The Shrine

<div style='font: 12pt ; text-align: left; '>People who try to fight stuff that's more than 4 levels higher, especially casters. If you didn't already know, in WoW any NPCs that's more than 4 levels higher than you is, for all practical purposes, completely immune to any spells you cast on them. What irriates me is that these are the people who think they are good, and it's even worse when they ARE good. In my own guild I heard stories of 2 warlocks who managed to stare down an elite mob 5 levels higher than they are after a 3 hour standoff, and I know both of those guys are good players. They're also stupid to even think about a thing like that. The game is designed so that anything 4+ than you is meant to be unkillable by you. If you can kill one it's either because someone else did it for you, or you found some exploit. While melee don't get hurt as much (melee is reduced to about 20% as opposed to 0% in case of spellcasting) it is still extremely unlikely you'd ever be able to kill anything while doing 20% or less of your normal damage without a ridiculous amount of healing support (relative to the encounter).

I'll take any medicore no good BNet whatever on the street that can at least do normal damage to what I'm fighting than the best caster that can't possibly land any spells on what I'm fighting. I really can't imagine what illusion of grandeur can compel people to believe they're actually useful when spells literally get resisted 100% just by game mechanics.</div>

<div style='font: 10pt "EngraversGothic BT", "Copperplate Gothic Light", "Century Gothic"; text-align: left; '>That's actually a common trait among MMOs. I remember FFXI and DAoC both having similar systems of spell/melee resistance.</div>

<div style='font: 9pt ; text-align: left; '>From what I understand it wasn't until fairly late in the beta process that they capped the effective critter level you could fight so low.</div>

<div style='font: 12pt ; text-align: left; '>I think it was because people were killing Thrall even though he was level 90 so they made it impossible to hurt him (and other famous NPCs).</div>

<div style='font: 11pt arial; text-align: left; '>I don't know why we haven't just done away with the whole concept of intrinsic level bonuses altogether. I think a character's level should be treated as descriptive rather than prescriptive of their abilities.</div>

<div style='font: 10pt "EngraversGothic BT", "Copperplate Gothic Light", "Century Gothic"; text-align: left; '>Why not up their stats?</div>

<div style='font: 9pt ; text-align: left; '>This is why I favor skill-based systems, or hybrid skill/level systems. Dragonrealms has a hybrid system where your level determines which guild abilities and how many spells you can learn, but everything else is based off your skills and stats. It works quite well.</div>

<div style='font: 11pt arial; text-align: left; '>Yeah, exactly. It just seems simpler that way anyhow (though I guess it's a bit tougher to balance)</div>

<div style='font: 12pt ; text-align: left; '>Assuming the number of skills you can learn is fixed. Actually that's pretty much Diablo 2, where levels don't mean much compare to what skills you have. Of course if you don't put a cap on skill based game then eventually someone will get them all no matter how impossible you make the process to be.

It's pretty much a balancing myth that you can offer variety but equally balanced. If you have variety, some variety will be more powerful. Now some people might not care, but most people want the most powerful character they can get.</div>

<div style='font: 9pt ; text-align: left; '>SKILL: Rank/Percent towards next rank/Amount learning
Shield Usage: 124 94% clear Leather Armor: 5 42% clear  
Light Chain: 57 29% clear Heavy Chain: 126 99% clear
Light Plate: 19 08% clear Heavy Plate: 39 22% clear  
Parry Ability: 145 40% clear Multi Opponent: 119 70% clear
Light Edged: 9 18% clear Medium Edged: 5 17% clear
Heavy Edged: 122 67% clear Twohanded Edged: 4 46% clear
Light Blunt: 16 41% clear Medium Blunt: 22 74% clear
Large Blunt: 116 24% clear Twohanded Blunt: 25 83% clear
Slings: 0 00% clear Staff Sling: 0 00% clear
Short Bow: 0 00% clear Long Bow: 8 55% clear
Composite Bow: 4 66% clear Light Crossbow: 0 00% clear
Heavy Crossbow: 0 00% clear Short Staff: 0 00% clear
Quarter Staff: 12 59% clear Pikes: 0 00% clear
Halberds: 0 00% clear Light Thrown: 20 15% clear
Heavy Thrown: 109 29% clear Brawling: 79 67% clear  
Primary Magic: 260 02% clear Harness Ability: 275 67% clear
Power Perceive: 212 45% clear Magical Devices: 217 79% clear
Targeted Magic: 159 75% clear Evasion: 109 29% clear
Climbing: 116 65% learning Perception: 129 24% thoughtful
Scouting: 0 00% clear Hiding: 43 94% thoughtful
Lockpicking: 24 13% clear Disarm Traps: 24 03% clear
Stalking: 38 12% clear Stealing: 21 67% clear
First Aid: 56 50% clear Foraging: 93 10% learning
Escaping: 18 38% clear Backstab: 0 00% clear
Skinning: 83 73% clear Swimming: 108 98% clear
Scholarship: 138 24% clear Mechanical Lore: 146 55% clear
Musical Theory: 0 00% clear Appraisal: 173 61% clear  
Teaching: 143 97% clear Trading: 0 00% clear
Animal Lore: 0 00% clear Percussions: 36 50% clear
Strings: 77 33% clear Winds: 80 43% clear
Vocals: 79 21% clear Empathy: 0 00% clear
Astrology: 0 00% clear

There will always be skills that are more powerful or useful than others. Simply the way it goes.</div>