Green Class Distribution

[DMN]

Originally Posted by Zuranthium [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

In my experience, class distribution for the majority of 1999 was approximately:

01. Warrior (nearly every race has access to the class, and testosterone-driven dummies naturally like to be whatever looks physically the strongest, so inherently it was everywhere)
02. Ranger (the "cool kid" class, tons of people wanted to roleplay as one because of fantasy novels they read, and the class was actually considered very strong for awhile because of having the same equipment as Warriors and spells on top of it)
03. Cleric (people liked being supreme healers)
04. Wizard (they were touted as the "best damage caster", causing many people picked the class early on)
05. Druid (plenty of nature lovers, very well rounded skillset)
06. Paladin (seemed rather popular early on to me, both because of roleplay and because hybrids seemed to be good)
07. Necromancer (a lot of people were scared of being an "evil" character, but the power level of the class was apparent)
08. Shaman (looked weirder than Cleric/Druid, so the least played healer, but still it's still a healer with SoW)
09. Magician (not as many people understood the power level of pets)
10. Bard (more niche, but I saw a decent amount of them)
11. Rogue (a solid amount of people were into the class concept, but the actual gameplay could be disappointing; even needing to wait until Level 10 to get Backstab made quite a few players give up on it at a low level)
12. Enchanter (basically nobody understood the full power of the class, even utilizing Mesmerize properly was something a lot of groups didn't understand until the later part of 1999. It just seemed like the least sexy caster to most people when the game was new, especially at lower levels, although Whirl Till You Hurl being OP was an early notch in their belt, and Enchanters gradually continued to get more popular)
13. Monk (the weight limit thing was a turn-off, lack of racial selection, FD pulling wasn't well understood, and their combat ability at low/mid levels wasn't special enough to make them attractive over other options)
14. Shadowknight (I remember it being very niche, many people were scared of being evil, and the class lacked a clear identity, so a lot of people already choosing an evil race probably just picked Warrior as more understandable melee character. There was actually a "difficulty level" message in the game when making a character and I think Shadowknight was always listed as "high difficulty")

For the first year it Was more like:

High pop classes: druid, necro
Decent pop classes: warrior, cleric, SK, paladin, ranger. wizard, mage
Low pop classes rogue, shaman, monk
It's a unicorn! pop classes: bard, enchanter

By the end of kunark:

High pop classes: druid, necro
Decent pop classes: warrior, cleric, ranger, monk, shaman, rogue, bard
Low pop classes : SK, paladin, enchanter, wizard, mage
It's a unicorn! pop classes: NA

[Zuranthium]

Originally Posted by DMN [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

For the first year it Was more like:

High pop classes: druid, necro
Decent pop classes: warrior, cleric, SK, paladin, ranger. wizard, mage
Low pop classes rogue, shaman, monk
It's a unicorn! pop classes: bard, enchanter

By the end of kunark:

High pop classes: druid, necro
Decent pop classes: warrior, cleric, ranger, monk, shaman, rogue, bard
Low pop classes : SK, paladin, enchanter, wizard, mage
It's a unicorn! pop classes: NA

Necro was never one of the top population classes in my experience. It should have been in 1999, if everyone understood how OP it was (and if so many people weren't scared of "being evil"), but that wasn't the case. Perhaps on the high-end levels during 1999 there might a high amount of Necros (but not at the end of Kunark...), because of how much easier the class was able to level, but if you look at other levels I don't think they were so widespread.

Enchanter as a low population class by the end of Kunark isn't accurate to me. The term "holy trinity" (referring to having a Warrior, Enchanter, and Cleric in your party) was coined during Kunark. Enchanters were getting more popular by the month in 2000, people were understanding the power of their buffs and crowd control. Clarity was literally called "crack".

I also find it strange you say Bard grew in popularity a lot between 1999 and the end of Kunark. I feel like they got less popular during that period, partially because more people were learning about their exp penalty, and partially because other classes (especially Enchanter) were getting more popular. I would say Bard got a bit more popular again during Velious, because more people were learning to mass AOE kite, but they were always one of the lower population classes.

[kaev]

Originally Posted by Zuranthium [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Necro was never one of the top population classes in my experience. It should have been in 1999, if everyone understood how OP it was (and if so many people weren't scared of "being evil"), but that wasn't the case. Perhaps on the high-end levels during 1999 there might a high amount of Necros (but not at the end of Kunark...), because of how much easier the class was able to level, but if you look at other levels I don't think they were so widespread.

Dunno what server you were playing in the summer of 1999, but some rag came out with a review of EQ that claimed Necro the best class & Gnome the best race for Necro. Within two weeks orc hill in GFay and CB were overrun with Gnome Necros (on Tunare server at least, would be surprised if that was a unique experience). Necros were not rare.