Project 1999 - New EQ Server (Alignment/Race/Class Restrictions)

So I was thinking about how to make Everquest more immersive, intricate, and difficult. The game is quite easy and stagnant these days now that the majority of the playerbase knows so much about it and you can look most anything up on wiki if you don't know. I'm keeping my ideas limited to things that should be relatively easy to implement; nothing that changes the core mechanics and nothing that changes items/zones/classes in the game too much.

Part of these ideas are based around the game having World PvP, although the modifications would work for a total PvE server too.

RACE LIMITATIONS:

My first idea was to limit races so that each race can only pick 3 classes, with the additional limitations that every race can only share ONE class in common with each other, each class must be used a minimum of 2 times across all races, and each class can only be used a maximum of 4 times across all races. There would be a total of 16 classes and 15 races.

Since there will also be race and alignment limitations, the way I selected these classes for each race was done in such a way that each race can feasibly play with only their own race and still have a workable team for a lot of game content, and also so that each alignment will be missing out on some key abilities from missing classes.

Barbarian: Berserker, Rogue, Shaman

Dark Elf: Necromancer, Enchanter, Cleric

Dwarf: Warrior, Berserker, Paladin

Erudite: Enchanter, Magician, Wizard

Froglok: Warrior, Wizard, Cleric

Gnome: Rogue, Necromancer, Magician

Half-Elf: Paladin, Rogue, Bard

Halfling: Warrior, Rogue, Druid

High Elf: Paladin, Magician, Cleric

Human: Monk, Ranger, Cleric

Iksar: Monk, Necromancer, Shaman

Kerran: Beastlord, Bard, Shaman

Ogre: Shadowknight, Berserker, Beastlord

Troll: Warrior, Shadowknight, Shaman

Wood Elf: Ranger, Bard, Druid

CLASS CHANGES:

Classes would be balanced with the Velious hybrid improvements in place (with the additional change that Shadowknights would not receive pets, which are nearly useless anyway, but would have slightly improved life tapping abilities). Other changes:

Clerics would be slighty nerfed, with Complete Heal becoming less overpowered (but don't, worry, they'll still be a necessary class and some of their other heals will also be improved). Shaman would be slightly nerfed - I would take away their pets, but I would also improve the cannibalize spells so that the effect happens for 3 ticks in a row. Needing to use cannibalize less frequently means the Shaman has more time to spend on other abilities and it streamlines the class much better, by making it so the ridiculously annoying and repetitive "canni-dance" doesn't need to be done every freaking 6 seconds to maximize their power. Enchanters would be very slightly nerfed, by making their slow spells cap out 5% lower at the higher levels...Enchanters are obviously plenty powerful enough already and this gives Shaman more distinction as being the masters of attack speed debuffs. Druids would be buffed, by giving them the pets that Shaman formerly had and also significantly increasing their direct healing capability at higher levels (I would remove AE damage spells from Druids, however, to give Wizards more class distinction).

Wizards would be moderately buffed by improving Harvest - drop the cast time to 1 second, remove the self-stun effect, and make it so this ability causes your next damage spell (if one is used in the next 20 seconds) to always hit for the normal maximum damage and potentially do 50% more maximum damage (depending on resist). When using Harvest, the skill will be disabled for other all Wizards in your party for 1 minute and it will also cause Harvest to be disabled for all other Wizards in the area of your target when the damage spell is cast...this is a buffer to stop gathered Wizards from being too powerful. Magicians would be buffed in terms of their ability to solo (as compared to how it is in strict classic) - summoned pets will automatically be equipped with the equipment in a summoned bag in your inventory that you will be able to 'tag' for this purpose, and Magician pets will also only take 25% of the Magician's exp from the kill if the Magician doesn't outdamage the pet, in comparison to the normal 50% for all other pet classes.

Warriors would be slightly buffed by reworking the taunt skill and making it better for that class than any other class. Beastlords would be as they were in Luclin era in terms of their abilities, with the exception that their pet and pet buffs would take much longer to cast. This would make it so re-summoning a pet in battle wouldn't be a viable option for the Beastlord, thereby reducing their power level in some situations and further differentiating the class from Magicians. Berserkers would essentially be the melee version of Wizards. Their tanking ability would be on the level of Rangers and their DPS when not going berserk would be the same as a Warrior, but when they are able to go berserk mode they would be putting out more damage than any other melee. In terms of long-term DPS they would be behind Rogues, but still quite competitive. Necromancers would get a better epic because the "duck staff" is a disgrace.

RACE AFFINITY:

In order to be in a group, there MUST be at least one other player who is your same race in that group. This means that any given group can only have a maximum of 3 races in it.

ALIGNMENT AFFINITY:

Every race in the game will be either Good, Neutral, or Evil. You will only be able to group with the races in your alignment. Certain areas of the game will be attuned to Good, Neutral, or Evil. When in an attuned area, the members of that alignment can not be attacked by other players. In areas with no attunement, players may attack other players who are in a different alignment. There will also be a few areas in the game where no PvP can happen at all - the dock in Erudin (will be accessible via a direct underwater tunnel from Toxxulia Forrest), South Qeynos, the above-ground areas of East Freeport, the dock in Oasis, and the docks in Butcherblock Mountains.

GOOD - Dwarf, Froglok, High Elf, Kerran, Wood Elf (this alignment lacks 5 classes - Shadowknights, Monks, Rogues, Necromancers, and Enchanters)

NEUTRAL - Barbarian, Erudite, Halfling, Half-Elf, Human (this alignment lacks 3 classes - Beastlords, Shadowknights, and Necromancers)

EVIL - Dark Elf, Gnome, Iksar, Ogre, Troll (this alignment lacks 5 classes - Paladins, Rangers, Bards, Wizards, and Druids)

Overview of the "GOOD" Alignment:

Their attuned areas in the game are Kerra Island (note - I would include more zones and useful areas on the continent of Odus as a whole), the temple of Rodcet Knife in Qeynos, the temple of Marr in Freeport, Innothule Swamp (because the Frogloks own it now!), Gukta (formerly known as Grobb), Kaladim, Butcherblock Mountains, Greater Faydark, Felwithe, and the outpost area in Firiona Vie.

This alignment has more defensive options than any other, good mobility, and very strong control over a couple key dungeons in the game (Kedge Keep and Guk). Unfortunately this alignment also has no characters who are able to feign death, no characters who can summon corpses, no Rogues, and no Enchanters.

Overview of the "NUETRAL" Alignment:

Their attuned areas in the game are Erudin, Halas, Everfrost, Surefall Glade, Northern Qeynos (aside from the temple of Rodcet Knife), Highpass Keep, Misty Thicket, Rivervale, the above-ground areas of West Freeport, North Freeport (aside from the temple of Marr), and the "Lost Valley" area of Dreadlands (only neutral-aligned Druids and Wizards would even be able to obtain the teleport spells to here).

This alignment has more classes available to them than any other, a more centralized community than any other alignments, and the best potential mobility. Unfortunately, this alignment only has very strong control over one key dungeon in the game (Permafrost; also a note - Splitpaw would be a "key dungeon" in this setup of the game).

Overview of the "EVIL" Alignment:

Their attuned areas in the game are Paineel, Qeynos Catacombs, Ogguk, the Feerrott, the Temple of Cazic-Thule, Nektulos Forest, Neriak, Steamfont Mountains, Akanon, the outpost in The Overthere, and Cabalis (although, remember, everyone except Iksar are still naturally KOS here and Iksar are naturally KOS everywhere else in the game).

This alignment has very strong control over more key dungeons than any other alignment and their spread attuned locations gives them great potential for cross-zone domination. Unfortunately this alignment has no characters who are able to track, they have less defensive options than any other alignment, and they have absolutely abysmal mobility. With no Druids or Wizards to provide teleports, and not even any Bards to provide a super-fast run buff in the form of Selo's, they are dependent on their Beastlords and Shaman for movement buffs to help aid travel. (note that a portal to the Plane of Hate would be located in Neriak, so evil characters can still access that zone. Evil characters would have no access to Plane of Sky whatsoever, although the epic class quests would be changed so that no items are required from the zone...but don't worry, that zone would still have a lot of very valuable drops...I would somewhat modify the drops in the game so that Kunark isn't SO heavily dominant as it is in the current game)