Interest Check

[Lye]

What do you want to see more of on Althanas?

Pick any of the options above and feel free to elaborate or add a suggestion of your own. I'm curious as to what people would like to see more of.

[Otto]

I think we push tournaments/clan wars too much. I can't comment on the quality of the writing therein (although Dirks has), but apart from anything else, it puts a halt on everything else. They have their moments, but do we need to run them continuously? Or am I misinformed about competitive writing, and place too much importance on collaborative narrative?

[Zook Murnig]

My "something else" is actually on the list, but I wanted to be more specific than to say "canon progression." I think it would be good to see more progression of user-generated canon content, and the submission system completed and functional.

[Alydia Ettermire]

I think more competition would be fine if there was joy to it, but there's not, and stuff does get piled on too thick for the size of the site to support. I'd be all in for canon stuff and storyline development, though.

[Cards of Fate]

I loved the AC but damn we're salty mofos about it. Everyones literary dong is on the line and it gets hostile. I like the idea of maybe an Ac like Fq without all the salt...

[Rayleigh]

I didn't notice an excess of AC salt, except maybe from a couple of people.

But I do think we have too many tournaments. I'd really like to see more large-group, cooperative contests (think boss battles, first round of the AC, etc.). I'd love a more active, more reliable mission board too. Really, I'd like to see us interact with cannon (site and user-generated)a bit more.

[black shadow]

I really enjoyed the Featured battle and the Featured Quests are fun too. Those are what I would like to see more of rather than Tournaments.

[BlackAndBlueEyes]

An excess of tourneys stresses the judges assigned to them and kills activity elsewhere on the site.

I'm all for more events that help shape canon, though; be them Featured Quests or more private, personal things done by a small group of RPers.

[Lightfoot]

I think it'd be a good idea to promote the competitive tournaments less, and the cooperative narratives more. More Featured Quests, more banding together, more triumph in the face of adversity, but on a "global" scale. More world building.

I think allowing people to shape canon will get people interested in the story of Althanas, higher than just "my mercenary is a badass", and make them think more about, "how does my character fit in the world? How do they live, how do they act, what are their views about the world."

I would love to see a revival of Mission Boards across the different regions. I've always thought this was a fantastic idea. The only thing that bothered me was that a quest completed from the Mission Board should immediately interact with the region once the quest is judged. Having that information relayed and made public for others looking to RP in the region would give more substantial and satisfactory gains than just EXP and Gold.

For example, there's a mission in Scara Brae to deal with bandits in the woods hampering trade along a main road. A motley crew goes to deal with it, they get the job done and collect their rewards. Afterwards, (once the thread is judged) words spreads once trade improves. The people involved are either noticed or can hear their names being mentioned among the heroes. Then you could post up in a "Current Events" thread for the region about the heroic deed and what it means for people that weren't involved. Maybe there's talk in a tavern? Maybe the heroes now have bounties on their heads from the criminal underworld profiting from the choked trade? Which in turn could open up another Mission Board quest for some of the more violent members of the site.


I also think that there should be more fun little contests on the site that can help members place their own mark on the world. Bringing back old things like when we submitted new Regions and everyone kind of voted on what they liked and would want to RP with. It's how we ended up with Dheathain and Akashima, after all.

We could even take it step further and have people submit their own monsters, or maybe have a folklore contest to see who can come up with cooler traditions and superstitions based on Region.

I really think we should take a step back from the Competitive Tournament mindset, and focus more on creating a world we all want to explore, together.

[Hysteria]

On the comments about mission boards, they tend to get stale. What other ideas do we have to generate interest?

For example, we could have alerts that come out, say a merchant requests some valuable item. Anyone can join by any means (solo, team quest, etc) with the aim.of completing the alert within a set time frame (say a month). Special rewards based on score as well. The result may have more or less effect on cannon too.

What else do we have?

[Tobias Stalt]

Exploring new regions particularly fascinates me, since Tobias hails from a very specific portion of Keribas that I have yet to reveal any information about. Collaborative storytelling and worldbuilding in that vastly unknown area of the world we write in? Yes, please.

[Rayse Valentino]

I wouldn't mind featured content, but it needs to be done in a way that doesn't involve heavy staff involvement and direction. When you think about it, the AC was basically this. If you remove the competitive aspect of the AC and just have a story there, expand on it a bit to give people somewhere to go, and leave it up to them how it's resolved, I think it would have some success. It could be a chance to write some new lore or expand on the current lore, which could always use more content.

[Max Dirks]

I actually want a tournament running at all times.

The reason why Althanas comes to a halt when they are being run is because they are all inclusive. Tournaments should be 8-16 players max. Those who can commit the time can participate, while those who can't (or have no interest) can do other things. Recently, we've been holding open tournaments to 32+ participants. Thus, everyone signs up (sometimes more than once). A similar situation exists with clan wars. Clan wars were originally designed as 4-8 player skirmishes, but have gotten out of hand recently due to the inclusion of "mercs" in quorums. Again, when they become all inclusive, activity dies off in other areas of the site. Realistically, I think the easiest way to limit size in clan wars is to limit HQ benefits to 4-5 players. That way there's more incentive for people to leave their mega clans.

Just my thoughts, but Lye is acting features admin, so that stuff goes through him.

[Rehtul Orlouge]

I wanna see more of everything, you could say. As long as it's planned out and well executed, the more stuff the merrier

[Lye]

So plenty of votes for events and featured quests. Just out of curiosity, is anyone currently using the regional mission boards?

As for featured quests, are you more interested in boss fight style threads, treasure hunting threads, or political diplomacy threads?

Or all of the above?

[Cards of Fate]

Boss fights all the way. Make me rich by gambling my wealth...

[Light]

Boss fights would be pretty cool! Also hunting for treasure sounds like a lot of fun! My vote is for those two!

[BlackAndBlueEyes]

Boss fights are fun and all, but there are a healthy number of characters who would probably be better suited for treasure hunts and diplomacy FQs. I'd say an even mix of the three, maybe with a little less focus on the intrigue threads. Like, I don't know.. A 3:3:2 ratio or something.

[Zook Murnig]

Boss fights are fun and all, but there are a healthy number of characters who would probably be better suited for treasure hunts and diplomacy FQs. I'd say an even mix of the three, maybe with a little less focus on the intrigue threads. Like, I don't know.. A 3:3:2 ratio or something.

This. We have a lot of focus on combat on the site, at the moment, and not nearly enough on other aspects of a fantasy setting.

[Aephyr]

Precisely why I've made a character like Aephyr. I got tired of the run-of-the-mill RPG features. This character is best suited to things like Politics and Espionage.

[Luned]

Boss fight threads feel a lot like fighting tournaments in spirit. I'd go for more treasure hunts and intrigue (not just political stuff -- murder mysteries, magical catastrophes, weird occurrences where no one necessarily has to die, etc) to balance out the current battling focus the site has.

[Lye]

Given the feedback, would anyone like to submit an idea for a featured quest? The more details, the better chance it has to be brought to light as an FQ. Not a guarantee, but it will help.

[redrout]

Now I haven't been around for long so take this with a pinch of salt, but I've played some role plays in my life and they seem to take place in a largely static environment. It would be very cool if characters had to take into account what is happening in the world, like changing borders, or new leaders coming to power. I think it would make an environment much more organic, and keep people interested in something that's more than just a set piece for a thread.

Now again, I haven't been around long, so if this is an awesome thing that Althanas already does, then awesome, and I just haven't been around long enough for big changes to make an impact on my character.