Inside our RP'd world, of course we should be donating to our deities simply because we are portraying faithful characters and we are all sharing the 'fictive reality' that our divine powers as clerics and paladins come from the gods of Layonara (rather than from the chunks of computer code that create our virtual reality.)
But what about the non-RP hack and slash shard? If all the skill lines (including spell-praying) are duplicated there, it would be nice if players had a way to earn not just generic XP to improve them as with other skills, but specific deity-related XP. I am thinking of the Guild Wars model where 'Sunspear' points must be earned through killing specified monsters/enemies in order for your 'Sunspear' skills to become more effective. This has no effect on any of your other skills or character levels; it's a separate track and gives players some additional in-game goals to strive for.
Of course, this may be much too difficult to code for, but since the 'spell-praying' skills seem to still be under development, I was just tossing some ideas out for the MMO team to bat around. However it's done, let me just say that as a dedicated clerical type, I would find it very satisfying to have some concrete way of seeing my dedication measured and reflected in the new world, even if that's just "Ooh! A shiny new leaf for my cloak!"
