1-week level-restricted cutthroat leagues

Just putting this out there since I'm not hearing much from GGG regarding long-term PvP leagues.

From personal experience, there are many players who are only here for the potential to play PvP leagues. Myself and my friends included, the only time we ever log on is to play a league that meets our PvP ideals.

However, these are by nature short-term and restrictive. There is literally NOTHING for me to do between CT leagues, which means that I do not log in. In addition, as someone with a full-time job and other responsibilities, I sometimes go weeks at a time without actually being able to catch a CT league at all.

I love this game and what it represents, but at the current rate I am going to eventually lose interest. I can't base my entire gaming experience around being available, along with a few of my friends, during a specific arbitrary time on a given week. Don't get my wrong, I absolutely love short-term races and will continue to play them when they interest me. But without something else to keep me going, it's just too difficult to keep up with this game.

The solution, to me, is simple: Have a repeating, 1-week Cutthroat league, with level restrictions for zones, that runs regularly alongside other stuff.

Why a 1-week and not a perm Cutthroat league? The basic reason is quite simple: PvP servers tend to stagnate when uber-geared players dominate various tiers. This is something GGG is obviously trying to avoid (hence no long-term league) and is in some ways even easier considering the benefits of killing other players (getting all their stuff is a huge gear upgrade).

But a 1-week league removes that downside. It gives us PvPers a thing to always be working towards (new league! Gotta get first! Gotta get ahead of the others!) without falling behind permanently. It gives new players a reason to roll up a char and try cutthroat. But it keeps the sense of urgency that makes races fun and exciting. And it removes some of the upkeep that often goes into keeping a PvP population happy.

The reason for the level restrictions is simple: prevent higher-level characters from farming low-level zones. Give people a reason to roll up even if it isn't minute one of the race. Reward players for persistence, not early luck on getting a sweet weapon drop that makes them able to farm players with impunity to stay ahead of the pack.

Will there be players that want perma-pvp leagues? Of course. I'm one of them. But most of us enjoy the mad scramble for survival, the building of a character, the tooth-and-nail fight to the top, much more than the permanence of achievements that other leagues offer. We are willing to start fresh each week if that gives us the best chance to thrive and always be able to find a fight. We like fresh blood, even if its ours.

Think about it: A weekly cutthroat race, always running, maybe slightly different rules each time (BLAMT? TI? It's all fun) with a reasonable level restriction to keep players from preying on lowbies.

I know I'd start playing more than once every two weeks.