Kunark in 2000

Discussion in 'Time Locked Progression Servers' started by Dramez, Jun 22, 2021.

  1. Dramez Journeyman

    Whose ready for Kunark?

    Here is some fun reading to get you in the mood and mindset of the Devs in 2000. Please note the player base is still upset about the Scourgetail Whip and the Bard charm changes mentioned below. Please consider reverting


    https://everquest.allakhazam.com/history/patches-2000-1.html

    ------------------------------
    April 17, 2000 4:00 pm
    ------------------------------

    EverQuest: The Ruins of Kunark (upgrade) should now be arriving on
    doorsteps around the world. Please note that attempting to create an
    Iksar character will not work until the expansion zones are officially
    opened within the next week.

    We ask that if you attempt to create an Iksar character out of
    curiosity that you do not proceed past the "History" page (the page
    that speaks of your lifestyle) in the character creation process. Once
    at this page, please use the "Back" button to get back to the character creation screen. Pressing "Next" on this screen will cause the name you have selected to go into the "used name" list, making it unavailable for future use.

    We appreciate your cooperation.

    - The EverQuest Team

    *Today's Patch*

    Today's patch consisted of preparations for the launch of Kunark, as
    well as some new art. The following spell changes were also included:

    - Corrected a bug with a new bard song that allowed them to charm
    anything, such as deities and dragons.
    - Added a lesser included wisdom effect with "Brilliance" as well as a
    lesser included intelligence effect with "Insight". These spells will
    no longer stack.

    - The EverQuest Team
    .....................................................................

    ------------------------------
    April 21, 2000 7:00 am
    ------------------------------

    Greetings everyone!

    This morning's update is one of the final updates necessary for the
    EverQuest: The Ruins of Kunark launch scheduled to take place on
    Monday.

    As part of this update, a new EverQuest Patch Program was sent to your system. For those who have installed the Ruins of Kunark, this update has added a button labeled "K-Patch" to the patch program control panel. Within these patch messages, Ruins of Kunark players may be asked from time to time to press the "K-Patch" button following the download of the regular patch. This will allow them to download Kunark-related updates when they are required.

    If you have not installed EverQuest: The Ruins of Kunark, you will not
    see a "K-Patch" button.

    In addition to the Kunark-related changes made today, a bug that
    lowered the maximum damage of two-handed weapons that was introduced earlier this week in the Emergency Update was also corrected. Finally, the art update yesterday implemented a solution that we've been promising: Male barbarians can now see their shields.

    We continue to appreciate everyone's patience while we get the servers ready for Kunark.

    Thank you.

    - The EverQuest Team
    .....................................................................


    ------------------------------
    April 24, 2000 3:00 pm
    ------------------------------

    Hello All,

    Due to the unfortunate problems we have had with our order processing system, it doesn't look like every person that ordered Kunark will receive it in a timely fashion. We sincerely apologize for this unanticipated problem. We expect that roughly 90% of the people who ordered will be receiving their orders by today.

    Because of the problems we have had we will be refunding anyone who ordered Ruins of Kunark on or before Wednesday April 19th and does not receive their orders by today for their shipping costs, as well as crediting their accounts for one month of gameplay. This applies to International orders as well.

    We'll be taking care of these refunds via email at
    kunarkrefund@verant.com, and it will be necessary for anyone that wants to take advantage of this refund to send us your Station Name, billing name and address on the account and the date you placed the order.
    Please also include "Kunark Refund" in the subject line.

    We are very sorry for the problems that have come up.

    The EverQuest Team

    .....................................................................
    ------------------------------
    May 16, 2000 10:00 am
    ------------------------------

    ***Patch Day***

    *General Changes*

    - Sounds have been updated for NPCs in Kunark. Your Iksar should no longer sound like humans.
    - Dark Elven worshipers of Solusek Ro and Bristlebane will no longer be natively KOS to the outpost in the Overthere. Take care that if you
    have taken actions allowing you to be judged sufficiently by your
    deeds, you may still find yourself KOS.
    - Increased the number of frightfingers in the Plane of Fear.
    Previously only 3 frightfingers would pop per respawn.
    - Several problems with the guards that were buffed up last week have been addressed. Some guards that should not have been buffed have been fixed. In addition, due to the level of the new guards, they all gained the ability to innately see-invisible. The level of those guards has been reduced so that they no longer automatically get this ability, making it a bit easier to sneak by them.
    - Many quests have been updated and/or fixed, both in terms of ease of completion and reward.

    *Item Updates*

    - Corrected a typo that had the Canyoneer's Pike marked as NO RENT, causing it to disappear on logout.
    - Corrected the model for the Axe of the Iron Back. It was showing as a 2H sword when equipped.
    - The Halcyon Broadsword was mistakenly marked as an artifact. This has been corrected.
    - Corrected item icons for various pieces of Burynai Hide Armor. It was displaying improperly in the inventory slots.
    - The Skull Mask of Innervation has been changed so that it must be
    worn to activate its effect.
    - Corrected a problem with the Scourgetail Whip whereby the damage and delay figures were transposed yielding a 30 damage, 5 delay weapon.
    - The "Illusion: Iksar" spell scroll is now droppable/tradeable.
    - The Goblin Eye Poker now looks like a dagger instead of a small sack.
    - The Cone of Mystics, which incidentally also looked like a small
    sack, now looks as intended.
    - Corrected a typo that had the Goblin Skull Crusher's effect set to
    the "Lull" spell, which is not appropriate for a melee weapon. The
    "Lull" effect has been replaced with an appropriate effect.
    - The Pouch of Mistletoe Powder will now impart its effect on the
    targeted character.
    - Mosquito Wings are available in game once again.
    - Many items had incorrect usage restrictions, and have been repaired.

    As always, we strive to avoid making negative changes to items that
    already exist in game. However, there are cases where a particularly
    unbalancing error has been made, such as with the Scourgetail Whip
    mentioned above, where the item in question must be fixed in interest of maintaining game balance.

    We will continue to repair problems, add content, and enhance gameplay in both Kunark and EQ proper. We appreciate everyone's support.

    Thank you,

    The EverQuest Team
    Fallfyres and Stymie like this.
  2. Numiko Augur

    Kunark in 2000 was actually pretty bad at the start.

    This is the expansion where the Holy Trinity started in EQ, where if you did not have a Warrior, Enchanter and Cleric in your group forget thinking you were going to gain a reasonable amount of EXP that day.

    SK's and Paladins could not tank effectively, their DPS was very poor because they were on their own inferior to hit table, no one wanted them in the group anyhow because of the hybrid exp penalties which reduced exp of everyone else in the group

    This is where all the ranger gate jokes started because they would get squished like flies if they tried to tank, plus they also suffered from the stigma of the hybrid penalties.

    Druids could not heal a group, they did not even get superior heal until 54

    and don't forget hell levels were still very much a thing.
  3. HoodenShuklak Augur

    I remember kunark launch day.

    I stayed in solb.
  4. Accipiter Old Timer


    People who didn't experience hell levels really can't understand how bad it was. I believe it was originally a bug but Bad Brad decided he liked the hell levels and left them in. (I don't know it was actually Brad who made that call.)

    If I recall, the experience required to get through 59 was something like all of the experience you gained leveling from 51-58. You would go hours before even seeing a pixel of gain on the bar. I can't recall if the blue bubble was in at that time or not.
    jiri_ likes this.
  5. nagash101 Augur

    Hell Levels, bring them back. PLEASE!!!!



    Just kidding.
  6. oldkracow 9999 Is the Krono Account Limit

    Way back machine.
    http://web.archive.org/web/20020612225100/http://eq.stratics.com:80/crmaps/eqexp.html

    Yes 54 and 59 was brutal.....
    I felt pity for the people with race and class penalties. :(
    Accipiter, Stymie and Mithra like this.
  7. Stymie Pendragon

    Hell levels did spawn the existence of the blue bar. It was also around that time when /gems and /pizza were added. Even the EQ team knew that the the time sinks were a bit too harsh. I found it funny, even back then, that they chose those alternatives instead of addressing the real problem.

    OP, thank you for the trip down memory lane! I can almost hear the dial-up tone and I remember paying for a separate phone line just so I wouldn't be disconnected haha. Around that time DSL was new in my area, but so unreliable that I payed for dial-up too for when it inevitably failed.

    I don't remember getting one of these back then, but I know that I would if I had. :)

    "Corrected a problem with the Scourgetail Whip whereby the damage and delay figures were transposed yielding a 30 damage, 5 delay weapon."
  8. Boze TLP complaint factory

    Daaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaamn
  9. Grasamo Journeyman

    I just remember dying during a hell level... You'd lost like 1 gold bubble... Which could be weeks of work for a casual player.
  10. yepmetoo Abazzagorath

    No you did not.

    The level AFTER a hell level you would lose a ton of experience. Hell levels you lost very little relative exp (by %).

    The amount of death exp penalty is based on the amount of experience in the level prior to the one you are in.
    Wyre Wintermute likes this.
  11. Wyre Wintermute I'm just a butterly dreaming I'm a man

    Yup,and level 60 was like half a level, so dying meant a huge drop on the XP bar, but you gained it back as fast. The death XP loss and XP gains never changed no matter what... it was just hell levels took that much longer to get through.
  12. Vaeeldar Augur

    To be fair range gate really started in Fear raids :). Them and bards just seemed to get demolished.
  13. yepmetoo Abazzagorath

    Not really. Rangers were the superior mitigation tanks in the original release due to gear at 50. Superior to warriors and knights. It took parsing to prove it and show it, and one of the reasons the original ranger plains armor was replaced with the stuff that drops now (note that it has a lot less ac).

    The original skill caps on defense were almost identical for warriors and rangers, before it was adjusted, and no one was at the ac softcap (which no one knew about).