DP comes to the rescue yet again with a wall of text! [quote=@HylianRose]But... Butt... Fighting Wizards and Demons alongside Dragons. It's supposed to be epic if we could just get there. The only problem is that we have a very hard time with the idea of 'momentum.'[/quote] We have momentum, it just operates on a pace much slower than is normal. [quote]However, if this does tank, I want you all to know that I will do as many reboots as it takes. Even if we have to restart this thing a million times. And next time I reboot, I might not go this same direction.[/quote] It won't tank. I won't let it. I said that in the past, but this time I also have a firm control on how it progresses thanks to Vikki. Soon as we get off that boat action is going to happen, end of. I really don't think you should ever have to reboot a third time. [quote]In fact, I might just take it back to the beginning and let it just be a 'magic school.'[/quote] This might actually make me leave. There's incentive for you. [quote]But... I, for one, thought that the action and adventure made us different from all the other cookie-cutter magic school RPs out there. :\[/quote] It does, that's the point. It's not Athalia without it. And if Athalia ceases to be Athalia, I won't cease to chase after Athalia so I'll leave to go find it. [quote]I mean... How many people are genuinely enjoying the direction of the RP and how many just wished it would go back?[/quote] Well, I like all of it, so...I'm not the best person to ask. [quote]Where did I go wrong?[/quote] Nope. Stop it. You didn't. [quote]I know some say it was because of the 5 year time skip but I did that because I felt we were stuck and needed a way to get unstuck and so I thought it would do us some good, give us something to think about as far as our characters and give us a different sort of feel.[/quote] It did. Notice the new players? Notice that it's no longer totally dead and regularly active (albeit slowly)? It did exactly what it was designed to do. [quote]However, if I was wrong...[/quote] Nope [quote]And it really pains me to say this after all the work I put in, then I'll do what I have to to fix it.[/quote] NOPE. [quote]Just... let me know. I was so happy to see so many veterans come back but with the amount of drops we've had, granted it's only been two in the last month, they were veterans which worries me greatly. The more veterans I lose, the more of the backbone of Athalia I lose.[/quote] You can never please everyone. As far as I know for most of the roleplay there was somebody dissatisfied in one way or another, and it was a different person each time. And you've done a pretty frickin' great job of making the most out of every situation and making as many people satisfied as possible. Yeah ok, you're the GM and the creator. But that doesn't mean you bare all of the burdens of the roleplay - that every time something goes wrong it is your fault and only your fault. Believe me, as apologetic of a human being as I am, I understand all too well how hard it can be to grasp that, but there it is. Just as in a jazz band every member is responsible for the time and the swing (not just the drummer), every roleplayer is responsible for the success of the roleplay. Every one of us has always been 100% responsible. What people who decry the reboot seem to forget is that [b]the roleplay was completely dead before it[/b]. I don't know how many times this needs to be said before people will start getting it. The reboot was required for the roleplay to continue existing. Yes a five year timeskip is not ideal for character development, but look what we have now. The roleplay feels new and fresh again while still being familiar, and we have plenty of new blood to inject even more life into it. [quote]Because without ALL of you, Athalia is nothing but an idea in my head.[/quote] Some of us will always carry the candle. [quote]The skip was so that character could develop at least a bit. But maybe that was a bad choice on my part.[/quote] Nope. It may not have been the most elegant choice, but it was the necessary one. [quote]Please, please don't give up on me before we even get to do the cool thing with the dragons.. .-. I mean... Fucking dragons. Taking siege... over a city. .-.[/quote] To put it mildly, I've been diligently preventing my severe hype for the siege from exploding over the pad. [quote=@Animelover_princess]Truthfully Rose i don't think the premise is necessarily the problem[/quote] You are correct. [quote]I think what made Athalia so much fun in the beginning is that we all liked each other a worked together and we all genuinely enjoyed everything we were doing. and it seems every time we reboot we mesh just a little less and everyone seems to have just a little less motivation. [/quote] To be completely honest, the family has always been a bit dysfunctional, but we've always made it work. Motivation, on the other hand, is really what has leeched the momentum from this roleplay for nearly its entire existence. We all have busy lives, I get it. I'm one of the worst offenders in that regard. And we all have other hobbies and moods where we just don't feel like posting. I get those as much as anyone else, and roleplays are supposed to be fun, so I don't post when I get them. But the infrequency at which a post is mode becomes a serious problem for months at a time during every season. I've always maintained that all of our problems would be solved if we never abandoned the minimum posts per week rule, but alas. [quote]I'm honestly not sure what you could do about that.[/quote] Not much to do that Rose hasn't already done. In fairness to Rose and Athalia, it seems to be a Guild-wide epidemic these days that people just don't post and roleplays die because of it. In my almost two years of roleplaying (not that long) I've never completed a roleplay, or even come close. Every single one I've ever been in died (no matter who the GM was). It's not just an Athalia problem. But it IS a problem that should be addressed to ensure a roleplay's survival. Rose has already addressed it to the best of her abilities...the rest is up to us. [quote]maybe bringing us back to the beginning again would help, though I'd hate to lose all the progress my characters have made.[/quote] Again, I would leave immediately if this happened. And I've long said that I'll be the last person to ever leave. So...yeah. I would consider all of the hours I spent wasted and all of my characters murdered. [quote=Unfortunately]I am the harbinger of the death of roleplays.[/quote] It kind of feels like we all are sometimes.