Open Letter to Nilbog & Co: Raid Item Nerfs

[Rygar]

I wanted to make a realistic case for some item nerfs, more specifically items that trivialize the raid scene (racing and encounters). Part of the initial appeal of EverQuest was difficult end-game raid encounters, as game knowledge increased certain items became helpful shortcuts that made encounters easier… changing some of these items can help recapture some of that classic magic.

For starters: the Shiny Brass Idol. It is constantly farmed and used to make racing a trivial affair. Guilds create accounts with alts parked at ToV loaded up with these items, as well as corpsing additional idols and staging them in strategic locations.

The initial intention of this item being a situational ‘save your butt’ one-time insta click has been lead horribly astray and is now just fuel for the raid machine. Nerfing this item can be a good first step to make racing more interesting (may need to look at other items with this effect as well).

Possible Nerf Suggestions:

• Make this item unusable in designated Raid / Racing zones (specifically ToV)
• Add a 5-second casting time

Next up: SoulFire & Reaper of the Dead. Not a lot of need to explain this one, seeing clerics and all forms of other classes farm this item for use during raiding is disappointing and just blocks Paladins and Shadowknights that want to complete the quest for themselves. Even from a roleplay standpoint, I fail to see how anyone outside these designated classes would complete this quest much less have the ability to call forth the magic contained in this item that is tuned to a specific class.

Possible Nerf Suggestions:

• Make Paladin and SK usable only
• Make Equip to cast

Finally: Aggro Management items, specifically Midnight Mallet. Back in my day, agro management was something that was crucial to a raid, melee and casters had to be careful not to over-do it, especially early in a fight else a wipe or at least some mob bouncing would occur. On certain pulls, it was near guaranteed your shaman would die, sacrificing themselves to get off that crucial slow (resists hurt and caused chaos). Certain classes would even pop their Riposte disciplines to get a mob into position and let the warrior build some agro before they die. Nowadays, on the pull, tanks dump a fully charged Midnight Mallet into the mob and everyone engages immediately… it is one of the most used and abused items on the raid scene. Other items have this effect such as root nets, so it really is more than just a Midnight Mallet problem.

Possible Nerf Suggestions:

• Make Midnight Mallet usable by only Cleric and Shaman
• Add a 5-second casting time (don’t believe you parry / riposte / dodge during this time, and can be interrupted)
• Make the item No Drop (doesn’t solve the problem, but slows it down)

Just some suggestions from a humble casual and occasional raider, thanks for listening! I know haters will say, “LOL #NotClassic”, but there has been some precedent such as not implementing original version of Wavecrasher, FTE messages, etc. and is just meant to restore that classic in spirit feel to the game... Love the project you’ve built, keep up the great work!