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Originally Posted by Zuranthium
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Also, buffs shouldn't be long-term, fire-and-forget anyway. That's poor combat design.
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Not to get into an extended design discussion, but I couldn't disagree more. It's not poor design at all, it's just what you think you don't want. Having otherwise creates a lot of changes I don't think you realize - though maybe you do and that's the sort of game you want. Fair enough, but that's not EQ.
Higher level buffs not landing on lower level characters is in the game now anyway (there was and maybe still is an issue with Bard 51 Selos due to it).
Quote:
Originally Posted by Zuranthium
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The same thing goes for equipment - nothing wrong with having level restrictions on them. It again also makes sense that a character can't handle certain equipment until they are experienced enough (this makes even MORE sense than a character not being able to "handle" a higher level magical buff). Are medical students able to perform open heart surgeries after just 2 years of med school? No, they aren't.
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Some are and have had to in remote areas, but nevertheless they can sure pick up the scalpel and work the forceps that achieve the operation. The skill of how well they do that is built into other areas of character design (skills etc.)
What you are advocating is what almost every other game does. You lose a lot more than you gain with these restrictions. Having to have them is sign of bad design IMO - or if not bad, cheap. There is always a better solution. Forcing those sorts of restrictions is a big red flag that your other systems haven't been elegantly designed and require such artificial, immersion breaking arbitrariness to patch up the holes.
Why can't a lower level pick up and use that sword, within the game world I mean? What is the explanation? That's a great mechanic for specific items (like the magic named swords in D&D that required a certain Wisdom or Intelligence score to wield and subdue the "will" of the sword) but as a general "that's just the way it is because we have to balance things", it's frankly a cheesy, cheap, nasty solution. I don't like, and never did, the No Drop element even in EQ. The same applies to it. It was a concession, though I understand the deep design issue it addresses.
Some of the absolute best things in games come from players finding the gaps between design elements that the designers didn't and could never have anticipated. Overdesigning, and over-balancing, and over-policing things to remove small exploit possibilities also removes those moments of magic - and they are the best things about games.
All this is why I and others love EQ, and still consider it unmatched in modern MMOs.
P.S. You're going to have to provide links for what you say the devs said. You may be right, but I don't remember it that way. If it was SOE post-Verant, well, I consider what they did to the game as pretty much sleazy money-grubbing cynicism anyway - and did at the time.