[Chance]

Over the years I've noticed that the community has become more PvP focused, in the sense that many players will strive to be as performant as possible. This is fair and fine, it's human nature to want to be good, and losing repeatedly sucks. This is partly because the game has grown in ways that allow players to adapt and experiment easier: respec potions (amnesia/rebirth), previewing spells, more communication and discussion that allows for advice and sharing knowledge, etc etc.

The downside of this is that it's more competitive as a result, and you have to 'try harder' if you want to enjoy some Ws. Odds are you aren't going to be fighting the happy-go-lucky roleplayer who's just looking for a good time and picked lightning magic because it sounded cool, but someone with 300+ restrained battles and in-depth knowledge of the game. This means, if you want to be average, or better than average, you probably need to put in the same amount of effort OOCly. 

Is this bad? Maybe not. A lot of people enjoy the combat. We have 12+ years of development behind it. Trying new builds, experimenting with different things, seeing your character grow and get stronger, it can all hit those dopamine spots. That said, I'm not sure if it's good for roleplaying overall, and maybe makes things a bit more predictable where upsets are rarer and such. Obviously we're working on our turnbased combat system which I feel will be better for storytelling as well as general character personalization, but this is separate from that entirely, aside from some lessons learned.

So what I'm suggesting is:

• Limit Rebirth Potions to a single use. Often the reason why someone doesn't stick with their original magic is because they see what they think might be a stronger combination. This feeds that rabbit hole of competitiveness and a culture of metabuilding. Stick to your choices, see them out until the end (unless ofc you're the monthly newbie that bought every attunement or something similar). Only grant respec requests if the development is genuinely impactful and sincere.
  
• Add more rewards for long-term characters. The longevity reward is a good start there, but reaching 230 is quite rare. What I'm thinking is some element passives for themed characters: If you're a bard with sound magic, as a common example, or even something more gimmicky like an electric guitarist in a band that uses lightning magic. Basically if a character is really playing up their magic in exciting, colorful ways that makes them stand out, and they've been around for a while. There's countless themes to explore but not a whole lot of incentive to do so.
  

Any thoughts / suggestions are welcome. Mostly this is post-gym/shower thoughts.