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Your general idea sounds pretty good to me. I like the part about having choices made at character creation affecting your stats. That could be an actual area of the game where all new players start. It would give them a chance to get a hang of the controls, and also help them get into the mindset of roleplaying. It would also open up the field for more realistic differences between characters based on things they did when they were "younger".

I also like the idea of role quests - especially non-combat related ones. It will give players a way to gain exp and also get them to explore the world.

As for role gear, the idea is good, but that could make for every character of the same role lookig pretty much the same. What about having different pieces that you could choose that have similar stats, but offer a way to give a sense of personal style to everyone?

I wouldn't mind seeing such a system implemented, although it would more than likely mean a complete character reset. But that might not be a bad thing either - players seem to be starting to get ahead of the world and it would give it a chance to advance a bit more.

All in all a system that makes it easier for new players to get the hang of the world without the constant support of higher level characters and having to make a half dozen characters before they get one that can be used to do higher level challenges and work in groups properly would be a good thing.

As an after thought on the role gear, what about a sort of novice set for each role? It could give a small boost to the most important stats for the role and be light weight. But overall be worse than gear you could buy elsewhere. That would give characters a bit of a boost so that they would be able to use their skills a bit better starting off and have some gear that they could use to make some dinars which would allow them to buy the better gear. Not that being able to get good gear as high level guild quests is a bad idea - I think it's a good one - but this way people can still be varied depending on how much effort they put into going out and getting money, and the items they personally think reflects the character.

I think this is a really good idea.

SmartMonsters' Bulletin Boards Post early, post often.

SmartMonsters' Bulletin Boards
Post early, post often.