[Note: I don't have time to read the whole thread, but as I'm leaving for three full days I'm going to give my five cents now anyway.]
I've been playing this game for almost four years. There's people that played for more, there's people that played for less, that's not the point. The idea here is that I've been playing this game for four years because I believe in it. Many of us do and still leave due to the pressure the community puts in them and because they lose that which I still have, that being hope and expectation in the potential of this game.
People divide themselves between powerlevelers and roleplayers and there is a room for both of us in this game, for now. Powerlevelers, supplementing their actions with bug reports, help the game mechanics grow better, the roleplayers help make a society. The only time I actually took a big break from PlaneShift (about a year, I think...) was because the migration was made from MB to CB and the only thing you did was fight. I dislike fighting from core and the society that once existed by force quickly vanished, as did my own guild, Bloodclaw, so I left.
I'm still here now (due to the DE, no questions about that) and as far as I know I'll remain as long as life lets me. We love this game and the people that do it for us, but sometimes... we have questions. Sometimes it seems that you're moving away from what we want and so, we voice it, we complain. Are we wrong? I don't think so. Let's check the things you did since 019. What was the first thing you implemented, in terms of content, after it happened? Was it storage? Was it fishing and cooking? Nope. It was Guild Houses. They are fine, they are nice, they are what many people asked for and yet not everyone will have access to it and the way you're doing the pricing is scaring us. You auction. You don't do it like you have your head inside the settings - how would a farming guild, who's members get 250 trias a month (imagine that means 50 trias a month for the guild, you'd need 20000 members to make 1M trias a month, or with, let's say a more... earthly number, 200 members, that means 100 months until the guild has enough money), buy a guild house? Meaning: guild houses good, thank you a lot for them but they are useless for the general public who won't be able to afford it at all.
What was next? Armor. Nice again, pretty. What does it support? Fighters. It also supports that idea that you implement things in an order of flashyness instead of trying to balance the parts of the game. We know you'll do it, sometimes we ask ourselves how, as we're scared you'll pull something that will look like madness to us, or take a whole lot time to make something we actually want, you don't reply with something we can acknowledge, we complain. It's normal and you should read this part of the forums calmly, breathing slowly and remembering that lack of intelligence is everywhere. Some in the dev team may be lacking in skills required to talk with people, but remember that a lot of us do. We're stupid, unsocial, whinny, insistent and all the bad things that exist, because we're a lot of people, that's a lot of flaws put together and a lot for you to take. If you're going to deal with us you need tolerance and sympathy. If not, use some middlemen like moderators, they're supposed to know how to deal with after all.
I, myself, can wait for the storage, can wait for more crafting skills, can wait for a better economy. I've waited for four years and I hope that life will let me keep waiting. We all love you (well, not all, remember all the flaws we have? It's realistic some of us don't love you). That we complain like Donari did is only a show that we love this game and we care about it. We don't want it to be like Runescape, or any game where people just pointlessly level up: we want to make this the best game we can and sometimes we're only trying to see if our means to reach it are the same, or try to change yours because they look senseless to us. So take us for what we are and relax, we're not trying to bring you down (again: not all of us, but the part that matters. You're still supposed to treat us good, to quote the most perfect man in the world: "If someone hits you, turn the other cheek.") just trying to bring the game up.
Final note: It's normal for the PLs and RPs to hate each other. When you have two groups and "limited" resources, tensions rise, that's basic Psychology. In the end, this game should end with Powerlevelers, not by kicking them out, but by creating a system that blocks it (only letting people have a few specializations, stat caps for each race, etc.) and therefore creates something that will give us true RP immersion. We don't want to be players in-game, we want to be characters. It'll take it's time, I'll be waiting, as I believe it is possible and that you can do it. *puts two cents in the box* Thanks.
