Draft

[riphelix]

No matter what happens, I'm not leaving my current squad.
Not trying to be rude or anything, I'm just saying.

[Icextentialist]

I don't see why people can't hit up their buddies in XBL or Skype outside their draft-picked squads. For example, keep the Renegade Skype chat open for those who currently play in that squad and invite each other to play on XBL outside of official squad practice time. Don't be afraid to make new friends AND keep the old!

Projections of losing about 80% of the FC population with a draft are a little exaggerated, don't ya think? Maybe flip the statistic, it only seems like 2 out of 10 FC members are likely to get full-on butt-hurt about things like that and maybe only one of those two enough to actually leave.

[Mays Demise]

I personally do not mind the squad draft my squad still has fun, I'd rather not have my group dis-assembled.

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Put us where you need us,but keep us together. XD note,we may not quite be the MOST skilled, we just have fun. And enjoy doing so. Some of my team is new to Xbox one so skill will come with time,same as new recruits. I haven't given up.

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This could be interesting Idea,but then again I just got my squad and I wanna keep it.

[Platinum]

The community is dying. Honestly, there is hardly anything left to lose. A player draft is the last actual shot at saving whatever may be left of FC. Start anew, under the same name that is Forerunner Conflict.

This community was developed and built around a number of things, one being meeting new Halo players. As someone who has switched sides and joined numerous teams in the past, I can safely say that I didn't lose any interest in FC. I understand that team chemistry is a good point to make, and a hella good one at that, but there's nothing stopping you from building that chemistry with new players. No downside to having more Halo friends, right?

We should stop catering to the individuals here, and start catering to the community as a whole. The whole stubborn/selfish individualism is what began ruining FC (I'm not innocent either, I was selfish too. Sorry Sovereign ) and it's time that we stopped looking to make ourselves happy at the expense of killing one of the oldest Halo communities left.

[Anarchy]

The community is dying. Honestly, there is hardly anything left to lose. A player draft is the last actual shot at saving whatever may be left of FC. Start anew, under the same name that is Forerunner Conflict.

This community was developed and built around a number of things, one being meeting new Halo players. As someone who has switched sides and joined numerous teams in the past, I can safely say that I didn't lose any interest in FC. I understand that team chemistry is a good point to make, and a hella good one at that, but there's nothing stopping you from building that chemistry with new players. No downside to having more Halo friends, right?

We should stop catering to the individuals here, and start catering to the community as a whole. The whole stubborn/selfish individualism is what began ruining FC (I'm not innocent either, I was selfish too. Sorry Sovereign ) and it's time that we stopped looking to make ourselves happy at the expense of killing one of the oldest Halo communities left.

This is pretty perfect and hits the nail on the head. When we all first joined FC we were happy to play with anyone, make friends, grow with a team, and contribute to a vast army in a war that felt real.

Overtime establishing very, very static squads that more often than not become way more skilled than the groups that are just taking any old recruit works against what we all joined for. Even if it doesn't hinder our fun, it hinders the fun of those incoming, and it speaks volumes to our overall ability to change as a community and survive with values we originally grew upon.

There's almost twice the number of people wanting a draft as those who don't, and over 50% more who want a player draft than want no draft. At some point we have to start making changes, and the majority of people have shown they feel that way. FC has stagnated way too long and this kind of stuff is way overdue. It wasn't a good option back in Reach & 4 when we had large numbers and were growing already. It's one of the only options now that FC is shrinking and people aren't having the fun they used to.

[WolfPack23]

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[Mythonian]

Posted this in WC earlier. Think it might as well be posted here also:

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Okay, some people everyone seem to be misunderstanding the point of the poll and how this entire discussion is supposed to work.

When a generalized/vague poll (such as the one done) is used, it is inherently not a "here is a well-thought-out plan and we want opinions" but instead a "how much of the community wants us to look into something like this?"

The poll asked, in quite vague terms, whether people were interested in the concept of a draft. We've had dozens of polls on this exact same topic over the years, though in the past the majority always went toward keeping things the same. Now, the result was different.

So, how should this result be taken? It is not "oh, it's a majority, therefore we HAVE to do a draft!!" but it's also not "oh, it's not enough of a majority, so we should disregard it!" Thinking of it in either of these ways is wrong, so please stop. The correct response is "the community has shown interest, so we should legitimately take a look at whether a draft is a good idea or a bad idea."

Disregarding the community opinions because "it's not a supermajority" is borderline negligence as a leader. The entire reason this War Council exists is to improve the community, to be the facilitators that help as many people as possible have fun and enjoy the community. Conversely, believing that a majority vote means the entire community must be turned upside down to conform to it is borderline naivety. Some suggestions given are good, others are bad, but none of them should just be disregarded. It's our job to actually figure out which type of suggestion we're looking at here.

My point is that you're all being stupid just to get your own agendas done. Fuzzy made a good post in the Skype chat, "You have a result in mind that you want to be true so you are tunnel visioning in... Never tunnel vision, look at it more broadly." Every single one of you, both from REDD and BLUE, have been tunnel visioning on this topic, trying to distort the results of the poll to push for your own opinion. Please stop and let's just be constructive for a bit, okay?

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I have perpetually been in WC for the last 6 years, never once taking a break from the community. I've been here during some very dark times in the community, and also some golden ages as well. Not using this to say "do what I think is best because I know best" because chances are I'm just super jaded and need a break from FC, but my point is just that "I have seen things!"

It's been quite awhile since we had anything that could be termed as a golden age, unfortunately, and for the last 3 years it's been pretty much a steady decline. I've shown this chart before, but now it's been updated to include this war so far:

And here's how attendance has varied from each BN this war:

We peaked in February/March and have been downhill since. Since the start of MCC we've been constantly staying around an average attendance of 30-35 players. However, for MCC we had an excuse: the game was extremely unreliable. For H5, we don't have any legitimate excuse. We've been stuck in this rut for quite awhile and there are no signs of us being able to get out of it. If this war continues as-is, we may drop below an average of 30 attendees for the first time in more than 7 years. That's how bad this is.

We don't have a new game releasing in a few months, as far as we know. We've got H5 for another year and a half. Our attendance is worse, and consistently worse then it was after Firestorm happened. We've put ourselves in a position where continuing to stagnate like this for the next year and a half will be rather unrecoverable.

I've never seen the community this ragged and tired looking. A draft might not help, but as things are looking we need something to revitalize this community from the ground up, and I don't see anyone else doing anything useful at the moment.

You guys remember my rant from six months ago (link)? I talked about this shit. I analyzed why we're facing the issues we're facing, and how we got to where we are now. Would recommend re-reading that if you want more walls o' text to keep you occupied for a bit, it might give you a bit more perspective. It's been six months since that rant and we've just continued stagnating.

A few times I've contemplated just leaving FC, because it's looking more and more like a sinking ship each passing month. Or maybe I'm just getting jaded as fuck and need to pass the torch along. Either way, I won't be here forever.

Assuming you won't go re-read it, here's the conclusion:

Comparing you all to my squadmates in Halo 3, to the armies I led in Reach, to Cyberdyne and Net of the Sky in Halo 4... what the fuck happened? FC hasn't changed all that much, it's been you guys. You've gotten lives and responsibilities now, have a new outlook on things and have grown more mature. And that's changed how you interact with FC. That's not a bad thing; it's not even an issue of good or bad. It's just the natural flow of life on the Internet.

FC hasn't changed much, but it needs to. The members of FC have changed, but FC hasn't been keeping up. We're too stuck in things that have been here since Halo 2. We see the problems but are blind to the solutions, because they "aren't worth it" or "would change too much." I used to be like that too. Just like everyone else, I'm a lot different than how I used to be. Now, I say fuck those excuses. Excuses like those are why we've been stagnating.

Things like the entire concept of a "squad." Like the organization of the armies. Like group logistics instead of individual logistics. You're probably looking at these sentences like they don't mean anything, just groups of fancy words that sound nice. However, these are the true roots of most problems we have: imbalance and activity. You probably don't understand them and almost certainly don't agree with them right now, but I'm optimistic that one day they will be more than fancy words.

Want to know the reason things look bad right now? Our problem has been with us since FC was founded, it's at the very basis of how FC currently is. It's fundamental to how FC works. That's why it's never going to change without tearing down the house, fixing the foundation, and rebuilding it from the ground up. Yes, it'd be a huge change. Yes, it would be painful and drive numerous people away. If that's unbearable for you, so be it, but don't expect me to be here forever watching us stagnate further and further.

I stick by these words. I'm here and willing to put together a fully fleshed out and detailed system for a complete community overhaul, for how it would change things and work in both the short term and long term. I'm willing to discuss things and try to figure out a way to make everything work smoothly and effectively. A draft would likely be the single most-effective way to ensure long-term stability and make a path for FC to stay alive for another 10 years, but if someone has another suggestion that may work I'm open to listening.

But are you guys willing to seriously look into ways to get a effective implementation of an overhaul? Take a few moments and seriously consider what the community would look like in 5 years, or 10 years. What will we actually need to change to ensure we don't die off like so many other internet communities have? Don't just focus on the contrasts between now and then, but also on how things would be on an average day in FC. If it looks like something worth looking into seriously, let me know.

[WolfPack23]

"Myth speech here" Yo man, I'm picking up what your layin' down Jack. I've got a lot of memories here in this ol' community, And while I've made lots of friends, some of em ain't here no more. As sad as that is, I will go down with this ship, if it were to go down. Hopefully, this ship doesn't sink cause of a few icebergs and can stay afloat. But it needs repair, and it needs some serious work done. More then just some coat of paint to just cover up the problems. FC needs to have an Overhaul, People need to be on Overwatch, And I'm tired so this is WolfPack saying, Over and Out.


P.S. I Would like to be more active in finding a solution so I will be talking more through the forums and skype. If anyone has an idea or thought they want to run by someone discreetly and without judgement, ya'll find Ol' WolfPack here. I'll make time for anyone.

[Anarchy]

The community has to be honest with itself in an open discussion. All of us, individually, about things we did wrong. Things others think we did wrong as individuals. Things the community did wrong, and what it takes to make people happy to be here and grow. And from there come up with something comprehensive before we just stagnate into death like every other Halo group. We have to be constructive and that includes being critical of what got us here and what's still happening now.

FC worries way too little about protecting our members, way too little about making progressive change when the majority clearly clamors for it, way too little about stamping out disrespect that is allowed if it's passive aggressive enough, way too little about asking the hard questions, and way too little about asking ourselves why people are actually leaving and unhappy. Instead people have worried way more about themselves. Blatant disrespect gets ignored everytime there's 1-2 HC members willing to fight for their friend who dun fucked up. Political maneuvering behind people's backs. The biggest hurdle this community has is overcoming itself and its gluttonous desire to fuck itself by not asking the hard questions, not making the hard decisions, and refusing to sacrifice when need be.

People feel very disenfranchised. Its been a long time since FC has had leaders who can stand up, take the heat, and roll up their sleeves. We've been in the same cycle of 1/2 of WC being new people too inexperienced to do anything and the other 1/2 the people telling those who want change "no". That stamps out effective leaders who can both bring people together and implement change. You know that feeling, Myth. It's part of why you're so reserved, and others follow suit after getting a stint in WC. But that reservation has killed us. We've had 2 years of a lot of people very quickly becoming reserved and giving up. For members, they leave. For leaders, they fail. Then people get hurt as everyone has.

It's time for FC to start being proactive with just about everything. Ignoring everything that's not easy to answer/solve has gotten us here. It's time for FC to fit people's schedules and lives, Halo's new populace, and people's desires for when they play Halo. Whether that include drafts, changes in BN schedules/format, or even stuff in other games, the classic Halo community model doesn't survive anymore without major modification.

[Mays Demise]

I'm willing to do what ever it takes to keep this boat floating and I will try my bet not to rock it. Now It's my turn to rant. I've been here for a couple of months and I have to say it's been a little rough at first. You guys are some of the most unique and amazing people I've ever met and you guy's even( the ones who don't know me in the community) give me a purpose. My purpose being that you guys have fun and enjoy having somewhere to *ACTUALLY* fit in and laugh and in general have a good time. From what I've heard FC has been here for a while. 10 years or so to be precise,that's pretty impressive to be honest it's a miracle this didn't fall back in halo 3 or 4, You guy's have a good thing going and I know I ain't got much room to talk but it's failing. I know some people think that the *higher ups* will handle it all by themselves but you have to realize that THEY, are people too...They can't do this on their own but even so they are trying their best..We as a community need to get our crap together and fast, What is more important? The needs of many*the community* or the needs of one *You* Your compliance is vital guys, I understand that the draft does not sound fun, I don't like it either I voted the squad draft, So I may lose my squad after getting it and just getting it up and running, But you know what? That's okay because in all honesty the most it would be for is battle night and they aren't going to put you in a group with anybody you guys won't like.It's not like they are forbidding you guys from hangin out with your friends guys, I'm Redd and I hang out with the leader of my old squad pretty often and the mans in Blue. I promise you guys it won't end you,and I understand that too much change can be hurtful true, but you can either run from whats killing us and let it stab us in the back or at least turn around and either win or go down fighting. Anyway I want this community to still be around for you guy's kids to enjoy too. Now wouldn't that be some family pride? XD Point is FC has a long good future ahead of it,BUT only and only if you guys lend a slight helping hand to the community from time to time weather it's from recruiting or particpating in battle night then the customs later or even by responding to a post in the forum. And on recruiting guys get your friends intrested the more the better. And if you can't walk em through the sign up send to me and I will handle it myself if need be. Come on guys help me help you. This is Dusk Signing off,contact me if needed.