It's just one of those skill things, I think. My 30bmage q-wannabes all did well. Dispel/localize/colour spray is underrated. Blades would really make someone already very good with bmages really be quite powerful at 30.
Dark Knights
Fair enough... I'll admit that I have not tried much level 30 pk with a bmg before, but on the flip side, I've never once had serious trouble with one either. I've had some battles against them where I couldn't pin them down, but I can't recall any that went against me seriously.
EDIT: On the flip side, I do have a log of a faerie bmg of mine in the low 30s taking on a group pretty easily... maybe blades would unbalance them. shrugs
I see only one viable method of testing here and that is to give me blades on my next demon wannabe 30 bmage.
I totally like the idea of returning malforms to lvl 35. Cap them somehow to not grow beyong sixth lvl before 45 rank, but the idea is great. My first char ever was a dark knight and for ten years I mostly play only dks. It is the best class for a newbie to learn and have fun.
There is such a ridiculous amount of misinformation in this post, I don't even know where to begin.
You definitely own that title of yours, Mya.
Well, you can begin by the first, instead of making it a personal attack.
The Malform idea is nice. But perhaps a more gradual development of the Levels. Each additional level after 35 you get to raize it one level higher. This puts L10 malforms at 45.
Now you can get a L10 (in theory) at the rank you get the skill, 42 i think.
Malform ranks depend on exp gained via the kill, aka you get (a lot) more for killing a 50 than a 40ish char. Ranking a malform to 10 at rank 42 would take a LOT of kills.
Sounds like a challenge 
One of these days I am going toplay a dark knight, right after I play a paladin, right after I play a battlemage. Yeah, your right, I better just roll another Herald. 
JK
DK's have a lot of nice skills by 30 which make them an excellent choice for newer players to practice PK with. They then get two of probably the top 10 skills/spells in the game at 38 and 42 (I believe charm is 38 - correct me if I'm wrong).
I dunno about anyone else, but that seems pretty balanced to me. They have a power spike at 30 and then again at mid 40s.
Malform ranks depend on exp gained via the kill' date=' aka you get (a lot) more for killing a 50 than a 40ish char. Ranking a malform to 10 at rank 42 would take a LOT of kills.[/quote']
It would also be impossible Anume, being that malform weapon is rank 43
(Or at least it was, last halloween
Who knows after
SixBillion sixhundretandsixtiysixmillion sixhundretandsixtythousand sixhundretandsixtysix
PK's they might gain malformation even at lvl42!
I know a trick that would allow you to have a L10 malform at L16, but I think you would land you in Deep ****.
Just rank a character to Rank 50. Malform a weapon.
Drop weapon, proceed to delete.
Roll another DK, with same name. Rank to 15, get description approval, rank to 16. Pick weapon and PK like mad.
You can't roll the same name if you delete at lvl50 -- if my memory serves me right
You're right, mma.
You can't for a very long while, at least.
(oh and, you can't delete @ 50 anymore. Doh')
I know a trick that would allow you to have a L10 malform at L16, but I think you would land you in Deep ****.
Just rank a character to Rank 50. Malform a weapon.
Drop weapon, proceed to delete.
Roll another DK, with same name. Rank to 15, get description approval, rank to 16. Pick weapon and PK like mad.
Too bad you will need like 1000 kills to get it to lvl 10.
(oh and' date=' you can't delete @ 50 anymore. Doh')[/quote']
blink Say what now?
I think that is only if you were in a cabal Jibber. Not sure though.
Nah, you can't delete anyone at 50 anymore. You can send a note to the Immortals asking to be denied....but, from personal experience at least, even that may not work 
DK's may be quite powerfull at 30.
But they can be beaten. Depending on skill of player.
A Paladin will match them very well.
Thieves can trash them easy.
Giant Warriors can also have advantages due to Bash Lag.
Mages on other hands are shifted.
Silence/Energy drain cannot be covered at that rank. Not enough saves.
And a DK with Fireball has the same power that a Invocker has, but with more HP and defences and meele offence.
I kill vamp hopefuls with shamans.
oh and Mya its shafted, not shifted. Mages "get the shaft" would be the phrase your looking for.