Origins of the OT Hammer

[loramin]

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

Seems like the least classic part of this server.

As others have said, a big part of it is Blue's seven years of Kunark. However, even on Green this is still going to be a classic (pun intended) Project 1999 dilemma: classic environment or classic rules.

Many things like the OT hammer, WC cap, or various raid techniques were not commonly seen on live ... but the rules for them had always been there. This leaves emulators with a lose/lose proposition: if they don't include that stuff, then the server's rules won't be classic. However, if they do include it, the server's environment won't be classic.

Someday (years from now) Green will come, and it will be a lot more classic ... but OT hammers and other non-classic environment features will still be there (they'll probably just cost more). Rogen/Nilbog had to choose either classic rules or classic environment: they couldn't choose both, so they went with classic rules.

[Foxplay]

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

As others have said, a big part of it is Blue's seven years of Kunark. However, even on Green this is still going to be a classic (pun intended) Project 1999 dilemma: classic environment or classic rules.

Many things like the OT hammer, WC cap, or various raid techniques were not commonly seen on live ... but the rules for them had always been there. This leaves emulators with a lose/lose proposition: if they don't include that stuff, then the server's rules won't be classic. However, if they do include it, the server's environment won't be classic.

Someday (years from now) Green will come, and it will be a lot more classic ... but OT hammers and other non-classic environment features will still be there (they'll probably just cost more). Rogen/Nilbog had to choose either classic rules or classic environment: they couldn't choose both, so they went with classic rules.

Prior game knowledge and experience in the player base makes alot of things not as they where on classic servers

Take the raid scene for example...

[Daud]

I think a lot of has to do with recharging not being mainstream knowledge on live rather then the mechanics of charm and quests or the existence of Puppet Strings. Recharging was much more of an "in" thing among higher end guilds and that's really the key to churning out OT hammers on the scale you see here.

[Bboboo]

You know what else isn't classic? Kunark era for 5+ years.

Try red today pals.

[loramin]

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

You know what else isn't classic? Kunark era for 5+ years.

Try red today pals.

Didn't Red also have Kunark for way longer than it should have?

[Doil_Boil]

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

Didn't Red also have Kunark for way longer than it should have?

Doesn't red have such a low population that it feels like a godforsaken ghost town?

During classic era I remember how camped everything was. Pretty sure the server pops for most servers was more like 1600-2000 during the heyday. Either that, or the population trended much lower in level.

[Doil_Boil]

The main problem I see with the hammer, by the way, is that it essentially has made wizards and druids useless in deep dungeon groups.

[Dreenk317]

Hammers via puppet strings definitely happened on live in kunark era. Same as bard AOE kiting definitely happened, and MQ's/Recharges definitely happened. The player base on live was much more fractured though. Most of this stuff was talked about in guild irc channels and forums. Here, everyone uses this one forum and learns how everyone else is playing the game. On live, in classic era, most people were happy to be able to camp 5 spawns with a full group. Here, trio's are laying waste to 15-20 spawns before repops. Player knowledge, server age, gear saturation, all very very different than classic on live. Which leads to things like everyone over level 50 buying an OT hammer via puppet strings if they are feeling lazy.

[Bummey]

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

The main problem I see with the hammer, by the way, is that it essentially has made wizards and druids useless in deep dungeon groups.

Druids and wizards, especially wizards, are nearly useless in deep dungeon groups anyways. Besides, your average grouper doesn't have an OT hammer.

[Ezrick]

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

Druids and wizards, especially wizards, are nearly useless in deep dungeon groups anyways. Besides, your average grouper doesn't have an OT hammer.

This, also, is a product of the game being around a long time. The absolutely ridiculous gear that everyone has makes deep dungeon groups nearly trivial. Imagine doing it with armor with 40% less AC and weapons with 40% less DPS. Believe me, going into, say, disco in Seb in 2000 was absolutely not trivial, it was a hair's breadth from disaster every time. A wizard, or druid then didn't rely nearly as heavily on gear as melee classes and enchanter was a relatively rare class (no one really knew what an enchanter could do at launch, they didn't really come into their own until Kunark).

You took a wizard for DPS, and/or a druid for snare, or either for the inevitable evac that happened once or twice a night.