Personally speaking, the only thing about the changes I hate so far is vigor. As others have stated, the majority of the mobs out there are default_warrior. soloing in the low-mid range is damn near impossible against many of these mobs (often times a pair or more will guard the entrance to a zone) and you end up getting bashed to hell and instead of spending a couple tics regenning and finishing them off and get IN to the actual zone, you're stuck with aggro mobs that are at perfect before you can even blink, much less mount a second attempt. (god help the poor bastard mages who were unfortunate enough to get warrior_mobs in their tests!) I would suggest making vigor a player_only skill, or painstakingly going through the warrior mobs in the game and being very, VERY particular about which of the mobs you choose to allow this feature. Amity/warrior statue? ok. tero? ok. guards at the temple of hiddukel? maybe not so much.
I have little sympathy for the "it takes too long, xping is hard" comments as we're not even 4 days into the wipe, and there are literally dozens of players at level 25-30 including myself with less than 30 hours playtime, most with at least a death or two under their belts. Yeah, you can't steamroll things overnight. I'm ok with that, and quite honestly, i've managed a healthy amount of zoning in groups, solo, as well as skilling without being uber focused on grinding away at the xp tables. the vast majority of my time has been spent hunting down shinies and finding homes for them.
As for ranks being too expensive? no. ranks are game changers, plain and simple, and i greatly appreciate the inflated cost. I used to laugh out loud at the number of "legendary" characters out there asking for directions between major towns. You'd think a renowned player would know how to read a map. These changes, while extending the game, and elongating the commitment to being the top dog are not insufferable, nor are they too hard.
This of course is coming from a player with extensive game knowledge and roughly 18 years experience playing this game. However, the vast majority of the posts i've read are by players who have been here many, many years. I do not, nor have I ever multied or botted, using game changes as an excused to tout this as a valid response and the only way to get ahead is idiotic.
You can't win the olympics if you aren't a dedicated competitor, and you can't rule the mud if you can't compete with the hardcore players' schedules. You can, however still manage a very healthy gaming experience and enjoy the end-game content. You just won't be first. This mud has never been geared toward the casual gamer, and if you're looking for massive rewards with minimal effort, you should wait for mahasamarahu or flint to come back and do trivia.
full disclosure: i have the benefit of being a member of one of the oldest and most experienced active clans on the mud. However I am by nature a very solo_oriented player.
