Probably get locked, but oh well

[I-KP]

also note that level has nothing to do with it, if you talk PC turnover it should be lifespan, in which case Tam surely should be at about expiry date too in terms of age?

Ridiculous thing to say. I've probably logged far fewer hours than most of the people you mention.

[I-KP]

I agree with I-KP. The e6 or e8 stuff is really the way to go.

Wait, I didn't say ALFA should adopt e8, I said that I'd like to play an e8 PW game. I don't want ALFA to adopt e8; ALFA is what it is, warts and all.

[Zelknolf]

End of last year saw a fair few high levels die.

I think this applies to every year: when I did a query on characters who made it to level 10 when I started working on the loading screens project. The results then were that about 2/3 of them were dead or retired-- and this would be a group that we know is unlikely to be full of people taking stupid risks and unlikely to contain players who retire lightly: after all, both of those things contribute to shorter lifespans and lower levels.

Was also noteworthy that there aren't all that many of them-- if we could resolve the problems with creating loading screens about characters who have ambiguous or or changing canon about them, load screens for level 10+ characters would be a totally-doable project (but when I got to chatting up HDMs about how to get that content and make sure it was fair to everyone, it got pretty clear that it'd be hard to find content about those PCs that was both meaningful and reasonably-static and it wouldn't be dramaproof).

[Blindhamsterman]

id totally love to have something in a loading screen, course it'd probably 'nearly died' or 'did something stupid'

[Castano]

how about a current PC count for Heero, e.g. "Heero's PC #1987 just valiantly died to a deer spawn, thus saving the forest plants from near certain death."

[Blindhamsterman]

love it

[Ronan]

Highbies have the option of (temporary) retiring and not being highbies anymore.

DMs have the option of not DMing highbies.

I think the problems almost solely come from mixing levels of power. Among other things, mixed DMing means newly-rolled (level 1) PCs are extra-irrelevant, making everyone want to hold on to their highbies even more, making newly-rolled PCs even more irrelevant, etc.

No one is going to graciously accept a PC death or retirement if they have to play for a year+ for their PC to reach a relevant level again. Thus it is more important to support lower levels than higher ones, and highbies should continue to play their high-level PCs knowing they likely should be less-supported than others.

[Heero]

how about a current PC count for Heero, e.g. "Heero's PC #1987 just valiantly died to a deer spawn, thus saving the forest plants from near certain death."

This is a good suggestion. The exploits (in this instance, 'exploit' is synonymous with 'failure') of my PCs would be a good lesson to be taught to potential new members.

[Rumple C]

Meh we have plenty enough people that hop between servers doing multiple quests. I couldn't care less at this point about it. People are going to do what they want reguardless if IC stuff, so I just shrug and say more power to them.

Disagree.

Server hopping (consistently - ie weekly basis) to hit DM events or whatever is essentially being in two places at the same time. As folks are simply flaunting and flouting the travel time aspect.

ie : Server A pcs stay on server A for the week doing their thing while PC X hops on a boat to Server B to visit some friends/deliver some mail/say hi to dad/hit the DM event. PC X spends the week on the other server (probably walking from one end to the other a few times) and returns at the last minute to hit Server A DM event.

Server A pcs: "Hey PC X, what have you been up to for the last week?"

PC X: "Well, I took a 1000 league walk to go and get a haircut. While I was there I went camping, killed a dragon, saved the princess and built a castle, please excuse me, I have to dash, the ship leaves on the tide, and I have to make the trip to Server C (the 3 week game time boat ride) as I have to kill the vampires, save the dragon, plan a war, and build my summer palace and be back in 2 days time to learn mystical mantis kung fu from the ancient grandmaster up in the mountains. He has been at it for fiftty years, but i think i could pick it up in a few hours."

Server A pcs: O.o

[FoamBats4All]

I've seen that between MS and BG lately.

[danielmn]

That's just banging head against the wall. Fluidity is encouraged, which it should be in most respects. I myself enjoy seeing new faces on the server I play on, and rping with new people. But of coarse, some will abuse it, and ping-pong back and forth. And why not? It enhances their fun, everything is in comic-book time anyway ect ect. I've banged my head against this issue time and again in the past...to the point where it no longer matters to me. If players want to ping pong and have fun, so be it. I won't be. But who am I to deny another player their fun? We already have plenty of rules prohibiting fun, right? If we tried to establish an 8 day waiting period to keep the ping-pongers from having access to weekly scheduled events, there would no doubt be incessant whinning as to how the powers that be are just making the game less fun.

Therefore, I choose no longer to worry about the issue. If dms choose to take the ping-pongers on in their sessions, so be it.

[Rumple C]

Hey, im all for seeing new faces and think cross server plots and events are fantastic.

And I don't think are any rules "prohibiting fun". They are meant to be rules "respecting realism" (albeit in a fantastical world). I get comic book time as well. But... meh.

Like you said DanM players gonna play, pingpongers gonna pingpong.

I'd be quite happy with a 8 day wait for server transitions (even half that). If a dm wants to validate a pc for whatever reason, then that is their call. At least it would stop casual ping-ponging to go on a shopping trip to sell the static loots for 10% more (or whatever).

[oldgrayrogue]

My ALFA2 PCs:

Han -- Human Monk, died to orcs in group Level 4
Thoron -- Wild elf Barb/Ranger, retired Level 7
Corio -- Human Fighter/Rogue, retired Level 9
Tanos -- Half Elf Barb, retired Level 4
Tars -- Human Barb, dead to gnolls in group level 4
Shard -- Genasi Barb, dead to orc crit level 1
Azoth -- Human Monk, retired level 4
Voric -- Human Fighter, dead to ogres level 6
Arion -- Elf Rogue/Swash, dead to trap level 2
Toc -- current PC still kicking

Crap, if I had stuck with one I might be level 20 by now =P

Lets everyone post and compare. Except for Heero, it would crash the boards. =D

[Heero]

Ely Types

Dirtelf v 1.0 - Brutally murdered by Regas in DM event
Dirtelf v 2.1 - Retired after a couple session
Dirtelf v 3.1 - Killed by Lizardmen
Dirtelf v 4.0 - Shamed by Ronan's heckling, retired
Dirtelf v 5 (most recent) - Gored by Boar

Bluelf Druid - Lame and retired quickly
Sharran Monkelf - Retired on account of Meta
Crazed Selune Elf - Killed by Ronan Undead Trap, Reincarnated into Dwarf, Killed Again by Wolves
Hunter Elf v 1 - Killed by Kobolds due to Jmechas temptations
Hunter Elf v 2.0 - Surprisingly Survived to be regrettably Retired

Everanthor Native Lame (Wood) Elf - Run down by Ghasts and eaten

Drow v 1.0 - Killed by a beetle 1 day after reaching level 2
Drow v 2.0 - Retired due to boredom
Drow v 3.0 - Visciously killed by KID in a Dm event 2 days following level 2

Halfelf Sharran - Tempted to roll something else by DM, retired
Halfelf Hunter - Retired quickly

Humans

Uthgardt v 1.0 - Not properly named, retired after a couple sessions.
Uthgardt v 2.0 - Killed by undead not long after level 2.

Lathander Lameadin - Critted by a Kobold

Happy Hillbilly Guy - Retired, Im not that happy

HOrcs

Cleric Horc - Retired quickly. Too ugly.

Gnomes

Svirf gnome - Killed by Ronan in DM Session

Dongol gnome - Killed by a bugbear
Urdlenite v 1.0 - Killed by Goblins
Urdlenite v 2 - Killed by Goblins



There was others I am forgetting, but thats what comes to mind currently. I think I am missing quite a few, but I am drawing blanks right now. All these are since last March. Im not all that great a player as anyone can clearly see.

[FoamBats4All]

Been about six months, still on my first PC.