Aeoshattr

Happy birthday! I managed to not miss it this year.

Hi all. Since I produced quite a stupendous amount of text, this will come in parts (since I do need time to study and other things too). Please feel free to move, I was not sure if it was appropriate to post this in the "Quests and Contests" subforum.
Feedback is more than welcome, please try to stay constructive. If you feel that I missed something, point out where and what you think should be added.
Pardon fancy language. I may or may not have been under the influence of beverages at the time of production. Without further ado, here is the first part, about quest design and sponsorships. The part about judging & rewarding is still a work in progress. Text Wall ahead.
 
Questmaker’s Etiquette Guide
With various fantabulous tips, tricks, do’s and don’t’s
Glorious Introduction
Here we shall look at 3 major topics regarding making, holding and rewarding a quest, particularly for the realm of MagicDuel, as follows:
 
Quest Design
What is good design? What is bad design?
Accessibility. Types of quests. Target audience. Tips for a few types of frequently-held quests.
How and when to announce quests. Miscellaneous.
Sponsorships
Short tips about who and how to approach for sponsorships.
List of rough values of certain items and creatures (maybe).
Quest Judging and Rewarding
Single blinding, Double blinding and other judging paraphernalia.
Rewarding: do’s and don’t’s, who and how to approach for help.
"How to". Quick guide to help you jumpstart your quest. (This will be a skeleton only! To help you guide your own creativity, not to be used as given!)
Case studies (maybe).
I shall point to a few quests (mine, unless someone else volunteers their own quests and experience with them) and try to dissect out the good and the bad.
 
One thing to keep in mind is that throughout this guide I shall ask questions. These are to provoke thought rather than to demand an answer. There is no correct or incorrect answer in general (with a few exceptions), but there will be a correct answer for your quest. You just have to think how that question relates to your quest (think about how your quest would answer that question, not about what answer I want to hear, if that helps).
Quest Design
Briefly put, in MagicDuel there are a few things to keep in mind as a questmaker. Some are obvious, some are not, some are counterintuitive. I will also look at a few specific structures of quests that pop up frequently and suggest tips for them, if they are to be used as templates. I shall also attempt to discuss how to tailor your quest to a target audience while keeping in mind the idea of accessibility, and a few suggestions about how to make announcements regarding quests.
What is good design? What is bad design?
In a nutshell, a quest that is well designed will run smoothly. It will not need adjustments on the way, it will not need the direct intervention of the questmaker to resolve issues, it cannot be cheated, and there is no unintended interaction between participants (spoiling or sabotaging).
It’s vague, unfortunately, and it will vary for each quest types. But here are a few things you can do, or questions you should try to have an answer to:
 
Try and test whatever can be tested.
Do your clickables function, if any?
Is the quest goal achievable?
Does it require very personal information (i.e. specific relations of your character in-game)? Could others effectively know and solve it?
Is the amount of heat/resources/whatever obtainable in the time you give?
Could you do it? Could someone help you test it?
Is the time window feasible?
Will the quest take too long or too little time?
Does the quest heavily depend on everybody showing up, or on a specific number of participants? Can that become an issue? Can it be avoided?
Try and anticipate flaws or issues in your quest.
Are there ways to cheat/cheese it?
Can it be easily disrupted by a third party (movelock, attacklock, teleporting)? Do you want to change the design to avoid this, or rely on external help?
Are there any unintended progress-stoppers?
Is there a risk of participants spoiling eachother, or sabotaging eachother? Is it indended? Is it an issue?
How could you prevent these issues?
Is your quest transparent? Is your judging and rewarding transparent? Can people obtain details about judging and rewarding after the quest? The answers here should be yes!
Can you manage the quest by yourself? Do you need assistance with:
Scripting clickables?
Try the scripting section on the forums
Try contacting known scripters for help (please let me know if you want to be named here)
Preventing disruptions?
Do you know who might potentially disrupt your quest? Diplomacy works (most of the time).
Request help from friends, or protection under neutrality (Can MDA offer such help?)
Request help from your land leader (if any)?
Alter your quest design to avoid or reduce the risk of disruptions (hold it in a nojump location, for instance).
Effectively holding the quest?
Need a shady character that participants need to chase? Ask around.
Need another helping hand with distributing things to players during the quest (information, items)?
Need someone to supervise what participants do?
Is the quest engaging? Does it feel like an adventure, a continuous process or are there breaks and holes in it? Is it just a series of unrelated trials? Does it relate to MagicDuel at all? You could run a ‘good’ quest without this, but a good quest design will also make the quest enjoyable and fun, not just ‘doable’. One of the best things to do is to try and integrate it with the world of MagicDuel. Try and make it part of the game, rather than just a ‘task’.
Accessibility, Target Audience and Types of Quests
Though this may be subjective, one fundamental principle of quests is their accessibility. This doesn’t necessarily mean that everybody should be able to complete it, but as many people as possible should be able to begin it. This may refer to restrictions or requirements on:
 
Mindpower
Is your quest for a specific Mindpower only, or does it bias for/against a specific Mindpower? How, why, and is it intended this way?
Active Days
Don’t think I’ve seen this one, but is there a restriction on active days? Why? Is it necessary? Why?
Land / Alliance
Can only people from certain lands/alliances participate? Why? Does your quest design bias against/for people from certain lands/alliances? Why? Is it necessary?
Specific people
Obviously, saying “X cannot participate” will immediately be bad. This does not mean you cannot exclude people from your quests, but it should not be baseless (for instance, that person is a judge or a sponsor, or that person has a repeated history of trolling your quests, etc). But excluding people should be considered bad practice, and making such a decision should be taken extremely seriously.
Number of participants
Does your quest have a restriction on how many questers can begin it? Why? Is it intended or necessary, and if so, why?
Talent & Skill
Naturally, drawing quests are going to be fundamentally different from tournament quests. Keep in mind though that you can easily put talent into the backseat by adjusting your judging/scoring parameters!
Stats
Does your quest bias against players with specific stat values? Is this intended / necessary? Does it need adjusting (such as tiering participants)?
 
Keep in mind, many quests will often encounter at least one of those restrictions. These are not to be considered as deadly sins (or things to not do under any circumstance), but rather things that you should be prepared to explain if asked, or changed if not intended.
 
Moving on to the target audience. MagicDuel has a very mottled player base. Some are artists, some are grinders, some are roleplayers, some are coders, some are good with numbers and ciphers, etc. It is very difficult to design a quest for absolutely everybody, so you should at least aim to have a specific audience (whether it is broad or narrow). It is perfectly fine to make a quest for artists or grinders only, but it is good practice to try and make it as broadly available as possible. Think “roleplayers” rather than “that specific type of roleplayer”, if that helps.
 
You could also include multiple, different types of players by introducing multiple stages (have a combat stage, an art stage, etc)! This should be designed very carefully however, or it might discourage people from participating. Maybe make the quest for teams, and thus give them the possibility to include different skill types in their team? Up to you.
Quest Types
The Arts & Crafts Quest
The Tournament Quest
The Roleplaying Scenario Quest
The Clickie Chase Quest
The Cipher / Puzzle Quest
Announcements. Miscellaneous
Tips about how to announce your quests, where to do so and how.
You should announce your quest preferably when you are certain you can hold it (this means you have found sponsorship for rewards, if necessary, or already designed and implemented the bulk of the quest). This is often done on the forums, here. Key elements you should mention in your quest release announcement should be:
Description of the quest requirements (registration - optional, only use if 100% necessary, or details you need for an application)
The task itself + deadlines
Rewards
Judging or scoring methods (do not name your judges. Just say if there will be any and give a few details on what you will be giving points for, if applicable).
Keep in mind that for some quests it is better to announce later rather than earlier (when you want to prevent people from finding loopholes in your quest, for instance).
Try and give a decent amount of time, but do not give a stupendously distant deadline. This means people will have to wait very long for their rewards! Give too short a notice and people won’t participate, as they will fear their effort will be wasted.
During the quest, keep in mind that you announcing details about any of the participants (who is participating, if they have any score so far, who is leading, etc) may lead to their sabotaging! Do not divulge information about participants that is not public by quest design, even if you think it’s harmless!
Be wary that information leaks. Try to tell as little as possible about the quest prior to its release. You might give details to third parties helping you set the quest up and while said third parties may not participate, they may pass the information further to potential participants.
Sponsorships and Rewards
Quest rewards can be varied, but can usually be broken down into 5 major categories:
Wishpoints. Arguably most valuable.
Coins (Gold or Silver). Arguably most versatile.
Creatures. Can vary from extremely valuable and rare, to very mundane.
Items or Resources. Some can be valuable and usable (spellstones), other are for RP purposes only. Some resources can be used to create other items or creatures.
Other rewards. This may include things such as nightmode, dreams, melodic charm, medals, group memberships or spelldocs. These can perhaps be some of the rarest rewards, but their value will vary wildly on the perception of the receiver.
 
For 1-4, you can approach the Treasure Keepers (namely Eara Meraia in-game). You can also ask for sponsorships from just about any player! However, by the time you ask you should already have:
A clear quest structure in mind
An idea of how difficult the quest would be
An idea of what sort of rewards would be suitable for it
For 5, you should approach the players responsible for those rewards (for instance, myself for nightmode - Aeoshattr in game)
 
Players who can give special rewards (in their own quests and/or as sponsoring):
Nightmode - Aeoshattr Dreams - Jubaris (?) Melodic Charm - Burns (debated currently, I believe) Spelldocs - lashtal, *Nimrodel*, Intrigue  
You can always award part of your own items or creatures. If you want to be able to award Wishpoints on your own, you will need to obtain Wishpoint Reward Codes, which you can get from the permanent Drachorn Quest, but are sometimes awarded to questmakers by admins for particularly good quests.
Keep in mind that rewards should scale with quest difficulty! There is no “here are some average rewards” guide. You should be able to assess the difficulty of your quest and have a rough idea of the type of rewards that should be given. You can always use past quests that you can find on the forums here as a reference.
 
If you are unsure of the value of a specific item or creature, you can consult past prices by searching the forum here. Make sure you look at the time and date of the transaction! Prices change in time! If still in doubt, you can always ask veteran players in-game or post on the forums.
 

Quest Judging and Rewarding
While I cannot provide direct instructions as to how to judge each and every quest, I can provide some principles that are good to follow when thinking about how you select your judges, how you send the quest information to those judges, and subsequently how to distribute rewards. Luckily, some IRL principles can be applied here very successfully! Without further ado…
Judging Principles
Single Blinding. This means that your questers do not know who your judges are. This is extraordinarily simple to implement and I dare say it is something that you must do in all of your quests. How?
Ask for judges publicly, but ask for applications to be sent to you privately.
Go directly to someone you know does judging and ask privately. Make sure you ask them not to divulge their judge status.
Do not accept judge applications that are made publicly.
Why is this good practice? Think about questers potentially influencing judges. Telling them “look for a submission like this one, see if you can give it extra points”, etc. If your questers are unaware of who judges your quest, then that is much more difficult to achieve. Always try and go for reliable, reputable players, whenever possible.
 
Double Blinding. This means, like single blinding, that your questers do not know who their judges are, but it also means that the judges do not know whose quest entry they are judging! This may sound a bit trickier, and it is, but nevertheless it is not very difficult to achieve. What this means is that you need to take these steps, in order:
You apply all the principles above when selecting your judges
Ask for quest entries to be sent to you privately (forum PMs?)
Make sure you keep a record of which entry belongs to whom (privately). Microsoft Excel (or Google Spreadsheets) is great for this.
Anonymise each entry (remove player names or revealing details, such as titles, ID, etc). Replace them with “Participant X”, where X is a number you assign so you can undo the anonymisation later.
Send each anonymised entry to your judges.
Therefore, the questers will not know who judges them and the judges won’t know whose entry they are judging. This is one of the fairest things you can do. This also ensures that the only one who knows whose entry belongs to who is you. Obviously, this can be cheated, but it is much more difficult than if you don’t do it at all.
 
For the more visually inclined, here is an example of what you would receive by forum PMs and what you should send to your judges (using real player names, for the sake of it):
 
 
Other bits and details, in no particular order.
Google Spreadsheets is a great tool to be used for judging. Here are a few things that it can do (automatically) to make your life easier:
Maths. It can calculate averages and just about any other formulas you might need just from values you input.
Easy Sharing. Just send a link to your judges. Make sure you set the document to request permission to view from you by e-mail, don’t let everybody with the link see it!
Hiding. You can hide certain parts of a sheet, or certain sheets from your judges, so they don’t see either your own scores (if you give any) or they don’t see the totals and rankings so far, so that it will not influence their judging!
Think of it this way, if one judge sees that he can make the difference between 1st and 2nd place by his choice, it might influence him in the scores he will give in order to put one participant in front of the other.
Selective Editing. Google Spreadsheets can be set-up to allow each user to edit only a specific portion of the entire spreadsheet. This means you can have a single sheet for everybody, and each judge can edit only his own little section. No changes in the formulas you put in or in the layout, etc.
This works very well for quests where specific score break-downs are needed (such as an arts & crafts quest, where the total score is composed of many little scores awarded for different criteria).
You should post your score break-downs, where there are any. This is for transparency. You may or may not want to reveal the judges at the end, and if you do not want to reveal their names (also ask them if they want their names out or not), then simply use Judge X, Y, Z, 1, 2, 3, etc.
You should double check your scores and calculations. I know it’s very tempting to just take what Google Spreadsheets gives you, but at least look over it once to make sure there are no blatant errors.
You should aim for two judges for most quests. If you apply double blinding by default you cannot be a judge, unless someone else does the anonymisation for you (which I don’t recommend, I would prefer depending on myself only for this kind of thing).
Each judge should have an equal weighting in the final score. This means you can’t have 3 judges, but in total their opinion is worth 10% and yours is worth 90%. Each judge should have an equal weighting.
Make sure your ranking criteria are defined at the beginning. This means if your quest isn’t a simple hierarchy of scores but has some sort of tiers or thresholds, you define those clearly from the very beginning and maintain them at the end of the quest, regardless of how many people ranked in each tier (or didn’t). You should always consult your sponsors, if you think there is a problem with how many people ranked (or didn’t) in a certain position.
Make sure you provide the judges with your marking scheme. This means be sure that you send them the entries you get from the questers, but also exactly what they should be giving points for, how many and how! If the quest is a puzzle, you might need to send them the puzzle solution. If it’s an arts & crafts quest, you might need to send them the criteria (such as creativity, originality, design, relevance to quest, etc). Always send marking schemes after the quest is finished and when no further entries can be submitted. Just to be extra-safe so your answer doesn’t get leaked before judging starts.

Half jokingly, half not, and addressed to all of you, not any particular side of the argument.
 

Half jokingly, half not, and addressed to all of you, not any particular side of the argument.
 

Pot, kettle, black.

On the one hand, taking combat away for 2 days/month forces people do do something else, even if that is nothing at all. It makes people try to find another activity. If there was something captivating enough happening in MD, players might focus towards it in those 2 days. This already exists deep within the wish-shop. I'd dare say too deep, but that's not for me to decide. Lore-wise, if my memory serves me right, DoT was meant to be dedicated to realm-wide Night, which never happened. Again, it's been a long time so take it with a pinch of salt or correct me. So it serves a purpose in lore, mechanics and gameplay direction.
TL;DR: it's 2 days / month, the benefit of removing it (for grinders) doesn't outweigh  the potential game-wide benefits for everyone else if something productive is done with it.

Sounds like you need a SecretAry

After a week or so I’m going to hide this. I consider this pretty rude dst and you will be getting a warning point for this.
On consideration I completely understand you might be upset if Nava did do it on purpose (which is entirely possible and I’m not making a comment one way or another) but I consider the way this was handled to be poor form and just rude.
We don’t witch hunt here, unless you are hunting me which is fair game as the totalitarian forum admin.

I have previously attempted this with very limited success; with even fewer players now than when I tried, I think you're up against a challenge...
Regardless, should you find interest in the night, come speak to me.

I call it "Fang goes to Necro."

If it is deemed suitable to be official documentation, I would be honored, that was how it was initially intended.
May I ask it to be credited to me wherever it is added though?

No, Fang, we can't run around our lands if we do not have a land and keep in mind most new players and some veterans have no citizenship. I personally could just get 12 won fights for a burst, but people shouldn't have to need that after ever single fight.

Can we please have some kind of fix for some of the bigger issues though? It's been quite a few days and having your VE reset to 1500 every time you're being attacked is a bit annoying. Also stats not counting, combo counters not adding, etc etc etc.

If anything, at the moment Azull embodies the spirit of MD better than you, Fang, in spite of your efforts to act as a guide and guardian of the young.
That's what MD is about. Being immersed into the world, not treating it as any other game where you can just quickly check the forums or summon a support team to fix things for you. They need to learn to put some soul in, put a part of themselves out there, even when dealing with requests for help.

Lol fang you said you wanted to impress me or something now i understand that you meant in a negative way so hey you did it congrats
You should also remember that we got invited to the island, if you got kicked then maybe its not about people other than guardians on the island but rather just about you and your personality
About that mirror crap you keep vomiting
You cant act as a mirror you can merely try to imitate behaviour how you think it is, why? Because ones perception is always bound to ones point of view, its subjectively even if you try to be as objectively as you can
Furthermore you keep contradicting yourself from one topic to the next, write posts that are plain emotional defence and then try to end them with some sort of " oh but i know i'm better than you all only i know the truth" 
You act like a know it all teenager that thinks he figured out everything and is "sooo" superior to everyone else, but you dont know shit, misbehave and act like a sad cognitiv suboptimised insignificant sub species of a human being
 

You took about 7 minutes to find him, when you know where one Begins on the island.
Your reply to my PM was to the degree, you made it sound as if you werent looking. on purpose.
And do yourself a favor, put that cursed pride aside for all of 5 seconds, we might be able to make miracles.
That being a failed attempt, as i know it will be, remember you were the one to make me an enemy.
And again, youre letting your emotions get in the way.
Youre saying a little rough language breaks you?
That is beyond words Azull, as an Ex King i expected better from you.
Truly, i am disappointed, yet you made your bed, so lay in it.

If you are not a Guardian, then get off the Island, thats a place for Guardians, as i was told when i was kicked.
If you are a Guardian, then do your civic duty, and help those that i send your way.
If you cant do that because you either
1) Cant get along with me and im the main recruiter atm or
2) Cant take orders and requests from the public because, again, that damn pride of yours impedes you
Then my dear Ex King, and emphasis on Ex, you have picked the wrong "hobby", as youve made it quite clear

When you read the harshness of my words, remember i am a Mirror.
Evil for Evil.
Good for Good.
Balance for Neutrality.
You layed a deep seed, and now your reap what you sowed.
Enjoy what youve earned, as you definitely deserve it.

Fang, you do not understand what a MP6 would mean to MD, or you do not understand all the ramifications of it.
There can be no MP6.

As it would be unfair not to let the public know, I hereby officially give up on reviving CoE, at least until the player base increases (which may just as well be long after I'm dead and buried.) or until I am sought for the task by people that want to put effort into it along with me.
 
The main reason is disappointment with the applicants, and I will list some of the reasons below, briefly.
 
1. Not a single task was completed by any applicant. 
2. Not a single applicant bothered to report any progress on given tasks, even though I asked multiple times.
3. Applicants were unable to carry out the first (and only) sermon for 30 mins - 1 hr during which I was locked in GoC.
 
To sum it up, people were interested in being slapped with a badge, without putting effort into it. For (1) and (2) I have already allowed... 2-3 months? If not more?
 
My main fault:
 
1. Failed to carry out subsequent sermons, due to difficulty matching up timezones with other applicants and due to IRL interfering with my schedule and due to disappointment with lack of interest from people.
 
I can only do so much work myself. I wrote up the manifesto. I created a webpage for the alliance. I tried advertising. I initiated a number of members. I set out their pilgrimages. I tried to hold a sermon, was restrained, and asked (naturally) the members to carry it out without me - needing to resort to a completely uninvolved IRL friend to keep things going.
I am more than willing to lead an effort, but I will not drag people after me. The work is not only mine, and I couldn't even do it all by myself in the first place. Furthermore, there would be no point in me doing all the work. An alliance is about people and working together, not about the ideals of one person. I am strongly convinced that even if I did do every single bit of work by myself, the Council would not revive the CoE as it would be considered only my work, and not that of a community of people seeking to be recognized as an alliance.
 
Yes, it was a major caveat in my initial plan: lack of players. Perhaps if the player base was larger, there would be more people interested, and odds would be that from those people some would actually put effort into it.
 
I will be more than happy to take the role up once more, but only if I am specifically asked to by other interested players who are willing to work along with me.
 

I have written it, as promised and I received no objections to posting it for public viewing. I decided to post it in a new topic, for the sake of clarity. I hope it's readable - I wrote it in a google document and formatted it nicely, but the forum might break some of the formatting.
 
Constructive criticism is welcome. It may not be perfect and there may be issues that escaped my mind or that I did not phrase properly, so please suggest improvement (how and where to do it), if you believe it is necessary.
 
Also, I will update this first post with a list of people currently interested in committing themselves to this journey of bringing the CoE back.
 
Player List:
Aeoshattr
Powle
Darry Dabby
StrongWilledLegna
Ciphla
 
 
 
 

Who am I?
 
I am Aeoshattr, former Knight of the Full Moon. CoE was the first alliance to open its arms to me. I have learned much from it and I have loved it, yet due to a temporary divergence in opinions, I took the decision to leave, long ago. Nevertheless, my heart remained with the Eclipse for a long time. I have been wandering around searching for another home since, yet I am now fully devoted to Loreroot and to bringing it back to its former glory - which, in my view, involves restoring the CoE. I have been a citizen of Loreroot, but I have also been a member of the Shattered Illusions and of the Knights of the Bell for a short period of time in the past.
I have decided to begin this journey as I believe that I can serve Loreroot as a whole better by doing this; as a citizen of Loreroot, it is my duty to ensure I serve the Land as well as I can.
 
Why revive CoE?
 
Loreroot has been reduced to the Guardians and the Woodcutters. While there is more than enough space to accommodate newcomers in these alliances, it still leaves a gaping space open which must be filled in order to restore the Root to its former glory. The Root will not be complete if part of its heart is torn away from it, no matter how many nourish and tend to it. The Eclipse will open new possible roles for the people of Loreroot and those that wish to join it - thus providing us with the room to grow in variety not only in numbers.
 
The alliance was, indeed, more than just a branch of the Root that stretched out, beyond the forest. Its purpose was both to guide the growth of the Root under the light of the Moon, defend the land, retrieve valuable information from lands far away and even delivering retribution when necessary. The Knighthood and Priesthood were valued halves of this Alliance which I wish to preserve, as their complementary relationship proved successful in the past.
Furthermore, I believe that the community as a whole (I am referring to all players in MD) could benefit from the presence of this alliance. I hope that the sermons and the ceremonies that will be held will inspire others and provide insight to those that attend them; pilgrimages will provide players with goals and help them shape their roles. I believe the community needs something to bring it together, even if just for a few hours at a time, something to keep it going and provide people with an opportunity to listen, talk and think and - who knows - maybe spawn new plot lines that will drive the Adventure Log forwards and help other players advance their roles and wishes.
Do we need the CoE? Yes, I dare speak for Loreroot, we do. Our Guardians are strong and the Woodcutters are meticulous. The Forest is defended and tended to, yet there is a sense of guidance that seems to elude my perception for the moment. The Root needs to know that the Moon has not abandoned it, so that it may grow under its cold, gentle light as well as under the strong, warm light of the Sun. The Forest is incomplete without the Eclipse and thus it will not flourish as it once did without the Eclipse.
As I stated, it is my wish to see Loreroot restored to its former glory and I cannot see this done without the CoE. Therefore, I am willing to take this burden onto myself, in an attempt to prove that I am worthy of bringing back and leading this once beautiful alliance.
 
tl;dr: A set of roles cannot be fulfilled without the CoE. The Guardians of the Root are military by default and the Woodcutters are harvesters. It's not stopping people within them from researching or plotting or pushing forwards RP, but the CoE would be vastly more dedicated to this and more suitable, avoiding the creation of "mottled" alliances.
 
What will the purpose of CoE be?
 
Its purpose will retain most of its past goals. The scope of the Cloister shall be to worship the Moon, the Sun and the Stars, share our wisdom with whoever is willing to listen, provide guidance and blessing in dire times as well as in times of joy. There will be ceremonies to be held, pilgrimages to be taken, offerings to be given (which I will detail in a “Book of Rites” that has yet to be compiled from old sermons and new ones).
Overall, I am doing this to bring out the Lore of Loreroot to its people and those outside, which I do not see being done currently and, in my view, would be an enriching experience for everyone.
 
tl;dr: Heavy focus on Roleplay that involves many players (gatherings, pilgrimages, etc) and that hopefully will bring life back to the community, but also on research of Loreroot and hopefully gathering enough influence and resources to push forwards implementation of new features in MD. 
 
What will change? How, why?
 
Following suggestions, I have decided to remove the Knighthood (to avoid unnecessary mottling of the alliance and creating redundancy), except for a few select spots in the alliance. The CoE will be a roleplay-research alliance with very little, if any, military involvement. We leave the defense of the land in the hands of the Guardians and will assist with our power in times of need, but our goals are not military by default.
The Clergy of the CoE will be referred to as the Cloister.
I have changed the number and frequency of ceremonies to be held; ceremonies held by the Eclipse are not mundane events and should not be considered as such (thus their quality must step up a notch) and hopefully this will help draw more people to attend them and make them have a greater impact upon those that attend. The ceremonies will be rarer, in order to enable people to plan so that they can attend and to allow more time for their preparation. I believe this is more important at the moment.
The changes regarding the Knighthood are mainly concerned with a personal opinion that I hold. The land of Loreroot is not a spiteful, expansive land. We will be adamant about guarding our boundaries, but should not seek to actively expand them. Thus I deemed the need for a powerful offensive force unnecessary and removed the Knighthood.

The ranks of the CoE
 
Cloister
Seer (1): the leader of the Cloister as a whole, finding balance between the Moon and the Sun. The Seer must provide guidance to the Cloister and counselling to the Prior, as well as to Loreroot to an extent. A Seer is revealed to the Eclipse rather than chosen by its people.
Sun Dancer: priest(ess) which hears the voice of the Sun, feels its warmth and vigour. Their souls must match the youth of the Sun and their actions must reflect this. (Regarding game mechanics only, you will be expected to aid lorerootians to gain heat.)
Moon Chanter: priest(ess) which hears the voice of the Moon, matching its calm and cold nature. Though empathic like the rest, the Moon Chanters are the best known as the secret keepers of the Eclipse. (Regarding game mechanics only, you will be expected to aid lorerootians to lose heat)
Silent (1): The Silent is the right hand of the Prior, involving in affairs that the Prior would otherwise be unable to attend himself. Thus the Silent is only held responsible for his/her actions directly to the Prior.
Prior (1): The Prior is the leader of the Eclipse, revealing his/her will only to the people of Loreroot. He/she plays a balancing act between gazing into the darkness and basking in the light, communing with the Cloister and with the Covenant as well as with the other people of Loreroot. The Prior is elected from the Eclipse by the existing Omen and Seer, but also by the two Consuls.
The numbers in brackets represent the number of available positions for the respective rank. I will update it accordingly (I do not remember the maximum number of members for CoE) 

 
The Code of the Cloister
Empathy – a priest(ess) must empathise even with the enemy and guide the Eclipse accordingly.
Secrecy – a priest(ess) must never give away the secrets of the Root outside the Forest. What is deemed secret shall be made known to the Cloister by the Seer and the Prior, or even the Consuls of Loreroot.
Counsel – a priest(ess) must share his/her advice to those who come to seek it and help guide them accordingly.
Liturgy – a priest(ess) must conduct the rituals of the Cloister as mentioned within the ritual, regardless of whom is attending or any other needs.
 
The Seer
The Moon and the Sun have revealed themselves to you. None are worthy of judging or deeming what your duty is, which is why you must let the Moon and the Sun guide you down the right path, for your word weighs heavily in the Eclipse.
Your presence is required for special ceremonies during Solstices and Equinoxes.
The overruling duty of the Seer, however, is to initiate the other members of the Cloister and supervise them throughout their journey.
       
The Sun Dancers
You bring warmth and light to the Forest, radiating youth and joy. You must dance for us in times of sorrow and need, but dance even more in times of happiness. Spring and Summer fall under your wings and it is your duty to perform ceremonies to praise the Sun and what it brings to the Forest. (Once per week during the mentioned seasons and every Full Moon in the rest of the time)
Empathy is your overruling duty.
       
The Moon Chanters
Your dim, soothing light ensures that the Forest and its inhabitants are guided down the right path. Your songs keep the forest and its inhabitants safe during the long night – you are needed in times of pain, to keep the Children of the Eclipse bound together and keep hope lit in their hearts. Fall and Winter are under your spell, thus it is your duty to praise them and the Moon. (Once per week during the mentioned seasons and every New Moon in the rest of the time)
Secrecy is your overruling duty.
 
 
The Code of the Prior
Balance – a Prior must show balance between the two halves of the Eclipse: maintaining equilibrium between the Sun and the Moon, between Light and Darkness, between the Covenant and the Cloister.
Diplomacy – a Prior must be diplomatic, as his/her voice weighs in the affairs of Loreroot and in external affairs as well.
Devotion – a Prior must be devoted to Loreroot and he/she cannot decide to take action against his/her own land, unless it is demonstrated that it is for the good of the Land.
Stoicism – a Prior’s decisions are irrevocable, thus he/she must stand by his/her word until his/her last breath. Furthermore, a Prior must acknowledge that his/her decision weighs heavily and thus not give his/her judgement lightly.
 
The Prior
The Prior is the leader of the Eclipse; as the Eclipse’s main purpose is to serve the forest, the Prior is elected from the people of the Eclipse, but must have his/her role confirmed by the two Consuls of the Land, or the current leaders of the Land. Under special circumstances, the Prior may be elected without the blessing of the Consuls (such as there are no Consuls alive, etc), however, once the situation is remedied, his/her role must be confirmed by the leaders of the Land.
The Prior’s main purpose is dictated by his/her Code and, as he/she holds authority over the Eclipse, few are in the position to judge his/her decisions. Thus he/she must show a sense of Justice and Balance and, furthermore, any infringement of the Code must be dealt with by the Consuls and the Judges of Loreroot.
Within the Eclipse, the Prior’s purpose is to guide as he/she sees fit, but also to initiate and supervise the work of the Omen and of the Seer, who are directly subordinated to him/her. Regardless, the authority of the Prior can be questioned and disputed by the members of the Eclipse, with a rite that shall be mentioned in the Book of Rites.
 
The Silent
Your duty and loyalty lies with the Prior before anyone else – you carry out tasks that concern the fate of the Forest, beyond its boundaries. Like your mission, your shackles are long and loose, yet remember you are accountable to the Prior and to the Consuls, should you forget where your heart and soul truly lie.
Your Devotion must be unwavering.
 
 
Disciplinary actions (offense by CoE)
Should it be proven that one of the Eclipse has broken the Code, they shall be judged by the Omen or the Seer, then by the Prior, and finally by the Consuls, varying with the severity of their actions.
Minor offenses shall be judged by Seer. These include but are not limited to breaking one of the rules in the Code, except for Secrecy. This also refers to a first-time offense of the above-mentioned severity. These offenses shall be dealt with as deemed appropriate, though the offender will not be removed from the alliance.
Major offenses shall be judged by the Prior together with the Seer. These refer specifically to breaking Secrecy, however are not limited to it. This also refers to repeated breaches of the code, regardless of their severity. The punishment is usually the retirement of the offender’s badge, yet may be more or less severe.
Capital offenses shall be judged by the Prior together with the Consuls only. This refers mainly to Treason but is not limited to it. Murder or grave injury of any Lorerootian by a member of the Eclipse is considered treason, as well as revealing compromising information to the enemy, regardless of the current diplomatic status (even in times of peace). The Prior and the Consuls have right of life and death over a traitor and if their decision is to spare the offender, then the decision is final and the offender is banished from the lands for eternity.
 
The Silent constitute an exception as he/she is only held accountable for his/her actions directly to the Prior and only under extraordinary circumstances will he/she be brought to justice together with the Consuls or the Judges of Loreroot.
 
 
Alt accounts policy:
I am welcoming alts to join my cause, however I will be unyielding in regards to one issue: no meta-roleplay. You are expected to keep your alts 100% separate, no exceptions under any circumstances. Information that I share with one alt should not be shared with another alt or used by another character other than the one I shared it with. This includes everything, even if I just tell you what I had for breakfast! I know it must be difficult sometimes, but I will make no exceptions. This will be a role-play alliance (mainly), thus avoiding meta-roleplay is of the utmost importance. Breaching of this will result in a prompt boot to the butt and I reserve the right to kick people that breach this rule without notice.
 
EDIT: Added Ary's suggestion as mentioned in his post
EDIT: Updated, considering Granos' suggestions. Added some tl,dr in green text, to highlight some stuff. Hope I didn't miss anything

Thought:
Do we know that the problem with our playerbase is because of the login/early gameplay? Have we looked into this? It seems that a lot of work is being put into this part of the game, yet over the past 2-3 years the player base kept decreasing (or at least it feels like it has). It would be useful to have some numbers to illustrate when players leave, at what stage, etc - these numbers might be there, I am unaware and I don't think they've ever been made public.
I don't think that MD's problem is that it's too difficult to register or that it takes too long to go through the tutorial, etc, thus I don't think that making a login via facebook would help. It could be neat, sure, a one-click way to login, but I doubt it would actually help. In other words, I don't think that players leave in the early 0-2 days stage, I think they leave in the middle phase (a few days into the game, before they reach 'end-game')... and that's an entirely different problem altogether. 

This is mostly the post I wrote, minus some  finesse
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On 9/3/2017 at 5:19 PM, Aeoshattr said:
don't think that players leave in the early 0-2 days stage, I think they leave in the middle phase (a few days into the game, before they reach 'end-game')... and that's an entirely different problem altogether. 
I am happy that you are concerned about us wasting time, primarily becuase it means you care.
The reason I am asking these questions is not to know what I should implement asap, but to know what the current players of MD think. Originally this idea came to me while I was playing another game that offering google login and their standard. Talking to people many many many of them opted for google login over the games standard login.
Part of this was the ease of login, but others gave me reasons along the lines of not having to remember many passwords as they just use their google account and it all links in. While I personally dont like this idea, as I have previously had issues with un-merging accounts, I understand others may enjoy such a facility.
To speak technically, I am in the requirements gathernig and prototyping phase of development in MD. This means that I, in part, sit around in bed with a cup of tea, a sketch book and lots of paper. Drawing and planning out what needs to be done, at some point.
The primary focus of this at the moment is a three part rework of the base of MD. The first, as currently announced, is to remove flash completely. Its archaic and slow and people dont like it. The second is a boring rework of the internals to make sure we can continue to develop over the next 10 years. The reason behind this is that web technologies change and we need to make sure that our code isnt going to just be deprecated.
The third is something I have talked about least, and is a rework of MD's UI. The primary aim is this is to increase the horizontal real estate of MD. Since it was originally desinged screens have gotten larger and have a much higher pixel density. This is important since we have a massive vertical scroll which is annoying.
The current horizontal resolution I am working to is both 1280 and 1366. The first being a "new" size square screen and the latter being the standard for 15 inch laptops (also the size of my 6 year old laptop I code on). This is actually a big change from originally being 800 pixels wide.
By asking about these technologies that have recently come about (specifically in this case the login via X services). We are looking forward to future users and peolpe who havent yet joined. Not to mention the potential future of MD. It is important not to design MD in s way that potentially would prohibit such a technology that might be important. Therefore in this stage I am asking lots of questions about what peolpe would expect from a site. We probably wouldnt implement something like two factor auth, but if people expected it perhaps we need to?
Lots has changed, and lots will change. We just need to accept that these things do change and that we need to be aware of some of them. Technologies rise and fall and fads come and go. But MD, MD is here for the future.
Hopefully you dont see me asking these questions as something that I will immediately implement. But merely as sounding the group to see what is something we might eventually add.

The main thing with this is that I would first need to investigate what we are allowed to store after allowing a user to login with such a method. I wouldn't want to store a users email if they don't want that.
But I do expect that if a user initially created a facebook/twitter/etc account we would allow them to migrate to a "full" MD account.
Like dst said, I like this idea.
 
We know it isnt. Im not sure what you point is here, can you clarify?
Actually, at least from my point of view, not much work has been put into the game. Mur has spent a decent chunk of time but actually most of my work has been on the backend and doing work to prepare for MD. Actually I have spent a decent number of weekends sitting in bed with a cup of tea and a notepad. Maybe I will scan some of it someday
We don't, or at least I don't, have numerical figures but I think it's quite easy to see what happens by watching. I spent a good couple months invisible watching. Perhaps slightly voyeuristically but the old saying of, you observe it and it changes.
From what I saw, the point where we lost many players is the point after they had done most of the intro, story and started to fight a bit. It takes a certain person to be able to continue from what we have given (very little) and direct themselves.
This was originally one of the filters but is something that we both (Murry and I) feel needs to change. This isn't because of anything that has changed in MD, but RL. Mur and I cannot fund the continual advertising that was originally powering the stream of players into the game. Since there were so many players coming through the number that stayed because of the continual stream to fight and battle and talk with. Since we have turned off the stream it dwindles and the "stream" stopped. So instead of getting new players come and go into the alliances we didnt.
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I wrote a massive post here but the forum has eaten it 

I support the idea of spell-docs being more available since, as Chew said, only 3-4 are obtainable at the moment, at best.
On the other hand, I see spell-docs as useless at the moment (and quite frankly I cannot recall any spell doc being used at all in years). RP is dead. Nothing is happening. Why invest time in something that has never actually been used and that is unlikely to ever be used in the foreseeable future? 
Correct me if I am wrong, but also, since spell docs are ultimately just fancy RP, why invest time and effort in them at all? Do they actually hold any objective power, or is it all down to someone just respecting what you do with a spell doc if they feel like it?

If someone has a complaint about something in the past, from before I wrote that announcement I'm not going to be spending a lot of time trying to resolve the past.  Anything going forward I will review

To my knowledge, MD currently has no remaining dedicated artists. All are either busy with RL or have left.
There is, indeed a Night Keeper at the Fictionists' House whom you can ask.