Sphere Tasks Discussion

[Golah]

Tough, real tough I have never liked sphere tasks that were designed to take time versus the content they added, in the days I played it was more about making the task take so damn long to determine it worthy.

I worked hard as a teacher to change that, to me its about a content that worked with the dreamer in need of the task, and something I felt would benefit the city as a whole.

With today's dream a good 6th sphere task would be to reevaluate the generators in the city and determine if there was a path or timing that generated various levels, I would also want to investigate who what why and how the guild halls are closed, can we use the information gained from generators to reform the art and portals to return the halls to the focii.

Statistically it will take a bit of time to figure generators out, the rest is all on the player how much time they want to spend, ultimately its up to me, if I quested a 6th sphere task and they returned 24 hours later yea it had better be one damn good report with evidence, otherwise, I will send you on your way. I also don't expect it to take months, at best a 6th sphere task at its quickest should take 3-4 weeks, at its max 4-7, it varies cause some players like to spend a lot of time to make for a good report.

[Sidas]

Is this still a general assessment of what should be given for sphere tasks: http://forums.clashofdreams.com/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=28 ?

[Starfall]

The one 4th sphere task I've given so far involves planning a city-wide event that won't require GM involvement, just a lot of prep work and wrangling the help of others. Considering the timeliness of it, it probably shouldn't even take weeks if done right. Primarily I'm looking for how much and what kind of help they can muster, and the creativity of the things planned for it.

The 5th sphere task I'm considering will involve GMs on some level and so I wanted to run it by them first, but it's nothing on the scale of opening a whole new plane. Not even close. Again, I'm more interested in who and how they involve others, and how special they make it for those participating, regardless of whether it actually succeeds or not. My concern is more checking in to find if that's "enough" by this team's standards.

My 6th sphere task was one that was heavily dependent upon GMs, which I didn't mind in theory. It could have been really, really big if I was a little more in the loop. There was just a huge communication gap and long periods of no feedback at all for things being done. And this was a task they set for Starfall, so it wasn't like some player teacher signed the GMs up for something they wanted no part of.

[Gerroz]

Personally, I am lighting up on the first three spheres a whole lot compared to what I had to go through myself. I want the new characters to advance through the first spheres quickly, to make the characters matter sooner. Especially if a new character is an actual new player, I'd like to show them that it is not impossible to catch up with the rest of the pack.


I think 4th sphere shouldn't require changing the dream like described in that other thread. It is simply too big a requirement for such a low sphere for today's standards. I'd like a project going, which should involve at least a handful of other players.

5th sphere is when you should be able to host or direct a dreamwide event, both its preparation and execution. In my opinion it should involve at least a big group of dreamers, say one whole house's combined effort.

6th sphere is when you as a player should be able to impact the entire game. It should involve more than one single group of dreamers, for instance affect several houses. (KG's 6th sphere task was to start a war which had to involve at least 4 houses and had to last for 3 months I think it was. The time requirement was outrageous in my opinion but I did manage. This task was made my myself, except the time part)

7th sphere requires a dream shattering event. In my mind a 7th sphere task should be something that the entire City knows happened. (Ghazgkull's slaying of Tehthu is a very good example of this. It required a major buildup and an epic event.)

8th and 9th sphere is uncharted territory so What they would involve is not easy to say. It would have to be so grand that it is difficult to imagine.


This was pretty generalized cause I dont want to share exact tasks I have in mind on the forums

[Star Scream]

I know thay my sixth sphere task had three parts and was a monsterous ordeal. Thats about all I remember about it. But when I got 6th sphere there were only a hand full of players that had it. It was in that time were you could finally get a task for it but it was a pain in the ass to complete. I think 6th sphere and up should still be a big deal. 5th is like what 4th sphere used to be and 6th is like what 5th used to be. 7th is now the I can get a task but its a pain in the ass to complete level. If you were in Lyra then you understand my comparison. I didn't play SoT enough to get beyong 1st sphere and that was in the early days of it.

[Ghazgkull]

As part of my GM-supported 7th sphere task, I granted multiple 5th spheres which were not GM supported. I feel like that's generally a sustainable model... the GMs support the gaining of the highest spheres and then those people can raise others without GM help.

[Koi-Alastar]

Generally speaking, and mainly on my own behalf, we are not adverse to GM involvement for any task. However, as has been said, there is simply not the capability or time to do level edits, new arts, new items, etc for tasks (Sphere tasks or otherwise).

That being said, don't make us hate you by suddenly bombarding us with dozens of "hey can you raw emote at such and such"...and a task should, even if it leans towards needing GM involvement, should never require it in order to be honored. There should always be a 'failed outcome but noble effort' option.

"Get Kanto to tell you his secrets of his rainbow halo and then earn one yourself" - Not acceptable.
"Have Castellan work with you to build a new Stronghold as your vacation home" - Not acceptable.
"Do such and such that can ONLY be done with GM DarkMares" - Not acceptable.

Now could you task someone to be "multifocal" or "learn the abilities of the other foci" like Kanto? Yes, with the understanding it will never be successful.

Can you have a student open a second Stronghold for their faction, or even attempt to build a new one? Yes, but with the definite understanding it will never be successful.

Can they be tasked to deal a tremendous blow to the DMs? Absolutely...and that doesn't even require the DMs to log in.


A lot of the 'issues' with GM support at the end of SoT is that people refused to do anything unless a GM directly and obviously was in there supporting it. If a group of people get together and RP digging a cave in a wall to burrow into a new plane, who's to say that that isn't legitimate? That does not *require* that we edit the level to have a cave, it requires that the players accept and engage in the RP. And for a Sphere task, it would require more than one digging excavation!

Especially in the beginning, we will be monitoring Sphere tasks closely, and have no qualms with notifying the Sphere Teacher that it isn't quite up to snuff. If you ever have doubts on the veracity or worthiness of a report, defer the reward and ask us to give our opinion/investigate.

[Dina]

When Kailee went for 6th sphere. She had to come up with a new art and get it created. She was to work with Samarina and the rest of the FS guild. Unfortunately Kailee left the City before it was finished, but then it was given to Samarina and she finished it. With my ideas and hers and her finishing it, we now have Tempest in game.

[Tary]

Tasks should satisfy these two requirements:
1) Be fun
2) Don't suck

Note this is my own opinion and shouldn't be taken in the context of my having an @ near my name in IRC.

I personally hated constraining any task for time. "Oh, a sphere 4 task should take 4 weeks." Well, um, why? Tasking in UL shouldn't be homework: it should be fun. And tasks should be fun with an appropriate level of being challenging.

A sphere 1 task should be something very basic: learn about the houses by visiting each and speaking to an initiate to learn about their beliefs. Hunt with a person from each house.

If you're not in a house by sphere 2 a task can be: join a house whose beliefs you agree with.

For the rest of my ideas you should know that they're predicated on being in a house. Advancement should be biased towards those in houses and should place them at an advantage. Sorry: the entire game is engineered around having a guild system which creates conflict. You should use it at every step.

For sphere 3+ I think it depends on the player. If you like hunting, you should be able to hunt as part of your task ("Bring 50 agoknight essences and 10 shamblix essences to the house"). For sphere 4? Figure out how to banish the nightmare haunting our facade.

Note that the following are also valid: "Bring me the head of X" where X is a person in another house. Or, "convince someone in house X to leave their house and join our house." Or, "Infiltrate house X and gain guardianship, then steal their prime." That last one should be, at least, a sphere 5 or 6 task. Tasks can also be, "Bring me 10 chakrams level 40 or higher." Seriously. Tasks can and SHOULD be selfish. It depends on the character of the teacher, but I see no reason to not making students your gophers. For minor art plats, "Go run to OoSM and bring back so-and-so." For spheres, yeah, it's going to be more involved like maybe helping the teacher on a specific task or something.

But tasks need to be fun and as they get higher sphered they should be much more open-ended. "Learn Dreamstrike," is an amazing task even if it's really hard.

[Zed Lagoon]

@Tary


Greatest tasks ever lol!!!

-Teoniba

[Noidea]

Not sure about making it essential to be in a House (and I haven't actually been able to get into the game yet, so after seeing it I might change my mind), but definitely YES to selfish tasks! In other games, most quests are a character asking you to do something that they actually want done, and all the better for it.
I know we're not "most games", and the "investigate/discuss your beliefs/form a theory" tasks are part of what gives the City its atmosphere (of people with too much time on their hands starting furious feuds over how many angels can dance on the head of a pin...) But it can go too far that way; in SoT I often found myself having to choose between doing a purely "academic" task to earn an art, or doing something "real" (IC) to tackle a crisis my House or the whole dream was having and getting nothing for it.

Personally, I'd like to see lots of people have Teacher status or be able to grant XP (within suitable limits), so that dreamers that would normally be organising other dreamers to do something important (e.g. attacking another House or foiling an attack on yours, like Tary says), that's as big and exciting a task as a normal art task could be, could routinely give them a reward for it. That's just my opinion though, don't know if anyone else agrees.