My issues aren't related to utility, personally. Even just being someone to "come home to" is an extensively large role to fulfill. If you're worried about people not being able to get a grasp for the PVP part of the game, personally, I would suggest more casual battle events- like the Tournament that occurred, or even encouraging people to do training or encouraging the mentor role because it allows people to get into more common fights without risking anything with a character they don't have a grasp of yet- it could even be community events rather than anything handled by admins/mods/etc so it wouldn't put any pressure on that side of the board. That's simply a suggestion, however.
In the same sense- and this is something I discussed with other players rather than any admins or mods, because this was casual discussion rather than feedback/griping- I feel like the setting in the start had a lot of room for intrigue and more "social" aspects that was even good for the antags at the time- the Syndicate- because it allowed people to not be waylaid by RPL distances and the like. Instead, we entered this CONSTANT fighting thing where the PvP-player base was happy, but it basically stopped anyone else from advancing because they weren't a part of the narrative.
Like Hoovy above stated, part of the issue- and I even addressed it before- is that the gap right now is far too wide and it only gets wider as established people get more Hiddens. You can close the RPL gap, but people aiming for app-worthy content naturally accrue more attention, which- well- makes it hard for anyone INTERESTED in the PvP to try and get into it. I admit, the balance right now is extremely skewed towards the people who have kept one character since launch (and even though I started playing on the first day of launch, I've RB'd several times because it took awhile for me to attach to a character) or who got 100% RBs.
Personally, however, I'd insist on an overhaul of the RPL system rather than something like a "double weekend" (even though it would likely be easier to implement), mostly because that wouldn't actually affect the balance since that'd just mean people who are already able to slam ahead via checks can just keep doing so- though in counterpoint, I'm sure you could just as easily only have it work up to a certain level, as well.
EDIT: As a side-line, if nothing else, I appreciate that you've taken the time to actually speak to people in this thread, so I laud you for that. That's not a dig, just me trying to encourage you to do it more. I think it's a step in the right direction.
In the same sense- and this is something I discussed with other players rather than any admins or mods, because this was casual discussion rather than feedback/griping- I feel like the setting in the start had a lot of room for intrigue and more "social" aspects that was even good for the antags at the time- the Syndicate- because it allowed people to not be waylaid by RPL distances and the like. Instead, we entered this CONSTANT fighting thing where the PvP-player base was happy, but it basically stopped anyone else from advancing because they weren't a part of the narrative.
Like Hoovy above stated, part of the issue- and I even addressed it before- is that the gap right now is far too wide and it only gets wider as established people get more Hiddens. You can close the RPL gap, but people aiming for app-worthy content naturally accrue more attention, which- well- makes it hard for anyone INTERESTED in the PvP to try and get into it. I admit, the balance right now is extremely skewed towards the people who have kept one character since launch (and even though I started playing on the first day of launch, I've RB'd several times because it took awhile for me to attach to a character) or who got 100% RBs.
Personally, however, I'd insist on an overhaul of the RPL system rather than something like a "double weekend" (even though it would likely be easier to implement), mostly because that wouldn't actually affect the balance since that'd just mean people who are already able to slam ahead via checks can just keep doing so- though in counterpoint, I'm sure you could just as easily only have it work up to a certain level, as well.
EDIT: As a side-line, if nothing else, I appreciate that you've taken the time to actually speak to people in this thread, so I laud you for that. That's not a dig, just me trying to encourage you to do it more. I think it's a step in the right direction.