I hate the whole mechanic of gear that levels up with your character.
Both Live and modern WoW do this and it absolutely sucks the air out of leveling up and gearing your character. It is so OP that you don't need to do it. That is what I love about classic Everquest: you might have to grind a long time for experience or equipment, but the whole power-curve is so satisfying. You can feel the difference in combat with new levels, spells, & gear. And although there are some level limitations for clickies & procs, there are almost no level requirements for gear (that I know of). That is what the joy of gearing a character comes from - we all remember almost dying to bats in the newbie yard.
On Live you basically start out completely twinked and steamrolling mobs until your 80s. It makes the whole affair sort of tasteless. You can train a paid merc with a whole zone and the only issue is whether it will get overwhelmed or not. Everyone (I played on FV, so not TLP) boxes as well and it can make the game an intensive affair of pressing a million buttons and hotkeys. I like that I can set P99 aside for a few months and when I return I don't feel like I need a tutorial on how to play again. I also think that group/class mechanics in classic Everquest are the best and it is really cool to be able to experience them again in 2021.
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