Here's evidence as far back as 1/24/2000 (see last post at the bottom):
http://www.eqclerics.org/forums/arch...hp/t-6181.html
Considering EQ was released in March 99, it depends on what you consider "classic" and how far along in the timeline we are.
JBoots nerf happened on Oct 13, 1999 so we know we're at least to that point:
http://everquest.allakhazam.com/hist...ches-1999.html
Plane of Sky released Jan 2000, so we're not quite there yet:
http://everquest.allakhazam.com/history/patches.html