09-02-2024, 11:54 PM
Hi, I'm home from work!
I've re-read over the original post now that I'm home, and I get the significance of what Chance is trying to. I believe Astro stated they had like 42 ability applications to parse through - that isn't counting item applications, tickets, wonders, etc either that's literally just ability applications. That's a lot, especially for only six or seven (I think?) appmins. So I get what he's trying to accomplish.
What I would personally suggest:
1) The List
-- Go through and make an actual list of what is considered a master, an exalted, and a mythic - and keep it updated!! Right now there's a lot of confusion regarding what is what for several signatures. For example, Super Magi *was* an exalted, until we held a vote in staff chat to make it a mythic. But it isn't listed anywhere like that. There are some examples on the player guide on the wiki, but it doesn't list everything that a player could go for so it leaves a lot of peoples forced to look at a player made guide that isn't even accurate. This should be your main first step before anything else.
2) The Requirements
-- I know you said it would be loose guidelines, but from my past experience with loose guidelines that either means a) the admins will adhere strictly to those and refuse to deviate/be afraid to deviate, b) they will loosen the guidelines to the point it doesn't matter anymore or, c) the guidelines will eventually be thrown out. There can be several arguments made for it being danger fights or not, or RPL or not, or EXP or not (EXP doesn't strictly correlate to roleplaying, as you can rack it up by just logging in, etc). I don't think there's an easy way to tackle this that won't be gamed by the people who want an easy path to power.
I don't have an exact suggestion here, but I also don't think leaving it up to commends would work well either, as players can just game that as well. I know you mentioned 'legit' commends, but if I RP with say - Kynim for example, on Mitra, in a single scene even if it's just a, "Hello. Goodbye" scene, I could commend him. If we have to make sure commends are 'legit', that would perhaps involve further admin oversight and log diving, further twisting the system into what you don't want. I get what you're gunning for here with the commends being a determining factor to figure out who the community enjoys interacting with, however.
3) Factions & Influence
-- I know a lot of people already pointed out it forces people to be part of a faction, but really... How many people *aren't* part of a faction already? How many characters have *not* clicked on the Join Faction NPC in whatever settlement they want to be included/a part of. I don't think this would force people to be part of a faction but I also think if you want to utilize influence to purchase signatures -- very cool idea by the way -- the amount of influence you get for RPing in the faction should get a slight bump. As it stands right now, you can use influence to purchase spawns, keep your gear polished, and upgrade your settlement. Most of these things, people pile their influence together for! If now they need to save up for their own signatures, they'll be less inclined to assist.
Suggeston: Increase the influence you get from RPing, and maybe increase the daily cap as well to handle the idea of spending more influence. It doesn't need to be a lot, of course.
4) Guild Matters
-- Break down the limited ranks in guilds. If Aphros' guild is meant to have Rank 1 be citizens, Rank 2 be Authority and Rank 3 be Knights you wouldn't logically have a limited number of Knights. This is just a single example, but yes.
5) The Non-combat Signatures
-- With this proposed system in place, what's the method/thought process for people applying for things such as Runecasting and Golemancy? Same thing as what you proposed or would it still follow the old system?
6) Mythics
-- You'd be inviting a lot of scorn and derision from players if Mythics were purely handed out on Lorekeeper/DM/Admin wishes and whims. I do however get the sentiment; to reward people who shake up the status quo and are clearly trying to do something rewarding narratively, perhaps even at the detriment of themselves.
I've re-read over the original post now that I'm home, and I get the significance of what Chance is trying to. I believe Astro stated they had like 42 ability applications to parse through - that isn't counting item applications, tickets, wonders, etc either that's literally just ability applications. That's a lot, especially for only six or seven (I think?) appmins. So I get what he's trying to accomplish.
What I would personally suggest:
1) The List
-- Go through and make an actual list of what is considered a master, an exalted, and a mythic - and keep it updated!! Right now there's a lot of confusion regarding what is what for several signatures. For example, Super Magi *was* an exalted, until we held a vote in staff chat to make it a mythic. But it isn't listed anywhere like that. There are some examples on the player guide on the wiki, but it doesn't list everything that a player could go for so it leaves a lot of peoples forced to look at a player made guide that isn't even accurate. This should be your main first step before anything else.
2) The Requirements
-- I know you said it would be loose guidelines, but from my past experience with loose guidelines that either means a) the admins will adhere strictly to those and refuse to deviate/be afraid to deviate, b) they will loosen the guidelines to the point it doesn't matter anymore or, c) the guidelines will eventually be thrown out. There can be several arguments made for it being danger fights or not, or RPL or not, or EXP or not (EXP doesn't strictly correlate to roleplaying, as you can rack it up by just logging in, etc). I don't think there's an easy way to tackle this that won't be gamed by the people who want an easy path to power.
I don't have an exact suggestion here, but I also don't think leaving it up to commends would work well either, as players can just game that as well. I know you mentioned 'legit' commends, but if I RP with say - Kynim for example, on Mitra, in a single scene even if it's just a, "Hello. Goodbye" scene, I could commend him. If we have to make sure commends are 'legit', that would perhaps involve further admin oversight and log diving, further twisting the system into what you don't want. I get what you're gunning for here with the commends being a determining factor to figure out who the community enjoys interacting with, however.
3) Factions & Influence
-- I know a lot of people already pointed out it forces people to be part of a faction, but really... How many people *aren't* part of a faction already? How many characters have *not* clicked on the Join Faction NPC in whatever settlement they want to be included/a part of. I don't think this would force people to be part of a faction but I also think if you want to utilize influence to purchase signatures -- very cool idea by the way -- the amount of influence you get for RPing in the faction should get a slight bump. As it stands right now, you can use influence to purchase spawns, keep your gear polished, and upgrade your settlement. Most of these things, people pile their influence together for! If now they need to save up for their own signatures, they'll be less inclined to assist.
Suggeston: Increase the influence you get from RPing, and maybe increase the daily cap as well to handle the idea of spending more influence. It doesn't need to be a lot, of course.
4) Guild Matters
-- Break down the limited ranks in guilds. If Aphros' guild is meant to have Rank 1 be citizens, Rank 2 be Authority and Rank 3 be Knights you wouldn't logically have a limited number of Knights. This is just a single example, but yes.
5) The Non-combat Signatures
-- With this proposed system in place, what's the method/thought process for people applying for things such as Runecasting and Golemancy? Same thing as what you proposed or would it still follow the old system?
6) Mythics
-- You'd be inviting a lot of scorn and derision from players if Mythics were purely handed out on Lorekeeper/DM/Admin wishes and whims. I do however get the sentiment; to reward people who shake up the status quo and are clearly trying to do something rewarding narratively, perhaps even at the detriment of themselves.
![[Image: qt6dQlw.png]](https://i.imgur.com/qt6dQlw.png)
![[Image: Fn81wCh.png]](https://i.imgur.com/Fn81wCh.png)