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Alright, I won't mention that particular topic that makes important people turn me off and other people to start a flame-fest but I do want to throw my half-a-cent's-worth of input into the mix here.
I'm speaking for newbs and permanewbs and lamers like myself.
I honestly don't understand why any areas that draw jman-2 and below would have their NPCs grouped and have spellcasters that knock the crap out of you.
I understand many changes were made to vehemently encourage grouping, this change as an example of it. There are 50 levels for players. Let's assume there's an even distribution among those online, based on 10-level segments. That would mean 20% would be level 41-50, 20% 31-40, and so on. If 15 people are online, that would mean 3 people would be initiate/apprentice. Using the same even spread idea, 1 would be Evil, 1 Good and 1 Neutral. This does not make for a healthy opportunity to group up to do battle. And I haven't even discussed opportunity for one to find the other. That and the distribution is almost always top-heavy, meaning half the people will be in the 41-50 range and half in the 1-40 range. This necessarily makes it far more difficult for "wrong timers" to group up to level.
Again, with 15 online, how are the various classes represented? In particular, how many priests are represented since the group thing is almost completely eliminated? And if you're a delf playing when the only priest online is a lighty? You can't group up to level up because you're the wrong level or the wrong alignment so you go solo and get yourself killed and can't get a rez because you're the wrong alignment or wrong class, or you're too newbish to properly converse with the sole priest online. Okay, reinc and lose all your gear permanently. No big deal for some people but a huge deal to permanewbs.
Understand, I am not advocating making gear acquisition easy. I fully accept the standard of permanewbs and lamers getting above-average gear through charity. I am, however, against the current "soak the rich" system of leveling. I suggest if you want to slow down the leveling of twinks, set a time limit on levels. I realize this is in contradiction to realism in it's current form but I suggest the military already has a time limit. You get promotions based on TIG (time in grade) and TIS (time in service) along with your worthiness for promotion. You can get either TIG or TIS waived, but you can't get both waived. This necessarily slows down promotions so the uber-elite won't go from E-1 to E-9 in 2 years.
So, my suggestion is to dumb down the NPCs to where they were a couple years ago or so. Eliminate the mid- to low-level NPC grouping completely. Restrict mob-assistance more tightly. And to hurt the twinks' leveling speed, take a cue from the military's TIG and TIS requirements. Perhaps if the player gains exp too fast, the player can be given an option to get either "time at level" or "age of char" waived at a cost of 40% more exp. When the char is bumped up against both limits, the char has to wait till one of the limits has been met and then get the waiver.
But, I still say dumb down the NPCs, break up their groups, and stop many of them from assisting. In a vacuum, requiring grouping in all activities sounds good. But in reality, it only serves to harm many players: the good players at the wrong time, the poor players at the right time, and most definitely the poor players at the wrong time.
Edit: Currently online: 7 chars. That's 1 every 9 levels. Great grouping opportunities await!
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