

rogue poisons stay applied to your primary weapon til your character dies or the weapon is unequipped

Rogue poisons need a buff, but probably not this. Wearing off usually isn't the issue. Unless you mean they proc every swing in which case that would be wildly overpowered in some situations.

Really, they need at least two of the following:
--Effects stack with spells
--Cost reduction in plat/farmable materials
--Instant Application, or a lower uninterruptable application.
--Poisons stack in inventory
--Less resistable

If poison stacked with everything, the lower resist line would become highly desirable against certain raid enemies even if nothing else changed. Right now some of the strongest poison effects don't stack with stronger spells; the cripple equivalent does not stack with cripple, and the malo equivalent does not stack with malo.

If poisons were very cheap, they would be worth using to some extent while XPing. A lot of the high DPS poisons are acceptable for applying in a combat group, especially if there is down time at all between pulls, but noone is going to spend 10 plat to get 500 damage done over and over in an XP group situation unless they are spectacularly wealthy.

If poisons applied instantly, they would give rogues tremendous burst damage capabilities and allow for rooting/snaring in emergency situations, which would make them viable even with all the other issues. If they applied in a short duration that was uninterruptable, it would allow rogues to attempt a root or snare when they have aggro, and possibly make it worth attempting damage poisons in some circumstances if the duration was short enough.

If poisons stacked in inventory, it becomes viable to keep a collection of utility poisons around for emergency situations to snare/root/stun.

If poisons had a strong -resist modifier or some mechanic like consuming multiple doses for stacking -resist on the effect, it would be worth applying certain poisons in raid situations to get a debuff effect that is too resisted by the target.

Personally, I would make it so you craft a 20 dose poison when you craft instead of a single dose. That addresses the bag space and cost issues. Then I would probably change the application time to 6 seconds and make it uninterruptable as opposed to a sit, so a root could be attempted during combat or a chain of high DPS poison uses could be tried on a low-resist target.

Right now, there's just a little too much going against them in too many ways to be useful. There's still some niche applications, but not a lot.

[Toxigen]

just make em apply / inventory / craft like rogue poisons in wow - about the same cost in materials as Kilva's

1 DoT
1 DD
1 MR debuff
1 slow
1 root
1 snare
1 chance to HP restore

doneski

[Jimjam]

If they fix lifetap then I’d like to see a 500hp rogue life tap poison. It should be hard to make, the intended use is for rogues running in vs a dragon to be able to instantly tap back the health they lost to first aoe.

Could even make it vs dragon only like pogos.

[enjchanter]

I'd give mages root or allow pets to persist

I'd also give warrior the provoke ability that they added later so warrior can finally stop being an F tier class

[shovelquest]

Im playing on teek.

I'd do the fast out of combat regen they put on teek.

It makes the game just a lot more fun. If you log in, run 30 mins to do a camp, lose half your health from some random mob... you don't just log off like I usually do because I aint got no time to regenerate that health.

[BigPlays]

Necro pets do not die when zoning

[loramin]

Man, people in this thread are really bad at reading comprehension!

Maybe half the posts are actually on topic and talking about balance changes. The other half are just "I wish EQ was this way" and have nothing to do with balance.

[Jimjam]

Man, people in this thread are really bad at reading comprehension!

Maybe half the posts are actually on topic and talking about balance changes. The other half are just "I wish EQ was this way" and have nothing to do with balance.

At least they’ve got enough reading comprehensions to submit suggestions for game changes instead of whinging. Like us two be.

[loramin]

I mean, it's not like new threads a scarce resource. We've had umpteen billion "what would you change in EQ" threads; would it be so awful to have one focused on balance?

[Zuranthium]

Changing aspects of a game inherently impacts balance as well. The start of the thread talks about entirely new abilities, so "balance" doesn't just mean shifting a few numbers around.

What can be said about the thread is only one person has properly responded to the prompt of "change 1 thing about each class". I started writing a list but then got frustrated trying to restrict it to 1 change per class, there are lots of changes I'd want to implement to balance things and create more distinct identities for the classes. Maybe I'll still do a giant post of all that, might want to do it in another thread though.

[bcbrown]

I wonder if giving bards double attack would be unbalancing. Maybe capped at a lowish level like 75 or 150 or something so it's still strictly less optimal than keeping instruments out in most occasions.

[shovelquest]

Man, people in this thread are really bad at reading comprehension!

I just enjoy talking about EQ sorry.

[shovelquest]

"change 1 thing about each class".

Make them all do fast out of combat regen.

:o

[Vexenu]

This list attempts to balance the classes by making the most minimally invasive but still impactful changes.

Wizard - Add Clarity line of spells (buff)
Magician - Add a spell to summon root nets (buff)
Enchanter - Remove Clarity line of spells (nerf)
Necromancer - Revert unclassic nerf to life tap resists (buff)
Shaman - Torpor now applies mana drain to target (nerf)
Druid - Add new level 51 spell, a slow scaling from 30% up to 40% at level 60. (buff)
Cleric - Can now summon single charge, lore, tradeable, no rent rez totems (buff/QoL)
Warrior - Add 'Weapon Attunement' combat ability at level 40, 20 sec CD, guarantees proc on next attack (buff)
Monk - Implement Luclin-era AC adjustment (nerf)
Rogue - Add unique Rogue-only tradeskill to craft tradeable masks with charges of various illusions (buff/QoL)
Paladin - Add innate group heal proc that scales with level on all attacks (buff)
Shadowknight - Add innate life tap/mana drain proc that scales with level on all attacks (buff)
Ranger - Add Druid Ring spell line of self-ports (buff/QoL)
Bard - Add Melody (buff/QoL)

[Tann]

^ good ideas but I gotta say, as an old bard main toon on eqlive, fading memories > melody.

How about instead of any individual class changes, just add in Luclin AA's, learn what stuff works with Velious era content, what needs to get balanced, or what needs to get removed.

Maybe in another decade, add in PoP AA's!

[Zuranthium]

I hate suggestions to give Magicians root or Druids slow. Goes outside the identity of those classes. Also doesn't really help Druids in groups that already have Shaman/Enchanter.

[Vexenu]

I hate suggestions to give Magicians root or Druids slow. Goes outside the identity of those classes. Also doesn't really help Druids in groups that already have Shaman/Enchanter.
The point wouldn't be to help Druids in groups that have Enchanters and Shaman, it would be to make them modestly more capable as healers in groups/duos without them. I think a 30-40% slow would fit the Druid's unique "jack of all trades, master of none" caster niche very nicely, without threatening the superiority of Shaman and Enchanter slows.

As for Mages, giving them a spell to summon a root net fits the class pretty well, in my view. Very similar to their existing lev rings. A nice buff for them without beingly overpowered (see: when item recharging was a thing and root nets were commonly used, Mages were stronger but still very balanced on the power scale)

Small changes, not sweeping ones are best in my opinion. I would be interested to see your list if you can abide by the thread stipulation of limiting it to one change per class.

[Zuranthium]

Druids should get better heals, not slow. Magicians should be best DPS in the game and squishiest class in the game, only their pets to protect them. Don't need another class getting root, too many classes already have it.

I would be interested to see your list if you can abide by the thread stipulation of limiting it to one change per class.

I can not, too many remaining gaps, not satisfying :p

[shovelquest]

Druids should have a spell that gives people lives out of combat regen. Boom Shakalaka.

[Duik]

Druids get a reincarnation spell ala d and d.
Stipulation of new race has to have that class.
Although an Erud warrior or Barb Ranger wouldnt unbalance things too much.
A troll wizard may pose problems equipment wise but think of it as a roleplay challenge.
You know what, add Centaur Wizard who can use a bow. But has definate trouble in dungeons especially stairs..

Gnome Shaman. Who cant reach torpor feom the top shelf unless they have the new spell: Grow.

Ive got it. Minotaur Bard. But cant use a horn.

Alas I digress

[loramin]

I agree with Zura that Mages shouldn't get Root: they're meant to be an almost melee-like class. But, at the same time, when a melee gets an extra unexpected mob on them, they can take hits and ignore it for awhile. Caster's can't, which is one reason they all get Root ... except Mages.

What Mages need is an Enchanter animation-like pet spell line that stacks with their regular pet and has a quick (Root-like 2 second) cast time. It would do almost no damage but have a strong taunt, and while you couldn't control it, it would attack whatever mob you have targeted when you cast it.

With that, a traveling Mage who agros a mob could summon their quick cast pet, and use it (like Root) to delay the mob until they run out of range. Similarly, a Mage who gets an add while pulling could use the pet as CC. It might not be as good as a mez, or even a Root (although it would be slightly better against mobs that can't be rooted) ... but it would balance the class by giving them options every other caster has, in a way that's still true to the class.

P.S. https://wiki.project1999.com/Dyzil%27s_Deafening_Decoy seems like maybe it was meant for this ... but it doesn't stack, it's not a spell line (just a single high level spell), and it's useless because of the 8 second cast time (Rot is only 2 seconds ... plus Root only costs 40 mana vs. the Decoy's 350).

[Zuranthium]

Yeah that's something I changed about Mage in my mega-patch list, they can use single target pets in addition to their main pet - Deafeaning Decoy, and I also moved the formerly bad Wizard flaming sword pet to Mages and buffed it.

[wuanahto]

Bard: Instrument weapons. From quests
Beastlord: Existing
Berserker: Existing
Cleric: low mana cost quick casting offensive damage spells, undead and regular. with a recharge timer
Druid: Heal Over Time spells. long duration with low potency, short duration with high potency. No downside like shamans
Chanter: group buffs earlier, longer lasting hastes
Mage: More pet gear at all levels. level 9 pet gear with health, level 14 daggers with low element damage procs and AC, etc
Monk: No fail FD. skill will be how many spells are blocked from removing the FD mechanic, and higher levels will be outright resisting said spells
Necro: so strong in 99 they dont need anything. Maybe add a twitch over time that is a "benefit" in numbers but over like 30 seconds
Paladin: class specific spells, faster casting and whatnot
Ranger: faster casting, shorter duration, more compressed DoTs
Rogue: innate mini-crits from behind only. "crippling" blow tier hits from throwing weapons at all angles
ShadowKnight: their own pet line, rogue based.
Shaman: Heals over time MUCH earlier with more spells of that type
Warrior: No fail taunt
Wizard: Fuck you they are getting two.
1.) added lure-like DoTs. yes, even immobilize
2.) Revamped Harvest. More versions available at all levels. Mana "Heal" is over time. NO SELF STUN!

[wuanahto]

Wizard: Fuck you they are getting two.
1.) added lure-like DoTs. yes, even immobilize

I changed my mind. Spell crits with rules:
Lures: Minicrits
Regular: Regular Crits
Banes: Crippling