The Future of Mirage Hearts

[Game Master]

So, we as staff have been considering directions to head as a community, but, we haven't been including you guys in the discussion. Seeing as you are all largely intelligent and not sheep, informing you on what our options are doesn't seem to be a bad idea.

So, something we tried recently was propose a merger- basically, we would assimilate smaller sites into us, grow larger and gain more staff and members, and use that feedback to gradually improve our site and system. If you haven't noticed, the system is clunky and complicated. While that is fun for some, others find it off putting. In the process of attempting these assimilations we considered very heavily conducting a merger with Kingdom Rocks. Ultimately, while still on the table it won't be happening in the near future. But, it may happen later if everything pans out for us and if, of course, the community is fine with it.

Another thing we are considering is a move to proboards. Proboards has a lot of interesting features that we can make use of, but I recall hearing that some mobile devices have trouble on Proboards and I don't know if this has been fixed yet. Before we finalize that (as we're only just talking about it) please give us some input on what you think is a good idea!

One more thing: we're considering a system overhaul. Not in the sense that we'd go from competitive to a story system (past experience would probably make most of you turn away from us on principal if we pulled that on you guys) but in the sense that we're considering a heavy streamlining of the current system and the change of a few core tenants. We aren't entirely sure what that entails, so hearing feedback on that would be awesome too!

Remember, Mirage Hearts is your website, and your community.

[Efeu]

I don't like the idea of system overhaul I think we don't need it I think the system is just fine as it is

[Cadmon]

The assimilation thing sounds cool, I've never seen it happen before an the idea is kind of attention-grabbing.


I don't want to switch over to Proboards, it doesn't work for me on mobile. I mean I will if i must... But i hate the chatbox on Proboard sites, and it lags so hard and basically creates something that drives people away. If I have to go to a proboards site, I don't know how long I'll be there before I give up entirely, and permanently. This is the only place I really rp on anymore. *shrugs*

k love the current system, why overhaul? Can you explain what is getting changed and why? I'm very open-minded for it, but is it really a good idea?

[Game Master]

The assimilation was primarily Zyvonia's idea. If you know of any smaller, competitive websites with members that need a place to go, feel free to inform a member of staff.

I've been advised by more than a few people not to go to proboards unless its proves needed and actually adds something to the experiences had on the site beyond a pretty layout. Admittedly, forumotion does what we need it to do. I won't entirely abandon the idea so that if the future proves proboards to do something we absolutely can not function without, we can plan a migration. Consider the thought shelved.

As for the system overhaul: we as staff receive somewhat limited feeback from members, and usually it comes in the guise of a complaint. Not just members but other staff have expressed concern with the current system, while others cite beta benefits as having been a stark negative (though, those who received and use them might feel a different way).

More specifically, the abundance of T5s has left some on staff with a bad taste in their mouths and this would be a way to address that. Simultaneously it is no small secret that skill trees are time consuming to develop. In changing the system we might be able to address both of those problems. Additionally, it might result in faster character creation, which while somewhat simple is cumbersome to totally complete and has been cited at least once as a reason for not being here.

Moreover, the changes have no been discussed among staff yet due to a lack of time. Involving members in the discussion of whether or not the system actually needs an adjustment and allowing them to actively suggest changes during that transition is important. I should also note that we are still only considering a system shift, though we do take the consideration seriously.

[Laiya]

Hmm. Well, I can't seem to find a reason for us to overhaul, I would immensely enjoy streamlining the current rules. I would enjoy it if it became easier and faster although I can see us giving something up in return- I couldn't say what though. For me, the current system is okay- to be more specific, it seems more open ended to me in terms of a competitive system; allowing for plot oriented combat as well. The plot characters are nice, even though most haven't seen the use of them yet. It feels more like a hybrid system rather than a competitive one to be perfectly honest; which is something I like because I was always more of a story oriented person.

I believe the old site failed on it only because of the staff disparity rather than any fumbly rules. Like most people you have probably heard from, I wouldn't go towards Proboards unless you really had to. I will agree that what you can do with it is amazing in terms of structure and appearance, but to me forumotion works wondrously. In fact, its a preferred forumsite. The assimilation is ...eh; but I've seen it done and done well. So, take it as you will. Of course, assimilation comes with their own problems.

[Game Master]

Our hope, should this go through is not to change the system but rather to streamline line it. Currently, it uses a whole lot of numbers to keep track of. We discussed this at length yesterday afternoon, and these are some of the things we're thinking and I would like your input.

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There is a possibility of introducing a sixth statistic: synthesis. This stat would seperate the magical weapons out of the magic stat, and give it its own stat dedicated to forging and making enchanted weapons. Weapons would still gain quality as a character tiered up, but by investing points in Synthesis the quality would increase even further, as would the capabilities of the weapons. It lowers the versatility of magic, but magic would still be one of the most versatile stats so we believe this separation would not be too hefty.

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We want to decrease the numbers involved in progression. Instead of 111, we might lower that number to about 39 (assuming we stick with five stats, but with six this number would adjust). This would not affect time it takes to progress totally all that much based on how we're doing it. As it currently stands every 75-80 posts members would be getting one Attridbute/stat point. Stat, instead of 1-27 become 1-10. 1-2 is T1, 3-4 is T2, ect ect.

This would not change any of the current power climate that exists on site. It just makes power easier to track. I want to be perfectly clear that the numbers are just reference to measure progress- just because the standard of measurement changes wouldn't mean the building did too.

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[Laiya]

I can see the Synthesis stat helping with the artificer or alchemist (the classical alchemist- not FMA) concept; maybe even making it easier for characters to have weight behind equipment only types, which is extremely difficult at lower levels. As it stands, only at tier three can you even begin to start that, which makes a martial only combatant nearly impossible to start with. This is my opinion opinion of course, and there are ways around it I should think, but there you go. As for progression, I couldn't understand most of that; but I am assuming the gist of it may be that we tier up faster?

I think the Synthesis stat would be cool in concept, and even helping in others. The progression...Personally I don't really care too much about it- I like to focus on story more which makes most of this point-distribution run by really fast. I never was an optimizer. If you think it may be faster and easier to track, I say go for it. Obviously, we should test these things out before we actually make them a thing; but I figured that's what's going to happen so it's redundant to type this.

[Lenneth]

I do like the idea of the syth stat being added on as another stat. Letting a bit more definition on more classic uses for magic users and other users that want to focus on more item/weapon/amour based creations or science based ones. Also eases off the pressure of magic stat being so important and maybe let some more diversity show up in character combat builds

personally don't like the pro boards

[Keyblade Warrior Terra]

Let me further explain some of the pros, since so far, only the cons have really been pointed out.

Kingdom Rocks has about 10 years under its belt, making it a more known website, with more traffic and more possibility for growth. It has a userbase that is eager for action, but simply doesn't have the means to do so. So far, their leaders have expressed a desire for some kind of cooperative play, as it were, but the details haven't really been fleshed out yet. They've been excited about the system we have in place, and were hoping for a compromise between the two playstyles. While that's being worked on, there's nothing definitive yet.

Proboards is simply a better forum. Its customization is better, allowing people to directly implement things into its HTML coding. Let's be perfectly honest, in comparison, Forumotion is ugly as hell. Look at a Kingdom Rocks profile, and you'll see what I mean. They've got several ways to customize not only your profile, but the way the site looks when you log in: IE - Themes.

There's also the benefit of NOT having 54986873485638746587 different accounts per person. You'd only need one Proboards account for one person, and still have multiple characters, and that Proboards account can be used on every single Proboards website.

The issues with the chatbox can be fixed. While Proboards forums come with their own natural chatbox, there are ways one can install customized, faster ones in order to work better with mobile devices.

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Currently, we're working on simplifying the rules so they're in....English. Like GM said, we have a few people working on shortening things down so they're easier to track as well. We understand that the system is...needlessly complex in some areas, and are trying to shake it down to the bare bones without removing anything major.

So in otherwords, we're really just poking at the numbers, and wording things to be more simplistic.

[JeY k]

Hi guys! I'm JeY, the head admin over at 'Kingdom Rocks' (which we simply refer to as KHRPF), and I thought I'd pop in to contribute since I was heavily involved in this process at some point =P

First and foremost, Proboards has been fixed on mobile from what I can tell - I've never had an issue using it on my phone as of late, so I don't know where that all came from. Not saying proboards is better by any means (if I had my way I'd use Zetaboards XD) but it isn't an issue on mobile. The only thing I noticed was that you can't scroll on the chatbox on mobile, so only the newest messages are shown.

Next, I'd like to say that as an outsider... the system here is a tad too confusing. There's a lot of different modules all over the place that need to be strung together for one character, and so my recommendation to Game Master was to streamline the process perhaps. I'm actually a game designer, so this kind of subject is my forte, and maybe I can offer to help with that. I think what's going on currently is very cool, it could just be... better organized! In fact, I may be putting in some sort of system over at KHRPF soon. I think that alone would determine whether or not any sort of 'merge' in any direction would be possible. I agree that it's not totally off the table yet, it's just... it can't work currently. And that's fine.

Overall, I'm digging this place, and I hope you guys do well =) I'll be messing around as part of the cross-promotion going on, hopefully I can inspire a few of our guys to contribute =D

Looking forward to starting off here~

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