Shattered Kingdoms

I always take 5 levels out of each area from Veteran up, even if I have to grind half a level or so with penalty. Don't much like running willy-nilly to different areas all over.

My current is Mentor in ~25 hours. I've still seen 75hr GM's with the changes, and skills in general seem to advance more quickly. Maybe it's the plethora of INT mods...yeah, I just wanted to actually use the word plethora at least once in my life. int mods ftw

maybe I am a noob but what the hell does int mods have to do with leveling?

with the actual act of gaining EXP, nothing at all.

However with improving your skills, it greatly increases the rate of skill improvements the higher your int. You use your skills the most while leveling so it makes sense to stack int mods early on dumb types and try to master them while you level.

Yeah, I was just rambling before. But I guess you could make the argument that perfecting skills results in 1) more damage and 2) more safety (e.g. lagging NPCs).

I've talked to a few veteran players about the familiarity system. They seem to agree it was made to limit twinks and thus make it fair to everyone else. But however I'd argue that it makes it easier for twinks becuase by definition they know how to exploit the mechanics of the game and are on the whole not stupid. I would support this claim by the fact that if you know where all or most training areas are then you can go train with an experience bonus almost all the time. Another thing is, it simply don't make much sense. Here's the best example I can think of. Say I get hired on to build houses. Am I going to learn more and faster when I'm just new? Or will I learn more and have much more experience when I've been there a few years? I mean when things become familiar they're generally easier to learn, not harder. But it seems in SK its the exact opposite. O_O Please tell me I'm not the only one who thinks this?

I think that you just disproved your own point with that example. Yes you are going to learn more about building a house the first time you do it then the 300th time you are building a house. So SK is not backwards, I think it is you who are a bit backwards.

It's not so much a measure against twinks, as a measure against ruts.

It used to be best to go to just a few great spots, and kill the same NPCs over and over and over again. It was mind-numbing. Now the system rewards a more fun approach: testing your skills in a variety of areas and situations.

I think it's anything but fun :/

From what I've seen, it makes it harder for people that are unfamiliar to the mud to level, and all the people that know all the areas, are barely hindered. I feel that this has just widened the gap between newbie and veteran. I liked it at first, but I'm liking it less.