As Trials is coming into it's FINAL stage, and Masters will soon be decided, I felt it important that we renew the discussion from last War that ended with several Masters sitting out War entirely. As of last War, it was ruled Masters who do not General cannot participate in War (although this was not formally added to the rules?)
I think that their are 2 major points of view in this discussion.
1) We need as many quality players in War as possible, so we shouldn't exclude Masters who don't want to be General from the event.
2) Being General of your element is one of the primary responsibilities of being a Master, it is abhorrent for a Master of one element to be a soldier on another element's team in War.
There was a lot of discussion and arguing between these two points of view, and the final decision to completely ignore point 1) (and perhaps also the arguing) generally left everyone feeling bad about what happened. My first warning is that feeling bad about what happened to Marsu (and also justaburd to a lesser extend) is not a good reason to move directly from point 2) to point 1).
Last War I would say I was pretty squarely in camp 2, as War feels like the biggest event in Elements (to me) and so Masters (the face of an element) should not be abandoning their element and fighting for another. You got to choose which Element you were Master of, you should not take that lightly. As TrO I understand people have their own reasons for choosing the Elements they do Trials for, but ultimately you should know that there is a prestige and responsibility with the position of Master (should you win that title) and you ought to do your best to fulfill those responsibilities.
However, since last war (and in organizing Trials), there is quite a bit to be said for point 1). We do need as many quality people in our "premier" events as possible, and excluding people on technicalities that would otherwise participate is wasteful and causes unnecessary tension. So I am proposing a couple of reasonable compromises to handle the situation. I am not a WM, and ultimately it falls on the WMs to make the decision they feel is best for War. But I felt very strongly I should share these so that they will at least be considered, as I know you are making changes to the event at a number of levels.
There have been hints and whispers of the Auction being turned into a Draft. So I will try to explain my possibilities in terms that apply to either a draft or an auction. I will also note that these solutions are not as simple as "they can't join" or "they can join", this is because I believe there should be some cost associated with being Master but not General. Also my possibilities all maintain that the non-General Master remains on their Elements team for War. I understand not feeling ready to be General, or not having time to commit to being General, but if you can participate in War, you can be on the team you are Master of. There is no compelling reason you can be in War but not on the team you represent as Master.
Possibilities:
A) Masters have an opportunity before the draft/auction to step down from being General and appoint a General in their place (as before).
That Master may then enter the draft/auction but is (1) unavailable to all other teams and can only be obtained in the first round or at maximum cost OR (2) must be drafted by their team in the first round or purchased by their own team immediately at the maximum cost.
-The downsides here is Masters can use the rule to essentially lock in a "first pick" (even at max cost) by designating them the General. It would need to be worded in such a way that players being appointed General have the option to say "NO", and this may cause some timing and complexity issues. Also A(1) means that a Master who appoints a General might sit out War if the General they appointed does not select them. While this feels very unlikely for a number of reasons, it could be a point of contention. A(2) is a little more uncomfortable in a draft, as it feels like they are being forced to "use their first pick" on the Master. But I would point out that this is not meaningfully different than if the General was the (max cost)/(first pick). And I would expect that will be reasonable, as players who are capable of being General should go in the first round of a draft or receive max bids in an auction.
-The upsides are Masters can participate in War as non-Generals. They remain in their own element. It has a minimal impact on the other elements. And it is not terribly complex. A non general master A(1) must ban all other elements and if selected by their element, it must be done in the first round (or if bid on by their element must receive a maximum bid) or B(1) must be selected by their element in the first round (or must receive a maximum bid from their element's general). These can be established by very clear and concise rules.
B) Masters have an opportunity before the draft/auction to step down from being General and appoint a General in their place (as before). If they do so, they cannot participate in War.
However, if a Master puts a maximum bid on a player or uses their first round draft pick on a player, and that player consents, the title of General is passed to that player effective immediately. That player will then continue the draft/auction as the General, and the Master will remain on that Element's team.
-This solution is very similar to the first with a few differences.
a) It places a clearly emphasis on the player receiving the General title's willingness to accept the title.
b) It removes the possibility of a Master appointing a General and then the General not selecting the Master to join there team (and thus the Master not participating in War).
c) Masters have to decide to participate in War or sit it out before the auction/draft, but if they choose to participate, they have some time after that to determine and reach an agreement with who their General will be.
I feel I have not entirely detailed either solution as it would need to be as rules of the event, but I hope they can serve as ideas the WMs can build upon to find a meaningful way to let Masters who don't want to General (for whatever reason) to participate in War, but remain on the team of the Element of which they are Master.
Also I feel it is important to start giving this topic serious consideration now, as I think this could easily be classified as one of the worst handled issues during last war.
*this post is subject to minor clarification updates, as I will likely reread it several times and find things I feel are worded poorly*
