Fellowships Waypoint highlighting or locking in FA?

[UlyssesBlue]

Following on from the discussion in this suggestion, I was wondering just how many people would prefer to be able to highlight waypoints vs locking of waypoints in the Fellowship Adventure (or who don't care which and just want something that works).

To clarify, the different options being proposed are:

Waypoint locking - mages (or similar) would be able to lock certain waypoints in the FA so that no players can contribute badges to it.
Waypoint highlighting - mages (or similar) would be able to highlight certain waypoints in the FA to more clearly communicate which waypoints they prefer people contribute to. Players can still contribute to other waypoints if they want. This would be a communication tool only.

Either of these suggestions would reduce the amount of badges 'lost' on off-path waypoints due to mistakes or misunderstandings. Locking waypoints is a more strict way of achieving this than highlighting waypoints.

 

[SoggyShorts]

I like both/either. With the (very) outdated communication system currently in place anything that improves it gets my vote.

 

[Enevhar Aldarion]

I like both/either. With the (very) outdated communication system currently in place anything that improves it gets my vote.

It is better now. While you were gone, messaging was finally added to the app, so now we can directly message all the members, rather than hoping they read the chat.

 

[Irishfox]

I don't think highlighting waypoints would be effective for those who are impatient and just start plugging in badges because they don't want to wait.

 

[Maillie]

The one issue I see is to make sure that if they're locked they can then be unlocked as well. We often want players to use one particular path in the 3rd map to be sure we can finish. When that path is complete then we want to be able to unlock the other two paths if we have time left. We fixed the problem in the first two maps, we let everyone put anything in anywhere and those two maps are finished in no time.

 

[Verde]

Think it would be great to have both options ... effectively 2 levels .... ability to highlight or lock if required

 

[C-Nymph]

In my opinion, only highlighting them seems useless, as we already do that in text and by sharing the plan in detail on a personalised map highlighting which route will be taken. Most of our fellows follow suit, however, there are always the ones who fail to read or who just don't care, and for those, you need to be able to lock the waypoints so nothing for sure gets added and no valuable badges are lost. Similarly, if there are people who are only sporadically online and therefore need to be able to place a badge in those scarce moments, you can lock a waypoint with 'easy' badges until they are able to contribute.
This does indeed require an 'unlock' option as well, as @Maillie said priorly.

 

[UlyssesBlue]

Presumably both suggested features would work like an on/off switch, so you could unlock or unhighlight waypoints if plans changed.

 

[ZenZebra]

I'm in favour of both so long as you can toggle the switch on and off.

 

[Nsaplay78]

Im ok with either but definitely prefer the ability to lock. Some people just dont pay attention. Even with the color or highlighting in some way, they still would place incorrectly. Its not that big a deal if one person does it, but then others see badges have been placed and then place theres without double checking to make sure its a node that u want to clear. Being able to just shut down certain ones and not have to baby sit so people who just dont take the time to make sure they arent making mistakes would be preferable. Every FA at least some amount of badges always get wasted in every fellowship ive ever been in.

 

[Pauly7]

Either one would be a mistake. The FA is something that smaller fellowships can do well in by being organised, communicating well and working together. That's what FA is all about. Sure sometimes I would love to be able to lock something to make the job easier, but that doesn't mean it should happen.

 

[UlyssesBlue]

The FA is something that smaller fellowships can do well in by being organised, communicating well and working together.

The problem is that the existing communication tools don't work well enough. Not everyone reads messages (due to a variety of reasons, including technical limitations), chat posts can be buried, off-site spreadsheets aren't accessible on all platforms, and some members of a fellowship may not be overly fluent in its main language. The latter is especially a problem on more international servers such as EN and Beta. Highlighting is one proposed suggestion that would be a communication tool only, which would simply expand on those already available, and address issues such as language differences and technical limitations, since it would be visual only.

 

[Pauly7]

chat posts can be buried, off-site spreadsheets aren't accessible on all platforms, and some members of a fellowship may not be overly fluent in its main language. The latter is especially a problem on more international servers such as EN and Beta. Highlighting is one proposed suggestion that would be a communication tool only, which would simply expand on those already available, and address issues such as language differences and technical limitations, since it would be visual only.

OK, you've sold me on it. I've changed my vote to highlight only. That could be a useful way to get over some of the language, timezone and messaging problems. It also wouldn't really be in contradiction to the teamwork element I mentioned.

The problem is that the existing communication tools don't work well enough.

This is the real problem that needs to be addressed though. Some strides have been made, i.e. bringing messaging and chat to mobile, but at the heart of it we still have a very antiquated, buggy messaging system that lacks in features. The main strength of Elvenar, and the reason I believe it has been successful for so long, is because of how it brings people and teams together. It's all about community. It continues to surprise me, therefore, that they don't have any focus on improving the messaging situation.

 

[Yogi Dave]

It's a good idea. Basically, I see highlighting the main path and locking the tri-color ones until later. Perhaps leaving a side waypoint or two open for those who will be on at strange times and can't put a badge on the current path. In that case, badges could still be wasted, but with the main path highlighted, members would know to only put in one badge on a side path to get on the map. Should be easy enough to communicate that to the FS.

 

[Marindor]

By now we already have a way to highlight paths in the FA, which makes this thread redundant. I'll archive this now.