So, what, with all of the cool items, skills, spells, forms, etc in the game, no one should ever get them for anything? No one should EVER get a third legacy or virtue? Greater conjuring? Quest form? One of the set of AP weapons that has apparently been made to be given out as a quest form like reward to AP's?

The hell with that. CF instantly becomes a much more boring game if all anyone can ever be is vanilla warrior, vanilla shifter, etc etc, no matter how well they might do in roleplay or pk. This goes back to what Daev said about what some people hate being what other people love; I don't mind getting my ass kicked by a certain item or skill or spell, because A) I don't try to win CF, and the ways I enjoy playing CF don't revolve around being unkillable or necessarily always having a chance to kill someone else in a straight 1 v 1 battle, and B) Seeing other people with cool rewards is also cool for me, because I know that I can also get that reward.

I don't get pissed when Jack Blaguar or some quest reward AP weapon kicks my ass. I just think to myself how I can overcome that, and that the next time I roll a shifter I should really try to run a well played character so that I can get the same.

You and a few others don't feel that way. That's fine. But not everyone feels like pk ratios and being able to always win against everyone 1 v 1 are the end all/be all of a fun game. The words "silent minority" come to mind here.

It's also ridiculous to blame declining numbers on stuff like this. We're playing a text based roleplaying game in the year 2013. I'd say the average age of the playerbase at this point has to be over 30. I think lessoning timesink requirements would be a good thing, given the lesser abilities of an actual grownass adult with family and responsibilities to sit and put in 3-5+ hours a day into a game, but "OP" rewards that have, generally, been given to well played characters since CF began? That's not the problem, at least not for the vast majority.

Also, I'd just like to state my appreciation for your continual torrent of ####posts around here, Sam. I know you don't play anymore, you only mention it on about a weekly basis, but it really helps make the game look good to new people who might be checking it and the forums out to have people such as yourself going on and on and on and on about how unfun and ####ty the game is. Thanks for that, I know how much effort it must take for you, to make these posts when you don't play anymore and don't want to. It's just what a normal person would do.