I was considering writing something along these lines on your blog, but here goes anyhow--

1. The logic behind needing to leave an area for mobs to respawn/respawn faster astounds me. I understand that having aggro/assisting mobs respawn behind you could suck, but I feel it would add a bit to the excitement, but also reduce the horribly annoying downtime, as well as increase immersion.

now-
"Well guys, the entire keep is clear, lets go sit outside the front door waiting for everything to re materialize."

then-
"The bastards called in reinforcements, we'll have to fight our way back out to get any break in the slaughter."

etc etc. It would make leveling slightly more exciting and dangerous, rather than feeling like we're shooting cans and having to stop every few minutes to put them back on the shelf to do it again.

The bottom line is one of the most annoying things about leveling up in any game is having to wait for mob respawns. This would increase leveling speed, increase immersion, increase excitement, and increase risk.

2. Continuing with immersion...and I am sure this is nit picking, but why in the hell are orphans in Balator around the same strength/stronger than elder elves, and much stronger than war trained sentries etc there? When I first saw this I felt it was almost the same thing as putting lvl 1 liches in the academy for you to knock over.

3. Quest giving and npc alignment in general. How is it that you know what alignment npcs are, and they know what alignment you are? I understand it would lead to tons of confusion if you couldnt discern if mobs were good or evil, so I get it, but npcs know what alignment you are, when other players dont, unless you have a tell-tale race or class. There are some hints, you have a giant frog demon following you. Slight hint you're evil. But if I am just a human invoker, unless the npc notices I havent wiped off all the blood from the baby I just ate, there shouldnt be an indication I am evil. The exception to this being mobs with the ability to discern auras.

The whole point of this is that goody npcs should be offering evils quests, and vice versa unless there is a clear indication they are good/evil or they can discern auras. This would be a huge boost in not only ability to quest, but to RP. Lets say my role is that I am an evil human invoker because I am willing to do anything to increase my power, and the dark arts intrigue me etc. There is really nothing stopping that guy from rescuing the goodly farmer's daughter from the mean orc in the cave, especially since it would increase his fame/he gets to take advantage of the daughter etc etc etc. As well, why wouldnt the evil duergar offer a quest to the goodie invoker to go slaughter the princess? This would give the invoker the opportunity to say "how dare you, I would never harm the innocent for you!" etc etc.

What I am trying to say is that unless you just got finished slaughtering all the dwarf's brethren, theres no reason he shouldn't be asking you for help to save the princess unless you look like you mean to eat her afterwards.

4. I still have no idea how lvl 5s are walking around in hero sets. I can understand someone walking into a room with a freshly butchered hero corpse so everything is on the ground, or someone handing stuff over to randomly be nice, but I see it extremely often. I would really really like to see level restrictions on items. This would remedy one of the problems with just hitting lvl 11 and that orc one shots you with his 40 damroll set. It would also curb hero looting by lvl 11s.

5. I dont understand why grouping gives more exp than soloing. I have played a lot of games with a level grind, but it has always worked in exactly the opposite way. I am a warrior, I fight a mob solo, I take the hits, I bring him down slowly, using all the moves I have/want to, I get 100 EXPERIENCE for slaying this foe. I fight the same mob with a group of 2 friends. Paladin takes the hits, and Invoker shoots fireballs to take him down, I do not even strike the mob, hell, I can be asleep in the same room, and I get 200 EXPERIENCE for it. The logic eludes me. Also, why do I get no experience if I flee right before the mob dies? Did fleeing suddenly make me forget everything about the fight? I understand you wouldnt want it to be
XYZ's claw EVISCERATES you!
You gain 3 experience!
But to forget everything because you flee makes zero sense.

I will try to think of more later.