April Fools' Joke 
I was very busy at the time, so I didn't plan this prank for days. I literally had nothing when I woke up April the 1st.
Since War was just about to start, and people take it very seriously, I thought that it would be a good idea to use that. Canceling the event was a pretty logical choice, but it wasn't enough, so I had to include something else as well.
I knew that many hardcore PvP'ers were not too happy about the idea of merging War and Card Design War, so I thought it would be a good idea to use that angle and make a really silly event where you have all kinds of silly classes that had nothing to do with Elements or PvP, but which could seriously effect the outcome of War.
I made up some classes and wrote some really dumb rules. As I was typing them, I was pretty sure that nobody would be fooled, but luckily this is the internet. I mean come on guys.. "War Troll"? And how about "International Spy" that speaks in dead languages?
I received numerous PM's asking if I was serious or not. I also received PM's threatening to quit the event if the rules were not changed. Someone even threatened to quit the whole forums if War #4 happens.
It's annoying when people ruin the joke by posting "This is April Fools' guys" on the topic, like it somehow makes them cool and smart (free tip: it doesn't). For added security against this annoying phenomenon, I used the forum word filtering like this:
April -> Awesome
Fool -> News
Idea was that when people post..
This is April Fool(s)
...it comes out as..
This is Awesome News(s)
ORIGINAL TOPIC:There have been some issues with the current War rules (like the new seeding system), which have led to many players quitting (or getting kicked out) of War #3. This is why Warmasters and myself decided to cancel War #3.
This is very unfortunate and I apologize for any inconvenience. I know many people have worked hard on the Vaults and strategy already. But the good news is that relaunching War is now our top priority. We have made some drastic changes to rules, and War #4 is starting next week!
WAR #4 - FORUM WARSThere has been talks about merging War and Card Design War. You can read the original topic here (
http://elementscommunity.org/forum/index.php/topic,23543.0.html).
Since almost everyone thought merging the two would be a good idea, we decided to go along with it, because why wait? But we also thought it would be a good idea to not only include card designing, but include
EVERYTHING our forums have to offer. This way we can have a cool PvP event that everyone, not just PvP'ers, can be a part of. The new event will be called "FORUM WARS".
Signing UpThere won't be an Auction this time because it's a waste of time really. Instead everyone will sign up on this topic (
http://elementscommunity.org/forum/index.php/topic,23758.0.html), and Generals will later pick their teams, one by one.
We will have a General and two teams: Fighting Team and Supportive Team. Each team has different classes.
When you sign up, you need to pick a class. Choose your class carefully, because you won't be able to play any other classes. Available classes:
General (1)Class for generals. Only Generals can pick this class.
Paladin (previously Lieutenant)
(1)This class is exactly like the old Lieutenant role, only with a different (less-military, more fantasy) name.
Soldier (7)Soldier class fights the actual PvP battles. They will get help from the supportive classes listed below.
Voice of *Insert Element* (example 'Voice of Death')
(1)Voice of *** is responsible for propaganda of his or her element. Each round, Voice of *** posts as many posts, related to his or her element, as possible. You can post in any section on the forums, as long as your post is somehow related to your element. There is also a minimum requirement of 100 words per post.
You can also '''counter''' propaganda posts made by other Voice of ***'s. Example: Player A posts how his element is the best, to which Player B replies explaining how Player A is wrong, and how the element of Player B is in fact the best. If willing, Player A has a chance to counter-counter Player B. Counter-counter-counter (Player B countering the counter-counter of Player A), is not possible.
At the end of each round, Warmasters count the number of legit propaganda posts, and teams can use one additional upgraded card per successful propaganda post (maximum of 24 per round). Warmasters also count the number of successful counters that happened during that round. In order for your counter propaganda to be accepted, you must have valid points, simply saying "my element is the best", won't do.
War Poet (1)This class is a combination of a fighter and a lover. During each round, you will write a War Poem to motivate your team. Each poem will have a different theme given by Warmasters. Themes can be anything from "Happiness" to "Forbidden Love". Each round, Elements Lead Developer, Mr. Zanzarino, will pick the most touching poem. The author of the winning poem can use up to 18 additional upgraded cards during a battle IF he or she PM's that same poem to the opponent at the start of the battle. Failure to PM the War poem, will result in an auto-loss.
Event Card Designer (1)As we all know, Event Cards are a big deal. Because of numerous unfairness and unbalance issues, Event Cards are no longer designed by the organizers or the Council. Instead, the Event Card Designer of each team is responsible for designing a new Event Card. The process goes as follows:
1. Event Card Designers design a new Event Card at the beginning of each round
2. Elements Council will secretly vote for the best 3 Event Card ideas
3. Those 3 ideas are then sent to Warmasters, who will vote for the best one (in case of a 1-1 draw Scardgirl breaks the tie)
4. Next, Mr. Zanzarino, will approve the best idea picked by the Warmasters. If he disaproves the card idea, we will go back to step 2, and try again. If Mr. Zanzarino approves the 2nd idea as well, no Event Cards will be used during the next round. (this step is optional, based on how much free time Zanz has)
5. After the approval by Zanzarino, the card will be used during the next round.
6. When the new Event Card gets drawn, we will have the "The Last Line Of Defense". We will have a quick 24 hour vote where each War participant can vote for either "yes" or "no". If more than 60% vote for "yes", card is approved and it will be used during that round. If more than 40% vote "no", the card will be removed, and no Event Cards are active during that round.
This system might sound complex at first, but it's not really that complex when you think about it, because we have clear steps of approval. Best thing about this system is of course that all the card will be 100% fair to everyone.
Grinder (1)Grinders help their teams by grinding FG's 24/7. At the start of the round, Grinders post screenshots of their score, electrum, and upped cards. At the end of the round, they post a second screenshot of the same thing, and we look at how much they have managed to grind. Teams of the top-3 Grinders get to use up 12 additional upgraded cards during the next round. Teams that were in the bottom-9, have to use a starter deck of their element during one battle of next round.
Chat Master (1)This class is all about the chat room. Chat Master is responsible of being in the chat room as much as possible, trying to "
own" members of opposing War teams.
Example: Player A from team
mistypes the word "deck" so that it becomes a dirty word. Player B from team
(Voice of Darkness) copies the chat transcript and posts it in the What People Say in Chat (
http://elementscommunity.org/forum/index.php/topic,17770.0.html) topic. Player B just got
owned during that War round. Players that are
owned, can only use 'Other' cards in their decks.
Owned lasts for one round.
And it doesn't have to be a typo. You can basically get owned by doing anything in chat that can be considered fail, as long as there is a screenshot or copy-paste as proof. Warmasters decide whether or not the level of ownage is sufficient for getting owned during that round.
Newbie (1)Newbie is a forum member that has joined the forums less than 5 days ago, and has less than 10 posts. Newbie doesn't have any special tasks in the team, all that he or she has to do is show up. What makes the Noob class special, is the fact that when Newbie suddenly quits the team (offline for more than 7 days), the team can basically sell the Newbie back for 48 cards. So even though the team loses a member, they get a nice card bonus for it. Newbies can also be sold at any time for that same 48 cards, even if the Noobs themselves are active and don't want to be sold.
One more thing. Newbies have to be
real noobs. If a Newbie starts to talk about (in forums or chat) advanced stuff like Quantum Index, that Newbie will have his or her status changed to "Fake Newbie". As a punishment, Fake Newbies must start a new topic in Off-Topic called "I'm a Fake Noob". They also cannot use any upgraded cards during the rest of the War.
International Spy (1)International Spy is a class that uses "code language" to distract the enemy. Each round International Spies start a new topic in the Multilingual section (
http://elementscommunity.org/forum/index.php/board,57.0.html) of the forums. This new topic must contain some kind of team secret, for example the number of specific type of card in the Vault, or the deck the team General will be using the next round. What makes this interesting is that International Spy can use any language he or she wants to write this post. When all 13 teams have posted their code topics, it is time for International Spies to try to decode the messages of others. If you succeed, you will get valuable information of your opponents. If you fail, other teams get valuable information about your team. Tip: because the nature of this class, it's a good idea to pick a forum user that speaks a less popular language. Members can even use dead languages, if they can prove that the language once existed.
War Troll (1)War Troll class is responsible for distracting the enemy. Each round, War Trolls will try to successfully troll on the forums before round battles start. The key is to troll, but not troll too much, because if a Global Moderator gives you a warning or removes your post, you have failed, and have to try again the next round. The identity of War Trolls are kept secret, so that G-Mods don't know who their are.
If you don't get caught trolling, your team can use one additional upgraded card for each successful troll post. If you get a member of the opposing team to go along with your trolling, you get 2 upgraded cards per post. Note: only the members of the War Troll class are allowed to troll (warnings will be removed later). This new class does not mean that forum rules have changes and trolling is not allowed. Also War Trolls are only allowed to troll, not flame or post rude pictures.
So all the teams will look like this:
| General | Fighting Team
Paladin
Soldier
Soldier
Soldier
Soldier
Soldier
Soldier
Soldier | Supportive Team
Voice of *Insert Element*
War Poet
Event Card Designer
Chat Master
Newbie
International Spy
Grinder
War Troll |
I do understand that some of these classes might sound a bit silly, but I think that these supportive classes will bring much more depth to the event, because War won't be only about PvP anymore. Different people have different skills, and I don't think we should leave those people out of the biggest event of our community, simply because they don't like to PvP. For those who only want PvP, there are still the tournaments.
Some of these classes posted here might still see some changes, but the type and number of classes will remain as it is. For more information, PM myself or one of the Warmasters.
What are you waiting for? Go sign up for Forum Wars (
http://elementscommunity.org/forum/index.php/topic,23758.0.html)!
