I asked a friend of mine who used to play this question and he said two things. The biggest reason he doesn't stay at the mid levels is con loss. It's as simple as that for him. During the course of doing stuff, he dies sometimes and he feels like he's gimping his character if he doesn't get hero with as much con as he can muster.

A second thing he said was it might be nice to have a posting in the Inn that lists some adventures or quests that groups in the mid levels can take up. Maybe have it change every now and then. This could be a nice solution to the problem I was outlining below.


>Edited to add: Make it more worthwhile to explore in the
>mid-ranks. Why would I ever want to kill the titan dude on the
>Crystal Island unless I needed a (Magical) polearm? He's a
>sanc polearm spec that cons fairly low level. What's the
>benefit, either practical or RP-wise? Why should I attack that
>elder elf in the Vale if he's got a wand that makes him twice
>as hard as the ones without wands unless I really want that
>wand and the xp? Why fight the skeletons in the Crypt?
>
>Another problem I have with group exploring is how rarely you
>find something worthwhile specific to your group. While it
>does make it the achievement better when you do come across
>that rare poison ingredient or a wand you can actually use
> I've seen a lot more of these since my return), it could be
>neat to take a page from other games and add chests with
>random, instead of static, loot that could be useful for your
>character.
>
>Maybe add some chests to level 25-35 areas that would likely
>require a group that give good rewards for you. For some, can
>set it up as a quest requiring killing Y number of X mobs, or
>big boss mob Z. Code it so each person can only get their
>specific item from the chest, but once it's from the chest
>it's normal. Maybe a poisoner thief would sometimes get a good
>poison ingredient or a +hp+dex hooded cloak or a good dagger.
>Maybe a warrior would randomly get a -svs cloak, a light
>weapon based on their spec, or a +dam bracelet.
>
>I know some people say they hate randomness, but there's a
>biological reason the most popular games do it.
>
>Hutto, the Sleepy Nitpicker
>
>
>