Scardale Vs The Real Mud

[daggaz]

Not to dis scardale too hard, its a cute zone, very useful especially for absolutely new players, and full of interesting little quests. But...

Why should it be such an outstandingly better option for all races, including ultras.... It has the best xp by far. It has LOADS of eq that far exceed most anything you can get as a pwiper at those levels. It has more quests per room than most zones I know about except maybe hulburg..

I suggest implementing a few changes, to balance these issues...

1. Increase the xp of very low level mobs in hometowns (not all of them, but enough of them) to equal at least half the xp of what they would be in scardale.
Seriously... the fights in menzo are just as hard/harder, and you are lucky to get 2 notches at 10th level where you could expect at least 4-7 in scardale. Can even make us move around a bit to find them all, unlike in scardale where its all clustered together..

2. Increase the stats on l0wbie eq found in/around hometowns slightly.
Once again... the fights are usually just as hard/harder, and the eq is almost always outdone by scardale stuff. Especially for <20th mobs, and even for some tougher stuff we have found scouring the realms.. And considering how far we walk to find some of those items...

3. Increase the amounts of n00bie eq found in/around hometowns.
In scardale, if you hit a reboot at least, you can fully eq every slot except eyes with EASE, and have kick-ass ac to boot for your level. (too easy in my opinion, what ever happened to that point system?) I should be able to, with enough searching and fighting, find a few more than three items in fx. menzo that are at least equal to scardale eq. All the mobs are naked! Would also be nice to have stuff that isnt so obviously ansi'd for goodies.

4. Increase the amounts of little quests in/around hometowns.
This is the coolest thing possibly that could happen, imho. Nothing adds more fun and excitement for new/low chars than little missions with sweet little rewards at the end. Not to mention initiative to go out and explore the game. Considering the level of stuff you are dealing with, the possibilities are really nearly endless.

5. -OR- in the interest of true game balance, get rid of scardale, or seriously downgrade it. Its overpowered. Too much xp, too much eq of too good stats, too little space. Too much ease overall.

of course, doing that would hurt our newplayer base, and it is destructive rather than constructive... so I hope you gods will take notice of the first four points plz =) (PS I would be glad to aide in writing stuff up, would be fun)

[Arilin Nydelahar]

Scardale is fine the way it is. The same argument is said for DK exp a lot in the midlevels as well though.

And the general idea last I recalled, was supposed to get people doing things AWAY from their hometowns. It's a place to read boards, chat, and well idle/rent. Shouldn't be exping in your hometown as it is.

Scardale is really good prep and the mud's been needing it for ages. The place isn't overpowered, it just won't happen though. Even if it was really a good idea it won't happen.

It's fine the way it is, it took forever and a day to get this zone in and it was a godsend. It's a great place.

[Ambar]

The only thing I might agree with is upping the number of xp mobs for lvl 17-20. Scardale is wonderful :) It teaches new people how to quest, the quests are very easy to figure out, the eq redlatively easy to get, and your brand new mage doesnt get his ass handed to him by a robin or kooshie

and if you explore Mosswood you get little bits of fun from Basternae and Duris if you ever played there (hehe kenkus and bullywugs ahoy!!)

man I miss that grumpy old troll anyway :(

[daggaz]

If you will read the post again, you will notice that I didn't really mention any changes needed to go in for scardale, except in slight jest, to get the point across.

As far as getting people out of hometowns... well, scardale has only succeeded in getting everybody out of their respective hometowns and into the single one newbie hometown. Yeah. Scardale.

Isn't it better if people are actually out in their own hometowns and outlying areas? (I did say in/around the whole time).

And I'll stand by my first statement, even tho it is for the greater good, scardale IS overpowered. I got a drow to -70 ac by level ten with almost no help, within a matter of an hour.

[Ambar]

If you will read the post again, you will notice that I didn't really mention any changes needed to go in for scardale, except in slight jest, to get the point across.

As far as getting people out of hometowns... well, scardale has only succeeded in getting everybody out of their respective hometowns and into the single one newbie hometown. Yeah. Scardale.

Isn't it better if people are actually out in their own hometowns and outlying areas? (I did say in/around the whole time).

And I'll stand by my first statement, even tho it is for the greater good, scardale IS overpowered. I got a drow to -70 ac by level ten with almost no help, within a matter of an hour.

as an elf who starts at +49 anyway :P

[daggaz]

erm yeah.. so thats still like, 120 ac. by level ten. within an hour. and all in the same tiny zone, no exploring necessary.

But thats all well and besides the point.. I wasnt really saying scardale should be scrapped, I was saying that the other hometowns and surrounding zones should be enhanced to bring them up to the same level. In the name of balance, and improving other zones. And people are disagreeing?

Ambar, you really think all the easy n00bie eq should only be in scardale? shouldnt be similiar in other towns, even if a little bit harder still?

Sometimes I think people ignore the points of posts on this bbs just for the sake of argument..

[Arilin Nydelahar]

And I'll stand by my first statement, even tho it is for the greater good, scardale IS overpowered. I got a drow to -70 ac by level ten with almost no help, within a matter of an hour.

And you've been mudding here how long now? So you have experience in the matter and know what to look for, whereas a new player just isn't. They won't have a clue.

[daggaz]

Laugh.. ok.. talking about scardale being overpowered, which it is, is BESIDES THE POINT. I'll say it again, I *DONT* think scardale should be removed. This is a destructive solution. I DO think that all the rest of the world is severely limited if you are a true newbie playin in the realms and not in scardale. Hell, its limited for advanced players. Case in point:

Yesterday some companions and I formed a surface raiding party. We hit everything on the way out of the UD, thru the gobcaves, and EVERY settlement we could enter from TP on south all the way to DK. Now, im sure we might have missed an item or two in BG, its pretty big, but after all this, why am I still wearing 8 slots of scardale eq? The warriors got one or two items that were better (most of it from IX or BG) but for the most part, everything we ID'ed was complete and utter crap, despite being MUCH harder to get to and much harder to kill.

SO basically, im saying this should be remedied by upping the stats on this absolutely low level gear. Im NOT talking about mid range stuff like jenna and TG's... im talkin about the level 25 noble wearing a nifty lookin robe that is like ac 3 instead of maybe just maybe ac 8, so I can finally replace this scardale cloak.

Basically all Im saying is that any player should have options besides scardale, in his own town and beyond. At present, those options are far too few between.

[Gormal]

DOWNGRADE TINY SILVER RINGS!!!!! THEY UNBALANCE THE GAME!!!!

[Ambar]

DOWNGRADE TINY SILVER RINGS!!!!! THEY UNBALANCE THE GAME!!!!

buahahahahahahahahahahahahha

gd i love ya jake :P

[daggaz]

For the zillionth time already i said UPGRADE the rest of the hometowns.

[Hsoj]

i got a pair of quest sleeves in scardale that are better than the sleeves off a lvl 30 ranger in UD, somethin' wrong there. the eq isn't balanced.

scardale's exp is much easier

everyone exps in scardale till 20ish, exp from 20-30 is a bitch, you are doing a disservice to the new players by makin' it easy for them and then being thrust out into the world at 20, it results on plvled twinks like arilin *flame*

[Arilin Nydelahar]

i got a pair of quest sleeves in scardale that are better than the sleeves off a lvl 30 ranger in UD, somethin' wrong there. the eq isn't balanced.

scardale's exp is much easier

everyone exps in scardale till 20ish, exp from 20-30 is a bitch, you are doing a disservice to the new players by makin' it easy for them and then being thrust out into the world at 20, it results on plvled twinks like arilin *flame*

pleveled? snort. You have absolutely no clue what you're talking about, pointless flame or not.

Let's see. Arilin got to 50th as a necro at literally 50 pdays. He liched at 51 pdays. He has about 98 pdays. My 50th ranger has about 150 pdays. All the chars I play have a ton of time invested in them.

But, I guess you have to gripe about something to fill whatever void you apparently have. More power to you. Anyway, to get the thread back on track.

Daggaz,

One of my biggest issues with what you said is increasing the mob levels in hometowns, I just don't agree. I don't think new players bread and butter assuming they don't want to go through scardale is to run around your hometown for the first 20 levels either. Get out, look around. Now if you want to actually make use of some of those 'exp grids' that are scatter-shot throughout the mud then fine, it's something in the mud away from scardale that can be tweaked and upped to help people get out and explore.

I disagree with the point about increasing the stats on lowbie gear found in hometowns. Hometowns really shouldn't gear you aside from quests and what not. That's always been my thought anyway, should have to go out and adventure some for it. Increasing the stats of little stuff around hometowns is alright, I just don't like the idea of it being IN hometowns per se.

So while I agree there should be options other than scardale(And there are, people can level like we used to back in the day. That's still available). The way you suggest to go about it I don't entire agree with.

[Drache]

Ignoring the flames, which serve no purpose, the point of the thread is life in scardale is either too easy, or life in hometowns is too rough. I don't see any problem with hometowns not being a good place to either xp or get eq. Waterdeep has horrible eq within the town. Scardale, imho, is a gift. It's not a pivotal standard in which the hometowns should be compared. If you truly want hardcore, don't recall I guess :(

I should add that when I say scardale is a gift, it's a very friendly newbie walkthru, considering the keywords for mobs to reply to are typically highlighted on emotes even.

[daggaz]

Arilin,... SO hometowns shouldnt be a place to EQ up... but its ok if we have one special UBER easy hometown that everybody can go to and eq up in for almost no effort that isnt even truly connected to the mud in any virtual-physical sense???

Im saying you should be able to get some scardale like eq in AND AROUND your hometown. Including more little quests. And when I say around, I mean it. Like I said, we have scoured the entire reachable UD at our level, and a large part of the surface, and the rewards are next to NILL.

True noobs learn little in scardale, and arent pushed to explore the mud. NOD Hsoj. But im not saying get rid of it, im saying give them the same options in their hometowns. On the real mud.

[daggaz]

And I wanna make this clear cuz people seem to be getting confused or off the point.....


I am talking about absolute LOW LEVEL things...mobs, xp and eq... nothing over lvl 25 really. Nothing to get all hot n bothered about, as most people just get hand-me-downs anyhow. But its still part of the mud, and it should be better, especially for any true startups out there. Not to mention if there was ever an accidental pwipe...

[Vigis]

Not to mention if there was ever an accidental pwipe...

If that happened, Shevy would either get out the back up files from his safe or use the one that he sleeps with under his pillow :)

[Latreg]

Dagz don't know why people don't understand what you are saying except that they haven't been to menzo I guess or haven't leveled up without plevel help and hand outs. If the object is to get people out of home towns why is menzo so big? why bother? then there's the whole dark domain etc. There is no smooth transition between scardale and the levels after that. Lots of work has been put into these home towns seems a shame to get no use from them.

[Disoputlip]

You can get the eq you want as newbie if you know the mud.

Eg rings from GH, and a lot of stuff from Ghore.

I don't see why you want to make the game easier for drows from Menzo. Sure you have to walk the surface to get to eq. And so what.

[Latreg]

no one said anything about making menzo easier, what dagz was proposing was that gear gotten in home towns should be a little better than scardale and maybe the exp from the mobs as well. Seems pretty simple and obvious but people don't seem to understand I guess. What I said was all this work as been done making the home towns i.e. menzo and there is no real reason to use them for much, considering their size and work put into them.

Don't try to teach a pig to sing, it wastes your time and annoys the pig.

[Ambar]

Menzo/Dark Dominion/Surrounding area is NOT your typical hometown, folks :P

If you know the history of THIS mud's Menzo, and how it came to play on Homeland, you'd get the humor in this thread.

Toril's Menzo was designed as alomst a whole world in its own. it's own quests and eq, look at Menzo as described by FR books. It and the UD surrounding it are HUGE! Would take the average FR drow YEARS to fully comprehend it.

This whole Menzo drow project has interested me as a player and FR fan, interested to how players will react to Menzo's challenges. It is SUPPOSED to be hard! Supposed to be challenging!

I don't think ht experience should be that terrific. Your home town is just that, a place to go to after exploring the lands. A place to relax, to meet with friends and family, to catch up (unless you are from Menzo or Hyssk:P).

Scardale was designed to be the *new* noob area to replace the old one. A place for NEW players to learn the mud, how to quest, combat, and spallcasting. If you are so *hip* on the eq, suit up, and then go explore YOUR home! Because you older mudders can learn the ins and outs of it so quickly, means it is an EXCELLENT place for new people to learn, MUCH easier than the way *we* had to learn.

I dont see whats so bad about it being a little easier, nor do I see an issue with the eq. Hell an evermeet elf can get -20 or so on a deserted island! Your Ogre or human wont get the AC benefits you found, and if he did? So what! *smile*

We want to draw more *new* blood to Torilmud, and I think *our* noob system is a good drawing point. Fast xp at lower levels, decent eq to start, and I think by lvl 15 or so, they will understand it isnt always that easy and be hooked! Plus the (*&(*^*&%&^$% robins and Kooshies elven mages used to have to smite for a friggin HOUR dont take as long:P

I'm not trying to insult anyones intelligence here, merely stating MY opinion of the matter

Now, you Menzo drow, go out and explore!! (And tell me all about it cause I dont have the mudding time anymore like I used to!)

hugs and snuggles

-Ambie the big phat Ogre

Edit: NO I NEVER took the GD *Menzo tour*

[Dezzex]

You can make Scardale is easy as you want, and I don't disagree that we should have a relatively friendly, easy, inviting newbie zone: but it's stupid that it makes every other low-level zone obsolete in terms of effort-vs-reward. Scardale can be plenty instructive without giving you loads of xp and easy eq. In fact being instructive about how to play the game and being rewarding in terms of character advancement are not even related.

A level 10 zone should be a level 10 zone should be a level 10 zone. That's what balance is all about. Suppose you're level 10 and decide to make the effort to venture outside Scardale. You explore. You probably die. But you find something your range and you smite that damn level 15 fisherman for some sweet belt he has. But awww damn, it's only ac 2, and your spiffy noob zone belt is ac 8. Well I'd take be pissed and take a note: don't bother going anywhere new. :P

On the bright side, at least they learn early that risk/difficulty has *nothing* to do with how good the eq will be in the end. :P

So yeah, maybe Scardale is fine.

[Gormal]

I hear that magma eq loads in Scardale.

[Hsoj]

yeah but its buggy atm, you have to quest the spob eq ya find in there for it. which is good for some pieces, but ya know...

[selerial]

Conjurer LFG for Cats or Buffs! One Monk and we're good to go.

[Ambar]

Conjurer LFG for Cats or Buffs! One Monk and we're good to go.

dont forget MS wizzies!

[Latreg]

you must make more !light places to exp in scardale, let's face it clerics don't have a whole lot of offense, some mobs you can't kill before daylight comes because they take several runs, or you can only kill one or two then have to wait. It's annoying as hell and would hate to think this could keep people from playing evils.

[Botef]

you must make more !light places to exp in scardale, let's face it clerics don't have a whole lot of offense, some mobs you can't kill before daylight comes because they take several runs, or you can only kill one or two then have to wait. It's annoying as hell and would hate to think this could keep people from playing evils.

Very very true. A lot of the new players I've introduced who rolled an ultra became immediatley frustrated after walking into the daylight in scardale. Sure it teachs them how ultra works right away, but its very discouraging when your thrown into that after exploring only 4 rooms, or even worse getting stuck in light after wandering around scardale. For a new player barely familiar with how to move about and use basic commands, getting stuck in the light and not knowing in 12 minutes that it will go away is a big turn off. New players are coaxed into entering scardale to begin with, and when they barely move 4 rooms before being blinded it doesn't exactly grab their interest...A few may reroll, but a bunch inevitably leave for good.

This is why I personally liked Toadsquat so much, it was small - a bit confusing, and taught you enough about the basic command stucture to start playing while pushing you out the door into the real world quickly. A new player wasn't overwhelmed with space, mobs and game elements that they can't take advantage of yet while still getting to see the basics that inevitably get them hooked and wanting more.

[Thilindel]

Bad suggestion or not, what if Scardale only was to have a very strange day cycle where either there was light for a couple minutes a day, that way newbie evils saw what ultravision really does, _or_ have scardale (again, only scardale) ignore ultravision restrictions until level 10. So if a sub-lvl 10 player enters its respective hometown, they have true ultravision restrictions until recalling back to scardale.

[Botef]

I think the biggest issue is your in daylight after only 4 or so rooms, and that the 'starting' mobs for a new player are situated outdoors (the park).
Overall I don't mind the zone having daylight in it, I just dislike how a new player is thrown right into that rather then having some space to explore, smite, etc before encountering daylight and its effects.

[Gormal]

More twilight rooms would be a better solution than a strange day cycle. I think its important for newbies with ultravision to run into the sunlight and learn how to avoid it during daylight. Lets add some huge trees to the park that make it so dark that they can see!:P

[daggaz]

YEah... I posted a while back about the daylight issue too, in regards to how fast new evils rerolled as goodies... Kinda got shot down but I still stand by it, new evils need more rooms that are dark to learn and get hooked in.

As to the beginning of this thread, have a few more examples...

Explored all the way out on the surface, took on an ogre cook that was much higher than us, the damn thing took three runs and very nearly killed two of us, and its items were total junk. a 1d6 frying pan, a 6ac onbody cloak, and some kewl ansi shoes that were sadly, still not even as good as the shoes you can quest solo in scardale at like, what, lvl 12?

Why not fry the cloak and make the shoes (which im wearing even if they are slightly worse as they at least look evil) at least on par, if not a tad better than those goody scardale shoes? I hope the 1d6 misc weapon doesnt actually eat points....

Have collected a lot of other items, keep noticing extremely low ac (like 5 or under) for most of it, which is totally worthless considering how hard the mobs are for *us* to kill. And a lot of points on things like stat bonuses (not nearly as needed with new roller) instead of ac or hps etc, things newbies really need.

One example, an unholy symbol of Lloth, which is two tough fights (for l0wbies) and a rareload quest.. 7 hps 9 con. Hmm... I cant give the damn thing away to anybody. They would all rather wear ac 4 neckwear at least (from scardale ofcourse). Was quite a downer cuz we spent a week waiting to find the rareload quest mob. Would be kinda kewl if you could at *least* hold this item, know a lot of our mages would use it then.
Or if it was 7 hps and a couple ac instead of the con.

Another thing I notice is points wasted, and yeah, *wasted* on a couple of -save breath. I mean, what breathing mobs is a newbie possibly going to encounter which are survivable? NONE. Its not like we have baby dragons and hell-puppies running the UD. And if you do bump into a dragon, well, those -2 save breath aint gonna save your poor burnt ass no matter what, especially when you run around with <100 hps. The coral leggings from near menzo (kewl ansi btw!) fit this bill... seems a sad waste, should use the points for an ac boost (sigh, more ac 4 pants) or a couple more hps, or even savespell instead, which is far more useful to a n00b.

Anyhow... we keep exploring, and keep smiting... but I am still wearing a ton of goody-lookin easy to get scardale stuff, and almost none of our fights are giving us anything to inch up with (with exception to hitters, who have a few slots better now). Seems like its just a long xp grind till we are big enough to take on the well known mid-level items, like hatari boots, onyx rings, pirate eyepatches, etc, which we are finally starting to edge in on.

[daggaz]

A drow shipowner walks around here, muttering or whatever.

Cons You ARE mad!! at lvl 31. One area could easily wipe out a whole party of n00bs.

Gives: A pair of smooth velvet gloves. Ac 2, 2 hps, -1 save vs spell

Heh... ok.... we waited a while to nail this guy, thinking he would have something at least halfway decent for the mages.. They all opting to wear the either the ac 7 scardale gloves or the ac 4 9 dex 9 str gloves off the lvl 25 kobold shaman.

Something just seems very strange with most of the UD eq stats..

[Lathander]

those gloves on a 25th lvl shaman? wow

[daggaz]

yeah thats what i thought too...

but actually they arent nearly as spanktastic as you might imagine..

considering the new roller, plus stat items are kind of a second rate thing, rarely needed and there are TONS of stat items in the game so, take your pick. Most hitters I know roll with perfect or at least top notch str and dex anyhow. Most people roll topnotch con. Most folks who care about agi roll that perfect... shrug..

We have found quite a few things with plus stat, all of would rather the points were spent on ac or hps instead, the two things ALL n00bies really and truly need. At least for most of it... Fx I know a tank who needs +four agi, and now we have found like ten items for him to pick from... some of those could be somethihg else now i would hope instead..

[Ragorn]

I started up a little squid, but I abandoned him almost immediately. I couldn't play for more than 10 minutes straight, because NOWHERE in Scardale can I exp during the day. And trying to exp in Ixarkon takes more patience than I have, as "some luck" or "luck and eq mobs" are giving me 2% per kill. And they're located in a place with wandering assisters. No thanks.

Also, the drowbies wouldn't let me play with them unless I roleplayed as someone's slave. And that's a completely different issue. A squid enslaved by drow? Pshh, you're fucking kidding me.

[Dalar]

Also, the drowbies wouldn't let me play with them unless I roleplayed as someone's slave. And that's a completely different issue. A squid enslaved by drow? Pshh, you're fucking kidding me.

http://www.torilmud.dyndns.org/phpBB2/v ... hp?t=17245

[Thilindel]

I started up a little squid, but I abandoned him almost immediately. I couldn't play for more than 10 minutes straight, because NOWHERE in Scardale can I exp during the day.

Just west of the park is an area with orcs that's dark. Don't give up on squidward! :P

[Botef]

I started up a little squid, but I abandoned him almost immediately. I couldn't play for more than 10 minutes straight, because NOWHERE in Scardale can I exp during the day.

Just west of the park is an area with orcs that's dark. Don't give up on squidward! :P

I'd like to see a naked psi solo that at level 1 with moderate profiency.

[Thilindel]

imho, toril's too hard for low lvl mages w/o friends or eq. Erevan watched and laughed at me when my voker tried killing a kooshie since it was 'even match' that's with elven agi and kooshie still ripped him apart.

[Ragorn]

I started up a little squid, but I abandoned him almost immediately. I couldn't play for more than 10 minutes straight, because NOWHERE in Scardale can I exp during the day.

Just west of the park is an area with orcs that's dark. Don't give up on squidward! :P

I'd like to see a naked psi solo that at level 1 with moderate profiency.

For the record, my naked psi levels TEN TIMES FASTER than my naked gnome elementalist did. Squids are fucking easy mode compared to newbie level 1 arcane casters.

[Thilindel]

that is weird, I've leveled mine all the same. The squid was horrible w/o a tank, considering 92 ac with perfect agi. Gnome can hit 55 ac naked, so one would think the gnome easier, or the psi has easier tables *shrug*

[Malia]

Scarsdale has plenty of dark area to exp in orc temple and lots of rooms in scarsdale if you cant find em ask someone that played drow.. i leveled a drow there several times.

[Botef]

Scarsdale has plenty of dark area to exp in orc temple and lots of rooms in scarsdale if you cant find em ask someone that played drow.. i leveled a drow there several times.

I understand that...My concern lies in that the level 1 mobs are outdoors in the park, and that a new player walks all of 4 rooms from the recall room before being outside...For a new player with no knowledge of how to play the game, and no idea on the layout beingthrown right into that before getting a chance to even smite a mob and experience the gameplay is a major discouragment.

You could argue that a true newb shouldn't play ultra to start with anyway, but a lot of new players will delete and move on to another mud if their first character experience isn't at least somewhat exciting from the get go.

[daggaz]

amen botef

[Ragorn]

that is weird, I've leveled mine all the same. The squid was horrible w/o a tank, considering 92 ac with perfect agi. Gnome can hit 55 ac naked, so one would think the gnome easier, or the psi has easier tables *shrug*

Mindblast actually does damage. That's the difference between Squids and Elementalists... my little Ele crapped out a couple magic missiles and an ice spear, set himself up for a 120 second mem, and still couldn't get a mob past nasty. The Squid drops even-level mobs in three shots of Mindblast, and then drains back up to full mana.

[Thilindel]

I play mages to melee at first because they can't cast worth a crap and nothing has been done about that. Melee definitely has an advantage in the initial levels. When I got my squidward to lvl 17 it was in 2002 maybe, it didn't seem all that hard to level cuz of blast and I don't remember what else because it's been too long. What would be nice is some type of Seelie Staff type item in Scardale for mages and maybe clerical that yields free spells. The catch would be whatever newbie item ..held I would assume, would poof when you hit lvl 6 or left Scardale. How many people have had magic missile 'shoot over x's head' and you just got another 25 seconds to mem and allowing mob to regen that much more :(

[Lahgen]

Newbie mages don't come with an orb of annihilation, Thilindel. :p

[Malia]

After lvling a drow pwipe, and trying to find gear that we can smite.. id say some of the gear in and around hometowns is wacked.. but i think the reason behind this is... after eq-calc hit all the eq people only worried about top end gear effects, after all who was wearing any of the < 25 lvl stuff.

i still havent really found much eq better then what you either start the game with or eq from scarsdale.. after lvl 30 i started finding some..

i know it isnt a big deal to most players and most noobs get hand me downs anyways but it sure would be nice to be able to get the same lvl stuff in and around hometowns as you get in scarsdale

If people are willing to leave their hometowns and fight mobs higher lvl then them, they should get higher lvl eq then hometown and scarsdale eq.
... Or even the eq you start with for that matter.. that drow ac 5 mask you start with rocks =)

All in all i have had a really good experience lvling my pwipe drow whos 35 now -74 ac 26/12 and im happy!

Again i really think this stuff is minor but does need some attention when you feel like lookin into it

[Ragorn]

I play mages to melee at first because they can't cast worth a crap and nothing has been done about that. Melee definitely has an advantage in the initial levels. When I got my squidward to lvl 17 it was in 2002 maybe, it didn't seem all that hard to level cuz of blast and I don't remember what else because it's been too long. What would be nice is some type of Seelie Staff type item in Scardale for mages and maybe clerical that yields free spells. The catch would be whatever newbie item ..held I would assume, would poof when you hit lvl 6 or left Scardale. How many people have had magic missile 'shoot over x's head' and you just got another 25 seconds to mem and allowing mob to regen that much more :(

Have you tried playing a naked caster? Mage melee is MUCH more efficient than casting at low levels, which in itself should say something about the state of the game. But trying to melee with your newbie dagger and 6 slots worth of equipment is also very time consuming. Squidward finishes even-con mob fights in 15 seconds. The Elementalist took 2, maybe 3 minutes, and had to rest afterwards.