It looks to me like the Massive Heartwood Thorn should be the 15/20 ratio in this era. This post is from developer's corner on Oct 5, 2001:
Rogues-
The rogue class is also key to melee balance, because they clearly define the maximum amount of melee damage we want done in EverQuest. The rogue currently is, and will remain the king of situational melee damage. If a rogue has the opportunity to backstab, no other melee class approaches his damage output. This remains unchanged.
When we looked at the damage potential for rogues, we took into account that even in the best groups, a rogue can't backstab 100% of the time. In a well played experience group, a rogue is able to attempt backstabs roughly 90% of the time. In a more chaotic raid situation, it is harder to get backstabs more than 75% of the time due to monsters changing agro targets, moving around, or having their backs against a wall. So, when evaluating the rogue, we assumed 90% backstabs in a single group situation, and 75% backstabs on a raid level encounter.
Taking this all into account, the rogue met or exceeded our expectations in damage potential and his skills and damage output will not be receiving any adjustments, positive or negative.
However, we did discover that rogues do not have a full selection of piercing weapons available at all levels between 51 and 60. Prior to attaining an epic weapon, rogues do less damage than we expected. Additionally, rogues do not receive equal weapon upgrades post-epic when compared to other melee classes. To remedy this situation, we are adding new piercing weapons to give rogues a reasonable progression from 51-60. A few existing high-end daggers are being upgraded to make them relatively equal in quality to the weapons other classes have available. These new and upgraded weapons will begin appearing in the game in the near future.
It references high end daggers getting upgrades. And a post from Feb 15, 2002 here:
https://everquest.allakhazam.com/db/item.html?item=7041
saying that is was just noticed on Magelo that the ratio changed. If the patch notes are checked there is no mention of any other changes between Oct 8 2001 patch and Feb 2002. Magelo wasn't always up to date and Tunare was not killed frequently at the time. It could have easily taken this long to notice the change. I know this has been discussed and closed but might be worth looking at more as the deciding picture
from Dec 11, 2001 may not have been posted the day it was taken.
https://www.project1999.com/forums/s...d.php?t=248201
And here is a post about Fist of Nature that suggests Tunare loot revamp. If Fist is in this era I believe Massive Heartwood Thorn was updated at the same time.
https://www.project1999.com/forums/s...4&postcount=27.
I have more but this post has been long enough. If anyone wants more let me know!!!