Perhaps the issue isn't the Fungi* but the other options available not being classic?
For example, there is a growing body of evidence that there is currently some kind of cap on worn AC. This cap on p99 is suggested to be far lower than what is suggested by accounts contemporary to early everquest.
If this is true, then one would expect the Fungi to be disproportionately powerful - when you already have 180 worn AC and there is no benefit to exceeding 200 worn AC there is no difference between a 20 AC top and a 50 AC top (except one gives a big boost to regen)!
Speaking of regen and caps, there seems to have been all sorts of hidden 'antitwink' code in classic EQ - worn AC caps which scaled with level, pitiful returns from stats in early levels, and diminished returns on stats after a certain point (e.g. 75 Agi, 200 Int, etc). Even haste % gets capped by level! What is to say there wasn't also a by level regen cap? If this is the case, the Fungi would have been a much less attractive proposition at lower level. Even if players weren't aware of the cap, they would have noticed the impacts.
Finally, it is worth remembering we have been festering in classic everquest for like 20 years now. Back in y2k, people may have had 1 main and a handful of alts. The main was likely mid 50s at very best. The alts would be whimisical sub 30s. With only a year or two to level up, get in to seb, find a fungi (or amass the wealth to buy one from someone else who did all that) there simply wouldn't have been the proliferation of fungis accumulated that this server benefits from.
I also feel it was far less common to pass twink items between toons. If you had a fungi on your main, you'd be less inclined to pass it over to your twinked out alt. And even if you did, you'd still not get that alt levelled up and raid geared anywhere near as quickly as you can on p99.
So in conclusion, the differences in how mechanics are implemented between live and p99, as well as the impacts of how players use the game has resulted in a proliferation of fungi compared to what we may have seen two and a half decades back.
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