But I guess then the question is where are these higher levels supposed to go?
The XP penalty (If I'm remembering correctly) doesn't apply to the Village of Barovia, and if it does, the average level there is always so high that I've never run into it out there on my higher level PCs. That's a way you can stay in Barovia, and still keep from tangling too much with the areas/events designed for the new blood.
Dementlieu is
A) Near empty a lot of the time especially recently
and
B) Not for everyone; not everyone wants to do the political thing, a lot of people -like- the natural horror and fear of the night that Barovia offers
People get this strange misconception that Dementlieu is just 100% hands-off political landscape and no real action to speak of. As far as the lore goes for Port-a-Lucine, it's got a thriving underworld and PLENTY of opportunities for RP outside of the typical house struggle/politics you see. Also, nothing says "Fear of the Night" like greataxe-wielding Caliban Gangleaders walking down the same streets that the Gendarme patrol during the daytime. That place takes on a whole different feel once the sun goes down. But if the city isn't your thing, there's still the town of Edrigan nearby, outfitted with it's own dangers, and a much more rural feel.
As for things being empty, that's definitely going to happen. People tend to flock to where DMs are running events, or where other player groups are doing cool things. If you want to bring life to an area it's entirely possible, but you have to accept that at first things are going to be slow. You'll be bored and might spend a lot of time on your own, but things WILL improve if you just stick with it and never hold back on the creativity. (Maybe do things on the forums to promote the area, like posting cool screenshots or writing compelling Bio entries about the goings-on of the area) When you come across someone, try to make every encounter something that people will look back on and go "Hey, I really liked that. I think I'll go out there more often and try to find that person again". It will also help your morale (and sanity) if you grab a few friends and drag them along on your bold new journey. Nothing makes suffering easier than suffering with a few of your friends.
As far as level caps, that's never going to change. It's another thing that's been hashed out 100 times, and it's just not going anywhere. Besides, if you lower the cap to 15, then 15 will be the new stigma. If you lower it to 10, then all the level 5's are going to be muscled out. Don't get too caught up in the numbers themselves, but rather the unfairness of a few people being much more powerful than others in a given area and not having the respect for fellow players/DMs to bow out and allow the newer players a chance to shine. And while you may think "But I don't do that!", just keep in mind that these things are put in place because it's been observed for years that MOST of the higher levels in that area tend to disrupt things. Not all, but most.
If there's one thing I can say about the team, it's that they are very methodical in how they research for changes like this. If you go back in the thread, you'll see that Soren really did his homework and ran the numbers before implementing this change, and after looking at the data for yourself you have to agree that there was a problem. Nobody is trying to ruin anyone's good time, it's just that there was a problem, and sometimes the solution can't be something easy that everyone agrees with. Still, it was needed, and I've seen a large positive change since it was implemented. Besides, there's nothing saying you CAN'T go into Vallaki as a higher level. It's just that you shouldn't expect to get XP for being in a place that presents little to no challenge for your skills.
VOB is in the butt-end of nowhere even by this servers standards. The only people who ever go there are parties stopping over from a raid in the swamps or someone hunting herbs in spring. No one is ever going to set up a group there because no one ever stays there. No one ever stays there because no one is ever there and theres nothing to do there you cant do more efficiently somewhere else. Chalk this one up to convenience and lack of fast travel.
What plagues Port Lucine isnt the preconceived notion that its some "hands off" political landscape. Its that its
at best a social RP server sitting smack in the middle of a Gothic horror server, and at worse it embodies every negative cliche and trope Americans have about the French. It is, by its very existence, extremely atmosphere breaking if someones signed up for slack jawed, smelly peasants with pitchforks cowering in terror while a sinister mist flows under their doors to go to Port Lucine and see a bunch of arrogant, effete, cosmopolitan douche-bags sneering at everyone who walks by. As for the "fearsome" caliban their just dangerous. On a supposedly gothic horror server populated with vampires and werewolves nothing quite underwhelms someones sense of supernatural horror than to see glorified gang-bangers hanging out on every street corner. The only thing they lack are bagged bottles of 40 ounce malt liquor to complete the image.
If epic levels keep popping up in the outskirts its because past a certain level your rather limited in your options of where to go or more importantly where other people are. Since your forced to walk overland everywhere people are going to congregate where they know other people are. Even the Mist Camp is quiet most nights, and even when its not it tends to be a relatively exclusive club. That leaves Port Lucine and the Outskirts.
As for the methodical research put into these kind of decisions I think its easy to draw multiple conclusions from the same data source. I think allot of love and care is put into the module and it shows in lots of places and in lots of ways, but that doesn't always translate into a decision made having the outcome originally envisioned.
Exhaustion doesn't stop people from running everywhere. Not on a server where there are only really ever two places where everyone gathers and a whole lot of nothing in between them. The sudden popularity of monks is probably because they get to run everywhere in a permanent state of haste.
Raising costs for animal companions doesn't promote RP opportunities or a sense of responsibility towards them. People just don't use them anymore. That or they just keep on using them for the cannon fodder they were designed to be and get used to forking over several thousand gold, but since magic users tend to make the best ninja looters anyway it all evens out.
Forcing clerics to use diamonds to cast raise dead doesn't foster a greater sense of role-playing resurrection scenarios. Most parties are well equipped with bottled raise dead or snow globes of raise dead so again it all evens out. At higher levels clerics are far more coveted for heal and greater restoration than raise dead.
Speaking of which how is the whole thing with moving Perfidus into the mists going? Has anyone used the mists to get there?