Hi my name is Naraya and I'm a level 128 NT!
Wait....isn't this a skill based game? How come I have a level?
It has been said that AO is a "skill-based" game. In what sense? Consider....
Every single person playing AO has a level attribute attached to their character. This level determines how high your skills are. Is that really skill-based?
Tradeskills? You can make any tradeskill item in the game if:
1. Your skills exceed the skill reqs for creating the particular item.
2. The recipe for the item isn't broken.
3. If you have all the pieces obviously.
There is no possiblity of failure, no chance of making an item that requires a skill higher than yours, no possibility of advancing your skills in the process, and no possibility of "training" your skills in a mission of some sort. So...the items you can make are in-fact indirectly based on your level, as your level determines how high your tradeskills are.
And now we have nanos, armor, and items in the game that require you to be a certain level before using.
If you're going to make the game level based, please don't go around saying it is a skill-based game. In a true skill-based game:
Skills would be "learned" and you could get "rusty" if you don't practice enough. This would hold true for all skills, not just the tradeskills.
Characters would have no level attribute attached to them. None. Zero.
There would be not a single item in the game that has a specific level-requirement to use.