Edoras wrote:
A character is not good solely, or even chiefly, because of his longevity. It's determined by quality. I'd much rather spend a week playing with a character who had strong RP, a solid backstory and made the game come alive than play with someone who walked around saying "i get plate drops kk" for 2 years.
I'm fine with granting bonuses to longer-lived characters. I am not fine with granting exclusive bonuses to longer lived characters, because that in effect is penalizing everyone else. Even then, I don't think that any sort of bonus for playing a long-lived character should be anything more than a fringe benefit. Playing a high-quality character should make you want to keep that character in and of itself, you shouldn't need some intense gameplay mechanic to incentivize it. An extra spec slot for mercs was a good option, because mercs always lose at the age ticks: That wasn't as much a buff to them as an offset to the innate penalty.
My initial thought was nothing too demanding. Something along 3 possible levels which can be attained pretty fast too:
1st point of expertise in 1 year
2nd in 5 years
3rd in 10 years
This means that if you have a character that plays 2.5months, he will get full bonus. This is not a long time and by 2.5months one will know if he wants to continue or not.
The proposed time is not absolute, but gives an idea. I would still be fine if it was:
-4
-8
-12
Which means that you improve your chosen expertise once a month and you reach maximum efficiency in the dawn of the 4th month.