realistically speaking, the role of this so called fort battle "specialist" was to dig awesomia battles and implement some policies (that actually work cuz yours don't) to help with balancing and the chaos made by multi digs. maybe balance the sets too and help with the class changes? at least that's how i saw fit, maybe i'm wrong. if it's like that you can create a player duel specialist too so you get to 30 players in the staff that earn nuggets cuz duels are broken too
not moving players, not cancelling battles, not doing other people from your team's work. maybe i was wrong.
people do not like to be controlled by other people, and especially ones that are not transparent at all. so i think you're burning your own bridge.
Let me enlighten you a bit. Im probably sailing close to the wind re rules here but ah well.
First separate the game from being a business.. Inno dosnt need this game, dosnt value it like it did and frankly its old, outdated and probably a coding mess & patches. Hence V2 attempt which is debatable if better than the original but it was monetised far more thats true so yay go profits. Plus the world has moved on long since with its gaming demands. Though i do think one V1 classic world would be popular as it was with speed version.
Various Server teams are not Devs nor HQ, only minders of specific servers. Nothing the .net team here or others do or suggests, with maybe the exception of .DE historically ever mattered much, and far less now than in its hey day. Not class changes not sets nor anything else is adapted or changed from feedback once things are rolled out.. thats updates if lucky and rare, more like they will fix bugs before adjusting anything rolled out which people might have spent $ on. They would usually just withdraw from repeating some OP set like Union at most. What HQ plans for the game is beyond any CM or teams knowledge or influence, vague hints & rumours at best with often little lead in time when they happen.. Beta is supposed to be for changes, only at that stage is feedback be taken into account on occasion or tweaks made pre rollout but not often or much. Beta used to be reset every month and once was a real decent testing ground but doubt many remember. Hasnt been much more than just another 2 worlds to make $ out of since 2010, mostly a bug finding place now & early notice of whats coming, not much else, a few set points distribution changes, the odd halt on some dumb HQ idea but thats about it..
There was a duel specialist once, the same person who was sole Event Marshall. When dueling on occasion got broken with inno changes they would spend time in a closed, off game environment. Testing builds & changes over and over, making notes and providing feedback with a young & aspiring Dev called Diggo who understood game needs because he was a player once too. Mostly it was productive and decent incremental changes could be made, though even then often HQ just did what it wanted without much understanding or care for feedback which was very frustrating for everyone. Devs don't have the same objectives as senior management does.. one creates or works improving a product the other is all about $ & marketing it.. not that Inno has marketed The West properly for a decade or more. Obviously thats intentional and another HQ decision most left playing would not agree with. Hey ho.
It was ever thus.
All games online have/need oversight or most would not survive. Every town leader, every alliance leader, every battle leader, council etc control others by necessity, by consent yes but its still control .. as for transparency, private businesses dont traditionally work that way. Inno is now a $1 billion + Co & Germany's leading developer/publisher of mobile and online games. I doubt transparency will happen anytime soon & the west is a trickle of revenue compared to its other brands. Consolidating servers is clearly in progress & im amazed its till live anywhere tbh so it must still be viable on some business spread sheet at some management level i guess. Probably looked after by some junior game brand manager lol
Once upon a time on w10 there was a mod town called Infraction Junction.. got lots of stick ofc but everyone knew it was about adding to the game & FF not bias or malicious overreach. The player community thrived as a result and became one of the best FF worlds ever, perhaps legendary. No small thx to the then Mod team who helped make that happen.. Shout out to Hellstromm the CM of that time & a player too... 2 1/2 years later Inno decided to close it with 25k still actively playing. A business decision by HQ, the team fought hard to keep it open but to no avail, HQ made migration occur citing closure by month end, then once most had moved, kept it open just to milk it for a few more $ from the few left. They destroyed a perfectly good v active world because .. innosense $ nonsense.
So that would hopefully not happen again to a great FF world, Colorado, then recent became the prime focus for FF events, with the help and full support of the player base/support team & introduction of a council, thats endured . The one time HQ had been meaningfully forced to pay attention because monetarily it matters & long may it do so, when it dosnt that too will be closed.
Point of all that fluff is... players assume far too much about the server teams influence,power or intentions & much less so than a decade ago. In the scheme of things all thats possible these days are minor local server game adjustments & not development related at all, HQ makes the decisions and mostly its about business profits & such, not fun.
PS Mods can be infracted too and are subject to the rules just the same. Im talking 8 years ago with confidence ofc but suspect & would hope that still holds today..
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