People that never played classic EQ

[Non Quixote]

At least one poster keeps getting hung up on basic combat mechanics as an example of how "hard" modern MMOs are. I'll be the first to admit that modern MMOs are more twitchy than P99, and most classes have a larger toolkit, but does that really qualify them as "harder"? Isn't having a larger toolkit better than entering combat with the bare essentials? Having said that, most modern MMOs allow you to macro things so easily that you end up back at one button or maybe two that you spam during combat. To say that P99 players hit AA and then take a nap or surf the Web makes me wonder if the poster has even played the game.

It would seem that because the word "hard" is undefined and nebulous it can be applied ambiguously to most MMOs, depending on your point of view.

Assuming no twinkage and no PLing, we can all agree that P99 leveling is far, far more grindy than the vast majority of modern MMOs. Does that make it harder, or just more of a grind? P99 leveling certainly demands more patience and determination. You won't get max level in a few weeks. And most classes will have a difficult to impossible time getting there on their own. Contrast this to modern MMOs.

WoW has gotten to the point that you can literally find epic PvE gear lying around as groundspawn (Timeless Isle). Not so the case with P99. Sure, you can buy gear in the EC tunnel, but with what? I've been playing for a couple of months now and I have about 500pp to my name, and my main is sporting a full set of banded. Anything much better is out of my financial reach.

Death. This one facet of the game, far above all others defines P99 as "harder" than modern MMOs in at least this category. Death in modern MMOs is a slight annoyance, nothing more. On P99 it can be, and often is, at least time consuming and dangerous to recover from (relatively speaking).

Travel. Flying mounts and/or portals everywhere in modern MMOs. Need I say more?

My litmus test on the difficulty or brutality of a game is: could an average 12 year old play it with at least moderate success and not rage quit out of frustration? By moderate success I mean accomplish things like reach max level and participate in groups and raids competently. Could anyone possibly call a game "hard" when the answer to this question is "yes"?

Maybe a better description for the difference between modern MMOs and P99 is that P99 is more brutal and unforgiving overall, requiring a great deal more patience and tenacity to gear and level up.