Ranks

[Bhaern Quel]

[quote="Shir'le E. Illios":8437moe2]Right now the post ranks are as follows:

0 - Traveler
10 - Regular
50 - Resident
100 - Scribe
250 - Chronicler
500 - Legend
1000 - Demigod
2500 - Deity
5000 - Ao Incarnate

They can be changed easily enough (both point values needed and names).

The thing is that [i:8437moe2]most[/i:8437moe2] people here get a manually set title for joining the Chosen of Eilistraee usergroup. For those we’ve currently got:

Maid
Dark Lady
High Priestess

Faithful
Silver Blade
General
[i:8437moe2]Those[/i:8437moe2] don’t change unless they’re manually changed; so postcount doesn’t factor into it. The original idea was that people could rise in rank by partaking in a test of Eilistraeen knowledge and understanding, but that never materialized (I got quite a way with making one for Neverwinter Nights, but never completed it). It would be possible, I think, to do the test in IRC (though it might help if I make some preperations first to have some pre-written texts ready), but then we would have to start setting that up.

Next to that I would ideally want something where users get names based on class/group or such combined with experience value (so that at certain levels you can get new rank names based on your class), preferably such that those in the “Chosen of Eilistraee” group get different rank names from those who aren’t. But that requires a fair bit of reprogramming of the forum software; probably not [i:8437moe2]that[/i:8437moe2] hard (I could probably use the same system I used for the experience points to begin with now that I think of it), just requires some work.

And of course we’d need a good list of rank names.

As it is the post ranks (those based on postcount) are more of a joke; they don’t really mean anything beyond “this user made a lot of posts”. But I agree that the system could use some work and that it would be nicer to use experience and class and such.


Love -x-x-x-

Shir'le[/quote:8437moe2]

Took from other topic.

Well could change the names or the numbers, perhaps both for those not of the faith, in some ways the problem becomes what do the Faithful get?

I understand the coding is different. The Faithful get a blade for example.

Titles never matter much to me and I never posted just because I was near a level here.

Use of class title clearly would be a coding nightmare, because as already mentioned, a class can be added and IIRC a class changed.

It would be nice to see ideas of titles that could be used for both the Chosen and the other members of the forum.

Og course I might be able to Nuke the Demigod back to Legend by deleting a few RP posts. *wink* This is a joke, I would not abuse the power granted to me.

As far as it goes, not sure it would work. It appears to me that post count does not decease when a post is deleted. Looking at member list there are users that are reported as having 0 posts but also have experience. Not sure what Shir'le can see concerning this as I only see little here.

[Talwyn Aureliano]

following Bhaern's lead, I've moved the level name/rankings from the other thread for ease and continuity.

The idea is that since everyone chooses a primary character class when they start an account, they would fall under one of the 4 main archtype classes, those being Fighter, Priest, Mage and Thief.

This way it'd be simple to catagorise and differentiate the different characters. I would still keep the level rankings set through numbers of posts made as it does clearly show who has contributed most to the forums and thus are committed community members. It is wholely impartial system and is probably the best one.

Now I realise that recoding the board to take these different class types might be difficult but at least there are some more titles and ideas out there.

[b:1mfhov6s]Priest
Level [t:1mfhov6s] [t:1mfhov6s] Level title [/b:1mfhov6s]
1 [t:1mfhov6s] [t:1mfhov6s] Novitiate
2 [t:1mfhov6s] [t:1mfhov6s] Acolyte
3 [t:1mfhov6s] [t:1mfhov6s] Disciple
4 [t:1mfhov6s] [t:1mfhov6s] Neophyte
5 [t:1mfhov6s] [t:1mfhov6s] Curate
6 [t:1mfhov6s] [t:1mfhov6s] Prelate
7 [t:1mfhov6s] [t:1mfhov6s] Chaplin
8 [t:1mfhov6s] [t:1mfhov6s] Priest
9 [t:1mfhov6s] [t:1mfhov6s] Exalted Priest
10 [t:1mfhov6s] [t:1mfhov6s] Exalted Master
11 [t:1mfhov6s] [t:1mfhov6s] High Priest
12 [t:1mfhov6s] [t:1mfhov6s] Cardinal


[b:1mfhov6s]Fighter
Level [t:1mfhov6s] [t:1mfhov6s] Level title [/b:1mfhov6s]
1st [t:1mfhov6s] [t:1mfhov6s] Warrior
2nd [t:1mfhov6s] [t:1mfhov6s] Veteran
3rd [t:1mfhov6s] [t:1mfhov6s] Swordsman
4th [t:1mfhov6s] [t:1mfhov6s] Hero
5th [t:1mfhov6s] [t:1mfhov6s] Swashbuckler
6th [t:1mfhov6s] [t:1mfhov6s] Myrmidon
7th [t:1mfhov6s] [t:1mfhov6s] Champion
8th [t:1mfhov6s] [t:1mfhov6s] Superhero
9th [t:1mfhov6s] [t:1mfhov6s] Lord
10th [t:1mfhov6s] [t:1mfhov6s] Baron
11th [t:1mfhov6s] [t:1mfhov6s] Count
12th [t:1mfhov6s] [t:1mfhov6s] Duke


[b:1mfhov6s]Mage
Level [t:1mfhov6s] [t:1mfhov6s] Level title [/b:1mfhov6s]
1st [t:1mfhov6s] [t:1mfhov6s] Apprentice
2nd [t:1mfhov6s] [t:1mfhov6s] Novice
3rd [t:1mfhov6s] [t:1mfhov6s] Conjurer
4th [t:1mfhov6s] [t:1mfhov6s] Theurgist
5th [t:1mfhov6s] [t:1mfhov6s] Thaumaturgist
6th [t:1mfhov6s] [t:1mfhov6s] Enchanter
7th [t:1mfhov6s] [t:1mfhov6s] Magician
8th [t:1mfhov6s] [t:1mfhov6s] Warlock
9th [t:1mfhov6s] [t:1mfhov6s] Sorcerer
10th [t:1mfhov6s] [t:1mfhov6s] Necromancer
11th [t:1mfhov6s] [t:1mfhov6s] Wizard
12th [t:1mfhov6s] [t:1mfhov6s] Master Wizard

[b:1mfhov6s]Thief
Level [t:1mfhov6s] [t:1mfhov6s] Level title [/b:1mfhov6s]
1st [t:1mfhov6s] [t:1mfhov6s] Apprentice
2nd [t:1mfhov6s] [t:1mfhov6s] Footpad
3rd [t:1mfhov6s] [t:1mfhov6s] Robber
4th [t:1mfhov6s] [t:1mfhov6s] Burglar
5th [t:1mfhov6s] [t:1mfhov6s] Cutpurse
6th [t:1mfhov6s] [t:1mfhov6s] Sharper
7th [t:1mfhov6s] [t:1mfhov6s] Pilferer
8th [t:1mfhov6s] [t:1mfhov6s] Master Pilferer
9th [t:1mfhov6s] [t:1mfhov6s] Thief
10th [t:1mfhov6s] [t:1mfhov6s] Master Thief
11th [t:1mfhov6s] [t:1mfhov6s] Bandit
12th [t:1mfhov6s] [t:1mfhov6s] Bandit Chief



The other system to consider is having 3 types of level rankings based on the following:
Chosen - direct worshippers of Eilistraee
Allies - those who aid and support the church of the dark maiden but serve other deities
Enemies - we seem to have spider kissers from time to time and as well, those who worship malign deities.


For allies the following could be some titles to award:
friend, comrade, ally, helper, supporter, confidant, cohort, collegue, cotorie, sword brother/sister.

For enemies:
opponent, adversary, enemy, foe, rival, nemisis, antagonist etc

[Talwyn Aureliano]

[quote="Bhaern Quel":3rac1i13]

Of course I might be able to Nuke the Demigod back to Legend by deleting a few RP posts,


[/quote:3rac1i13]



Thou dare speak ill of thy demigod? Thouest would deign to raise thy hand against the lord thy Demigod?

Thy covenent will be rent unsunder and there will be a great wailing and gnashing of teeth as the heathen blasphemers are cast into the pit of enternal torment.

Lo doth my prophet speaketh thusly...

there will be striking down with great vengence and furious anger....



[youtube:3rac1i13]UmvnXKRfdb8[/youtube:3rac1i13]

[Argoth]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but shouldn't divine ascension incorporate having followers, disciples and believers? I wonder who'd pray to Tal here. Maybe pictures of naked drow women could pray to Tal?

[Talwyn Aureliano]

actually being a demigod doesn't necessarily require you to have followers but if you do have them, them more power to you

It's when you ascend from demi god status to lesser power is when you need followers. So when your a demigod, that's the time to run around handing out free pizza and beer in order to bolster your cults numbers.

[Bhaern Quel]

[quote="Argoth":3berj93b]Correct me if I'm wrong, but shouldn't divine ascension incorporate having followers, disciples and believers? I wonder who'd pray to Tal here. Maybe pictures of naked drow women could pray to Tal?[/quote:3berj93b]

There was a discussion some three years ago about ranks. It was not a major issue then.

As far as I am concerned it is not a major issue now.

It clearly would be nice if the Chosen had available as many ranks as those that choose another deity as patron.

As for Tal's 12 levels, those title could be linked to post count rather then experience (which is not the same thing for at least two reasons) level.

The coding problem I look at is profile change of class or multiclass naming.

I have two of the base classes, I never tried to change then in profile however I expect I could do so. If after getting past class selected, it gets changed by user it appears at least possible that a ripple could go though the system. Sometimes the code is stable enough that everything changes based on last selected, sometimes system melts down with unrecoverable error.

[Shir'le E. Illios]

A couple of things.

I've looked at the code a bit and I'm fairly certain that I've found the place where it picks what rank to display for a user. Having found that it should be possible to change that behavior.

I [i:3io1y05h]think[/i:3io1y05h] that it should be fairly straight-forward to use experience instead of postcount; I think I can just pick the "experience" field in a person's profile instead of the "postcount" field.

Similarly I [i:3io1y05h]think[/i:3io1y05h] that I can also fairly easily look at a person's class and use that in the calculation as well; in the rank table I'd then probably just add another column listing class. Though to do this properly might be a bit of work as I'd also have to change the admin interface for adding new ranks (to include this new class field).

If I do something with classes I'll probably just pick the first class. So Bhaern in this case would use the "Fighter" ranks. Of course I'd also need ranks for if that first class hasn't been set. And yes, this means that if someone changes their first class then they immediately change rank as well (as they'll then use the ranks for the new class). I'm fine with this.

I [i:3io1y05h]think[/i:3io1y05h] I might also be able to look if a person is added to a certain group and use a different set of ranks in that case. In this case I'd likely look if someone is in one of the Chosen groups and pick ranks based on that, ignoring class otherwise.

Whatever I do I likely won't have a system where you get a rank for every single level. I'm thinking more along the lines of once every three of four levels (doesn't even have to be evenly spaced or exactly on a level, so that you might change ranks more quickly in the beginning). Thus 12 ranks is [i:3io1y05h]more[/i:3io1y05h] than enough.

If I implement this new system then Talwyn would most likely lose his demigod status.


In the above there's a couple of places where I'm not entirely sure. Looking at the code things should be relatively straight-forward (mostly a matter of getting the logic right), but I might be missing something making things more complicated. For example, if experience isn't stored in the player profile in the same way as postcount is then it might get more difficult. As such I can't make any promises. Since the ranks are just supposed to be a fun little thing without too much meaning if it gets too complicated to implement then I'll stick to what we currently have (possibly changing the names) and people'll just have to deal with it.


[EDIT] One other thing; when I get around to working on this then the ranks people currently have might get messed up for a while as I try different things (make a change, see what effect it has, etc). Don't worry when that happens.


Love -x-x-x-

Shir'le

[Shir'le E. Illios]

Alright, made a number of changes to the ranks code. Hopefully I got everything working, but it could be that there are still some artifacts here or there that I haven't noticed yet (for example, for a brief while there I had everyone appear three times in the members list... though a nice way to boost the number of members I decided to fix that anyway).

Here's how it works now.

Rank is based on [i:173jw60t]level[/i:173jw60t]. Though not every level will have a rank (and I could, if I wanted, award ranks for partial levels).

Everyone in the "Chosen of Eilistraee" usergroup, and with "Eilistraee" set as their deity, should now have the rank "Faithful" (so all previous "Maids" are now Faithful as well). I could, if I wanted to, add additional ranks.

Those who are, next to the above, [i:173jw60t]also[/i:173jw60t] in the "Dark Ladies" or "Silver Blades" group (which is nobody just yet; and I'm considering changing the names of those two groups) can get another set of ranks. Though I haven't set any ranks yet. The intention is that people can graduate from a normal faithful to become either a Priestess of a Knight or such. This graduation would take place through that damn test I've been planning for way too long.

Those who aren't in one of the above groups will get a rank based on their primary class. Each class is considered either a warrior, a rogue, a mage or a priest as such:

[list:173jw60t][*:173jw60t][b:173jw60t]Mages[/b:173jw60t][list:173jw60t][*:173jw60t]Sorcerer[/*173jw60t]
[*:173jw60t]Warlock[/*173jw60t]
[*:173jw60t]Wizard[/*173jw60t][/list:u:173jw60t][/*173jw60t][*:173jw60t][b:173jw60t]Priests[/b:173jw60t][list:173jw60t][*:173jw60t]Cleric[/*173jw60t]
[*:173jw60t]Druid[/*173jw60t][/list:u:173jw60t][/*173jw60t][*:173jw60t][b:173jw60t]Rogues[/b:173jw60t][list:173jw60t][*:173jw60t]Bard[/*173jw60t]
[*:173jw60t]Rogue[/*173jw60t][/list:u:173jw60t][/*173jw60t][*:173jw60t][b:173jw60t]Warriors[/b:173jw60t][list:173jw60t][*:173jw60t]Barbarian[/*173jw60t]
[*:173jw60t]Fighter[/*173jw60t]
[*:173jw60t]Monk[/*173jw60t]
[*:173jw60t]Paladin[/*173jw60t]
[*:173jw60t]Ranger[/*173jw60t][/list:u:173jw60t][/*173jw60t][/list:u:173jw60t]
I can change these easily enough if I want, but I think that this complies with how D&D considers them.

So if you are a paladin then you are considered a "warrior" type and will get your ranks according to the warrior rank table. However, at the moment I haven't set any class-based ranks yet (until I decide what ranks to use).

If you don't belong to any of those groups [i:173jw60t]and[/i:173jw60t] you don't have a primary class set (or if there's no rank table for your class type yet, as it is now) then you'll use the default rank table. This rank table currently looks as follows (and is easy enough to change):

[list:173jw60t][*:173jw60t][b:173jw60t]Level 1[/b:173jw60t] - Traveler[/*173jw60t]
[*:173jw60t][b:173jw60t]Level 2[/b:173jw60t] - Regular[/*173jw60t]
[*:173jw60t][b:173jw60t]Level 4[/b:173jw60t] - Resident[/*173jw60t]
[*:173jw60t][b:173jw60t]Level 6[/b:173jw60t] - Champion[/*173jw60t]
[*:173jw60t][b:173jw60t]Level 9[/b:173jw60t] - Hero/Heroine[/*173jw60t]
[*:173jw60t][b:173jw60t]Level 12[/b:173jw60t] - Lord/Lady[/*173jw60t]
[*:173jw60t][b:173jw60t]Level 15[/b:173jw60t] - Legend[/*173jw60t]
[*:173jw60t][b:173jw60t]Level 20[/b:173jw60t] - Demigod[/*173jw60t]
[*:173jw60t][b:173jw60t]Level 30[/b:173jw60t] - Deity[/*173jw60t]
[*:173jw60t][b:173jw60t]Level 40[/b:173jw60t] - Ao Incarnate[/*173jw60t][/list:u:173jw60t]
I seriously doubt that anyone is ever going to reach level 40; I don't even think that if you add all the experience of everyone currently on the board you'd get that far.

The names of these ranks and of all the other ranks are still up in the air. I do think that I like that level distribution, though it does mean that the higher level you get the longer it takes to get a new rank (and it already takes more experience for each new rank as well).

At least the code should be all in place now; now it's just a matter of filling out the data.


Love -x-x-x-

Shir'le

[Argoth]

Wow, I've never thought these changes would go that fast. Then again, not all computer problems have to be elaborate.

[youtube:lxuamc5a]gt9j80Jkc_A[/youtube:lxuamc5a]

[Zarae Zyne Kilanatlar]

[quote="Shir'le E. Illios":mhkhwj9l]
Everyone in the "Chosen of Eilistraee" usergroup, and with "Eilistraee" set as their deity, should now have the rank "Faithful" (so all previous "Maids" are now Faithful as well). I could, if I wanted to, add additional ranks.

Those who are, next to the above, [i:mhkhwj9l]also[/i:mhkhwj9l] in the "Dark Ladies" or "Silver Blades" group (which is nobody just yet; and I'm considering changing the names of those two groups) can get another set of ranks. Though I haven't set any ranks yet. The intention is that people can graduate from a normal faithful to become either a Priestess of a Knight or such. This graduation would take place through that damn test I've been planning for way too long.
Shir'le[/quote:mhkhwj9l]

i was wondering how the faithful titles worked or how positions were determined. are those connected to the broken swords near the ID? i looked back thru old post, but i dont remember seeing stuff like that...
anyway...

[Arya Baenre]

I like these changes. A lot.

[Talwyn Aureliano]

[quote="Arya Baenre":2lxwtz5g]I like these changes. A lot.[/quote:2lxwtz5g]

Me too

[Zarae Zyne Kilanatlar]

ditto!

[Thalon Mercrow]

im contributing to the converstion!



also nice work Talwyn with the pulp fiction qoute. made my day when i saw it

[Shir'le E. Illios]

[quote="Zarae Zyne Kilanatlar":b2xlbbq6]i was wondering how the faithful titles worked or how positions were determined. are those connected to the broken swords near the ID? i looked back thru old post, but i dont remember seeing stuff like that...
anyway... [/quote:b2xlbbq6]
Those 'broken swords' are actually supposed to be daggers. Yeah, I know, my pixel art sucks (they're really just scaled-down drawings I found online long ago). If anyone feels compelled to make some better rank images then I'll happily use them.

That said, yes those images are connected to ranks. Though not all ranks have an image (they could, I just couldn't be bothered to make that many images). Only the Eilistraee ranks (Faithful, Dark Lady, Silver Blade, etc) currently have images. Oh, and I have one for Lolthians as well (the "Misguided One" rank):

[img:b2xlbbq6]images/ranks/sword_deity.gif[/img:b2xlbbq6]
[img:b2xlbbq6]images/ranks/sword_bastard.gif[/img:b2xlbbq6]
[img:b2xlbbq6]images/ranks/sword_long.gif[/img:b2xlbbq6]
[img:b2xlbbq6]images/ranks/sword_dagger.gif[/img:b2xlbbq6]
[img:b2xlbbq6]images/ranks/sword_spider.gif[/img:b2xlbbq6]


Love -x-x-x-

Shir'le