No clarity for enchanters on green

[Foggen]

A little digging on the wayback machine. Note this page is from March 2000, the comments however are not dated.

https://web.archive.org/web/20000302...sp?SpellID=103

Everyones BEST friend - Teardeel
Well it was bound to happen to enchanters ... wizards get "ummm can you portal me to Karana?" Clerics get "ahhh can you ressurect my friend?" druids get "errr can you cast SoW on me?" ... and now its our turn : "CAN ANYONE CAST CLARITY??" then the the /tell: "hi, can you cast clarity on me?" Well it took 29 levels, but finally we are as harassed as the rest of them [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.] Clarity is indespensible for...

https://web.archive.org/web/20000609...lID=103&Page=2

Now they know - Ralyn Silmarils
For the last 3000 game years, people have wondered the importance of an Enchanter. Now we are going to give it to them. At lvl 29, I never stopped receiving tells as soon as I did my first and only /auction Casting clarity!. People...

[uygi]

Originally Posted by cd288 [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

I don't think that's Clarity at all. Clarity is a level 29 spell not a 30+ spell. It also doesn't increase it by 50%. You're extrapolating random internet comments from 20 years ago. Unless it says something like "hey how excited are you guys that Clarity was added in this patch!?" then it's not proof of anything.

That user, like most people at the time, didn’t really understand the mechanics of the game. Clarity was mana magic that every caster wanted. They didn’t need to know the mana/tick, they just knew they wanted it.

You sound like you desperately want clarity and are looking for any possible evidence that could be construed that way. Take an objective approach and it’ll look different.

[cd288]

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

It will if you cast it on a low level character via a higher level enchanter.

29 versus 30 is certainly hair splitting.

Except it's not hair splitting when we are talking about making changes to a game and the staff have asked for actual proof of things in order to justify a change. If internet comments from the classic era from random players are the standard of proof, then the only comment we have so far that is actually directly about Clarity is the one from Allakhazam where a player a couple years after release says that Clarity was in one day 1.

[cd288]

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

That user, like most people at the time, didn’t really understand the mechanics of the game. Clarity was mana magic that every caster wanted. They didn’t need to know the mana/tick, they just knew they wanted it.

You sound like you desperately want clarity and are looking for any possible evidence that could be construed that way. Take an objective approach and it’ll look different.

Except I am taking an objective approach. If internet comments are what we are using as evidence, we have one internet comment from back in the day saying Clarity was in the game from day 1 at level 29, and then we have a vague internet comment talking about a potential level 30+ Enchanter spell to help with further mana regen (and also doesn't say that there isn't such a spell already in existence). Sounds like we should go with the one that expressly talks about Clarity, what level spell it is, and when it was in the game (if we're taking an objective approach).

The latter comment could easily be talking about another 30+ more powerful mana regen spell for Enchanters that they ended up not deciding to add and instead added in Kunark (C2); especially since C1 is not a level 30+ spell.

[DMN]

Originally Posted by cd288 [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Except I am taking an objective approach. If internet comments are what we are using as evidence, we have one internet comment from back in the day saying Clarity was in the game from day 1 at level 29, and then we have a vague internet comment talking about a potential level 30+ Enchanter spell to help with further mana regen (and also doesn't say that there isn't such a spell already in existence). Sounds like we should go with the one that expressly talks about Clarity, what level spell it is, and when it was in the game (if we're taking an objective approach).

The latter comment could easily be talking about another 30+ more powerful mana regen spell for Enchanters that they ended up not deciding to add and instead added in Kunark (C2); especially since C1 is not a level 30+ spell.

Oh really?

"it . . . fixes a big hole in the Enchanters toolbelt since most of our group oriented
spells are aimed at improving tanks, as opposed to helping casters."

[Gustoo]

Here is the issue, "patch notes" as we know them really didn't get going until much later in the game. In another thread someone posted a huge summary of patch notes that an O.G. dev posted when describing how they were going to note with some detail the changes that were implemented with patches. Originally it was just like...the nature of norrath changed and its up to you to find out in all the magicalness of it.

[Dolalin]

Originally Posted by cd288 [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Except I am taking an objective approach. If internet comments are what we are using as evidence, we have one internet comment from back in the day saying Clarity was in the game from day 1 at level 29, and then we have a vague internet comment talking about a potential level 30+ Enchanter spell to help with further mana regen (and also doesn't say that there isn't such a spell already in existence).

That's not the extent of the evidence so far.

1) We have the EQLizer spell page from early May 1999 which doesn't have Clarity listed.

2) We have an spdat.eff dump from about May 20th 1999 that doesn't have Clarity in it

3) We have a complete vacuum of any posts referencing Clarity that were authored before early June 1999

4) Right after a big Enchanter patch we have a comment about a group Mana regen spell being added

One coincidence I would agree with you on. Four separate ones is really starting to push it. [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

[cd288]

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

That's not the extent of the evidence so far.

1) We have the EQLizer spell page from early May 1999 which doesn't have Clarity listed.

2) We have an spdat.eff dump from about May 20th 1999 that doesn't have Clarity in it

3) We have a complete vacuum of any posts referencing Clarity that were authored before early June 1999

4) Right after a big Enchanter patch we have a comment about a group Mana regen spell being added

One coincidence I would agree with you on. Four separate ones is really starting to push it. [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

1. Except that page is also missing Enchanter spells that were definitely in the game at launch, so it's clearly not complete.

2. What you have is someone's manual effort to delete things from the parse. Maybe it's accurate, maybe they messed up. We don't know. The dump also includes a Clarity Bard song, so clearly the concept of Clarity existed at the time.

3. What you have a vacuum of is any posts referencing Clarity being added. If Clarity didn't exist at launch, you think you'd have posts talking about Clarity being added. Instead, the only comment we have from years and years ago directly referencing Clarity says that it's a level 29 spell that was in the game at launch.

4. What you have is a comment that, at the end of said comment, actually says it's talking about rumors and is discussing a 30+ Enchanter spell. Again, Clarity is not a 30+ Enchanter spell. Maybe this could still be about Clarity, but it's equally likely that (since they are discussing "rumors" they have heard) that it's about another level of mana regeneration in a 30+ spell which never ended up being added.

All of that said, the things you mention certainly raise the question of/warrant looking into whether Clarity was in the game at launch. However, none of those things (taken together or standing alone) are proof that it wasn't.

[Dolalin]

I fully plan to dig more on this because I'm actually surprised Clarity is not mentioned in any of my mailing list archives until quite late.

That's any mention of Clarity at all. Not even of it being added, of it even existing. It's just weird.

Oh I forgot to mention #5: Brad's post about them adding Clarity and Insight.

cd288, can you give me an example of an Enchanter spell that should definitely be on the EQLizer list but isn't? I want to try something.

[bum3]

We know that clarity existed on Hate release with the rod. It would be safe to assume it existed as a spell prior?