Ok, so, let's face it...there aren't a LOT of players online at any given time. This makes it a real pain to rank, as we all know. Half the time I find myself working on spells or just idling, hoping someone will login so I can rank up. Fact is, the PK is at level 50, and when there's no one around, it's damn hard to get to 50.
So, here's my proposal...
Let's make gold worth something. Let's let players BUY ranks with enough gold. How about we let them buy ranks all the way up to level 49...BUT, they have to EARN 50?
Here's the thought. Each rank becomes exponentially harder to achieve via gold (I'll give the formula here in a moment). Based on your level and experience penalty, it costs more and more. But, if no one is around, you can always scavenge for cash and try to buy your way to that next rank.
The formula works like this:
x = level you want to achieve
y = your experience penalty
g = cost (in gold) to get that level, rounded up.
g = (x1000+(xy))*(x/3)
Plug it into Excel or any calculator and check. For a no-experience-penalty player, to get from level 1-49 costs a total 13,475,022. Thirteen million gold is a real pain to come by and really, not practical. But, to get from, say, level 43 to 44 costs 645,334 gold. Still a lot, but doable, right? Especially if no one is around to rank with. Or, if you have a huge experience hole.
IMMS: Implementation would be cake. One mob per city could grant advance level to the player if the right amount was paid. If you wanted to get fancy, you could add a player flag that would indicate which levels were "bought", so that could possibly be weighed into, say, cabal decisions.
Thoughts?