I needed one central location to rant on this topic I hold as paramount importance. As I keep spreading this though to all threads.
As I see it, a community is a group of people, dependent on one another to survive, or to survive comfortably.
When I left RPGWO all sense of community was gone, as I see V2 now. Each player had/has their homestead, and zero need of anyone else to manage it.
Back in the day, I remember having to find a farmer to clear my land, a carpenter or mason to build my home. A locksmith to lock it up, and a blacksmith to build my chests. At the time I left the game, no had no reason to speak to anyone, for any reason, and it really killed the game for me.
The simplest options to separate classes for me, is to greatly decrease skill point gained per level, and/or increase the cost of training skills after character creation.
If someone builds a Warrior, it should not be a simple task to get all the skills required to survive.
Warriors should need to fight to get gold, to buy food and equipment.
End game game warriors should be very difficult to take down, with the ability to take massive amounts of damage, and deal massive melee damage, all while having great defenses.
If someone builds a Ranger, it should not be a simple task to get all the skills required to survive.
Rangers should need to hunt to get gold, to buy food and equipment.
End game rangers should deal massive ranged damage, and have great mobility, and great defenses.
If someone builds a Wizard, it should not be a simple task to get all the skills required to survive.
Wizards should need to use their unique abilities to get gold, to buy runes and food.
Wizards end game should deal massive magic damage, and have the ability to heal and boost, traditionally they will have very weak melee and missile defenses, as well as a lower health pool.
If someone builds a Strength Trader, it should be a fairly simple task to get all the skills required to survive.
Strength Traders should need to use their unique abilities to get gold, to buy food and protection.
Strength Traders end game should be able to amass a massive fortune, and reside in a large castle, masterfully crafted and decorated with his greatest creations.
If someone builds a Intelligence Trader, it should be a simple task to get all the skills required to survive.
OK, so this is the exception. An intellect trader can traditionally survive happily in a non PK world, they should need assistance to clear monsters from their land, and periodically will need to trade with a Strength trader to get the tools they need to do their work but other than this, they can make food and sell food, and should live a long happy life. Think farmville here.
Intelligence Traders end game should be able to amass a massive fortune, and reside on a homestead, with meticulously manicured grounds, and creatures from all ends of the world to keep them safe.
At what point did everyone need to reach all of these goals at the same time? I can't specifically identify when it became commonplace, but it's when I lost interest. I also believe it should be a long journey to the end, if I am there in a month, whats next?