New Hires

In my last report, I opened applications for M:HM and Professor of Combat Studies. I received several excellent applications -- the PROF spot, in particular, generated a lot of interest -- and it took Ood and I several days to settle on Qormus and Zednich as M:HM and PROF, respectively. They've each dived into their new jobs and are hard at work prepping new courses.

For those who applied but were not selected, as well as anyone with an interest in working for the SA, we are always interested in volunteers to help with editing or course writing. Even if we do not have any staff positions open, we award volunteers appropriately for all of the work they do for us -- including my profuse thanks in these reports. :p

Degree Changes Again!

Last month I announced a major overhaul of the gaming- and fiction-related degrees. I received substantial feedback and have spent the past month discussing additional changes with the DC and being yelled at by the Oppressor of Medals. Today, I bring you revised requirements for the Gaming and Tactics Sage degrees. Thanks to James, these changes are already active:

Sage - Warfare (SGW):

• Dark Savant: Warfare
• TOR Basics
• GMRG Rank X (2220 CFs, 10 PoBs)
• Practical:
  • Earn 1000 Warfare Points
    • 1 CF = 1 point
    • 1 PoB = 40 points
    • 1 GN/Cr-D (gaming comp) = 75 points
    • 1 SN/Cr-R (gaming comp) = 60 points
    • 1 BN (gaming comp) = 45 points

Sage - Tactics (SGT):

• Dark Savant: Tactics
• Complete 25 ACC matches
• Earn 150 CIs
• Practical:
  • Earn 1000 Tactical Points
    • 1 CI = 10 points
    • 1 ACC match completion = 20 points
    • 1 ACC win = 20 points
    • 1 GN/Cr-D (fiction comp) = 75 points
    • 1 SN/Cr-R (fiction comp) = 60 points
    • 1 BN (fiction comp) = 45 points

The basic Sage requriements are unchanged from what I announced last month. As you can see, the major change comes in the "Practical" section. First, it's a point-based system! What is this voodoo? Once you meet the basic requirements of either degree (i.e., Warfare Savant, TOR Basics, and GMRG X for Warfare; Tactics Savant, 25 ACC matches, and 150 CIs for Tactics), you then need to earn 1000 points by any of the bulleted means above. Only CFs and PoBs earned in excess of the 2220 CFs and 10 PoBs needed for GMRG X will count for points, but it does not matter when any of the medals are earned. For example, if you have 4000 CFs and 8 PoBs right now (and are therefore not GMRG X), you will have 1780 points purely by virtue of CFs and none for PoBs.

Likewise for the Tactics Sage, only CIs and ACC matches/wins beyond the 25 ACC matches and 150 CIs already required for the degree will count for points. That means if you have 40 completed ACC matches (inluding Old ACC matches!) and 30 ACC wins, you will accrue 300 points for your ACC matches above 25 plus 200 points for your ACC wins above 25 matches, for a total of 500 points (plus points for whatever CIs you might have racked up along with those ACC matches).

Both degrees count novae and first- or second-level crescents earned for the appropriate type of competition. The database counts a competition as a "Gaming" comp if it required Fist approval, and as a "Fiction" comp if it required Voice approval. That means any older competitions that predate the current approval system (think old website) will not automatically be counted -- but I will manually count qualifying old competition medals if you identify those awards to me. One more note regarding crescents: if you check your "Degree Progress" page and look at either of the Sages, you will notice that database identifies the Crescents, for the purposes of this system, based on what level of crescents a competition awarded, like this:

• Every First Place in a First Level Crescents Gaming Competition = 75 points (0 × 75 = 0 points)
• Every Second Place in a First Level Crescents Gaming Competition = 60 points (0 × 60 = 0 points)
• Every First Place in a Second Level Crescents Gaming Competition = 60 points (0 × 60 = 0 points)

What that means is winning first (Cr-D) or second place (Cr-R) in a first level crescent-awarding competition will get you 75 or 60 points, respectively. Winning first place (Cr-R) in a second level crescent-awarding competition will also get you 60 points. However, keep in mind that the automated crescent upgrading/downgrading system may increase or decrease the crescent level awarded: if your Second Level Crescent flash game competition were downgraded a level, you would not receive 60 points for winning (you'd get a Cr-A); but if your third level gaming competition had more than 10 participants, you would get 60 points for winning (a Cr-R). UPDATE: The database does not automatically track the upgrading/downgrading of crescents in a way that this point system can pick up on, but if you do receive a Cr-R for winning first place in an upgraded third-level competition, I will manually track it for you if you notify me.

Second, Fist or Voice staff service no longer counts towards either degree, at all. These degrees are intended to be long-term achievements attainable by any member who likes to game or write enough to meet the requirements, and staff service simply doesn't fit that theme -- there are not enough available positions, turnover is too low, and the work of a staffer is too hard to quantify.

Third, again, I will continue to keep an eye on these degrees and make more adjustments as necessary.

The New Courses

The rewrite of Alchemy Studies based on the new guide is complete and live, thanks to Macron! We're also getting very close to launching a brand new course called Force Tactics, written by the man with too many names. It's a very cool, unique course, and I hope to have it out before my next report.

The Audit!

In light of the proposed path/order changes, our priorities are shifting on the audit front. The current crop of core courses is staring obsolescence in the face. We're going to work up a plan to deal with that and hope to have it ready not long after the major structural changes are launched.

Top Exam Takers!

Since my last report, the top five exam takers at the SA are:

Name	# of Exams
DJM Sith Bloodfyre-Tarentae	38
GRD Sandrin	31
DEF Suur	20
PRT Bentre Stahoes	18
PRT James McGarrett	18

Great work, everyone!

Conclusion

As always, I'd like to close this report by asking for your help. The SA is a massive wall of text that covers ever-shifting topics and is prone to typos and run-on sentences. If you spot substantive or grammatical problems, please let me, Ood, and the course PROF know so that we can fix them ASAP. As we work through the Departments during the audit, we're also going to be asking for help reading and editing -- if you have any particular expertise, let us know when we announce the next Department being audited. There are shiny things available. :P

Bubba

Dark Side Adept Dacien Victae di Plagia
Headmaster of the Dark Jedi Brotherhood