More Changes! (AC/Endgame)

[ironwood]

(I am so sorry to keep filling up the OOC comm with these posts, we're trying to roll the changes out as they're coming up.)

ONE. Effective immediately, we are removing the double activity requirement for applying for a 4th character and changing it to "having passed the last two consecutive ACs with your full roster". This does not include passes gotten by hiatus or by new character exemption. The strike policy (one per character every six months) has not changed. If this goes well, we may consider expanding to larger rosters in the future.

EDITED TO ADD: If you are on hiatus but have passed the previous two ACs before the hiatus, you can still apply for a 4th character. For example, if you passed January and February's AC normally and were on hiatus for the month of March, you could still apply for a 4th character in April.

TWO. Later in June, the modteam will be reviewing the proposed endgame that was put into effect last year, to see whether it still fits with the plan of the game -- specifically, we will be looking at removing it if that seems feasible. As such, we'd like to invite all our players to express their opinions on that potential change in this post.

Thank you!

Comments

[strategisch]

Okay yeah I'm just gonna spend today riding on other people's more eloquent coat-tails, but this too!

Armin CAN fight, but it's very firmly established in canon that he sucks at it. When I try to shoehorn him into fightan-type situations it just... doesn't feel right or mesh well. He's so thoroughly outclassed by both his surroundings and peers that I have a hard time finding a place for him in the current plot. He usually ends up being pushed to the side. It doesn't help that I'm kinda shy, so when big plot events like the log when the explosions started happening, I... didn't have any threads or tags. I'm still kicking myself for not doing better on that one, but you can see what I mean. That was also like, right when all my CR started to vanish, so I couldn't count on that to help me.

BASICALLY WHAT I'M SAYING IS yeah Hina has the right idea. There are a lot of big, powerhouse type characters on the Turtle, but there are also weaklings like Armin that aren't particularly remarkable, and I'm kinda lost on a way to contribute. I'm trying to fix it, like right now on the CR meme, but if I can be helped somehow I'd also appreciate it.

[lostundercover]

Hey! Hina got my longer reply and I hate copy/pasting, so you get the short version. c;

Basically I'd love to brainstorm ideas of how we, as mods, can help to encourage players to do their own things and create non-war happenings (in addition to taking this into consideration with the missions). I think our ultimate goal is to give players the tools/platform and encouragement to feel more freedom in developing their own plots, but I know that takes time. Please throw out any ideas you might have, no matter how feasible! Brainstorming is awesome.

[strategisch]

I think one problem is a communication of such projects going around? Armin, living in Wood and not knowing how to drive any sort of vehicle, can only travel as fast as he can run, so he's rather limited in places he can go. It's supposed to take a few hours on foot to get to sector to sector, right? So for open logs in other sectors... I usually can't get into those for distance logic reasons. He also barely understands technology, and the communication systems have been unreliable for so long that what he used to lean on to keep track of things is gone. So he just honestly, in an IC sort of way, does not know of things going on.

I think that's a first hurdle that needs to be addressed? Sometimes I'll just, uh-- what's the word-- contrive a reason for him to be somewhere if it's super important, but otherwise, I often have trouble. This could also be a problem for new players that might app a character that can't fast-travel or communicate in a way secondary to the network. They wouldn't have a way in initially.

[andaway]

I understand what you mean, and while I was aware of the time it took to walk I hadn't realized it could be problematic for certain characters to justify themselves in logs that happen on the other side of the turtle. It's a good point and thanks for bringing it up, we'll keep it in mind. Something like Foreigner-endorsed vehicles or some a character creating a pseudotaxi business would be a good idea, haha xD

A silly idea though, this is just me as a player trying to help another one out: there are some characters who have handwaved good relationships with Kedan neighbors, or the drivers of vehicles, to justify them just getting drives to places? Armin has a way to make people just want to pet his head and help out, he could manage that I'm sue.

[strategisch]

Lol yes, on those occasions where I just gotta be somewhere I assume that Armin gets a hand somehow. He used to work at a Kirin barn that got burned down, and he does know how to ride a horse very well thank God, so sometimes I just handwave A KIRIN DID IT.

But yeah, I worry for new applicants, especially when we need new blood, they will need something available to them to make it easy for them to communicate right off the bat or else they probably won't stick. If I were to app Armin right now as things are, a lone canon warrior with no powers, I would have no idea what to do to get 'in'.

[lostundercover]

To be honest, I had forgotten about the hours between Sectors thing. It's something I'll be looking into more as I think it has a definite impact on baseline characters (like all three of mine). Thank you very, very much for bringing it to my attention.

Hopefully Aya's plan with the radios can help with some communication barriers that you were talking about before as well, but I understand it's a larger issue.

Please don't hesitate to continue replying with new thoughts or ideas. Seriously, I can't thank you enough for bringing these up.

[strategisch]

Hey, you guys are doing a great job, I'm super impressed with the transparency here. I know it can't be easy to do. I've been worried about some of these things for awhile, but seeing them being addressed makes me feel way better!