Regarding the recent issue of a new player having to tackle mob-death exp loss, I know that the experience cap on loss has been changed to be less of a hassle than it used to be, but is that enough?

I recently rolled a new character after a couple of years of not playing and I find that one of the biggest obstacles is not having anyone else to rank with. This is due to low player numbers (usually between 8 and 18 when I log on) and opposing RP beliefs/alignments/etc. I chose to play a melee class, so I can at least do really slow experiencing grinding (even with the constant 35% exp bonus), but how do non-melee classes level? Couple endless solo-ranking with mobs who can bash/trip/lag you in a multitude of ways, and you're bound to eat multiple mob deaths. This frustrates both new and veteran players alike.

Can we consider ways to improve the system?

What would be the objection to allowing solo characters to hire a merc and not take a reduction in the xp from kills (as long as the group contained no more than one player)

This is actually something I started looking in to and never actually did. I'm not sure exactly when, but you can expect to see something like this happen relatively soon.

(Note: the original plan for this was that it only apply to hired mercenaries and not pets, charmies, etc.)

Mercs/Pets/Charmies etc. all count, but only for a group of 2 if only one is a PC and a group of 3 if you have 2 PCs. Obviously this assumes only one pet. If more than one, treat as normal?

Encourages people to still group in 2 even if the "third" is a pet/merc.

Considering that you can't tame something above your level anyway and just about anything you tame is going to hit as hard as a melee-only mage.

There are a ton of lowbie quests now. I have solo ranked two mages into the low 30s with only ever seeing a group once or twice. Check all the newbie areas, and ask people who are hero if they know of level appropriate quests.

I lost more interest in the characters due to self imposed restrictions (like trying to level an Air/Air Shifter with one attack per round in the 30s) but could have easily kept trucking with them.

If there's no one to rank with, do some of the other stuff worth doing. Explore, get some gold or preps, rank, update your role, sell stuff, rp with people outside your pk.

Time spent at lower ranks can be fun if you aren't in a rush to get to hero, and it's not obvious why a rush is better than taking your time. You can still spend hundreds of hours at hero if you want to.

Ranking non-melee is really easy. I can probably solo rank any mage to 35 just in the planar sanctum. It won't be the fastest, but it is still very doable. Set a high wimpy for the bash/trip lag, and don't stack commands, and ranking should be somewhat safe, outside of the guy who jumps you and the NPC gets the killing blow (which since the guy is now credited with a PK, does the xp penalty still hit? Maybe I'll ask Santa Umi for that.)

Just because someone is not in group range doesn't mean they can't help you rank. If you see a bored hero, ask them for help. A guy that has nothing to do is probably itching for a little RP, and won't mind hanging out tanking mobs for you while you kill them. Yes, mobs will execute commands across people fighting them, but I don't know that they will redirect, so it should be relatively safe for the lower level guy to tackle some mobs well beyond even a group he could form's range.

I know it is probably tougher with less players to find group mates for ranking, and there aren't always going to be people around to help, but it's just a suggestion maybe worth trying. As a player at hero, if someone came to me and I had nothing else to do, I'd help out, as long as it was interesting. Not, hey, help me advance. And of course, within my char's RP to do so.

I know there are ways to extremely abuse ranking speed, I am talking gaining 10-20K experience in five minutes at certain ranks. I also don't know if a player would get in trouble for utilizing them though.