Byn

I'm at work and my phone died while I was posting a response. I typed a whole lot and it got eaten, so I'm going to respond again later when I get a chance. It actually said a lot of what Steinal said though.

Ok got a little time to add.

One of the paradoxes of Arm is how does a game that is skill based and call itself role playing intensive reward actual roleplayers? The answer is it really doesn't. How does it reward a player that logs in every hour on the 40 or 10 to spam kick, un mon explosion or sneak until it reaches master? Cool gear, lots of money, at one point your own special clan within a clan and if you're a really bad twink special attention.

Now assuming I'm right and not projecting what staff is trying to do, what they are doing isn't a bad thing at all. I think they are trying to promote clan play. But clan play with roughly 5-8 players. Why? Because it's easier to run things for 5-8 players than it is for 8-12 players (yes I've seen RPTs where there were that many people on and it's a hot mess). One they'll tear through anything staff throws at them just because of the sheer numbers. You're literally not threatened in any situation unless you're squishy or special monsters are loaded up. There is a sense of accomplishment when you and 3-5 people overcome something than if you're in a super group and you literally get one hit in and the big bad creature is dead.

So let's look at what they've done. Limit the clan (I think) have players look to other clans for employment. Most clans have a Byn like schedule anyway. Have a leader that is a good rper, who actually interacts with clannies (if who I think is the current sergeant is this is good), have a core of good troopers (I think this is also the case), proceed as normal. This is not a bad thing.

Here's where I think they went wrong; there's still nothing to make a player really want to join a clan. Even though you get free food and water and beer money, that's still not enough to put you on par with someone who's been sparring stilt lizards all day. Clan schedules are the devil and do more to restrict RP than help it. I'm getting in trouble because I was doing something else because no one in my clan was on? Really? The way clans work is simply broken and has never been fixed.

whats a possible fix for that? A perk system, could be visible or invisible, we all love our skill sheets, something visible that says for example perks: combat veteran (something like that) and something invisible like a hidden skill bump. Something that would put your average clannie on par with your average twink more or less. When you quit the clan or get booted you lose the bump.

As far as fixing twinking you can't. There will always be twinks, but having them all in a clan that is for newbies only leads to newbies becoming future twinks. It's a bad cycle, full stop. While we're on this subject why is the newbie clan the premier clan in the game anyway? That's something serious to think about. It's one of the biggest paradoxes of the game, to claim the game is role play intensive, yet the clan that a newcomer is guided to is decidedly not role play oriented makes the game look bad.