back when eq first came out you would get a specific number of people on the server when you logged in. You would also get a notice that you got 542 experience points for killing the mob you were fighting.
After a while they changed it to server was up or not and the nitice you get was just "you gained experience" I am not a programer or even in the computer trade so I do not know if this takes a ton of programming or if they do not want to get into that. Maybe it causes a lot of people to say "hey I didn t get all my exp points for that fight". You would also have a number of exp you had and needed to fill your level. You would also know how points were split in groups. If you were in a group with all higher levels you may not be getting anywhere because your points were so uneven that you would never catch up.
I was just wondering which way VR was gonna head in this subject.
It seems like Vanguard gave your experience numbers, but I'm going by the emulator and I'm not sure it's accurate. I kind of like the mystery of just having the yellow bar without the numbers, but I guess there are pros and cons for both. Did EQ tell you how many people were on the server, or just how many were in the zone you logged into? I know it told you how many were in the zone at least. I definitely do like having population information. I imagine it will be a while before the devs hammer out details like this, though.
They probably stopped showing population numbers so people wouldn't be able to see the decline. It's a smart move from a business perspective.
With regards to experience, they didn't change how it worked, only how it was displayed. The server definitely "knows" numerical XP values but the game simply doesn't show it to the player.
