Criminal and Shadow Scalp Reporting Fix, Changes and Voting

[Dineal]

As the reporting of criminal and Shadow scalps for clan points rewards system had recently stopped working, changes have been made to this system during the process of fixing it.

Such reporting should now again work for all justice clans and White-Tower-affiliated clans that it applies to.

Which clans receive which type of rewarding has been manually set per clan, depending upon geography and roleplay (e.g. Shienaran Lancers receive Shadow scalp rewarding, but Illianer Companions, who rarely encounter Shadowspawn, do not).

We request that you read the following lists and share thoughts on which clans should receive which, if you're in disagreement with them:

Clans that currently receive criminal scalp rewarding:

-Tower Guard (The White Tower)
-Guardians of the Gate (Amadicia)
--Children of the Light (Amadicia)
---Hand of the Light (Amadicia)
-Cairhien Rising Sun
--Cairhienin Elitesman
-Illianer Companions
--Golden Bees (Illian)
-Andoran Lion Guard
--Queen's Guard of Andor
-Shining Guard of Tar Valon
-Tear City Watch
--Defenders of the Stone (Tear)
-(Mayene justice clan)
-King's Life Guard (Tarabon)
--Panarch Legion (Tarabon)
-Legion of the Wall (Ghealdan)
-Shienaran Lancers
-Arafellin Rose Guard
-Kandori Red Horse
-Saldaean Cavalry

Clans that currently receive Shadow scalp rewarding:

-White Tower [for rank 9 and above]
-the seven Ajahs of the White Tower
-Warder Students (The White Tower)
-Tower Guard (The White Tower)
-Children of the Light (Amadicia)
--Hand of the Light (Amadicia)
-Shining Guard of Tar Valon
-Legion of the Wall (Ghealdan)
-Shienaran Lancers
-Arafellin Rose Guard
-Kandori Red Horse
-Saldaean Cavalry

[Master Sylibus]

I'd focus on the clans that are actually somewhat structured and have zones that support them. Aside from that I think if you were to take shadowspawn turn ins from some clans then the criminal turn ins need to be tweaked in some aspect at least for those clans without. Believe the highest notation you can get from a criminal is 2 unless I'm mistaken whereas you can get upwards to 15 and more from shadowspawn mobs.

[Vispiela]

I'd.. say all clans that fight should be rewarded for both. I think this way because players like to group together and then enjoy killing things together. But the problem is that if there are clans which don't get rewarded for both, then those members of the clans who can't get rewarded for either will never want to group up with people who do what their clan can't get awards for.

I understand it might not be very "RP-approriate" to reward some clans for killing things which they believe to be fantasy tales, but in terms of gameplay it's disencouraging that if I want to be rewarded for killing both I have to pick a clan which gets so. I'd rather make the choices based on roleplay of the clan rather then game mechanics.

[Master Sylibus]

If anything, the notations per cp could be adjusted per each clan to give them incentive still for gathering such notations. A Companion, even though they *rarely*, come across shadowspawn would be able to turn in 30 or 40 notations for a cp. Whereas they would get a cp per every 15 or 20 criminal. And vice versa for clans who solely deal with shadowspawn and rarely with criminals.

[Vispiela]

Hmm.. yes, that seems like a really good idea. Maybe it could be so that every clan just has a focus, like shadowspawn, criminals or both. Maybe if a clan had shadowspawn as focus, they'd get a cp per every 20 shadowspawn, but only a cp every 40 criminals. A clan that would have criminals as focus would get it the other way around. And a clan that would have both as focus would need to gather 30 in either to get a cp.

[Ganelon]

In my opinion, Sylibus has the right of things.

[Aruon]

Totally agree with Sylibus, though WS don't need criminal reports at all. Never have and really never will. I also think our Shadowspawn rate should be upped further, given how much of our time is spent killing them.

I am sure Ganelon can attest to how fast certain individuals can collect their kill rates when they have too much time on their hands.

[Dineal]

These are all interesting ideas.

The idea of tailoring reward rates separately for Shadowspawn and criminals, and, at the same time, for each clan, is a great one.

It would be great if this could be done in such a way that supports the roleplay, purpose and geography of the clans; retains fairness for ease of gathering clan points accross the board; and doesn't at all hinder players from different clans to group and kill criminals and/or Shadowspawn together.


Edit:

In light of seeking fairness accross the board, tweaking these values and rewards per clan seems as if it would only stray away from that.

Yes, Andoran soldiers in the books didn't frequently meet trollocs in battle.

However, if one did succeed in killing one, would they not be looked upon higher by their "clan" (i.e. rewarded)?

Since he's not supposed to be killing trollocs, one would think that the reward would be greater rather than less (e.g. Queen's Guard, who aren't supposed to regularly kill trollocs, would be rewarded with more clan points for killing one than would a Shienaran Lancer, who is supposed to kill them by the score--in this line of thinking, that is).

But such line of thinking, again, strays away from balance. If we make these adjustments per clan, per area, per rank, we're only going to be creating more areas of inequality--which we're going to have to make up for by making something else inequal (i.e. use x differences as excuses to make somethig else different, until everything is crazy).

I think that it would be wise to simply give all justice clans an equal imperative to rid the world of criminals and Shadowspawn (and thus, equal rewarding amounts and access to both criminal and Shadowspawn rewards).

Certain clans, such as members of the White Tower, the Ajahs and their Warder Students, should, of course, only have Shadowspawn rewarding. These are not justice clans--Aes Sedai fight against the Shadow, not their own kind, and Gaidin do not hunt criminals, but instead follow the wishes of the White Tower.

As a final note on these thoughts, I will say that this MUD is called Mirrors of the Wheel MUD--we are not matching the world within the books exactly: We have Shadowspawn smobs spread all over the land, even east of Illian, all around Caemlyn, etc.

Also in regards to the above note is that the charaters we play are not the rank-and-file regular soldiers. We move about the land, going on brave excursions and hunting out trolloc grounds.

Because of these two points, I see no reason that members of all justice clans should not be rewarded for their efforts to kill Shadowspawn, and rewared equally.

Creating a dissonance between the rewarding values is only going to, in my opinion, force players to create strange strategies to generate clan points the fastest, rather than balanced grouping and smobbing.

I would suggest merely keeping criminal and Shadowspawn rewards the same value, but tweaking that value. If members of a certain clan are able to rank faster than those in another, then find out why that is, and change that.

[Balyn Mantear]

All clans that deal with some form of military organization, whether regular army or guards, should get rewarded for Shadowspawn. Proportional to whatever clan is up to the people in the sky.

Some clans have an RP reason to not get them for Criminals, I think. That's something I heard or read a long time ago.

But that's just my 2 copper.