Andrew80k hit it right on the head =)
You see Trev, the devs who continusly trying to mimic Live to the best of their ability continusly forcing on themselves how SOE DID IT with no regard if SOE actualy did it RIGHT (If I honestly thought that SOE did ANYTHING right beyond the graphical engine, I would still be playign EQ1/Eq2, which is not the case )
SOE created dmg bonus for 2 things:
-give melees inherited bonus compared to non melee for same skills/weapons/stats
-fix ever screwed up 2handers falling behind 1handers
As Andrew80k pointed out - some of us simply do not want first apply SOE screw up, and then apply soe make-shift fix to a problem which does not have to exist in a first place. In 99 SOE created a game which so horibly unplayable solo, than over next 9 years they kept making it easier and easier until they arived at a point where they should have started at to begin with (and players such as myself were teling them it since day 1)
Aagain as well pointed out by Andrew80k , Its MUCH easier to balance/make custom weaposn using vanila dmg/dly than try to ALWAYS keep in mind whats the dmg bonus formula going to be for any given level X
ANother thign to keep in mind that on original EQ past lev 55 difuclty, mobs hp, and weapons dmg skyrockets up to x10 times, and keeps skyrocketing everytime they increase the level by 5, but it dificulty fills like another 50.
For server with more casual gameplay which is not obsessed with 72+ man raid to kill anything, a SMOOTHER progression is prefered.
WHich means level 65 mob does not have qudruple dps over lev 60 mob, but mayby only +10%.
Same thing goes for weapons and dmg bonus - its simply not needed and makes things far more confusing when trying to tune things up.
PS. Performance wise - if Rule check is placed BEFORE dmg bonus is calculated- I just saved myself some CPU work
