P99 class distribution

[Taluvill]

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

Definitely short of Pal and SK. Lots of Wars, but I think XP groups generally prefer Knight for tank, and really, how many Wars are going to be needed for raids?

Actually, if you look at it, very few rangers and not many bards, either. Am I the only one that thinks the 40% penalty may be having a significant effect on how many people are willing to play hybrids?

Warriors are needed for raids, and any raid force would enjoy 3ish warriors per raid. 1 works, but 3 would be nice for off tanking and such.

I think it affects them, but more or less there are a lot more sk's and paladins than you think. Rangers don't do the DPS of other classes (rogue, for example) in classic, and they wont till way later. Never played a classic ranger, but i'd assume it goes way up in kunark, at least from the items and weapons i've seen.

Bards are still somewhat bugged, and may not be able to get fixed. until they are 50 and skill levels+raid items basically make the bugs 100% obsolete, they are going to be a tough class to play.

[Spud]

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

Thanks, ihealyou. That saves me some effort!

[You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

wow so im just 1 of 57 huh?

112 druids between 30 and 39! wow

I really thought there would be more pal/sks alts 30 and up.

[Tallenn]

Note that I didn't say it was a bad thing- or that it was a good thing, for that matter. I'm not really interested in playing one of those classes anyway, so it doesn't really affect me. I just thought it was interesting that the XP penalty does in fact seem to have a significant effect on the numbers.

Of course, part of that is the simple fact that it takes longer to level them up, so there's bound to be fewer when looking at only the 30+.

[Xumosa]

thank you for the queue tallies nilbog! much appreciated [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

[Mordachai]

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

Note that I didn't say it was a bad thing- or that it was a good thing, for that matter. I'm not really interested in playing one of those classes anyway, so it doesn't really affect me. I just thought it was interesting that the XP penalty does in fact seem to have a significant effect on the numbers.

Of course, part of that is the simple fact that it takes longer to level them up, so there's bound to be fewer when looking at only the 30+.

i certainly didn't take it as a slight, it's just a side effect that i enjoy, probably some kind of weird masochism or something?

[twizztid]

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

At what level would you consider someone to be "playing" a particular class?

Probably around like level 15. At that level start getting skills / spells that that make them unique and useful ( ei druids getting sow, chanters getting breeze, stuff like that ), ( also I know those aren't the exact levels you get those skills, that is why I said like AROUND level 15 ).

[JaVeDK]

Thank you Nilbog for running the queries. Very informative. There are actually more druids than I expected / feared :-(

[Uaellaen]

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

Unfortunately there's a problem with that since its an int instead of a date

From the wiki:


I couldn't find any more documentation on it, and unless its something like MMDDYYYYHHmm its probably pretty hard to figure out.

sorry i cant resist ... yes a timestamp is a INT based value .. its actualy the amount of seconds that passed since Januar 1. 1970 00:00 UTC ... its actualy quite easy to calculate the current date and time out of a timestamp .. every coding language has a whole function dedicated to that [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

[stormlord]

Ya. I played ranger in 1999. I didn't know about exp gain back then.

Back then, you played the ranger because you liked it. I'm afraid people will play the ranger, not like it, and focus their dissatisfaction on the slow exp rather than just moving on. I don't think anybody would have noticed that it's slower experience unless they were told so. I never noticed. I just played.

Accept everything that comes with the ranger. Rangers have always been called gimp. In live eq everyone says they got insta gate (die and go to bind). But people who play rangers don't care about being called gimp. I never have. I thought having track and heals and snare and everything else made up for it. People in groups get caught up in thinking Tank + Healer + DPS + CC and so on. I hate that kind of thinking. I like the flexibility of a hybrid class. They're dependable in various circumstances. I guess it matters more that I like to play them. Why? Bottom line, I like to go where I want to go. I don't want to be burdened by lack of versatility.

I got my ranger from 1999 and my 85 ranger on live. Always liked them.

[stormlord]

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

i certainly didn't take it as a slight, it's just a side effect that i enjoy, probably some kind of weird masochism or something?

I've played rangers since 1999. It's not the slow exp. It's the perceived "gimpness" in the community. People don't think rangers can hold their own because they see rangers as a jack-of-all-trades, kind of like a bard. You can't neatly fit them into a dps or tank or cc role like you can a warrior or a rogue or an enchanter. People think in simple terms. They like simple, straightforward things. Rangers and other hybrids betray them.

The way I see it, rangers are at their best in new territory. In a new place. In the outdoors. Once everything is mastered and everybody knows what to do, rangers lose their value because everything is maximized to its fullest extent. But when things get crazy and confused, rangers have that extra flexibility to escape or invis or spot tank or something else. They won't save the group much, but they got more tricks than base classes.

Sadly, imho, eq is forgetting this. It's forgetting to put people in weird circumstances to give hybrids the extra edge they need to justify their role. There needs to be more zones that throw curve balls, that give you something new that you haven't seen before. It seems more and more classes in live eq are becoming generic molds of eachother. Losing their distinction. The aa's help to make up for the lost distinction, but not all. I mean, in almost every case I can think of, my 85 ranger is filling a dps role. I rarely ever have done cc or ranger things. They can't tank unless raid geared. That wasn't true several years ago - i was invising, tracking, rooting, snaring, bowing, even healing and tanking, the whole works! What happened is that other classes adopted those abilities, mobs started to hit like trucks, and everything blurred. This is just how I feel about it.

Think about it. Here on this server a ranger can afford to get hit a few times. But on live if you get hit a few times then you're DEAD. That's how hard they hit. No time to breathe. Warriors got their discs, and that's about the main thing that makes them tanks. Pallies and Sk's got one but it pales in comparison last I checked. Healers chain heal (twin cast) in group content. The game feels and plays different than it does here. It's not as relaxed. UF is kind of tough too. That's on top of everything else that's not the same. I mean, last I played, I had probably 4-5 dozen hotkeys for my ranger. That's nuts. It's not as simple as playing here.

Not to say live sucks. I play periodically. Will probably play again. Just sayin.