Better PvE server !Follow

Most of that was implemented int he original EQ2. There were potions, mostly only player made. Not everything was No Trade, but alot of it was, or at least Attunable, and had very narrow level ranges, usually 10 at the maximum, which was generally player made armor and/or weapons. Dropped gear, generally had 5-8 level range between required and recommended.

Zone were designed for specific levels, but higher and lower levels could venture in them, however, the experience system was quite a bit different. To start with, fights were automatically locked to the person / group that did the first damage to a mob, then no one out of the group could assist, although I think they did allow healing outside of group originally, hard to remember for sure. Anyway, a group could only get experience from mobs that were no more than 10 levels below the highest player in the group.

And, if I remember correctly, there was a narrow level gap for grouping to get any experience, whether the mob was in the experience range of the highest player or not. There were things you could do in this system, but I never thought they were out of line with the concepts. Basically, you could use a high level to make mobs in a zone grey (non-experience) to you, and thus not kos, just to get thru a zone, but you wouldn't be able to get experience with them. Even without the group restrictions, the same thing could be done out of group, by having the higher levels, clear anything in the way.

The only buff I remember that you could keep out of group, was SoW. Everything else, was an song / aura type of buff, where you had to be in the group and in close procimity.

Pretty much everyzone had descent mix of mobs, including nameds. Also, mobs didn't spawn chests if they weren't experience mobs to the person / group / raid. They would only drop their body loot, which was generally just tradeskill or quest items, nothing really of value. This was a great implementation, as with the huge number of quests, you could easily get out of the experience range of the quest mobs, but still complete it.

No call to the group, at least that I can remember at lower levels (<50) with the original game.

There was the option to turn off experience, but it didn't work on quest xp, only mob xp .. however, you could get around that too, by dieing several times, to get an experience debt built up, to absorb any of the quest xp.

The original EQ2, beta, and first release were great, other than fights weren't challenging enough. I didn't like the mechanics changes that came about with the first expansion, but at least the fights were slightly more challenging ... still nothing like it should of been.

AAs didn't start till the 1st expansion at 50+, however, there were lots of spells and skills to get at each level, and racial and class abilities to choose from as you progressed.

But overall, you basically described the original EQ2. Just some of the restrictions done in a different way.

Yther Ore.

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I'm still hoping for an EQ3 eventually, with most of the UI and mechanics of EQ2, but with wider experience mob range, and much more challenging content (thus the wider experience range, for those not up to the difficult stuff, or would rather solo).
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Edited, Jan 23rd 2009 2:43pm by Yther

Some of us have played continuosly for years and still haven't maxed level on toons. YMMV, I have been in no rush to get to 85 but then Im not in a guild that demands raids or leveling.