Suggestion for different race format

The main reason I'm not very interested in participating in some of the longer term races (week long or more) is because I know that there are going to be people playing 18+ hours a day and I just can't compete with that. I don't have that much time.

One solution would be to give characters a limited number of hours that can be played, at which point the race ends for them. For example, there are 168 hours in a week, but have the race end for your character after you've played 60 hours. You can play these 60 hours whenever is convenient for you over the course of the week.

I think this would a good way to include some of the more casual players in the race events. Of course, I'm not saying every race event should be this way. There are tons of events per season, so I think there's room for all formats.

So timmy nolifer will spend his alotted 60 hours on his race character, then switch to an alt and spend another 60 hours grinding orbs and gear for his main, once again resulting in a time-over-skill advantage that someone not willing or able to play 120 hours a week is unlikely to be able to overcome.

Races would need locked timeslots (only open from X to Y each day) for a this sort of restricted time/day concept to work.

You're saying he would enter a second character in the race but just use it to farm for orbs and gear? How would that affect my standings in the race? Or are you saying he'd still have a time-over-skill advantage in the hardcore/default ladder? I'm just talking about evening things out a bit in the races, not the league ladders.

Im saying he would use whatever extra time he had after the limit to grind orbs and gear for his main with an alt. More orbs and better gear will of course result in faster killspeed and quicker leveling. End result being, he once again wins out over players with less time to play, even if his time advantage is changed and somewhat less effective.

Edit: And yes, im referring to actual races/events. I dont think most players see the main ladders as a race, since it takes months to get to 100 and there are no prizes.