With the next update around the corner, some....ideas.

[Caspeen]

About 2) If a change happens and the decorating looks better than it did before to everybody else but the original decorator, then who's right and who's wrong? The rest of the Guild or the person who originally designed the decoration? Decorating is so subjective and I think voting is necessary to make it fair what is locked and not locked? If somebody decorates something and they're unwilling to change something (not implying players in our own Guild at all, just in general philosophically), they lock their decorations so they cannot be changed by anybody else, but nobody likes what they've done, what then? What about when in the eventuality, everything is locked? Is decorating over then (though at this moment, how does the Guild look such that it doesn't need any changes)? I don't think there's any real solution to this because it's so subjective and thus without an answer, I wouldn't suggest implementing tools that would only add complexities to this problem. The best solution to the problem in which Locks attempts to fix is trusting your Guild Members.

I think you missed the (or leader(s)) bit. I certainly wouldn't want items to be locked in perpetuity but I think locking them by default prevents misunderstandings and mistakes. In our guild we've tried it both ways - lots of decorators and limiting decorating to just a few people, and with both systems changes were made that upset folks. If changes had to be approved then I think some of that would have been avoided. As to having a change log, sounds interesting but I think that can be a bit too much if you saw every single move.

Honestly, whatever Ki does that replaces the need for Discord in Raids is going to be worse than simply using Discord for Raids. If anything, Discord is helping their brand because it gets players to be more committed to their game and anyhow Discord is the new normal and there's nothing wrong with taking advantage of something that is going to happen regardless.

OK, a few layers here but at the heart of my objection is that VOICE CHAT is almost a pre-requisit for success. Discord and VC have long given folks an advantage at Beastmoon and other collaborative activities but for me there's a huge difference between an advantage and a requirement. I've done Beastmoon since it came out and I've been on teams VC and against teams with VC and never have I thought - "I wish I could chat so I could win more". Raids, on the other hand, are so involved and require such coordination that without VC you are at a significant disadvantage. That bothers me on several fronts - I hate that I have to get a mic for my computer. I hate that because my PC is in the family room that while I'm chatting my entire family has to be involved in my chats.

On top of that I hate the fact that any time spend in Discord is time away from the game or away from Central. Period. I get everything I need from playing the game or from Central - the rest of it is noise I don't want. But now it's something I NEED. Grrrr....

1) We could track item and azoth donations and display that in Guild Roster (perhaps as tooltip)

That would be huge so long as there's consideration for the fact that not all Azoth is created equally. Maybe there could be ranks (and badges!) to encourage contributions?

3) With time zones, a time stamp could just be more confusing. Perhaps we could add the time since last message was sent when you log in?

Brilliant. Certainly don't need to time stamp everything but some context when you log in would be soooo helpful.

And thanks so much for chiming in!

The one point I would strongly disagree with is converting azoth TCs into reagents.

100% agree - having Azoth tradeable is HUGE and I think it was done intentionally so.

I just wish a raid keys didn't have to be a ton of work on one person. Even if people give their Azoth to the crafter of the key, it's still the burden of the Key Crater to meet with folks to get the azoth. If there was just some way to collect it - via Azoth vault, or Raid Key anvil - it would make it more of a Team effort than require one wiz to find space to store 650 Azoth TC.

Casp

[Hollywood]

The guild decorating shouldn't be an issue. If someone wants to decorate, the leader gives them an item count to stick to and either assigns them an area or lets the person choose a spot themselves(that hasn't already been picked). And everyone else with decorator privileges needs to leave it alone. If a person hasn't been active after a set amount of time, THEN it gets voted on if they want to keep it or dismantle it.

[Caspeen]

The guild decorating shouldn't be an issue. If someone wants to decorate, the leader gives them an item count to stick to and either assigns them an area or lets the person choose a spot themselves(that hasn't already been picked). And everyone else with decorator privileges needs to leave it alone. If a person hasn't been active after a set amount of time, THEN it gets voted on if they want to keep it or dismantle it.

You are so right, it shouldn't be, but for many it is. Yes, we can tell people to decorate this area, or that, or only use this many items, but what if they still make changes, either by mistake or misunderstanding? What harm would do by locking items? Compare that against the benefits it seems like an easy, no brainer. Even if it's an option that the guild can enable or not, I think it would help prevent conflict that no one enjoys.

But I think you're onto something else - "claiming" areas. I know this was something we tried - to have people place signs in areas that they want to decorate so that others would know the spot was claimed. Maybe this is another function that could be enabled / disabled by the guild leader, where areas could be assigned to a specific decorator or claimed by them. And rather than burn a housing item by placing a sign, the the game would place a sign saying "being decorated by *****"

I'm sure there are other ideas that could make the decorating experience less....contentious....but as is there are too many opportunities for conflict and I wholeheartedly believe that locking items would help.