Hi mods! Regarding the apps conundrum, I think the best way to handle things would be to still have TDMs on a regular schedule, if only for that familiar element of predictability. In my experience (albeit not in DWRP, but other internet spaces) having something people can regularly expect is just better overall — even if we don't necessarily want high engagement, because limited slots, it should help in keeping the game wide open to potential new players rather than creating an insular environment. I also agree with Candance that it might mean less overall work for you guys, which is definitely optimal here. Besides — and this is just my limited observations of DWRP as a relative newbie, but — apps might not be quite as big of a bloodbath as feared, because I've definitely seen cases where people voluntarily remove themselves from the app pool out of fear it's going to be small. Not saying this is ideal or anything but if people are going to be removing themselves of their own volition anyway...
HOWEVER, I'm not entirely sure if future TDMs can work quite the way the second one did. It was a lot of fun — but iirc, it was 30-something characters converging on 20-something new ones, which is a pretty good balance. If we end up with 40-something characters converging on 10 newbies I can see that potentially being overwhelming for both new and current players alike. I know there was some joking in the discord earlier about having just one free slot open, so it'd be 49 players all converging on one (who would be Lady Dimitrescu, of course), and while that's fun to joke about, the closer we get to seeing that actually happen in practice... it's a little unhinged. Furthermore, the second TDM essentially being a game-wide event was awesome, I loved everything about it, and the mechanic it created to get people to tag out enthusiastically was probably the best I've seen, but as we get deeper into the game I am a little worried about new TDMs being new game-wide events on top of current ones, potentially for limited IC payoff due to the nature of a TDM, creating burnout. I'm sure that can be nullified by the timing of other events, but I do think it's something to consider.
tl;dr on apps and TDMs, I think sticking to a regular schedule would be for the best, BUT I also think the TDMs themselves are going to have to be scaled down ICly, both to compensate for the limited number of newbies the game will likely have room for, and for the sake of the current player base. (If we end up with like, a 35 current player/15 open slots divide then I think things would be all good to go with the style of the second TDM again, but fewer slots than that and we start to get into dicier territory, imo.)
Re: settings, extended info, etc — it should be linked on the main pages, I think! Like if I go to the settings page and want to read more about Godsblood, the extended info page should be linked under the main Godsblood blurb with a "read more" or something. I've already instinctually tried to find the info multiple times by doing just that, so that'd be helpful in keeping things organized, I think. (Disregard if you were already planning on doing this and just haven't gotten around to it yet!! I just wanted to bring it up in case it actually did slip anyone's mind, but there's certainly no rush.)
And man... I got nothing to add re: event wish lists, but more of a general comment here, in that with the number of player plots I see brewing I think you guys have done an outstanding job with regards to the game's worldbuilding that people are able to start creating the things they want to see on their own, and that's definitely a very strong feature here, so I just want to thank you for that.
That said! I have noticed that the heavier events (1 and 3) have involved characters of both sects converging in one setting together, and I do think it'd be interesting if a heavier event was a bit more spread out over the continent — not necessarily having people divided by their sects (although maybe that too!) but just something where it isn't all concentrated in one area. I understand the logistics for that might be a bit time intensive so this is just a very wishy-washy easy-to-ignore suggestion I'm not married to, but seeing the structure shaken up a bit for a heavier event in the future is definitely something that'd appeal to me.
... I'm sorry this ended up so long, squeezes my eyes shut and hits post anyway
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HOWEVER, I'm not entirely sure if future TDMs can work quite the way the second one did. It was a lot of fun — but iirc, it was 30-something characters converging on 20-something new ones, which is a pretty good balance. If we end up with 40-something characters converging on 10 newbies I can see that potentially being overwhelming for both new and current players alike. I know there was some joking in the discord earlier about having just one free slot open, so it'd be 49 players all converging on one (who would be Lady Dimitrescu, of course), and while that's fun to joke about, the closer we get to seeing that actually happen in practice... it's a little unhinged. Furthermore, the second TDM essentially being a game-wide event was awesome, I loved everything about it, and the mechanic it created to get people to tag out enthusiastically was probably the best I've seen, but as we get deeper into the game I am a little worried about new TDMs being new game-wide events on top of current ones, potentially for limited IC payoff due to the nature of a TDM, creating burnout. I'm sure that can be nullified by the timing of other events, but I do think it's something to consider.
tl;dr on apps and TDMs, I think sticking to a regular schedule would be for the best, BUT I also think the TDMs themselves are going to have to be scaled down ICly, both to compensate for the limited number of newbies the game will likely have room for, and for the sake of the current player base. (If we end up with like, a 35 current player/15 open slots divide then I think things would be all good to go with the style of the second TDM again, but fewer slots than that and we start to get into dicier territory, imo.)
Re: settings, extended info, etc — it should be linked on the main pages, I think! Like if I go to the settings page and want to read more about Godsblood, the extended info page should be linked under the main Godsblood blurb with a "read more" or something. I've already instinctually tried to find the info multiple times by doing just that, so that'd be helpful in keeping things organized, I think. (Disregard if you were already planning on doing this and just haven't gotten around to it yet!! I just wanted to bring it up in case it actually did slip anyone's mind, but there's certainly no rush.)
And man... I got nothing to add re: event wish lists, but more of a general comment here, in that with the number of player plots I see brewing I think you guys have done an outstanding job with regards to the game's worldbuilding that people are able to start creating the things they want to see on their own, and that's definitely a very strong feature here, so I just want to thank you for that.
That said! I have noticed that the heavier events (1 and 3) have involved characters of both sects converging in one setting together, and I do think it'd be interesting if a heavier event was a bit more spread out over the continent — not necessarily having people divided by their sects (although maybe that too!) but just something where it isn't all concentrated in one area. I understand the logistics for that might be a bit time intensive so this is just a very wishy-washy easy-to-ignore suggestion I'm not married to, but seeing the structure shaken up a bit for a heavier event in the future is definitely something that'd appeal to me.
... I'm sorry this ended up so long, squeezes my eyes shut and hits post anyway