Fully Classic vs Current

[myriverse]

Whatever it is we have now.

There's "classic" and then there's "grognard." Don't be the latter.

[Weekapaug]

We had no hybrid penalties here when I started, but they got patched in.

I love p99 and have the highest respect for the people behind it but it really makes me /boggle at how they prioritize what they do sometimes. Most agree that hybrid penalties made no sense, Brad McQuade himself acknowledged that they made no sense, yet we have that in an effort to be classic while so many other non-classic things exist. I really just don't get it, sometimes.

But as to the original topic, going to and requiring the Trilogy client would take care of so many non-classic issues, for sure. Proper night-blindness and custom UIs just off the top of my head. I voted Trilogy. The day a classic EMU starts that utilizes the Trilogy client, I am so there.

[Tecmos Deception]

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

yet we have that in an effort to be classic while so many other non-classic things exist. I really just don't get it, sometimes.

The existence of some non-classic elements is not a good argument for more non-classic elements.

[heartbrand]

But hybrids are so good cuz they can melee and cast u no?

[Weekapaug]

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

But hybrids are so good cuz they can melee and cast u no?

During this era of everquest hybrids suffer from compounding penalties. Their versitility was the original rationale behind this but they went too far. So not only do they, generally, not do anything better than the "pure" classes, they get a 40% exp penalty that they bring with them to groups, making them even less desireable. Bards being the arguable exception....They have always been great if the player behind them was talented. And I still think, personally, that hybrid tanks are great because they can use spells for aggro, but still prefer grouping with warriors because they bring no exp penalty. The exp penalty isn't that bad in a good fast grinding group with A hybrid....You get 2 or more and you might as well just go do something else....The bar literally barely moves.

Bad idea jeans, from the get-go, and the devs eventually admitted that the extent to which hybrids were penalized was a major mistake. And they took steps to fix it. The hybrid penalty came out mid-velious, and as new content was released most hybrid classes got their own lines of spells and buffs that gave them a more desired role. Eventually, hybrid tanks, for example, became the premiere tanks for group content, while warriors remained top tanks for raid content. Rangers just as viable a dps class as rogues and monks, with some fantastic ATK buffs to go with them. You know, actual class balance instead of what we have during this era.

I love classic EQ. Loved it then, and love it here now. But hybrid classes being basicly broken with compounding penalties probably at the top of the list of things I don't like about this era, becuase it's just ridiculous. And it's worse here because it gets so blown out of proportion by the min-maxxers. Back in actual classic era live, people still just played what they wanted and it really wasn't that big a deal, especially before kunark. It was around halfway thru kunark that people en masse began to notice the problem with the group hybrid exp penalty and started avoiding them for groups.

Was looking for something new to do recently so I started a ranger. It's actually a really fun class, you just have to gear it and play it right. Have talked to higher level rangers and from what I can gather, the worst part of playing one isn't that they are gimped like popular opionion suggests, but that people think they are gimped and you can't get groups. "Hope you like to solo" I have been told repeatedly.

[SamwiseRed]

i think hybrid penalty should only apply to you when you are solo. not classic but its like, my opinion man.

[BillyCranston]

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

i think hybrid penalty should only apply to you when you are solo. not classic but its like, my opinion man.

That would be just as dumb. The Penalties existed because someone was too high on cocaine to realize it was an absolutely dipshit idea.

Why should any class take longer to level than any other class, killing the same set of mobs? Hybrids hardly get shit of the spells from the classes they are mixing, definitely no where near the amount to penalize them.

[Tecmos Deception]

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

Why should any class take longer to level than any other class, killing the same set of mobs?

Because EQ isn't WoW?

Yeah, they got the some of the penalties wrong. Chanters and necros and shamans shoulda had big penalties and warriors and rogues shoulda had big bonuses and other classes should have been found inbetween. That sucks. But they got some right too. SK/pal tanks are way more than 40% better than warriors in xp groups, plus they have a knack for solo/duo/trio that warriors often lack; it's not entirely insane for them to have an xp penalty.

The weird/dumb/unplanned stuff that was present on live and is present on p99 is a HUGE part of what makes EQ so great. The people who truly like their class play it regardless of xp bonus or xp penalty. 60 rangers are proud to be 60 rangers instead of just another epic rogue or whatever. Etc.

Would most of us have preferred things a bit different? Yeah. Are most of us still playing p99 now, over a decade later, because this game is still better than anything else even with its little (or big) quirks and imbalances? Fuck yeah.

[Weekapaug]

That's not my argument.

Let's break whole classes, inconvenience the shit out of the vast majority of people playing by taking out the compass, but we will leave in things like custom UIs that let you do things that you never could live. Hell, they put the hybrid penalties back in, before they fixed root/snare stacking to be classic, as I recall, but I could be wrong about that.

I have no problem with the classic server being classic, at all, I just don't get how they prioritize these things, is all. I'm sure there are good reasons for it, but as a player it just makes no sense at times.

And one of the main reasons I hope we eventually get a new server after velious is out and they have tweaked and tuned everything. So we can actually experience classic from the start. Not to mention have an economy based on that, not what we have here. When I started here charming classes could perma charm mobs, you could stack dots because of the later revamp to that that wasn't classic, maps, compass, translocators, and the list goes on and on.

[Kika Maslyaka]

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

I have no problem with the classic server being classic, at all, I just don't get how they prioritize these things, is all. I'm sure there are good reasons for it, but as a player it just makes no sense at times.

I think you are being pretty rude to the server devs. Its not a matter of prioritizing which classic "nerf" to implement first - its a matter of coding difficulty. Putting in or removing hybrid XP penalties takes like 15 seconds to do, other things like disabling in-game maps took a very complex client hack to implement.

The devs just cannot arbitrarily choose to have 100% classic server, and have all of its features to magically appear out of thin air. It takes TIME and HARD WORK. And if you are playing on this server, frankly, be thankful for what you have now, cause if they would have waited to release the server until everything 100% classic - it still would be in development as of today (see classiceq project), instead of running successfully for 4 years now.