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+--- Thread: Removal of Combat Ability (/showthread.php?tid=16107)
Removal of Combat Ability - Kaden - 12-15-2010
As you'll now be able to see, Combat Ability has been removed from the postbits (under your Avatar). Additionally, the "Combat Ability List" has been removed as well. What does this mean?
Let's be honest, activity has been extremely poor the last few months. That's no secret. There aren't even that many OOC posts anymore. No one on the staff wants to see that and I'm sure most of the members prefer to the site lively and active. This is a step we're taking to, hopefully, help that.
A significant deterrent to RolePlaying has always been overwhelming discrepancies in power between varying members. In the old system, such power gaps were virtually meaningless, since everyone accumulated stats regardless of activity. In the current system, such power was certainly earned, but that doesn't make it any less of a deterrent.
By creating a level playing field, hopefully people will feel like they can play a larger role in events that unfold, without being "overshadowed" by stronger characters. We want to see people enjoy writing here, and if there are things we can change to make that happen, we will.
Combat Ability is still be tracked by the forums, so if it turns out that people would prefer it be brought back, we can do that. Well... Waff can do it, but y'know.
If people still need or want to RolePlay power discrepencies for the purposes of a storyline, you're free to do that. The stats on a character's roster still exist as a guideline to a character (eg, even without CA Kaden is all about the Focus).
Thoughts, comments, reactions, and questions are all welcome.
Removal of Combat Ability - Celena - 12-15-2010
Well it's no secret that I've always found CA to be meaningless. However we are still rewarded for our efforts of writing with XP which we use to buy things, so the change is cool with me.
Removal of Combat Ability - Jonathan Meer - 12-15-2010
I like this.
EDIT: It's always sucked seeing a person lose a fight just because of their stats anyway.
Removal of Combat Ability - Piper Juunanagou - 12-15-2010
Kinda lame. But I guess if a list of numbers that had no bearing on anything in particular was what butchered activity (here I thought it was just crippling apathy and lack of interest on the part of everyone), I will nod my head in a stoic fashion.
Removal of Combat Ability - Jesper - 12-15-2010
As most of you know, I definitely think this is worth a shot.
Removal of Combat Ability - Psyren - 12-15-2010
sounds interesting might as well give it a shot.
Removal of Combat Ability - Vad - 12-15-2010
This annoys me (no idea why), but all in all I honestly hope this helps and you lazy bastards start writing again. It's not fun being Vad, or evil for that matter, when theres' three PC's in the active universe to antagonize.
I demand a hunting party. Make my life hell. ENTERTAINMENT REQUIRED.
That said. No matter how dead the site becomes I can guarantee there will always be someone to update you. Lack of activity due to stalled updates will not happen. Not on my watch. <3
Unless of course I get injured, succumb to the plague, or have surgery again.
Whichever comes first. >.>
With love,
Lord Vader
Removal of Combat Ability - Tyr - 12-15-2010
As a gamer, this angers me to no end.
As a roleplayer, this makes me happy.
I AM SO TORN.
Removal of Combat Ability - Super Buu - 12-15-2010
I think a better approach to axing CA outright would be to drastically decrease how fast it's gained or introduce some kind of diminishing returns /brokenrecord
As such won't happen I guess I'm indifferent.
Removal of Combat Ability - Alexander Trafford - 12-15-2010
I always thought that increasing your own CA was kind of a incentive to roleplay, but i can understand how this will work too.
Removal of Combat Ability - John Doe - 12-15-2010
I might be mistaken, but in order to get that "sub account" thing, you needed to have a CA of over 3000, right? How will that be determined now?
Anyway, as long as you are able to earn XP for activity, I think that this is a fine change. Good job.
Removal of Combat Ability - Jonathan Meer - 12-15-2010
My only concern is that there is no system in place to reward quality over mere quantity. Insofar as XP is still a factor, that remains an issue.
Every time I do sit down to write (this might not seem like a significant point, since I write so rarely anyway), I feel pressured to just let it stream out, without bothering to proofread. One, because who the hell reads it all anyway, and two, the time spent on proofreading could just be spent on writing more.
Gotta say, I miss the old system, where buffs and power-ups were given out at staff discretion. It certainly was far more exhilarating when they were given.
I'm a jackass because I'm writing a short post making big suggestions when these things have been discussed for years with much more intensity (I'm remembering Ashe's first huge post suggesting the upheaval in the staff forum from years ago), but this is worth wondering over. Perhaps some sort of democratic system (maybe in conjunction with the current system, maybe in conjunction with staff-administration of power-ups/XP) could help? Where, say, every month a vote is taken on who has produced the most significant written contribution to the site? Or, more properly, members could nominate another member for significant written work deserving of a particular reward which, if passed (both with a minimum required percentage of popular vote, say 75%, and a minimum number of votes, say 8), would then mark that person for a particular reward (either immediately, or up to Staff discretion).
Just chucking out ideas. I genuinely do plan to start writing a bit again (this probably being the tenth time I've said that), but the lack of account for quality in the system does bother me. For all the shortcomings of the previous system, at least it included that account.
Removal of Combat Ability - Alexander Trafford - 12-15-2010
I agree with the point about power-ups being given out at staff discretion, then power-ups reflect the quality of work and the body of work. The system we had after the reset was post-whore your way to 75 xp (or 150? i forget) and then buy a power-up. Cats had tier one in, like, a month. But I also think that, at this time, the only important thing is activity. This site is like hanging on by a thread. Even in the past when IC faltered, OOC held strong. Now there is nothing. There is no young, fresh members, and we're all getting older and moving on. It's just a fact of life at this point. Anything that generates activity is a success, nothing else matters anymore.
Removal of Combat Ability - Kaden - 12-15-2010
John Doe Wrote:I might be mistaken, but in order to get that "sub account" thing, you needed to have a CA of over 3000, right? How will that be determined now?
That requirement has simply been removed. The rules thread about it will need to be adjusted accordingly.
Unfortunately, I have about one minute before I have to leave. There are some very valid suggestions and points that have been brought up in this thread that I'd like to respond to.
Removal of Combat Ability - Vad - 12-15-2010
I'll take care of the alternate character thread, Kaden.
Removal of Combat Ability - Rafael - 12-16-2010
Speaking of powerups, just out of curiosity, what happens to those now? Is using one giving an understood increase in power such that the opponent has to assume they're outmatched on the purely stat level, or?
Removal of Combat Ability - Kaden - 12-16-2010
There were a couple of problems with the "staff decides when someone gets a power-up" method. The first, and most blatant, or which was simply that it was the staff deciding, not the member themselves. While it usually wasn't an issue, I specifically remember someone (no idea who; this was way back when) getting upset because their getting a power-up during a saga wrecked the personal storyline they had been halfway through when the broke out for the saga. It sounds like a stupid complaint, and that's definitely the most extreme example of it, but it gets to the core issue of why we decided to let people buy Power-Ups: we wanted them to have as much freedom with their character's evolution as possible.
Yes, there are some who just went straight for the power-up without much care for when and why their character got it, and that was a foreseen consequence of our decision, but there were also people who worked the power-up into their storyline, purchasing it when it made the most sense for the character (as opposed to the member). Did this cheapen what it meant to have a power-up? Yes, it did, but the payout was allowing people to create more intricate and engrossing storylines by combining Out-of-Character achievements with their writing.
While that was the primary reason for purchasable Power-Ups, the secondary reason was simply that we're not going to be able to read everyone's writing, outside of a situation where its necessary to keep up with all the active members (a saga, for example). Even if we did do that, history has shown that members would start looking at who got power-ups for what and attempting to quantify what a Power-Up was worth and writing towards what they saw as the "goal." It ended up feeling like a situation where, if people were going to be doing it anyway, we might as well standardize it.
Quote:they're outmatched on the purely stat level
That, for now. It's understood that a blanket power-up > non-power-up might not be the best way to go, but that's where we stand at the moment.
Removal of Combat Ability - Orion - 12-18-2010
Jonathan Meer Wrote:It's always sucked seeing a person lose a fight just because of their stats anyway.
To be honest, I can't remember the last time stats even mattered in a fight. Every saga since the reset has had no form of CA involvement whatsoever. Really, we're just removing what's been pushed into the corner.
Removal of Combat Ability - Ashe - 12-18-2010
Orion Wrote:To be honest, I can't remember the last time stats even mattered in a fight. Every saga since the reset has had no form of CA involvement whatsoever. Really, we're just removing what's been pushed into the corner.
This.
Removal of Combat Ability - Sigfried Hunin - 12-19-2010
Well like... can I RP being as BAMF as I want to now? I mean... that's not super BAMF, but still. I'm jus' wonderin'.