Tobold has an excellent article up today about MMORPG's rewarding too much based on time, and not enough based on skill. I've thought this for a long time, and while there are certain efforts to reverse this, it is always met with controversy. The best implementations of a skill-based competition is team-based PvP. In World of Warcraft, equipment and time spent getting it, is still a major factor. In Guild Wars, I think this is much less of a factor. A game I have regretfully not tried, eventhough I see it as the closest answer to this problem. In Asheron's Call, I thought that skill-based action was at it's height. Manipulating the keyboard and being able to exploit your build to it's fullest was essential. Everyone wore basically the same equipment, and 10-20 levels of difference had little bearing on who was going to win the fight. It was some of the best 1v1 PvP I've ever participated in. I will say that in my opinion, it does take a certain amount of skill to level quickly or get the best items in an MMO. In the long term, however, these methods quickly reverberate throughout the community, and soon become the standard. I think that in the future, mobs will have better AI and will force you to think. Repeat a certain action, and the mob starts adjusting. If I actually have to think to level though, I better be getting more xp. :)
I encourage you to head on over to Tobold's and participate in the discussion about the answer to the reward problem in MMORPG's.
Early Ultima Online 2 vs 2 battles were great because there could be so many combinations that were viable. When you got even larger battles, it was even more fun.
I never got into Asheron's Call, but I did enjoy playing it and exploring the world.
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