Just adding my two cents on xp gain this NCW.
The last two NCW's I partook in, Luminita ended the week at level 8. I played a higher than average amount.
My PC the NCW before this one ended almost to 7 playing an average amount of time.
My PC this NCW is still 4, possibly close to 5, also playing an average amount of time.
There definitely seemed to be something up with the cap. I just rolled with it. I didn't see this topic until now.
Onto other things debated, I now work a job that takes roughly 150+ hours of my time a week. I don't have the time to play that I used to. That makes being involved in any plots difficult. It makes aiming for the PrC I'd like near impossible. It also makes progression extremely difficult. While I know it isn't the intent, and I do appreciate the XP system making things go slower, I feel that perhaps it's a little too slow. It makes keeping up with your IC friends extremely difficult.
Yes, it's been said 'make some new IC friends'. But, as it was already pointed out, there is a limited number of people on at any given time, of varying levels from extremely low, to extremely high. This isn't World of Warcraft. You can't just jump into a group of same-level people and go from there. With there only being 10-60 people on at any given time, the server being as large as it is, it's illogical to expect there to always be people of similar level to do anything with, doubly so given that people are spread out so widely given the aforementioned size. And with the difficulty curve of the server -requiring- a varied party (At the very least, a meatshield, a buffbot, and a lockpick) for mid-level and up dungeons to be successful, that's stretching things even tighter, making it even more difficult to get anything done.
I find myself standing around the outskirts RPing most of the time. I enjoy the RP. I enjoy the people I RP with. I love you guys, and you're great. But this is Dungeons and Dragons. I want RP and adventure in equal measure. And I feel some things in place make having an equal measure more than a little difficult. I feel though, that when you get to level 10-12, you're a well balanced character and more capable of surviving harder things with the higher levels, while still being able to enjoy time with the lower levels.
I understand some people think the lower levels provide the most. Others dislike the lower levels because they hate feeling absolutely useless and that they'll die if they sneeze too hard.
My suggestion, as I feel it's silly to have a complaint without a solution, is as follows:
Add an XP adjustment tool, effective to a certain level. That way people can get to the level range as fast or as slow as they prefer, and even stay there, without giving everone a level 16-20 destroyer of worlds. Example:
Levels 1-5:
+75%
+50%
+25%
-25%
-50%
-75%
OFF
With that as a base, you remove the higher value. At level 6, you can only gain 50% more. At 7, 25%. At 8, no more increased gain. You can still choose to gain it slower, or turn it off however. 8 seems to be a good, fair level where you aren't dying to mink bites and you have access to some neat features of your class, and you're not cut off from as many people level-wise. Every PC I've had, around level 8 is when I've started feeling like I wasn't a liability and had just enough going for me to hold my own in parties of varying levels. This feeling is the same for every class I've played except maybe monk, but that's a discussion for another day and another thread. With an option like this, it lets people advance at a pace that they, as a player, are more happy with. This feels like a good compromise in the middle since there seems to be a wide division of people saying 'We like low levels, slow is good!' and 'We hate feeling useless, faster is better'.
TL:DR
XP gain seems reduced.
Limited players.
Finding new friends is not always possible for above reason.
Dungeoning gets progressively harder, requiring more diverse parties. Increases difficulty more fore above reasons.
Mid-level seems to be the 'best' all-around levels for spending time with more people, and actually being useful.
Give XP adjustment up to a certain level based on a player's personal preference.