[heartbrand]

Originally Posted by Daldaen [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Luclin added:

• AAs allowing you to play your main character for meaningful gains.
• AAs and new spells balanced out classes like Ranger/Druid/Wizard in the raiding game, whereas before they were quite underpowered.
• Tradeskills made relevant. Stat Foods/Drink actually important, Xanthe Earring quest.
• Spell Focii made gearing a caster 100x more interesting and added depth to itemization
• Expansion of FT dropping / Revamp of FT code allowed you to stack FT, again making itemization and gearing far more interesting
• Allowed for slow-self travel, stopping the *Well I am stuck in Karanas and no one can get me so I will sit here for 2 hours waiting for a port*. Fantastic change. Wasn't made too easy or quick.
• Bazaar allowed players to sell stuff with minimal time invested on their end (beyond AFKing overnight or during work). Previously selling stuff was quite tedious and involved too much haggling/bickering with random people. Set price and it sells or doesn't sell, pretty simple. Fantastic addition.
• Beastlords add a decent amount of depth to the game. New buffs/pets/AAs to factor into raid and group balance.

PoP added;

• Expansion of tradeskills. ALL tradeskills made relevant, even pottery and fletching became extremely valuable to have maxed.
• Chain quests similar to Shawl/Ring that were awesome.
• The best raid progression. Something for the worst family guilds and the best bleeding edge guilds. Lore behind the raids was pretty cool
• Raid fights themselves became a bit more scripted and less corner-CH-Tank type fights. The Elemental Gods are probably the best example of this. Extreme endurance/offtank/coordination fights (Xegony/Rathe), burn/AOE/Control fights (Coirnav) and fights focused around pulling/positioning (Rathe/Fennin).

Both of these were glorious expansions. Yes, old stuff becomes less relevant, surprise surprise. Thats inevitable. Its very hard to add meaningful content without obsoleting old stuff. Come velious you will see just how much of Kunark goes from being utilized to vacant.

Biggest thing for me was that raids became more than tank and spank. I dunno why people think PoP didn't have a fantasy feel to it. Great music (possibly some of the best MMO music ever IMO). Great looking zones. And the whole expansion was EverQuest lore. Oh well.