EXP gain

[Taluvill]

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

I agree with this. On live, there was way more downtime and competition for NPC's primarily due to a much larger population rather than actual experience gained. On live, for example, most of the popular leveling areas normally had several groups that claimed a named camp and would compete for blue trash mobs. This created larger downtimes for groups because experience-hungry players would get more desperate and careless with their pulls and attempt to pull more difficult and higher level mobs which often resulted in trains and wipes.

Furthermore, in classic, it was rare to find yourself free to pull whatever you want and set up a stable kill rotation. Personally, I have found it much more difficult in P1999 for a few reasons. For one, many spells do not work as they used to because of the amount of threat caused by them. Second, mobs seem to have either higher hit boxes or increased run speed across the board which makes kiting very difficult. And finally, and probably the most significant factor of my experience, is that there is a lack of high level players who sell twink weapons and gear for cheap, offer high level buffs for free or small donations (clarity, sow, SLN, etc.), or just power level friends and guildmates.

In many ways this game may seem easier than live because players have been playing MMO's for years now. For many, Everquest was their first MMO and may have appeared to be much more difficult. Although there are several differences and discrepancies on P1999, I think, after a few weeks of P1999, that the difficulty is close to par with live and that the experience gain is fine where it is at.

- Slayn

i 100% agree with everything he said and the post that he quoted said. It has much to do with our knowledge of MMO's and the amount of mobs we can kill her compared to live. i can remember, give or take, 5+ groups in BB at one time sitting at different spots and you'd be lucky as hell to get a snake pit group.

Furthermore, When my dad I started playing, the exploration factor was a big thing. we didn't know crap about antyign past the Queynos area and BB, so when we had to venture to run to freeport, it literally took us nights and days to do it because were scared shitless of dieing. I remember my dad about to crap his pants entering blackburrow at level 5-6. The game, because everyone knows everything about it, has somewhat lost its inital fear factor and non-knowledge of great exp spots.

Last thing --- Exp rates on live were definitely tweaked. Paludal Caverns is a GREAT example of this. Also, the experience rates here could be put down a tiny bit and raise blues up a hair.

Safe hunting guys.

[Chewybunny]

1999 was literally 10 years ago, and how many of you since then have become older, more mature, and with more responsibilities? Some of us graduated schools, found families, etc.

When you first logged on in EverQuest in 1999, you played with the notion of somewhat permanence that resulted in the wonder of a new world, of many places to explore. A lot of us had a lot, A LOT, more free time back then to dedicate to the grueling exp-grind-fest that EverQuest was.

But unfortunately the times have changed, and this isn't a live server, which has the guarantee of a major company behind it. It is after all, a free server, with a population peak of 250-300? How many of us can say with complete certainty that these servers will even last for more than a year? Who knows? I don't. I hope this server stays around for a while, but to be honest I don't want to raise my expectations too high.

A lot of people come here for the nostalgia feeling that they get when they play EverQuest classic. And it is a great feeling to have, believe me! But the harsh reality is, a lot of us are a lot more mature, with steady jobs, families, lives that we have to dedicate to outside of sitting in front of a computer for a good 8-12 hours at a time camping mobs to get the l33t lootz.

Saying that, the experience rate on this server is much to slow. BY FAR. Especially in the first few levels where a lot of the skills and spells a player's character get's are virtually useless (like shamans and druids).

Yes, there will be those of us who do, still, have a lot of time on their hands to dedicate to the never-ending grind fest.
Yes, there will be those of us who have the time to enjoy a week's worth of gaming time just to see your character progress from lv 1 - 5.
And Yes, a lot of people probably are sitting back and are probably enjoying the slow pace of things, but I do wonder, will this kind of attitude stay?

After playing EverQuest for 2 years, around 2001, I started realizing how much I am sick of the constant grind-fest and slow exp gain. Not to mention the amount of time one spent traveling the world just to get into a decent group, and then dedicate an entire saturday or sunday afternoon to playing.
I will be brutally honest when I say that I played EverQuest since it's near initial launch, until probably late 2004, and the highest character on live I ever got was 52, and that character was started in 2002. Though I did have a lot of different characters to mess around with.

I am not asking for insane exp bonus like on EZ. What I am asking is a consideration that things have changed since 1999, and that despite a lot of things that we wish were the same from back then, they aren't.
Exp, on this server should be 1x to 1.5x of normal rate, maximum.

[ojamajoe]

There are plenty of servers to play on if one wants faster experience. The number of people who choose to play on this one compared to those speaks for itself, I think.

[Smashed]

I think almost everyone misses the point of classic EQ honestly. These days mmorpgs are all about rushing to max level and then going to pvp, or raid, or whatever. People come to this server with this same mentality. "must get to the end game!". More than any other mmorpg, EQ was about *enjoying* the grind. It wasn't a speedbump to slow you down before you reach the endgame, it *was* the game. This is clearly evident by the relative lack of raid content.

In my opinion this might be the most important aspect of classic EQ. Since the leveling process *was* the game, they put a lot of effort into making the world feel alive. Every other mmorpg makes the leveling process sterile with cookie-cutter quests like "Go kill 15 tenacious hedgehogs" or "Go kill the unmemorable boss of this dungeon where every mob is the same basically and their level incrementally increases with the lowest ones at the front and the ones near the boss are a couple levels higher"

[emubird]

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

I think almost everyone misses the point of classic EQ honestly. These days mmorpgs are all about rushing to max level and then going to pvp, or raid, or whatever. People come to this server with this same mentality. "must get to the end game!". More than any other mmorpg, EQ was about *enjoying* the grind. It wasn't a speedbump to slow you down before you reach the endgame, it *was* the game. This is clearly evident by the relative lack of raid content.

In my opinion this might be the most important aspect of classic EQ. Since the leveling process *was* the game, they put a lot of effort into making the world feel alive. Every other mmorpg makes the leveling process sterile with cookie-cutter quests like "Go kill 15 tenacious hedgehogs" or "Go kill the unmemorable boss of this dungeon where every mob is the same basically and their level incrementally increases with the lowest ones at the front and the ones near the boss are a couple levels higher"

I agree with you on this Smashed.

[Duskoy]

Blue con mobs do seem to give a lot less experience then they usto in old EQ thats really the only difference I have seen so far

[Maldan]

I'll echo what others have said about blue xp however I've still had a wonderful time so I can't say that I care whether the xp gain is lame and after years of trying on new MMOs like trying on clothes that are too tight or itchy, I feel like I'm back home. Here's to hoping the server can stick around.

[girth]

Man I feel for the GM's having to put up with all this baby crap. Quit whining and play the game. If you don't want to, then don't.

[Dolalin]

I think XP gain is one of the core principles of a classic server, and should be as close to the original EQ as possible.

[Kitzen]

I think what adds to the toughness at those low levels is many folks are here, me included, chasing old EQ memories, some of which, maybe most, didn't happen in Freeport/Qeynos/GFay.

With that said, I know folks told me that post 12 it gets A LOT faster on this server than it was on live, which as some have mentioned may be nothing to do with numbers and more to do with skill, history, and the application there of [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

It all comes down to this is being offered up to us at no charge. I can appreciate the hard work that goes into this. I have read the source, back when I had this self-pain-inflicting-desire to create python bindings in place of perl (yeah I am one of those guys /grin) and I lost interest before getting half-way. It takes a good deal of these folks free time.

I am having fun, which is gud, meeting nice folks, which is gud, and I am keeping my chin up for lvl 12 and beyond [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.] My fondest memories are of Lake Rathetear; so, I am looking forward to my teens and beyond [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]