Alright guys, sorry I haven't been around that much recently. School has been kicking me around for awhile and I went back home last weekend which kept me fairly busy.
Considering lack of activity recently and the various discussion that have been held between Kuro and myself we have made a decision.
The Tier system is going to be shut down.
While I liked the idea behind the tier system and I believe it could be useful to help improve the writing skills of the members, it also requires a lot of attention and help from the staff itself. My original intention for the tier system was to make a lot of guides on how to improve roleplaying skills and to leave large critiques on the roleplay samples to point out where the writing can be improved.
Sadly this requires far more time then I really have available when I usually have at least one essay, one quiz, and about 500 pages of reading per week from my college classes. It is also an extremely draining process for me. Usually after grading a sample it takes awhile to regain enough energy to go back to posting somewhere else or to work on grading another sample. At the same time grading samples is an extremely subjective process and the staff often butt heads over what weight different aspects of the sample should be given. This has lead to long debates that just slow the application process even further.
And the final aspect is the simple fact that if I cannot give my time to make it easily available to improve your writing skills and rise in Tier, then it isn't fair that the site members do not get a chance to really roleplay the way they wish.
As such the Tier system will be put into the cupboard for awhile. If I ever feel there is time where it would be useful again we can re-implement it later, but for now I think that it won't be seen for awhile.
We will be returning to the regular roleplay sample system used on most websites. When a member makes a character if they wish to make a Captain level character they will be required to make a roleplay sample with that specific character.
The second part of this is that we are temporarily bringing down the practice fight requirement since I would like the next topics related to the Otaku to actually have fighting and many people have not had their characters participate in a full practice fight. This rule WILL be reimplemented later however so you should find a practice fight partner during the "Otaku arc" so that you don't have to do it later when it is brought back.
So basically the application process is just being made easier. For non-leadership characters you just need the character and the weapon app while for full leadership positions such as Captains you also need an extra roleplay sample done in-character.
Elder One creation still needs staff approval however. I will be changing the application slightly but not much.
So if you have been wanting to make a captain and your tier 3 has been in the way you can celebrate since those are gone.
TL;DR : Tiers are gone. PFs are not required. Make some Espada.
12/3/2013, 6:23 am by 
