of a purge any time soon? I'd like a reason to play again :P

As much as I feel that a purge would indeed rekindle the desire for people to play again, it seems a little counterproductive considering the point of development that the game is in. Or at least, I've considered all my leveling just a way to play through the MUD enough to figure out what is balanced and what is not. Along with this, it's a lot easier to test out and explore things with a higher character. From a "tester" perspective, there is really no need for me to have to go through that whole process again.

With that being said, I still do believe a purge would bring people back. But I think changes should be made before doing so. Or else things will turn out to be the same. But like I said ... what's the point if things are still being built and implemented?

Anyways, everything probably just feels like it has come to a halt because we're all suddenly busy with our lives, which includes all the old players.

PS. I think that coming up with some "end game" content might be an interesting way to keep people around as well, even after they have hit the level cap. Let's take factions for example. It distracted me for at least a few months, just working on getting a good standing with almost everyone. Of course, I'm crazy, but I imagine a lot of people wouldn't mind doing something like that if there were quests and rewards that could be gained from it. I can't imagine something like this being too hard to implement, but I could be wrong. And if you need help coming up with quests or something, I'd be more than happy to pitch in ... since I feel like it's a plausible solution for maintaining players.

PSS. I had mentioned the other day something about offering new classes/races to individuals that hit the level cap. They'd start over with a new character, but have new options. This seems a little more complicated since I suspect then players would be required to have a main "account" that could support multiple characters (sort of like WoW). You could even throw in a "hardcore" setting into it ... making it so that these characters are slightly more powerful, but are completely lost once they die. Or something? Just tossing out some ideas.

the starting over and starting as like a different class would be like atlas, i think its a bad idea to be 1 char and be 13 different classes. just throws off the balance of the game, you would have to restructure every perm to make even a challenge the 2nd/3rd/4th and so on. a berserker duel wielding berzerking praying and backstabing all by 1 character is dumb.

Woah! I check this forum every day or two and somehow I missed this thread.

You guys have some good ideas. Quests for people with good faction, for example, is something we totally want to do - we just don't have the resources.

If only I could get paid a salary for working on the mud - that'd be awesome. But I've got a full time job now so my free time has almost vanish.

Seril wrote:

the starting over and starting as like a different class would be like atlas, i think its a bad idea to be 1 char and be 13 different classes. just throws off the balance of the game, you would have to restructure every perm to make even a challenge the 2nd/3rd/4th and so on. a berserker duel wielding berzerking praying and backstabing all by 1 character is dumb.

I've never played Atlas, but the idea I had was allowing different classes for people who'd hit the level cap. It'd be like "unlocking" new classes ... so completely separate characters, just some new options to pick from if you want something for e-peen status. What you've stated is really just like multi-classing as it is now, to some extent.

Seril wrote:

the starting over and starting as like a different class would be like atlas, i think its a bad idea to be 1 char and be 13 different classes. just throws off the balance of the game, you would have to restructure every perm to make even a challenge the 2nd/3rd/4th and so on. a berserker duel wielding berzerking praying and backstabing all by 1 character is dumb.

What gives you the impression we're going to let zerkers dual-wield, backstab, and pray?

The problem with tight community games like this is that the more experienced players can outlevel and outplay the newer players, and when you add in bonuses for power leveling you increase the gap between the older and newer players, hurting the game in the long run.

Honestly, the game was more exciting before people hit lvl 20 and everyone was basically in the same boat as far as leveling and where to explore. It also made PK a little more interesting.