Feature Request - Sticky Prestige

To the OP: nice idea as long as it was tied to the player as a lingering total but doubt it will ever happen.

As for the Top 100 SG List: anyone heard of Halomaps.org?

It had a top 10 downloads section which seemed like a good idea at first but as the years went on all I could see was the list becoming homogonised. Halo CE was obviously the highest download with the necessary patch fixes coming behind as well as the HEK development kit.

Over time: lost of people downloaded specific maps because they were considered 'best' but that meant they took a spot in the Top 10. As new visitors came to the site, they downloaded the Top 10 as a necessity which bumped the Top 10 numbers up to a ludicrously high level meaning newer, less publicised maps didn't have much of a chance to catch up unless they suddenly hit the holy grail of awesome or pimped themselves stupid (bit like MA over here ). I mentioned it to Dennis, the site OP as well as casually mentioning a 'per month/week' and later he added a 'featured maps' section which highlighted random maps for download as well as a 'per month' section with the current and previous months totals. Lastly he added a 'highest rated' which had highest rated (by players) maps. This gave newer maps a better chance at being spotted as well as a (potentially) continuous re-exposure.

For me the Top 100 SG listing was, for me, once a list for how active a SG was (high earnings=lots of active members) but with the ludicrously high levels of earnings someones can get, the list has become homogonised by the highest earners who squat there because there is no reasonable way of catching up with them and they have nothing lest to spend that prestige on. When I hear 'Top X on the SG list' now it's nothing more than fastidious work or from simply being around long enough.

You need more stats than just prestige to determine a 'good' SG: member count, active members in the last week/month, number joined this week/month, number left this week/month, open/closed to recruiting OR public/private/RP, the current 'owner' now that we have the Redstar leader. Low retention or high turnover could be gaged as well as how many members have been active within a timeframe, the leader might gain a rep for being a nice guy out and about so joining their group which had few members leaving and lots joining.

For example: the first group I joined had a prestige-related ranking system, back when rent was a % of your total earnings. I earned as much as I could missioning, took the hit for inf to make as much as I could. Then one week they decided to start a regular TF thing going and as I had just finished Croatoa I suggested doing the Katie Hannon TF. I spent time recruiting, got a good blend of ATs (the defender was an archer ) and then we ran with what we had. We made some good progress, got through in a good time with few deaths and it was a successful run. The leader of the group heard that it was a good run and decided to waver the prestige ranking for me and I got to be one of the earliest Commanders of the group. I was then trusted with base editing and once spent five hours remodelling our base into a more efficient design so that the hosptial, telepads and workshops were as close as they needed to be which pretty much cemented me as a member. But if it hadn't been for the tips and tricks that got posted on our forum at the time, I never would have got that far.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dispari I don't know why Dink thinks she's not as sexy as Jay was. In 5 posts she's already upstaged his entire career.

[QUOTE=Forbin_Project;3769659 numerous SG's that were dedicated prestige farms ... Quite often those SG's had high turnover rates as new members quit in disgust or were booted because they didn't earn the amount of prestige the SG demanded[/QUOTE]

OK Story time then my personal opinion.

Unfortunately I encountered the above situation early in my playing time. While RL friends introduced me to the game, I didn't really play with them all that often nor did I join their SG. Instead, I joined the SG of the people I frequently played with. After getting my first 50, I decided to try another AT and let the 50 sit for a few days/ weeks. Well, I got a /tell from the SG Leader that I needed to get on my 50 and earn some prestige since they helped me get to 50 and to show support for the SG. I logged on that 50, quit the SG immediately and joined my RL friends' SG and could not have been happier since. Although I did get some rude tells from that other SG Leader for a while.

I met quite a few nice people besides my RL friends in their SG. Now people have come and gone as Real Life dictates but a few core players have still been around. The then, and still current SG Leader, when I first joined, emphasized earning prestige but only kicked members as the SG got full and others wanted to get alts in and only based it on last time logged in, not actual amount of prestige earned. (Only exception to the time logged in rule is the actual founding members' original alts.) Quite a few times, I had my alts quit the SG to make room for other people's new alts, never caring how much prestige tally was 'lost' for that toon. Then for a time the SG Leader was pushing to go up the ranking on the TOP 100 list. We never have been much of a farming group, but there was good natured competition between the SGs both above and below us in the list and quite frequently we were coalitioned with them. Now though, we don't really care any more and the fact that we are still climbing the list is due to the lack of activity of the SGs above us.


Now back to the topic(s):
* I really could care less one way or the other if prestige tally is 'saved' if an alt gets kicked or accidentally quit from a SG. If it doesn't take much resources, go for it. If doing this takes away from other new features, forget it.
* SG Prestige totals and Top 100 SG List-- yeah this needs to be updated and redone somehow. See next item...
* Hindsight is always 20/20. IMO The biggest mistake was allowing the conversion of inf to prestige to count as earned prestige. It would have been far better to have it just be a one time boost to the SG total not tied to anyone and not shown as earned in the Top 100 list.
* Prestige total per alt in the SG window- This I actually like, even if it allows for snobbish and elistist whiners. But this is just my personal opinion.
* I would have liked to have seen prestige earned (not bought) as badges from the beginning. Hard to implement now, but as I look back, this would have made sense for the alts that migrate from SG to SG. So there wouldn't be a big number in the SG window, but badges would still tell the tale.

Nice to see the forum cartel out in force trying to diminish another good idea that the player base has asked for.

It's not that prestige is that relevant, but to some, in the way they play, it is relevant. Then you have the people it doesn't matter to, for those people, since it doesn't matter, they should just not care. Somehow though,

Some people still play SG only, and some SGs have rules. Any notion of the game remembering past prestige levels being a negative thing is just people grasping for straws. Not everyone plays the way you do, and magically enough, you can totally ignore how much prestige you earn or you can quit and rejoin an SG as much as you like.

No one is saying having a lot of prestige makes you a good player, but what it does say is that you were dedicated enough to that one SG to provide them X amount of prestige so they could enhance their base. That is what prestige does. Sure any single person can start an SG and farm prestige all they like, but that is what that one person likes to do. For the people who try to meet SG requirements and hold their virtual heads high by thinking they are contributing something, prestige is a very good thing. I have never ever met a single person in the entire game who has sat there and said "Well I have x amount of prestige so I'm X amount better than you."

Comradery actually means something to some people and shows itself in many different ways, prestige is a good example.

The narrow-mindedness/elitism of the forum cartel on this board is ridiculous. You're going to sit here and talk about prestige being an "elitist" thing when all you people do all day long is crap on every other persons ideas? Instead of saying "that will never work", "1000 times no", "your idea sucks", why not think of a way to implement such ideas in a way that is best for all.

Many ideas could work, you people, for some odd reason that Twixt should do a study on, just like turning up your noses and making baseless arguments.

When I say forum cartel, I am referring to the uninviting atmosphere that certain people (the forum cartel) promote on the forums due to their inability to use reason.

You cannot take someone's idea, based off an opinion and then discredit it so ferociously because of "your" bad experience unless you take in everyone else's experiences into account and look at it subjectively.

Post count is unrelated.

Dear Cold_X:

Prestige stopped mattering several issues ago. I'm sorry that you and/or your SG(s) haven't gotten the memo. It's completely meaningless now (no, really, it is), even/especially as some kind of high score or measure of contribution.

You want to be known for your contributions to the group and the game? Then ignore that silly, arbitrary, easily gameable number and go do worthy things. Organize (or assist with) events, for your SG and the public. Run missions, task forces, etc with your SG-mates. Help some newbies - give them the benefit of your experience, and show them there's more to this game than AE and the sewers. Be a voice of reason on your SG's forums and, if you're so inclined, this one.

Prestige means nothing in 2011. It doesn't even mean what the name itself does. Actions, not numbers.

A solution for everyone:

Make tracking Prestige a SG Option. Default On.