Hi Darker.  Good points, all to be certain.  I\'ve only been playing for a couple of days, and magic was hard for me to figure out.  I still haven\'t gotten the hang of it.  


I agree on most of your points,but I think you might be looking at the Planeshift magic system from an all too traditional RPG viewpoint.

For instance, and I might be wrong on this (I\'ve only been playing a couple of days, as stated), but from my experience, the experience and skill learning system isn\'t based on a leveling curve.  I\'ve noticed no difference in experience from the very first rat I\'ve killed to the hordes of rats I am now able to smash.  They give me the same amount.

And since there seems to be no experience penalty, if a mage-type character invests in a few basic sword/melee skills just to get started, it will not be a penalty as a later point, down the road.   That might not fit in with the RPG archetype you have in mind, but when entering into an entirely new system, you have to be a bit flexible to the laws and perceptions which govern the world.  After all, a 10 sword skill is still fairly basic and only takes a couple of hours.

As for hit points, HPs don\'t seem to be an issue at current, as all new characters are sadly bugged at 50.

I couldn\'t agree more about spell description, prices and access, particularly starter spells.  You nailed it there.  All these areas require more thought, and it would behoove the devs and mods to write a magic guide.

Why not have both the warlord and democracy system?

I\'m a little new here, so I hope you don\'t mind me poking me head in.  I\'m intrigued by this game, and I love the idea of a democratic election system.  It is interesting that the players themselves could cooperate and pull it off.  There are two large problems with the idea, however:

1.  Cooperation on such a level is more than unlikely, which leads to many forseeable problems, the most prominent being that the entire process is  likely to devolve into a bitter contest of bickering and butt kissing, with an end result of only the victor being happy.
2.  More importantly, direct politics are boring.  People play games, in part, to escape from boring reality contructs such as jobs and politics, and a simple voting machine lacks any sense of adventure or escapism.

On the other hand, the warlord option is sound in the aspect that good players should be rewarded, but it is as fallible as the direct election.  Anyone who has played other online mmorpgs should already be aware that the player with the highest score isn\'t necessarily a good leader, and that is often the kindest thing that can be said about many players with high scores.

I think a decent compromise would be a contest system in which the player who contributes the most to the coffers of Hydlaa, during a certain period, such as festival week, would be declared Octarch.  The money could be used to help maintain, protect, and expand the community.  Money isn\'t the only option however.  Perhaps Hydlaa is under attack by (creatures) and the player who contributes the most (items looted from creatures as proof of kill) could be proclaimed leader.  A simple NPC script (give X item to Y npc) could facilitate the entire process.

I think this compromise is a middle ground of both politics AND skill. Guilds would be forced to cooperate, electing and promoting candidates internally, to have any chance of success.  But it also adds to gameplay, as players petitioning for the position of assisting other candidates must actively participate by questing to have any chance for access.  In theory, it would also guarantee that the eventual winner would be both a good player and politician.

warm regards,
~Scribe

For a quick fix to plaza frame rates, just change your preferences, lowering the distance detail to a level your video card can handle.  Worked great for me, although the flames in the temple still look like a bad acid trip, so I have to walk sideways, not looking at them directly, just to navigate that area.

~Scribe