Stunning is still largely the determining factor in pvp. Even if stuns only last one or two rounds, the ease with which they can be inflicted ensures the non-stun-resistant person has little hope, especially if they happen to randomly be the second person to swing in combat.
Darke's combat was originally designed to allow defensive skill use while stunned. Darke's training system was also originally designed to allow combat guilds to train defensive skills up without significant impact to their wield. Yes, times have changed, however stun needs to reexamined in light of its ability to completely determine combats, where previously it was just a neat aspect of a fight.
While stun does play a valuable role in combat (such as preventing easy escape from a well-deserved fight), the non-stun resistant character should at least be able to get some swings in on occasion, not be in permanent stun lock if second in the combat order.
It would actually be fairly easy to make stun not take effect until the following round. This would be fairer and more in line with the idea of simultaneous attacks upon each other. In addition (or alternatively), stun could be made to wear off immediately before a character attacks, so they can at least get to attack once before being re-stunned.

 Originally Posted By: Kim
No. Autocrits are completely unnecessary as is. Weapons are far stronger than armour as is. If you can crit through the best armour, with enchanter shields, and elemental aegis with no effort (which, BTW, you can), that is somehow a sign that autocrits are pretty damn redundant.

And I find the idea that "everyone should have a chance!!!" absurd and stupid. No. Not everyone should have a chance. That isn't balance, it is more like the opposite. Random chaos. Balance is when roughly equal levels have a roughly equal chance of winning, if they know how to utilize their guilds equally well.

Improving the upper level game might be one thing, but I already stated the one thing that unbalances the mud the most, resist stun. What good are improvements if you are stunned from round 1 until death? And no, alabasters don't help. You get unstunned.. and then immediatly stunned again. At best, you may be able to run away thanks to one.



By the way, this huge problem of unbalanced xp gain and improper leveling rates wouldn't exist if buffers were used. Yes, in a perfect world, all xp could be perfectly balanced and they'd be unnecessary... but as should be evident, that's not darke's current reality. The sooner buffers are re-added, the faster Darke will be on its way towards recovery.
(If you want to make low levels go faster, adjust drain rates or level requirements. If you want certain guilds to have a leveling advantage, give them a slight drain rate bonus.)