Do you feel the game is easier now that the community knows more?

[Swish]

Insanely easy... I probably didn't know 80% of the stuff I know during Kunark on live that I know now.

Including OT hammers, WC hats, snare necklaces etc etc. Not to say most other people didn't know that perhaps... but when everyone has something good, you ask more and make sure you get the good things [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

[Sirken]

Originally Posted by Man0warr [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

On Rallos Zek the best soloer on the server was an enchanter (Rigamortiz I think was his name) - he could do some mind blowing stuff (or what we thought was mind blowing at the time) like solo camping Ghoul Lord and Frog King at level 50.

Hell that stuff may still be difficult.

umm.. RZ's Rigamortiz aka Kringe, was one of the biggest cheaters to ever grace the lands of norrath. wouldnt really call that the best.

(no offense kringe, u know i still <3 u)

[Man0warr]

He was on the server for a long ass time, so if he was cheating he never got caught while I was playing. What hacks were even out in 1999 for him to use? If you mean stuff like pathing exploits, well original EQ was rife with that kind of shit and most everyone took advantage of it.

[justin2090]

I equip'd a fire beetle eye in my off hand for a light source on my human warrior. All the way to the 50's....

True story

[Asap]

Originally Posted by justin2090 [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

I equip'd a fire beetle eye in my off hand for a light source on my human warrior. All the way to the 50's....

True story

My first character was a DE SK, and I remember putting all starting points into INT and gearing for all INT. I may have had a stein of Moggok in my offhand well into my 40's.

Funny thing is, nobody ever corrected me lol

edit - Could you imagine if that happened now? Your group would flame you and kick you in a matter of seconds

[Rathnir]

I think it's just that the overall general knowledge improvement of people makes the games tons easier to actually play.

This is true, there's a ton of people on the server that have over a decade of experience in everquest, and it all culminates in being able to handle "new" situations more appropriately.

However, I think probably the biggest advantage, and the one people don't use as much as I'd hope, is the knowledge references that are available any more. Allakhazams was just in its infancy when the game hit, and was unreliable at best, same as any of the other webpages.

Today, you have Lucy, Allakhazam, the Wayback Machine for numberous class-specific sites (The Runes, The Grove, Safehouse, Steel Warrior, Monkly Business etc.), GamParse, the p99 Wiki, and others. The forums are a prime example of that, it's why you see all the 60 monks going no weapon mainhand/SoS offhand. I very much doubt that that being the "best" combo for monks was known at all, let alone commonly known. And even if it was known, that may not have been true on Live for the translation this server takes.

The only reason that's known is because someone had a question about it, and went investigating. Pretty much daily I still peruse a lot of those sites because I'm constantly going "wow, really?" or "That's a thing? And I haven't been doing it?". Only the other day did I find out about the Rebbys Whiskers quest, and on live I had an infatuation on being un-KoS to all possible factions. You can always be a better player, and the people that take that attitude become the best. Many people, even still, just stagnate with what is comfortable or known to them.

[Aborath]

In a word: yes. The responses in this thread are spot-on. It's mainly about knowledge and the evolved nature of the internet. Everquest in 1999-2000 was mysterious and sometimes terrifying; that's what made it really stick with us. Maybe it's because I played a monk in classic and now play a wiz in P99, but the world seems much smaller, less intimidating. In short, everything's a known quantity. I still love the game, but wouldn't delude myself into believing this to be a carbon copy of classic EQ.

[Brocktree]

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

I played live for many years, and always thought enchanters were strictly grouping. Heck, the P99 wiki even says, "Enchanters are a powerful class, but often rely upon a group to reach their full potential".

It wasn't until P99 that I realized they could solo from the forums of Tecmos posting 1 million pp that he soloed and Lorean's Solo Artist Challenge.

Overall though, for me I would attribute the easiness to a internet connection much .

To be fair I really think charm is more reliable here. I played an enchanter main for original release > kunark. I agree people did not charm solo much unless there was a huge pull and kind of "oh shit" moment when you had nothing to lose. I have no proof so maybe it's just that people have the strategy down and stack more cha etc. etc. I definitely remember enchanters getting yelled at for charming mobs in group situations by the rest of the party because it was "too dangerous"

[Vexenu]

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

To be fair I really think charm is more reliable here. I played an enchanter main for original release > kunark. I agree people did not charm solo much unless there was a huge pull and kind of "oh shit" moment when you had nothing to lose. I have no proof so maybe it's just that people have the strategy down and stack more cha etc. etc. I definitely remember enchanters getting yelled at for charming mobs in group situations by the rest of the party because it was "too dangerous"

This is what I remember as well. And really, if you think about it, if you made charm unreliable you'd take the Enchanter from being the godlike class it is now to being simply a powerful and indispensable grouping class that provides buffs, CC and a weak pet. Which actually sounds like a balanced class compared to the Enchanter class on P1999 that can do all those things in addition to having a monster DPS and tank pet. I just remember Enchanters being desired for their CC and buffs back in the day, I don't remember much charming at all. I can't imagine that people wouldn't have figured out how to abuse charm back then if it stuck as well as it does here, which makes me believe that charm definitely was much more unreliable back then.

[fastboy21]

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

This is what I remember as well. And really, if you think about it, if you made charm unreliable you'd take the Enchanter from being the godlike class it is now to being simply a powerful and indispensable grouping class that provides buffs, CC and a weak pet. Which actually sounds like a balanced class compared to the Enchanter class on P1999 that can do all those things in addition to having a monster DPS and tank pet. I just remember Enchanters being desired for their CC and buffs back in the day, I don't remember much charming at all. I can't imagine that people wouldn't have figured out how to abuse charm back then if it stuck as well as it does here, which makes me believe that charm definitely was much more unreliable back then.

Charming was always OP. Fewer ppl did it back on live because the prevailing popular play strats were to be safe and conservative. There are many many many more people on p99 that are risk takers than there were on live.