Dominionofgod
Thinker of Ideas
I am proposing an alteration in Fellow Ship Adventures. Right now we have 25 players with individual badge pools. This is a group event, lets change that out for a group pool; Fs Badge Pool. It is a small change that i feel would have great impact on the FA and has been on my mind for the last year or two.
The FS Badge Pool could look just like the individual ones we have now. Only instead of counting a single player, it counts the whole FS. Tho i would like to add a second number, the total. So instead of it saying 'Brewers: 87' to indicate the fs has 87 brewers available, I would suggest 'Brewers: 87/150'. That way we can see how many are available AND how many we have made in total.
Right now every player in a FS has there own badge pool. Through the system, we have no way to know what someone else has. This leads to many groups requesting that every player make posts of what badges they collect and what badges the set to be done; every single time they collect or set a badge. Then someone has to copy all that info down into a spreadsheet where they can compare the totals of what the FS has to what is needed. This is incredibly tedious, tiresome, and stressful even under the best circumstances. But we rarely ever get perfect reporting. Some times ppl are in a hurry, lose count, got a badge name wrong, on mobile (which makes it harder), or they simply dont care to report. This makes counts become inaccurate over time and causes more stress to the ppl keeping the count. - As someone that has personally kept the count for a few years now, i absolutely confirm this. - A FS Badge Pool, would alleviate nearly all of this. We would all be able to see, at a glance, what we have available and our total badges made. This would allow for better planning and cooperation withing the FS. Combined with the simplicity of it, it could help lead to better participation in the FS.
Another big factor that causes less participation is the badges that get lost because a player isnt able to be on at the end of an event. If they cant get on, all the badges they had are wasted. This leads to players not even bothering making them to begin with, because why bother if they cant use them. It also hold true for players that are on at certain times of the day, but the badges they made are not what they waypoints are requesting at the very moment. The same waste happens which is demoralizing and leads to players not participating, or participating less. - Having a FS Badge Pool instead of an individual one would eliminate this problem. With all badges going to a FS badge pool, that means ALL badges made have a chance to be used. That allows for further progress in the FA itself. So now instead of being demoralized and making less/none, the players could be more inclined to make all they can because they know there work will help there FS out even if they are not logged on at the right moment. Every player becomes truly important. So this reduces stress, increases participation, and makes FS able to get farther in the event.
To reiterate that point ill add this quote from my own FS right after the FA ended.
"DAMMIT! Ugh i was at work or else I could have pushed us farther, I had so many statues and stuff! "
^ A prime example of one of the issues i referred to. All those wasted badges. The FS didnt get as far as it could have. The player is annoyed now and might be less likely to make badges or participate in the next FA because his effort this time was wasted. A FS badge Pool solves this problem.
Off path badge placement! Few thigns are as annoying.. if your trying to do a specific path and a player is not paying attention, not caring, or is just in a hurry and had to get on and off fast and end up placeing valueable badges off path. Thus rendering them potentially useless and wasted. It annoys me every single time i see it. - A FS Badge Pool helps eliminate this problem cause they will not have to be in a rush to place them. (Who gets to place badges discussed below.)
Many ppl have complained about the increase of FA in the last year or two. Sometimes we've had a FA after only 1 maybe 2 months since the last one. But one has to think, 'Why is this bad?' 'Why is this causing players stress and anger?' This game has tournaments and Spire every single week. Iv never heard anyone complain that there is to many tournament or wish the system would skip a week. Same goes for the spire. - So why is the FA perceived so differently? Why is one every couple MONTHS to close together? - The main answer i can come up with is how the system is laid out. For tournaments, you do your own work and your points AUTOMATICALLY go to the FS total points. You dont have to manually add them. Same goes for the spire. You do your own thing and your points go to the FS Total Points AUTOMATICALLY. There is no extra manual work to do. Which is good. - The FA however, you have to do all your own work making badges, then there is the added work/stress of trying to time being on at the right moment to place your badges and fear of them being wasted if you cant get on at the right time. This is not a good formula. And it makes ppl more stressed and less likely to participate. - So you already have two systems in place that prove the concept of automatically combining the points/badges to help the players out.
In terms of players buying diamonds, I think this adjustment of a FS Badge Pool would help as well. If you want a player to buy diamonds, then they have to care enough about what is going on in order to want to make that purchase. If they have a FA system that seems designed to work against them, cause more stress, cause more annoyance... then they would have no desire to buy diamonds for such an event. But with the FS Badge Pool implemented, that allows FS to go further then the ever have before. This could lead to more competition between the FS for finishing on the top charts. And if they've actually enjoyed what they have been doing, then they would be more likely to make a purchase. - I can speak for myself in saying i would never make a diamond purchase for the FA they way it currently is. (Rewards aside). But im trying to help you get me to that point!
Pros: So there is a ton of reasons why i feel the FS Badge Pool would be much better then the current individual badge pool. It will make thigns a lot easier for players. Reduces stress, annoyance, and fear. Which in turn would increase the joy of the event, participation in the event, and even competition in the event. It is better in every regard. And i certainly hope this gets implemented.
Cons: Inno has to code it.. but they have to code any change.
A new method of determining credit would be needed. As of now, you need to place a single badge on a map to get credit and the rewards for that map. With a FS Badge Pool, this would no longer be an option. - But i think it could just be adjusted so a player that sends a badge to the FS Badge Pool is granted credit for the map they are currently on. - Its basically the same thing just slightly altered. Make a badge, get credit for that map.
Pro and Con: Ill add this note separately. There is a small group of ppl that like placing badges, others that dont really care, and some that go for maximum efficiency. We will always have a wide range of players. So a few might not like the idea of not being able to place badges. But that works into the answer/suggestion for the question of 'who gets to place the badges from the FS Badge Pool'
1. You could make it everyone. But that could lead to many issues.
2. Give all mages or higher the ability to place badges.
3. Create a new designation. A 'Mage+FA'. Which is higher then a mage but less then an Archmage. They would have the same abilities as a mage PLUS the ability to place badges. And only the 'Mage+FA' and the Arch could place badges.
Some smaller FS or open FS like to make everyone a mage. So that could be an issue if all mages could place badges. The addition of the 'Mage+FA' would allow those FS to keep everyone a mage, but keep the badge placing to select ppl. So you have have certain players that are always going off path, the archmage can manually set it so that player is not in charge of placing badges.
4. No new designation, but a check box or something where the archmage can decide who gets to place the badges.
5. Something else.. Maybe you can come up with a better idea for this part here.
Over all i feel the FS Badge Pool idea would be hands down better then the current individual badge pool system that we have now. I think the improvements are vast and well beyond what one might think at first glance; and has no real down side to it either.
I personally invest a LOT of time and effort running FA's in my FS for the last couple years. It is very stressful and tedious. And i think this change would alleviate so much of that for both be and the rest of the players. So i really hope this idea is considered and implemented!
---
If the over all idea is not agreed upon, a smaller more simple adjustment could be tried. Simply leave the individual pools as they are, AND add a FS Badge Pool. And allow each player to decide for themselves if they want to hold on to there own badges or place them in the group FS Badge Pool
The FS Badge Pool could look just like the individual ones we have now. Only instead of counting a single player, it counts the whole FS. Tho i would like to add a second number, the total. So instead of it saying 'Brewers: 87' to indicate the fs has 87 brewers available, I would suggest 'Brewers: 87/150'. That way we can see how many are available AND how many we have made in total.
Right now every player in a FS has there own badge pool. Through the system, we have no way to know what someone else has. This leads to many groups requesting that every player make posts of what badges they collect and what badges the set to be done; every single time they collect or set a badge. Then someone has to copy all that info down into a spreadsheet where they can compare the totals of what the FS has to what is needed. This is incredibly tedious, tiresome, and stressful even under the best circumstances. But we rarely ever get perfect reporting. Some times ppl are in a hurry, lose count, got a badge name wrong, on mobile (which makes it harder), or they simply dont care to report. This makes counts become inaccurate over time and causes more stress to the ppl keeping the count. - As someone that has personally kept the count for a few years now, i absolutely confirm this. - A FS Badge Pool, would alleviate nearly all of this. We would all be able to see, at a glance, what we have available and our total badges made. This would allow for better planning and cooperation withing the FS. Combined with the simplicity of it, it could help lead to better participation in the FS.
Another big factor that causes less participation is the badges that get lost because a player isnt able to be on at the end of an event. If they cant get on, all the badges they had are wasted. This leads to players not even bothering making them to begin with, because why bother if they cant use them. It also hold true for players that are on at certain times of the day, but the badges they made are not what they waypoints are requesting at the very moment. The same waste happens which is demoralizing and leads to players not participating, or participating less. - Having a FS Badge Pool instead of an individual one would eliminate this problem. With all badges going to a FS badge pool, that means ALL badges made have a chance to be used. That allows for further progress in the FA itself. So now instead of being demoralized and making less/none, the players could be more inclined to make all they can because they know there work will help there FS out even if they are not logged on at the right moment. Every player becomes truly important. So this reduces stress, increases participation, and makes FS able to get farther in the event.
To reiterate that point ill add this quote from my own FS right after the FA ended.
"DAMMIT! Ugh i was at work or else I could have pushed us farther, I had so many statues and stuff! "
^ A prime example of one of the issues i referred to. All those wasted badges. The FS didnt get as far as it could have. The player is annoyed now and might be less likely to make badges or participate in the next FA because his effort this time was wasted. A FS badge Pool solves this problem.
Off path badge placement! Few thigns are as annoying.. if your trying to do a specific path and a player is not paying attention, not caring, or is just in a hurry and had to get on and off fast and end up placeing valueable badges off path. Thus rendering them potentially useless and wasted. It annoys me every single time i see it. - A FS Badge Pool helps eliminate this problem cause they will not have to be in a rush to place them. (Who gets to place badges discussed below.)
Many ppl have complained about the increase of FA in the last year or two. Sometimes we've had a FA after only 1 maybe 2 months since the last one. But one has to think, 'Why is this bad?' 'Why is this causing players stress and anger?' This game has tournaments and Spire every single week. Iv never heard anyone complain that there is to many tournament or wish the system would skip a week. Same goes for the spire. - So why is the FA perceived so differently? Why is one every couple MONTHS to close together? - The main answer i can come up with is how the system is laid out. For tournaments, you do your own work and your points AUTOMATICALLY go to the FS total points. You dont have to manually add them. Same goes for the spire. You do your own thing and your points go to the FS Total Points AUTOMATICALLY. There is no extra manual work to do. Which is good. - The FA however, you have to do all your own work making badges, then there is the added work/stress of trying to time being on at the right moment to place your badges and fear of them being wasted if you cant get on at the right time. This is not a good formula. And it makes ppl more stressed and less likely to participate. - So you already have two systems in place that prove the concept of automatically combining the points/badges to help the players out.
In terms of players buying diamonds, I think this adjustment of a FS Badge Pool would help as well. If you want a player to buy diamonds, then they have to care enough about what is going on in order to want to make that purchase. If they have a FA system that seems designed to work against them, cause more stress, cause more annoyance... then they would have no desire to buy diamonds for such an event. But with the FS Badge Pool implemented, that allows FS to go further then the ever have before. This could lead to more competition between the FS for finishing on the top charts. And if they've actually enjoyed what they have been doing, then they would be more likely to make a purchase. - I can speak for myself in saying i would never make a diamond purchase for the FA they way it currently is. (Rewards aside). But im trying to help you get me to that point!
Pros: So there is a ton of reasons why i feel the FS Badge Pool would be much better then the current individual badge pool. It will make thigns a lot easier for players. Reduces stress, annoyance, and fear. Which in turn would increase the joy of the event, participation in the event, and even competition in the event. It is better in every regard. And i certainly hope this gets implemented.
Cons: Inno has to code it.. but they have to code any change.
A new method of determining credit would be needed. As of now, you need to place a single badge on a map to get credit and the rewards for that map. With a FS Badge Pool, this would no longer be an option. - But i think it could just be adjusted so a player that sends a badge to the FS Badge Pool is granted credit for the map they are currently on. - Its basically the same thing just slightly altered. Make a badge, get credit for that map.
Pro and Con: Ill add this note separately. There is a small group of ppl that like placing badges, others that dont really care, and some that go for maximum efficiency. We will always have a wide range of players. So a few might not like the idea of not being able to place badges. But that works into the answer/suggestion for the question of 'who gets to place the badges from the FS Badge Pool'
1. You could make it everyone. But that could lead to many issues.
2. Give all mages or higher the ability to place badges.
3. Create a new designation. A 'Mage+FA'. Which is higher then a mage but less then an Archmage. They would have the same abilities as a mage PLUS the ability to place badges. And only the 'Mage+FA' and the Arch could place badges.
Some smaller FS or open FS like to make everyone a mage. So that could be an issue if all mages could place badges. The addition of the 'Mage+FA' would allow those FS to keep everyone a mage, but keep the badge placing to select ppl. So you have have certain players that are always going off path, the archmage can manually set it so that player is not in charge of placing badges.
4. No new designation, but a check box or something where the archmage can decide who gets to place the badges.
5. Something else.. Maybe you can come up with a better idea for this part here.
Over all i feel the FS Badge Pool idea would be hands down better then the current individual badge pool system that we have now. I think the improvements are vast and well beyond what one might think at first glance; and has no real down side to it either.
I personally invest a LOT of time and effort running FA's in my FS for the last couple years. It is very stressful and tedious. And i think this change would alleviate so much of that for both be and the rest of the players. So i really hope this idea is considered and implemented!
---
If the over all idea is not agreed upon, a smaller more simple adjustment could be tried. Simply leave the individual pools as they are, AND add a FS Badge Pool. And allow each player to decide for themselves if they want to hold on to there own badges or place them in the group FS Badge Pool