Hey folks,
Thanks for the feedback so far on this new mechanic.
We realize a number of folks aren't happy about EC's being required to vote. The logic on this decision was that an EC cost would prevent folks from spamming the voting system, so that votes would have a weight to them. The intention being that people would only vote if they actually want the avatar at the end, and most folks would just vote once.
We had originally planned on having only one vote per person with no stats on the items. But after thinking on it, we figured some may really like the Avatars and so we put in a cap of 10 votes per person for folks that really passionate about these avatars, while still preventing spam votes. We then tried to offset these EC costs a bit by adding stats to the Voting Coins, so they were worth more than just voting, but I do realize the stats aren't crazy high. I hope this context helps explains how we got here.
In the comments here, I have seen some interesting suggestions like using Cash instead, or instituting other types of vote caps, but the concern is that this would then mean players with the most Alternate accounts or most Cash get to pick the winner, whether they actually want the Avatar at the end or not. Which kind of defeats the purpose.
Again, we appreciate everyones feedback here and if we decide to run something like this again (for the ladies of course), you may see tweaks that will hopefully address y'alls concerns. It has honestly been really helpful to hear what everyone thinks.
Finally, as a heads up it does look like the Ninja's are currently winning by a small margin!
Personally I'm in favour of the Viking, so I really hope he doesn't get sent off to Valhalla!
Best,
ATA - Will