Shattered Kingdoms

This is a pretty drastic measure that I wouldn't ask for if we had 40-60 players on at most of the day, but seems a bit more relevant now.

Could we please scale combat XP gain based on the number of players currently online, preferrably within 5 levels of yours? I mean, for some classes, solo leveling is HORRIBLY painful. For others it's still tough but manageable. It's just so hard for me to sit down and think,

"Man, I've spent ~3000 hours playing this game in the past, and I'm predicting that getting to master is going to take me at least 75 hours, probably more like 125. Don't even ask me about getting from Master to GM- that's another 200 hours right there. Let us not forget that the hours aren't even fun- it's literally just leveling, with zero interaction with others."

These can all be offset by assistance from others. One fighter class + 1 healing class = whole area clears. One fighter class or 1 healing class alone can only do a few rooms worth before sleeping. However, I seriously doubt there are enough players online in a certain level bracket, much less of compatible alignments and using the same leveling area, to expect people leveling to group up anymore.

This XP bonus would only apply to combat xp if that is possible- XP you gain from damaging NPCs physically or magically. Spamming enchant weapon with 5 people online shouldn't go any faster.

edit: another option is some kind of OOC or quasi-IC assistance. And we all know how legal that is.

"Hello newbie. I feel especially generous today. Please accept five obsidian, these flasks of healing, some tribunal buffs, a suit of mithril and an enchanted weapon."

Why?

Because I don't feel like we should force players to devote the equivalent of several full time working weeks leveling.

I mean, am I alone in thinking that this is a bit absurd now? Maybe my attention span has simply grown shorter, but as I said, sitting down and realizing I'm going to spend five, six hours mindlessly killing things is a huge turnoff.

There are already tons of ways to boost your xp output.

Abuse them.

no

any idea that speeds up the ass-reaming pace & feel of leveling is a good idea

I think this is the answer. IMO it is easier to level today than ever.

that doesn't make the current leveling speed acceptable

So with that statement your saying that leveling speed in SK has never been acceptable?

If your not disagreeing that it is easier today that means it has never been?

Used to take a minimum of 200-250 to GM. That was with a pbase of ~50-75.

How many hours does it take to GM on World of Warcraft? Or for that matter, any other online game? A lot.

If you want to ṕwn people you're going to have to put in some hours.

First of all, I think that I am definitely in the top third of players in leveling speed. I used to GM chars in about 200-225 hours. Even so, it would take me about 100 hours to Master, which is supposedly when you can competitively PK and do stuff.

Yes, it takes a long time to reach the final level in any other game. However, there are HUGE differences between them and SK that you are glossing over.

1. It's a hell of a lot more fun to level in most other games, and there's actual stuff you can do before you reach the final level that is FUN.
2. They have millions of subscribers who can easily bring in new players.

Do you know what it's like try and bring a player to SK?

"Hey, so, sit here and type 'k <NPC>' every ten seconds. Then when you run out of hp/mana, type 'sleep'. Do this for about one hundred more hours, and then you can do something with me."

There's only so much elitism and work that you can expect when you want new players.