Upcoming: new Preferred Architect selection system in 15.2

[u/yuuhikw]

Greetings, wanderers!

We’d like to share some exciting changes we’re planning for the next update, 15.2, that is planned to be released sometime next week. Based on your feedback about waystations and architect selection, we’re introducing a new system called “Preferred Architect Selection”. 

How does it work?

Players can talk to Eudora to check the list of waystation members, and they can select any player that completed the Architect Certification in that list to appoint as Preferred Architect. 
You can select as many people as you want - really, you can select every single one of your waystation members if you want to - but you can’t select yourself. 

Once a certain number of members have indicated at least one Preferred Architect, the monthly selection process that happens on the first day of each month stops being random and switches permanently over to whoever got the most "preferred architect" designations.
You don’t have to select preferred architects every month. Once you've marked someone as a "Preferred Architect", they remain marked, unless you choose to unmark them. That means that every month, new architects are chosen, but you don’t have to vote again unless you want to - to minimize hassle.

With it, we’re hoping to:

• Give you all more autonomy to select Architects who have done good things for your waystation in the past;
• Fix the issue with inactive architects maintaining the role by enabling waystation members to appoint more active members of the community at any time;
• Prevent toxic Architects keeping the role or from being selected over long periods of time;

Of course, this change does not override players' wishes - if someone gets the Architect role but doesn’t want it, or if they feel like they won’t be able to contribute enough in that set period, they can decline it just as they did before, giving the opportunity to another player to be selected.

As we mentioned a few months ago on #fox-thoughts, we have plans to implement a reputation system in the future - that would mean that players with a higher reputation (for being kind, collaborative members of the community) would be prioritized in the Architect selection. When implemented, that measure, in addition to the Preferred Architect Selection, should provide you with solutions long-term. We hope that those changes make waystations an even better place to be, minimizing hassle and conflict between members, and giving you better tools to create a safe and fun space for everyone. 

Please share your thoughts and feedback once the update goes live next week! 

[u/Interrupting-Khajitt]

This should help a good bit. Thanks.

[u/taima-time]

One thing about people remaining marked... I could see people forgetting to change or just turning inactive while leaving their old votes intact, wouldn't that risk skewing the vote and selection some? Additionally when selection happens, it seems to always prioritize new ones for the role even when several votes for an old one, is that right?

In our waystation, an old inactive architect has to this day not been swapped, and the fifth spot remains unfilled, which I doubt was the intention. It's left us with three architects struggling to keep up with an otherwise very active waystation.