I knew that a lot of coding or complex coding was a no no. But I had no idea that no amount of code change was an option to save the mud.

If this is that case, the IMMs have been derelict in their duty as stewards of CF and there may not be a way to turn this decline around if you don't get someone who can code.

The suggestions I made that involved code would probably require changing some constants. It would take a coder less time to make the change than it would to recompile the code.

It wasn't long ago that I applied for IMM, then withdrew my application when I was told that I couldn't ever post on dio's again if I IMMed. Also, I was asked if I'd be OK with never being able to touch the code (I'm a software engineer).

As for your suggection "be a defender or scout", I play exclusively defenders when I play battle. I have no interest in playing a berserker. This suggestion isn't for me, it's for the MUD. A lot of people want to play berserkers, but cannot get 3 mage kills before 200 hours because there are no mages. The response to legit complaints over the years of "then play something else" hasn't worked out very well in my opinion. Maybe a different response or at least a more honest one like GFU is in order.