[iDarkCara]

As usual I wanted to add in my two cents.

Your goal, from what I understand, is to get people to play the game the way you intended. But the problem with how you intended, is you let the game grow and the players learned how to play easier. So instead of Restricting login to one ip/cid at a time as in SL1. You decided to completely null anything to do with your other character. Because metagame, as you cited. Restricting login isn't the way to go. A lot of people have fun with having their alts on, roleplaying with other people or in a group with their other character. It creates dynamics that are neat. I understand you don't think other characters of yours should interact, and that's a valid point. I'm just stating the reason I enjoy seeing other people alt rp.

All of that is fine and understandable. I would also want others to play the game I intended. As the Gamemaster, I like to develop a world and sort of funnel players down the path I want them to take, not stray into elsewhere.

But you do not play the game. You make it and that's fine. You don't understand that the game isn't fun. I will do my best to explain why the game isn't fun. And offer a few suggestions that, in my opinion, could help the game's health as a whole. ------
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First-

The grind. Many games use the grinding formula as a way to get further in an mmo style game. Even some non-mmo's use grinding. Grinding isn't the issue for twinking, but it is the issue for fun. No one likes grinding. It's repetitive and just gets dull after a while. Additionally, it has zero player influence. You don't get to choose to not grind because RP xp is a joke. Not only that, but you miss out on all the 'great gear' (b)and you are left with a level 60 who spent a month roleplaying to get there and no gear. You have to grind if you want to reach the goal, which in this instance, is top level. Stat grind is a whole 'nother behemoth i won't touch.

You want people to play your game and not grind through it in three hours, that's understandable. Some games use grinding due to the lack of game content. If the player experiences all the games content in a day, what makes them come back? That answer is not your game which you seem to think so, but the community. The roleplaying, the actual community. The life of the game you created. People don't quit because of the people. So cater to the people and you cater to the game.

That being said, grinding is unavoidable in this game as a mechanic. You don't have many other options. People grind for various reasons outside of just leveling up for example: Most players who level up want to get those rewards that are amazing and make it worth the grind. Your cores don't allow for that. 100% of the people who do grind your dungeons have a chance to get rewarded, while the top 20% realize that the game will never be a level playing field because no matter how hard you grind, it's all down to chance. Here, spend 5$ and you might win 1000$ Alternatively ,spend 400$ and you might have a better chance of winning $1000!

The solution in my opinion is to take the focus away from the grind. The path to the goal should be the way that is most fun. This isn't real life. It's a game. Make it fun, not a chore. Who cares if people want to use alts to grind their characters. THE GAME'S REWARDS ARE BASED ON CHANCE, NOT GRINDING. This leads into the rewards, which in this case, is the twinking issue.
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Second

Twinking. I one hundred percent believe people do not like twinking as a whole, but they don't mind it on a small scale.

In much larger games than this, twinking is dealt with through level walls, where you can't even go somewhere unless you're level x. Or you can't equip this legendary sword unless you're max level.

Your game is not large. Your game is small. You're preventing twinking through all these restrictions but you're also preventing creativity. Every player had the option of twinking and creating neat, strong, fun characters (illegal or not). Those who did, created characters that were interesting. They were dynamic because they already had the tools to make them what they want and looked to. Powergaming whores. BUT WHAT'S WRONG WITH THAT? It's fair because every player had access to it. It's fair because those who twinked their alts did so because they had the means of getting the chances that netted them the rewards. They created a dynamic character that was fun to see, fun to play with, and fun to play! In this community, you cannot restrict freedom in this way. You hurt your game's over all health. It's not inviting to newbies when "Yeah all my characters are level 60, go fight things, consult the wiki that is always helpful"

The mid-ground between the two points in my opinion is the solution.

You shouldn't have a restricting on parties. That's just making the grind harder and as I discussed in the first part, not fun. You should however, restrict the items. If you're so worried about a new character, or an alt getting a 9 star red letter, then slap a level restriction on rarity. Not completely ban any character from getting that. It is in no shape or form beneficial to limit parties when your community is roughly 130 active people where 30-80 are active at a time. It is in no shape or form beneficial to limit any item trading to a low level character rather it's yours or your friends when THE LEVEL HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH THE RP OF THE CHARACTER. You're getting the two mixed too much in my opinion. You're thinking that by slapping restrictions on everything you're going to fix the game and play as you intended but the fact is your players have developed the game overtime. Not the actual code, but the mechanics. They have, and I hesitate saying this, created a meta. The casual player has no quarrel against any of these rules because they don't want to get to the end result. They do not care about min/maxing, powergaming, powerleveling. They just want to rp and play at their own pace. That's perfectly fine, but when you have PVP 90% of this game, you create this environment where the meta becomes norm. Where getting the most powerful character becomes the norm through any means. This is not true for the majority of the community, but more so the top 20% of those who have multiple characters. Those who are the antags, who create the fun of the game's conflicts that aren't your events where we have no actual say mind you...

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Final

You mentioned that catering to the players is not the way games should go. Something along the lines of "no big game listens its players". Big box games; your League of Legends, Runescapes, Guild Wars, Mable. They can afford to shrug off little suzie mae's complaint on balance. They won't lose anything. Your game, however, is not big. It's small. And to think otherwise is ignorant. You shouldn't bow to your players and take it up the rear, but you should actually take into consideration of what your 'top' players suggest. The players who have been playing your games for years. The players who report the bugs, offer suggestions, help other players. Your gms. Etc. Not just, 'this isn't intended. It's been fixed.' when it's been like that for a year.

Updates are great. Patches for bugs are phenomenal. New game content, races, classes, pvp, pve, rp mechanics. Fantastic! But when you try to fix something that isn't broken, you create a hostile environment. People have partyed with level 60's to grind their new characters up for months. The grind isn't the game. The community, the mechanics. That's the game. Please try not to get those confused. This is your game, granted. But these players are who care about your game and play it day after day and enjoy it because of what it offers. I realize you don't make a lot off of this, but don't kill your player base because it's not how you wanted. Listen to your players, respond to your players. Even the 'haters'.

Here, enjoy these.

“The questions are always more important than the answers.”

“You may not want to hear it, but your critics are often the ones telling you they still love you and care about you, and want to make you better. ”

"Just because you're in the driver's seat, doesn't mean you have to run people over.”
(R. Pausch)