Cottage Rule

Overview

The Cottage Rule is a rule of thumb for the developers, used when talking about altering an existing power.

The term was coined by Castle on the official forums around the time Defiance was altered (December 11, 2007) and discussed.

Castle's original post has been lost to forum purges[1], but the rule, in summary, is this:

An existing power will not have its core functionality and purpose changed, though its strength may be altered and effects secondary to the power's true purpose may be added or removed.

Note that while Castle's original post has been lost to forum purges, the text of that post has been saved in other threads[2]. According to the thread referenced above, the following is the relevant text from Castle's original post:

"Seriously, it *is* a good policy -- it provides structure within which to do things. Without structure, there's chaos. How would you like it if tomorrow you logged in and, say, Build Up now built a small cottage at your chosen location, instead of adding to your damage? It's a silly example, admittedly, but it's to prevent such wholesale changes from happening. I *could* overturn it, in specific cases, if it were truly needed, but in the case being discussed here, it is not truly needed. There are MANY options that have been discussed that do not involve changing the core use of the power."

NOTE: This rule does not apply to new powers still in beta testing. Beta testing can drastically change the way a new power functions.