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FA Fellowship Adventure badge pool

Are you in favor of this idea?


  • Total voters
    50
  • Poll closed .

Burger Meister Meister

Well-Known Member
Summary
Add a pool of badges for FA, from where (Arch)mages can donate them to the waypoints they want.

Description
I have managed the spreadsheet for my Fellowship for the last 3 out of 4 adventures and it can be a daunting task. By doing this however I have identified an area where the FA can be improved upon.

Our FS spans the globe, literally!
We have members in Australia, Canada and the US on both the East and West coast. We operate in multiple different time zones.

Two problems exist:
1) Management of spreadsheet is difficult as it relies on accurate and timely updates from each member of the FS. If the person managing the spreadsheet is in a US timezone and it is daytime in Australia the players in Australia don't get updated current information.
2) If players are active in Australia but are blocked waiting for badges from someone in the US or Canada then the FA has to stop and wait. This happens frequently with the whirlpool.
3) Getting updates from less active members is difficult

New idea:
The solution to the problem would be to create a "badge pool". All members can either donate their badges to the badge pool or they can directly place them onto the FA map.

When updating the FA map badges can be placed on the FA map either from a player inventory (as it is done today) or players can move them from the badge pool to the FA map.

Moving a badge from the badge pool to the FA map could be programmed for either any player able to do it or it could maybe be filtered with something like mage level and above (To be discussed).

Participation in prizes:
Current rules only grant prizes to members that place a badge on the FA map for the current stage. There are multiple options to handle this;
1) members only get prizes if the directly place at least one badge on the current stage (rule remains the same). Prizes not granted for placing in the badge pool OR
2) Prizes granted for placing badges in either the badge pool OR directly on the FA map. This option is a little more complex as badges in the pool span multiple stages. Option 1) probably the best.

Changes for developers:
- Add a badge pool that is shared by and visible to all members of the FS.
- Badges come from either the badge pool or directly from the player

Motivation:
- Managing the spreadsheet becomes easier because the available badges can be seen in real time.
- Players in one timezone aren't blocked by players in another timezone.
- Instant visibility to all members of the FS to determine what the FS has available and they can determine what they need to produce.
- Helps to get the FS to work together more efficiently as a team.

Possible downsides:
Might give less of a feeling of individual contribution and takes away individual choices. Would also make the progress dependant of activity of the (Arch)mages and not all FS have an active leadership.
 
Last edited by a moderator:

Marindor

Well-Known Member
Hi @Burger Meister Meister Nice idea. One question: Who would decide which badges are placed from a badge pool? Because the prizes are indeed rewarded to those who contributed, but if your badge is "left" in the pool, you won't get any prizes. And giving prizes to anyone in the badge pool, even if your badge is not used, is also not really a good option. Could you elaborate a bit more on your ideas about that?
 

UlyssesBlue

Well-Known Member
I reckon anyone who has permissions to open the chest should be able to decide which badges are used from the pool. Currently that's everyone except Fellows.
Regarding prizes, anyone who adds a badge to the map or pool should get the prize for the currently active map, even if their badge remains in the pool and is not used until a different map, or not used at all. When a new map starts, the prize tally is reset like in the current system. You would then have to add to the current map, or add another badge to the pool, to get the prize for that map.
 

Deleted User - 91892

Guest
I support the idea of FA badge pool with the access only to players who have already placed 1 badge in map as proposed by @PrimroseSylvia. In such situation, badges from the pool could be placed in map only by mages and archmage.
 
Last edited by a moderator:

Burger Meister Meister

Well-Known Member
Hi @Marindor

My original idea was as @UlyssesBlue has described to give prizes to everyone that contributed to the pool on a per map basis but I can see some problems with this.

I like the idea suggested by @PrimroseSylvia where you can only move a badge from the pool to the map if you have already contributed but I would like to add the following restrictions;

Prizes are awarded only if your badge is added to the map for a given stage. (Same prize assignment as current)

Prize assignment does not have any relationship to which stage was active when the badges were added to the pool. ie you can get credit for a badge that was added to the pool when stage one was active even though the badge is added to the map when stage 3 is active.

Badges need to be tagged with player name to determine prizes.

Any player moving a badge from pool to map must exhaust his supply of badges of a specific type in the pool before he can move a similar badge from another player to the map. Once the player has exhausted his supply, he can move any other players badges from the pool to the map with the following restrictions.

Fellow/Ambassador - Can contribute to the pool and can only move his/her badges from the pool to the map. Prizes awarded for the stage that the badge was moved to the map.
Mage - Can contribute to the pool and can move any players badge from the pool to the map, assuming that he has put at least one badge (of any type) in the pool, and has exhausted his supply of that specific badge first.
Archmage - Same as mage? Should the Archmage have any "special" capabilities here?

Any further thoughts?

Thanks,
BMMB
 

TomatoeHu

Well-Known Member
Unlock all the spots, open all the way points to be filled in which ever order by whomever. As long as one path fills to the flag, who cares in which order the badges are made or entered on to the map.
 

Deleted User - 79535

Guest
I like the idea but think there are 2 issues.
When running a fellowship adventure the leadership of the fellowship would likely like control over the way the maps are played. The same restriction should be placed on the badge pool as is placed on opening the chests. Only those ranked Ambassador or higher can use the badge pool. This will give who ever is been given responsibility for managing the fellowship adventure more direct control of the adventure. It would also mean that a single member would not spend many of the badges in a way that did not help the fellowship.
The other issue I think is easily dealt with in a way suggested by others. Access to the pool is granted by placing a single badge on the map.
I think anyone who can see the badge pool can see who donated. That way they can encourage their members to contribute at least one badge to get the rewards.
 

Burger Meister Meister

Well-Known Member
Hi @Marco the Magnificent I think I addressed your first concern with the following breakdown.

Badges need to be tagged with player name to determine prizes.

Any player moving a badge from pool to map must exhaust his supply of badges of a specific type in the pool before he can move a similar badge from another player to the map. Once the player has exhausted his supply, he can move any other players badges from the pool to the map with the following restrictions.

Fellow/Ambassador - Can contribute to the pool and can only move his/her badges from the pool to the map. Prizes awarded for the stage that the badge was moved to the map.
Mage - Can contribute to the pool and can move any players badge from the pool to the map, assuming that he has put at least one badge (of any type) in the pool, and has exhausted his supply of that specific badge first.
Archmage - Same as mage? Should the Archmage have any "special" capabilities here?

@Marindor
What does the Elvenar team think of this idea. Does it need more discussion? refining?
Next steps?

Is the idea dead or still progressing?
 

M3rLiN

Member
If you where to all add badges to a pool and the Arch Mage/Mage where to add them to the maps it would certainly make it more enjoyable and simpler to manage, as for the rewards, any adding badges to the pool (pool badges are total possible for the current stage only) at that current stage would receive a reward, badges not used from the pool of one stage (pool can hold badge totals for completing all 3 paths, though the FS fill only 1 or 2 paths before opening the chest) will carry over to the next stage but will not count for player rewards (you must add badges to the current stage pool for a stage reward) players not adding any badges do not receive any rewards.
 

HisaRose

Active Member
I like the idea, I often have the problem that I have the badges but when I'm offline for 2 hours other players invested the time to get these badges. With such a badges pool everybody would see what is needed so it's easier to get further on the map. :)
 

Deleted User - 79535

Guest
I think where this would be most useful is in the bottomless pit. A pool of badges would maximize what could be done in the bottomless pit.
I think 2 changes in permission should be made.
1. Claiming the flag should be restricted to mages and archmage. This will make for easier management of user for each adventure.
2. If the badge poll is implemented it can be accessed by ambassadors who have contributed a badge to the current stage. This would include the bottomless pit.

It would be fun to be able to track the overall participation of each player in the FA. I do not know if the stats are available the same way that tourney stats are available for the site ElvenStats.com. I think total number of badges and badge value in diamonds would work.
 

Maillie

Well-Known Member
What if instead of a pool as such, mages instead had the ability to move badges from an incomplete waypoint to a different waypoint on the same map?
I think everyone would love this. In one case we sat at the end of the orange row in the 3rd map waiting for 6 necklaces. After nearly an entire day, with chat about being sure to put any necklaces into that spot and how long before we got any, with the last hours ticking away, someone from New Zealand came online and put 7 necklaces into the second blue spot way down at the bottom of the map. I'm a fairly placid Archmage, but I think I was breathing fire over that one.
 

Burger Meister Meister

Well-Known Member
What if instead of a pool as such, mages instead had the ability to move badges from an incomplete waypoint to a different waypoint on the same map?

This is useful as well but I would suggest it as a sub-feature. The goal of my original idea was not to fix mistakes made by other players (although this is a problem as well) but rather to fix the problem of different time zones when people are logged on and off. In our FS we have people around the clock from Australia to Canada and all across the US. Sometimes we know that someone has the badges that we need (because of up to date spread sheet) but they are asleep and progress is blocked for the rest of us.
 

Ashrem

Well-Known Member
I've voted yes, but I'm a little worried the allocation of prize-contributions isn't well defined. I'm concerned that without a cleaner plan, the devs might reject it without a comment that lets us try it again later in a different form.
 

Egwene al Vere

Well-Known Member
I agree wholeheartedly.

Having a place to put your badges in when you go offline will help the rest of the fellowship a lot and the days of last minute struggles will be over. Usually the ones that are offline and sleeping has what is required to finish the map. For some reason it is always the long ones. We will always have that problem unless we have a place on the map where it can be stored.

I would also like to see who in the fellowship has made contributions but that's something the developers can add another time.
 

Pauly7

Well-Known Member
I'm really in two minds about this. Yes it would be a nice feature to stop some badges getting wasted and to stop some people missing stage rewards, but it would also take something away from the FA ethos, plus you know something like this would come hand in hand with a ramping up of all badge requirements.
 
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