Welcome to reason #2301 why most newer MMORPGs use liberal amounts of instancing. An open-world game means the majority of players will not obtain the rarest items. ~400 or so manastones, if even that many, will drop for the many thousands of players on "green". That mathematical reality is part of the cost of entry to this type of game. No system--absolutely none--that preserves such a rate of item generation is going to satisfy the starry-eyed low-hours players who started up on "Green" assuming that /list would guarantee them their oh-so-coveted pixels. Most of them aren't going to get one, period. I knew better than to even try, and tried to warn others weeks ago but such warnings were paid little heed in the pre-launch period of hope and dreams.
Right now with a low average player level the screeching is about manastones and jboots and whatnot, but is there a single longtime P99'er who doesn't anticipate seeing more of the same screeching as soon as raiding starts? All those folks who're new to P1999 and have only vague memories of the pre-expansion game are in for an unpleasant shock once they see a bunch of guilds arguing over a mere handful of targets...and there's no /list (presently) there to save them by locking anyone out, either.
I don't know if I'll stick with these new servers all that long, but I know enough about the original game to know that anyone can get to 50 with just basic, commonly-available equipment. EQ--especially pre-expansion EQ--isn't tuned all that tightly. The high-demand rare items are luxuries that aren't needed or in many cases even all that helpful. Guise is a fluff item. So's Rubicite Breastplate with its tiny +2 regeneration. Jboots are rendered unnecessary by anyone who can cast Spirit of Wolf. Most the classes in the game don't get all that much use out of a Manastone. Step back, take a deep breath, remember that it's all a bunch of video game pixels, and say "No!" to the pixel sickness.
Danth
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