My example wasn't like a 42 vs 51 (which is fair enough, I've killed plenty of heroes at 42), it was like a 5 vs 51. With the type of system you're suggesting there couldn't be a wide margin of difference between a starting character and a maxed character, which means on a character who age dies at ~400 hours (about average) about 390 of them will be nonranking. Character turnaround would be extremely high turning the game into just a pkfest. Then there is the fact of mobs. The newbie academy would be half as tough as Hell? Doesn't make a whole lot of sense. You're right though, it would turn the game into something like Quake, and if I wanted that I'd go play it. Well, probably Unreal, but you get the point.

"Knowledge speaks, but wisdom listens." - Jimi Hendrix