Lots of games and settings have made justifications for why magic users can't use armor, but they usually don't stand up to intense scrutiny. E.g. if metal negates magic then why don't enemies wearing armour get spell resistance? Or if you are unable to make finite gestures in heavy armor doesn't that preclude swordplay and archery also? I always loved how Gandalf wielded a sword, though the archtype thereafter lost any martial ability. I think he could have worn armor if he wanted, but must have had his reasons.

Just an interesting tidbit, there's an article[1] that says the biggest drawback of heavy armor is fatigue. This gels with my own experience wearing plate for re-enactment. It's not a question of whether someone can run around and do crazy stuff wearing full plate - they absolutely can. Armor when worn correctly is comfortable and manoeuvrable (I have climbed a tree in it). The drawback is it quickly becomes hot, tiring and if you are wearing a helmet you lose visibility.

Each character should have to decide through cost benefit analysis if it is worth it. A warrior magic user might, but a roguish mage probably wouldn't. The trick is to reflect that in game mechanics and set limits so that focusing on one grants more mastery than focusing on both. It's not a 50/50 thing though, which means you suck at both, but more of a 70/70 thing. You can gain proficiency fairly quickly, but after the low hanging fruit it is mastered you get diminishing returns. That should go for all skills.

[1] http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-14204717

I am not suggesting they undo the changes that were made, those changes were absolutely needed. I'm just hypothesizing that it will be impossible to train the repair skills now unless the requirement for training is reduced from "three repaired swords for next level" to something more accessible like "one repaired sword for next level"

Ok, the folllowing changes have been applied.

1) We modified a number of weapon costs to align those to the actual damage per second value, so their overall effectiveness.
2) We brought some basic weapons, like mace, club, shortsword, dagger, knife below 1000 tria value.
3) We modified the script to repair, so it's possible to repair all weapons below 1000 trias with no skill in repair. More skills is required for more costly weapons
4) We changed the decay rate for all weapons from 0.1 to 0.01. So basically now those decay 10 times slower.
5) Modified the description of the repair kits, so they tell the player how can be used.

This is just some thoughts in regards to the new changes, which I am very happy about.

Armour decay rate was never mentioned, was this rate decreased as well? The armour decay rate was as fast as weapons.

The new decreased decay rates on weapons means that it will take approximately 10x longer to train the Weapon Repair skill, which was already a very difficult skill to train. You have to repair a certain number of weapons in order to increase your repair level, and since weapons decay slower it will be near impossible to create enough damaged weapons to increase your level. It may be that now that weapons last longer, the Repair skills should be tweaked to match the new rate of decay.

Thanks.

Unless there is an RP reason that keeps you from doing so, my advise would be to find a guild you feel comfortable with and join them. The generosity of the community is beyond all bounds in my opinion. There is no reason to do it all on your own unless you want to.

I love the role-playing and community aspect of the game (that's why a MMORPG instead of a CRPG after all). But the truth is, nobody wants to walk around pan-handling for items and information. Even when you decide to ask for help, that absolutely does not mean you'll get it. I took the wrong gate to Ojaveda and got lost somewhere on the Bronze Road. I asked two PCs in a polite, in character, manner which direction led back to Hydlaa. The first initially responded to my greeting, but went back to mining and ignored my question. The other ignored my greeting entirely but threw some used leather armor at me, I guess as a gift. An hour of wandering around later it was maps on google (I assume bootleg, since PS won't provide any of their own) that led me back home.

By contrast, the most rewarding RP I get in other MMORPGs is hooking up with similarly levelled characters, questing and adventuring, contributing in a worthwhile and roughly equal fashion. This is the RP aspect that should be being pushed, rather than ignoring inequalities inherent in the game. Denying game information and making being a newbie inordinately hard in order to force newbies to be dependant on comparative gods that are strolling around is not a fun system, even if they are in a good mood and might actually grant help.

In real life if you beat hundreds upon hundreds of bone bearing mammals eventually your axe would need replacement, There are only so many sharpenings on a blade.

Actually it takes years to wear through an axe with a wetstone or grinder, while in the game it takes about an hour. I really don't want to belabor this point though because it's not important. Everyone knows it's just a game and not everything is analogous to real life. The more important issue is how it affects gameplay. It simply is not fun on a fundamental level. Why not have stats, skills and spells atrophy everytime you use one, would that be fun? If you read around the forums you'll see everyone is saying the same thing; the repair weapons system as implemented is seriously flawed, especially on lower levels. In fact, it's so obvious that I can't tell if it's just ignorance of the situation, from changes that were introduced after everyone was levelled up, or if there's an aspect of wilful elitism going on here. Such as, "I had to go through it, so should you", or "well, real players don't enjoy combat for advancement so it doesn't matter".

I hope that is not an existing attitude because the effort deserves better. I mean the effort to create a fun, free community owned MMORPG.

Sorry if I wasn't clear. I can't have an axe because they deteriorate before I can make 1000 gold killing rats, which is how much it costs to buy a new axe. It's not sustainable for a new fighter character.