This rambles a bit, but I ain't had no coffee so bear with me:

Ok, so Infected Paw is being upgraded. Hell we all complained that IP was
too far from bind points for its designated level to be very useful, so it's
high time for a revamp there. I'm concerned, however. Not so much about IP
being upgraded as the general trend that we're seeing to make existing zones
more and more difficult as the mean player base gains in level. Kithicor,
for instance, has been raised to the point where level 50s can't be assured
of traveling through the zone without dying. From what I hear Qeynos Hills
now spawns high 20s undead such as Skeletal Monks that will make quick work
out of anyone traveling to/from Qeynos and Blackburrow.

Last night I met up with a friend who had just purchased and installed
EverQuest. He started a warrior in Qeynos. I'm teaching an experienced
gamer, but complete EQ newbie things like "don't kill wolves and bears near
Holly and Cros Treewind", "/con everything", "don't be afraid to run",
"monsters can't follow you through zones", dmg/atk ratios, what is AC, etc.,
etc. I'm not big on twinking so I didn't give him much. A fine steel sword
and 20pp for milk and muffins. But is Qeynos Hills going to kick his ass?

What about Enchanters born on the East side of the world from Kithicor?
Their level 8 animation spell in in High Keep, as are bards level 16 songs
(some better because of Selo's, granted). At level 8 a true EQ newbie has a
very difficult time just finding out that his spell is *in* High Keep and
then making his way from Ak'Anon or Freeport. My god, now the obvious route
takes him through Kithicor. He might never have ever seen anything more
aggresive than a Young Kodiak or the odd Hill Giant. The sad thing is that
the Hill Giants that he's seen are *considerably* easier to kill than any
undead that he's going to run into in Kithicor.

I suppose what I'm saying is that Verant is increasing the difficulty by
leaps and bounds of *existing* zones in order to compensate for the high
level player base. This is detrimental to the true EQ newbies. If *I*
started a Gnome Enchanter right now, I'd know that I could invis (lvl 4
spell for them) and travel the boat to Freeport, EC, NRo, Oasis, SRo,
Innothule, Feerrott, Rathe Mts, SK, NK, WK, HH, HK if I really wanted to
avoid Kithicor. OR get a high level escort during the day and save a bunch
of time and zoning. But a real newbie has no idea of what awaits him when
he zones from the tranquil WC in to Kith. Mayhem, madness and swift death
and exp. loss. What would *you* do if you had no friends in EQ and got
killed with one spell by an Undead Cleric somewhere between WC and the
Rivervale entrance?

Most people on this list are experienced players. Some of us are *very*
experienced players. If we started new characters, even completely
untwinked, we would be able to avoid these things because we know the game
*so* well. We take the depth of our knowledge for granted. I remember back
in late May when I first install EQ - do you remember when you first
installed it? Remember how completely freakin' lost you were? Now put
Kithicor between you and something that you need as much as a level 8
enchanters needs Mircyl's Animation. Say you're a level 6 bard in Freeport
and hear "Are you [interested] in delivering [mail]?", "We need [mail]
delivered to [High Keep]. Are you [interested]?"

Crier Sharpsong