Why did I make a melee?
 

I forgot they can't do shit in EQ.

Can't gate to town, can't sow. Can't even fawking bind myself. I rely on casters like a 2 year old kid relies on his parents. Can't port of course, can't solo or camp good mobs. At least I'm a monk so I can dungeon crawl at higher levels w/ FD, get to the good stuff, etc. Would be a lot worse as another melee I suppose.

I'm not sure why I'm complaining, that's just how the game is I guess. But it seems terribly unbalanced to the point where I'm kicking myself for not making yet another mage or necro =/

You like noticing a discernible difference when you get a shiny new piece of gear?

Wasn't until flowing thought items (high-end velious, maybe one-or-two from Kunark i cant remember) and focus items (PoP) that casters got anywhere near the benefit from their gear that melee classes do.

Just sayin'.

meh.. that hardly balances it IMO. In fact it could almost be spun as an advantage, if you think of it like- casters really don't need much highend gear to be effective.

Melees need gear. If they're poor, they're out of luck. Meanwhile, the casters who can farm for thousands of plat per day at high lvls, don't even need items. That's what you're saying right?

casters also get new spells every few levels. new spells are like new gears. You don't take hits, or hit mobs. That's what gear is for. You cast spells. new spells = new gear

If I am remembering correctly, gate spells come out in Velious which should take a bit of the sting out of being dependent all the time. Sow potions are also an option ;)

But yeah, being a melee in EQ is no walk in the park compared to some other classes. Still fun though!

Also, an ungeared lvl 50 mage can sit there and farm guards all day, sell the weapons and shit found on corpses, and make thousands easily. All the while, not taking one faction hit.

It's not exactly the same. In Kunark, there were a handful of spells that were difficult to get your hands on. I remember in SoL there was a wizard spell that only dropped off Emporer Ssra; that was the closest it ever got to spells being an elite drop. PoP had level 65 spells being only off certain high-end mobs as well, but gear was pretty balanced at that point and the "high-end" mobs weren't that high end, and it wasn't long before everyone had theirs.

Thats kind of the difference. With spells, everyone gets theirs. Not the same at all with gear.

Realistically, with regard to class balance, all of the classes are aimed at being balanced in groups, and in a raid. We could discuss their individual merits in this regard, but that's probably off-topic. In no way are classes aimed at being balanced in Solo PVE. This is painfully obvious, and extends beyond the realm of just pure melee (though they may be the worst shafted in the solo realm).

Don't forget your shiny 20% xp penalty because you can kill stuff naked, and fd(eventually). Which necros can also do but only get 10%. The extra 10% is for being able to bust out sweet karate moves.

Well, you might want to consider rolling a new character in a class which you feel is at an advantage. You need to consider your play style as well. If you plan on soloing a lot, then you want a class which will do better in this regard (Necro's for example).
It's a fact that pure melee types were at a soloing disadvantage. It was a fact back in the day and there was no end to the long forum posts decrying the injustice of such an imbalance. Of course we all know that this marked the beginning of the long spiral into mess which we now know as EQ Live as classes classes were retooled to nerf or add abilities. The interdependence of classes is what made EQ so great in the early days. Yes, some people could solo but you could always tell who they were because they sucked when they grouped. The reason for them sucking is because they never really learned how to effectively play their class in groups. I played an enchanter and made sure that I grouped as much as possible and it showed then and shows now as I can effectively play in a group.
I rolled a warrior and for a while in old EQ and my first character ever was a paladin on Fennin Ro so I know your pain. I wound up rolling a Wizard on Fennin Ro as I had a need to solo a lot due to real life stuff..

u a necro or mage brah?

oh maybe a druid?