Quote:
Originally Posted by Zuranthium
[You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]
Necro was never one of the top population classes in my experience. It should have been in 1999, if everyone understood how OP it was (and if so many people weren't scared of "being evil"), but that wasn't the case. Perhaps on the high-end levels during 1999 there might a high amount of Necros (but not at the end of Kunark...), because of how much easier the class was able to level, but if you look at other levels I don't think they were so widespread.
|
A lot of wizards quit and moved over to mage/necro, and quite a few mages and, heck, even some degree a few disillusioned druids also moved to necros over the first year. Necros probably weren't at the top the first couple months but would rapidly start to climb up in population. it was a simple case of "if you can't beat em, join em."
Quote:
Originally Posted by Zuranthium
[You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]
Enchanter as a low population class by the end of Kunark isn't accurate to me. The term "holy trinity" (referring to having a Warrior, Enchanter, and Cleric in your party) was coined during Kunark. Enchanters were getting more popular by the month in 2000, people were understanding the power of their buffs and crowd control. Clarity was literally called "crack".
|
Enchanters were getting more powerful and people were wanting them in groups more often, indeed, but almost exclusively for CC and buffs. Most of the people who would want to play this type of passive character would have already rolled up a priest class or a bard. And generally people tend to like to play something a bit different on their "main alt". So they will roll up rogues, monks, warriors, etc, not an enchanter. In EQ the holy trinity for a group might have been a tank/enc/cleric, for raiding it was warrior/rogue/cleric. And by a year in a lot of people started to focus a lot on the hopes/intention of raiding. Since that was about all you had to do once you had maxed level and got some good gear.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Zuranthium
[You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]
I also find it strange you say Bard grew in popularity a lot between 1999 and the end of Kunark. I feel like they got less popular during that period, partially because more people were learning about their exp penalty, and partially because other classes (especially Enchanter) were getting more popular. I would say Bard got a bit more popular again during Velious, because more people were learning to mass AOE kite, but they were always one of the lower population classes.
|
Reasons why bards became a lot more popular:
1. they got debatably the best epic in the game
2. People had begun to fully debunk the claim that bards were just group-only characters, who would often find themselves asleep at the keyboard playing the manasong.
3. AoE kiting became viable for people due to improve internet connections, making bards the fastest levelers in the game. The massive kunark outdoor zones also helped in this regard.
4. The general "raiding guild theory" back then was you wanted 1 bard for every 5-6 members of their guild. Bards ended up being more sought after in guilds than clerics because there were already a lot of clerics.
5. While You could easily get druid or wizard port to kunark only a bard in the group could move you around kunark at warp speed onc you arrived.
6. Fashionquest.