Classic Experience

[FindingKarma]

One of the things that's confused me since I've started playing on eqemu servers a few years ago is the common expectation of people wishing to stick to classic. Recently I spent a few months playing on p99 but have also experienced this on a few other servers. This is not a complaint about p99 or any other server. In general I've had great fun on all the servers I've tried and have found a mix of good and bad both in implementation and community.

The issue I've found confusing is the insistence on holding to classic without realizing the underlying patterns of the player base. I am one of the few players who really enjoys questing in EQ. I have started dozens of characters over the last several years and have invested hundreds of hours completing quests most players never touch.

For instance the newbie armor quests added by Sony sometime after Velious. In general it seems as if the items given by the quests are considered overpowered for the era so they are removed. This by itself makes perfect sense and isn't something I find arguable. However consider how things play out for the majority of players.

Using p99 as an example (which doesn't have the newbie armor quests). Gfay, Field of Bone and Crushbone are three of the most utilized early zones on this server. All of these zones offer brand new players the ability to make loads of platinum selling spider(ling) silk or crushbone belts/pads along with several other items. New players will literally make hundreds of platinum by the time they are in their mid teens. Dedicated earners can make upwards of 1k plat easily in a very short time. These players then visit the EC tunnels and purchase twink items that are incredibly superior to the newbie armor quests.

This is where the issue becomes confusing. What is the classic experience and what makes an item overpowered? If it comes down to either having players grind out newbie armor quests until the mid teens vs farming plat to purchase items from endgame how is once considered classic and therefore allowable while the one that gives players self attainable goals is discarded. On one hand the player has done actual work on his character to outfit himself with decent gear that will still need to be replaced in 10-20 levels. On the other the player is making use of the current populations excess to gear themselves in a way they aren't likely to find many upgrades for 30-40 levels.

From the conversations I've had with both server administrators and players it seems as if most everyone prefers the latter route of over gearing players communally. In my case I've found this to be one of the largest detriments of EQ. I would prefer appropriate level quests and hope that they'll take me on a tour of Norrath while connecting my player to his own gear through personal effort.

Thoughts?