I've yet to see many cases where distention prevents level sitting at higher levels. The level 15 bash specs and level 29 duergar axe specs now, thankfully,m move on, but there still seems to be plenty of level sitting sub-hero at level 41. A couple of characters have been negatively titled &/or berated over CB, so I'd suspect to some degree an imm or two must have similar sentiments.

I realize the game doesn't start at hero, but when I see someone at level 41 for a few weeks, I can't help but think of it as a form of cowardice. There are minor exceptions where ranking to 42 just means a can of whoopass is going to get busted out on you - a sole rager when the village is downtrodden is going to get creamed, that kind of deal.

What I propose is to add a time dimension, if one does not already exist, to distention. So, if say 20 kills would distend you from 41 to hero range, than arbritrarily once you hit 30 hours of being level 41, it only takes 10 kills to get the same level of distention. Sixty hours, 8 kills, 90 hours, 4 kills, and so-on.

Some things to bear in mind :

1) A few weeks doesn't mean much. If I told you my last char played 4 hours over "a few weeks", you might be surprised, but it'd be true.

2) What makes you think its cowardice, compared to simply finding PK more entertaining than ranking?

It's silly to punish someone for not playing the game the way you think it should be played.

It's silly to punish someone for not playing the game the way you think it should be played.

Distention, at the lower ranks, is intended to do this, largely because your decision to play some teen-ranked character who picks off newbies repeatedly has an impact on other players. But you're correct in the general sense that we don't try to hard-code how you play the game so long as it has no negative impact on others. (Most of the pressure we do apply comes from carrots, not sticks: A gang-happy coward may get an unflattering title, but an inspiring character might get free XP, CON, skills, etc.)

In general, we're less concerned about people sitting at 40-41. At that level, you're mostly fighting people who know how to defend themselves. There's also a lot more reasons why someone might be legitimately stuck at those ranks, whereas there's no reason an experienced player heavily involved in PK gets unwillingly stuck at rank 15.

(It's also a niche that occasionally becomes very undesirable to occupy, depending on how many human Spectres are running around. Level doesn't make that much difference in PK overall, but necromancers tend to swing more on it than most, and they have a very good reason to be stuck at 47.)

valguarnera@carrionfields.com

My last Hero took me 167 hours.

I spent another 100 hours after that at Hero before I deleted.

Now that's more than half the characters life just getting to Hero. I didn't "level sit" because I was afraid to Hero. In fact I couldn't wait for it. The thing is, I had -plenty- of other things to do with my time -other- than rank.

I had a cabal I spent time enjoying. I had places I wanted to explore. People to interact with. I spent my time -enjoying- my characters life, each and every step of the way. I did spend a lot of time "sitting" at this level or that, but I didn't just have my thumbs up my ass, I was actually doing stuff.

With that in mind, I don't think its fair to punish other people who might do the same thing. I also don't think its fair you would look down your nose at those people, especially if you don't come in contact with them on a regular basis. There is a lot of room and opportunity to have fun and keep yourself occupied while your here, and a lot of the time ranking should take a back seat to everything else.

It's like a big sign that says "I don't want to fight heros".

It seems like Hero range is always at least twice as big and any other range in the game.

And the ones I found, people kept killing.

Plus, I was in range of many hero-range characters.

I think some imms do share those sentiments; I'd consider this to be one of those issues that we all have some different opinions on.

The aim of distention was to create an environment in which people wouldn't generally create a character intended to never advance beyond level X. In that respect, it's been a success. Beyond that, if people take their time levelling or take a break at level X for whatever reason, it doesn't personally bother me and I don't think the system needs to enforce an additional penalty for it.

That's not to say that your patron imm, cabal leader, whatever can't decide it's time for you to move up and apply IC pressure accordingly -- I just don't think it's something that needs to be coded in at this time.

Distension was implemented to keep accomplished pkers from padding their pk numbers with those who can't defend themselves. The example of young mages and bash specs comes to mind. Your proposal sounds like the converse, a request to pad your pk numbers.

There are a number of reasons why character leveling may stall. A character may be a solo ranker due to role or religion, she may be the unwitting guest of bad parties every time she steps into a ranking area, or maybe she simply cannot find a group. Low 40s isn't a bad time to explore if your common enemies are engaged in the sprint to hero.

Pk range is in theory a measure of what opponents you have a chance at killing; by adding a time component, independent factors would inappropriately by linked.

Why does it bother you that someone sits at 41? How is their interaction with you different as a 41 vs. a 51? Do you want them to rank up just so you can try to PK them?

I just don't see a problem with it.