Here are some ideas that I think should be considered. I am writing what I think would help MUME out, and also writing ways in which you could implement them.
1. Please add some quests that offer good xp and good items, or good amounts of money. By good xp, I mean quests that give 250-750k xp. By good items I mean introduce newer weapons, armour, shields, belts, trinkets... They don't have to be particularily powerful as I am not a big fan of magic items, but I do like unique items. Perhaps the can be similar to items already out there, but given different names and looks (eg. a broad, glittering belt : +1db, +4 move regen...). And by gold I mean large amounts like 500-1k gold. This would help out legend home seekers by eliminating the tedious spamming arda of eq-loading mobs, and stocking up the shops with useless items... These quests could be done only once, or perhaps more than once, but very infrequently, with the quests changing from time to time... This will help MUME become something more than simply a PK or XP mud for legends or mid levels...
2. Limit the size of large groups. Make leadership only powerful enough to let you lead two followers and yourself. Don't give tp bonuses to the leader of hugegroups and give SEVERE xp/wpt maluses to those in hugegroups. Pk in groups of two and groups of three are definitely the more fun than pk in groups of 6-20 vs 6-20...
3. Somehow limit the speed of travel. Its not very fun to chase someone who is at bad hps from ford and find out that by the time you get to Bree he has been inside for 4 ticks =( I don't have any ideas that I like on how this could be done, so some suggestions would be appreciated.
4. Pk should be more based on skill and less on eq. Labero in a plain set, will get his ass kicked by a no-clue legend dwarf warrior in a max set. Seems a little wierd to me, that could be happening. Brings me to the suggestion that eq needs to become less important. Ie, gleaming give +3 moves/tick, forest green cloak +2 now move regen ain't so important... Glowswords are too powerful. And who the hell would use a spiked war club when they could get an enchanted heavy morning star, or engraved hammer, or ornate? Once you are legend, there is only ONE true fullset you can get depending on what race/class combo you picked. Ie.
Nearly every legend Orc warrior wants full shining metal, ornate hammer or warsword, bej or tower or black buckler, gleaming belt, forest green cloak and an alternative set for defence that consists of an engraved broadsword and a fine grey cloak. Take a legend orc warrior in that set, and pit him against a legend dwarf warrior using a woodsman's axe, thin metal, a regular cloak, a plain belt, and no defence set and the outcome is obvious =( Myself and others liked it when you could tune your weapons at a blacksmith to your preference... but it was removed =(
##This is all I could think of for now, but be sure I will continue to ask for changes as I think MUME has become stagnant, and more changes need to be introduced to make it fun again. I can't speak for the rest of you but when I log on, I type who, talk to friends I see, run off to pk (or re-eq most of the time), and generally don't find that many interesting fights anymore. Alot of us want to live in the past of MUME, but I want to live in the future of MUME, but unless things are done, the present will be the future forever and ever. And alot of people are whining and bickering atm, I won't stick around for that... If its the problem of higher up gods not having enough time (very understandable as rl is way more important), just promote some dependable people to get things rolling. I was told today that there is a waiting list for jobs for Maiar... the way I see it, your supply of Maiar should not be adequate to meet the demand of changes/improvements that this mud is in need of.##
##P.S. Please make CONSTRUCTIVE comments on this, and DON'T DEVIATE from what this log is really about. I don't want to see shit posted that doesn't have anything to do with this. THIS LOG WILL NOT BECOME ANOTHER PLACE WHERE YOU CAN COMMENT YOUR WHINES. If you have more ideas post them. If you have whines, shut the fuck up and go post them somewhere else. I want serious discussion on this log!##