Over the weekend of struggling a bit in Sol A I came to some unsettling
conclusions. The first is that while most dungeons become safer with more
groups in them, Sol A becomes more dangerous with more groups. There were
enough groups in Sol A last nite that every time any group in the front
areas got a bad pull, it ended up training every single group in that area
one at a time. Very ugly.

The second conclusion is far more unsettling although it does seem to
explain why Verant's idea of how the game works is so different from
reality. It all stems from one fateful choice on their part in trying to
balance mobs that were not as hard as they should be. To do this they added
hp's. A simple solution? Not really. It changed the whole dynamic of the
game and it has never recovered. By adding hp's instead of increasing
damage dealt, too low partly due to the dual wield bug, they totally changed
the way mobs must be fought. In the old days DoT's weren't so powerful
because the mobs would often die before they ran their course. Now mobs
have so many hp's all the DoT's run thru and even run out. DD's and melee
attacks though have been reduced in effect.

If the hp's hadn't been increased, the primary strategy in killing mobs
would be to kill them fast. This would depower DoT's in group combat, but
would put wizards back where they belong at the head of the quick killer as
far as caster's go. It would also allow melee attacks to be more effective.
The increased hp's have changed the strategy from one of killing quickly to
killing steadily. Killing steadily is not conducive to stopping runner and
so causes more trains than if the mobs actually could be killed quickly.

The reason melee types suffer from the change from fast to steady when it
seems counterintuitive is deceptive. Although the melee class has more
'time' it seems to do damage and is thus more effective, in reality this
isn't so. Unlike the DoT which is fire and forget, the melee class is on a
different clock. The DoT is on 'real time'. If a fight lasts longer it
does more damage. The melee person is on 'hp time'. No matter how long a
fight lasts, the melee person's clock is limited to his/her own hp's. When
they run out, the person is done fighting whether the fight is over or not.

This explains many of Verant's misconceptions. If hp's of mobs were less,
as in Beta, then Wizards would be very balanced. Melee types would die less
than casters. Not needing mana would mean something significant. Mob
attack slowdowns would be vital. Damage absorption shields would be vital.

This one choice of how to fix a problem has caused innumerable others. I'm
not sure how it could be fixed now, or if even it could without a lot of
pain. I sure hope it is something they realize for EQ2 however. I wonder
how bad it would really be if they took a stab at it. Reduced the hp's of
all the mobs to the original pre buffed numbers and fixed the dual wield
problem. It might appear ugly at first, but I think it would put the game
back onto the track they think it is on.

Thoughts?

Kit