The sheer volume of level 33/34+ guys running around with full looms is probably the main issue for newbies. When I first started people were all at level 20-30 because they still wanted to retire and we didn't have clan armouries. They did have looms but I don't think there were so many, and if I found one on the ground I could keep it for next round if my team won.
Theres no reason to retire anymore and the people who do retire are newbies or people who don't care too much about winning. If you want looms the game forces you to play with a crappy character while the vets run around with lvl 35's and years of time spent honing skills. The bonuses from staying high level are too strong, especially if you mix in some ranged ability.
The other thing is that it used to be that ranged players were really weak in melee because they used Hammers and 1 handers werent so good. Now they have some amazing weapons with a very OP stab, and every single one can manual block so even a newbie against a ranged player will get destroyed either by a stray projectile or if he reaches melee range, against every single class
The skill level is probably higher now too, which is OK (except when it makes people too strong in too many areas), but we haven't had any diminishing effect on looms while the skill has risen, and the average level that a player has is increased considerably because people dont retire so much. Plus its easier to reach lvl 35 now because its double XP right, so its more of a goal for people who finished getting looms?
What I liked as a newbie though was taking part and trying to improve. Using team play and a bit of tactics to try to beat the odds and learning to be a better player. You can't really learn much by getting shot and say "oh I should have done this or that"..You basically have "I should have hidden for 90% of the round while other people play" or "oh I shouldn't have played this game, its not even about melee fighting". If a newbie dies in melee he can say "wow my blocking is bad" or "damn hes a good player i'll try to learn from him" etc.
Doubt I would see the point if there was an impossible hill to climb to reach end game like now, and especially if there was no way to have an advantage over any other class without playing like an FPS game. No newbie will play this as an fps, there are way better ones out there
