Well, it has finally happened. What started out as a great resource
for bards has finally degenerated into flames and topics far removed
from bards, and even from EQ. There are a LOT of dead horses being beat
around here.
I recieve the digest form of this list. Out of 25 messages in the
most recent digest, only 6 of them were specifically bard related. 6.
That is all. I am trying to remember the last thread that vaguely
interested me and frankly I cannot. Most posts are either about
twinking, acronyms, or posts complaining about the threads, while at the
same time quoting about 100+ lines of text. Hardly what I would deem
worth my time to scroll through.
I will be unsubscribing from this list soon if this keeps up.
Please remember the rules of etiquette on this mailing list. Here are a
few:
1. No messages that say "Me too" and then quote several pages of
earlier posts. Please either keep this to yourself or e-mail the author
directly, as this is not the place for such.
2. Any threads that are not related to EQ, and bards specifically. I
could care less about lottery winners' lifestyles, opinions on twinking,
or witty and pointless explanations of what RTS means. There are forums
for this sort of thing, try eq.stratics.com or www.eqvault.com. Stick
to bard stuff here please.
3. EXCESSIVE quoting of other messages. Please snip if you feel you
have to quote. And for those who recieve each e-mail from the list,
please change the subject if the subject has changed, like so:
Re: How Jackpot Winners Live, was Re: Twinking
4. Personal discussions and flames should be via e-mail if at all. If
I wanted petty squabbling I would go back to reading newsgroups.
Now, please, people, we have a good resource here and I suggest that
we use it. No one person can know all there is to know in the game, and
so this list was created. Let's get back to bards here.
New thread topic, just so this post has worth. Definitely bard
related, as it deals with equipment that all bards will eventually need.
Recently, the spawn on rubicite armor has been messed up. It
doesn't drop any more, apparently. In Cazic-Thule, where ruby normally
drops, at a peak time, there were only 6 people. This got me to
thinking. After some thought I have come to a conclusion.
Rubicite armor is too good to be in EverQuest.
Let me back this up. 8 out of the 14 classes can wear ruby. That
is more than half. Of these 8, 3 of those classes (rogue, ranger,
shaman) CANNOT wear regular plate, and so it is obviously HIGHLY
desirable for them. However, ruby is also BETTER than the Steel Plate
that can be bought by the other 5 classes, so they want it too. In
addition, Steel Plate is so expensive that many players will just camp
for ruby instead of buying steel..
So, we have an armor that is arguably the best magical armor that
can be had, for more than half of the players in EQ. (Yes, Mithril and
a few other pieces are better but are only wearable by a few, for
example we bards cannot wear Mithril). And, it is only found in one
place. And, it is a rare drop. What this means is that there will
NEVER be enough ruby to go around.
This throws everything out of whack. Camping is SUCH an issue with
ruby that apparently Verant decided to take it out of the game, at least
for a bit.
SO what can be done to solve this problem? Here are a few
suggestions.
1. Make Steel Plate cheaper. If a 40th level bard can go and spend a
reasonable amount of plat on Steel from an NPC, why camp for ruby? A
full set of Steel Plate, just the visible pieces, mind you, costs over
3000 plat. A good hunk of change, even at those levels. Probably
easier to just get in a group camping ruby and just wait.
2. Make ruby the same AC as Steel. That way, classes who can normally
wear plate will have no real reason to camp for it. It would be easier
and less boring to just save up and buy Steel.
3. Make other, better magical armors for the plate wearing classes. If
there was Sapphirite Armor, 1 AC better than Rubicite, usable only by
classes who can wear plate, that dropped off of say unique minotaurs in
Beholder, then that would cut down on the demand for ruby and thus the
camping for it. [ Note: if Green Splinted Platemail (like Aradune wears)
makes it into the game, and is wearable by those who can wear ruby and
by monks also (like it is rumored to), then green will replace ruby as
the best armor in the game, and will be camped like hell, not solving
the problem at all.]
4. Make ruby only usable by Shamans, Rogues, and Rangers. This, again,
would cut down on demand and thus on the camping as well.
Basically, these ideas popped into my head when I was in Solusek B,
hunting fire giants in a big guild meeting. About 20 people above 40th
were there, and ALL of them that could wear it had some rubicite on.
All. I think this is a bad thing, that there should be more variety of
equipment among players who can roam Norrath without fear (much).
Hopefully, Verant has seen this problem and is taking steps to correct
it.
So what do you all think? When you get to that level, will you
settle for steel? Or will you join the droves that want rubicite
instead? Can we think of other ways to solve the problem? IS this a
problem?
On topic discussion is appreciated. And please, keep it about bards.
Pistov Shostakovich
Bard of the 25th Song
The Erudin Arcanium
Cazic - Thule
marcallie@...