It feels like quests fill up too fast

[comet]

It seems every quest I see get posted (yes, I'm on the discord, that's the only way I'd ever even see them get posted), despite the disclaimers of "people with less questing will be prioritized", they fill in like, half an hour or less. By the time I even see the announcement, it's full. Often with the first five or so people that posted.

Admittedly, I've not gotten past level 15 yet, despite playing here for a few months. I know not every quest posted is going to be in my level range, but literally all I've ever done is a single ad-hoc.

But slower responding people, like myself, don't even get a chance at quests. What chance have I to be prioritized when all the slots are full already?

Could there be something I'm misunderstanding? Maybe. But this is the impression I'm having.

[Malefic]

I know I myself am particularly bad at seeing what people who sign up for my quests join other quests, but it is something I will attempt to be more cognizant of going forward. I usually will alt people who have been in a lot of my quests lately but that does not solve the "quests filling up in half an hour or less"

[Xaerien]

If the sign-ups stop when there's enough to fill the available slots, that doesn't leave space to alt any of the players signed up who've been in a lot of quests. It's always better to sign up regardless of whether enough people have signed up to fill the available slots or not, otherwise there's no chance of getting in if you don't sign up

[comet]

Sept 15, 2022 2:49:19 GMT -5 Xaerien said:

If the sign-ups stop when there's enough to fill the available slots, that doesn't leave space to alt any of the players signed up who've been in a lot of quests. It's always better to sign up regardless of whether enough people have signed up to fill the available slots or not, otherwise there's no chance of getting in if you don't sign up

What's the point of signing up if the top post has all the main and alt slots already filled up by the time I even see it?

[Tarostar]

I'll try to translate a dutch proverb 'It's better to miss a target then to not take a shot at it at all.'

You never know what happens.

[kendrix]

Sept 15, 2022 9:14:29 GMT -5 Tarostar said:

I'll try to translate a dutch proverb 'It's better to miss a target then to not take a shot at it at all.'

You never know what happens.

Honestly, the is a cop out, not a solution.

The point is, even if signing up after every slot has been filled (something that tends to happen within a half hour to hour of the plot being posted), works (and it mostly doesn't from my experance), people new to the server, or less experience with plot, will see this and feel they missed out.  And it IS disheartening to see.  It really makes it feel like it is not worth signing up.  Honestly responding to a concern about an issue with "You should just know to do something counterintuitive" is less than helpful.  Moreover, even if people would be swapped out later, if they sign up after it has filled, then the people who were initially get bumped out, that feels bad too.

My proposition would be a waiting period, before slots are assigned.  Plots are generally posted a week or more in advance, if the DM's running them simply waited till the next day to assign slots, it would save a lot of frustration.   It will let them better see who has shown interest, before filling the slots in, and it would give people who are not on discord/the forums the exact moment the plot is posted more time to sign up.

I would also add, that from my perspective, most spots in most plots go to certain group of people.  I see the same names calls for most of the announced quests.  I would very much like to see, if possible, more effort put into making sure those who get into plot less, get a chance.  For example, I, across all of my many characters, have 1 DM item.  It came from the festival.  I know people who have gotten four, on one character, so far, just this year.  

*Edit*
To clarify, when I say the slots go to a certain group of people, I do not mean to imply cliqueiness or favoritism, just that some people have an easier time keep an eye on the forums/discord, and thus tend to sign up more often, and get picked more often.  I realized after I posted that my wording might have been confusing <3 

[Nymera]

While unfortunately there will always be more people wanting to join events than DM avaliable to run them (a big problem even in tabletop!), my advice is to sign up anyway.  Sign up for everything you could make, as an alt.

I've gotten into a lot of quests in the past just as an alt, because things happen, people can't show up, or people decide to drop a quest for some reason.  Not always, but eventually, if you keep signing up!

Another tip is to turn on notifications for quest announcements in Discord  so you can get an alert the moment one is posted.  It sucks to miss the opening hour when slots fill fastest, and this can increase your odds of seeing it.

[Fox²]

My proposition would be a waiting period, before slots are assigned.  Plots are generally posted a week or more in advance, if the DM's running them simply waited till the next day to assign slots, it would save a lot of frustration.

Unfortunately, slots are always filled first come, first served. This is to avoid favoritism and to avoid DMs hand selecting their rosters. This won't change.

What DMs can do to better cater their quests to groups of players in a fair manner is to assign broad preference slots. ie. preferencing any dwarves who sign up to the dwarf-centric quest. Preferencing characters of x, y, z faith, etc. Some of us do this from time to time where appropriate.

Only a few DMs announce their quests on discord. Most of us just post them on the forums without any flair.

Something that the staff have taken note of lately that does impact players and questing is that we're currently in a dry spell for signup quests. Between some DMs being on break, and others being tied up with long running plotlines, there's a scarcity in single shot quest or short-form plots. Some of us are pivoting to try and get some new quests out, but this will take some time and availability from our DMs.

Speaking of our DMs, we're always recruiting new DMs. You don't need to be familiar with the DM client, toolset, mechanical balance, or know all of the server's setting and forgotten realms lore off by heart. We'll teach you all of that during the apprentice program. You just need to have ideas for stories to tell, time available to tell them, and be able to get along with both players and staff. forums.cormyrdalelands.com/index.php?topic=625

[kendrix]

Unfortunately, slots are always filled first come, first served. This is to avoid favoritism and to avoid DMs hand selecting their rosters. This won't change.

It has been explicitly said that the policy is to try and prioritize people who get into quests less, and I have seen DMs do this in practice.  So that is at odds with that statement. 
My complaint is based on being told that.  If it is just first come first serve, then so be it, but contrary statements about this have been made, and so there is confusion.

[Fox²]

Sept 15, 2022 13:55:30 GMT -5 kendrix said:

Unfortunately, slots are always filled first come, first served. This is to avoid favoritism and to avoid DMs hand selecting their rosters. This won't change.

It has been explicitly said that the policy is to try and prioritize people who get into quests less, and I have seen DMs do this in practice.  So that is at odds with that statement. 
My complaint is based on being told that.  If it is just first come first serve, then so be it, but contrary statements about this have been made, and so there is confusion.

They're not contrary, but rather complimentary as only one sentence later I stated that we will sometimes state preferences for filling slots to groups of players that fit a broad condition. This can sometimes include players who have not been quested frequently, which is something we track in detailed spreadsheets.

[lurkerabove]

I have personally, literally seen full quests with alt slots taken too that end up with a public shout to actually build a party when it's time for the quest to begin. About a third of one of my PCs quest docket was made by just showing up and taking a no-show slot.

Definitely do sign as alt, this sometimes makes its own gravy as quest sign ups aren't always one shot events either. I've alted my way into a three quest series that ended up netting me a locked roster sequel as well.

[lackofimagination]

I believe there is a truth that getting into quests can, at time, be tricky.

If you're a new player, not getting involved in any faction, mostly hanging out with some people of the same level as you and not daring to bond with characters from "different level ranges and different horizons", and you rely on "spotting the quest announcement and answering it in time", it does feel daunting and like you have little chances.

On the other hand, in these quests, I've ended up in rosters that made me facepalm and think "what the hell is my character doing here? I shouldn't have tagged there, this is bad." Except these quests netted me relationships, allowed me to get in touch with DMs, to gain some visibility... and resulted in me getting pings on discord by IC friends telling me "hey, so and so and me are registering for that quest that was just posted, come post to tag along!"
Which then has resulted in "optional quests" where the whole team couldn't make it/wasn't interested which allowed me to reel in friends with characters I thought appropriate for the side-quest.

All in all "activity and roleplay results in getting into quests and storylines much more easily". Now, for the specific situation described here by Comet, I see two main things.
DM activity on the server rise and fall in cycles, with RL freedom, the need to take a breath after running a serie of events, serverwide-events getting taxing on the team and leaving less energy to run smaller scenarii. I've seen times with up to 15 quests in public announcements, and when that happens, not only "everyone gets a chance" but you're also much more free to consider each quest and think "is my character appropriate for the quest's theme, is the theme adequate to my character"... while, when (like it's the case currently) for a few months, there's only 2 or 3 quests in public announcements, you feel like you're crossing the desert, and "everyone" jumps on any quest-line being offered. There's also often more "public quests" offered when there are new aDMs (from what I observed). Probably because some DMs feel like "oh, if I have an assistant, I'd be up to run this, but on my own, with the other stuff I'm already doing, it would be too much work."

In my eyes, it's a fact it's not necessarily easy for newcomers to the server to "get into the swing of things", but aside from advising "Go out, roleplay, make IC friends for your character, and do post even if all the spots are filled, show you're alive and willing", there isn't much that can be done toward the situation, except adding "be patient and don't get discouraged. DMs and admins -are- aware and it's not because you're not getting messages and promises that there aren't talking in the background that you don't hear, where they're telling each other "hey, so and so has a nice, interesting character, they'd deserve to get some quest." "Yea, I've something on the backburner, but currently I'm too busy/not in the mood." and such.

Seriously. Trust the Admin and DM team here. They look out for us.
And if you don't believe me? Well, clic the link Fox provided and apply to become an aDM. Not only you'll get to see how things go behind the DM screen, you'll be able to provide small quests for others in your situation, and... I kind of believe that C&D's model is based on the ideal that "half of the players should also be part-time DMs/DM assistants"

[whitespirit]

I regret to be the one who has to say this but it needs to be said, so here it goes.

I once found an image that can serve as a nice response and explanation at the same time to this. Imagine the lanky person with the envelope to be someone who finally gets to go on a quest.

This is why the anti-luigi gets the fans love. There are two kinds of people in this regard. Those who remember to step back every once in a while to let others shine and those who don't. Every one person decides for themselves which one they'll be. Just like anti-luigi does in the comic.

I am probably one of the few people who can make a public statement like this and give a guarantee that this is not meant or targeted at anyone in particular at all. Why would it? I have not even been here the past few years, I literally haven't even met most of the people who go on quests these days. But I have played long enough in the past to know that this sort of thing comes up every now and again. Has in the past and probably will again, in the future, just like it does now. There is a very simple solution to it and I feel the comic does a very heartwarming job at showing it.

[Ianira]

What if, when signing up for a quest, players are asked to post the names/dates of the last 3 quests they participated in. Or ask players not to sign up for a new quest if they have done one within a certain time frame?  Both of these suggestions would help the DMs to know who on the sign-up list has done a quest recently without having to do a lot of research and give players that haven't been involved in many quests a chance to get priority on a quest roster.

[Fox²]

Sept 18, 2022 17:35:47 GMT -5 Ianira said:

What if, when signing up for a quest, players are asked to post the names/dates of the last 3 quests they participated in. Or ask players not to sign up for a new quest if they have done one within a certain time frame?  Both of these suggestions would help the DMs to know who on the sign-up list has done a quest recently without having to do a lot of research and give players that haven't been involved in many quests a chance to get priority on a quest roster.

We keep detailed statistics of all player quest participations already on the back end in spreadsheets.