Everquest - Live Servers

moonarchia said:

The people still playing live today are some of the most autistic of autists ever to to walk the earth. They were never going to procreate, and the world is a better place because of it.

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Rajaah said:

Live EQ is legitimately meh. To get things back to basics here and hopefully facilitate some discussion / shitting upon:


RAJAAH'S UNOFFICIAL EPIC 1.0 RANKINGS

Bear in mind that all of this is going off of 25 years of sometimes-distant memory and I probably got a few things wrong.

Honorable Mention: Fiery Avenger. The very first "epic weapon", but not actually an official Epic 1.0. It became kind of the Epic 0.5 to the superior Fiery Defender. Regardless, it's a cool weapon with a lot of history and deserves a mention.

#16 Necromancer (Scythe of the Shadowed Soul) - The infamous "duck stick" that is a chore to get, doesn't look good, and has a negligibly useful effect. The DoT does damage and snares, but it has a very long cast time so useless in groups. Helps you solo as you whittle away the hours in Skyfire. Is a generally depressing item, and back in 2000 I thought it was someone's idea of a joke.

#15 Druid (Nature Walker's Scimitar) - More or less the same thing as the Necro epic, a high-damage snare DoT. However it looks way cooler so it's a spot higher. Again, the long cast time means it isn't that useful in a group. Since it only helps with soloing, I'd barely put the next two over it.

#14 Shadowknight (Innoruuk's Curse) - Quest is a pain in the ass, weapon isn't that great; Greenmist is the real SK epic 1.0. Two-Handed Bash is useful for SKs that aren't a large race with Slam. At least it looks pretty decent, depending on who you ask.

#13 Paladin (Fiery Defender) - Looks really cool. The quest is one of the best in EQ, as well, involving several other quests, and can be started as early as Classic. The weapon itself is a little underrated, with a decent damage/stun proc and a Two-Handed Bash effect, unlocking Bash for people who primarily use 2H. Two-Handed Bash is better here than it is on the SK epic since no large race (that would already have an inherent Slam) can be a Paladin. While giving it a Stun is on point for the class, an aggro proc would have been better.

#12 Enchanter (Staff of the Serpent) - Basically a stat stick with a haste click. However, the silver lining here is that the haste is castable on level 1's. This gives it a use well into the future while other epics fall off.

#11 Shaman (Spear of Fate) - Decent stats, clicky is a Splurt-like DoT that increases in damage over time. Something that goes un-sung about this one is that it's a lower-resist DoT than the poison and disease lines that Shaman uses, so it's useful against things that are resistant to those. Unlike the normal Shaman DoTs, this has no root-breaking upfront damage either, so a Shaman can pretty easily kill anything they can land a root on once they have this.

#10 Wizard (Staff of the Four) - An un-sung epic that's better than it gets credit for. The Barrier of Force clicky will absorb a few hits, which is huge in a DPS-race raid setting where a few hits could mean you survive pulling aggro and don't lose your damage. Can re-click it between fights easily enough. When used correctly, this is a surprisingly strong epic.

#9 Magician (Orb of Mastery) - A superior pet, makes the Mage better at what they do. Problem is, this epic is a pain in the ass to get. At least it's good for a couple of expansions.

#8 Rogue (Ragebringer) - Possibly the easiest epic to get. A game-changer for the Rogue class that catapults them into raid-usefulness, with a strong ratio and very high innate haste. Unfortunately it lacks longevity. In-era (Kunark) it's one of the best, but after that, it loses ground to other higher-DPS weapons without side-benefits to compensate.

#6+7 Ranger+Beastlord (Earthcaller/Swiftwind) (Claws of the Savage Spirit) - A tie because these epics are basically the same thing. Two weapons: Offhand has max for the era innate haste, mainhand has a useful Slow proc that helps a lot in soloing (and group content when no real slower is available). The fact that these weapons help the entire group gives them a leg up.

#5 Berserker (Kerasian Axe of Ire) - Very, very strong for an epic 1.0. Hard to even rank on this list because it isn't available until GoD and it's tuned as a mid-tier GoD weapon. Has a better ratio than any other actual weapon on the list. Might be #1 if it were actually available in Kunark, because it would murder in that era (don't expect to see it be made available any earlier than GoD on a Classic Berserker server). Since this list is largely geared around Kunark, I probably shouldn't even include this or Beastlord, but it is what it is.

#4 Warrior (Blade of Strategy/Blade of Tactics/Jagged Blade of War) - #1 on being the coolest-looking epic. Pretty cool how it can be combined into a two-handed sword. Generates hate procs (from the mainhand, and two-hander). Nuff said.

#3 Bard (Singing Short Sword) - Increases the power of all songs across the board substantially, no more needing to switch instruments around (though drums that give higher Percussion than this are still good for Selo). Procs a strong group buff. Either of these things alone would make for a really solid epic, both puts it near the top.

#2 Monk (Celestial Fists) - Dramatically increases barehanded damage output. Has a potent click song effect that can be spammed. Surges Monks ahead of pretty much everyone on raid DPS and making things dead. A 100% must to get. Only thing keeping it out of #1 is longevity.

#1 Cleric (Water Sprinkler of Nem'Ankh) - Free rezzes, nuff said. Gives Clerics the ability to indefinitely battle-rez until anything is dead, if you have enough clerics and enough people. Allowed 300ish people to kill Kerafyrm in his original incarnation.

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Rajaah said:

Live EQ is legitimately meh. To get things back to basics here and hopefully facilitate some discussion / shitting upon:


RAJAAH'S UNOFFICIAL EPIC 1.0 RANKINGS

Bear in mind that all of this is going off of 25 years of sometimes-distant memory and I probably got a few things wrong.

Honorable Mention: Fiery Avenger. The very first "epic weapon", but not actually an official Epic 1.0. It became kind of the Epic 0.5 to the superior Fiery Defender. Regardless, it's a cool weapon with a lot of history and deserves a mention.

#16 Necromancer (Scythe of the Shadowed Soul) - The infamous "duck stick" that is a chore to get, doesn't look good, and has a negligibly useful effect. The DoT does damage and snares, but it has a very long cast time so useless in groups. Helps you solo as you whittle away the hours in Skyfire. Is a generally depressing item, and back in 2000 I thought it was someone's idea of a joke.

#15 Druid (Nature Walker's Scimitar) - More or less the same thing as the Necro epic, a high-damage snare DoT. However it looks way cooler so it's a spot higher. Again, the long cast time means it isn't that useful in a group. Since it only helps with soloing, I'd barely put the next two over it.

#14 Shadowknight (Innoruuk's Curse) - Quest is a pain in the ass, weapon isn't that great; Greenmist is the real SK epic 1.0. Two-Handed Bash is useful for SKs that aren't a large race with Slam. At least it looks pretty decent, depending on who you ask.

#13 Paladin (Fiery Defender) - Looks really cool. The quest is one of the best in EQ, as well, involving several other quests, and can be started as early as Classic. The weapon itself is a little underrated, with a decent damage/stun proc and a Two-Handed Bash effect, unlocking Bash for people who primarily use 2H. Two-Handed Bash is better here than it is on the SK epic since no large race (that would already have an inherent Slam) can be a Paladin. While giving it a Stun is on point for the class, an aggro proc would have been better.

#12 Enchanter (Staff of the Serpent) - Basically a stat stick with a haste click. However, the silver lining here is that the haste is castable on level 1's. This gives it a use well into the future while other epics fall off.

#11 Shaman (Spear of Fate) - Decent stats, clicky is a Splurt-like DoT that increases in damage over time. Something that goes un-sung about this one is that it's a lower-resist DoT than the poison and disease lines that Shaman uses, so it's useful against things that are resistant to those. Unlike the normal Shaman DoTs, this has no root-breaking upfront damage either, so a Shaman can pretty easily kill anything they can land a root on once they have this.

#10 Wizard (Staff of the Four) - An un-sung epic that's better than it gets credit for. The Barrier of Force clicky will absorb a few hits, which is huge in a DPS-race raid setting where a few hits could mean you survive pulling aggro and don't lose your damage. Can re-click it between fights easily enough. When used correctly, this is a surprisingly strong epic.

#9 Magician (Orb of Mastery) - A superior pet, makes the Mage better at what they do. Problem is, this epic is a pain in the ass to get. At least it's good for a couple of expansions.

#8 Rogue (Ragebringer) - Possibly the easiest epic to get. A game-changer for the Rogue class that catapults them into raid-usefulness, with a strong ratio and very high innate haste. Unfortunately it lacks longevity. In-era (Kunark) it's one of the best, but after that, it loses ground to other higher-DPS weapons without side-benefits to compensate.

#6+7 Ranger+Beastlord (Earthcaller/Swiftwind) (Claws of the Savage Spirit) - A tie because these epics are basically the same thing. Two weapons: Offhand has max for the era innate haste, mainhand has a useful Slow proc that helps a lot in soloing (and group content when no real slower is available). The fact that these weapons help the entire group gives them a leg up.

#5 Berserker (Kerasian Axe of Ire) - Very, very strong for an epic 1.0. Hard to even rank on this list because it isn't available until GoD and it's tuned as a mid-tier GoD weapon. Has a better ratio than any other actual weapon on the list. Might be #1 if it were actually available in Kunark, because it would murder in that era (don't expect to see it be made available any earlier than GoD on a Classic Berserker server). Since this list is largely geared around Kunark, I probably shouldn't even include this or Beastlord, but it is what it is.

#4 Warrior (Blade of Strategy/Blade of Tactics/Jagged Blade of War) - #1 on being the coolest-looking epic. Pretty cool how it can be combined into a two-handed sword. Generates hate procs (from the mainhand, and two-hander). Nuff said.

#3 Bard (Singing Short Sword) - Increases the power of all songs across the board substantially, no more needing to switch instruments around (though drums that give higher Percussion than this are still good for Selo). Procs a strong group buff. Either of these things alone would make for a really solid epic, both puts it near the top.

#2 Monk (Celestial Fists) - Dramatically increases barehanded damage output. Has a potent click song effect that can be spammed. Surges Monks ahead of pretty much everyone on raid DPS and making things dead. A 100% must to get. Only thing keeping it out of #1 is longevity.

#1 Cleric (Water Sprinkler of Nem'Ankh) - Free rezzes, nuff said. Gives Clerics the ability to indefinitely battle-rez until anything is dead, if you have enough clerics and enough people. Allowed 300ish people to kill Kerafyrm in his original incarnation.

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Rajaah said:

If I ever do another TLP from the beginning I'm going to go Paladin, cause I'd really like to do the FA / FD quests in-era. Only done them at like, level 80 and stuff.

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Tuco said:

Why is cleric epic trash on TLP?

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RobXIII said:

Not just that, but how many TLEs have people played through again just to play through the same 2-3 expansions? So many wasted hours lol

/guilty

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Rajaah said:

I welcome anybody to give me a better Epic 1.0 list with rationales. Might be interesting.

And I definitely rated Enchanter too high. It might even grab the worst award away from the Duck Stick. At least it looks pretty cool.

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