I was going to post this in the discussion thread about the revamped gate requirements, but it seems like it might want its own thread here.

I'm very much in agreement with everyone else, the requirement to slog through the early levels of a gate when you already have the equipment for the later levels is mind numbingly boring, not even counting the counter-productiveness in farming up heat or coins for future wares in the early levels.

It seems to me that there's a desire on the part of the developers (By the way, could some sort of forum ID for developers be made? Given what I see in the announcement threads, there's no distinction between player and admin/dev on these boards, and I'd really like to know if I'm responding to one or the other) for us to play the entire map of any particular gate, but it's quite obvious that the current setup isn't conducive to going back to the start when you have the gear to be playing in the later levels.

My suggestion is to make the three sections of any gate their own little storyline, their own little quest, and restrict the use of higher-tier weapons in a lower-tier gate map just as it's restricted in the PvP arena. I'd be happy with making several runs from Haven to Moorcroft if a certain quest required it, or it was the only way to level up a weapon needed for a heftier item. But along with this, you're going to have to let folks start out from Emberlight if they've got the gear to make the trip. Requiring a slog of 18 levels to play the third episode is going to doom this game to the dustbin faster than anything else.

This idea also means that the current mechanic of "dumbing down" high level gear in the lower tiers can be done away with. It's extremely confusing to see an enchantment vary based on the gate level, and this way each item can stay stable and just be used in its appropriate tier. It also means that a heck of a lot of creativity can be done with tier-specific items and creating enchantments that only work in certain levels, and with the quest/storyline that each tier could hold.

I think it's a fine balance - It seems like the developers want us to explore the entire map, and this system would create incentives and fun storylines to explore in even the earliest levels. Players that wanted to concentrate on a certain tier could do so without being forced to grind through levels that were not appropriate. Thoughts?