>>One of the most frustrating parts of learning this game is
>>item knowledge. It's the one thing that keeps me as a noob
>>from being competitive in PK situation.
>
>Allow me to humbly disagree? Lack of item knowledge may be
>hindering you, but its fairly unlikely to be "the one thing"
>that's keeping you from being competitive.
>
>Knowledge of the nuances of skills, both your own and your
>enemy's. Area knowledge. All the other stuff that goes into
>PK competitiveness, like not panicking, not spamming, having
>the right strategy for a given opponent, being able to adjust
>that strategy on the fly to adjust for unforeseen occurrences,
>etc.
>
>But I'll totally grant that item knowledge (both gear and
>consumables) is important.

I don't semantically disagree with your point above but for me at least (maybe the other guy too) you can replace "being competitive in PK" with "having fun in PK" in the second sentence you quoted. Having fun in PK is at the very top of the list of why I MUD. Second is elf elf giant love triangles but I hear empire has that covered.