Was level 20 the original planned max level for EQ?

[Atmas]

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

Could 100 level 20s even kill naggy, vox, or phinny?

Not a chance. 1000 would be not a chance for the dragons.

[indiscriminate_hater]

Lord Shin Ree would be zerged by 130 warmbodies

[7thGate]

There might be specialty strats that could stand a chance at taking down Naggy, it would be fascinating to see if it ever happened. Rangers can outrange dragon fear with a trueshot longbow, and a level 20 ranger can probably pull 5-10 dps against a dragon with a bow. 50 rangers, 50 mages or similar might be able to do something there with very careful positioning. Definitely harder than anything on p99 though, its really tough when you can't get a tank who could last a melee round and the target can AOE your raid to death in two hits. Just getting to Naggy would also be a crazy crawl, fire giants are basically avatar of war for a level 20.

[Yasi]

Should also not forget that level 20 is a key level in many ways:

You get a /surname. It would make sense for level 20 to be max level. You reached the peak, you deserve to be known with a surname now.

INT casters get specialization. You've done it, now it's time to specialize.

If I am not mistaken: If you take all the starting cities and the zones connecting the starting cities, there is not a single zone that would require you to be higher than lvl 20 - except Kithicor at night. And Kithicor has such a big gap in lvl day vs. night, it could have been added on later very well.

[Auvdar]

The original game was planned around lvl 20 in development initially. Once it was realized that much more was needed to make a fleshed out world, (and the concept of EQ was gaining steam with people) it was pushed to 50.

So basically for the OP, kinda. If I remember the devs never thought Everquest was going to be as big as it was when it released. So they started with a small game (lvl 20) to see what would happen, it got a lot of buzz and whatnot, so it was then fleshed out to 50.

[Jimjam]

It does feel like you can stumble into level 20 just following quest lines, exploring and adventuring. To hit 50 in any kind of timely fashion requires an assembly line mentality of mob processing.

Despite their DND / Dev / blow backgrounds the team were too cool and normal and didn't realise the basement dwelling munchkins appetite to consume content as if they were sweatshop labourers. I think these noisy neckbeards are a large part of the reason for the 50 cap.

[Dolalin]

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

If I am not mistaken: If you take all the starting cities and the zones connecting the starting cities, there is not a single zone that would require you to be higher than lvl 20 - except Kithicor at night. And Kithicor has such a big gap in lvl day vs. night, it could have been added on later very well.

Kithicor only became different at night after the Lanys T'Vyl GM event some months after release.

[Topgunben]

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

It does feel like you can stumble into level 20 just following quest lines, exploring and adventuring. To hit 50 in any kind of timely fashion requires an assembly line mentality of mob processing.

Despite their DND / Dev / blow backgrounds the team were too cool and normal and didn't realise the basement dwelling munchkins appetite to consume content as if they were sweatshop labourers. I think these noisy neckbeards are a large part of the reason for the 50 cap.

Your whole post had me cracking up