I don't know, I think the rewards from PK in general (particularly experience rewards) could use a boost as I described. It would encourage more participation. I'm sure midbies and such would be more willing to help if they knew they'd get substantial experience from it.

A quest, eh? Maybe something like a 'King of the Hill' concept, where if you complete the quest, and stand in a certain spot, you can collect a steady trickle of Karma, or Esteem, or XP, or whatever. To take over the spot, someone would have to do the quest. Then when they're done, knock down the sap on the hill, and take over.

I'm hesitant to encourage PK for the sake of getting rewards (xp/whatever). I'd be more open to the contest/quest/game aspect, providing it makes RP sense in-game.

Mmhm. Also, some option for off-prime PK besides having trans planar or having to pray every time you're killed. A construct, maybe, than can be touched to activate a rez-defence that forces more downtime than conglut and costs more experience, without being as brutal as praying?

And more personal rewards for PK is a great idea as long as it's structured so as not to encourage the random ganking of everyone you know you can. I'm thinking something along the lines of honour/emblems in World of Warcraft, where killing enemies accrues some sort of commodity that can be exchanged for interesting and useful (though not necessary or superpowerful) blessings/temporary artifacts/etc.

So, er, domoths?

Yes, Domoths, but for everybody, not just Demigods and their various flavors.

Not so much a side effect as the main point of it. You don't have any areas where the main focus is conflict. They're all based around quests / neat concepts, where PK "might happen" based on enemy status or off-Prime-ness. But there are a number of ways to make those quests/concepts require small-scale combat (such as, for example, that king-of-the-hill idea).

Then what would be the point of conglutination? Maybe no one should ever die!

No. Domoths are time-limited. They are large-scale battles. They happen when the owner wants them to happen (often at a time when there is the least resistance possible). They only really change hands by agreement or when they flux. And they're only for a small section of the game.

New areas would hopefully allow for the fighting when people feel like it, instead of when someone else says, "Hey, let's go!"

Well, the other IRE games (Aetolia and Imperian, at least) have considerably less restrictive PK rules than Lusternia's prime PK policies and also give more exp for PK and they don't seem to have many problems with people killing randomly for exp. However, if you were afraid of that happening, you could always confine it to designated conflict situations (ie. only get the bonus exp while in cosmic, etherwilde/glom, villages, nexus worlds, or domoths).

Works for me. There's got to be some middle ground besides dying meaning so very little and dying being enough to scare everyone away from conflict. Though judging from the history of Lusti, I'm completely wrong in hoping that.

My two cents:

The multiplayer game market is become much more saturated. Lusternia has tried for a very long time to keep as many players as possible by keeping everyone halfway pacified and relying on community bonds to keep things together, rather than trying to make a game that's good for a meaningful, underserved market. Figure out what Lusternia is going to be based on your own intuition as a game designer, then just go for it. Be bold for once. As our ancestors said, if you chase two rabbits, you will lose them both.

Usually, the accusation isn't that I'm not bold enough! I get dinged a lot for "doing too much" or "going too far".

You do go too far in class rebalancing! Or did. Sometimes do. Eh. What was the last big decision you made in terms of the game being ideal for players who want conflict vs. socialization, or PvP vs. PvE, or competitive vs. rewarding all effort equally?

I don't think any of those are exclusive of the other, and I've always tried to strike a balance. As many know, I have a soft spot for PvP and conflict, but I also really enjoy RP and storylines. I'm not sure what you mean by competitive vs. rewarding.

Anyway, I honestly don't believe a game purely focused on PvP and conflict would ultimately be very popular, and I don't believe I'd enjoy it that much. So... yeah, the goal is a balance between all of the above.

I think what everyone needs right now is a good old-fashioned Soulless attack on the very fabric of creation. I mean, we have what? 2 of them left? Bring on Zenos, I've been waiting for him to show up ever since he proved what a badass just a PIECE of him was by demolishing the Celestine Guildhall. Let's have him level an entire city/forest this time.

Oh yeah, we need more wild aggro storm mobs wiping out everybody in Celest.

And old men lighting Magnagora on fire.

Maybe those nightmares in Glomdoring, too? And then set it on fire.

Lul.

(The animal swarm was pretty sexy in Seren, though)

OMG, that's it! The one thing that the graphic MMO's can't provide: mudsex. Clearly, what Lusternia is missing is more erotic content. With furries.

I saw this coming, but I did not act.

We need MORE? You haven't gotten around much, my boy.