I've been playing this game for more than a year and put countlesses hours on it but I'm seriously thinking of quiting for good and I want to share a few thoughts before I take the decision to leave.

Like with many other muds, I've been facinated to discover many aspects (areas, items, pk, RP, classes, skills and races) of the game. I think CF has definitly a very nice setup and this is not the reason why people eventualy leaves or don't stick to the game. The learning curve is hard but, I think, most of real mud players will expect one when starting a new mud.

This game is about pk'ing (in or outside cabals) and if people stop playing it, it's because they get frustrated at it. Any good teacher knows the only way to make a student be willing to continue to learn, even if it's hard, is to make sure he experiment success. If your student is only experimenting frustration, 95% of the time, the desire to learn goes away.

I think a big part of the problem is in the fact that vets gets a too big advantage from their knowledge of the game and access to powerfull items. That is probably why CF was more popular years ago: vets didnt had 10-15 years of experience to help them in pk situations and there was probably much less players with a 50-2 pk stat.

One solution to balance chances between would be to get rid of the gear advantage that comes from knowledge of the game. There's nothing that discourage me more to engage someone when, at lvl 15, I see him full gear of midnight dragon and wielding some crazy weapon. We cannot barter stuff to get venom to see invisible people, or successfully recite 50 lvl scrolls, when we're at lvl 15 : I don't see why this restriction would not be extended to all gear.

Also, part of the problem is the OOC communications (using MSN to oordinate ganking or letting know your pal that 'I left some good stuff on the floor at this mob'), but right now I have no suggestion for this.

I think if this game doesnt get more balanced in his pk aspect, sooner or later, you'll end up with 10-15 super knowledgable vets and friend always winning their fights and, by doing so, discouraging all newcomer to stick to CF. Eventually the vets will get tired to see the same 10-15 players will look for something new.

If Stunna is right and the playerbase is diminishing because CF lack a vision for his futur, I can only suggest this one: Everything must be done too give a chance to the newbies, or players who have been away for a while, to win PK fights because this is the core of the game. The learning curve to CF is already hard enough....

* Sorry for my bad english and, by the way, is there anybody managing new passwords request on Dio? Been waiting for weeks for a new one...