Sorry, folks, been a crazy week-n-a-half.
Nigh be-eth ye auld planne, dammit:
- Our primary option every Friday will be to run our current toons (the 18s) until they can progress no longer. If everyone shows, that's what we run. No muss, no fuss, end of debate. We do have some level considerations to think about, more on that in a week or two.
- Each of us should maintain at least one epic toon (in addition to the 18's when they make epic). It's fairly easy to mix and match since level differences and favor and quest status don't matter all that much in epic. This will be used as a secondary option for Fridays when we don't have everyone available. I prefer to think of it as a non-option option, but my feelings on epic toons are fairly well-known at this point and I'm fine with being outvoted.
- We are putting together another group of Friday toons. This group will be used as the real secondary option for when we don't have 100% attendance. Since low level quests are fairly easy to solo/short-man, we won't have to keep these toons in lockstep like we do on the 18s. If we end up running these, I'll keep track of which quests we run and it will be the responsibility of the missing to get caught up if they want/need to. Since our first option will always be the 18's, I would generally expect the people would have at least a couple weeks to catch up if they've missed some quests. Since these toons will not be linked together in concrete, there's actually no need for us to be level nazis. Generally speaking, my toon (3rd lifer, no tomes, no pots, no PUG) will probably be bringing up the rear XP-wise, so (unless someone else trails me, which I'll coordinate) my toon will be the vanguard as far as when we take levels. I'll be taking my level based on the content run, with consideration to where everyone else is at. Generally speaking, I will not be holding levels with this toon. Sooooo, once everyone has gotten thru Korthos and the solos, we'll be looking at level 2 content. That means we can be toon level 4 without breaking streak since everything will be run on elite. We're all adults here and we all understand the game mechanics, so here's the deal. For this group of toons, I don't give two hoots what everyone runs and how quickly they level. Position your character to run level 2 content. If you want to run every level 2 quest on your own today, go right ahead, with the knowledge that you'll be repeating quests with the rest of us. If you want to advance to toon level 4 today, go right ahead with the knowledge that you'll eventually be running for 0 XP until El Heffe here says that we're moving on to level 3 content. I will probably not run this group thru every single quest in the game. We'll decide as a group if there's something that we really want to run. Beyond that, it's up to my random whim. If someone wants to have their compendium in solid red today for favor farming or plain old OCD, go right ahead, with the knowledge that you'll be stuck on the ceiling from all the XP you'll rack up. As pointed out by Az many times, Turbine fragmented their player base with the bravery streak mechanism and I think this is the easiest way to claw some flexibility back. If someone takes their level too soon, you'd better hope for 100% attendance or else you'll have a lonely Friday while the rest of us run. There's absolutely no reason it should come to that, though. We'll stay together loosely and probably focus on chains when we're running together.
I know, I know....shut up or you will 