This all revolves around an issue with advancement-based online RPG's that no game designer ever, anywhere, has solved.
If your game/world/whatever is successful, it will retain players. Since those players are retained, they will advance. Given enough time, there will always be a disproportionate amount of powerful characters. This results in new players joining, seeing that the powerful characters are having fun, and wanting to rush to reach that pinnacle to join in the fun.
In most MMOG's, this has manifested as a powergaming sprint to attain the highest level, so that you can participate in the game world to the fullest, and many MMOG's these days are designed around this reality.
Avlis has been and continues to be immensely enjoyable for me, because mechanical advancement is not the salient feature of the system. Yes, there is advancement, and yes, there is a "grind"... compounded by the myriad ingenious "grind" systems developed by the team (i.e. crafting) but not since my very earliest days when I still had little idea what Avlis (or RP in an online game in general) was even about have I felt as if I couldn't participate in the world.
My fear is that Avlis may have reached the point where new players are viewing Avlis as the former case rather than the latter. That joe newbie comes in, sees "impossible" characters chatting about the latest attacks on the city, plotting to overthrow this or that, or fighting off awesome monsters that they die almost instantly to and says to himself (perhaps not literally) "hey, I need some mechanical power to be able to participate. I need to be able to beat people in CvC or kill epic DM spawns in order to make a difference in the world."
Why? Because Avlis is successful. Avlis has retained enough players for a long-enough period of time that a disproportionate percentage of the playerbase has at least one high-level character. It is no longer possible for a DM to spawn something at Elf Gate or the Rock that won't be easily defeated and still allow low-level characters to contribute. It is no longer possible for DM's to run individual plots for every well-RPed character. It is a problem, sure, but it is a good problem to have. It means the world is thriving.
How do we solve it? It can't, in my opinion, be some artificially imposed change to the system (be it a level cap or something that encourages players to powergame to some arbitrary minimum "you can join in now" level**... both ideas that I absolutely resent), nor an arbitrary judgement of "worthiness" handed down from on high. Perhaps the 3E epic system is flawed, but it is what we have, and it is better than an entirely linear advancement. The question, therefore, isn't "how do we limit people from advancing" but "how do we limit the growing perception that mechanical advancement = character advancement?" It has been my opinion for a long time that one way to prevent this attitude is by players of high-level characters making more of a concerted effort to include new players and low-level characters in the game, be it through supporting players in your guild, delegating tasks in a DM plot, buying crafting supplies or crafted items from young 'uns (I won't get into how I think P-merchants buying these things contributes to the grind > RP shift), taking time to RP with and help them out, etc. etc. A lot of fantastic players already do this, but it should be more. Every epic-level character should ideally be instantly identifiable in the circles they move in, not because they can WotB or dev crit anyone who disagrees with them, but because they have brought about knowledge of their character through IG action.
My advice to any new players that may be reading this: If you really really want to be a part of the world, and enjoy the Avlis experience to the utmost, the way to do it is not through killing thousands of monsters or crafting ten gajillion heal potions, but rather through interacting with the world, with your fellow players. In other words, RP. This is a multiplayer Role Playing game.
Multiplayer. Role-playing. Play your character, with other characters, stop to smell the roses once in a while, and the fun will come to you, I goddamn guarantee it.
** I think the "you will find participation on Avlis difficult unless you powergame to level 2, here's how:" sign should be taken out of the start tent. It's a horrible first impression to make, and entirely incorrect, IMHO.
. 
Returning Player
Menu
Help Keep the Lights On
Server Statistics
Avlis Game Time