I should probably shut up before I exhaust my posts-per-month quota. But here goes. Generally, I agree with you. Some random comments.

>The idea that the game really begins at hero is a pretty
>common one. Part of it is balance concerns. True or not, I
>think people get the idea that the best overall game balance
>is at hero, where before that there's more mismatches.

Hmm. Maybe. But I think the game lends it self to mismatches regardless of rank. It's just a different set of classes involved in them at hero. Also people have more hp, more lag protection, more dam redux, and more means of getting away, meaning it's generally harder to kill someone who's trying not to get killed.

>Another aspect is power perception. Truest among mages, the
>lure of getting just another few ranks so you can use
>skill/spell X so you can kill people better is aluring, even
>though once you're there other people have gotten their next
>ability too. The instinct is to get your character to his
>most powerful in absolute terms before trying to kill everyone
>in sight.

And that would be a bad instinct. The first thing you said, though, is completely valid and makes sense. Hence the reason people rank-sit at certain ranks and not others.

>Also, hero is a safer place to be in terms of game mechanics
>like con and experience loss. Dieing before hero, for any
>reason, has a permanent negative effect on your character.

This is the primary reason I don't explore as a non-hero, unless it's an area I'm almost positive is appropriate for my rank.

>But finding a group that's even capable of going into a
>dangerous environment with any chance of success is very
>difficult.

True. It pays to learn how to lead in these areas. Unfortunately, this is something newbies will have to rely on veterans for, until such time as they learn these areas themselves.

>Additionally, you really need an appropriate skillset (or
>people with enough area knowledge to blow prep after prep) or
>you're just going to get run over in The Tough Places.

Again, true. If I can't assemble a particularly efficient group, I go somewhere less taxing. It tends to not be as quick, but at least I'm ranking.

>I would say that finding a really good group happens once
>every 10 hours or so. Really good defined as *either* fun to
>rank with because of RP, or able to gain experience quickly.

Agree. Likely due to their rarity, whenever I find competant and/or interesting groupmates I make a point to remember them and attempt to rank with them again in the future.

>Some people PK, but mostly people who have found a power
>plateau for their characters. Pincering duergar axe-specs for
>example.

Agreed. For some classes it doesn't "pay" to stop ranking at many points sub-hero, e.g. a shifter has little motivation to PK prior to receiving his first 4th-tier form. For most classes, though, there's some point at which PK becomes viable. For some the potency level may be more "spikey" than for others.

>People RP, but the general experience is that the RP at hero
>is much better, which leads to a vicious cycle where the
>people who want to RP try to get to hero, leaving only people
>who don't care about RP very much at lower ranks.

True, but unfortunate. Usually I don't enjoy standing around talking with people, even if they're great role-players. I have a role and I play it, but mostly it's revealed via my actions and the occasional comment to someone I've just killed or who just killed me. This sort of role-play can be done at any rank, since it's not typically dependent on someone else to role-play "back" at you.

>Some people cabalraid, but unless you're at or near hero you
>can't really kill an inner guardian very well, so all you can
>do is counter-raid.

Agreed. You can defend, though. To the point where it will probably get annoying. One of the problems with the Fortress when I was Captain is that we had so few mid-ranked members compared to Empire. Often we'd be more than capable of taking their item, but totally unable to retain it.

>I'll admit it, pre-hero all I want to do is rank. I want to
>RP while I rank because otherwise it is painfully boring as
>opposed to merely tiresome. But I know that for me doing
>anything else extensively means a permanent loss of 50 to 100
>hp at hero. But then again I really don't think I have the
>right mindset for serious PK in this game, and other people
>probably don't have that problem.

I'm pretty much the same, though I often break from ranking to check mobs for gear or hunt people. Depending on class I may rank sit a little, but not to the point of distending. I fully intend to hero every character I roll- the sitting is just a pleasant little diversion en route to lvl51.

As far as I can tell, nobody's saying that ranking via repetitive mob-killing is the greatest thing in the world. They are, however, saying that it's a "necessary evil" for a number of reasons. I can understand and empathisize with the argument that XP should be obtained more from "other" activities and less from mob-killing.

In particular I think exploration should be rewarded at a higher rate, though with the restrictions that ghosts get no exploration XP. I'd also consider altering the exploration XP system such that characters gain XP for "doing" things, in addition to just reaching certain rooms. The problem, though, is that if you've already done these things with past characters, re-doing them is about as boring as repetitive mob-killing. It just becomes repetitive room-visiting, quest-doing, etc.

Another idea (rife with problems, I know) would be to award XP for player-killing. This would allow players to rank using a method that's arguably more interesting than repetitive mob-killing. It would also make the rank-sitter's job more difficult, particularly those who sit just below hero range. There would have to be restrictions to prevent abuse, such as not rewarding multi-killing, but it *might* work. I'll discuss it with the relevant parties, just for grins, though it'll probably result in a fat pile of Nhiala steaks.