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The Gamma phase has certainly created a lot of excitement on the Epic Duel forums Since we are moving to this forum I thought I would check it out again, been a while I have a question, will the new armors change with the class change function?

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Hi all!! Wiseman gave me a bit of a friendly poke about this thread because he thought I might want to weigh in on it. And since I trust his judgment...well, here we go!

First, I want to note that I think it's great that you as a community recognize something your forum needs and step up to say it. It shows a real connection you have to the game and to the forum, which I think is terrific. Nightwraith and Titan both have talked to me about how much they care about the EpicDuel community and I think they've created a wonderful group here. You're as lucky to have them as they are to have all of you!

The second thing I wanted to talk about is the eventual merger of the AE and ED communities into one forum. I know it's a matter of some concern so I wanted to touch on it now, rather than let it wait until the last minute. WM thought it would be best to get it out in the open and I have to agree with his logic here - plus he knows you guys way better than I do! Yes, the AE and ED forums will merge. No, I don't know when that will happen, but yes it will happen eventually. Yes, the AE forums are significantly more strict than the ED forums but comparing them is like comparing apples and Toyotas. We have a forum that has existed since 2004 and currently supports four games, an expansion and about 1/5 of the EpicDuel traffic in our on-site General Discussion board. We have a lot of content, a lot of users and a lot of room for things to go very wrong. That means we've taken these past six years and used it to hone a system that allows us to be relatively understaffed (in terms of need, not by comparison to the ED forum) while still running smoothly.

We have a group of moderators and a group of ArchKnights (local, not global moderators) who are dedicated to keeping the forums clean. Clean of spam, clean of pornographic images, clean of hate speech, sexual harassment, discrimination, gender bias, etc. Our forums are strict, but they're also a place where a child could spend time without encountering anything inordinately offensive. It may be more tightly run and more strictly managed than the EpicDuel boards, but we love it and care a lot about it. We work so hard because we love the AE games - and that includes EpicDuel. In the event that the boards do merge, things will have to change but change isn't always bad. Nightwraith and Titan will always be there and you know you can trust them to take care of the community and to help us find the best way to support their game and making your community our own. They've proven to you (and to me) that they love their players and want only the best for them and we only want the opportunity to prove that we want that too!

~ Circe

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Well as an AE forum this forum will eventually have to follow all the Universal Rules as set forth by AE. Even if the forums didn't merge this forum would eventually become just as strict as the main AE one, thats a given since all rights to ED are now owned by AE. The forums merging is already been planned, it's just not decided when they will merge yet, so instead of saying you don't want it to happen, perhaps preparing for when it does happen is a better course of action. All of the AE game forums eventually become part of the Battleon Forum and Epic Duel forums are no different.

The merger will certainly cover the lack of mods, as there are many more mods on the Battleon Forum willing to help, as well as the AKs.


~WM~

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We didn't change the rules right away because we had planned to keep the EpicDuel forums for as long as possible to maintain our own identity and not lose a huge chunk of our forum regulars to a drastic change. Plans for "one forum to rule them all" which would integrate with the Master Account caused us to expedite plans to merge the forums, which means phasing in more and more AEF rules, which, in many cases, are just general forum etiquette rules that are enforced on many major forums. I really don't understand the drama this is causing, since the merger is not something I can see happening in the near future. Late 2010/early 2011, maybe? I can say the new forum will be better in every way, since integrating with the MA means a smoother, more efficient, and more fun forum registration process. More of an upgrade than a merger, honestly.

Also, this discussion about small sigs and avatars is moot (GIFs are your friend...sometimes), considering the new forum will be built on different technology and may have different restrictions. Some forums don't even allow custom sigs and avatars unless you're some sort of moderator or "elite" poster. Restrictions are to conserve bandwidth and make reading posts easier, which is even more crucial in a forum that gets several times more visitors than EpicDuel.

There's no need to panic. Ultimately, Titan and I will determine how the EpicDuel section of the new forum shapes up, and we can use your feedback to make it the best forum possible.