My 2 cents

[eryngabriel]

I don't often post but I've been playing since day 1 of the open beta and the thing I've noticed the most is that with Avendell being the only place to sell 16+ lvl items, everyone eventually ends up binding their chars there. I mean really most of the cities are ghost-towns. It's rare to see another player in Sleeth or Menzo. The only players you see in Garagoth are there to xp-raid for the most part. How do you expect people to feel that they're characters are part of a faction when just about any 10th lvl or above spends most of his time bound in Avendell. I really feels this discourages new players from continuing to play when they can spend a week or so learning the areas around their city and learning to play NS without ever seeing another player, except higher levels who are there trashing their city. Ever tried finding low level party in the Menzo?
With 90% of the player base concentrated around Avendell, of course Neversummer City and the Silver Road are going to end up being kill-zones. If you're from a faction other than LA the easiest and safest way to level past 15th is to bind in Avendell and continually raid NS City. If you happen to be in the mood to PK, you can go to Avendell, bind, and just hang-out on the Silver Road. Even if you die you only get tossed 3 maps north at the most. My monk can make it from Avendell to NS City in roughly a minute, if I really felt like being an [censored], anyone defending the city would have to do so continually in order to keep me out. And I've seen it happen.
It's not about role-playing either. Mugging people on the Silver Road is exactly the kind of thing my Chaotic Evil Shadow Legion Assassin should be doing... just there's no real penalty or even any inconvenience for me when Giz or someone stomps on me. I can be at the crossroads one minute later and set up shop there.
I really feel the best solution to this, since the Devs are getting ready to change the way the rift shards work anyway, would be to remove the shard from the Avendell Inn completely, as well as the three neutral rift shards in the Redhorn Canyon area. That way, if players want to stay in or around that area, they better do what it takes to keep others from sending them all the way back to their nearest faction shard.
I understand that outcast characters will need at least one shard that they can safely bind to, but where's the deterrent? Should anyone really care that they can't bind in their own city when they can go and bind in a significantly better city? The neutral rift shards should be much further than 4 maps from a major city (Giant Staggered Inn) or inside the only city that will buy 16+ items to better reflect that the people that bind there are OUTCAST.
Anyway I won't ramble further and I certainly won't go into the reasons why I think druids should be a TC only class but thats my two cents. Flame away.

Tal'il the Whatever.

[kgb]

I agree wholeheartedly with what you have said Tal'il. I have roughly 15 chars from about 5-21 levels and faction spread but they all migrate and bind to avendell because as you say the 16+ level items and city loot can only be sold there.

Ive had low level chars trek from Daeron and Garagoth to Avendell because its a hub of activity and to group up with other players. Like you said Garagoth and Daeron (and outlying) are ghost towns.

Sleeth aint too bad because the wyrmwood pass is a good xp killing field and relatively close to ogre pass and avendell.

Of course the best is Last Alliance but Shadow Legion is just as close if you don't mind exiting by the hidden tunnels and not wanting to come back as low char ('cos you need knock to open the door or go through underdark). Of course then you have to do a runna past NS gates - that's always fun.

I would like a shard be placed in the goblin hut in dark forest as suggested by another player to save having to traverse servers on death.


Well no flaming from me

Cheers

kgb