Remove Journals [clickbait]

[Simple]

My own thoughts on this are generally quite supportive, because as much as we might idealize perfect, impeccable response times it's more difficult than it may seem, since people are prone to having real life events transpire and not constant availability. There's been a lot of diligence in ensuring that journals are being reviewed and answered in a timely fashion, but ultimately there will always be unhappiness with that system because it's more subjective and prone to human mistake.

So long as the more lore intensive hiddens are barred behind applications I think this would be fine, similar to what was done in Spires. An application with sufficient development towards the desired ability, highlighting your achievements through logs and whatnot.

That said, I do think there should be a way to reward players who drive plot but don't fight extensively. A lot of the abilities that would be offered through this automated system would be not as lore intensive. So that issue probably wouldn't really be one anyways, since a person developing a mythic+ tier ability could simply apply for it to be reviewed by the team.

I like the idea above about nominating those who are positively impacting the plot of others, and as a team we can push forward people that we see actively doing things but who might not be the greatest or most able combatant.

A lot of stuff to be worked out, but I actually think it might be a positive change since journal issues have been a hot topic for a while now. I hope that we can find a way to address and remedy those concerns without making anything worse.

[ferrettamer]

"I believe that every player who has reached these numbers has been a positive influence on the game, no matter who it is."

disagreed
enjoy

[Theori]

I'll say personally that I'm for this with revisions - because I agree combat shouldn't be the be-all-end-all of things.

Ideally, I'd love to see more aesthetic abilities like magic recolours or little twists on existing public spells serve as the middleground for big power ups, but yes, as it stands the system can be intimidating.

We're working internally on a potential middleground suggestion between this radical change in the longterm and the current journal system for the more short-term, hopefully we'll have something to put to the community regarding it soon.

[dopamiin]

hi im a new player whose never reached the level where hiddens were possible so feel free to completely ignore my post

right now hiddens, and the journal system, feel really intimidating. i like to roleplay, i like to go out and "influence the world," but at the end of the day its something i want to do for fun. the idea i have to carefully box my character's progression into "arcs" or whatever, re-package it into a summary for someone who wasn't there (or worse, keep a copy pasted log like i'm being assigned actual work so my roleplaying can be graded) and pray that its deemed good enough sounds like... something not worth the effort, frankly. i totally understand having that effort for larger projects or events or whatever, as well as the really unique stuff that isn't just "getting better at this kinda magic," but having it for what amounts to "hotter bigger fire spell" or "stance that's just a more well trained/different version of this other stance."

i don't know if dangering is the perfect method for this. yes, it rewards players who go out and make a (violent) splash. but as admitted, those who stay on the sidelines might feel left out, even with the occasional event token (which, frankly, i feel is more likely to just go towards the former type of players.) I think there, ideally, should be a few different paths towards tokens (though given most of these require at least a bit of admin oversight, i worry this partially loops back to the original problem)

tokens should be awarded for some of the following:
multiple deadly/dangerous fights (okay it was a good idea i just think it needs more alternative routes)
creating something noteworthy (a dev item or project that took events/etc to get all together - for massive projects with multiple contributors, more than one could get credit)
concluding a large event/event chain (was also a good idea, prior approval ofc)
it might be nice if one is still earned at 180 or 200 or whatever. let people be happy their character grew up big an strong :)
(other methods??? idk)

getting a token through a certain method should make that method much harder, relatively speaking. instead of having it be 5 dangers, for example, maybe it's 4 - but then increases to 7 or 8 after the first one, and then 12 for the next. this would encourage characters to try different things, though i dont think "hidden farming" is too much of a concern?

end of bad take thank you for reading

[Tyrea]

...

If you have any ideas to reward non-combat roleplay outside of what I've outlined, I'd love to hear it. Events, direct admin awards, & community voting are what immediately come to mind, though I've touched on that already. Some kind of mechanical mayoral / guild leader system, maybe, that helps you reach the cap based on specific guild actions. Or even direct HT rewards if you organize a player event (a tournament or festival, f.ex). I'm sure there are many things we can do.

Perhaps being rewarded in abilities that aren't meant for combat could solve the issue. Witchcraft would be a good example of this. The abilities you get aren't useful in a fight but allow you to interact with the social aspect of the game in new ways, like dreamwalking someone to bargain or influence others through a hex. These kinds of abilities don't have to only be up for witches, maybe holy magi could get auras to inspire their party, maybe mechanics could build magi-tech cameras they can access with a spell, maybe sound magi would be able to play melodies like with the instruments on ss13 servers. Social players would be rewarded for roleplaying and developing a good story, battlechads would be rewarded for fighting and risking their necks, both can be useful in helping their faction. Of course, there's the task on how players would get rewarded in a way that wouldn't cause much admin intervention but it could probably fit in a journaless Eternia with rpl requirements or slight admin approval without pouring over logs.

[Chance]

...

this is all v good feedback - thank you!

tokens should be awarded for some of the following:
multiple deadly/dangerous fights (okay it was a good idea i just think it needs more alternative routes)
creating something noteworthy (a dev item or project that took events/etc to get all together - for massive projects with multiple contributors, more than one could get credit)
concluding a large event/event chain (was also a good idea, prior approval ofc)
it might be nice if one is still earned at 180 or 200 or whatever. let people be happy their character grew up big an strong 
(other methods??? idk)

Cap of 6 HT. Able to bypass it through a legendary feat, but generally you're working with what you have

• +1 every 5 dangers
  
• +1 if a significant item is forged that was a long-term project
  
• +1 as a participant in a significant long-term event chain; primary contributors, selected by the DM
  
• +1 if voted by your faction's community (every 2 weeks), if you get X amount or more votes: based on your roleplaying/interactions
  
• +1 via a direct admin reward -- unsure on how we should handle this, don't want to just repeat journals, maybe if there's some spontaneous scene that grabs everyone's attention and is a good time? Or you host a PC organized event (tournament / festival)
  

[Chance]

...

If you have any ideas to reward non-combat roleplay outside of what I've outlined, I'd love to hear it. Events, direct admin awards, & community voting are what immediately come to mind, though I've touched on that already. Some kind of mechanical mayoral / guild leader system, maybe, that helps you reach the cap based on specific guild actions. Or even direct HT rewards if you organize a player event (a tournament or festival, f.ex). I'm sure there are many things we can do.

Perhaps being rewarded in abilities that aren't meant for combat could solve the issue. Witchcraft would be a good example of this. The abilities you get aren't useful in a fight but allow you to interact with the social aspect of the game in new ways, like dreamwalking someone to bargain or influence others through a hex. These kinds of abilities don't have to only be up for witches, maybe holy magi could get auras to inspire their party, maybe mechanics could build magi-tech cameras they can access with a spell, maybe sound magi would be able to play melodies like with the instruments on ss13 servers. Social players would be rewarded for roleplaying and developing a good story, battlechads would be rewarded for fighting and risking their necks, both can be useful in helping their faction. Of course, there's the task on how players would get rewarded in a way that wouldn't cause much admin intervention but it could probably fit in a journaless Eternia with rpl requirements or slight admin approval without pouring over logs.

agreed - we could even add new recipes to the game that are locked behind HT for artificers/alchemists, and of course HT content for 'class' specific magic (witchcraft being one of them) when we expand on those

[Milly]

1) I don't think popularity contests (Being voted on by your faction) is a good idea at all. You can call them what you want, but that's what they are at the end of the day, popularity contests.

2) Maybe have an admin suggest "lets give [x] (whatever they are called) to [y]" if they're in a big scene / causing a scene or RP

Also can we please not call them HTs for my PTSD.
Thanks.

[Simple]

1) I don't think popularity contests (Being voted on by your faction) is a good idea at all. You can call them what you want, but that's what they are at the end of the day, popularity contests.

2) Maybe have an admin suggest "lets give [x] (whatever they are called) to [y]" if they're in a big scene / causing a scene or RP

Also can we please not call them HTs for my PTSD.
Thanks.

My thought behind it is less popularity contest and more a neat form where people in a faction could mention someone that made a positive impact on their plot or the plot of the city as a whole. Think a suggestion box, so not exactly a 'vote' where majority rules because that could be prone to abuse, but more so a guidepost for us to operate off of since we don't have eyes in every corner of the game. 

That way everyone's effort is at least put forth, and we as the team will look over the nominations for quality assurance and to prevent the drawbacks of a popularity wins mentality ruining the system.

[Mouse]

moment apps for HTs