Not contributing any "classic" input since r99 is only remotely classic, but as far as server history goes...
During red beta, you could literally channel through 50+ hits nearly every time. If you remember all of Lovely's screenshots of channeling ice comets through 2+ mobs and melee damage, etc. As a fix, we got the custom code where it was 5%(?) less chance to channel per melee hit, and the channeling chances were really good through classic and early Kunark.
The better haste and better weapons for melees later in Kunark really compounded the melee hit ratio problem, and the flat 5% could probably have been adjusted down slightly to keep balance, except...
Some months ago there was some sort of adjustment made to channeling chances for both servers, and I believe that it compounded with reds custom code to significantly decrease our channeling rates. Casting root with a level 55 I was getting interrupted 50% of the time from 2-3 melee hits. I was interrupted very often by only 1 hit, and if I took more, 5-7, I would almost never channel.
If the old code was a flat 90% chance to channel, no matter how many hits were taken like it seemed to be in red beta, and it was dropped to a flat 60% chance(or calculations were adjusted to put it in a similar range), our chances on red would be ~45% after 3 hits currently, where it used to be ~75%. When you consider that melees on red hit 90% or more of the time, your odds of channeling a 3-4.5 second spell are low to non existent.
As an example, a few weeks ago when I was running around on a 56 epic rogue and found a solo cleric(epic'd and near full EM), he only channeled 1 of 3 remedies and died when my backstab recycled. Similarly on a druid, I ran to a corner with DS up to out heal the damage of a dual wielding ranger and instead had to zone and cheetah since I couldn't channel even 1 sup heal. As someone who usually mains a caster, having played that rogue, I have absolutely zero desire to play a(higher level and better geared) caster for PvP.
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