I think we can safely say

Neue Regel · Post by **Neue Regel** » Sat Feb 28, 2004 5:26 pm

That you cannot have a casual chain given the latest patch and what it did. Each player has to have at least one active player below them. I have two active players in this chain and have yet to receive XP from their vassals. I play all the time and I am passing up XP to my patron. This can only be fixed by having at least one active player and all of the toons that dont play be removed, or put at the bottom near the rank mule.

kerosene · Post by **kerosene** » Sat Feb 28, 2004 6:25 pm

We are still taking a look at the numbers being posted and trying to see the best way to move foreward from here.

We will let you know what going to happen within the next few days.

Laseirna · Post by **Laseirna** » Sat Feb 28, 2004 11:04 pm

I'm trying to think if I've played Blue Orchid much since the patch. She is the toon sworn to Atomic Punk. I know I'm seeing nothing (if you call 109xp anything) from below me. Part of the problem is that we're so close to the rank mule. In fact, I think the person between me and the rank mule is inactive so he should probably be deleted. I took on a fairly active vassel just before the patch and I think that's where my 109 xp came from. If he is as active as I think and that's what I'm getting, then this patch went way too far in nerfing chains. There has to be a better balance somewhere. But I'm willing to wait to see what the other brilliant chain managers come up with (cuz I certainly can't figure this out) and wait

Wimp Lo · Post by **Wimp Lo** » Sun Feb 29, 2004 4:03 am

I know I will have to make more of an effort to hunt all 5 of my characters every week now at least for an hour or two. In the past I could hunt one or another of them for a few hours and still help the chain, especially if it was sonja' i was hunting.

This will be a new challenge for us since the dynamic has changed so much.

Sure is strange to log in to 2 xp now

Wimp Lo

Neue Regel · Post by **Neue Regel** » Fri Mar 05, 2004 3:21 pm

Hasnt there been enough time to gather the info that was needed to determine what to do next?

The way I see it is that we would have to bring the active players here over to the Food chain. The chain would then have a few people at the top that would have 2 - 3 ACTIVE players below them, then those below them would have 1 -2 ACTIVE players below them. Like a very broad pyrimid. That would be the only way coudl see a chain workign at this point.

Lets get something going soon!

Thanks

Oof · Post by **Oof** » Fri Mar 05, 2004 6:30 pm

Hi all, just some quick answers to some of the concerns I see posted here.

We are going to be policing the chains again and removing non-compliant characters from the various chains.

WE currently have three chains in LD, we will need to add at least one more chain because of the XP changes.

The CC can't exist as an XP chain unless the members are actually producing XP; however, it can serve a very useful function as a rank chain.

The characters in the CC who would like to receive XP from a chain will probably want to move to the FC or a new as-yet-unnamed chain.

Quotas are up in the air still right now. We don't have enough data gathered since the patch to allow us to see what reasonable quotas will be, partly because many people haven't seemed to hunt or update since the patch. That situation is being resolved.

Turbine says there is a minimum 25% passup rate from a vassal to a patron. That is supposedly without leadership or loyalty trained, I believe.

Something that would be very helpful is if anyone (in any of the chains) would do the following:

Hunt with either your direct vassal or your direct patron. Write down the patron's leadership and the vassal's loyalty skill (buffed value while hunting). Write down how much XP you hunted for during the session and how much XP was passed from the vassal to the patron. Send that information to one of the chain managers in a PM or post it in the chain forum.

We will get the chains organzied again soon.

Thank you, and if I failed to address any concerns or questions please post a reminder here and one of the chain managers will reply.

Trekman · Post by **Trekman** » Fri Mar 05, 2004 7:05 pm

Oof wrote:We are going to be policing the chains again and removing non-compliant characters from the various chains.

Trekman is non-compliant to the current chain policy. He does not have 11 directs anymore, because we were told that inactive vassals like cross-server-mules will sabotage the new Leadership formula.
But the current chain policy still speaks of "Leadership trained or 12 direct vassals including the chain-vassal" or so.

Does that mean he will be removed ?

Oof · Post by **Oof** » Sat Mar 06, 2004 1:18 pm

No.

We try to keep the chain,and the chain rules, as practical as we can. Under the new allegiance rules the vassal bonus caps with four vassals. Yes, the chain policy page still lists a requirement of more than four because we haven't updated the policy pages yet. After we get the parameters of the chain settled we will go back and update the policy to match. It would be silly to require people to have 3x the number of vassals they need.

Blue Wizard · Post by **Blue Wizard** » Wed Mar 10, 2004 12:08 am

Is there any truth to the statement that "non playing vassels will inhibit XP?

Blue Wizard · Post by **Blue Wizard** » Thu Mar 11, 2004 7:52 am

Anyone know?

Oof · Post by **Oof** » Fri Mar 12, 2004 2:16 am

The answer is, "I think so." As I recall, Turbine has said that having active vassals, up to a maximum of four, will give you an increase in the percentage of xp you receive from your vassals (you used to receive a small percentage bonus for each vassal, all of the way up to 12). Supposedly, part of the bonus is made up by the amount of ingame time each vassal has been sworn to you and part of the bonus is made up by the amount or realtime, calendar, time each vassal has been sworn to you. They come up with some kind of percentage time for each vassal, then they multiple the percentage time for EACH AND EVERY vassal against the average time they are calculating.

The problem comes in with the way Turbine is calculating the time bonus for each vassal. They calculate a guess on the time sworn for each vassal when the vassal logs in for the first time since the allegiance change patch. If you have vassal who haven't logged in since the allegiance changes went into effect, yes, your inactive vassals will hurt your xp received.

All of that being said and done, Turbine also stated somewhere in their forums that, of the total amount of xp received, 30% of it comes from your vassal bonus and 70% of it comes from your direct vassal's loyalty and your leadership.

Inactive vassals will hurt you, but not as much as having untrained leadershipo or your vassal having low loyalty.

My head hurts.