On the other hand, a team without clarity. This is a nightmare situation when buffing up group members for battle, and keeping them refreshed througout a camp. If you are the only healer in a group, or the primary healer, you have to always have a reserve for heals, and trying to keep the team buffed without clarity is near impossible, unless you use all your mana, at which time the next 5 minutes your buffs are doing nothing while the buffer meds.

Play a team with clarity, and watch the buffs flow. Hop on a non clarity team, and you will notice a huge difference in how buffs are handed out.

In all probability, no. This is one of the defining spells of the enchanter class, and makes them very useful to the group. I would suggest that if you find clarity that beneficial, you might want to group with an enchanter regularly.

We don't want to put items in game that eliminate the need for class interdependance. Class interdependance is one of the core concepts of EverQuest and one of the things that makes it so successful.

-Gordon

It seems to me that many of the things people find distasteful about EQ find their roots in the "defining" philosophy of the game itself...the philosophy which Gordon referred to in his post: interdependence. Either you like having to depends on friends to bring their unique qualities to the table, or you don't.

The notion of Game Balance also finds its roots in this philosophy. EQ is an environment in which you are *supposed* to depends on others for help. Classes are restrictive-- there isn't a class which allows you to do everything. This explains why there aren't commonly available items in the game that speed mana or heal. Items are not supposed to take the place of other real people...this mechanism is supposed to encourage helpful interaction and foster the development of relationships in game...which is in turn supposed to be more fun for everyone.

Frankly, I'm a big believer in this philosophy. I love being able to help other people in this game...that my classes unique talents are appreciated and required by others to succeed in game. But not everyone feels this way.

The unfortunate upshot of this is that if you do not buy into this philosophy, you really ought to find another game in which you will not feel so frustrated and restricted. But it's really not so difficult to find a good enchanter to throw you a few clarities in exchange for a sow, or for a few buffs...or for a few plat. Or even to find an enchanter or bard to group. In the end, I find that personal interaction much much more interesting than having an item that might do the same thing.

We at Verant believe player interdependence is the key factor for a successful massively multiplayer online game. Future Verant titles, such as Sovereign, will continue with this philosophy, by strongly encouraging people to “group up” to accomplish their objectives. I personally believe that interdependence is what truly distinguishes an "online only" game from a single player game with "multiplayer" capabilities.

We know that not everyone will agree with us on this issue, and don't like our philosophy of interdependence. That said, we accept it, and sadly yield their business to the games that service the “solo players” niche. Ultimately it is the customers who decide whether we are right or wrong, by deciding if interdependence is right or wrong for them.

Of course, the jury is still out, but 170,000 active accounts tells me we must be doing something right.

-Gordon