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Mastering the Scrolls

Mastering the Scrolls

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Moderators for Stormfall: Age of War wanted
Apr 6, 2016, 03:5804/06/16
08/20/15
249

Mastering the Scrolls

Being a Scroll Master


Lets face it, a League with an active Scroll Master has an advantage over a league without one.  Why? Mainly because instead of each league member posting a trade for scrolls they need, offering one of the limited number of duplicate or extra scrolls they might have, and hoping for someone to accept it, a Scroll Master with a large vault of scrolls can search out and trade much more successfully due to the wider trading options available. Players get the scrolls they need sooner, and can progress through the Scroll Arts faster, giving them access to better troop types sooner and increasing their offense and defense strength.  


The whole process depends on league members sending unneeded scrolls to the Scroll Master. Without the wide variety of scrolls to trade, it doesn’t work. It takes a great deal of faith to give up your opportunity to trade and send that extra scroll off to someone you don’t really know, so the players need to know that the Scroll Master is doing everything he/she can do to get them the scrolls they need, and that the loss of their extra scrolls are worth it. Good communication is essential! Let them know what you're doing, and respond when they ask for a scroll, even if you have to tell them it isn't available right now. Let your league know which scrolls you need, and follow up with players you know have researched that set and may be sitting on extra's.


Sitting and waiting for scrolls to show up on the market really isn’t the most efficient way to find the scrolls you need for your players. You need to anticipate what will be needed next and dive into the market to actively search for what is available and trade for the scrolls ahead of time. When you have duplicates, search out available trades to fill the gaps in the sets. Don’t forget to look at even the low level scroll trades, even if your players don’t need those scrolls – sometimes someone will be desperate for a specific scroll and will offer a higher level scroll to get it. Sometimes you will have to offer a higher level scroll for a lower one yourself, just to find a scroll to fill a league trade. Having the scrolls ahead of time saves a lot of time and effort later when the players are sending you repeated emails asking for specific scrolls to finish their set.  


You can also join or form a Cooperative – contact other Scroll Masters from allied leagues, and help each other by trading between yourselves when you can’t find a specific scroll you need. The easiest way I’ve found is to set them as personal allies, so you can click the trading filter for Allies and easily see what they have to offer. Just as you don’t offer every scroll you have for trade, they don’t either, and it is likely that one of them will have that hard to find scroll you need. Keeping the trades fair can generate good will that may pay off the next time you have a player in desperate need of the final scroll for their set, especially when it’s one that is hard to find and the other Scroll Master really doesn’t want to let it go.


Being a Scroll Master isn’t easy – it’s time consuming, frustrating, and sometimes tedious while you wait hours for a caravan to return with a scroll, only to send that scroll back out to trade for the one you really need, if it's still on the market by that point that is. It takes a high degree of organization to keep the trades straight, so you will probably be maintaining a list or spreadsheet of available scrolls, so the league can see what to set trades for. It is hard to juggle your time for your own playing with the time needed to help the league. You sometimes have to decide what is more important, the need for your caravans for raiding or your own resource trading, or the needs of the League. Not something someone who only spends a couple hours a day on Stormfall should attempt – it can sometimes take hours, and a sequence of trades, to acquire a single specific scroll.


Having an organized scroll trading system set up in your league can give you an advantage over leagues who don’t have one and force their players to find their own scrolls. It’s a lot of time and effort, but seeing your players achieve the different levels of Scroll Arts before those of other leagues can be quite rewarding, especially if you enjoy the actual hunt and the trading process.

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Alyona KolomiitsevaCommunity Manager
Apr 6, 2016, 06:5404/06/16
09/17/15
8278

Outstanding!


Thank you for your hard work and this beautiful guide.

I think many Leagues will now consider the appointment of the Scroll Master
Apr 6, 2016, 16:0004/06/16
Dec 29, 2018, 17:03(edited)
11/05/14
19383

so true, a scroll master (or whatever you name it) is essential to a league. 

that being said, being one myself, i pretty much tried everything: spreadsheet, shared spreadsheet in the cloud so that everyone can update it, league PMs... ultimately what works best is no organisation at all, because most players are lazy. and only a small portion will follow rules, guidelines and such. 

so i came up with a flexible system: all they have to do is post an offer for whatever scroll they need and i send it. they all know if they're stuck on one specific scroll, they just have to ask and i usually send it, having over 400 scrolls. 

i've collected that many was simply by not exchanging scrolls any more, to complete my lost arts. therefore, the scribe will give away scroll after scroll, every day. the downside is that it takes a lot more time to complete an art, but it's what it takes to create a solid scrolls bank.

food for thoughts.
Apr 6, 2016, 16:4804/06/16
Sep 23, 2016, 19:52(edited)
08/20/15
249

Its been my experience over the years that if you tell 100 players that they absolutely need to read something, 50 might take a look at it. Out of that 50 maybe 25 will actually read all the way through, and out of those maybe 15 will do what it said to do.  You just need to make sure the carrot you hold out (fast trades because they know what is available) is nice and big and crunchy, and that they see the large knobby stick you're holding behind your back (not picking up the trades if they don't follow directions).  Its a matter of explaining to them why it is to their advantage to work with the system.


I keep a spreadsheet updated with the scroll stock, and the smart players check it to see which scrolls I currently have so they can set their trades. If someone needs either Wardens Staff #3 and #5 or a Runic Blade #1 and #2, and only has two spare trading scrolls it is to their advantage to check and make sure I have the scrolls they need before tying up their caravan on trades that may not be possible at the moment.  It is better to complete one set, and wait to finish the other if those scrolls aren't available.


I make every effort to find the scrolls we need by doing the following:


  • Checking the current scrolls available
  • Looking to see what is available by trading duplicate scrolls
  • Trading one of the more common scrolls of that type for the needed scroll
  • Asking on chat if someone has that scroll extra
  • Seeing if it is possible to make a series of trades to get the needed scroll
  • Trading a higher scroll for the one I need if it is critical to finish a set
  • Posting my own trade for that scroll using a different trade than the player has
  • Adding a note on the current scroll listing that this specific scroll is needed
  • Talking with my allied Scroll Masters to see if one of them has it


I very seldom fail in my hunt; even if it takes a day or so to find a specific hard to get scroll it's still faster than just posting a trade and waiting.