Althanas Suggestion Thread

[SirArtemis]

To address Atzar, Flame, and Abomination, this site has always been a place to improve my writing. And for me it has done that. It wouldn't have if I disregarded feedback for the sake of levels. A lot of what I've learned is reading the work of others as well. But I don't think it is good to discourage the quality of writing just for the sake of activity. There has to be room for both. And reducing the workshop score to 60 instead of 65 doesn't make a huge shift. I think people will still do workshops and basic judgments, and I'd like to think a basic judgment isn't going to take a super intense commitment. A judge could read a quick thread through and go with their gut of average, below average, or above, and just plop a score with high-level thoughts. I feel like very few threads do get judged these days and are just popping out with fixed scores. I still think workshops can be helpful. That's why I do them. I try to give constructive feedback on a writing perspective. I think that's what you try to do too Atzar. I just don't see the elitism/JC thing any more and I don't think the workshop stops it because, quite frankly, no one even bothers with "epic loot" any more because you can just add an ability in the ROG to do that for free, as I mentioned.

[Gum do Mugu]

phi said it way better <3

[Philomel]

Thank you for everyone for your comments. Also thank you for all being polite, you really do allow us to show that Althanas can be a place where people can discuss things in an open manner and without inspiring huge arguments, which would not be great on this thread.

What Althanas Is For

Edited. Specific names taken out.

Firstly I would address the idea of what Althanas is for. Althanas is for you what you want it to be. If you see it as a way to gain loot, then that is absolutely fine. I am glad you enjoy the site, and you find a use in Althanas. For who see it is a way to improve your writing, that is also absolutely fine. That is one of the goals of Althanas - it is to help people to try to improve their writing skill, BUT it is also a place for people to write for fun. Both are just important. What makes Althanas unique is our rubric, and yes with more AP you can get a judgement from a judge who has been trained and practises the system reguarly. But also the site is about creating a character you love, establishing a community and creating great stories.

Bazaar and Item Costs

Sir Artemis, I would also draw your attention to the fact that yes people do use their character levels to get abilities that would do similar things to items from the bazaar, but they also need to spend huge resources (their Level Points, please see RoG Guide) in order to get them. And they do this on the scale of then not being able to have other abilities, for instance instead of an offensive ability. I do realise the item in question is expensive, and a lot more than the general item that can be gained from the bazaar. This is largely down to the fact you are looking for a top teir material for a whole suit of armour - but it is expensive. We can certainly look at revising the Bazaar though and looking at whole suits of armour and their costs and see if there is a way to lower them. Thank you for bringing it up, it will be looked at in due course.

AP and Judgement Base Scores

As commented above by myself there are some really good suggestions that you gave and we can certainly look at. The comments surrounding the Workshop due tend to be a bit mixed so I will try to summarise them and look at them piece by piece. Overall though you all seem to like the Workshop in general but there is mixed opinion over what it is for/what score it should have/what effects it should have. Is this correct?

[SirArtemis]

I think the "no judgment" road was meant for quick rewards without caring about feedback. Workshop is a bit more cost for feedback, but I just have tended to feel that in too many cases people take advantage of the workshop being a fixed score and don't always concern themselves with edits or try as hard cleaning up their work. Not always the case, but again, it sort of seems they pay the 2 AP for the higher score rather than the feedback. And that just diminishes the effort a reviewer may feel is worth investing. You get what you give. And I don't want a culture that discourages workshop effort. Is the 2 AP for the score? Because as an alternative you could do...

0 AP is no judgment 55.
1 AP is no judgment 60.
2 AP is 60 and workshop
2 AP is basic judgment (50/60/70)
3 AP is condensed
4 AP is full

That way you take the score incentive from workshops out so people do not take that road just for the xp boost and not care for feedback.

[Atzar]

Atzar, if you see it as a way to gain loot, then that is absolutely fine.

No, I don't. Speaking personally, the site has always been about community first and storytelling a distant second (I spend a lot more time shooting the shit with people in chat than I do writing; always have). I just don't agree with the notion that the site has undergone a shift toward rewards and away from good storytelling. There have always been those who write for the rewards and those who write for the story. I don't think it's any different now than it was in the past.

[Philomel]

Okay, apologies, I misread your post. My point is, is that it does not matter what you get from the site. As long as you enjoy what you do. I hope you would agree with me on that stance.

[Philomel]

Thank you for the alternatives also Sir Artemis.

[Atzar]

Okay, apologies, I misread your post. My point is, is that it does not matter what you get from the site. As long as you enjoy what you do. I hope you would agree with me on that stance.

I do.

[Philomel]

I do.

[Nevin]

Another new suggestion and a link:
We're talking in chat, and apparently there has to been a major event in a while. So we're looking at it, and we have an idea: target the Church of the Ethereal Sway in Salvar. It'll be a major undertaking requiring different avenues of attacking them - literal attacks, political attacks, religious assaults, the works. So a few of us are working on an idea sheet for it over in Google docs, and we'd love to get this going!

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1...t?usp=drivesdk