The interesting thing to me is that everyone has a different version of how "classic" they want it to be. For instance, would you want the original UI and no others available? I know I would probably enjoy a true snapshot-in-time of EQ from about summer 2000. It included so many long forgotten "features" (some were not that well-liked)... some examples I can think of are: being able to drop coin, seeing the message "You feel an overwhelming sense of loss." when your corpse poofs (didn't matter if you were level 2, 9, or 50, your corpse always kept your gear til you recovered it), no loot messages within group, no ability to link loot to other players, no ability to form raids (only groups), PC marriages (conducted by a GM), boats, there are tons of others. If someone made a truly classic server, with every single aspect (no exceptions), would you play on it? Invariably, someone will come along and say "Wow, this classic server is so great. Maybe we could at least have horses though?"
Yeah I wouldn't really want to play a hardcore classic server nowadays. That original UI made the screen soooo small. I did ok with p99 but I prefer some modern conveniences. I love this server the most but I do really miss some of the modern client features like being able to turn off Environmental Sounds to shut up those crickets in PoK and the endless thunder in HHK etc. Also I loved spell sets, and being able to right click the gems to bring up a drop down menu with all the spells in there. Scrolling out to third person too. Also persistent pets was so nice. Not only did they zone with you but they stay after you camp out too, really saves hassle of components but also lets you give them decent gear. I like the Extended Target window too although I think that made life a bit too easy because one of the skills of the game is moving your character to target the right mob. I love the PoK books, I was never a fan of travelling extremely long distances and I didn't like having to bother people for ports and sow's and stuff. I felt like the PoK books dumbed the game down when they first came along, but after travelling the world the old way for years, I felt like I earned the right to travel faster and still like to do that now. I kinda like having no map though. It forces me (and others) to learn the zones and learn how to navigate using landmarks and your bearings. Those maps really destroyed a big part of what made early EQ so special imo. Overall this server works in a way I like the most. Some other good ones but this is my favorite now. p.s. Some things I remember from early EQ, people duelling would announce the outcome to the entire server. They changed this after people made funny named characters and you kept seeing stuff like "Commonsense has defeated Verant in a duel to the death!" Also the starter gear you got used to be sellable, so someone figured out you could just make a new character and sell all their stuff (weapon and food/drink) and give the cash to someone, then repeat over and over. There were some really rich newbies because of this, until they changed it so the gear couldn't be sold. I also remember that root and snare didn't used to stack originally. It made life really hard for root/rot players. You would root a mob and stack all your dots, but with no snare, as soon as the root broke it would sprint at you and whoop you. Being able to snare it later on made it so much easier. You could kill stuff without taking a single hit. Also Necro's were ridiculously overpowered and got nerfed quite early on. They could charm a mob and then feign and their pet would keep fighting for them. I know necros that used to solo the frenzy in lower guk without even being high level, they would just charm the mobs one by one and let them fight to their deaths. I remember Rubicite being the big thing everyone wanted. Good times.
Oh yeah, this one is huge. I recall having (probably still have) and binder filled with map printouts of most zones. I got them all from EQ Atlas (if they had them, they didn't have all). That old binder was pretty beat up by the time maps came out. I got quite good at calculating the coordinates, that took some practice. The very first time I printed out a map was when I fell off the boat in TD and ended up swimming for about an hour (if not more). I watched my yellow bar going down and thought I would drown, so I frantically called my friend and he directed me to EQ Atlas. I had never heard of it before. Printed out TD map and eventually found the firepot room I kept that map binder right next to my old Compaq 500mhz computer (with an 8mb integrated graphics chip!). Only a very few times do I recall zoning into a brand new zone (i.e. Iceclad when Velious was released) and having no idea what the layout was, that was true adventure. Even your group mates and guildies couldn't help you out in the first few days of an expansion release. Looking for the next zone entrance was always a blast.
Oh no kidding! Remember when Kunark came out and you zoned into a new dungeon and... the way out wasn't behind you! No maps. No way. Having to learn the layout of a place firsthand adds to the immersion.
One note on this: while playing on AK with my iMac, I noticed that all music in classic zones (and including vendor/banker music) was gone. I really missed it, tried lots of ways to regain it, but it was apparently not possible with Mac client. Oddly enough, when I originally set up my old Windows PC with the Secrets "hack" to play the Mac client on windows, my classic music was back! The old original music will play if you use a PC instead of a Mac, the newer music plays also, so you get the best of both worlds. I prefer the graphics of my old iMac, but when I discovered that old music again, I switched back to my PC. My point being, you may regain control over environmental sounds if you switch computers (easier said than done, I know). But, if you are on a Mac, maybe playing on a PC would allow environmental sounds on/off control again... or vice-versa if you are on a PC. I like environmental sounds, so I always leave them on... only thing I get rid of is the combat music.
