New class, why aren't more upset?

Adding the Overseer system effectively tanked the “not enough time or resources” argument.

In fairness, I see the same 25-50 quests in the rotation. The devs merely needed to recycle LoN art in click-and-forget UI.

As for new classes or races (and possibly new combos), they are restricted by the 16-bit limit and legacy code.

Fix the old stuff. stop nerfing. stop asking for what someone else has. the age of the participation trophy

Any new race or class ideas are best considered for a successor game in the EQ franchise, and I say that as a fan of the general principle.

Microsoft has not yet announced expiration of support for Direct X 9.0 in Windows 10 but given that the latest version of DX9 is from 2004 I think that's a real concern which will need to be planned for. I recall how EverQuest's engine had to be completely rewritten for Direct X9 when the support for the version EQ was running on before was expired.

Make sure you code that and send in your work being that it is so simple, You do undertand what a total database overhaul includes right, every item New class_______ should be able to use needs to be changed to allow them, New class specific armors for each raid expac assuming the class starts at level 1, new quest lines for specific class, balancing and testing of specific class, forum whiners complaing that new class is way over and underpowered, .. this si just to name a few things but make sure to send all that in oh and make sure to code each part using the stacked different codes for each variable and I am sure they will get right on that

Shouldn't the whiny Necros be asking for a "fix" to their DoTs in this thread by now? It's only been 7 years; THEY'RE NOT GETTING "FIXED." They don't need to be "fixed." Necro is and always has been OP. Maybe after ten years they might understand. Maybe when they become RL Necro pets themselves?

Other than the, "where did they move Burned Woods?" and "Ranger gating," the Necros waiting to get their DoTs "fixed" is the longest running joke in EQ.

bit = 1
byte = 8
2 bytes = 16

EQ's code that supports classes = 2 bytes.
EQ's code that supports (player) races = 2 bytes.
EQ's code that supports (player) deities = 2 bytes.

Notice the pattern?

These are hardcoded limits. And from what I understand, (keeping in mind this was from a conversation many years ago at a fan faire I was likely drunk at), it isn't just about increasing the size, it is about how all the rest of the data is accessed, so changing it would require changing a whole lot of unrelated things. Something like:


[Data1][Data2][Data3][RaceData][ClassData][DietyData][Data7][Data8][Data9]

These are all fixed in size and location. They can add things to the end of this, like [Data10] without a problem. But changing the size of Data1 to make it bigger not only requires modifying every bit of code that depends on Data1 to support the new size, but it ALSO requires changing every bit of code that depends on Data2-9 to support the new *location*.

[Data1][Data2][Data3][RaceData][ClassData][DietyData][Data7][Data8][Data9]
vs
[Data1+ExtraSize][Data2][Data3][RaceData][ClassData][DietyData][Data7][Data8][Data9]

Not only has Data1 grown in size, but it has shifted everything to the left 10 characters. Where "Data2" Used to exist is now "Extra" so anything looking for "Data2" has to be changed to find it in the new location. Repeat for Data3-9.


"BUT WAIT!" You say, "They can just add more classes to the end, right?"

The answer is yes, but no. They could, in theory, add [RaceData2] at the end, but this is bad for a whole host of reasons such as multiplying the chance of bugs, making performance worse, etc.



In short, the game just doesn't support it. Iirc, the last time they did something like this was when they changed inventory to support more then 8x10 bags, which was another hardcoded limit. They spent over a year working on that and that was still orders of magnitude less work involved because it didn't require altering items/spells and a host of other things.


It's simply not going to happen unless someone wins the lotto, buys EQ, and pays for it, and even then it would be iffy.

It'll never happen and maybe it really shouldn't. That doesn't stop the dream scenarios in your head. Based on race/class restrictions, going Ranger/Druid would be an absolute mess. I don't know how the Devs would balance things. You can't have every Ranger choosing this path and adding those DoT's (I should have just said Blazing Wrath...), it starts a chain reaction of the choices people make fill up those 97 debuff slots on raid mobs really fast. Imagine a Druid having the dps output added by Bow damage. Mob hitpoints would have to inflate to numbers unimaginable. Does that really sound fun to you? A "job" system like FFXIV is forcing alts on people. Doesn't sound fun to me - would likely ruin the game for most players. It's irritating how much unique class ability_01 gets farmed out to other classes over the years as well. Class identification goes right out the window if everyone can do everything. Go DL Guild Wars 2 and play it for like 10 hours. You then will appreciate not having everyone be the same class. Quite frankly, it's dumb.

You must have missed the news on that.

DoT consolidation for Necromancers is being done this year.

For Shadowknight spells over 71 they are getting their DoT revamp with today's patch (dot's below that level are mainly shared with Necromancers).

You realize that A) it's been 4 years since they announced DoT revamps, not 7, B) Aristo said he's working on Necro DoTs in the AMA, C) The longest running Necro joke is their Epic.

While you make good points.

At this time we don't know how much we can trust them to do what they state they intend to do.

In the past statements about 'we plan to xyz' have not happened. Will that continue going forward?

A generous dose of skepticism seems prudent, until we see how they roll (if at all) going forward.

Adding a new class adds redundant content, not new content. How many people in EQ have played all 16 classes through completely? Adding a 17th isn’t going to make every player in EQ re-roll (and if it did, it would be like boxed mages on a new TLP server...)! I would wager that if people wanted to experience a different class, they have plenty of options to choose from.

This adds to my point. This is all they have done over the 19th expansions. They have done this SO much that they have gotten good/better at it. In the new ToV they added new ice shaders (look great). They were able to do this because they have done these over and over and gotten better at it.

I did not say it would be EASY to make a new class, I just said that there is no way that they can say it is to hard to not of made atleast ONE in the last 19 expansions. They have added housing, achievements, corruption, evolving weapons, monster missions, parcel, luck stat, ect. Some of these have been great some of them pretty pointless. All of them required a lot of coding work on the crappy older system. Making 1 new class using one of the existing races is not and was not impossible. There are MANY direct x 9 MMO's that have added new classes, graphic overhauls, new systems, that have made less money then EQ has (probably spent it better though). I am not asking for a new class ...because I honestly think that this point it probably is too late (thought i they made one that you allowed to level up from say 50 it would be great for the TLP's in the money department) but my original post is manly because I can't believe there hasn't been push back over the years about this. How did we get to 19 expansions without a new class? One dev post that OMG it's hard so we just ignored it?

I don't deny that it would be work. Many of the people playing this game came from a generation where you put your work cloths on and got dirty to make a living. Taking 2-4 years to create a new class is a given. Then the next one should take 1-3 and maybe we could of gotten a new class every 2 years. People would of had something to look forward too. I do not think it is impossible and I don't believe that the game doesn't support it. We have new ice shaders in current ToV, we have had multiple races added to classes over the years (doing this same major overhaul).

The last 5 expansions have been the same thing, Mission, raids, quest, zones. There have been no surprises minus Overseer which took a lot of work but they already had some idea of how to do it from EQ2. I just don't believe that the devs 20 years ago who made Beastlords and Zerkers are more skilled and better then the current generation of devs. If we are devolving in the workplace then that is just sad.

There are a ton of other things this game needs before a new class. We need to look at RoI when adding new things to the game. One new class is not really going to generate enough interest to make the investment worthwhile.

100% agreed on code limitations, but things that get shot down people want like Epic 3.0s, upgraded Heroic Characters, etc that excuse no longer applies.

What investment? Whatever was spent on Overseer was wasted money (in it's current state, maybe that can fix it). You don't think that money would of been better spent on a new class? I will agree there are a TON of things they could do to improve this game. New mercs (one with a slow) so everyone doesn't have to box a shaman or chanter just to do content. A system that monitors and catches cheaters. More events (one a month maybe) to give players something to look forward too. The ability to make your own pick of an instance. Epic 3.0's. Plenty of better ways to spend money and create content that would bring in new players. But people keep saying there are plenty of other things but none of them are being created. If people keep saying "there is better things to improve then *insert*" then we will continue this trend of going in a circle and never getting anything new that effects the game to make it more exciting.

Truebox was a waste of money (minus the first push of players that came back thinking the system would stop autoboxers). Overseer is the new system that was totted as a way for new players catch up with their friends easier, it doesn't. Heroic characters are 25 levels behind live servers. Everything has been quick cash grabs and none of them have had any longterm additions to the game. Housing in this game is only something that is experienced by half of it's playerbase because most TLP's don't even make it to HoT. How about a housing system for Luclin - HoT. Let me guess...it's hard and there are other things that are more important? I love this game but guess I am getting fed up with the instant cash grabs that never live up to the hype.

At least a new class would be something that would effect the game long-term.

Please don't get me wrong. I am still happy that this game is always good for new raids, missions, quest, gear, and new spells every other expansion, but it is sad to see that it is becoming groundhogs day with little effort or effort wasted in areas that shouldn't even of been in the conversation.

The character disign on EQ, like the design on many other games of the era, harks back to D&D classes, as seen in other systems like Rolemaster. Those systems were designed with multiplayer at the core, not single player, which is what a min maxed super hybrid is designed for.

EQ was designed for multi-player, at least until they introduced mercs.

EQ is not a high budget AAA game. The money they make is spent on turning out new (IMHO worthless) expansions at the rate of one per year. Redoing the class system and rebalancing the entire inventory would cost a fortune, and be pointless in a game of this age.