^This.
I never understood either of these moves. The wife and I started playing EQ at release.
Side note: We didn't know one another, met in game and have been married for 18 years, but that's another story. I got the most amazing rare spawn and drop ever. A bit of feelgood in the rants and flames forum.
Back to the topic: I believe the best way to run the AC is spawn is to have it be a random spawn (okay, yes, at night and in the sandy area) based off the trash spawn cycle, same as the SGs in Oasis, North and South Ro. Absolutely make it random and a "worked spawn," to make it harder to dominate or control. It's nearly always true of nearly any spawn, that a guild or group can purposely do so, that's up to the players and devs to police.
Want Journeyman's Boots? Fine, go work the spawn for hours and hours and hours and hours and hours, to force the spawn cycle. Each night, keep forcing the spawn cycle and hope. What? No spawn? Welcome to Everquest.
There are many things in the P1999 version that are anything but "vanilla." That said, I do genuinely appreciate the existence of P1999, thus that is not meant in an insulting manner. Their claim is something to the effect of "the closest to original...."
Just for grins, there is a "vanilla" style UI someone made. It's here on the forums. It looks very good.
Stone UI