Game Mechanics: MELEE PROBLEMS (Mob hit rate, # max hits, etc etc)

[guineapig]

Are we taking into account gear from back in the day though?
There was much more armor available as far back as 2001, not to mentions better weapons (to make fights shorter), newbi quests, twink gear and so on.

Basically what I'm trying to say is, is what you remember as the standard actually from your first melee character experience in 1999? Or was it an alt, was is from 2001, etc?