I Just Solo'ed Vlad!

[Mali]

I'll take the avatar workload.

[Anume]

There is a vast difference between the very aggressive and insulting behavior some of you have shown and politely disagreeing with a change. YOU need to learn that. That sentence alone is very condescending btw. and not a way to get a positive reaction to anything you say afterwards. So take my warning to heart.

[Trick]

Which sentence..?

[Tantangel]

2 hours ago, Fireman said:

If you want to make decisions, then accept that not everyone is going to be happy with it. Its part of leadership.

Having worked in Management in retail and having 40ish people under you, I can agree that this is the biggest thing  ever. One small change can cause issues in the environment  whether people agree with it or not, and I see the game as being very identical in that sense. To fix those problems sometimes people have to be brought in and sat down by HR (IMP) to discuss things, preferably out of earshot of the everyone else (Prayer Forum/Deep Shit). This can be applied to virtually every company and outlet in the world in some capacity. @Erelei is indeed one of the best the game has seen in terms of coding. Would this game end if he left? Maybe. More than likely it would hurt really bad at first assuming it did make it, but yes, he's the backbone to it now. It makes sense he has no other responsibilities in terms of keeping track of players. There are many who play the game who would be more than happy with taking on the role to help out in those instances too, but how you select those people is entirely up to you too.

In @Anume's case, I don't see why you don't take the same break for yourself. It not only helps you two get more time to play the game yourself, but gives you more time to do something else you enjoy as well. It would mean you get more time to go with your family, and if you want to game you can still. You still get to watch as the world turns and keep an eye out for cheating as well. To me that's a win-win scenario. It could even give you a chance to broaden your characters RP status as IMP as well. Kind of like stories centuries old where some would blend in with the denizens of the world to see what it is like from there perspective. It feeds into it so much so that I would love to see happen more often in terms of growth. Some players remember the glory days of 2001 and the Shades, but my own fondest memory of it was how Sirant had been transformed completely as time went on. It's great that people play in their strengths, but a world plot causing disruption and change outwardly focusing on Imms and what they become/were tends to be more entertaining at times. I'm not saying to do any of this, but a chance to be able to see things from a different perspective from time to time can be more refreshing than anything else.

This game will change as time goes on, but people being upset is just in nature. We can't all agree 100% on things together, and when suggestions are made, they're not always taken the way it was intended. @f0xx does seem like a huge dick at times, but I also know how vastly different people are around the world. The place you were born and raised plays a significant role in how you act later in life, so often times, I try to read some of his and @Fireman's posts a few times to make sure I think I know what they're talking about specifically. But I bet if the two of them met in person things would be a lot different in terms of reception. They both seem to be pretty great people in their own rights, but we have to remember that this game is just that. It's a game where no one can emphasize feelings correctly through text. We have to force emojis in so that it makes people take a message less harshly at times, or even a non serious jab.

As far as Vlad goes though, I don't know if they were blowing smoke up my ass way back when, but I seem to recall someone telling me they solo'd him with an Invoker way back when and I can't recall who exactly. When I tried doing it a few years later, I just got taken to the cleaners and barely fled with around 32hp or so left. I have attempted one other time as a Healer, and even then his attacks were far too heavy and far too often that I did not even wish to try anymore after that.

[f0xx]

Holy crap man, didn't we are agree on 2-3 sentences at max?

[Tantangel]

Not to my knowledge. But we can if that's what you want.

[f0xx]

10 minutes ago, Tantangel said:

Not to my knowledge. But we can if that's what you want.

I guess that was wishful thinking on my part then

[Pali]

35 minutes ago, f0xx said:

Holy crap man, didn't we are agree on 2-3 sentences at max?

Reading hard.  

[Mali]

I don't see any aggression in the posts at all. Anume I hope all is well we are just not seeing the same thing.

[Lloth]

Hey guys, there's a lot of tension here. Let's try and rewind a bit and go from there. 

Not everyone is going to agree about changes. Not even the staff always agrees. Even when things are changed, it's usually the case that there's somebody that votes against it. But, without compelling counter-suggestions, we can't expect to sway majorities. The same extends towards players. 

I don't think anyone here is against change. We all like to see it, even if we don't all agree on the decisions. I think we should all try to keep that in mind going forward. Everyone has a unique perspective, and nobody should feel like theirs isn't appreciated for what it is. If you feel that way, that's a failure on the community as a whole.

I probably don't help that with my approach to ideas and suggestions. Sometimes I can sound like I am shooting them down when I weigh in. And if you feel that way, my PM box is open any time you have a concern. In all honesty, though, I don't think I've ever seen an idea that I thought was "dumb" or "pointless to even discuss". Quite the contrary, even when it sounds like I am being combative about them, I am really just trying to open a critically objective discussion about them. I believe that when an idea is presented, by anyone, it should be looked at with scrutiny. Not because they're bad ideas, but because I want to see them evolve and grow through consideration and discussion. Every idea can be improved on, and it really gives everyone a chance to make their viewpoints on the matter heard, and encourages us to come together as a community to share what we think. 

If anyone would like to further the discussion about the druid balance, or offer ideas or suggestions on how you'd have preferred to see them changed, please feel free to open up a discussion on the Ideas and Suggestions forum. 

And to f0xx, I just want to say, you're always welcome to make suggestions. Consider it an open invitation. Everyone should. We all play the game, and have an input. I suppose it's quite easy to view our method of implementation as though it pushes out player ideas. A lifetime of social engineering has taught us that it's naive to think that those with administrative power sit up on their ivory towers and make arbitrary and sweeping decisions. I hope that it doesn't bleed over too heavily into here. I want to assure you all that's not the case. Being staff myself, though, it probably wouldn't mean much from my mouth. However, when we are presented with ideas that prove popular and/or thoroughly discussed and fleshed out, we take that discussion into our part of the forums and talk it out until a decision is reached. Unfortunately, you can't really see how many of these discussions we have. You see the changes come out, but not the ones that didn't make it through the vote. On that matter, all anyone can ask is for some trust.

[Tantangel]

Maybe adding in the ability to read some of those ideas the rest of the player base cannot due to sub forums only you guys could read and post should be allowed? I think it would be interesting to see the thought process that goes behind implementing things in the game whether it was suggested by players or Imms, It could build excitement for people to look forward to things that are on the way, and if the ideas are suggested by Imms, it could easily be elaborated on in the Ideas & Suggestions section. I realize not all things can be commented on as far as qclass/race related things, but any changes for that could be hidden too. It would possibly open up dialogue  avenues no one else thought of. New class/race implementation, boosts/nerfs on skills/spells, and even the ability to read other characters histories as a player as long as it's not abused anyways.

[Lloth]

The only issue with that there are conversations that sprawl for hours while we are logged in. Notes get taken, ideas get discussed further if need be later, but ultimately we don't always have it saved anywhere. We have gotten a lot better at documenting everything within the last few years, but sometimes we discuss elsewhere simply for the speed at which other mediums allow. 

 

I can't say either way if our discussions will ever be shared. It's not anywhere near my call. There's pros and cons to it, and we may discuss this further, but again, it's not my call, as I am not usually the one that gets an earful over changes. I'm not sure the staff would want to open ourselves to even more of it.

[Fool_Hardy]

1st. If my statement offended @Ereleiin any way whatsoever, I sincerely apologize. I for one think he is doing excellent work.

2nd. When @Volgathraswas still around, you know before he told us he would disappear for a long stretch to play fall out 4, we had a second forum where certain game related things could be discussed by a select few veteran players he had chosen. I held one of those positions, as did Valek and certain others who have been here since Eshaine created dirt. What ever happened to that "community"? I know my second tour through college forced me to prioritize and let my, well Croyvern's, position there go. Unless I am mistaken, the handle that erelei used at that time was also a member of that community. Did the concept never bare fruit?

3rd. Finally, I believe we could (perhaps should) use the clubs available on the new platform we have here to create clubs meant for discussing changes. I am not talking about the hot changes @Ereleiserves up hot and ready like little ceasars, I mean the kinds of changes that the staff already envisions, allowing for some of the players who love this game to weigh in on how they may "perceive" the change will affect them, giving staff a chance to placate the unhappy before the full tantrums start.

Just food for thought.

[Tantangel]

@Lloth, I know the alternate means of discussion all too well. My Management team would often text if anything went wonky or plans changed on things. Email was always a much slower pace for us since often times it would be several hours later before anyone would read it. Those would be a lot harder to add into if someone doesn't choose to use the forum as a primary source of contact. It may never be the case that such topics are ever open to the public of the player base which is fine, add in the fact that even if a majority of Imms did believe it would be beneficial it comes down to more of what Anume or Erelei think since it's their game overall. It's similar to way back in the day when the forum was removed entirely and the unofficial Forum came to be. We had it tiered there with posts that only certain people could see/read, moderators could view most of it, but then there was the super secret one that only three people had access to. I don't know how many Imms were actually on there, if any, but I do remember when Archangel had commented on how much more was hidden when he got bumped up again. So even if it's never revealed, many of us still benefit from having a game to play that offers endless fun. Plus with my long winded posts, it may end up aggravating F0xx because it's longer than a paragraph.

[Aulian]

11 hours ago, Lloth said:

If anyone would like to further the discussion about the druid balance, or offer ideas or suggestions on how you'd have preferred to see them changed, please feel free to open up a discussion on the Ideas and Suggestions forum. 

Since when did people actually start playing druids?

 

Secondly. I've solo'd vlad with Dumela, an Ogre ranger and various druids. yawnfest. try soloing the lurker.. Or the horror... They're real attrition pain in the asses.