Shattered Kingdoms

So this is an rp based mud clearly but its also a hack and slash mud with NPCs, or at least that's the feeling I get.
I've played on both ends of the mud spectrum but little experience with a blend.

So a few questions
A) Does your char need to kill NPCs to survive/have potential in game? Or can you just focus on rp without combat growth?
B) If really are expected to be attaining greater skills/levels is it general practice to follow the pattern of aiming for most efficient stats or is it ever plausible to make an imperfect char. aka a class that shoud have high strength being somewhat weak or casters with low int/wisdom?
C) How long should someone spend in the newbie area? It seems to be a lonely spot of just killing for training and levels and I don't mind spending time in there to get reasonable amount of knowledge but what is the average then? What am I hoping to get to before moving on?
D) Going by the questions previously asked what other things might I be interested in hearing?

I've read help files but A-C I never saw great answers for sooo any advice would be welcome. Looking to blend in with the group while still making sure my char gets to be himself instead of someone playing to the same tune to 'be the best'.

It is very difficult to level in any reasonable time frame without killing NPCs. You can be an RP only character who never leaves level 1 and have some measure of influence, however you should expect substantially all darkies and more militaristic lighties to view you with some scorn.

See latter part of #1, you could make a sorc that can't cast enchant but don't expect to have friends, what use are you to them? Trying to make a good character should be a goal.

Get level 5, stack a bunch of xp to rush through Novice, and master wands if you're a caster. No reason really to stay over long, newb xp is abundant.

This isn't a MUSH. I wouldn't recommend trying to play it as emote only. Treat the Hack n slash as part of the roleplay if you want to be playing in the spirit most of us do. That's what I see as the "blending" of the two. You won't get anyone running around saying in-character "lol can u get me a +8 dagger ima stab this dude" (except thxbest characters), but you WILL get people bragging about their sweet new weapon, or saying casually "let's go kill a wight to get me a sword".

I should add that the presence of players who want to perform well has over the years led to the imms rebalancing difficult content under the assumption players will want to perform well. So if you do things like spec battlespear or ahlspiess over a massive reacher as a merc, or choose to do things like just wear any gear you like the color of instead of seeking out good stuff, you shouldn't then expect to inspire others to play alongside you.

Most everything that Shiwan said is very accurate, except for where he said ahlspiess is a bad spec when it's one of the best reaching PvE specs in the game, especially for a lightie.

To add my own two cents:

A) Does your char need to kill NPCs to survive/have potential in game? Or can you just focus on rp without combat growth?If you want to play a total pacifist, you will never gain any reasonable amount of experience unless you play a healing class, and even then the amount of experience you gain is going to be absurdly minimal. If you want to have a character who can carry his own weight IRL, you'll need to level by dealing combat damage. That -doesn't- particularly mean you have to be a mass murderer, although most take that route out of convenience: While certainly less than efficient, there are leveling routes that a light or neutral aura could could take which would involve training only on animals, creatures, undead or demons.

That said, you can also gain experience through enlights (up to 1 per day from staff or other PAR players), through casting non-combat skills (capped at a pretty low value per day as well IIRC) and through doing quests: Just keep in mind that there's no way that you'll advance anywhere near a "normal" pace if you choose to go that route. 50-150 hours to GM is "normal" for a player who's semi-dedicated to grinding. Without grinding, you're looking at more like 1000 hours at least I'd wager.

Does this mean that you can't be impactful or enjoy some good RP? Definitely not. But it does mean that your RP will -not- be able to involve acting like a tough guy or like a "driven adventurer" who likes going places, as you'll have to be left behind anytime others go gathering gear or helping others train lest you be a burden. It also means that you'll be helpless to defend yourself personally if you do get involved in a conflict with another character. Simply keep in mind that your choices for whether you level up or not are going to very heavily affect the RP avenues available to your character.

B) If really are expected to be attaining greater skills/levels is it general practice to follow the pattern of aiming for most efficient stats or is it ever plausible to make an imperfect char. aka a class that shoud have high strength being somewhat weak or casters with low int/wisdom?
You don't have to go full META, and no one's going to judge you for putting a stat or two in a wrong spot: However, if you want my advice in this regard, remember that if you knowingly gimp your character and then attempt to take part in much of the PvE of the game, then you're more than likely going to cause a decent amount of trouble or otherwise incur much more downtime on any trip you participate in. Yes, you can roll a caster that tanks your INT, but if you do you're just about as useful as a rock.

As an extra side-note there, you don't have to obsess -too- much over being useless if you allocate your stats in a way that isn't perfectly meta. The six mental and physical attributes, for example, can be enchanted for to account for all but the most egregious of poor allocation. The trains that are the most likely to miss out on (besides the obvious focus stats for your class) are mana/art trains if you play a caster. Those cannot be made up for with EQ.
If you want a good guideline to ensure you aren't missing anything gravely important for character building, check out Finney's guide linked below.
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C) How long should someone spend in the newbie area? It seems to be a lonely spot of just killing for training and levels and I don't mind spending time in there to get reasonable amount of knowledge but what is the average then? What am I hoping to get to before moving on? As Shiwan mentioned, once you can advance past level 5, feel free to train a while longer and say your goodbyes, and then you should feel free to head out. If you -are- a true twink and playing a class which can use wands, you will also want to spend 5-6 hours mastering wands by using "outfit" once you blow up the practice wand, because mastering wands afterwards takes a much larger pool of resources to work through.

D) Going by the questions previously asked what other things might I be interested in hearing?Enjoy SK! Take your time, read the helpfiles, don't get -really- attached to any gear in particular and be prepared to die and get rezzed, because death comes pretty easily in SK to those who are exploring or lower level. It comes pretty easily even to those who are higher level at times.