Alright, so through some debate back and forth several of us have thrown together some ideas for making Domoths more interesting.

Make the Life, War, Knowledge, and Chaos blessing only attainable in a 1 vs 1 manner.

Every time Nature fluxes its style will change from how the current style of Domothing is to 1 vs 1 and back to Normal if already 1 vs 1.

The other 4 Domoths (Death, Justice, Beauty, and Harmony) remain how they always have been.

How the 1 vs 1 Domoth will work is like this. Only two people can be in the Domoth realms at once and the second person cannot be of the same organization as the one who is currently Challenging the Domoth. While someone is in the Domoth Realms, the Challenger will no longer gain points and instead will gain seconds on a timer and once that timer reaches 5 minutes (or 300 seconds) they person attempting to take it will be removed and can no longer Domoth Ascend to retry. Also if the person dies they will not be able to Domoth Ascend to retry. During the time that the person is attempting to remove the current Challenger they can, DOMOTH CHALLENGE and wait a time of 15 seconds without performing any actions to become the Challenger and start gaining points on a timer to have the other person kicked out. The original Challenger, however, will not lose the time they gained and can still Challenge to start gaining time to have the other removed from where they stopped at. This would also cut out the second and third stages.

"More interesting"... for a very, very, very, very few people, heh.

I don't really see a need for this. 1v1 has been discussed before, but it's not the point or the focus of the game and Domoths themselves are clearly intended to be organizational in nature. Take a look at how blessings are set up, look at the power income, and so on and so forth.

I know next to nothing about domoths other than stage two. How about contenders just have to play Street Fighter 2 until someone dies, and the winner gets the domoth?

It'd be more interesting in that it'd be much harder for one org (which just so happens to be on top) from holding all the domoths since they can't overpower opposing demigods/ascendants who want to challenge through numbers.

The whole Domoth thing is still daunting to me, and I've had it explained to me a couple of times. The demigod essence drain is annoying, and the fear of bumping into a half dozen enemies while exploring and trying to figure it all out is a barrier, too.

I understand the desire for the 1v1 to give smaller orgs somewhat of a chance. It's one of these "the big keep getting bigger" problems Lusternia has been piling on for a while.

And it would be less interesting in that even fewer people even bother with it. There are, even in this last week, large-scale battles on Stage 2. Which this proposal completely removes for those Domoths.

Again, these things are completely and totally organizational in focus, heh. There's nothing 1v1 about 'em.

So, you're suggesting two or three orgs band together to knock one of the Domoths away from Glomdoring? Who gets it then?

The last time it was done (successfully), it seemed like Magnagora was going to take it. As they started the claiming on Stage 2. With a group composed of Celest / Gaudiguch / Magnagora.

The most recent scuffle was pure Glom vs. Celest though.

That said: Domoths do favour the org who holds them because that org gets to choose the time it's challenged. So, the best time to work for it is in Estar (go for it when they flux). This proposal also doesn't change challenging when there's nobody else around, so... even that isn't really addressed by it, eh.

Edit: And if you / an allied org get both of the Domoths on a flux (which is quite possible, but requires actually... trying for it), it should be pretty easy to keep them too.

That's an awful lot of time sink evaded for the same rewards.

Well, Xenthos, we left 4 of them like Normal Domoths just for that reason.

Well, really it would depend on the Challengers and the people going against the Challengers, it could take a while for it to even be finished if people keep trying to take it from whoever is challenging or if no one does then it would go fast.

And turned 4.5 of them into things that aren't organizational at all, for organizational-scale rewards. And extremely fast times if you do it when nobody's around.

Also: Prepped unbreakable melds in a 3-room area? Heh.

Ok? You fight anyone 1v1 and you're going to have that problem. The idea here is to give Domothing a purpose outside of who can bring the biggest zerg. The most better fighter gets to bring home some nice bonuses. Sounds pretty solid to me.

How does that sound solid? It's... really not, when it's organizational-based. I do understand the desire to want to use the pyro-demesne in 1v1, but you already have that option, heh. Domoths are organizational-oriented. That's their entire function, the way they're set up for challenges, and the benefits they provide.

If you want 1v1, there are "plenty" of others who like it too. Narsrim, Shamarah, Romero, etc. Have at it!

As they stand, Domoths are sort of a failure.

They're nothing but free passive power, almost always uncontested, and buffs, for whatever org happens to need those things the least at the time. This is bad for org balance, and shows no real sign of changing.

Anything that makes domoths more contestable, and not dogpiled into one super org for essentially a grocery basket of freebies is a good thing.

Barring that, just remove them.

My working theory (same as the last time Romero brought this idea up) is that it makes Domoths less contested. Fewer people able to get involved == less contesting. No stage 2? Well, that cuts out a huge portion of the game right there. Only 2 people in stage one? They'll gravitate to certain individuals and just stay there. Especially as those individuals no longer have to worry about having organizational support for later stages, just challenge when nobody's around and enjoy the quick Domoth claim.

Honestly, you've got more chance at turnover the way things are. Especially if you take advantage of the flux mechanic (which nobody really seems to even try to for some reason? :/ )

That said, you're right, there are a lot of benefits. Which is why it needs to be something that is more than just 2 people, heh.

I could kill you without a Pyromancy demesne and on top of that I could kill a pyromancer in a pyro demesne. Honestly your argument is horrible. I can understand wanting to defend zerging for Domoths cause that's how you win but making you actually have to work for a fight to win in a 1v1 situation would be a lot more entertaining and would have a much better feel of accomplishment in the end I would imagine. And like I said, since that's what you like the other half of the Domoths would be left that way. Just for you, buddy.

This flies in the face of all practical evidence. In a few months, we'll be coming up on a real life year of one org basically sitting on the vast majority of the domoths. One org that, in part because of this, can raise more VAs, and will probably take TA this year (giving them 3 active TAs).

This is flawed on a practical, fundamental level. Instead of a source of conflict, it is just "super org accrues near unconestable large passive power gains and free buffs". Which compounds the brazenly poor macro org balance that exists at the moment.

Iunno. How's Serenwilde doing with its residual domoth ownership?

Heh, no, this idea is actually "just for you". But yeah.

You've got options to work with things the way they are. You've even successfully accomplished it in the past. However, Magnagora / Celest got tired of the upkeep and let all the domoths fall.

The idea is a desire to circumvent the upkeep, to make it extremely easy to keep once you've got it, and to move something with is organizational in nature into a completely different realm (in which the game is not balanced nor even intended to be balanced any more).