Site Feedback & Profile Forum Changes

[Dread]

Hello everyone! First of all...

Second of all, you can now bump your pending character profiles once you've made the requested edits and five days have passed since the last mod post. To bump your profile you simply tag the profile mods and myself (@Logan @Wit @Dread), letting us know you've done the edits.

This does not mean you can PM or harass staff, bumps are only to be made in the pending character profile.

Approved character profiles will now be moved to the new Approved Profiles forum. This will make it easier to keep track of pending and new profiles.

Finally, the staff team wants to get your feedback on the site mechanics and story so far. Below you will find a questionnaire to answer. Please do not add questions to the questionnaire. Remember that these questions are about the site mechanics (plot system, bounty system, pvp system, etc) and the story (where it is now, how fast or slow it's recently progressed, your thoughts on it, etc). It is not about members, leadership or staff. Please do not single out or name anyone, or "hint" at people or groups of people. Posts that do not follow the aforementioned instructions will be removed.

Site Mechanics & Story Questionnaire

1. What have you enjoyed the most about this timeline?
2. Where can there be improvements in site mechanics and/or story?
3. What would you like to see more of? (Please provide as much detail to this question as possible; if you suggest a site event, what kind of event would you like? PvP? Non-PvP story focused? Cross-faction? Located in hutt space? etc)
4. Lastly, do you have any ideas you'd like to share with staff?

 

[ByakuyaXVMarkov]

1. The Invasion of Hoth
2. Perhaps balance the story out for all factions, not just focusing on one or two. Making more unusual alliances/actions between factions
3. Site event that involves Cross-Faction PVP Ex: Sith + GA vs Mandos, Indies + Mandos vs Sith, etc
4. Perhaps emphasize or make a system on plots that deal with establishing strongholds or homes for characters, such as a plot to build or take a expensive estate to use for luxury or a base of operations.

 

[Rimrald]

• What have you enjoyed the most about this timeline?
  • The build up of Mandalorians to decide a faction leader organically.

• Where can there be improvements in site mechanics and/or story?
  • Two or Three main factions to begin a TL seemed to be the sweet spot, four this TL seemed to strain the playerbase a little farther than expected. The current story is stellar but that was the only issue I saw!

• What would you like to see more of? (Please provide as much detail to this question as possible; if you suggest a site event, what kind of event would you like? PvP? Non-PvP story focused? Cross-faction? Located in hutt space? etc)
  • Potentially having someone cooking up more bounties or allowing the players to submit bounties on behalf of the NPC organizations as well as their factions.
  • Potentially exploring more player to player political RP like the senate last TL but with less memes.
• Lastly, do you have any ideas you'd like to share with staff?
  • I know staff decided against tracking faction assets as it was a pain, but I can see having some sort of tangible asset that plays a difference in the balance of factions clashing beyond just flavor could be a motivator for players to stay invested in their factions. It could also give the factions a way to mix up their mission packs beyond the standard attack, defend, infiltrate.
  • Having the mandos as a minor faction last TL was extremely interesting to see the playerbase utilize the hutt faction, maybe a third major faction could be a new organization to explore next TL (ie Banking Clans, Black Suns, Hutts etc.) or a minor political movement working to prominence (the separatist alliance for example.)

 

[KinkyPrawn]

1. What have you enjoyed the most about this timeline?
The escalating fight between the GA and SE. Gotta love that Empire vs Rebels thing going on.

2.Where can there be improvements in site mechanics and/or story?
In terms of mechanics I'd say that lore takes a bit of a while to get approved. But of course the lore admin also has a life and stuff like force powers can get tricky, so I won't hammer on that one.
I would also like to see Legends be treated a bit more kindly. Like some abilities, happenings, traditions, tech. There's definitely stuff in Legends that could make for fine additions here on the site that get shot down just for the sake of being Legends.
This might just be me being a newbie but I feel like PvP is taking over everything. I like the whole self-DM thing because it opens up for story-driven stuff more. It allows people to progress their characters and doesn't turn everything into CoD with words.

3.What would you like to see more of? (Please provide as much detail to this question as possible; if you suggest a site event, what kind of event would you like? PvP? Non-PvP
story focused? Cross-faction? Located in hutt space? etc)
I would personally like to see more crime-oriented stuff. We almost had it with the Exchange but that was a flop not worth talking about. But it all depends on people's taste and if people don't wanna do crime, it's understandable.
The sound of cross-faction stuff sounds fun. I like this current event cuz we get a chance to interact with other factions in a way that does not involve PvP. Also presents opportunity for more story-oriented RP.

4.Lastly, do you have any ideas you'd like to share with staff?
Only small things like a pirate faction(Hondo style) and stuff like that, but nothing big and especially not stuff others would like all that much.

 

[Styx]

1. The faction lore was fun to get into. The announcement’s “current story update” has been helpful and interesting for me, being new to this timeline, seeing what’s happening to people.

2. Maybe more of a spotlight on the major players of this timeline? Maybe a main story arc tag/tab for those important thread titles? Or just a separate little section in the current story updates for faction leaders/renowned PCs?

3. A major current event that changes a government, a planet, an environment, a business, or a crown change that changes nothing about the main factions but adds flavor to the background of all the things going on on all the planets out there. Just something to stimulate ideas, plots, or character arcs. For example: a king on some useless planet is overthrown by the people without anything to do with the PC’s actions of this timeline so far, and the new queen has claimed to have unearthed some new Force touched alter.

4. More of the above. Just flavor stuff like holonet news that instigates background events galaxy wide. Little things every once in a while. More work but sounds interesting maybe?

 

[vamp]

What have you enjoyed the most about this timeline?
Things have been really organic this TL. While last TL we had a small handful of members doing plots that actually affected the story (with most people just focusing on personal plots), now the vast majority of players have run a faction plot of their own, and the results have shown in the incredible progress factions have made gaining territory on the map. In addition, the Mandalorians are a fine example of the system done right—they started off small, but due to member activity and hard work they became the second biggest faction territory and asset wise.

Where can there be improvements in site mechanics and/or story?
Site mechanics — Honestly, everything is going incredibly smoothly and the staff has been doing a stellar job keeping things that way. The only issue I have is the amount of time Lore articles take to be reviewed, but it's not really a glaring issue that's super important or anything, and my experience with the Lore system—and its mods—has been nothing short of awesome.

Story — Maybe more staff-written site story? I think we need a good balance of member and staff-written story, even if the latter is just background. I'm big on world building so that may be why I suggest it, but it would be cool to have some news articles that affect the story in the newsletter, or more focus on important NPCs. For example, there's allegedly a large amount of Sith Lords in the Empire, but it feels like the only Lords are the PCs and the ranks are somewhat empty.

What would you like to see more of? (Please provide as much detail to this question as possible; if you suggest a site event, what kind of event would you like? PvP? Non-PvP story focused? Cross-faction? Located in hutt space? etc)
I think more events—or at least more robust events—would be good. I liked the way the Life Day and Hutta events went, with members receiving prompts and more people getting involved. I think that's a good model and it would be great to see more of it, coupled with something that has more impact on the story. This TL has been more about gaining territory and stuff like that (which isn't bad at all) so I think some events to help push the story along would be greatly beneficial—bigger, staff-organized battles that have a background and important repercussions (think Battle of Telos or Alderaan last TL); gladiator-style PvP events with winners receiving unique rewards or just important assets for their factions (like Boonta's Eve last TL); etc..

I think the 3v3+ battles we had last TL were pretty cool and it would be awesome to see some more stuff like that, crowded as it may be.

Lastly, do you have any ideas you'd like to share with staff?
Like Rimrald said, having even a very vague idea of faction assets would be nice. I know it's not easy to constantly track things extensively, but something more specific than "the Empire has a lot of ships and stuff" is good. Also, the rise of the Hutt Cartel as a faction since the Hutta is no longer under Imperial control would be cool, especially for players that want to be part of a non-FS main faction but don't want to do military stuff like you generally have to with Mandos.

 

[Kayenta Moenkopi]

1. What have you enjoyed the most about this timeline?

I have really enjoyed everything. For real. This is the best RP site I have found and I have been online since 2000. I like how verbal abuse is not tollerated and everyone is included across the board. No one is the STAR of RP. You do not WIN at rp. You create and collaborate and it works better here than I have seen anywhere, no holds barred.

I especially liked how I didn't have to be a star wars geek and major in Lucas Films and Master in Legends Lore in order to rp here. stop looking at my miniatures of the cantina band! And no you can't borrow my Mandalorean T-shirt

Personally I loved having site wide events, especially early on so everyone was forced to seek out rp with a wide variety of people. Life Day was a major hoot. And the Hutta event? OMG i got to meet so many people and do some really cool stuff that I never would have come up with on my own.

I especially loved being part of Star Squadron and having a team leader who set up missions and goals for us to do. I didn't have to stress about what moves to make to help my faction. I have to say that ALL the faction leadership was amazing.

However, the IR got a bad shake there at the start. Maybe next time have 2 faction leaders? 1 main and 1 back up in case of life stuff?

2. Where can there be improvements in site mechanics and/or story?

I have no complaints for mechanics. I like getting creds to level up my character and mission rewards seemed really fair to me. It is nice having something to work for without it constraining what my character can be. Some of the best words I read in the newbie guide was something about 'we don't strive to tell you NO, but are here to help you figure out a way to say YES to your goals.'. good stuff.

However... I am not a fan of changing the mission rules after a handful of people/factions were able to work the system and then having it nerfed out from under us beginners who hadn't figured out how to submit plots and such. Yes I am a bit timid in proposing missions, trying to just learn the system and figure out my character, I didn't feel I wished to take on the responsibility of writing up plots for submittal. But once I had? well the main story line had progressed beyond my plots while they were still in the approval process making them pointless. That was disheartening and I never bothered submitting another.

AS someone who is more interested in personal plots rather than faction/ capture the flag-type competition... I would like to see the character plots come back. It is a nice beginner concept to work on and to cut your teeth on before taking on the responsibility of creating a really good faction plot. Perhaps if they did come back they could be limited to three main character arcs for the lifetime of each character? This might avoid exploiting what could be seen as an 'easy' way to power up your character.

On the subject of changing the mission system, I have to say that changing how you create a Jedi rather annoyed me. At the start of the timeline you had to work for it. You couldn't just show up on day one with a light saber in tow. Then all of a sudden the rules change and you can start out as a padawan who has had training and such. I feel that was unfair to all those who had to work for it and made the time they put into to growing in the force a bit pointless when all of a sudden new characters know just as much as they do after months of rp. Yeah I know it was convenient to lessen the restrictions given the man power involved for all that training. Even so... meh. I would have been fine if that was permitted only for people who had a character death or something similar... though the death creds are a nice compensation for having to make a new character.

If it was done to try and level out the playing field between factions... well maybe the progression of leveling for each faction could have been more even to start. I must say that the Mando's have a huge edge at the start due to their technology while the Jedi are fairly weak starting out. I don't know what that fix is. They are different in canon. Equilibrating different factions has always been a problem, like in dnd with level 1 mages and warriors... same thing only in outer space! Sure the mage catches up and sometimes even surpasses the warrior, but they have to live long enough to do it at a serious disadvantage. lol

3. What would you like to see more of? (Please provide as much detail to this question as possible; if you suggest a site event, what kind of event would you like? PvP? Non-PvP story focused? Cross-faction? Located in hutt space? etc)

I really don't have any coherent comment for this section. I know pvp is fun. I loved the crew I got to go into my first pvp with. They showed me it didn't have to be scary and wasn't going to be just a huge verbal OOC drama fest. And that no one was gonna fillet me for making mistakes. That was GREAT! However, I am someone who grows overly attached to a character... i don't want to have to risk death to get anywhere with them. Its a touchy balancing act, I know. RP would be boring without risk! But it is a huge waste of my creativity to have it destroyed before I get to complete a character's personal goals. Maybe if death enabled PVP was a player option for the pvp threads with a bonus for risking death, but not a requirement for pvp to get good cred return? There are a myriad of options for those who are defeated that do not cost them all the work they have done in creating a fleshed out character.

4. Lastly, do you have any ideas you'd like to share with staff?

I would like to see a listing of faction assets. It would make it easier to make plots if I knew a certain planet i wanted was already taken and what was going on there. We had a major GA mission go belly up due to conflict over a territory and conflict with ongoing main story line stuff. If i understand correctly what went on there.... That is just it. I was sitting here going, 'what where when' ha ha. Communication in that area could be better. Alot of people's plots were ruined in their infancy due to the main story running rough shod over them. Unfortunate. Not sure what the solution would be to avoid such a cluster next time. But good luck in figuring it out!

At any rate let me say it again. This site rocks and the staff are great. Very approachable and talented crew. Good jerb to all!

 

[Wit]

1. What have you enjoyed the most about this timeline?

I have really enjoyed everything. For real. This is the best RP site I have found and I have been online since 2000. I like how verbal abuse is not tollerated and everyone is included across the board. No one is the STAR of RP. You do not WIN at rp. You create and collaborate and it works better here than I have seen anywhere, no holds barred.

I especially liked how I didn't have to be a star wars geek and major in Lucas Films and Master in Legends Lore in order to rp here. stop looking at my miniatures of the cantina band! And no you can't borrow my Mandalorean T-shirt

Personally I loved having site wide events, especially early on so everyone was forced to seek out rp with a wide variety of people. Life Day was a major hoot. And the Hutta event? OMG i got to meet so many people and do some really cool stuff that I never would have come up with on my own.

I especially loved being part of Star Squadron and having a team leader who set up missions and goals for us to do. I didn't have to stress about what moves to make to help my faction. I have to say that ALL the faction leadership was amazing.

However, the IR got a bad shake there at the start. Maybe next time have 2 faction leaders? 1 main and 1 back up in case of life stuff?

2. Where can there be improvements in site mechanics and/or story?

I have no complaints for mechanics. I like getting creds to level up my character and mission rewards seemed really fair to me. It is nice having something to work for without it constraining what my character can be. Some of the best words I read in the newbie guide was something about 'we don't strive to tell you NO, but are here to help you figure out a way to say YES to your goals.'. good stuff.

However... I am not a fan of changing the mission rules after a handful of people/factions were able to work the system and then having it nerfed out from under us beginners who hadn't figured out how to submit plots and such. Yes I am a bit timid in proposing missions, trying to just learn the system and figure out my character, I didn't feel I wished to take on the responsibility of writing up plots for submittal. But once I had? well the main story line had progressed beyond my plots while they were still in the approval process making them pointless. That was disheartening and I never bothered submitting another.

AS someone who is more interested in personal plots rather than faction/ capture the flag-type competition... I would like to see the character plots come back. It is a nice beginner concept to work on and to cut your teeth on before taking on the responsibility of creating a really good faction plot. Perhaps if they did come back they could be limited to three main character arcs for the lifetime of each character? This might avoid exploiting what could be seen as an 'easy' way to power up your character.

On the subject of changing the mission system, I have to say that changing how you create a Jedi rather annoyed me. At the start of the timeline you had to work for it. You couldn't just show up on day one with a light saber in tow. Then all of a sudden the rules change and you can start out as a padawan who has had training and such. I feel that was unfair to all those who had to work for it and made the time they put into to growing in the force a bit pointless when all of a sudden new characters know just as much as they do after months of rp. Yeah I know it was convenient to lessen the restrictions given the man power involved for all that training. Even so... meh. I would have been fine if that was permitted only for people who had a character death or something similar... though the death creds are a nice compensation for having to make a new character.

If it was done to try and level out the playing field between factions... well maybe the progression of leveling for each faction could have been more even to start. I must say that the Mando's have a huge edge at the start due to their technology while the Jedi are fairly weak starting out. I don't know what that fix is. They are different in canon. Equilibrating different factions has always been a problem, like in dnd with level 1 mages and warriors... same thing only in outer space! Sure the mage catches up and sometimes even surpasses the warrior, but they have to live long enough to do it at a serious disadvantage. lol

3. What would you like to see more of? (Please provide as much detail to this question as possible; if you suggest a site event, what kind of event would you like? PvP? Non-PvP story focused? Cross-faction? Located in hutt space? etc)

I really don't have any coherent comment for this section. I know pvp is fun. I loved the crew I got to go into my first pvp with. They showed me it didn't have to be scary and wasn't going to be just a huge verbal OOC drama fest. And that no one was gonna fillet me for making mistakes. That was GREAT! However, I am someone who grows overly attached to a character... i don't want to have to risk death to get anywhere with them. Its a touchy balancing act, I know. RP would be boring without risk! But it is a huge waste of my creativity to have it destroyed before I get to complete a character's personal goals. Maybe if death enabled PVP was a player option for the pvp threads with a bonus for risking death, but not a requirement for pvp to get good cred return? There are a myriad of options for those who are defeated that do not cost them all the work they have done in creating a fleshed out character.

4. Lastly, do you have any ideas you'd like to share with staff?

I would like to see a listing of faction assets. It would make it easier to make plots if I knew a certain planet i wanted was already taken and what was going on there. We had a major GA mission go belly up due to conflict over a territory and conflict with ongoing main story line stuff. If i understand correctly what went on there.... That is just it. I was sitting here going, 'what where when' ha ha. Communication in that area could be better. Alot of people's plots were ruined in their infancy due to the main story running rough shod over them. Unfortunate. Not sure what the solution would be to avoid such a cluster next time. But good luck in figuring it out!

At any rate let me say it again. This site rocks and the staff are great. Very approachable and talented crew. Good jerb to all!

I can explain about the Jedi character creation change. The intent for the Jedi this TL was always to allow the writers to develop the Jedi faction, to have it grow from near extinct to where it is now. So when it started out with 5 Jedi, it made IC sense that people had to seek them out and learn to be Jedi through RP. But once we had enough Jedi, we reached a point in the Jedi story where we could justify letting people start as padawans. I understand how it might not seem fair on the folks who put in the threads to grow their characters through the RP, but I'd actually see it as a reward. Your threads are what made the fcation grow, gave it the IC strength and growth it needed to be at a spot where we could give characters more freedom. Also, you actually have more developed characters because of it, coz characters starting as padawans will be missing out on the road development the early Jedi hopefuls got. Think of it as early access that was given to you, but is not longer available to newer Jedi. Anywho, don't think I should actually be posting in this thread but just wanted to help give some clarity on the path of the Jedi.

 

[Darasuum]

1) What have you enjoyed the most about this timeline?
Kicking Sith butt, just kidding. I like the character growth I've seen so far and the personal advancement of some specific people I've been keeping an eye on. The fact that actions have consequences and change the galactic environment is the best aspect about this timeline and makes me feel like actions matter and while one plot won't greatly alter everything it has an impact. The growth of the mandalorian territories, the division and uniting of the Sith, the moving of the various GA forces, Imperial Hutta event, all of that are good representations.

Also, the Newsletters make my month. ;-)

2) Where can there be improvements in site mechanics and/or story?
I think sometimes updates to certain things, like rules or mechanics need to be announced as being "in progress" or "under construction" if they are underway so that players can understand that things are about to change or at least keep an eye out for the changes once they occur. That would help with major site changes I think and prevent confusion, the same question getting asked 100x times on discord and help keep people on the same page. It also would allow the members to look at said changes and give better feed back (like right now) or catch a mistake here or there. We're only human.

I noticed that Main Faction Battles have not had as clearly defined parameters up until now thanks to recent events and packs. If we as members are supposed to be submitting packs a certain way that is different than a faction plot it would be a good idea to point out the major differences so that both faction members, faction leadership, and the plot staff don't have any miscommunication.


3) What would you like to see more of? (Please provide as much detail to this question as possible; if you suggest a site event, what kind of event would you like? PvP? Non-PvP story focused? Cross-faction? Located in hutt space? etc)

More space battles, but I'm making that happen anyways. It's literally star wars, each movie has stuff going on in space with ships fighting eachother yet space pvp makes up about less than 10 percent.

4) Lastly, do you have any ideas you'd like to share with staff?

I have TONS of ideas. However I recognize the site activity and my own work load and actually can't think of anything that is any more solid than a stack of twigs so I'll get back to y'all when the time is right or if I've got something that can hold water.

 

[EmilyHuene]

What have you enjoyed the most about this timeline?
The faction based events have been wonderful (Life Day, Hutta Rebellion). Thought they were a fun way to open up stories without people getting too crowded in mission signups and/or running out of space. We should definitely do more of those.

Where can there be improvements in site mechanics and/or story?
From my understanding, people have been getting burn out because everything happened so fast at the beginning of the timeline and now there's nothing to do. Those that are still here are PVP'ing like crazy leaving those with more story-driven ideas just kind of alone with no one to work with. I suggest something major happening that really helps along the GA so that they actually have some ground to fight for. Maybe the return of some admin roleplayers kinda like NPCs. Something to really push the story along.

As for mechanics: I don't like how difficult it is to change my subaccount name or the badge system in their bio. Totally blanking on what that's called currently. But when I switched my Indie to the GA, that was a hassle, and then again when I changed her to a Padawan and then once more even to a Knight. There could be a better way to handle those changes.

What would you like to see more of? (Please provide as much detail to this question as possible; if you suggest a site event, what kind of event would you like? PvP? Non-PvP story focused? Cross-faction? Located in hutt space? etc)
As stated above, I want more Events. Like the Life Day specifically. Characters could come and do something for their faction and get a reward. While the Hutta event was fun, I still enjoyed just completing the missions without any need to fight against anyone. More of these reward-based events are definitely needed to help get the site back up.

I also recommend a time skip. I know time is fluid on the site, but the next newsletter should at least say "Hey, it's not been ten years" in game time for this timeline.

Lastly, do you have any ideas you'd like to share with staff?
I would like it if the GA got a huge boost to their ranks. Something that could actually pose as a challenge to the other factions. I feel like they don't even have any secure territory (all in one space). Having some Jedi come back and kick butt would make the faction more exciting.

 

[Topher]

What have you enjoyed the most about this timeline?
The organic way that its felt in building the faction / characters from the ground up, more akin to watching the characters grow and develop rather than appearing with resources. Also allows for greater and wider interaction with other characters in other factions that wouldn't usually occur with some of the faction based activities being focused and closed off as it were.

Where can there be improvements in site mechanics and/or story?
Having a few more opportunities to slow down and allow interactions with the wider board. Like some of the others have suggested, it does feel like there's been a bit of a burn out in driving the factions forward

What would you like to see more of? (Please provide as much detail to this question as possible; if you suggest a site event, what kind of event would you like? PvP? Non-PvP story focused? Cross-faction? Located in hutt space? etc)
Personally more Non-Pvp story focused elements,themed ones like the life day event was fun as allowed for the opportunity to take a step back and have the opportunity to RP character out on a personal level, rather than being perhaps too mission focused.

Lastly, do you have any ideas you'd like to share with staff?
Possibly introducing a few staff driven or community selected 'forced scenarios' say for instance on a monthly period, impose a scenario that Jedi character x and Sith character Y are 'captured on a mission' by an unknown assailant (which could build to a hidden mystery or secretive threat being revealed over time) or Mandalorian z and Rebel A both crash land on a demon world, which the respective characters have to work together to survive or escape, would be good opportunity to pit typical enemies into having to collaborate, and can give the opportunity to either just play true to character and get it done and get out of dodge or allow for the characters to build a repertoire with each other, exchanging view points and the likes.