Kaliphlin Guild: Homepage, Sign-up and Discussion

[robuko]

You are right about Rougang's Tower, it was a very original entry and I admit I over looked it as its been quite a task constantly sorting and picking mocs. This is why I will let my guild pick the Embassy entries, as I feel they should have a say in what will be used to represent their guild.

Thanks for your comments Derfel, I totally agree that the standard of entries in all the guilds has been so high that it is a really tough job for anyone to pick the top 5 of any of them. And especially when the bulk flood in within 24 hours of closing Democracy may prove easier, but you are doing a really wonderful job as guild leader and your judgement itself is rightly considered high praise. I do wonder if the criteria were agreed before the first judging, and whether it will be similar criteria next time...

Basiliscus, I initially thought the latter too, but I think the real answer is, do what you feel would be best. My concept will be similar to CptMugwash`s or indeed our friend Hersbrucker`s excellent embassy, featuring one local building and our embassy on the same city block in Abyssan.

I purposely built my tower to look completely different than the style that my guild has adopted, and guild style was one of the criteria, which mine did not fit.

I'm thinking that the process will streamline quickly, and a lot of the questions will be answered. I just love this chance to inspire tons of MOCs in the castle realm. I like showcasing what I build, but I LOVE seeing what everyone is building. So many of the MOCs coming out of the Guilds are simply Amazing.

Thanks rougeang, yes, that point on guild style explains it I guess. Your tower was one of my favourites, but as you say, everyone puts a different weight ion different factors. I really think diversity is a wonderful strength for both Kaliphlin and Nocturnus, I hope Avalonia doesn`t get streamlined too much! I love seeing all the great building styles and techniques too, I think historica is doing a great job for building stimulus!

It is interesting to read about the criteria the guild leaders used to select and judge builds - personally i don't like to get too caught up in building to judging criteria. I prefer instead to find my own take on the catagory and invest in my own vision. That's why I'm so excited to be building an embassy in Nocturnus - not much has been defined there in terms of style, so there is the scope to do something really interesting and unexpected.

Totally agree gabe, I am curious about what criteria the guild leaders value but ultimately I think it might be better not to know, as I would rather build to my own vision. I am looking forward to your take on Nocturnus, I will be building there too and so far I am making much more progress on my Nocturnus house than the embassy, it`s a great place to build! My embassy concept is kind of Nimrud`s palace meets Karnak with the Suleiyman mosque on top, beside the Ganges. Probably vastly too ambitious, but I might get some building time over Chinese New Year.

[Justindale]

Hi just started my Eurobricks, I,ve been following these for guilds and was considering joining Kaliphlin if you all would have me. I was wondering if i could use yellow plates for sand because all of my tan plates are tied up on another project. Im still figureing the site out so if you need to contact me I can be reached at justindalewadethe1st@yahoo.com. I look forward to seeing how Kaliphlin turns out.

[Si-MOCs]

So it appears the Guild Leaders are fallible, and made a mistake.

The original intent was to pick the TOP tower of each guild - two guilds had ties - instead of doing a tie-breaker we decided to simply make them cowinners - thus the 'top 6'.

BUT! in terms of raw score - there was a tower that was higher than one of the other tower(s) from the other guild(s) ... so it wasn't truly top 6... it was 6/7.

The SECRET 7th uber awesome tower was of course:

Ra'ad Twur from Tower Lord Wahil Musca!

You will also be given a prize (once prizes are sorted out)

So please extend a hand for Wahil as well!

I do agree with robuko though that for the challenges, perhaps a little guidance on the judging criteria would be helpful. I have heard that playability was a criteria - which I admit finding very strange - I thought we were building great MOCs? It would be nice to know what the criteria was - I am not saying it will influence what I build, but it would be useful (e.g. total score = 30 points; design = 5 points, photography = 10 points, etc!).

It is interesting to read about the criteria the guild leaders used to select and judge builds - personally i don't like to get too caught up in building to judging criteria. I prefer instead to find my own take on the catagory and invest in my own vision. That's why i'm so excited to be building an embassy in Nocturnus - not much has been defined there in terms of style, so there is the scope to do something really interesting and unexpected.

But i can understand why ppl want to know about how the moc's are judged, and i agree with Robuko that rougang's tower was very unlucky to not be selected. (It was one of my fav towers for sure!) All i can say is, it must be a very difficult job for the guild leaders to select the best builds.

Totally agree gabe, I am curious about what criteria the guild leaders value but ultimately I think it might be better not to know, as I would rather build to my own vision. I am looking forward to your take on Nocturnus, I will be building there too and so far I am making much more progress on my Nocturnus house than the embassy, it`s a great place to build! My embassy concept is kind of Nimrud`s palace meets Karnak with the Suleiyman mosque on top, beside the Ganges. Probably vastly too ambitious, but I might get some building time over Chinese New Year.

Criteria - I don't know if it'll be the same, but we looked at three main things:

1) appropriateness of build - eg how 'Kaliphlin' was it?

2) Quality of build

3) Presentation/Photography

with that in mind I choose ones that I thought were strong in those categories - though I tended to vote a bit more with my heart than cold statistician.

So really in the end to do well:

Build something appropriate. Build it well.

From some of the Top Seven you can see it's not always size that matters.

And if you look at the two biggest ones - they were actually quite detailed as well.

Also take GOOD pictures of it.

You don't need to add in a big fancy digital background, but it should be a clear picture with a neutral background.

If anyone has problems - I/others I'm sure will be willing to help you clean it up.

(heck even Derfel had to get ISC to do his background )

Thanks for your comments Derfel, I totally agree that the standard of entries in all the guilds has been so high that it is a really tough job for anyone to pick the top 5 of any of them. And especially when the bulk flood in within 24 hours of closing Democracy may prove easier, but you are doing a really wonderful job as guild leader and your judgement itself is rightly considered high praise. I do wonder if the criteria were agreed before the first judging, and whether it will be similar criteria next time...

For the first round it was the Guild Leaders that choose 5 to represent their guild. We discussed the logistics of voting and at the time we decided against it - it was a large fear that over the holidays many would be away ... BUT it's really up to you guys. I would rather vote (so I'm not to blame!) on the next round, we can start up a thread and have like a 3 day vote window for your top 5.

Thoughts?

For the embassy challenge I have a dilemma - are we supposed to be building in the native style or a Kaliphlin building on foreign soil (I have seen both types of entries)? This might be part of the judging process so I would be interested to know (e.g. if I build a embassy in Avalonia should I be building half-timbered European buildings or a Kaliphlin building surrounded by half-timbered European buildings?). Originally I thought the latter was the point of the challenge but now I am not so sure.

Basiliscus, I initially thought the latter too, but I think the real answer is, do what you feel would be best. My concept will be similar to CptMugwash`s or indeed our friend Hersbrucker`s excellent embassy, featuring one local building and our embassy on the same city block in Abyssan

Honestly I have always imagined the latter. but as stated above- I've seen the other way, so I'm sure we will accept either. And remember guys, even with talk of prizes and guild rankings etc etc - the real purpose of this is to push all the builders to build better and greater. So build what YOU want. as long as it fills any of those criteria you should be safe. Even if it doesn't, it can be counted as a free build!

Hi just started my Eurobricks, I,ve been following these for guilds and was considering joining Kaliphlin if you all would have me. I was wondering if i could use yellow plates for sand because all of my tan plates are tied up on another project. Im still figureing the site out so if you need to contact me I can be reached at justindalewadethe1st@yahoo.com. I look forward to seeing how Kaliphlin turns out.

Welcome Justin!

Can't wait to have you aboard. First thing first: make up a character, take a picture of them and post up here!

Welcome and Enjoy!

[Justindale]

Im hoping on getting a pic up tonight.

[Rogue Angel]

So it appears the Guild Leaders are fallible, and made a mistake.

For the first round it was the Guild Leaders that choose 5 to represent their guild. We discussed the logistics of voting and at the time we decided against it - it was a large fear that over the holidays many would be away ... BUT it's really up to you guys. I would rather vote (so I'm not to blame!) on the next round, we can start up a thread and have like a 3 day vote window for your top 5.

Thoughts?

It does not matter to me which way the selection process goes.

I wouldn't mind seeing a hybrid voting model

Members pick 3 MOCs and Guild Leaders pick 2 MOCs

Each member would get 5 votes they would assign to 5 different MOCs (I know this is normally 3, but I could have voted for 10 towers last round easily!)

- You cannot assign more than one vote to any MOC

- You cannot vote for your own MOC

- You must be a member, with a sigfig/army pic to vote (some proof that you're actually participating)

The top 3 MOCs from each guild would make it to the final round

Guild Leaders would pick 2 additional MOCs from their guild to advance to the final round AFTER the member voting is complete

The guild leaders would then select the top MOC(s) as they see fit.

It would be nice to give a set week of time for members to vote, say Feb 16-22nd for the Embassy challenge.

If there could be a post setup just like the polling posts are, so that you could select 5 towers off that page, that would probably be easier for the Guild Leaders to calculate, instead of just posting written choices. I don't know how feasible it would be.

That's my idea.

[Kayne]

@rogueangI really like that idea! So if I follow correctly, with the 5 votes you could vote for MOC's in any guild, or just your own?

[Rogue Angel]

@rogueangI really like that idea! So if I follow correctly, with the 5 votes you could vote for MOC's in any guild, or just your own?

Correct, you could use all 5 votes for your guild, but the top 3 MOCs would be selected from each guild, so even if one guild has twice as many members as another guild, and it's MOCs get twice as many votes (hypothetically), both guilds would have the same number of entries (3) advance to the final round. Then the guild leader would add two more MOCs of their choice.

The guild leaders would also get 5 votes in the initial member voting (or maybe even 10.)

The one thing I'm not sure about is if the results of who voted for who would be public afterwards. It is nice to see who votes for what, but I'm not sure if that would be doable with the poll system. (unless the guild leaders went back through and posted everything by hand, which would defeat the purpose of using the poll system in the first place)

Edited January 17, 2012 by rogueang

[ZCerberus]

Correct, you could use all 5 votes for your guild, but the top 3 MOCs would be selected from each guild, so even if one guild has twice as many members as another guild, and it's MOCs get twice as many votes (hypothetically), both guilds would have the same number of entries (3) advance to the final round. Then the guild leader would add two more MOCs of their choice.

The guild leaders would also get 5 votes in the initial member voting (or maybe even 10.)

The one thing I'm not sure about is if the results of who voted for who would be public afterwards. It is nice to see who votes for what, but I'm not sure if that would be doable with the poll system. (unless the guild leaders went back through and posted everything by hand, which would defeat the purpose of using the poll system in the first place)

That is sort of the idea I pitched as well, but you have fleshed it out much more than I had. Nice suggestion.

The original intent was to pick the TOP tower of each guild - two guilds had ties - instead of doing a tie-breaker we decided to simply make them cowinners - thus the 'top 6'.

BUT! in terms of raw score - there was a tower that was higher than one of the other tower(s) from the other guild(s) ...

So then Nocturnus had 2, Mitgardia had 2, Kaliphlin had the #1 tower and 1 tower that scored higher than the "winner(s)" from another guild and Avalonia had 1. poor us. Kinda gives a guy a complex!

[Angeli]

[Prizes to be finalized soon]

A *HUGE* congratulations to Tower Master Erudhalion !

Truly an epic tower, and (literally) height of Kaliphlin construction.

BUT - let's not overlook the guild... Kaliphlin was SECOND. edging out the Avalonian powerhouse.

I believe *EVERYONE* should get themselves a nice pat on the pack.

Great work Gabe, and Kaliphlin.

Though it looks like we have a bit of work to keep up with our Northern friends... so let's get those Embassies going!

--

Odin Sounds great! I can't wait to see your moc! I eagerly await Katsumoto's arrival.

Damaximus nice little scene you have going there... but it's a bit dark, and the AWB is a tad off... if you need some help or tips on photography feel free to drop me a PM. .... though the yellow tint has a very... eerie glow...

...wow, I've just seen this :) There should bee some sticky thread for announcement and similar ;)

And links, I've wanted to see again the winning towers, but I must search them through the forum...

Edit:

never mind, I've found it ;)

my spies are doing nothing, and there will be some punishing! ;)

Edited January 17, 2012 by Angeli

[NiceMarmot]

The SECRET 7th uber awesome tower was of course:

Ra'ad Twur from Tower Lord Wahil Musca!

A big shout-out to Wahil and his Ra'ad Twur, which I thought was totally awesome, and was surprised not to see it in the top towers list. The color scheme is beautiful. And it's inspired me to try my hand at round towers, which I've never done before.

[Odin's son Fred]

my spies are doing nothing, and there will be some punishing! ;)

I thought the Drow liked punishment though. Or is it they prefer to give rather than receive?

[Kayne]

A big shout-out to Wahil and his Ra'ad Twur, which I thought was totally awesome, and was surprised not to see it in the top towers list. The color scheme is beautiful. And it's inspired me to try my hand at round towers, which I've never done before.

So....with the addition of this tower as well, does that mean Kaliphlin will receive more Gold and maybe be in the #1 spot?

[Scubacarrot]

WIP pic 2, waiting on some BL orders now.

[NiceMarmot]

I'm looking for some feedback and suggestions on my design for a Kaliphlin embassy in Mitgardia. I've created the design in LDD (a first for me) so it's easy to modify. I'll probably place BrickLink orders for the parts I don't have on Wednesday night or Thursday, so I'd need to get any major feedback by then. (Not looking forward to that order; have a feeling it will be $$$!)

I'm going for a bit of a mix between Kaliphlin and Mitgardia styles; right now it's probably a little more Mitgardia than Kaliphlin. In addition to what you see here, I will try to add some more greebling and minor details, plus will populate it with minifigures, and to some extent, furniture and stuff inside. Here's the overall view from the front, street-side. Note that the tan plates that look like they wrap around the first story are actually the street level; it's got a cellar. The embassy also functions as a trade delegation and has shops for Kaliphlin shopkeepers to ply their wares; those are at street-level, behind the reddish brown palisade bricks.

Embassy Front Oblique

Here's the back-side, showing the dock/wharf on some canal/river/bay. There will be doors on the cellar level in each of those openings leading out to the wharf; however, LDD doesn't have the doors that I'm going to use so you don't see them in the model.

embassy back oblique

Here's a street-level view from the front. You can see the street-level shop bays better here. There will be doors in the main archway here, between the torches. Inside on the ground level is a trading hall plus some merchants' offices and a guard post. The second story has an arcaded balcony on the front and half of the sides. Inside the second story are mostly guild offices plus lodging. Note the emblems on the arcade pillars; I tried to come up with two designs that reflected Kaliphlin and Mitgardia and used their colors.

embassy front street level

A view of the upper levels. The lower of these has the banquet hall where official Kaliphlin Guild functions are held. The topmost story has the ambassador's private apartment. I think these levels turned out really well and have a really nice Mitgardia feel to them. The inside of the banquet hall is actually a bit more Kaliphlin looking, with some of those flesh-colored Persian arches. I might use some tiling on the floor to make it more Kaliphlin inside. Plus I should probably figure out a way to make the interior of the ambassador's apartment very Kaliphlin, so s/he doesn't get homesick. BTW, what do you all think of dark-red for those curved pieces at the peak of the roof? I wanted brown, but they're not really available. Other available colors include black, dark green, various greys, tan, and white. I can also turn these pieces so the curved part sticks up instead of curving down; not sure which looks better.

Kaliphlin Embassy in Mitgardia upper levels

On my Flickr photostream (click any of the pictures) are some more shots showing cutaways of each floor.

Comments and feedback welcomed! Is it Kaliphlin enough? Should I add more Arabian influences? Any ideas for further detailing and greebling? SI-mocs, I'm assuming that like other contests as long as the base is 48x48, I can have some pieces higher up that stick out a bit more; is that right?

I'm really looking forward to this, as it will be my biggest build yet (~4500 pieces currently), my first LDD design, and will really set me up part-wise for lots of great future builds.

[Ogre]

NiceMarmot, you just made my eyes bug out of my head! LOL That looks EPIC! Nice job! I'm really looking forward to seeing the finished product.

[Kayne]

So, my thought is that the tan bricks will look lighter in person than on LDD. That alone will make it more of a desert feel...unless you are using Dark Tan. The wood needs to be there, because of being in Mitgardia so there seems to be a good balance there. I think the tower in the background is what really feels Kaliphlin to me. But to really set it over the edge of course, the shops could all be figs and dates and snakecharmers and a turban shop, etc...that might do it

[NiceMarmot]

NiceMarmot, you just made my eyes bug out of my head! LOL That looks EPIC! Nice job! I'm really looking forward to seeing the finished product.

Yeah, I got a bit carried away... You know, when you're building in LDD, it's like there's an unlimited pile of bricks right at your fingertips. No restrictions at all, so it's easy to just keep adding on as you come up with ideas.

I wanted to add another level (a full sized 3rd floor) which would be the banquet halls and more lodging, and then have the penultimate level be a sort of enclosed 'winter garden' (with lots of windows), as sort of a Kaliphlin oasis courtyard would make the southerners feel at home. But it was clear that was just way too ambitious.

There are about 4500 total pieces right now, in 164 unique parts. I need to order about 2000 of those bricks, representing 61 unique parts. It will probably average a little less than $0.10 per piece on BrickLink, so I'm looking at (hopefully) a bit under $200. Early birthday present to myself I guess. I'm going to try to swing by the Lego store tomorrow and hit the PAB wall to see if I can get some there, as sometimes they're cheaper. I hope I'll have enough time to build it before the 15th. Might be some long nights in early February.

So, my thought is that the tan bricks will look lighter in person than on LDD. That alone will make it more of a desert feel...unless you are using Dark Tan. ... I think the tower in the background is what really feels Kaliphlin to me.

Yes, they are regular tan, and you're right, they will look a bit lighter in person. I'm pretty happy with the tower, and yes, it does feel much more Kaliphlin to me. I hope someday to build a whole temple or something in that particular style.

I just experimented with a tile floor for the ambassador's room, and it looks nice and adds some southern style; it's a bit of a mosaic in white, medium-blue, pearl gold, and dark red. So I'll do a similar floor for the banquet hall.

But to really set it over the edge of course, the shops could all be figs and dates and snakecharmers and a turban shop, etc...that might do it

Great ideas! Not sure where I'll get the figs and dates (I've got cherries though). I do have lots of bananas, so I'll use those. And I really like the turban seller idea. I've probably got enough PoP sets to put together some good shops. Maybe I'll pick up some parrots too.

[Rogue Angel]

Comments and feedback welcomed! Is it Kaliphlin enough? Should I add more Arabian influences? Any ideas for further detailing and greebling? SI-mocs, I'm assuming that like other contests as long as the base is 48x48, I can have some pieces higher up that stick out a bit more; is that right?

I don't know if you're looking for inter-guild feedback, but did you consider for the small 6x6 tower using either 3x3 faceted bricks, 3x3x6 castle wall panels or 3x6x6 cylinders instead of the bricks? I like round towers, but that's just me.

It looks collossal! Can't wait to see it in real life! I dropped $150 on my Embassy about 10 days ago, and I've only got 2 Bricklink orders yet that I'm waiting on (Of course I've already found a few things I'm still going to order Dangnabit! )

[NiceMarmot]

I don't know if you're looking for inter-guild feedback, but did you consider for the small 6x6 tower using either 3x3 faceted bricks, 3x3x6 castle wall panels or 3x6x6 cylinders instead of the bricks? I like round towers, but that's just me.

I did consider using the facet bricks because I have a fair number of them. But I decided to go with the more 'stepped' approach as I think it reflects the big brick spikes on top. I didn't consider the cylinders -- I can swap them in using LDD and see what they look like.

It looks collossal! Can't wait to see it in real life! I dropped $150 on my Embassy about 10 days ago, and I've only got 2 Bricklink orders yet that I'm waiting on (Of course I've already found a few things I'm still going to order Dangnabit! )

That always happens! I hate that. Hopefully one advantage to using LDD is that I'll discover most of those forgotten parts before I actually place the BL orders. If you spent $150, you're going to have a pretty darn big embassy too, assuming you weren't starting from scratch.

[Niku]

Hello guys, these days got some spare time, and since I could not build, because my bricks are not at hand, I checked out again the mocs from your guild, a lot of great buildings.

So decide to make a recopilation for the guild.

Hope all of you are included, sorry if I miss passed someone.

Greetings to all.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dBu8MI3rXuY&context=C368abf8ADOEgsToPDskKNp_xkrOPTBBqw8Xfaq7OZ

[SkaForHire]

That Bay is indeed one sweet location, I think an Oriental flavoured town would be great to have there. The Nocturnus borderlands might be quite a dangerous area though.

I agree this should be awesome. I like the idea of a Oriental town set in the middle mountainous bay... I can picture the lotus blossoms now... I really liked the story!

[SkaForHire]

I'm really looking forward to this, as it will be my biggest build yet (~4500 pieces currently), my first LDD design, and will really set me up part-wise for lots of great future builds.

Wow. NM. Just WOW. I hope you do build this, that is amazing. What I had in mind does not really hold a candle to that. I can't wait to see it in bricks.

About the competition, sorry I was on vacation the last week and a half, so I missed the original announcement, but congratulations gabe!

Also, were our five towers ever announced? I am just wondering what were our entries as I think the other guild leaders may have made their decisions public, but I can't find ours. Of course I have about 200 new posts to look through (which I can't do right now because I should be catching up on my grading...) so there might be a post somewhere about this. I would appreciate if someone could link it for me.

Anyway great job Kaliphlin! Let's take the number 1 spot this next time!

[Rogue Angel]

That always happens! I hate that. Hopefully one advantage to using LDD is that I'll discover most of those forgotten parts before I actually place the BL orders. If you spent $150, you're going to have a pretty darn big embassy too, assuming you weren't starting from scratch.

I always find something I was missing after the fact. The $150 really didn't add much size to the MOC, it was mostly just to get the right color for pieces I already had. I definitely needed the full 48x48, but remember it's not the size that matters, it's how you build it.

[robuko]

Hi just started my Eurobricks, I,ve been following these for guilds and was considering joining Kaliphlin if you all would have me.

Welcome, Justindale, look forward to your builds!

The SECRET 7th uber awesome tower was of course:

Ra'ad Twur from Tower Lord Wahil Musca!

Many congratulations Tower Lord Basiliscus/ Wahil Musca, may the Emir praise his architects!

For the first round it was the Guild Leaders that choose 5 to represent their guild. We discussed the logistics of voting and at the time we decided against it - it was a large fear that over the holidays many would be away ... BUT it's really up to you guys. I would rather vote (so I'm not to blame!) on the next round, we can start up a thread and have like a 3 day vote window for your top 5.

Thoughts?

There are advantages and disadvantages to any system. I don`t have any strong view here. The wisdom of the crowd is only going to work properly if we are using similar criteria to the judging panel. I actually think the system of guild leaders submitting (assuming it`s as unbiased as a democratic system) has the advantage that the guild leaders understand the judging panel.

Total aside, is anyone good at statistics and scenario modelling here? I think that if all the guilds have builders of similar talent levels (mean) and standard deviation, and essentially the guilds are judged on the extremely good outcomes, then Avalonia with more members and submissions should have more extremely good builds than the others, statistically speaking, and should win everything on that basis. Avalonia also has some really good and prolific builders, arguably its average talent level is pretty high. So maybe there is an Avalonia penalty in the early stages?

WIP pic 2, waiting on some BL orders now.

Very promising, Lord Shale. I really like the colour combination, but if it helps, I think it is a little "busy" in the current configuration - it might look more coherent in a photo if the colours are more grouped in blocks or lines?

I'm looking for some feedback and suggestions on my design for a Kaliphlin embassy in Mitgardia.

..What do you all think of dark-red for those curved pieces at the peak of the roof?

...Is it Kaliphlin enough?

Well, first off, it`s lovely, an incredible build and it will look awesome! On your specific questions, things I would suggest to think about - dark red curved pieces will look fine with reddish brown, I would think about using

which come in brown. The design is very Mitgardian and I do not feel much Kaliphlin at the moment, which is totally fine as you can have a backstory about it being purchased from a local merchant et c. The plan to "Kaliphlinise" it through the exterior activity will work well, but when it comes to the interior, I think you will find it very hard to photograph the Kaliphlin details effectively as there are a lot of small closed spaces that are only visible from above. Do you have a plan for all of the rooms? I think you would be better off with fewer and larger rooms for taking photos.

Hello guys, these days got some spare time, and since I could not build, because my bricks are not at hand, I checked out again the mocs from your guild, a lot of great buildings.

So decide to make a recopilation for the guild.

Niku, many thanks! This is very kind of you, the video is really good, and shows the variety of invention very well. Nice one! I hope you are reunited with your bricks soon.

By the way, who in the guild is planning an embassy at the moment? I know of 4 or 5 under construction, will we have a lot coming in?

Edited January 18, 2012 by robuko

[Rogue Angel]

I would say that the size of Avalonia will help and hurt. While there are more builders, and the theoretically there will be more high quality builds, the fact that each guild advances 5 entries will in turn hurt Avalonia because they will be limited to the same number as a guild with half the builds. While I could see this leading to a marginally higher quality of build in the top 5, it obviously didn't help in the Tower challenge where we only had 1 top tower. It is a double edged sword in this format.

I personally wouldn't mind if the guild leaders continued to select all the MOCs, but it sounds like they may not want to do it themselves. It's really their call. Either way I'm fine