Well I'm at a loss (in General)

I think I just dropped down into the 7/20 range and due to school, that will cause me to always lose some BA.
What course of action to take now? Gear up and fight till I'm in 6/20 again or try to buy a new char in the 6/20 range? Far into the 6/20 range I'm hoping.

Have you been forging?

Yes, ever since I started playing again, though not always with this char.

You should probably just try to buy a 6 ba char if you are planning on continuing forging.

my last ncb and my current ncb are right next to each other in mpr and straddling either side of the 6/20 threshold. awesome!

If you are going to continue forging, then you don't have much choice. If you are going to fight, then you can probably fight your way back in fairly easily.

NS, without a bonus, it won't be easy to fight back in, as all those up in 6/20 are getting better rewards.

There's always the hope of someone else going inactive though.

GL, it only takes a fractional part of the top MPR (what, is it 50%?) to get in 6/20. So "dead man's boots" are not required to get into 6/20. There aren't a limited number of spots.

Simple example of how it works when things grow at the same rate: Jim is 10 years old, Joe is 1 year old. Joe is 10% of Jim in age.

When Jim is 22, Joe is 12. Joe is now over 50% of Jim.

When Jim is 100, Joe is 91. Joe is 91% of Jim. In fact, if Joe died at that point, it would take 82 more years (assuming Jim is a vampire and never dies) for Joe to fall to 50% of Jim's age once more.

Let's say Jim ages 50% faster than Joe (that would be like Jim buying all BA every day, and Joe not, but at equal rewards). Let's say Jim is 10 when Joe is born. So, when Jim is 25, Joe will be 10 -- already up to 40% of Jim's age. When Jim is 40, Joe will be 20. He will have reached 50% (and that was starting from zero, not being just-off the 50% cusp.)

Finally, let's go nuts and say Jim ages 100% faster than Joe, or twice as fast, 2 years for Joe's 1. Going again with 10-0, when Jim is 100, Joe will be 45. He will have eked out 45% of Joe's age. Now, in this scenario, Joe can't catch up. Only at infinity will Joe reach 50%, but that is because Jim simply grows at twice-50% faster, and he started bigger.

So, unless you are saying the top MPR is growing at a full 100% faster than someone at 49% of their MPR, the 49% person can get back in. I would say the top MPR is only growing 10-15% faster (if everyone buys BA), and maybe 60% faster if the 49% person doesn't buy BA. But even at a 60% disparity, the lower person can reach 50%. Doesn't matter how many NCBs and NUBs are blowing by, and there is no limit on "slots" for 6/20.

Doh! ;)

i am glad that i am not the only one who has very public doh moments! ; )

Well, hey, I was doh-ing myself through my whole post, because I was needing to talk myself through it...when I hit the twice-as-fast scenario, my previous-life-math-major had to slap me in the head with the 50% asymptote. *smile* So there ARE scenarios where catch-up could never happen, it just isn't like unless someone is burning a bunch of BA on non-MPR activities (like forging).

Also, I think someone ran through these same scenarios a looooong time ago, as this topic comes up every once in a while. I often stand on the shoulders of past giants!