>I've said it for a long time that edges, skill mastery, hell
>even prep gathering, is a generally overvalued thing by our
>players.

I'd say it depends on the skill in question. People do make too big of a deal out of parry/dodge/shieldblock.

Enhanced damage and primary weapon skill at 100% vs. 75% on a warrior is a big deal. Esp. if you hang out at low ranks for a long time and get them unnaturally high relative to other people at your rank.

>Others struggle with it some and use preps/edges/skill
>mastery as a way to get back to square one

Sadly, this is me.

I would add two other things that can boost a character's kill count irrespective of "skill":

1. "area knowledge / game knowledge". The more game knowledge you have the better your gear is likely to be, the more likely you are to be able to find that guy you match up well against, the better you chase, etc.

2. "client knowledge. Having a good set of aliases makes combat so, so much more manageable. I'm not sure I could get a single PK (outside of one-shot skills like assassinate) if I were forced to use straight-up telnet.