Chapter Questions

[Alexandrea]

I felt the same way.. when the chapter about the rift happened.

It pitted IC perspective against the Grid Player's desire for levels.

I only know a few people that stayed true to their character and DIDNT take the level. The majority took the level. How was that fair? So trust me.. I understand your frustration.

Like I said, before, The roll out could staggered.. giving rp more time for a foundation set up, before the grid takes place.

But the only way to prove it.. is to have an experience to look back on.

Why are we staggering the roll outs? Because of chapter 6 it was over too fast. We have a new way of doing business. <-- Just an example. I do Not Speak for the game.

I just know nerfing things after they are started.. leaves players feeling annoyed and .. as you said skeptical.

SO MUCH ALL OF THIS. ~points up~

[Meara]

I rally like the idea of the staggered roll out.

I've been too busy the last few days to right, and while it will calm tomorrow I wont be able to catch up as fast because meara is no where near ready to go into the compound. She knows shes too weak to take on everything and everyone else in there.

/0.02

[Flynn]

Maybe chapters need to rolled out in sections. Rp set up.. for a few weeks.. then the Grid roll out. Make it like a scavenger hunt for clues that can only be found by hacking.. information only gets to players by rping.. then after a designated period of time.. Grid opens up when a vital clue is found during a hack.

Now, this is something I could get behind. It gives RPers the opportunity to write and express their characters thoughts and motivations for the decisions that they will ultimately make on the grid.

So, using the current chapter as an example...maybe the chapter starts with just leaked news that somewhere in HR, research was being conducted on a vampiric cure. Players RP to their hearts content on what that means for their characters and what stances they will take (because, I have noticed a lot of people are saying they don't actually know what side their character falls on...and by the time they get to make that decision, we are already 25% of way there).

Then, after a set period of time, the grid facility location is revealed and THEN the battle really begins. People have time to process the chapter, and can react quickly and efficiently as a group to take on the grid portion of the event. And, meanwhile, the RP can continue as the fight does.

[Caligrace]

I just know nerfing things after they are started.. leaves players feeling annoyed and .. as you said skeptical.

No one is asking for things to get nerfed, but if rp is sooooooo huge in a chapter (supposedly) then people shouldn't be expected to write something amazing in less than a week's time to impact something. It's completely unrealistic and you as a writer know that.

But, I'm obviously going against the grain, so I'll just keep to myself and dwindle down on the writing effort since it'll all be done in a week anyways and ya know...a career, dr appointments for my current pregnancy and mommy duty at night kinda leaves me with limited path time these days anyways.

This. To come home and see how quick the slider has moved? That's extremely disappointing, considering even David himself said this is supposed to be an RP heavy chapter. I've got two started, but at this rate, it won't really matter because with work, errands, and living - I don't have time to churn out the posts needed. I was looking forward to writing for this, too, as there is so much potential, but with so many people on grid, going as quick as they can and killing everything in sight, it's going way too quick for anyone to really get anything done on the writing side. I hate to see writing take a backseat again.

[Wendigo]

I felt the same way.. when the chapter about the rift happened.

It pitted IC perspective against the Grid Player's desire for levels.

I only know a few people that stayed true to their character and DIDNT take the level. The majority took the level. How was that fair? So trust me.. I understand your frustration.

Like I said, before, The roll out could staggered.. giving rp more time for a foundation set up, before the grid takes place.

But the only way to prove it.. is to have an experience to look back on.

Why are we staggering the roll outs? Because of chapter 6 it was over too fast. We have a new way of doing business. <-- Just an example. I do Not Speak for the game.

I just know nerfing things after they are started.. leaves players feeling annoyed and .. as you said skeptical.

SO MUCH ALL OF THIS. ~points up~

This sums up so many of my thoughts on the recent path of Path. The Rift chapter brought me close to closing up shop permanently... almost as close as when the rules changed too late to affect anything in the Crow chapter. "Oh? We can Inspire Crow multiple times a day now and -- chapter's over. Wah-wah!"

My academic advisor once said, "You can't please everyone all of the time, and sometimes all of the people you can't please end up in the same room at the same time." That's pretty much Path in a nutshell.

I guess what I mean to say is that there is no situation where everyone will be happy. I know, because I've been on the unhappy end for a couple of chapters now. It really really sucks to work towards something and see that none of it comes to fruition. The way the chapters are set up right now, however, there's a winner and a loser. Someone's efforts will come to naught, and they will be left with nothing to show for it. It sucks royally.

I don't have any good advice to dealing with that. If I did, I'd be following it, and making more than token efforts to keep up on Digo.

I do think the roll-out is a nice idea... but it's not a be-all end-all solution. Someone will always feel that Method X should be worth Y% more than Method Z. Still, it's the best solution I've seen so far.

[Meara]

I feel like I'm being punished for yanno having work. A publically stated rp centric event is already three quarters over in 3 days. that doesn't make sense.

[Yvette Marie]

I feel like I'm being punished for yanno having work. A publically stated rp centric event is already three quarters over in 3 days. that doesn't make sense.

^This

I also thought it was a chance to give hackers more of a part too, and the way it's going, their influence is next to nothing as well. It's more like "Want to find out more before you play a part? Well, too bad, the raid aspect rendered you useless again."

I mean, I'm not just complaining here, because everyone is so excited about the chapter, and for someone like me that's just gotten back, it's awesome that things are still moving forward. It feels almost like new life in the game every chapter, which makes me estatic.

It's just ... kind of disappointing. And I'd imagine it'd be disappointing to anyone that is either lower leveled or new (ish) who finds out that a) they do influence the chapters but b) not enough to matter.

Just my rather sad opinion.

[Prudence]

Hacking...that's another valid point.
You can only hack one time a day per group. So three times.
Yet I've gotten doubles a fair bit. One day everything from each group was something I, or another got. Why are hackers so limited?

[Prudence]

I know someone is going to have a long argument on the grid aspect side of things, but this chapter has upset the rpers, and apparently those who are new given the npc difficulties. Just something to think about for everyone.

Someone suggested to me privately that if rp were actually tied to this, then you should have to write some first before getting access to the compound. I actually like that idea. I won't be thrilled if someone gets the cure, but never wrote anything about this chapter...personally

[Stonehouse]

This is a great debate, with some very valid points on both sides of the discussion. However, this statement rings true for me:

I feel like I'm being punished for yanno having work. A publically stated rp centric event is already three quarters over in 3 days. that doesn't make sense.

When I woke up on Sunday morning, I was excited to read about the new chapter. I spent some time during the day trying to decide which way my characters would fall. It's a really big deal, so I didn't want to commit to either side without giving it plenty of thought. Having made a decision for both of my characters, I started writing a post last night. I always try to get my characters involved in chapters and side stories whenever possible, often joining or starting threads, and wanted to do the same here. Waking up this morning, only two days after the chapter started, and seeing the slider already so far to one side, is a bit disappointing. I'm not complaining, just feeling a bit disappointed. As others have mentioned, there is real momentum here, so to nerf things would be crazy, but the chapter could end up being over before it's barely begun.

I'll probably still write a post for each of my characters, just to get them involved, even if the battle is effectively (or possibly literally by the time I get around to posting) over. My characters would both be For The Cure, so kind of stuffed