What would you like to see in DoM or on Twilight Isle?

[DUEL Claire]

Hello! We're currently seeking some up to date input from the community regarding what they'd like to see as far as the Twilight Isle setting and the Magic sport goes. We've had threads like this in the past but we'd like to get a current pulse of how everyone feels about things so if you're inclined, take a few minutes to respond below!

What sort of things drive you to do DoM? The setting, titles, tournaments? Something else?

Conversely, what sort of things perhaps keep you from doing DoM? Same as before, is the setting or the titles stopping you? Don't have a magically inclined character so you have no idea how to approach the sport? Let us know!

Going forward, what sort features would you like to see on the isle or in the sport? Want more/less tournaments, adjustments to the setting or times that DoM is offered? Have IC things you'd like on the isle itself? Like things just the way they are? Now's the time to be heard! Don't want to post here? Feel free to reach out to Rena or myself any time, we'd be glad to hear from you.

While we can't guarantee that everything offered can be implemented, we're considering all suggestions so that we can make any appropriate tweaks or changes for you all. Thanks for your time!

[Shadowlord]

I have two things I'd like to bring up for the community's consideration.

First, I'd like to see how people feel about the implementation of a new Tower, the Tower of Life or Death. I don't think adding two new titles is practical, but a Tower in which the residing Keeper determines its nature (Life or Death, Light or Dark even) might be interesting. We've seen the characters Jesse and Grace explore the concept. I do realize that activity levels are a concern for even one additional title, and that this topic's been brought up before over the years. Just curious as to what people think.

Second, I'd like to discuss the idea of some sort of creature tied permanently to each tower, for example: a sea serpent for Water, a salamander/fire hydra for Fire, perhaps some sort of bird (like a Roc) for Air, a treant (Ent) for Earth. These are just examples from the top of my head; there are many possibilities. By tied permanently, I mean that the creature resides at/near the Tower at all times, regardless of who is Keeper.

[Claire Gallows]

Second, I'd like to discuss the idea of some sort of creature tied permanently to each tower, for example: a sea serpent for Water, a salamander/fire hydra for Fire, perhaps some sort of bird (like a Roc) for Air, a treant (Ent) for Earth. These are just examples from the top of my head; there are many possibilities. By tied permanently, I mean that the creature resides at/near the Tower at all times, regardless of who is Keeper.

Like a perma-pet? That'd be neat.

[Claire Gallows]

Another item I've heard needing to be addressed is the Twilight Isle map. Rest assured, that one is definitely on my radar and I've been working to see what we can figure out.

Other ideas I've heard include the revisitation of the Tuesday night combo night. It's been a little over a year since we did the combo and we felt that in the interest of gauging more accurately the sports' respective numbers, we're going to return to our previous setup until August 25th with the exception of today's shift. Starting next week, on Tuesdays DoM will be held on RDI (room TBA pending IC info), and DoF will be held on ROH. Wednesdays will be DoF only in the Outback. Again this is until August 25th, the last Tuesday in August. That will give us a week before September begins to see how it panned out and depending on a few factors (caller availability and sport activity primarily) it may return to a combined night.

Some have spoken about Magic having a solo night as well. I'd like to see how the above exercise pans out before visiting that idea. To be honest, I'm of a mind that the more availability for all three sports, the better. Ideally fight night all the time would allow people to do the sport they want, when they want rather than be forced into a sport just because there's nothing else to do. That said, I'm always open to suggestions and input.

Give us your tired, your poor, and most of all your opinions! Keep 'em coming!

[Goldglo]

Also as an addendum to the above, Claire and I have discussed the DoF/DoM split for both Tuesdays and Wednesdays. While I have no objection to there being a combo shift on Wednesdays, we felt that the Wednesday combo shift might skew numbers as people might defer dueling DoM on Tuesday if there was an opportunity on Wednesday.

Since one primary reason for splitting the Tuesday shift is to determine DoM interest as a standalone, we'll suspend the DoF/DoM combo nights on Wednesday as well, at least until August 25th.

That being said, I am in agreement with Claire. I prefer the combo nights as they provide more opportunity for players to both RP and duel. However, I do understand that some folks are not happy with the combo nights so we're trying the split to see how things go.

--Matt

[Harris]

Lower ranked Elemental Fury use against higher ranked, non-Keepers during regulation.

i.e. A Sorcerer Keeper would have the ability to use their Elemental Fury against an opponent ranked Wizard or above.

[LadyAjaBird]

DoF- 3 nights (2 to itself when going by the normal schedule before the combo)
DoS- 2 nights
DoM- .5 since it shared a night with DoF.

Fair split-
DoF - 2 nights Mon & Wed
DoS - 2 nights - Thus & Sat
DoM - 1 night - Tues

Solves caller issue. Makes it fair. No one has to "choose".

[Ahni]

DoF- 3 nights (2 to itself when going by the normal schedule before the combo)
DoS- 2 nights
DoM- .5 since it shared a night with DoF.

Fair split-
DoF - 2 nights Mon & Wed
DoS - 2 nights - Thus & Sat
DoM - 1 night - Tues

Solves caller issue. Makes it fair. No one has to "choose".

Wasn't this the previous schedule?

[Claire Gallows]

DoF- 3 nights (2 to itself when going by the normal schedule before the combo)
DoS- 2 nights
DoM- .5 since it shared a night with DoF.

Fair split-
DoF - 2 nights Mon & Wed
DoS - 2 nights - Thus & Sat
DoM - 1 night - Tues

Solves caller issue. Makes it fair. No one has to "choose".

Wasn't this the previous schedule?

No, DoF had Tuesday as well

[Ahni]

Second, I'd like to discuss the idea of some sort of creature tied permanently to each tower, for example: a sea serpent for Water, a salamander/fire hydra for Fire, perhaps some sort of bird (like a Roc) for Air, a treant (Ent) for Earth. These are just examples from the top of my head; there are many possibilities. By tied permanently, I mean that the creature resides at/near the Tower at all times, regardless of who is Keeper.

PERMA-PET YESSSSSSS. But... but what about the Archmage?

First, I'd like to see how people feel about the implementation of a new Tower, the Tower of Life or Death. I don't think adding two new titles is practical, but a Tower in which the residing Keeper determines its nature (Life or Death, Light or Dark even) might be interesting. We've seen the characters Jesse and Grace explore the concept. I do realize that activity levels are a concern for even one additional title, and that this topic's been brought up before over the years. Just curious as to what people think.

While I like this idea, I worry about DoM activity levels - like you mentioned, Shadow. Maybe it's dueling as a whole, but DoM seems to be especially suffering and that makes me a saaad pandaaa.

But anyway! It seems really neat to have one Tower that can change with the guard, so to speak. I recall there being two additional temporary Towers (Light and Dark) added for... InterGender Wars? Was that it? I'm not sure how they played out, or if anyone even utilized them in play. But adding one with the capacity to do both would be pretty neat. AND A PERMA-PET TOO.

Buuuuuut my contribution is this: I love tourneys and events. I'm not sure what the schedule is for either of those (even tourneys like ART and AMT), but that's neither here nor there. TOURNEYS AND EVENTS PLZ

[Spell]

To be honest, I'm of a mind that the more availability for all three sports, the better. Ideally fight night all the time would allow people to do the sport they want, when they want rather than be forced into a sport just because there's nothing else to do. That said, I'm always open to suggestions and input.

This. Why not have every night be a fight night? There's nothing fair about DoM having 1 night to itself while the rest have multiples, and there's nothing fair about one sport having a night to itself while the others are passed over.

If dueling interest and numbers for regulation is important, the option of having all three sports going on daily throughout the week could raise them. Then there wouldn't need to be split days having DoM on RDI side and DoF on ROH. Everyone would get what they want in their preferred sport.

Settings are an important issue too, I know, which is why with the fight night every night idea that they can be cycled through. 2 Days in the Arena, 2 Days in the Outback, 2 Days on Twilight Isle, and 1 Day in the Annex.

I'd love DoM to have it's own day, truly, but dropping DoF all together ( even if split to ROH side and DoM going to RDI ) and possible regulation duels gained from it on Tuesday just to give focus to DoM's lacking numbers seems an odd concept when the focus should be on raising numbers instead of cutting them down.

[Ahni]

There's nothing fair about DoM having 1 night to itself while the rest have multiples, and there's nothing fair about one sport having a night to itself while the others are passed over.

If dueling interest and numbers for regulation is important, the option of having all three sports going on daily throughout the week could raise them. Then there wouldn't need to be split days having DoM on RDI side and DoF on ROH. Everyone would get what they want in their preferred sport.

Settings are an important issue too, I know, which is why with the fight night every night idea that they can be cycled through. 2 Days in the Arena, 2 Days in the Outback, 2 Days on Twilight Isle, and 1 Day in the Annex.

I'd love DoM to have it's own day, truly, but dropping DoF all together ( even if split to ROH side and DoM going to RDI ) and possible regulation duels gained from it on Tuesday just to give focus to DoM's lacking numbers seems an odd concept when the focus should be on raising numbers instead of cutting them down.

This this this all of this. Surely this question has been raised before, yeah?

[Harris]

To be honest, I'm of a mind that the more availability for all three sports, the better. Ideally fight night all the time would allow people to do the sport they want, when they want rather than be forced into a sport just because there's nothing else to do. That said, I'm always open to suggestions and input.

This. Why not have every night be a fight night? There's nothing fair about DoM having 1 night to itself while the rest have multiples, and there's nothing fair about one sport having a night to itself while the others are passed over.

If dueling interest and numbers for regulation is important, the option of having all three sports going on daily throughout the week could raise them. Then there wouldn't need to be split days having DoM on RDI side and DoF on ROH. Everyone would get what they want in their preferred sport.

Settings are an important issue too, I know, which is why with the fight night every night idea that they can be cycled through. 2 Days in the Arena, 2 Days in the Outback, 2 Days on Twilight Isle, and 1 Day in the Annex.

I'd love DoM to have it's own day, truly, but dropping DoF all together ( even if split to ROH side and DoM going to RDI ) and possible regulation duels gained from it on Tuesday just to give focus to DoM's lacking numbers seems an odd concept when the focus should be on raising numbers instead of cutting them down.

Off the top of my head, staffing is an issue. Can every caller call every sport? No. Does every caller *want* to call every sport? No. Unless it becomes mandatory that every caller learn every sport and be willing to call them, you're probably going to have issues with every night being a Fight Night. Perhaps it's a minor quibble, but staffing tends to get overlooked in these types of scenarios.

I said it when DoF and DoM merged on Tuesday and I'll say it again: Setting integrity is, at the very least, important to me and several others voiced a similar opinion. I actually enjoy showing up to The Outback and having nothing but DoF matches. I also enjoy the unique crowds each type of venue draws. There's nothing in my opinion more homogenizing than to have Fight Night across the board, simply rotating through the venues.

DoM deserves a night to itself so it at least has the *opportunity* to flourish, rather than just being what feels like a fourth tier sport that can't stand on its own and needs to be added to another sport just to be viable. Has the Tuesday/Wednesday DoF/DoM merger improved DoM numbers, or did it just end up giving people an additional opportunity to do DoF? If it's the latter, and DoF outpaced DoM on Tuesdays, how would adding DoS improve DoM's numbers?

[DUEL Jesse]

Has the Tuesday/Wednesday DoF/DoM merger improved DoM numbers, or did it just end up giving people an additional opportunity to do DoF?

Here's the DoM Numbers from the start of the merger. This is Tuesday + Wednesday numbers for DoM. No Fight Night numbers. I'd look up the DoF ones but I'm too lazy currently to match dates with posts.

April 2014 = 21 DoM Duels
May 2014 = 15 DoM Duels
June 2014 = 17 DoM Duels
July 2014 = 17 DoM Duels
August 2014 = 26 DoM Duels
September 2014 = 15 DoM Duels
October 2014 = 14 DoM Duels
November 2014 = 32 DoM Duels ( DoM had a no-loss night )
December2014 = 15 DoM Duels
January 2015 = 18 DoM Duels
February 2015 = 13 DoM Duels
March 2015 = 13 DoM Duels
April 2015 = 8 DoM Duels
May 2015 = 8 DoM Duels ( Dueling event happened one Tuesday this month )
June 2015 = Currently none on Tuesday

[DUEL Jesse]

Updated

April 2014 = 21 DoM Duels / 14 DoF Duels
May 2014 = 15 DoM Duels / 27 DoF DUels
June 2014 = 16 DoM Duels / 32 DoF Duels
July 2014 = 17 DoM Duels / 70 DoF Duels ( Gold Apple + FireStar and IceDancer tournaments that required participation duel to join. )
August 2014 = 26 DoM Duels / 70 DoF Duels ( Golden Apple )
September 2014 = 15 DoM Duels / 23 DoF Duels
October 2014 = 14 DoM Duels / 8 DoF Duels
November 2014 = 32 DoM Duels ( DoM had a no-loss night ) / 7 DoF Duels
December2014 = 16 DoM Duels / 10 DoF Duels
January 2015 = 18 DoM Duels / 21 DoF Duels
February 2015 = 13 DoM Duels / 33 DoF Duels
March 2015 = 13 DoM Duels / 24 DoF Duels
April 2015 = 8 DoM Duels / 22 DoF Duels
May 2015 = 8 DoM Duels ( Dueling event happened one Tuesday this month ) / 15 DoF Duels
June 2015 = Currently none on Tuesday / None currently on Tuesday

I might be off by a number or two at times, but this is the jist. DoF / DoM Wednesday started in June 2014.