DoS No Loss Testing & Rule Change Proposal. Please read.

[DUEL Olivia]

What types of council involvement would you like seen? There should be a way to bring back the council without causing something that could be deemed as unfair if one person were to get a punishment while another doesn't.. Off the top of my head I'm thinking of..

If a title holder is stripped of retires a title while they are under challenge, the barons council may come together and choose to either allow the title to be defended by their most senior baron, a baron of their own choosing ( and in doing so the title may go up to the Warlord Tournament if defended ), or a warlord of their choice that - should they defend the title from the challenger as acting proxy - they would become the newest Baron instead.

Or cut out the others all together and just say that should a title be under challenge and the baron retires / is stripped, the barons council may come together to elect a warlord of their choosing to act as defender / possible baron candidate should they defend?

I rather like the added option of a Warlord being chosen to defend a retired/abdicated title and, if successful, becoming the new Baron. What sort of criteria would determine eligibility for a Warlord to defend the title? I'm thinking along the lines of the Warlord having dueled within a month/a cycle of the retirement/abdication.

As long as the Warlord is active within the cycle they could be fine. It'd then be on the Barons to go with whatever other criteria they might like. Would this Warlord be loyal to the Overlord? Do they deem this Warlord active enough? Etc. Barons would be given 7 days starting from the retirement / stripping to come together and make a decision and if there is somehow a tie in voting due to abstaining, the Overlord could always play as a tie breaker if one side or the other isn't swayed to turn a vote.

[DUEL Olivia]

Watching the duels throughout the cycle since this post was created helped with some decision making.

1. There's no need to change the Warlord Tournament. The prize pool will stay the same while the Gladiators Gauntlet will not be implemented (yet -- unless there is sudden interest in it, I will keep watching things throughout this next cycle.). The Overlord Grant and 2 Test-Free Barony grants will continue to be prizes in the Warlord Tournament.

Note: The opt out system is still in play. If you'd like your losses to count, please contact me an you will be put on an opt out list.

2. The Warlord Tournament will NO LONGER require activity. If you are a Warlord, you can join. Inactive prize winners will have two weeks (14 days) beginning the day after the tournament takes place to get an activity duel. Once gained, the now active Warlord will be able to use their prize. This is not limited to standings update so long as there is a duel logged on the forum to be verified. Prize usage time will also be extended from 7 to 14 days because of this.

Reasoning: I'd like the warlord tournament to be as inclusive as possible (without dropping rank requirements, it's a Warlord tournament after all). Numbers are dwindling and the hardline stance of "If someone isn't active, they don't deserve the benefits of joining" is something that needs to be relaxed on. I would be thrilled to see a duelist join the Discord channel or pop into chat, see a Warlord tournament is about to begin, and go "Oh hey! I'm a warlord! I could join! Let me try this out."

3. The current rule to mid-challenge retirements will be changed to:

7. If the Baron retires and is under challenge:

• a. The Barons Council may convene and choose an active Warlord to act as their champion against the challenger. The Barons Council will have seven (7) days to choose their champion. Should the Warlord Champion be successful in defending the title, they will take the ring for themselves and become the newest Baron.
  b. If the Barons Council does not choose a champion then the senior most baron shall be called upon to defend the title. If the senior most baron is successful in defending the vacant Barony, See Rule #6.

[Kalamere]

2. The Warlord Tournament will NO LONGER require activity. If you are a Warlord, you can join. Inactive prize winners will have two weeks (14 days) beginning the day after the tournament takes place to get an activity duel. Once gained, the now active Warlord will be able to use their prize. This is not limited to standings update so long as there is a duel logged on the forum to be verified. Prize usage time will also be extended from 7 to 14 days because of this.

I like that you're allowing inactive into the tournament and I can sorta see where you're going with this, though I think you've just now given yourself something new to track which in my mind is less than ideal.

How do you see this working when you give out a title? Are you going to give someone 2 weeks to duel and then strip them to vacate it again?

Don't get me wrong. I firmly believe that title holders *should* be active and don't have any issue with the requirement. On the other hand I'm also generally in favor of making things as easy as possible to administer, so would have just gone with the already in place method of stripping titles at the end of the cycle for lack of activity.

[DUEL Olivia]

Sorry about that. I forgot to include that into this post, it slipped my mind while editing.

What we have now in the rules update is:

8. Inactive grant winners are required to gain one (1) activity duel during the two week (14 day) period, starting after the Warlord tournament, to become active and use their challenge grants. This activity duel will be verified by way of the Shift Reports and does not have to wait for the Official Standings. If an inactive duelist takes a vacant Baron's ring as a prize they will have until the end of the cycle to become active. If this activity is not gained then the title will be stripped.

So yes, winners of baronies will have until the end of the cycle to get their activity duels like any other baron. If they do not get it, they will be stripped at the end of the cycle.

Full list of changes can be seen here: Rules Updating and Clarifications